Amy Rees Anderson's Blog

People Who Change The World and the Help Media Exposure Has Given Them

Dec

Today I am in San Francisco for the TED Women 2013 Conference. I am here because several months ago I was blessed to meet Pat Mitchell at the home of a friend for dinner where we spent the evening getting to know one another. Pat is the CEO of The Paley Center for Media. She [...]

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Tagged A Call to Men, african-american, angela patton, boys, california, camp diva, change, change the world, dance, daughter, daughters, example, exposure, father, future, gift, girls, Girls For A Change, goals, inspiration, inspire, make a difference, man card, media, media exposure, mission, motivate, motivation, Pallin Center for Media, parent, Pat Mitchell, prison, rape, san francisco, son, sons, teach, TED, TED Talk, TED Women, TED Women 2013, TEDx, Tony Porter, violence, you can

The Most Beautiful People I Know…

Dec

“The most beautiful people I know are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These people have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion and a deep loving concern.” -author unknown People who have been [...]

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Tagged appreciation, beautiful, chances, change, compassion, concern, difficulties, difficulty, empathy, endure, example, family, forgive, friendship, hang in there, happiness, hard times, hardship, inspiration, laugh, life, life goes on, love, motivate, motivation, person, regret, sensitive, sensitivity, serve, service, smile, survive, sympathy, understanding, unhappy, wrong

Shopping, Shopping…oh, and More Shopping

Dec

“How much shopping can one person do?!?”, my husband called out as my fingers clicked madly away on the keyboard jumping from one cyber-deal to another as quickly as I could. “It’s almost midnight! Don’t distract me! I am working against the clock here! Just wait til you hear how much money I saved us”, [...]

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Tagged amazon, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, babysit, best buy, blessings, christmas, clock, cyber deal, deals, discount, email, family, fun, gift, happy, holiday, husband, keyboard, men, online, poem, purchase, sale, saving, savings, shop, shopper, shopping, specials, spend, success, time, walmart, wife, wives

Welcome Home, There is Only 23 Days Til Christmas!

Dec

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. We went to visit my husband’s family in Idaho on their family farm. There is very little as fitting as celebrating Thanksgiving on the farm. We had amazing food (all homemade of course!), my daughter learned to drive the front loader tractor, and they went shooting clay pigeons. [...]

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Tagged appreciate, appreciation, attitude, balance, beautiful, blessings, card, Celebrate, celebrating, celebration, christmas, Christmas Eve, exciting, express love, family, farm, friends, fun, future, gift, grateful, gratitude, happiness, happy, holiday, Idaho, joy, letter, life, love, loved one, month, motivation, national, national holidays, reason, sad, saint nicholas, santa, silly, special, st nick, success, thankful, thanks, Thanksgiving, yummy

Twas the Night of Thanksgiving

Nov

T’was the night of Thanksgiving, But I just couldn’t sleep. I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep. The leftovers beckoned, The dark meat and white. But I fought the temptation, With all of my might. Tossing and turning, with anticipation. The thought of a snack became infatuation. So I raced to the kitchen, Flung [...]

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Tagged black friday, blessing, blessings, blog, dark meat, dinner, eating, family, food, friends, gifts, gobble, God, goodies, happiness, HAPPY THANKSGIVING, holiday, joy, kitchen, leftovers, love, peace, poem, post, potatoes, sheep, shopping, sleep, snack, temptation, thank you, thankful, Thanksgiving, thanksgiving dinner, thighs, time, turkey, white meat

“Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.” -W.J. Cameron

Nov

And there is no better week to take the action of giving thanks and showing gratitude than Thanksgiving week. This is the perfect week to extend a helping hand to someone in need. And we can always find someone out there who is in greater need than we are. It’s so easy to get sucked [...]

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Tagged action, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, balance, beautiful, blessings, Celebrate, comfort, culture, friends, gift, God, gratitude, happiness, happy, harvest, heart, help, helping hand, holiday, ingratitude, joy, life, love, loved ones, marriage, minister, motivation, need, parents, peace, positive, quote, quotes, season, service, teacher, thank you, thankful, thanks, Thanksgiving, thought, work

Perspective and Gratitude

Nov

Several years ago my family and I were down visiting the small town of Bicknell, Utah with our dear friends. We went to a church meeting down in Bicknell back then and a very humble young man got up and gave a talk on perspective and gratitude that was awesome. In his talk he shared [...]

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Tagged adversity, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, balance, beautiful, bicknell, children, cognitive, express, family, farm, father, fear, feeling, focus, gift, google, grateful, gratitude, happiness, happy, horizon, joy, lesson, life lesson, mental, negative, optimistic, perspective, poem, poor, positive, rich, self-confidence, self-improvement, serve, service, sight, son, stars, story, thankful, thanks, thanks dad, Utah, wealthy

Some Days I Forget

Nov

So much to do, and not nearly enough hours in the day to do it. I get so frustrated when I work my guts out all day only to come to the end of the day feeling like I have barely scratched the surface of what I needed to get done. When that happens day [...]

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Tagged adversity, answer, anxiety, appreciation, attitude, balance, big things, child, confidence, courage, depressed, discouraged, drowning, experience, father, fear, future, God, good enough, Heavenly Father, help, independent, juggle, leadership, life, overwhelmed, parent, pray, prayer, self-confidence, small things, stress, struggle, success, time management, trial, try, work

What an Incredible Day!

Nov

What a day today was! I started my day at 5:00am this morning so I could get downtown for an early morning meeting with President Wheelwright, the President of BYU Hawaii. He and I had a wonderful talk about the Entrepreneurship activities going on at his University in Hawaii. They are doing some really incredible [...]

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Tagged amazing, artifcats, benjamin netanyahu, bible, biblical, Brigham Young University, BYU, byu hawaii, CEO, chief eissenstat, chief international trade counsel, consul general of israel, david siegel, dead sea, dead sea scrolls, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, everett eissenstat, free trade, gary herbert, Governor Gary Herbert, international trade, israel antiquities, jerusalem, leader, leonardo museu, minister netanyahu, orrin hatch, president wheelwright, prime minister, REES Capital, senate finance committee, senator hatch, senator orrin hatch, TPP, trans pacific partnership, uzi dahari, wailing wall

Work Hard–Play Harder

Nov

For new readers to my blog – every so often my 17 year old daughter Ashley will write a blog to share with my readers. Over the years her blogs end up being everyone’s favorites and I am certain this one will be no different, so enjoy today’s blog written by Ashley. ~Amy —————— Work [...]

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Tagged ashley, Ashley Lewis, balance, career, dad, Dalton, difference, friends, grow, hang out, job, labor, lazy, learn, life, mark twain, mom, opportunity, perspective, play hard, productive, summer, thomas edison, time, time management, work, work hard

The Key to a Good Marriage is Finding Someone With a Good Heart

Nov

Relationships are a tricky thing. Men and women are so drastically different in so many ways that it is a serious miracle that we actually end up together in many ways. We communicate differently, we show love differently, we have different expectations, we have different emotional responses…we are just plain different. And is if our [...]

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Tagged appreciate, appreciation, argue, attitude, attraction, beautiful, blessings, character, confidence, courage, dating, decision, disagreement, emotional, emotions, expectations, family, fighting, friendship, future, gift, good heart, happiness, integrity, love, marrage, marriage, marry, men, opinion, relationshihps, relationship, right, self-confidence, self-improvement, women, wrong

The Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit is Coming!

Nov

The Leonardo in Salt Lake City has been selected by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) to display the largest collection of scrolls and artifacts ever to tour outside of Israel. Only 10 cities will have the honor of being selected to host this exhibition – and Salt Lake City has been selected as the 5th [...]

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Tagged ancient times, archaelogical, artifacts, bible, charitable, charity, dead sea scrolls, exhibit, hebrew, israel, israel antiquities authority, jerusalem, leonardo, Leslie Pearson Rees, scrolls, the leonardo, VIP, Ye Have Been Hid

The Ones Who Do

Nov

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. [...]

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Tagged apple, apple computer, attitude, be amazing, change th world, confidence, courage, crazy, create, creative, creativity, culture, different, Do, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, experience, explore, failure, future, genius, goals, heal, imagine, inspiration, inspire, invent, laboratory, leadership, misfits, motivation, poem, rebels, self-confidence, self-improvement, song, steve jobs, success, the ones who do, troublemakers, try, work of art

Sharing Treasures

Nov

Today I was invited to attend a luncheon with Ann Romney, Mitt Romney’s wife (former governor and Presidential candidate). Ann recently released a cookbook called “The Romney Family Table: Sharing Home-Cooked Recipes and Favorite Traditions,” and she has been traveling across the country to share stories about her new book. She was incredibly warm and [...]

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Tagged amazing, Ann Romney, candidate, cookbook, dinner, dish, family, friends, generous, Governor, gravy, harding, home-cooked, meatloaf, Mitt Romney, MS, pot roast, president, Presidential Candidate, recipes, share, share recipes, sharing, the romney family table, traditions, treasure, treasures, yummy

The Festival of Lights

Nov

Tonight my husband and I were invited to go to the Governor’s mansion to celebrate Diwali. Diwali is a five day Hindu festival known as the Festival of Lights and it is one of the biggest holidays of the year in India. This festival is as important to Hindus as Christmas is to Christians. During [...]

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Tagged anxiety, christmas, diwali, evil, festival of lights, God, goddess, good, hindu, holiday, india, inner light, inspiration, inspiring, lakshmi, motivation, outcome, priest, problems, prosperity, sari, smile, sparkle, spirit, stress, sweets, treats, trust, wealth

The Healing Power of Human Connection

Nov

Today started out rough. I had to deal with a situation related to someone from the past that I once considered to be a friend, but who turned out to be an incredibly dishonest person who did a lot of horrible things that caused a lot of damage to a lot of people. Not exactly [...]

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Tagged adversity, anger, angina, anxiety, blessings, burden, cardiac catheterization, connect, conversation, corrupt, damage, dishonest, email, emotionally, florence nightingale, friend, friendship, frustration, gratitude, happiness, happy, heart, heart disease, joy, lds, lds church, lift, love, mission, missionary, overwhelming, physically, rules, spirit, spiritually

Robert Redford and Respect for Nature

Nov

Saturday night my husband and I were invited to an event honoring Robert Redford. The event was called: ”The Governor’s Salute to Robert Redford: A Utah Tribute to an American Icon.” The event kicked off with a group of Native American Indians performing a ceremonial dance in their full attire. It was incredible! It was [...]

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Tagged actor, all is lost, american icon, butch cassidy, children, economic development, environment, flower, gary herbert, God, Governor, Governor Herbert, indian, james redford, jeremiah johnson, movie, native american, natural terrain, nature, orrin hatch, outdoor, respect, Robert Redford, senator hatch, sneakers, spirit, Sundance, Sundance Film Festival, sundance institute, sundance kid, sundance resort, the natural, the sting, tree, tribute, united states, Utah

Never be afraid to fall apart

Nov

“Never be afraid to fall apart because it is an opportunity to rebuild yourself the way you wish you had been all along.” – Rae Smith Ya know every now and then you just have to have that momentary break down…that day when you break down and cry…when you fall apart just a little bit…it [...]

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Tagged amazing, anger, believe, break down, breath, bury your head, can't go on, cry, crying, curl up, faith, fall apart, fetal position, get it out, happiness, happy, hope, hug, hurt, joy, let go, love, melt down, moment, motivated, opportunity, optimistic, overtake, overwhelm, overwhelmed, pillow, positive, precious, rebuild, rebuilding, refreshed, renewed, sadness, scream, self-esteem, self-improvement, short, smile, time

Life is Complicated Enough. Keep Your Software Simple. (Forbes Article)

Nov

The most impactful lesson we learned as a software development company was this: In the world of software systems, less can be a whole heck of a lot more, and more can often lead to a heck of a lot less. This point can best be illustrated by a personal example: While serving as the [...]

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Tagged architect, business, clients, company, complicated, complication, customer, customers, development, Employees, engineering, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, forbes, less is more, problem solving, product, product developer, product development, products, programming, simplicity, Software, success, successful, system, systems, temptation, user interface

Before You Do

Nov

“Before you act, listen. Before you react, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try.” -Ernest Hemingway I love the message of that quote. It’s such a [...]

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Tagged act, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, courage, creativity, criticize, culture, earn, entrepreneur, experience, fear, forgive, integrity, life, listen, powerful, pray, quit, react, reminder, self-confidence, self-improvement, spend, success, think, try, wait, work

Embrace Uncertainty

Nov

Security is something we all long for. Security in our job. Security in our financial state. Security in our relationships. We look for security in certainty – in knowing what to expect each day, in knowing what our tomorrow will look like, in knowing what future we are securing for ourselves. But if you really [...]

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Tagged adversity, appreciation, attachment, attitude, comfort, confidence, courage, creativity, culture, Deepak chopra, emma lou thayne, entrepreneur, future, gift, God, higher power, illusion, knowing, money, motivation, possibility, possible, reality insecure, relationships, security, self-confidence, self-improvement, success, the seven spiritual laws of success, tomorrow, trial, uncertain, uncertainty, wisdom of uncertainty

Why?

Nov

This past week my cousin returned from a 20 month stint working in Afghanistan to come home to his beautiful family that lives on the east coast. His wife and their nine children had been anticipating his return with such excitement. I noticed his wife posted a darling message on her Facebook page last week [...]

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Tagged adversity, best friend, body, C.S. Lewis, death, devastated, faith, families, family, father in heaven, forever, God, Heavenly Father, husband, loss, loving father, memorial, Michelle Brooking Rees, nonsensical, pain, plan of salvation, sadness, spirit, stronger, sweetheart, test, tested, together, tragedy, trial, trust, understand, understanding, unexpected, what do i believe, wife

Get Candy, Get Candy, Get Candy!

Oct

Happy Halloween Everyone! I love seeing all the cute little kids in their fun Halloween costumes on Halloween going door to door in search of candy. And according to a news report I saw on TV this morning those cute little kids should be hiding their candy stashes when they get home tonight – they [...]

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Tagged candy, children, comedy, comedy sketch, costume, costumes, family, friends, get candy, halloween, happiness, happy, holiday, jerry seinfeld, joy, laugh, laughter, parents, research study, seinfeld, sketch, stand up comedy, stash, stealing, treats, video, you tube

Pride vs Gratitude

Oct

“Pride is to relationships as cyanide is to health.” I came across an amazing article today about pride and there was a section that was so powerful I had to share it. “A pride contest has no winner because nobody likes the winner. Humans don’t respond well to being put down, and pride gives others that [...]

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Tagged adversity, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, balance, blessings, build, confidence, courage, destroy, ego, family, forgive, friends, goals, God, grateful, gratitude, humble, illusion, imperfection, kindness, look up, lose, marriage, pride, relationships, service, strong, vulnerability, win

Anyway

Oct

Anyway People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and [...]

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Thank you, thank you, thank you

Oct

Today I spoke to a large group of students at BYU. I love speaking to the students. They have so much energy and enthusiasm and joy for the future. They are so young and full of promise for their life ahead. In preparing to speak to them I really tried to consider the messages I [...]

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Appreciate and Enjoy the Right Now

Oct

Living a life focused on accomplishing is a good thing, except when you are trying to accomplish so much, so fast, that you forget to appreciate and enjoy the right now. I have been a driven person since I was a little girl. I have always been a goal setter and I have always been [...]

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Here’s To Strong Women

Oct

“Here’s to strong women. May we know them, may we be them, may we raise them.” Tonight the University of Utah held a Women Alumni event at our REES Capital offices and they asked me to hold a Q&A forum with the women where they could ask me questions about my past experiences and life [...]

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Tagged alumni, ambition, appreciate, appreciation, attitude, beautiful, business, capable, caring, confidence, encourage, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, equal, event, events, family, forum, friends, giving, goals, God, gratitude, happiness, happy, inspiration, intelligent, love, marilyn monroe, men, motivation, move mountains, networking, REES Capital, self-confidence, self-improvement, strong women, talented, university of utah, woman, women

“Ahhhh, now I get it”

Oct

Do you ever have those moments when life’s deepest lessons suddenly click and you say to yourself “Ahhhh, now I get it!” The older I get the more I seem to have those “Ahhhh…” moments where things I have struggled for years to understand suddenly become completely clear and I think to myself “Dang I [...]

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Amy Rees Anderson

Amy Rees Anderson

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