Secret to success.

So I was trying to think of a really good idea for a way to save time in the morning. Finally, I found one. and not only will I save TONS of time in the morning, but I've received a huge confidence boost, I've been walking around with a giant smile on my face, and a new bounce in my step.

How have I achieved this most wondrous occurrence? and at the low price of $10?

Yeah, I cut my hair. And it's magnificent.

Believe it anyway.

Be soft. Don't let the world make you hard. Don't let the pain make you hate. Don't let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place

Do you ever find life making you feel like something is missing? Like there's something empty in life? Is it just too hard for right now? Well don't give up. Keep going. We have a choice in the matter. We can hold onto hope in the world to turn out right next time. Count off everything that went wrong as an experience. After all, aren't we all here to learn? Aren't we all figuring out what to do differently?

And more than that...the world is a beautiful place. Look around you. I guarantee, absolutely 100% that where ever you are, there are at least 5 beautiful pictures. Things you can look at and truly appreciate the wonder of life. I'm currently sitting in the library by myself, and just glancing around me, I can see so many amazing and beautiful things. I wish I had a camera with me.

And more than that, when you give up that hope, when you let life make you hard, when you don't see the beauty in the world anymore...the world has won. You've given up. You're out of the fight. You might see yourself as protecting yourself, but you aren't. You're losing yourself. You are the soft, fun-loving bright person that you were as a child. You have faith in the goodness of the world. Don't let it beat that out of you.

And if you can't find the beauty in your situation, in your life right now...Borrow this beauty for a little while. It's here for you. I'm here for you.

I know that I personally begin to lose hope when it's snowy and cold outside. I feel chained up, alone. I don't know where to turn. I can be surrounded by people, and I still feel alone and depressed. So hold on to little bits of spring. Remember that it's coming again.
I love my Daddy more than anyone else on Earth. He is the best thing in my life. When I start to give up. To believe that the world doesn't hold good. That people don't care...I remember him. And my dad is amazing and wonderful...but each of us has a Heavenly Father who loves us even more than we can imagine. Who is somehow even more wonderful than my earthly father. Thus, life is good. Life is great. Even when it's not.
I know that one thing that gives me more hope than I can describe is seeing couples still together who have seen it all. Seeing the love that my grandparents have for each other...seeing the interactions between my bishop and his wife. Seeing the way that my teacher's whole countenance lights up when he mentions his wife. It tells me that love really can last. Love is real. Don't give up. It's out there for you.
Babies represent the very best in the world. They're so pure and happy. They trust the way I want to. They need us. They can't give up on us, because we are the way they survive. And they are the future. The very best medicine for depression or discouragement is spending time with a baby. That baby is so clean, so pure, and so trusting, that you will love it from the start.
Children are the purity of a baby with the hilarity of their statements. Children are the future, and they are wonderful. Seeing their brightness, and how huge they think their problems are, gives us perspective, and lets us remember that to someone, we are children too.
The sun will come out. We can be in darkness, we may feel lost, but the sun is there, and as long as we trust that, we will know it will come for us again. In a burst of pure warming light. It is there.
And finally...to me, this is what best friends look like. This is my very favorite picture in all the world. Not because of what I look like...I think I look terrible...but because this is real friendship. Brittani has been there for me through everything. We haven't always been the closest, we fluctuate, we go through hard times. But that's life. and I know that she's there. She's someone that I can let go of everything around, and just be myself. I don't have to hold up guards. I'm not afraid to cry around her. She loves me anyway.



So maybe life is hard. Maybe you don't want to try anymore. Maybe you're ready to give up. You just can't believe in the goodness anymore. You don't want to open your heart again. But what are you gaining by closing off? What are you gaining by not believing in the good of the world? Yes, life can be hard. Yes, people you love will leave you. Yes, somethings you build will fall apart. Yes, things can be hard to believe in. Believe anyway.

I want

A HAIRCUT!!! Really really bad.

I want short hair again, it's so low maintenance and so fun and fresh. But the problem is, I've only ever had my hair cut by one person before, and the thought of letting someone else cut it makes me tense up and almost start to hyperventilate. And the one person who has cut my hair lives something like 4 and a half to 5 hours away. So that won't be happening anytime soon.

Also, my hair is currently really close to the longest it has ever been, if not the longest it has ever been. Which is kind of cool in and of itself. What a dilemma.

Tiffany is grateful for a lot of things...but those don't include how bad she is at blogging.

So I haven't shared my gratefulness for a while. Here we go.

November 6. Tiffany is grateful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (some of you might want to skip this part. Whatever, this is how I feel) I love the church. I know that it's true. I've been able to find so much comfort when I need it through the teachings of the church. I know that Jesus Christ came to Earth for me. I know that he also came for you. He paid for every bad thing we've ever done. and why would anyone do that? Not so that he could hold it over our heads through all eternity, but just because he loves us. I am so grateful for that love. And to show my thanks, I am going to do my best to cause him as little pain as possible. I want to contribute the least pain and sorrow to his suffering as I can.

November 7. Tiffany is grateful for Cami Fish and Kristi Walston. Cami is so adorable. I am glad that I got to spend more time with her on Sunday and get to know her. She is so kind and honest. I have more in common with her than I ever realized before. I am truly grateful that she is in my ward. Kristi, as you should already know is one of my favorite people ever. I adore her. I love it when I get a chance to talk to her, and she opens up to me with something new. She always amazes me, and helps me look at life from a new perspective.

November 8. Tiffany is grateful for Shannon Williams creating Overheard @ BYU so she could find this little gem: "It's times like these that you need an umbrella or a boyfriend. Either one will work but an umbrella is more low maintenance." On that note, Tiffany is grateful for Aubrie Forsyth giving her a ride to work and lending her an umbrella.-yeah. My friend made Overheard @ BYU. if you go to BYU, you know what that is, and you're probably jealous. It's okay. I still love you even though you aren't as cool as her. Anyway, it was raining and cold when my beloved roommate gave me a ride to work, so she let me take her umbrella. She loves me. What can I say. She is a blessing.

November 9. Tiffany is grateful she discovered world kindness day. Yeah. Saturday is world kindness day. I couldn't be more excited. I think it's the best idea for a holiday ever. For the reason, see why I'm grateful for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Tiffany can't not post this. She is grateful for Darren Criss. and AAA. and Shannon Williams and Katie Walker for being giddy and awesomely fun to hang out with! and Allen Merrill for being an awesomely good sport. So we watched Glee. Darren Criss is now on Glee. He is beautiful. I like him a lot. I have since watching A Very Potter Musical, but you definitely can't tell he's particularly attractive there. I was very pleasantly surprised. Also, I happen to like Asians. I think they're attractive. and it just so happens that Shannon has declared me a fan of Attractive Asians Anonymous, or AAA. it made me happy. Actually, Shannon, Katie, and I just had a lot of fun that night. As Allen can testify. He puts up with a lot for us. What a good guy.

November 10. Tiffany is grateful for Derek Chandler informing her today on campus that she is going to get fat. This is only a little sarcastic. It did make me smile. It's always fun to see friends on campus, and it's always a special treat for me to have someone use the word fat in a sentence referring to me.

Tiffany Jackman is grateful for long walks with Kevin

So today, I was having a kind of bad day. My night was terrible. I was on the verge of a break down. So I went on a walk with my friend Kevin. He let me cry everything out, and he just listened to me talk about everything. All of the things weighing on my mind that really don't matter, or are stupid. He listened to all of them. He let me talk it all out.

And that's all I needed. A friend to listen to me. Someone to let me feel like I matter, and I can be heard. I am so glad that Kevin is there for me, and that he has my back.

Tiffany Jackman is grateful for having the best dad ever

I love my dad. SO much. I talked to him today for about a half an hour while he was driving home from work, and it was so good to talk to him. It's nice to know that there is someone always on my side. Someone I can always count on, who is always my biggest fan. And it is true that no matter what, he is always my biggest fan. I am always his baby girl. And for all of these reasons and more, I am grateful for my daddy. I am Daddy's Little Girl all the way. He is the best thing ever. And it is because my daddy is so wonderful, and I love and respect him so much, that I am able to fathom a loving Heavenly Father. How can there not a loving Heavenly Father when I have such an amazing earthly father here?

So now I plan to listen to this song while I go to bed. Also, this song. and this one too.

November=Thanksgiving

What's the first thing you think about when you think about November?

If you're like most people, it's Thanksgiving and food...So...I'm posting a facebook status of something that I'm grateful for everyday, I'm going to expound on them here. So here are the first 3 (or 4. I got a little exuberant yesterday)

November 1. Tiffany Jackman is grateful for Kathleen Madison.

Kathleen is my roommate. At least I'm pretty sure she is. She's not around very much. But I seriously adore her. Every time I see her or have a conversation with her, I feel like I'm really the best me that I can be. She makes me smile, and consider other sides of things. And she's completely honest. Kathleen isn't going to sugarcoat anything for anyone. But she can still make anyone feel better about anything.

November 2 (part 1). Tiffany Jackman is grateful for the chips and salsa from Gringos she got this morning, and for Jake Earnest thinking of her, and taking the time to get them.

My friend Jake is actually a BYU-I student, living in Provo for an internship. So this last weekend, he went to Idaho to get his snow tires on. Before he left, he asked if there was anything any of us wanted from Rexburg. I jokingly mentioned Gringos (my favorite Mexican restaurant in the world, and how much I love their chips and salsa. I was sure he would completely forget about it. But when I woke up that morning, there were chips in a box on my table from Gringos, and salsa in my fridge. He is amazing.

November 2 (part 2). Tiffany Jackman is grateful for Kristi Walston, Katie Walker, Randi Mosher, Kimberly Hofman, Nathan Reid Geddes, and Dallon RD Reddish for being such wonderful friends, and keeping her mind busy tonight.

So I had a kind of rough night last night, and received some news that I would rather not think about. Shortly there after, I went to visit my friend Kimberly, who entertained me with stories, and just being herself while we cooked. She's always great at making me smile, no matter what might be going on. After leaving Kimberly's, I felt an urge to go visit my favorite person from my freshman year, Nathan. So I did. and he is truly an incredible person. I have honestly never been so grateful to spend time with someone. He is an answer to all of my prayers, sometimes even before I've prayed them. Then when I got home, and was sitting in my room by myself, my thoughts began to drift to the news I was trying not to think about. So I texted my friend Kristi, and asked for a hug. She came straight over, gave me a huge hug, and brought me to her apartment, where I got to spend time with her and her amazing roommates Katie and Randi, who greeted me so happily, that there was no question but that they were truly delighted to have me there. It was great!! And then from the time I visited Kimberly on, Dallon and I were texting about how he is coming to visit this weekend, and how much fun we will have. For those of you wondering, we are getting married whilst he is in Provo.

November 3. Tiffany Jackman is grateful for Richard Hardy Ashton and Sydnee Wilson for making even time in the library fun.

In order to avoid thinking about the news of yesterday, I was keeping myself as busy as I possibly could. Therefore, I had had a fairly dull day, in which I kept my mind strictly on my work, and didn't give myself very much fun. I was about to go to my last class of the day, and I went into the library to print out the paper that was due, and just as I sat down at the computer, someone walked past me and bumped into my chair. In case you didn't know, I'm fairly skinny, and had my chair scooted in, so I was a bit confused...so I turned around, and there was Rich. For those who didn't know, Rich is one of my top 5 best friends in the world. So I was pretty happy to see him. I smiled at him, then he gestured in Sydnee. I also adore Sydnee. I work with her, and she is so much fun. They invited me to come study with them, but I had to turn them down in order to go to class. However, as I was walking out of periodicals, Rich started pointing at me, so I pointed back at him, and Sydnee started blowing me kisses. I caught a kiss as I walked out...and to be honest, that was the first real smile I smiled all day is after seeing them. They are the best. :)

So as you can tell, my life pretty much rocks. I don't know about you guys, but I can't wait to see what I'm grateful for tomorrow!!

Halloween

Recently there was a holiday. It was one of my favorite holidays. Much fun was had by all. Candy was devoured, and costumes were worn.

yes. it was Halloween.

My beloved Brittani and Jana wanted to do the 7 deadly sins with their roommates...but there was only 6 of them. So I got to join them. Here we are:

We look good. I know. Here are our close ups

Finally, as a side effect of me really loving my costume...here's the whole thing.