New Year's Resolutions: 2014 Edition

Wow, just finishing up my first week of my second semester at BYU, and let me tell you, 2014 is going to be my year! I'm ready for everything it has to hold and its been a great year so far! I'm loving my classes, and got away from homework for long enough to watch BYU basketball crush Pepperdine, go to the "Winter Bash" dance put on by BYUSA, and have a bonfire in the canyon this weekend.

So I'm a little bit (about 12 days) behind, but just think of this as a reminder to think of your resolutions that you hopefully haven't forgotten by now. Normally my resolutions include:

-exercising every day, counting calories, and only having one treat a week in order to lose that same 10 pounds I want to lose every year.

-doing my homework right after school every day and stop procrastinating to get better grades.

-practice piano every day so I don't make a fool out of myself when I'm asked to play in seminary.

-lots of other boring things I won't do by February

Although I always have great intentions, there are a couple problems with these resolutions. First of all, expecting perfection of myself will always lead to failure. I've realized that I need to strive for improvement rather than perfection. Second, these are things where I would enjoy the end result but for the most part, hate the process.  Besides that, I have the same resolutions every year, which I think should tell me something regarding my success...

My resolutions this year are about being happy with the end result, but also enjoying the process that will lead me to that end result! Because even though I would love to be 10 pounds thinner and a super student, I also really like eating dessert and taking naps and I think I will always hate practicing piano no matter how hard I try. So here are my resolutions (and some nice provided-by-Pinterest pictures) that are about becoming a little bit better and a little happier in 2014:

1. Spend less time on Twitter/Instagram/Vine. This is all about living in the moment. And maximizing the time that I have in bed for sleeping. Because by the time I've gotten in bed and checked Twitter and Instagram, that's about 20 minutes less sleep. Which is precious currency in my crazy life! So my plan is to only check social media a couple times a day for no more than 5 minutes at a time, not checking my phone while I'm with friends, and just focusing more on living in the moment!

This kind of makes me think a little bit. Although I think everything can be good in moderation, so I can tweet and live :)

 





2. Eliminate the word "like" as a filler word from my vocabulary. I believe that the way we speak has a huge influence on how we are viewed by other people. I want to portray my intelligence through the way I speak, and graduate from college sounding like a professional rather than a Valley girl. And let me tell you, I didn't realize how much I said "like" until I started to try to stop saying it. It's rough, but Erica and I are doing it together and we are going to sound so educated by the end of the semester!

This is so true. The withdrawals are not easy.

3. Spend an hour every Sunday writing letters or emails to my friends and family that are on missions or just far away from my daily life. I've been pretty awful at keeping in touch with some of my best friends from high school that are on missions and I want to change that!

4. Become better at the art of Intuitive Eating. This is all about listening to and respecting my body, eating mindfully, and eating what I want to eat! I've gotten a lot better at this in the past few months and actually dropped a few pounds when I was really trying. (And I still enjoy dessert too! Always a plus for a dessert fan like me). I truly believe that this a practice that will keep my healthy and happy my whole life. (PS Watch this video if you want a reminder about how much dieting sucks.)

5. Run a half marathon. Yikes. Did I just say that? This is something that I've wanted to do for a while now, and 2014 is the year to do it! I'm looking at one in May and I'm getting pretty excited. I can probably run about 3-4 miles right now, so only about 10 to go (ahh!), but I'm ready for the challenge.

Can I make this happen?

6. Focus less on myself and more on others. I have the great opportunity to be surrounded by so many lovely people and I want to do everything I can to help them, which I know will make me happier too. I think Heavenly Father can help me out with this one as I pray for opportunities to serve people around me, and as I have the courage and charity to take those opportunities.

Love.



7. Be content (and embrace!) silence. My life is so crazy: filled with people, music, events, and endless to-do lists and I've realized that I have actually started to feel uncomfortable when nothing is going on. I want to make more time for relaxation: just a little more silence and some more before-bed yoga. I need to make sure I'm staying sane, after all!

I'm so excited for this year and all it has to bring. Here's to a great 2014 and whatever it throws at me!

Love, Cady

The Story of My Life

Well here's another post title inspired by a song. Although this song doesn't describe my life at all, the title is applicable and I will be the first to admit that I'll put some One Direction on when I need some motivation to clean my room, go for a run, or get out of bed (or have a solo dance party when my roommate's gone...wait, what?) 

Anyways, lets explore the story of my life, shall we? (In a very condensed version...think "Reader's Digest" on a lame day.)

So I started out as a sassy, curly haired girl in Arizona. (Has much changed?)

 

First day of kindergarten.

Then let's just fast forward a few years...and all of a sudden I was going to Senior Prom with some of the coolest people I met in high school.

And then this crazy thing called high school graduation happened.

High school would have been completely different without my two main girls Chelsey and Alyssa.

Then just a few more months and all of a sudden I found myself sobbing as I said goodbye to my family, but then loving BYU the instant I stepped on campus. (And I'm still loving it in case you were wondering.)

Some highlights (or just moments I happened to capture on my less-than-stellar phone camera):

-Participating in the the production of a world-famous music video with the girls in my hall. Unfortunately I can't show it to you because it got taken off of Facebook because of copyright issues...lame.

This is my roommate Katie and this picture is blurry because we couldn't stop dancing for anything, especially not a silly photo.

-Going to lots of sporting events with my friends!

I love going to football games, but must they be so long? Usually by the end, you can find me complaining with Erica or Auburn about how long they are, eating an overpriced calzone because I missed dinner for the game, or not in the stadium at all anymore...but I really do love football games, I promise :)

Soccer game with Kayla (who happens to also blog right here!) Cosmo hugged me right before this picture was taken, so you can be a little jealous if you want. He's sort of my celebrity crush.

Only die-hard fans come to games when its snowing. Those die-hard fans might also leave half way through the second quarter because of said snow... (PS This is Erica and I love her and she blogs over here.)

-Stepping out of my comfort zone as much as I can!

Auburn and I played in "The Dating Game". She won an awkward date with a guy she didn't know, I won chocolate. So who's the real winner here?

-Spending tons of time with some of the most hilarious and fun guys I know!

I walked into the lobby of the Cannon Center one day and found them looking just like this. Just lounging, drinking apple beer and reading BYU's magazine. Never a dull moment I tell you.

-Having a blast with the people in my ward. My bishop always tells us that we're the best ward on campus and I believe it! You basically have an automatic 100+ friends just by being in this ward. You are likely to find us at the back tables in the cafeteria, partying in Taylor Hall lobby, or cramming highly illegal amounts of people into cars as we drive anywhere off campus.

Halloween party with Destiny, Katie, and Auburn. We were "social butterflies"! (Apology for the blurry picture.)

-Waking up to this outside my window. I thought I would absolutely hate the snow, and while I was happy to spend Thanksgiving in San Diego and Christmas in sunny Arizona, I think the snow is beautiful! Especially when it's settled on the trees.

My roommate and I may have freaked out a little bit when we saw this for the first time...we're both warm weather gals!

I could share a million more things, but I tried to find pictures that I haven't posted on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter before (I'm sort of a social media addict...#sorrynotsorry). I have loved being at BYU more than I ever imagined I would. It is not full of stuck-up well-dressed kids, or "Molly Mormons", or any of the other stereotypes that I expected. I truly believe that anyone can find people like them here. I have become closer to friends than I ever thought possible in just a few short months, and although I didn't spend enough time sleeping and bought too many late-night snacks out of the vending machines, I have no regrets about my first semester.

Here's to another great semester, full of new adventures, and of course, beautiful moments.

Love,

Cady

Watch out blogging world, I have arrived.

It's true. The rumors have been confirmed. I, Cady Seiter, have entered the blogging world. You can get a little excited, if you want. I won't tell anyone ;) I'm excited to share with you a little bit of the happenings in my life and the things I'm learning along the way.

I decided to start this for a few reasons:

1. I want to learn to love writing again. Writing and I haven't been on good terms since I was assigned my first essay in 7th grade and I decided that writing was the most boring thing in the world. Luckily, after a good writing class my first semester at BYU I have been inspired to become a better writer and practice makes perfect right? So you'll have to be patient with me as I explore different writing styles and decide what fits me best :)

2. I am the worst journaler in the world. Just going to say it like it is. (I also just made up the word journaler, but who's to stop me?) I have always been awful at keeping a journal and it makes me sad that I don't have any thoughts written down about some of my most special moments in life! I set a goal when I came up to school to journal every night, which I kept up for a total of about 2 weeks. And then I was journaling every few days, then every few weeks, and you can guess where we are now. So I'm hoping that I can stay accountable and that this will be a fun way to record my memories!

3. I have lots of fans that are dying to know what I'm up to and my 140 character tweets aren't enough to keep them satisfied. (Although I am quite funny if I do say so myself! Follow me @cadyseiter) Life's a little tough when you're a celebrity ;)

4. I'm not busy enough and decided I need one more thing to fill my time. (Just kidding, that is illegal for a BYU student to say. I'm busy and love it! This is just an effort to capture the busyness.)

So there ya have it. I decided to title this blog after, in my opinion, one of the most powerful songs on Broadway. "This Is The Moment" from Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. (Which I've never actually seen, but it sure has beautiful music). This is one of my favorite renditions of this song. So just feast your eyes, and your ears. You're welcome.

I absolutely love the message of this song that takes place at the climax of the show. But I believe that every moment is the moment. The climax of our lives is now! I think that too often we live in the future, hoping and planning and dreaming, but we just don't spend enough time living. So with the the title of this song as my motto, I want to embrace and cherish every moment of my life. And I want to share those moments with you, because I believe that life isn't made up of big events, but simple moments that need to be celebrated.

I'm excited to begin this journey as a blogger and a life enthusiast and I hope you'll join me on this journey!

Love,

Cady