I've had half a dozen posts in mind but haven't found time to write them out. Now that I have the time, I can't remember any of them. Very annoying. Oh wait! They're coming back to me. Kind of.

So we had a bonfire to burn my Christmas tree. We got a fire going in one pit (and by we, I mean my boyfriend...I didn't realize we'd need lighter fluid) and set the tree up in another. We were just waiting for my roommate to come join us before sending it off in a blaze of glory. All of a sudden there was a commotion behind us and we thought, "Oh, someone else had a tree too." Then we kept turning and realized that they had taken our tree and lit it off in their own pit. I was rather annoyed. However, the story has a silver lining. We still got to see the tree burn (except my roommate), albeit at a greater distance. The high school kids who stole it looked like idiots because it fell over and sent burning ash all over the beach, and it's always fun when high schoolers look like idiots. And finally, there was a group at the pit behind ours, and with the way the wind was blowing, we would have sent burning ash all over them, which would have made us look like idiots. So really, it all turned out okay.

I've also been thinking a lot about a scripture that I always thought was a "well, duh" principle. Alma 2:25 "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy." Men are that they might have joy. We're supposed to be happy! This life is not meant to be some big trial to be endured in misery, waiting for the life after to be happy. Yes, there are hard things and sometimes we will be sad. But real, lasting joy exists in life too. So seek joy.

I was always one of those girls who never saw what the big deal with Valentine's Day was. My parents always spent it at home with us kids. They'd exchange cards, maybe make a heart-shaped pizza, and call it a night around 9. That seemed like a good way to spend the day to me. In college, I proudly wore my "single" shirt to the gym that day and attended more than one anti-valentine party, though out of a need for something to do that day, not out of bitterness. But now I've seen the light. Valentimes is serious times. This year, I got flowers, breakfast, a walk on the beach, a museum visit, and dinner on the Santa Monica pier. And having now experienced a real Valentine's Day, I don't think I can ever go back to my carefree days of not caring. Turns out it's awesome to be spoiled for a day.

Life is good, friends. Life is good.