Dinner?

The world wide question tonight is…”What do you want for dinner?”  I know that in my family that was the question each night (unless we had leftovers).  Normally leftovers were finished up during lunch time.  Now that I am married, dinner is a whole different ball game.  I only have to please 2 people.  Me and John.  In reality, I know how to cook for 4-8 people.  This was a major change after I got married.  My reciepes have scaled down and now I cook for 2-4 people.  John and I still love leftovers. 

 

Well tonight was the question…”What do you want for dinner?”  A couple of suggestions were tossed between texts and a decision wasn’t made.  Pizza, meatballs and rice…pasta…no decision. 

 

Over the weekend, we went down to Delta to hang out with parents.  We came back with some of John’s things and a couple of new cookbooks.  I tried one muffin reciepe and loved it.  For some reason I have had a hankering for bisciuts.  Don’t ask why…cause I don’t know.  So there is a buscuit reciepe in this new book.  So tonight I tried it.  John doesn’t even know.  He doesn’t get home till after 8pm. 

 

Everyone knows that you can’t just have biscuits for dinner, as good as that would be.  So I cooked up some chicken.  I didn’t want just normal chicken, I wanted something more.  So I called mom and asked here about breading chicken and then baking it.  We came up with crushed rice krispie cereal and some seasoning.  I think it will turn out.

 

So the answer to the question; What do you want for dinner tonight is….Breaded Chicken and biscuits. 

 

Betty Crocker, you’ve got competition.

New Years Eve

I will be honest, normally NYEve is a let down each year of my life.  It is normally filled with the same old boring movies and parties (at least before married life).  However, this year John and I changed our plans and made it the best NYEve we have both had in a long time.

 

We were house sitting at my parents and trying to figure out what to do for NYEve.  We decided that it would be fun to go shooting.  So we called up Lee and Ian and headed to Eureka for the night.  What a crazy night it was.  We made a yummy soup and grilled cheese sandwhiches on an antique stove and they turned out great.  Ian also gave us the tour around the house.  It is basically comparable to a museum, so pretty much awesome.  If you didn’t know, Eureka is an old mining town.  Anyway, so we ate dinner, watched a movie and then around 10:30 we loaded up the cars with guns, ammo, targets and clay pigeons.  We shot it up till about 12:30am because it was freezing and headed back to the house. 

 

After we made it back, we put in Jerimiah Johnson. And if you haven’t seen that movie, it is only good once every 5-10 years.  I made it through about 1/2 and then went to bed.  I will say, I was pretty proud of myself for staying up till about 3am.  Normally, I am like a grandma and go to bed between 10 and 10:30pm. 

 

It was a great NYEve party.  I hope we get to do it again next year.

Loss

Dear friends who read my blog,

 

It has been a while since my previous post.  Many things have happened one thing in particular, which has made a significant impact on my life.  Just after Christmas, my Uncle Dave passed away.  This was all expected after months of seeing his illness take over and his body start to slow down. 

 

Uncle Dave was no ordinary uncle.  He was the uncle that made you laugh, give you hugs, wipe the tears from your eyes and be almost like another father to you.  He was a very special person to many people.  He was like a father to me.  For this I am grateful.  His love for me was the sweetest most pure love an uncle could have for a neice. 

 

Uncle Dave gave me my first job at the Jewish Community Center aka JCC aka the J.  It had been a home to me for about 7 years.  It has been a home to him for about 10 years.  He was one of the best managers I could have ever been managed by.  I learned a lot from him that first year before I moved to the desk.  He is loved by so many people at the JCC, it is almost overwhelming to see and feel the love they had for this one man. 

 

There was never a day where Uncle Dave was never prepared to go to bat for me while I worked at the JCC.  On occasion, I would run into problems or trouble and I knew that I could always talk to him about it and he would help me in any way he could.  He was such a strong individual, where most believed that he was a very tough guy, but down deep he is one of the sweetest men I know and love.

Uncle Dave was recognized as Employee of the Year at the JCC.  He humbly accepted this great honor.  That night he spoke so beautifully.  He talked about prayer and how he could feel the prayers of those who would pray aloud or silently.  How no matter what your religion might be, he felt your love and support for him through those prayers and was so grateful for how they comforted him during his last days.

 

Some of my favorite moments with Uncle Dave would be when he would come by the house for lunch and enjoy a sandwhich at the “Smith’s Deli” (as I would call our kitchen).  I always enjoyed hearing Dave talk about his opinion on politics or what Rush Limbaugh had to say about a certain subject, or even just chatting about whatever might be on his mind. 

 

Uncle Dave’s funeral was beautiful.  The words spoken couldn’t have been put any better.  It was beautiful.  His life was honored, celebrated and cherished.  I love my Unkie Dave.  I miss him very much, but I know that I will be able to see him again and have lunch at the Smith’s Deli.

 

Love you Unkie Dave.

 

Where does the time go?

My goodness, I didn’t realize I hadn’t written anything for a little over a month.  For this post, I would like to tell you about the project John and I have been working on over the last month.

As the Christmas season approaches, I enjoy taking time to reflect, grow, learn and be even more compassionate to those we know and don’t know.

Each year in John’s family puts together the amount of money that they would spend on each other toward a family in need.  This year it is our turn to find a family and help out by providing items that are needed.  I am very excited and thankful for this opportunity to serve Christ’s children in need.  This is where the spirit of Christmas is.  It is in serving the Lord and his Son by serving his children.

 

A little catch up

Ok, so i realize that I have not posted anything for quite some time now.  I guess some would say that I have fallen off the face of the earth because i got married, well i think in some respect that is true.  Looking back now, i didn’t that getting married would change much of my daily routine and habbits.  Now i wouldn’t say this change is bad or good; its just different.

All in all, being married is great. 

John and I were able to go on a honeymoon, middle of October.  We went to West Yellowstone.  It was a wonderful and very needed vacation.  After changing jobs, planning a wedding and then going right back to work took a lot of energy.  By that time in October, we both were zonked.

It was so beautiful and peaceful there.  The weather was great. we had sun both days we taveled around.  We saw so many magnificent sites.  There were some places that I would never imagine to ever be in Yellowstone.  One of those places is the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  Talk about AMAZING!  If you have never seen this site, you must go.  It is truely stunning. 

We also spent some time around town which was fun.  They have so many of the same tourist shops.  You could almost walk into one store and go the next and get the same thing for less…well or more.  Depends.

It was a great trip.  We can’t wait to go back and go fishing.

Christmas?

Christmas? Already?  What?  As I am sure you all have seen it in the stores, isles for Christmas decor is startin to appear.  If you know me and know me well, you know that I LOVE Christmas.  For both religion and the decor. 

 

I am writing this post, mainly because I cannot wait to decorate my house and make it all cozy with Christmas.  From my previous post, I have found so many cute do it yourself Christmas ideas that I cannot wait to try.  I have a feeling they are going to be so fun and so cute when I get finished creating whatever it might be.  Today, I found these large Christmas ornaments that were actually styrafoam balls covered in glitter.  I mean; How cute is that and how cheap?  Seriously.  Who said you had to break the budget to decorate for Christmas or any other holiday for that matter.

 

I can’t wait to buy our 1st little christmas tree and decorate it with my hubby and spend our first Christmas as a married couple together.  It is going to be such a fun time.  Even Santa has a chiminey to come down.  I can’t wait to put our stockings there to have Santa fill them.  Yes, you may think that Santa is not real, but I know that he exists and brings about a wonderful spirit among fellow men. 

 

What I also can’t wait to do, is to make yummy holiday food.  You know what I am talking about.  It is the type of food that you only eat one time during the year.  This would be stuffing, turkey, gravey, green bean cassarole, pies and all the other amazing food that is baked and cooked during this wonderful season.  And I get to make that for John and I.  It is soooo exciting. 

 

What a wonderful year ahead it is going to be.  So many firsts, it will be great.

Pinterest? I say Yes!

Have you heard of pinterest?  It is one of the best sites I have come accross searching the internets for craft, baking, and anything you can think of ideas.  I am definately loving what it has to offer.  I have even tried one of the recipes and it was awesome.  I highly recommend checking it out.  The cool thing is, even if you don’t want to sign up for an account, you can totally just browse.  So awesome!

 

Well if you ever are pinterested (haha) come find me.  I’ll share my pins with you!

A Country Reception

The following night on Saturday was the reception down at John’s home in Hinckley, Utah.  The day couldn’t have been any more beautiful. The sun was up, there were a few clouds in the sky and there was just the slightest breeze in Millard County.  For those who haven’t traveled to Hinkley, there is always a wind of some kind blowing every day and all day long. We somehow lucked out and there was only the slightest breeze.  The weather was perfect. 

 

John and I slept in and took our time getting down home.  We stayed at a bed and breakfast the night before and enjoyed the yummy breakfast cooked by the host.  It was delicious.  Before we headed down, we stopped by the house to pick up some things. 

 

The evening began at 7pm.  Jane (john’s mom) made her backyard so beautiful. She spent all summer working on it and it was stunning.  She had country charm, which made it so cute.  She even brought in a real vintage surrey.  It was just amazing.  John and I both enjoyed this evening, being that it was a little more low key in the actual day of events.  It was really just another wonderful evening that I was able to spend with him and family.  After the line, John and I danced some, at delcious cobbler, took cute pictures and just had a ball with our guests.  It was wonderful.

 

I am just so thankful for him and his family and for how welcomed and loved I felt now officially part of the Ekins clan.  They are an amazing family.  I love them all.

Sadie, Sadie, Married Lady

Well, its official now…I’m married.  I couldn’t be happier.

Friday morning, I woke up just ready to explode with happiness knowing I was going to marry the man of my dreams for time and all eternity.  There was so much to do that morning before heading to the temple, but it didn’t matter when I got there. The Temple is so beautiful.  I was so excited to have gone inside and seen what people are talking about inside.  It is truely a sacred and beautiful place. 

My sweet mom helped me change into my temple clothes.  John was waiting for me in a separate room.  The sweet temple worker walked me to him.  I cried, just a little.  Tears of joy and happiness.  I hugged him and we were off to the sealing room where Elder L Tom Perry sealed us together for time and all eternity.  It was such a special blessing.  To know that by preparing to enter into the temple of the Lord and be sealed in his gospel with John is wonderful.  Elder Perry was so sweet and charming.  He is an amazing man and I am just so thankful to have had him seal us together.  After the sealing, we greeted all who attended and then we were off to change.

 

Thankfully Kandis was there to help me lace up.  My dress takes 5 minutes to get out of but 20 minutes to get in.  I love my dress.  It was one of the most special items I found for my wedding.  It was vintage and country and just simply beautiful.  It had just enough lace and beadwork to make it charming.  After I was dressed, I met john at the temple doors to greet everyone and take pictures. 

Wow, did we have to cruise through that or what.  We were on such a time schedule that we didn’t have much time to take time.  But I know that my photographer did a great job at getting what we needed as far as traditional photos go and then some special ones of John and I. 

So what I have yet to mention is that after the temple we headed to the luncheon and it started to rain.  Thankfully we made the call the day before to have tents set up so we could keep the cement patio some what dry for the reception. 

 

The reception was beautiful.  Kim (wedding decorator and friend) did an amazing job. She is so skilled and talented in this line of work.  I love working with her and creating something so beautiful.  She really topped herself with my wedding.  It was stunning.  I loved every single piece about it.  She really kept me in mind when creating the space to make it what it is. 

 

The schedule for the evening was a lot more easier.  We had a line for 1 hour and then we did the traditional first dance and daddy daughter dance.  It was such a special moment with John and then with my Dad.  I am so glad that I got to share that with dad.  He is one of the the most amazing men I have ever known in my life.  I love him so very much.  He is one of my best friends.  After the traditional wedding stuff, it was time to party!!! We had so much fun dancing.  I am so glad that we made it a party and just had the time of our life.  I couldn’t have asked for anything better. 

 

We ended the night and drove off as everyone cleaned up.  What an amazing night.  Worth everything that went into making it so wonderful.

Recipe Blog

So…I am thinking of starting a recipe blog.  I figure, since I am starting my newly married life in 2 weeks, it would be fun to try out new recipes, share my recipe secrets and share the “secret” recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation.  Also, I think it would be fun to have others share their own recipes and coment on their successes and failures. 

 

So what do you think?

The First Post…For the Love of Green

Hey all,

Welcome to my blog site.  I started getting excited about the whole blogging world when Jake put one together about updates for my mom and when my class started learning about it.  I guess I got swept up in the blogging-sphere that I just had to try it. 

For the Love of Green…

For those that know me extremely well, not well or just have no idea as to who I am you have to know that I have an obsession with the color GREEN!  I love green.  Green shirts, sweaters, earings, shoes, purses and headbands.  I love green everything.  Ok well not everything…that would be a little much.  But something about the color just makes me happy so I don’t think I could go wrong.  

Green-the meaning:

Green is life. Abundant in nature, green signifies growth, renewal, health, and environment. On the flip side, green is jealousy or envy (green-eyed monster) and inexperience.  Green is a restful color with some of the same calming attributes of blue. Like blue, time moves faster in a green room.  Green is the national color of Ireland and is strongly associated with that country. Green also has close associations with Islam. Because of all the green in nature the color is reminiscent of Spring. Coupled with red it’s a Christmas color.  With both a warming and cooling effect, the color green denotes balance, harmony, and stability. Use several shades of green for a fresh, Springtime feel. Olive green, also called olive drab, is a not so drab summery green that may have military overtones for some people.

So there you have it.  A little bit about me.  More to come…stay posted!

Just when I thought it was over…

This summer I auditioned for American Idol season 8.  It was a great, well a really long day.  I got up about 3am to get ready and was down at the audition line at 5am.  The crowd grew as everyone waited outside for their moment of fame to come.  When not many of us knew that we wouldn’t see Randy, Paula, or Simon that day.  I found out from others in the crowd that you would only be seeing them if you make it past the many producers that put the show together. 

I sang “When I Fall in Love.”  Such a great song, but overall I didn’t perform too well.  Eventhough I didn’t make it, I still had an awesome time auditioning. 

So just when I thought I was done with American Idol (at least till the show starts) my friend Erin tells me that on the American Idol SLC page I am in a photo on the site!  THis was the coolest thing I have ever seen or heard about.  Who cares…forget about American Idol auditions…I made the webpage! Heck Yes!!! THis is so much cooler than singing in front of thousands or millions of people.  

MY PICTURE

Oooey Goooey

Well Halloween is coming up really soon now, and I think that I have a costume.  I’m thinking about being a farmer.  Hopefully I can wear it somewhere.  I always find it difficult to find partys that are some good clean fun.  So I’m hoping that this is the year.

My favorite part about Halloween is carving the pumpkin.  I love to pull out the gooey inside…I have no idea why.  Maybe its my inner child coming out….ya I don’t know.  BUt I love it!   So this year I carved pumpkins with some friends and it was so much fun.  The girls team chose, a happy face and the boys chose, dracula.  The boys may have taken longer but I think that the girls pumpkin was 10 times cuter.  The other great part about carving pumpkins is cleaning and roasting the pumpkin seeds.  MMMM…soooo good! 

Roasting Pumpkin Seeds

1-Clean the seeds and let them dry a bit

2-After dried put into a bowl

3-Melt some butter and seasoning-mix together with seeds

4-Spread out on a  pan and roast at 350degrees

5-Takes about 20-25 minutes

6-Eat, Yummy!

Working hard on our pumpkin

The boys working hard on their pumpkin

The Boys Team

The Girls Team

Our Halloween faces

AHHHHHHH!!!!

AHHHHHH!!!! Ok well just imagine that with more shriek, and volume and you will be able to hear the scream that came out of my very petite friend Meg.  Last night we went to Nightmare on 13.  It was great.  It was the first haunted house that I have ever been to in about 5 years.  We got our wristbands and stepped in line.  Going into this I wasn’t super scared.  I think I was more worried about Meg having a panic attack.  She was freaking out!  Ok, it was kind of funny.  I think my favorite rooms were the tunnel, and the mirror with the bricks cause it totally looks like you are going to fall off if you take one step further.  So overall it wasn’t that scary for me.  But it was still a good time!

I voted!

Yesterday was not only a day in history to be remember as sadly our country is now being led by the person I did not vote for.  But all that aside…yesterday I made history in my life.   I voted!!! I voted for the first time.  I have never been so excited to go and stand in line to cast my ballot. 

Dad and I went about 10:30am to our voting station, we only had to wait 5 minutes.  I stepped up and told the people my name at the table and then they gave me a little card and dad and I stepped in line to vote.  I was so excited I even had dad take a picture on his phone so we could record this monumental day.

Well even though McCain didn’t win, I can now say that I voted!

A great way to end a crappy week

This week has been really crappy for me at school.  I don’t know what teacher long, long ago thought that group work was a good idea, but it is I think one of the dumbest things that has ever been put to practice.  There is usually someone who is the odd man out, or the group members don’t like you, or you don’t like the group members.  There is always something negative about group work.  Yet, somehow some teacher decides that working in groups is a great idea. 

But all that aside…If you did not catch the BLACKOUT U of U game…you missed out.  I have never seen a more supportive crowd of U of U fans.  The whole stadium was dressed in black.  It was so cool!  This game was intense.  TCU scored 10 points in the first quarter.  The 2nd and 3rd quarters were crazy.  Both teams tried to make advances to score, but it didn’t happen.  With only 5 minutes left in the game was ready to leave, thinking that the game was over.  But somehow the UTES pulled it off with a 13-10 victory!  It was awesome!!!  Fans rushed the field to celebrate the UTES win and 10-0 undefeated season.

Ice Princess or Ice Klutz

Tonight I went ice skating with my sister and my brother’s family.  What a fun fairly cheap way to go and have some fun for about an hour or at least till your legs feel like they are going to drop off or if you can count how many bruises you got in the last hour then you know that you have spent your money well. 

This was Elyse’s first time ice skating.  She is one daring and crazy cute 3 year old.  She held on tight to Jake’s hand and they circled the ice.  For the first time around Jake could already feel his ice skating battle wounds.  My wounds come later.   I joined Elyse and Jake on the ice.  Ellie did really well.   We just told her to take big steps.  The funny thing was when we would stop she would sit down on the cold ice and wait till we were ready to go again.  She also decided to lay down a couple of times.  And of course she had to see if the ice was any good.  I have never seen a kid like eating ice so much as she does. 

Jake, and I went a couple more times around the rink while Ellie went to mom.  I think it was 2nd time around somehow I turned and lost balance and yelled Sh** oops.  It was really, really funny.  Then the 3rd time we went I looked like I was fleeing for my life.  I had one leg half way up and my arms were flapping all around.  OH man what a sight I must have been.

We also took a small break and had some hot cocoa.  I swear when you buy hot chocolate it always burns your tongue.  After our break Jake, Ellie andI went one more time around the rink and called it a night.

Ellie taking a break on the ice

Beautiful

Tonight at ward prayer one of the sweetest most vibrant girls in  the ward came and talked to me today.  Last week at fast and testimony Sunday I expressed my testimony in Relief Society.  Somehow it always feels so good to express what I know and love with sisters who know and understand what I’m saying.  Later that day my friend left me a sweet little message saying that she enjoyed what I said.  This note was just so simple and so thoughtful, it meant a lot to me. 

So at ward prayer when we were talking, she told me that she forgot to tell me something last week.  She said that when I was up there she just thought about how beautiful I am.  When she told me this I started to tear up a little.  It was such a sweet compliment, it just made me feel an emotion that I haven’t felt for a while.

I think that too often we only tell people that they look pretty or nice, but not beautiful.  The word beautiful, I think is something stronger than the words that we substitute for it.

As an adjective beauty/beautiful means to have beauty; having qualities that give great pleasure or satisfaction to see, hear, think about, etc.; delighting the senses or mind: a beautiful dress; a beautiful speech

As we come to get to know people and see who they are for what really counts I think that it is important to see the beauty in what they have to offer.  Everyone is so different and unique that that’s beauty right there in and of itself.

So thanks to my friend who made me feel beautiful.

Thanksgiving Holiday

What a great Thanksgiving week/weekend!  I started my thanksgiving week by not working Wednesday through Saturday.  The other great thing about that was most of my classes were canceled on Tuesday and Wednesday.  This made the week even better.  It gave me ample time to help get the house cleaned for Thanksgiving. 

It has been so great to have mom home and especially home for thanksgiving.  What a day.  The turkey was perfect, thanks to Melyssa.  The green bean casarole was amazing, ooo and the stuffing was wonderful!  Everything was so great.  It was an extremely nice day to spend with everyone near and dear to me.

BLACK FRIDAY!!! Well I got up at about 5:30am.  Not to go to some random store and get the prize you get for getting up at the crack of dawn, but I went to hunt for a Christmas Tree.  And boy did i find a great one! Plus it was a steal of a deal.  I think that this has been the best tree we have ever had.  Its pre-lit, looks full, and I bought so many pretty sparkly ornaments.  It looks so beautiful!  I can’t wait to put the presents under the tree.

Saturday–Was filled with Christmas excitement…well at least from me.  I have been so excited for Christmas this year.  I think I have been so excited because I know that we have all worked hard in the last few months with mom that just to be together makes this Christmas even more special than any other.  With the help of Megan we displayed some of our most favorite and beloved Christmas decorations.  My favorite decoration that we put out is Santa kneeling before the baby Jesus in the manger.  It is a beautiful statue.

The weekend continued and was filled with fun and friends and plenty of shopping.

What a great Thanksgiving Holiday!

Winter Formal!

Friday, December 5 2008

This was the night of winter formal for Lambda Delta Sigma.  What an amazingly fun night. 

The evening started out getting ready at about 4:30 with a shower, hair do, make-up, and my dress.  Everything went according to plan this year…I think because it didn’t snow that day (like last year).  So my dress this year was so pretty.  I absolutely loved it.  It was short, sassy and sparkly.  It was perfect. 

After getting ready, I walked upstairs to show mom, and she just took one look at me and said in her small voice…”how pretty.”  I really truly looked and felt pretty.  It was so much fun to get dressed up for a night.  Our friend Becky was over and I asked her to take some pictures with my by the Christmas tree.  They are soooo super cute.  I don’t know, but something about being dressed up and standing next to the tree always makes me think of prom.  After that I was out the door on the way to Jamie’s house to go pick up our dates.

My date was Richard Marsh.  He was such a fun date to have that night.  He was funny, silly, and just really nice.  After we picked up Jamie’s date we drove to the institute and had dinner with our sorority.  Yummy, Yummy! 

Alpha decorated the upper atrium all christmasy and it looked lovely.  Dinner was great and we all had a good time. 

Now…this is the best part.   This year the dance was at the Capitol Building.  I have never been there…at least not that I can remember.  So I was excited no matter what.  We walked in and up the stairs and just looking around I just thought what a beautiful building.  All the marble and gold railings, it was just amazing to see.  If there is one thing you should know about me it is that I love to dance.  Dancing is one of my most favorite things to do.  The best thing was that my date loved dancing too.  So I think that we danced a full straight 2 1/2 hours, from the time we got there till the end.  And OOHHHH man were my feet throbbing by the end of the night.  But it was all worth it.  I think that I can officially say that this winter formal was one of my favorites.

After the dance we went to Dee’s and had some ice cream.  By that time we were so tired and ready to sleep. 

What I didn’t tell you is that Richard told Jamie during the week that he was expecting a kiss at the end of the night.  Well…I wasn’t really about to do that, only talking to him a couple of times and then meeting him for the first time that night, so kissing him was out of the question.  So what Jamie and I came up with was to buy one of the over-sized kisses and give it to him at the end of the night.  It was cute and funny. 

 

What a great winter formal.

Before leaving the house

before leaving the house

Jamie and Vance

Me and Richard

Amanda, Me, Jamie

Our dates

Jamie and I

Erin, Me, Mary

Richard busting out some moves

Christmas Time is Here

Well everyone…it is my favorite time of year.  Time to celebrate friendships, families and the birth of our Saviour.  I think that this Christmas season has meant more to me than any other Christmas we have had.  As all of you probably know my Momma is home and getting better every day.  WIth almost losing her just a few months ago, it brings a tenderness to the heart to think of her still with us. 

 

Also this year I have been helping dad with the B 98.7 Christmas Wish.  What an opportunity!  Every morning Monday through Friday, dad and I have been getting up at 5:30 AM, throwing on some clothes and rolling out of the driveway at about 6 AM.  We never know where we are going till the evening before.  So everyday is a new surprise.  All of the families that we have visited are well deserving of all the Christmas gifts that the sponsors have provided.  Being apart of this project has really brought the true meaning of Christmas alive. 

 

I just love Christmas so much!

Spring Semester

Well, winter break is basically over. You would think that I would be all sad about it, but I’m pretty excited to get back into the nuts and bolts of things. School starts on Monday, Jan. 12. I am taking Mass Communication Law, Communication Statistics, PR Agency, and a writing class. I already have that feeling that I am going to be pretty busy with studying. Also this semester I will be going to work, attending Alpha and taking voice lessons. It may be busy, but I can’t wait to start fresh and new.

I think that my favorite part about going back to school is buying school supplies. I have no idea why, but I just do. The best is when you get that brand new notebook and you open the first page and it is all clean and crisp and just new! The only downside to starting school is buying books for the class. That can always be a hefty cost. I’ve been lucky the last couple of semesters to not have had a huge book expense. I remember the first semester I started, I think that between books and supplies my grand total was around $400. It was insane. Eventually, I started to be a bit more resourceful. What you need to know about me is that I love school. I love going, getting involved, and just being with other people my age. I find it refreshing to see other freshman walk on campus a little nervous because it is such a change from what they were doing before. I was one of them. Sometimes I still feel like I am that freshman. That nervousness comes back on the first day of class, where you kind of know some people but not very well, so you are more timid and don’t really talk to anyone. I would say that just about every semester, I am that way. The best is when you walk into a class with not knowing many of the students, but by the end of the semester you are all best buds and chat all the time before, after or even sometimes during class.

This last semester I was able to have a great experience. Resulting in probably one of my best semesters at the U. I had 3 classes. Two, of the classes I had the same teacher. Suzanne Horsley, is an awesome teacher. She was right on the button about everything. Everything she did made the semester great. THe other great part about these classes was that they were small so you could get to know just about everyone in the class. I think that my favorite class was Strategic writing. I think there was only 12 of us. The entire semester we would talk, learn, and write. It was great!

So, I am hopeful that this semester will be just as great in its own way. Each semester that I have been in college has been so different. Nothing is ever the same.

Already Gone

The group Sugarland is amazing!  They are a country duet with amazing songs, harmony and emotion.  When this song came out on the radio, I instantly fell in love with it.  I feel like it represents kind of where I am at in my life and where I want to go and what I want to do. 

My Mama mapped out the road that she knows
Which hands you shake and which hands you hold
In my hand-me-down Mercury, ready to roll
She knew that I had to go
And hangout, make lots of noise
And layout late with a boy
Make the mistakes that she made ’cause she knew all along

I was already gone
I was already gone
I was already gone
Life is a runaway train you can’t wait to jump on

They say the first time won’t ever last
But that didn’t stop me. the first time he laughed
All my friends tried to warn me the day that we met
“Girl, don’t you lose your heart yet”
But his dark eyes dared me with danger
And sparks fly like flame to a paper
Fire in his touch burning me up, but still I held on
I was already gone
I was already gone
I was already gone
Life is a runaway train you can’t wait to jump on

The last time I saw him, we packed up my things
And he smiled like the first time he told me his name
And we cried with each other
We split the blame for the parts that we couldn’t change
Pictures, dishes and socks
It’s our whole life down to one box There he was waving goodbye on the front porch alone

But I was already gone
I was already gone
I was already gone
I was already gone
I was already gone
Hangout, make lots of noise
And layout late with a boy
Make the mistakes that she made, life is a runaway train

My mama mapped out the road that she knows
Which hands to shake, which hands you hold
In my hand-me-down Mercury
Life is a runaway train you can’t wait to jump on

Well, spring semester is in full swing.  I can tell you already that this semester is going to kick my butt.  With classes just barely starting, I am already behind in the readings.  I hope that I can stay on top of things this semester to make it worth my time.    I think that as soon as this first week is over, the semester will pick up and fly by.

So far I think my favorite class is the Student Ad Agency.  For this class we are starting the first ever communication Ad Agency.  It is so exciting.  We are starting everything from scratch, which is so cool because everyone will get to learn all the different parts of an agency.

With the semester starting it also means ALPHA!!! I am so super excited to get back into the swing of things with Alpha.  We had a great rush night (hopefully to bring in a lot of fun girls). Tonight, there is the carnival, which Sara says, “is the best night of your life.”  And it really is a super fun night to catch up with everyone.  Another great night is the Stomp!!! Woot! Woot!

This day changed my life

Thursday, February 5, 2009

This day changed my life.

I got a call from my friend Michael at about 10:15 am.  I was taking a test at the time so I couldn’t answer.  As soon as I finished I checked my phone.  He also sent me a text saying that “Chris killed himself.”  I was so shocked by these words that I called him that next second.  He confirmed my worst fears as I recalled the text message.  I didn’t know what to think or do.  I slumped down next to a post in the LNCO building and sat there.  I didn’t start crying, I just thought, but really I didn’t know what to think about.  After a few minutes I headed out to the car and cried.  I cried my heart out. 

Not wanting to go to my next class, I headed up the J.  I figured that a good way to let this all set in was to go for a run on the treadmill.  I walked in and went downstairs and just stopped at the gate and when my friends saw me they c0uld just see that i had been crying.  I told them what I had found out and just continued to cry. 

After working out, I didn’t feel much better.  I went home for a little bit and told mom and just cried some more.  By this time it was about 1:30pm and I was heading back to campus for my last class of the day. 

That night was membership ceremony for Alpha.  This is one of my most favorite nights during the semester.  Each officer takes a turn and goes through each of the sisterhood values and bears their testimony.  After this all of the actives get up and sing a song, “Come Unto Him.”  This is a beautiful song, it has such a deep meaning, but with simple words.  I was standing next to Jamie and as soon as the song started I couldn’t even make it to the second word.  I was in tears.  I just thought to myself, how could someone loose touch with our Saviour and not want to come unto him. 

After the song, those who felt like it stood up and bore testimony.  I got up and told them what happened and how I felt about the situation.  I told them to seek out those they know who might be having any struggles or just people they haven’t talked to in a while.  After sharing my testimony, the next part of the program is to have the new girls bring a flower up and say what they are bringing to Alpha.  After that Cassie, says something like, “each girl is different and unique just as these flowers are.”  Usually the boquet is presented to the Advisor, but this year for some reason they chose to present it to me.  I was just in tears to think that they would give me such a wonderful and sweet thing.  I was so honored.

Later, I had found out that Dwan didn’t want the flowers this year.  She wanted to give them to someone else and let the officers choose.  And she said that it was unanimous that they wanted me to recieve the flowers.

I have never felt so much support and love from girls that I have known for 4 years and 4 weeks.  The spirit of the Lord was strong in that room that night.

Obituary of Christopher Warren Owens

Christopher Warren Owens
Christopher Warren Owens 1988 ~ 2009 Our beautiful, bright, and talented son and brother, Christopher Warren Owens, passed away in his home February 5, 2009.He was born August 4, 1988, in Salt Lake City, Utah to his adoring parents Warren Duane Owens Jr. and Korin Cooper Owens. Christopher graduated with honors, in June of 2007, from Highland High School and thereafter was enrolled at the University of Utah on a scholarship. He was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was an extraordinary young man beyond measure who had the soul of a man well past his years. He was extremely hard working and strove for excellence in everything he pursued. His passion for knowledge and music were remarkable. He appreciated the little things in both life and music that many people would have no understanding of. He played the guitar, the bass guitar, and the piano for many years and could make the music come to life bringing joy to his family, himself, but also lighting up the faces of anyone who was listening. He loved fitness in both mind and body and would take in as much information as he possibly could and then put it into practice in his daily life. He earned his Eagle Scout award which gave him many wonderful and memorable experiences camping with his father, leaders, and friends. It was said he was always on top of his game and encouraged the rest of the scouts to pay attention and learn. He had a big heart and wanted to make a difference in the world. His love for his family and his desire to be a good son and brother was at the fore-front of his mind everyday. He wanted all to know that he could be depended on and was very eager to please. As he grew and matured, it was never necessary to give him guidelines, as he seemed to come to this earth with it all figured out. Our hearts are broken and we will deeply miss this giant of a young man. The memories we have shared with our dear Christopher will keep our hearts uplifted and we look forward, with joy, to the day when we will all be reunited in the presence of our Savior. Christopher is survived by his parents Warren and Korin Owens, brother Cameron Owens (Ashley), sisters Jessica Hickman (Mike), Erica 18 and April (11); grandparents Keith and JoAnne Cooper, Robbie Owens, a beloved nephew, and many aunts, uncles and cousins. He was privileged to have several close friends namely, Jeff, Chad, Mike, Jared, Josh and many others. He is preceded in death by his grandfather, Warren Duane Owens Sr. A viewing will held Sunday February 8, 2009 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Salt Lake Highland Stake Center located at 2738 South Filmore Street in Salt Lake City, Utah. A viewing prior to the funeral services will be held 10:00 – 10:45 a.m. on February 9th 2009. Funeral services will begin at 11:00 a.m. thereafter. The interment will be at the Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park & Mortuary in Salt Lake City, Utah (enter from 3300 South).

I will miss you Chris

Monday, February 9, 2009

Today was the funeral for Chris.  It was beautiful.  All of the words spoken were beautiful and presented a message of peace and comfort.  Chris will be missed and remembered for the rest of our lives.  He was an extordinary person with many talents and love for life. 

Chris left this world not of normal circumstances.  He had suffered depression for many years, some of which he never disclosed to anyone.  Chris shot himself Wednesday night.  He was found by family members soon after.

My prayers and thought are with the Owens family and friends that they may feel comfort, peace and happiness.  I will miss Chris.  He was a good friend.  I pray for Jared, Chad, and Mike that they may be strong and continue to be the best friends that they already are and have been for many years.  I know that they too will miss Chris.

4 days left!!!

Well, it is 4 days and counting!!! My birthday is coming up! I thought it was never going to come…ha ya right.  Its one of the days that I look forward to the most.  Its a day all about me!  Everyone needs those days.  Sure, those kind of days happen off and on during the year, but on your birthday its even bigger.  THe day and or weekend (depending on how much you choose to celebrate) is filled with food, laughs, presents, cake, friends and everything and anything you could imagine.

FOr the past couple of years, I get a bunch of my friends and we go country dancing.  THis is seriously the best night of my life.  I love to go country dancing!  Its just too much fun to pass up. 

ON friday, (my actual birthday) I have class and then am going to dinner with the family!  My favorite part about this is going to restaurants where they sing to you.  I love being sung happy birthday to!  i’m never embarassed about it.   Plus you get free desert.  What could be better than that?

Also on friday night I’m hanging with my best girlfriends and we are going to have a sleep over… Now i know what you might be thinking…”isn’t she too old for a sleepover?”  The answer is, NOPE!!!  Sleepovers are the bomb dot com.  THis year i’m so excited, the theme for us is the Ya Ya sisterhood! ha i can’t wait.  I can’t tell you too much, cause if a friend reads this then the gig is up.

Well I am just super stoked about my birthday!

Ya Ya

This year for my birthday, my girlfriends and I decided to have a sleepover and base it around the theme of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. We have known each other sinc highschool. I have known one of the girls since 4th grade. Between all of us our friendships have been up and down but we have always stayed together.

Friday night we made our own Ya Ya crowns. It was awesome. And we watched the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which is such a cute movie. I am so super lucky to have awesome girlfriends I can call anytime.

I’m 22!!!

Well this weekend was my 22nd birthday! I love my birthday. I love being sung to, i love to celebrate, and I love presents. Most of all I love to spend time with all my friends.

Thursday night I went country dancing with friends to celebrate my birthday! It was an awesome night. I love to go dancing. THe best was that Jamie and Amanda had the DJ announce that it was my birthday and the DJ said that I was 21. Ha it was way funny. THe other thing that was way awesome was having my friend Chris come. He would never come otherwise. IT was just awesome!

Dancing at Studio 600

Me and my stupid mouth and phone

Hey everyone,

I know that most of you only come on here to kind of see an update of what is happening in my life, which is great.  For some it is easier than a phone call.  For me it can be easier than a phone call.  But in all reality phone calls and letters are the beginnings of great means of communication.  I know that I have most likely lowered myself into using text messaging all too often.  I feel as though it has dumbed down some of my friendships, or it has hurt some of my friendships in some way.  Text messaging isn’t bad, but its not good either.  It can be great to text someone if you just need a quick response, but with some of the messages sent, the person on the other end can misinterpret the message.  This will lead to problems, I promise.  I have gone through it many times and hate it each time it happens.  The opposite to all of this is just by simply calling someone and seeing what they needed, why they might be mad at you, or just a friendly hello.  I can say that for myself, I don’t do this enough.  I get too caught up in texting.  However, with a phone call, I do understand that some might not be able to answer as soon as it rings, so leave a message.  Messages allow you to do just about the same thing as a text message.  A voice mail takes out the intimidation of actually talking to someone (especially for the first time).  The only down side, which happens with both ways of communication is that the response time can vary. 

 

I guess my main reason for this blog entry is not really to say that I’m going to be better about calling people because in all reality its tough to call someone unless you are already used to it.  What I’m writing about is texting someone that you are sorry, that you’re mad, that your feeling have been hurt…you get the idea.

 

I ran into that situation just from the events over the weekend.  I won’t name names or tell you the exact situation because then I would be starting this all over again.  So just bear with me as i try to describe what happened and what I did to try and “resolve” the problem I created.

 

A few weeks ago one of my best friends went in for something.  I knew she was going to and she told me what she was doing.  I was happy for her and still am.  She then asked me not to tell anyone.  She said that the only people that I could tell was my family, but that was it.  She placed trust in me and I broke that trust a couple weeks later.  I was talking with another nameless friend and it came out in conversation.  And so i proceeded to tell her not to tell anyone.  About a week after that 5 of us girls had a sleepover and it came out that I had broke the trust and told the nameless friend. 

I honestly didn’t really catch what I did until a few days later when I had the chance to think about how the weekend went with all the activities that happened.  Soon after I realized that I was the worst friend ever and that I had broken this trust that I have built up over the last 4 years. 

 

After realizing what I had done, I then texted her that I was sorry and told her that this wasn’t my thing to tell.  She texted me back saying that she thought she could trust her best friend.  The statement alone stabbed me through the heart.  I felt so so so horrible for what I had done.  I knew that I needed to make it right.  I decided that texting was not an option.  I chose to call her, knowing she would avoid my phone call, so I left a message.  I know that this wouldn’t clear anything up, but at least she could hear me verbalize my appology.  I know that I will have to work back that trust again. 

 

So my point is that if a text message is about something serious then just call the person.  It is better to talk through it than to read something that could be misread.  I know that I will always have that problem off and on, but I’m going to try and be better at it.  The other point is don’t be stupid like I was and tell someone else the “gossip” because it always comes back to bite you in the but. 

 

To my friend, (I doubt you read this, but if you do) I’m sorry.  I was in the wrong and I’m going to work on being better and keeping your trust.

Summer 2009!

Well I only have about a month and a couple weeks of school left for the semester.  I am super excited to be getting done with the classes that I have.  It has been one of the hardest semesters I have ever had. 

 Every year for the last 3, I have created a list of things I would like to do during the summer.  The items are simple, cheap and super fun, especially when there are a bunch of friends going with you.  So far I have about 42 items that I would like to go and do.  Some of them though, I have had on the list for a couple of summers and I think that this year will be the year I’m going to shoot for everything. 

 I hope that this list gives you some fun ideas for what you are planning this summer!

Things I want to do for Summer 2009!!!

 Paddle boats at Liberty Park

Have Sunday afternoon picnics

Have other picnics (at different parks)

Go camping

Go to an art exhibit

Go on fun dates

Go to the Bees Game

Run a 5k

Go hiking

Go to the Oakley Rodeo

Get Pedicures

Go on a vacation

Have BBQ’s

Go to a movie in the park (Friday night flicks)

Go to Zions

Go to Moab

Read

Go Ice Blocking

Go to Dotties

Go Dancing

Fly a Kite

Watch lots of movies

Go to the Farmers Market

Go to Summer Concerts

Get a Snow Cone

Go to Raging Waters

Go to Lagoon

Gardner Village

Frontier Fest

Play in the fountain at Gateway

Fast Kart Speedway

Go to the Zoo

Go to the Living Planet Aquarium

Go to events at the Gallivan Center

Go on a tour

Clark Planetarium

Take Lots of Pictures

Gibgal Sculpture Garden

Go Mountain Biking

Float the Lazy Provo River

Ride the Heber Creeper

Check out the Utah Chalk Art Festival

Go to the Utah Arts Festival

Go to a Drive-in Movie

Spring Took a Vacation and Called Summer to Fill In.

Well…so I guess by posting all the super fun things I want to do this summer early, it caused winter to come back and snow on my parade.  Oh well….

So last week was spring break.  It wasn’t super great, but it wasn’t bad.  I worked most of it.  I have to start saving up for a car again.  I also got time to hang with friends and go on some adventures, which was way fun!

I watched a couple of movies with some friends at the beginning of the break.  Then started the longest work week ever.  I think I worked about 40 hours or more…I’m not really sure.

Monday, was so much fun.  I took Elyse to the Build a Bear Factory at the Gateway.  She was so super cute.  She wore pink pants, a pink sweater and a purple tutu.  Oh it was just so super cute, so Ellie.  When we walked in she went straight over to the bins where all the bears are and she chose a pink bear with white hearts all over.  It is super cute!  With the help of the staff, Elyse got to fill her bear with stuffing and a sound and a heart.  We then gave her bear a bath and a name.  And of course she named the bear Ellie.

After build a bear we watched the fountains squirt up and and took some pictures.  We finally got cold enough and decided to head up to Grandma Chris’ and Papa Russ’ house for some lunch.  While we were playing, she came over and brought a book and I read her a couple of stories and then we pretended to sleep, but then we would start giggling.  It was so super cute.  The only bummer was that we both got sick, but it was worth it to spend a few hours with my niece.

Later that week, I went on an adventure with some friends to the Cinderella Park.  I think that its actually called Evergreen Park, but since there is a pumpkin like Cinderella’s carriage it is Cinderella Park.  We did some swinging and played on the toys and took some pictures.  It was so super fun.  Then Katie and I went swimming in the supposedly heated pool, then we went hot-tubbing and then after that we sat in the Sauna.  In the sauna we had the heat up and the steam going and I was dripping with sweat.  It was kind of gross but it felt good.  I think I actually sweat off a pound.

The rest of the weekend I watched movies with friends and just relaxed.  The sad part is that I had to come back to school this week.  But the good thing is that now there are only like 12 class times for each classes, which really means that there are only 6 weeks of school left!!! I can’t wait! Bring on SUMMER!!!

The Best April Fool’s Joke Ever!!!

I usually don’t do any type of pranks or jokes for April Fools Day, but this year I decided to.  This year was the best joke ever!  I have never laughed so hard at my friend’s gullibility.   I am quite sure that I have been just as gulliable as they were today.

The morning started off with getting up around 9 am, eating breakfast and showering.  With not wanting to do homework, I jumped on facebook and thought….what a great April Fool’s joke, to be engaged to some imaginary person that not even some of my close friends would know about.  So I proceeded to change my status to “engaged” and let it go from there. 

One of my sweet friend’s, Kariann was first up to bat.  She greeted me on facebook chat and just started asking all the routine questions. Who, where, when and how the proposal happened.  It was the best.  I started coming up with my story on the spot and I think that it was a good story too.

His name is Kevin Johnson.   He is from Idaho and is going to school now at the U.  We have been dating off and on for about 7 months and decided about 4 months ago to get more serious.  Monday, March 30, 2009, Kevin proposed.  He took me out to dinner at the Roof restaurant, which was amazing (though I have never been there in my life).  After dinner we drove around, I had know idea as to where we were going.  We ended up at this cute little park and it had a gazebo.  The gazebo was covered in twinkle lights and roses.  It was beautiful.  He turned on one of my favorite love songs, “When I said I do,” by Clint Black, and we danced.  At the end of the song he got down on one knee and proposed.

And there you have it my friends, the best April Fool’s Joke Ever.  Though after telling those who believed me, I reminded them what day it was.  It only took a second for them to figure it out that I had just completely made everything up.  It was perfect.

Now when I do get “engaged,” I will let you know if it is the real one.  You’ll probably know its the real one anyway, but I have to get a boyfriend first.  In all honesty, when I do get engaged if someone were to suggest this date for my proposal, I don’t know if I would laugh (because I made it up)  or love it just as much as I loved thinking it up in my head on the spot.  Either way, I know that when I do get proposed to, it will be a great night.  One I know I will remember.

Feel the Rhythm, Feel the Ride, Come on now its RUNNING TIME!!!

I am proud to announce that I ran my very first 5k run on Saturday, April 18th!!!  It was an awesome morning.

The night before, I went to bed around 10 pm.  I knew that I had to be up early in order to get there on time. 

I woke up at about 5:45 a.m.  Oh man…it was early.  I pulled myself out of bed and walked upstairs to make some oatmeal and have a little bit of gatorade to get me going.  After breakfast, I went downstairs got dressed.  I put on my 5k t-shirt and put on my running shoes and I was good to go.

Getting out of the house was the next trick…Every year the course never changes for the marathon runners or bike riders.  They always pass the house.  The starting line is at the U., and our house falls at about mile 6.  I got in the car about 6:30a.m. and turned around in the driveway because I knew that there was no way of backing out into the oncoming traffic of bikers.  

I got to the top of the driveway and the cop comes over and says, “I don’t know how I’m going to get you out of here.”  I told her that I was heading down to the 5k and it was just as long as I could get to a street, I would be fine.  She told me that she could get me to her car and I said thats perfect.  I got to the street and I was off.  I raced up to the entrance of parleys by Kmart and hopped on the freeway.  I am so glad that I didn’t have to work that morning. 

I met up with Jake at the City County Building.  We almost didn’t find each other, but thankfully we did.  I was so super excited to start the race.  Jake and I did pretty well.  Everyone was plugged into their Ipods and so I tried to make some noise as we ran just to make it more fun.  It was a good time.

At the final leg of the race, Melyssa, Ellie and Cohen were there cheering us on.  It was so exciting.  Jake and I came in at about 37 minutes. 

This was such a great experience!  I can’t wait to do it next year.

Bring on the Summer!

School is out!!! Hear me SHOUT!!! Oh man, was I ever so ready to be done with this semester or what… cause I’ll tell ya, it kicked my butt!  It is so nice to be done and not have to think about another paper, test, or dumb assignment for about another 4 months.  I love summer!  All I hope is that I pass all of my classes, I am really concerned about my mass media law class…Yikes!!!  Cross your fingers.

So this week I started my internship at the Mayor’s Office in Salt Lake, Mayor Ralph Becker.  Its going pretty good so far.  Actually, I haven’t done much…hmmm, I know it will pick up, I hope.  The first day was orientation and a staff meeting.  The staff meeting was pretty cool.  It was neat to hear everything happening on the other side, rather than hearing it from the media.  What a cool primary source to be involved in.  So not much else happened on the first day.  Though I did wear an amazing outfit!!! Oh man I looked freaking amazing!!!  Its been fun getting some new “professional” clothes to wear.  I think I spent about 2 hours with the sales associate bringing me outfits to try on, so I could look perfect for my first day.  She was so cute and so helpful. 

 

Day 2:

Well honestly, I didn’t have much to do this day.  I get to the office about 11 am and Steven (Intern manager) wasn’t there.  He was home sick.  So, I sat at his desk and helped answer phones, I read through the safety manuals and started reading up on what is happening on at the Mayor’s Office.  I left about 4:30pm.  After that mom and I went to dinner at Paradise Bakery and that was so yummy!

After dinner, I took the dogs for a walk and then headed over to Amanda’s house to watch Idol and to go bowling.

 

Bonwood Bowling!  This is the best place to go!  It’s 3 games for about $9.  Amazing deal!  Plus its a good people watching place to.  The first game I bowled I got a high career score of 144!!! For one thing that was the highest I think I have ever bowled and the other great part about it was that I beat Chris!  Chris is an awesome bowler.  The downer is that the next two games sucked.  Ha, it was a first game fluke.  While we were bowling, I suggested that we should make up bowling names and get bowling shirts.

Amanda: Domino

Trevor: Wind up

Chris: Curvster

Laura: Stumbolina

Kyle: Cheetah

Me: Escalade

It was so random…I’m not exactly sure how I got mine, but whatever…it was a fun night of bowling that’s for sure. 

Well tomorrow is day 3 of the internship…we’ll see how that goes.  I just can’t wait to wear all of my new cute clothes.

Cool Mayor, Dumb Office

Well my friends, I am sad to say that I am not going to be an intern at the Mayor’s Office this summer.  Actually, I was an official intern for about 10 hours over the spread of 3 days.  Day 1, was orientation and that was fun.  We took a little tour and introduced to other people in the building and office.  Day 2, they didn’t have anything for me to do and one of the secretaries went home sick, so I answered her phone.  This made me a little nervous.  I mean talk about throw you into the line of fire.  All I was instructed to do was take a message.  I don’t even know if the Mayor or his assistant was ever actually in thier offices.  Day 3, I walk in thinking that maybe there will be something for me to do.  I sit for about an hour at the desk answering phones.  Kaye asks me to step in the other room with her to have a chat.  I say “ok.”  I really couldn’t say much else.  So we go in and I totally thought that it was about the email that I had sent to the Mayor giving him is phone message.  But it wasn’t.  Kaye started to tell me that it doesn’t look like there will be any work for me today or during the rest of the summer.  That it was not a reflection of how perfect I had been the last 2 days.  Essentially they just changed their minds and got my hopes up and the killed my hopes in a matter of about 5 minutes.  I was shocked.  I didn’t know what to say.  All I said was ok…we’ll see ya later (probly not).  Trying to be professional, I walked to the desk and gave them my badge, and phone directory and said, “is there anyting esle you need from me?”  I then walked to my car and gave them the parking pass.  This whole time, I tried to not cry.  I did pretty good in front of them, but by the time I got to the truck to leave, I bursted into tears.  So needless to say, I will not be applying there again for an internship.  For those who might be thinking about an internship there, I discourage it. 

 

So now I am on to bigger and better things.  I hope to still find another internship, but in the mean time I’ll just be working and doing things around the house.  Lucky me.

Wedding Season

Tis the time for weddings…just not mine. Ha, first I need a boyfriend, but that is beside the manner. Last night I attended my friend Meg’s wedding. It was beautiful. It was held at the Salt Lake Country Club. I had never been inside that building before and it was so pretty. The architecture and lighting was just lovely. She looked beautiful. She wore a side strap gown that had flowers on the strap and around the neck-line, her dress was very simple but so beautiful with the lace details and flowers scattered around the body of the dress. She looked stunning. Mike (husband) looked very nice in his tux. They made and adorable couple.

The ceremony was short and sweet but lovely. They looked so cute standing at the front of everyone who came to support her.

Ok, I can’t lie…one of the best parts of the night was the dinner. I had an amazing piece of salmon. Mmm so good. Everything was great. After dinner we danced it up and then headed home. What a great night.

I hope one day, I get to toast to one of my friends, sister, cousin, and really just whoever needs a good funny toast.  During the last week or so before Meg’s wedding I thought it would be hilarious to quote great wedding movie toast quotes for the toast.  Here is what I have come up with.

 

To the bride and groom: 

You are now husband and wife, I am so excited for you in so many ways.  It is only after Harry met Sally that he said, “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

Now as you two continue to get to know each other and be come A League of Your Own, will you only know that, “It’s supposed to be hard.  If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it.  The hard is what makes it great.”

Now, (Name) Your mom has probably already told you that a greek wedding is one heck of a party, though you are not greek she does know a lot of stuff like, “The men may be the head of the house but the women are the neck and they can turn the head anyway they want. (my big fat greek wedding).  Now another thing your mom might say to you is that “On my wedding night, my mother, she said to me, “Greek women, we may be lambs in the kitchen, but we are tigers in the bedroom.”

On a more sweet and sentimental note, “a successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person,” -Germaine Greer.

Also, You don’t marry someone you can live with; you marry the person who you cannot live without. – Anonymous quotes

I love you both and wish you the best.  Cheers!

Meg’s Wedding- Some Candids

 

800

Well, would you look at that…my blog finally has 800 hits.  Not too shabby for my little green blog.  Its been fun sharing the little stories of my life with all of you.  I hope to continue have stories of  the good, bad and the ugly.  Life is always interesting and as I keep learning more about myself, friends, and family, I hope to share those moments that just crack me up.  I am my best joke…I totally believe that.  And as I’m sitting here typing this, I can’t help but laugh.  I crack myself up. 

 

Love you All!!!

To Sunblock or not to Sunblock?

That is the question…and my answer today was, not to Sunblock. Ok, ok. I know what all of you are thinking, “Christie, you should wear sunblock.” And what I’m going to tell you is, “I will, I promise.” But in all reality, I will try to remember to wear it, but sometimes I forget and have to pay the price. In my day to day business, I’m not out in the sun a ton. This is how I justify getting burnt and paying for it. Also when I do fry, I am burnt and bright red. Have you ever noticed why my email is “burnt red.” The reason for my new skin color, is that Kandis and I went swimming and laid out. However, we did swim inside and then we went outside for some sun. So I was only outside for about an hour. And I’m ok with that. It was a good day for it too. Not too hot and there was a nice breeze, so you wouldn’t sweat while you lay there. Quite enjoyable.

All in all, it was a good day. Lots to do and enough time to do it all in. So now, I’m excited for dancing tonight. I’ll have to wait and see how the burn holds up and plus i’m a little sore. So ya…we’ll see how this goes.

Shabby Apple

I almost forgot to tell all of you about my new internship.  It is for shabbyapple.com.  It is a womens dress botique website, based in Salt Lake.  They have adorable dresses for women and children.  I have purchased one and I absolutely love it.

So far I have only been there one day.  I worked with another intern measuring dresses to help improve the sizing charts on the website.  The charts right now are a little skeewompous. 

Other things we’ll be working on are blogs, finding blogs or websites to post a link to shabby apple and they then become and affiliate and get a commission.   We are also going to be writing articles and sending them into this giant google dump.  This has helped the company become one of the top finds from typing in “women’s dresses” in the google search.

So far everything is going great.  I am really excited to start writing and doing all of these things.  It is going to be a great summer of learning and applying things that I have learned from the last 3 1/2 years of school. 

I will for sure keep you all posted on how everything is going.  Oh and I do highly recommend and suggest that you check out the website.

Writers Block

As part of the internship at Shabby Apple, we are to turn in once a week stories of fashion, business, things we like/don’t like and basically whatever we want to write about as long as we mention Shabby Apple or say the word dress.  All of these stories will be dumped into some kind of a google database.  What happens next is if a person googles “dress,” it will pull up the different links from the search.  What Shabby Apple is trying to do is maintain the top link for that search.

I know that didn’t come out very well, but without using technical jargon that is the best that I could do. 

 

This week I am writing a story on What Not to Wear and how it relates to Shabby Apple’s clothing line.  Stacy and Clinton, the hosts of What Not to Wear give great critiques and useful criticism of what the participants should be looking for on the shopping day. 

Shabby Apple, has dresses that are cut and fit to flatter all of the different body shapes that women have.  By combining the ideas from Stacy and Clinton to the styles of the dresses, I think that it would make a great story in profiling Shabby Apple.

 

If you have any ideas that would enhance this story, or other stories that would be interesting to you please leave a comment.

Shut Up

Ok so here is my first story.  Its not super great, but it works.

 

“Shut up,” says Stacy London as a participant on What Not to Wear unveils their new look.  Each episode begins with the excitement of ambushing the next participant and the overhauling of an unattractive wardrobe.  Witty sarcasm bursts out of Stacy and Clinton; as they demolish the participant’s wardrobe to nothing.

Facing the 360 degree mirror seems to get the participants’ to start seeing how they look in the clothes that fit incorrectly.  After demolition of the wardrobe and the 360 degree mirror, Stacy and Clinton show the participant what style and cuts of clothes will benefit them the most.  By using the guidelines of What Not to Wear hosts, Shabby Apple dresses are made to fit and flatter the different shapes and sizes among women.

The Shabby Apple dress line is designed with women in mind.  Keeping each different body shape in mind, Shabby Apple has dresses to fit your figure.  The hourglass shape fits women with broad shoulders or a voluptuous chest, smaller waist and full hips.  Rosie the Riveter, Buttoned-up and Beauty Mark are great dresses to suit this body shape.

The pear shape fits women who are narrow through the ribs and shoulders, have a thin waist and have full hips.  In this category of shape, Shabby Apple has dresses to add volume and camouflage what you don’t want noticed.  Choosing dresses like Nantucket, Ballerina and Daisy will give you the appearance that you want to have for day and evening activities.

On the Shabby Apple Web site, the “fit to flatter” button, gives you the help to find out what style of dress would work for you.  Not only does Shabby Apple create dresses to fit and flatter, but the dresses are also designed with personality.  After you find your perfectly fit dress the only thing you’ll have to worry about is what accessory to wear.

Nevada City, California

This past weekend, Me, Mom and Dad took a road trip to visit our friends the Burg’s for the weekend.  They live in Nevada City, California.  Once you visit this historical town with old time charm, it will make you want to go back and discover the gold rush for yourself.  Nevada City is gold rush central.  Way back when, like the 1800′s gold miners came through California over Donner’s Pass and started hunting for their treasure.  They would build these massive water cannons to demolish the scenery right before them.  After the greenery was gone the gold would remain on the hillside.  We visited this old town called Humbug.

 

The Humbug Story:

In the mid 1850′s prospectors were roaming the mountains and creeks of Siskiyou County along the northern boundary of California in search of their fortunes.  Gold had been found in Humbug Creek as early as May, 1851 but a group of disillusioned miners dubbed the place as “humbug” when they failed to find any of the precious metal.  However, that did not stop other prospectors from looking and a few years later when another group hit pay dirt, hundreds of miners flooded into what would be called the Humbug Mining District.  Soon, a mining camp was formed along the banks of Humbug Creek called Humbug City.

 

It is near here that the Legend of the Lost Humbug Creek Mine began.  When a man who was working for one of the Humbug District mines began to feel ill, he started to Yreka, some ten miles to the southeast to see a doctor.  Shortly after coming upon the Deadwood Trail, he began to feel so ill tha the lay down beneath a tree.  As he looked around, spied a promising piece of quartz float and exploring further he found an entire outcropping.  Suddenly feeling better, he traveled some three or four miles back to his cabin, returning with a pick and shovel.  He soon took out a sack full of gold that was estimated to have been worth $5,000 to $7,000.  Excited to share the news, he soon traveled to Hawkinsville, where his parents and two brothers lived.  Afterwards he returned to the site for more gold, when he began to feel sick once again. Leaving his pick and shovel, and covering the site with brush, he went to the county hospital where he died a week later.

Search as they might, his family was never able to find the site of their dead brother’s gold.  The outcropping is said to be on the west side of the Humbug Mountains.

 

We has so much fun walking around this little town.  It was so neat to see the old buildings and cemetary. 

 

Another day with the Bergs’ we spent shopping and walking around the historic part of the City.  There were so many cute and fun shops to look through.  The girls had a blast! 

 

What was most amazing to me was to see where Rob and Mary built their house.  You drive through a forest of giant and old pine trees and find their lovely house.  Just down the road from the house they have a lake that you can paddle around in.  Or you can take the Rhino for a little drive up the road to go exploring on the property. 

 

On the way home we took the old road through Donner Pass.  This was AMAZING!!!  I can’t describe, but I’ll put a picture up so you can see it.

 

I highly recommend traveling through Nevada City.  It is quite the California treasure.

Some Pictures from the Trip

Mom, Dad, Mary, Rob

Mom

Me

Donner Pass on the way home

Mom, Me, Dad

Humbug Cemetery

Me and Mom

Donner Pass

Pandora is Like a Shabby Apple Dress

            Pandora is like a Shabby Apple dress; you have so many options and when you choose the one, you know it from the start. 

For those who don’t know, Pandora is a free Internet radio station that doesn’t play commercials.  Part of what makes Pandora so great is that you create stations with music you want to listen to.  I visit this site almost everyday.  However, some days I skip around on my plethora of Pandora stations because I cannot decide.  There are times where one song just does not do it for me that day.  That is when I diagnose myself with MDD, Music Deficit Disorder.  One of my country stations, I have maxed out the number of times that I can skip on that station to where they will not allow me to skip anymore.  In the opposite direction, some days I cannot figure out what to wear.  I go through outfit after outfit trying to figure out what is going to be comfortable for the day.

            Shabby Apple offers a variety of dresses and when you find “the one,” or maybe more than one, you will know that it is going to be one of the most amazing dresses you will ever own.  I promise that you will wear this dress more than you think.  Wearing clothing that you love is like listening to your favorite artists’ day in and day out.  The only difference is that with clothes, you have to replace them once and a while.  Shabby Apple makes clothes that will last and look great for a long time. 

            The last couple of days, I have been listening to my Billy Joel station.  I honestly love Billy Joel, though I have never seen him in concert.  I think that I have listened to Billy for about 10 years.  Since I’m only 22 and he is 60, I have probably listened to approximately a quarter of his music career.  This station not only encompasses the great musical talent of Billy Joel, but also The Beatles, The Eagles, Neil Diamond, Rick Springfield and other rocking artists from “back in the day.”  Each of these artists makes up a great station of music. 

            Each dress at Shabby Apple can stand on its own and make a statement like all of the artists in the music industry.  Sometimes, we want the statement to be bolder like the music we hear, each song trying to make a statement.  With so many great show stopping dresses, why not pair them with killer accessories and shoes.  Don’t forget, that when you put on an outfit with great accessories, don’t forget to rock it.  Feel confident, cool, and charismatic.  When you let your personality shine, all of those characteristics will take you places that you have never been before. 

            Well, what is there left to say?  I love Shabby Apple, Pandora and “old” music.

900…thanks for reading!!!

Well everyone, I can’t believe it.  I have 900 check-ins from all of you who take the time to see what is happening in my life.  How awesome is that!  I’m pretty stoked that’s for sure.

 

Not too much has been happening.  I go to work, go to Shabby Apple, work on projects at home and go out occasionally. 

The Shabby Apple internship is going great!  To give you an idea of what I do, I contact blogs that relate to fashion, moms, tweens, and just about anything else that we think would be a good fit for Shabby Apple.  When we contact blogs we offer discounts on their websites and have the author do a dress review.  It’s a lot of fun contacting people from around the states and even the world.  What I can’t wait for is the Shabby Apple Boutique Sale.  I can’t tell you much about it yet, but when I get the information I will let all of you know.  But I will tell you this, it is going to be amazing!!!  You can count on that.  Also the post before this one, is a Shabby Apple article I wrote.

 

Also this week, I painted the kitchen.  It looks awesome!  If you know one thing about me, know that I love to paint.  I can’t paint artistically, but I can do a nice job on a wall.  My next painting project is the dining room.  I’m pretty excited about that.

 

Work is going pretty good.  Its not my favorite thing to do, but I need money so I have to do it.  Oh well.  Though I can’t complain too much.  I really just sit there and basically do kind of what I want.  I enjoy taking my card making supplies to pass the time.  Its fun to have members comment on each of the different ones that I make.  I am planning on selling them at the farmers market next year. 

 

Today, mom and I went to the farmers market.  It was pretty cool.  We walked around and looked at all of the craft and produce booths.  It was a lot of fun.  The jewelry displayed at various booths were so pretty, though a little over priced for my liking.  Mom and I stopped at Vosens Bakery.  We got a cream cheese pastry and it was delicious.  We also got some snap peas.  These were really good.  So much better than the grocery store.  The morning was so much fun!  I can’t wait to go back.

 

So I went country dancing the other night with my friend Lyndsi.  It was fun.  Though I hadn’t been in a couple of weeks and this past week I had no idea as to who were half of the people that were there.  Normally, I see the regulars and dance with them, but they weren’t there.  It was still fun, just a little different. 

 

Oh and one last thing…..I can’t wait for the Oakley Rodeo!!!! Were going on the 4th of July! I’m so super excited.

Ellie Adventures

Well this week, Megan came up to SLC to get a new computer because the one she had died.  So while she was up, we got to play with Ellie for the afternoon.  It was so much fun!  We played with chalk, blew bubbles, caught some fish,  watered the plants, took pictures and relaxed in the shade.

We think that Ellie will be a pro fisher-girl by the end of the summer

Happy Faces

Silly Faces

Bubbles!!!

Yay for shade!

Ellie will also be a professional photographer

We even watered the plants

Well, not much else to say, but that we had an awesome afternoon.  Days in the sun make for great adventures.

4th of July at the Cabin!

What a weekend!  I couldn’t have asked for a better one.  I left good ol’ Salt Lake City, Thursday late afternoon while it was raining.  I couldn’t wait to get up to the cabin.  It is one of my most favorite places to go.  The best part is that it is only an hour away.  Imagine that…an hour away to somewhere that is so beautiful, peaceful and a place where you can really see God’s hand in the creation of nature.  The dogs and I got everything unloaded and we made it just in time beore it started to rain again.  We mainly took cover indoors for the rest of the evening.  It’s fun to be up there and watch as the storms pass through.  So the dogs and I started a fire and put in a movie and relaxed away the night.  It was so funny to watch Smokey react to the cracks and pops of the fire.  She watched it so intently and when it popped she jumped and started barking at it.  Oh man…was it funny.  Finally she relaxed and let the fire keep her warm. 

 

Friday-

The dogs and I got up and had breakfast, called mom to see how soon she was coming up with our friends Rob and Mary.  After the regular routine of getting ready, I wanted to go for a hike.  I try to go on this particular hike every year.  It is so beautiful.  The hike is called Nobletts.  When you pull into Kamas you take a right at SR-32 and drive down to Frances and take a left at the 4-way and stay on that road.  I think its when you get to mile marker 12 that you have to be on the lookout  for the parking lot of Nobletts. 

 

The scenery of this hike is amazing.  Everything is green, full, rich, and lush.  Oh it is just beautiful.  Nobletts is only 1 mile up and 1 mile back.  The trail isn’t too steep.  Its really just a nice walk in the woods.  At the base there are little pools of water from the river that comes directly out of the mountain.  When you start walking up you walk right next to the river.  As you continue on the river becomes more swift and powerful.  At the top it is so neat to see the water coming right out of the mountain.  It is amazing.  Truly Beautiful.

 

The dogs had so much fun running ahead to explore, but then they would always come back to check on me and make sure that I was coming.  Its amazing to think of how much dogs look after us.  At least for Smokey and Lucy, they are part of the family, pretty much they are children.  But they are so much more than just a family member.  They are  guardians watching over each of us in the Smith family.  I honestly don’t know what I would do without them.  Its so fun to see their individual personalities and how they interact with each other and with us.  But anyway, the dogs had a blast on the hike.  I can’t wait to take them hiking again.

 

When mom, Rob and Mary got the cabin we began the movie marathon.  I don’t know how many movies we watched, but it was just so enjoyable to relax and not have to worry about work, life or anything else that is going on.  It was a perfect weekend. 

 

Saturday-

I think that Saturday was my most favorite day of the weekend.  One, it was the 4th of July and second, it was the night of the Oakley Rodeo!!! What a Rodeo!!! I think that it was the best one that I have been to over the last few years.  The cowboys were great (and cute), the clown was amazing!!! The rodeo clown at the Oakley Rodeo is the best.  He always has something new up his sleeve.  This year he did an act pretending to warm up a motor bike for the professional rider, but in actuality he was the rider.  He set the whole scene up perfectly.  He “tried” to warm up the bike and ride it around the arena.  Oh it was just so perfect.  He also had some great jokes.  The best joke was: 

Clown to Announcer: Do you know what the difference is between this bull and your mother  in-law?

Announcer: What?

Clown: Lipstick

Oh man we found that one to be soooo funny.  It was great!

Sunday-

Included more relaxing, movie watching and sleeping.

 

It was the perfect 4th of July weekend.

Smith Family Reunion 2009

This past weekend all of the Smith relatives headed down to Delta, Utah for the Annual Smith Family Reunion. 

 

Friday night, I went to Alpha Summer date night.  It was fun.  We went to the Bees game.  They Won!  The date was fun, but I don’t think there will be a second.  But it was still fun to go out and do something.  Plus it put a check next to the Bees game on my list of things to do. 

 

Anyway, on Saturday I got up earl and got my things together to head down to Delta.  Whoever founded Delta must have forgotten how boring that 2 1/2 hour drive it can be coming from Salt Lake.   Overall, it wasn’t too bad.  All you have to do is speed a little, watch for cops and stay awake.  I did just that. 

 

When I got there they just finished breakfast in time for me to get a little snack.  Soon after, the “older” cousins got together for a few games of dynamite.  Then we went on a geo cash scavenger hunt.  It was pretty fun.  We had the cooridnates of where the “cash” was located and we all hopped into the car and headed off. 

In the afternoon, we all took a break.  Megan and I went to the Res. to go swimming.  It was way fun, just a little cold.  In the evening we had the kids parade, dinner, and an aniversary presentation for Grandma and Grandpa.  It was really nice.  They even had a surprise visit from friends they met a long time ago. 

 

Sunday morning began with breakfast and a church meeting and ended with the family meeting for the next reunion in 2010.  On the way home, I forgot to take the turn to go to Nephi and head home on the freeway.  So I started heading toward Lehi and going a different way.  I drove on the west side of Utah Lake to Bluffdale and then found the freeway and made it home. 

Smith Family Reunion 2010 in SALT LAKE CITY….they won’t know what hit them. 

 

Well, there will be pictures posted soon.

all things crafty

For those who don’t know this about me…I love to craft.  I really love making cards.  I am slowly working on getting my business going, but don’t tell dad.  So tonight, I have been chilling at work, I got online and found this site called “craft stylish”  www.craftstylish.com.  It is such a great site with so many fun ideas for crafting. 

 

There is this one project where it includes dental floss, 1 in. circle labels and tape to hang them up at the end.  In the pictures, it really looks cool.  All you have to do is place the dental floss between two labels and thats it.  You could even add your own kind of embellishments like sparkles, different colored labels, beads, buttons or really just what ever you want. 

 

When you place the strands that you have made together it looks so neat…in the picture that they show it looks like little snowflakes.  Just think of how you could dress up the look of your dining room for your dinner party.  This project would have your guests in awe.  Plus it would only cost you probably no more than $10. 

 

Here are a couple of pictures of this project in use…

 

What A Fun Weekend

This past weekend was so much fun!  I got to catch up with a friend that I haven’t seen in over a year and I got to go on a date.

 

Friday night, Joseph and I went ballroom dancing at the MAC (murray arts center).  This place is so much fun!  There is usually a live band playing on the weekends.  I think that it is so much more fun to dance to live music than just a DJ.  My favorite dances are Waltz, Fox Trot, Samba and the Cha Cha.  We tried the Tango, I got the basic down but be glad you weren’t there to see my dip.  Haha it was really bad.  For some reason I always get so nervous going down into the dip.  I’m always afraid of getting dropped.  Not that there is a long way to fall.  I always fear for the girls that will do the lifts with the guy they are dancing with.  I am afraid for two reasons: 1. they will split their pants and 2. they will come crashing down and break their head.   However, I’m pretty sure that they won’t really break their head, just a minor injury.  But anyway, it was so much fun to go dancing!  I love to dance and dress up to go dance.  Dressing up makes the night so much more fun!  THe other part that I love about the MAC is watching the older couples dance together.  They are just so cute to watch!  THat is one thing that I hope to do when I get to that age.  I hope to be able to continue to dance and have as much fun as I saw those couples having.  THere is something about dancing that keeps a person youthful.  No matter what style, when you look around you’ll always see others having a great time.

 

Saturday, I went on a date.  His name is Bryan.  I met him through my friend Katie.  I had so much fun!  We went to the zoo and saw all of the animals and then we went to dinner at Litzas Pizza.  The whole time we just talked and got to know each other.  I hope to go out with him again.

 

What a great weekend!

Kaboom!

This past weekend was the 24th of July.  Normally, I don’t really do anything for this holiday.  It is great to celebrate Utah’s heritage, but in my family we have never really done anything to celebrate.  However, this year, thanks to my friends, I went out and did something fun. 

 

The original plan was to go to the Bees game, but the team they were playing were either sick or had injuries.  So we decided to do something else.  The next plan was to go to Liberty Park for the fireworks.  Though we didn’t exactly go to the park.  We went to a baseball field, which was about a block from Liberty.  This field is also the place where they launched the fireworks.  The fireworks were amazing!!!  I don’t think that I have ever been that close before.  It made it so much better.  I was just like a little kid, paying close attention to the loud Kabooms and bright colors and awing at how awesome the show was.  What made it even better was that I spent the time watching it with friends (and this guy I like) and just having a good time. 

 

After the fireworks celebration, one friend bought illegal fireworks.  We all met up and combined cars and took off for the neighborhoods to light off the fireworks.  It was like russian roulette.  We had no real idea as to where we were going but we knew it was going to be awesome.  So we would pull into neighborhoods and light one off and then get in the car and we were off!  It was quite exciting. 

 

You can’t go wrong with holidays and fireworks.

Check this out

The three sites listed under “random randomness” are so stinkin’ funny!  Just take a look and you’ll just start busting a gut.

Looking back

Tonight, I was reminded of when I started at the Jcc.  I started at the Jcc the summer before my senior year.  That year I started working as a custodian for my Uncle Dave.  A year later, I moved up to the Front/Fitness desk and I have been there ever since.

 

I write this post not to just tell you that I have been at the Jcc for about 5 years, but I write to tell you that everyone has seen me grown to be the girl/woman I am today.  Not going to lie…its weird saying woman.

 

In turn, I have also seen little kids grow up and are now 5 years old.  I have also seen the scrawny boys buffed up and have improved their physique.  It is amazing to see all of the transitions and changes. 

 

Tonight, I was sitting at the desk and I was talking with Mike the custodian and he asked if I had a year of graduate work left.  I replied that I graduate this spring with my undergraduate degree.  He said that he couldn’t believe as to how time goes by so quickly.  Mike has seen me go from Senior year in high school to a Senior in college.  Wow.  I can’t believe it either.  What an amazing 5 years it has been.  I have met so many new and wonderful people, some of which I have become very good friends with.

 

I’m pretty sure that when I look back at what I have written, I will be thinking the exact same thing.

1 Year

This is really weird and surreal to think about.  It has been one year today that mom went into the hospital.  It is hard to think about everything that has happened since then.  We have gone through so many ups and downs over the last year.

   I remember that mom came home from work early because she didn’t feel well.  She continued to get worse and that is when dad drove her to the hospital and by then she was in so much pain that the pain killers weren’t doing anything to make her feel better.

   That day I had decided to paint the basement living room.  My friend Kandis came over to help at about the time when mom and dad went to the hospital.  Kandis asked me if I was ok…I think I told her I was, but honestly I don’t remember exactly how I felt.  I figured that the doctors would figure out what was wrong with her and she would be home in a few days or a week or two.  But to my optomistic mind, I was wrong.  Everything that was going on inside my mom’s body decided that it was going to be a rough ride and take its time.

   Before anything could get better, it all had to get worse.  My mom had the worse kind of pancreatitus anyone could have.  If she were to have ever been a smoker or an alcoholic, she would have been dead.  Sorry to be so blunt, but it is the truth. 

   I remember going to the hospital for the first time and seeing her while she was in so much pain.  They had put her in the Burn Unit for the first few days because there wasn’t a room open at the SICU (surgical intensive care unit)  I held her hand and I just cried.  Kind of like the tears that are swelling in my eyes right now.  It is so hard to see someone you love so dearly get so sick and be in such intense pain.  The worst part about it, was that the only thing I could do was hold part of her hand that wasn’t taken over by IV’s and other wires/tubes.

   One of the other worst parts was when she had to be intibated (have a machine breathe for her)  When this happened, we knew it was bad, worse than what we thought.  I think she had the tube in for a couple of weeks.  The doctors keep that as a last resort.  It was so heartbreaking and kind of weird not to hear my mom talk.  All she could do is wiggle her toes, move her fingers or raise her eyebrows.  After that time period, I was there when they removed the tube.  I have never been so happy to hear my mom’s voice.  I cried.

   The second time that she was inti-bated, it wasn’t as much as a shock for us and it wasn’t for as long either.  Dad and I knew they were taking it out soon.  The day that they did take the tube out, dad and I went to the hospital that night.  We were just sitting and I looked over and I whispered to dad, “they took out the tube.”  Mom looked so peaceful. 

   I really don’t remember when she finally left the hospital for good, but I do remember that she came home 2 days before Thanksgiving and we were so thankful for that.  She is our miracle momma.  From the time that she has been home, she has been getting stronger and stronger. 

   It has been one year and she is back at it. 

   To My Mom:  I love you so much.  I don’t know what life would be like without you and I know that I will never have to imagine how that will feel or be.

Gas, Dirt and a bunch of rednecks

Friday night I went to the demolition derby with some friends.  It was AWESOME!  There is nothing like the combination of gas, fumes, dirt, a crowd of cheering rednecks.

Here are some pictures:

  

 

 

Honk, honk, beep, beep

This entire summer I have been sharing the Tahoe with mom (well we’ve been sharing longer than that).  Anyway, after an entire summer of looking, dealing with salesmen, well one bad one and one good one, I finally found my car!!!

My first experience was at RC Automotive.  The salesman’s name was Barr.  He seemed like a nice person, but anyone can appear nice in the beginning.  I told him what I was looking for and how much I wanted to pay for it.  Without much hesitation he put me in a 2008 subaru sedan.  I drove it around and loved it.  Not paying attention to time I was running late to get back home.   I talked to him a day or two later and said that I would like to buy the car.  Once he told me the price, I was shocked that he didn’t find me something in my price range.  Anyway, he started asking me the 2 questions that get people sucked in to a crappy deal.  Question 1: How much can you afford?  Question 2: What will it take to get you to buy this car?  He continued to tell me that he just wanted to put me in a nicer car because then it would break down as much.  I thought to myself, “how stupid does this guy think I am?”  I stopped him after that.  I told him thank you for trying, but unless you can find me what I want, I really can’t answer what your asking.  That was the end of that.

 

What I learned from that experience:

1. Never go to a dealership all dressed up. (I forgot to tell you that I just got done interviewing for an internship)

2. Never tell them how much you can afford for a payment

3. You can always walk away

4. Once the salesperson starts asking you questions about financing, tell them to “go to hell,” and walk away.

 

The second salesman I dealt with this summer was Brock Kassing at Nate Wade Subaru.  He is a very nice person.  He is in charge of Internet sales and was very helpful in finding a car for me.  After about a month of waiting and looking we found a 2005 Subaru Impreza Sedan.  I absolutely love it!!!  So if you are looking for a car, I recommend Nate Wade.  Everyone is extremely friendly and want you to get the best deal.

 

Pictures to come soon!!!

The End of Shabby Apple

Well, it has been a great summer working as an intern for Shabby Apple.  If you don’t remember, Shabby Apple is an on-line women’s dress boutique.  All of the dresses are modern, classy, cute and modest.  I own 5 of them and I love wearing them.  Each dress is flattering.  If you want to know what style or dress would fit you best, they have a “fit to flatter” button on the Web site.  This helps to give you an idea as to what dress would flatter your body type the best.

Just last Saturday, August 15, we had a Shabby Apple Yard Sale and Tea Party.  The sad part was that it rained all morning and at points it was a down pour.  So thinking on our toes, we turned the studio apartment loft into a boutique for the day.  It worked out really well.  We surrounded the edges with the damaged dresses and put the new dress in the middle on the racks.  Amazingly we still had women show up.  For about the first 1.5 hours it was a mad house.  Busy, Busy, Busy.  Everything went so well.  I’m pretty sure that there will be another yard sale to come next summer.

 

Now that the Shabby Apple internship is over, I’m kind of sad.  I made some great friends who are so talented and will go far in their career and life.  I have learned so much about social media and how to find your specific target audience.  It has been a great learning experience.

New Semester=New Adventures

Well, back to school again.  I can’t believe that this is my last year of college.  It has gone by so fast and it has been the best adventure of my life so far.

 

This fall semester I am taking Digital Photography, Ballroom Dance, Sign Language and Absolute Communications (PR Agency).  It is going to be a great semester. I can already tell.  I have only gone to the first week of classes and the teachers are great and the people that I have met are so nice.  I just know that it is going to be lots of fun. 

 

With the start of a semester means that Alpha is starting again!  I am pretty excited to get back into the swing of things with sorority.  We had our rush week the first week of school and it went really well.  We got 15-20 new girls and they seem so cute and super sweet.  I know that they will be a great addition to the Alpha chapter.

 

Not too much else is happening in my world.  I am just super happy to be back in school meeting new people and living the college life.

Crazy Busy

So many things, so little time.  That is at least what the feeling has been like the last few weeks.  I even have to pull out my planner to remember all that happened in the last couple weeks as school and sorority has started. 

The first week of school was great, it was all about Rush (not Limbaugh), but rush for sorority.  This is always such a great week, but extremely exhausting.  During that week we have rush night, a bbq, carnival and a stomp.  It is just go, go, go.  We got so many new and fun girls this semester.  I think we acquired about 25 or 30.  They are all so cute and so super nice.  I always like it when we get new girls in.  It really helps to bring out the personality of the sorority.

I am also loving my classes!  I am taking digital photography, American Sign Language, Ballroom Dance and PR Agency.  They are easy classes, but I am learning so much.  It has been a great semester already and its only the 3rd week.  I still can’t believe that it is my last year of school.  I still don’t know what I want to do, but its starting to come into place.  I’m in no rush.

THe second week of school was another great one. I interviewed for a staff position at the Odyssey House.  I am happy to announce that I did get the job.  I’m not working there a ton, but its enough to give me a little extra money.  Plus I  am really excited for the opportunity to work with the kids and new staff.

The last couple of weeks, almost every spare hour I had in the day was spent on getting ready for the yard sale that is now over!  I will never have a yard sale again.  It takes so much effort and work to put something like that together.  Plus when you have to make your parents go through all of their old things it takes twice as long.  I know that we still have so much crap to get rid of, but its probably not going to happen until they konk.

Best Date Night Ever!

This past weekend was the Alpha Barn Dance!  It was so much fun.  The dance was held at a beautiful home in the Holladay area.  They even have a barn and some horses in their backyard.  It was perfect. 

The night started off by me picking my date up and then driving to the barn.  My date’s name is Richie Romney, he is a student at the U, studying psychology, he is also working as a furniture delivery guy for Sterling Furniture in Sugarhouse.  He is the oldest of I think 3 or 4 kids in the family.  He like musicals, dancing, singing, the outdoors and having a fun time.

Now, before you jump to any conclusions, this was a blind date.  My only intention was to go and have fun.  When I met Richie and we started getting to know each other  the entire night exceeded my expectations and this was one of the best dates that I have had in a long time.  I laughed the entire time, Richie is sooo funny.  He would tell me stories, or just say something so random and just make both of us laugh.

Dancing was great!  He loves to dance and we just danced the night away.  In country swing dancing there is a dip where you spin out twice and on the third spin in, the guy takes you down for a dip.  I normally don’t trust guys, just cause it scares me a little.  The first couple of times we tried this one and he knew that I started freaking out when it came to the dip, so we stopped for a minute and he’s like you just have to trust me.  I said ok and I really did have to remind myself that it was going to work out and be ok. It was so much fun!  At points when we were dancing I would get so dizzy and lose balance and we would have to stop for a second.  He was just so cute about it, I would lose balance and he would let me catch onto him and wait for a second before we would start again, so he was just the perfect gentleman. 

After the dancing, we weren’t sure what we were doing so we went with another couple, which were basically his best friends and we were going to go hiking, even though it was like 12am, but we didn’t.  Which I’m actually glad we didn’t, it scares me to do that, just because of all the stories you hear of people getting lost.  So instead we went to a park and played around.  After having so much fun we finally call it quits around 1:30am. 

I couldn’t have asked for a better date than that.  I had so much fun and we both had a great time together.  I’m hoping for a second, I’ll just have to wait and see.

Me and Richie

Christie, Liz, Me, Chelsi, Anna

A year and then some

Well I can’t believe that it has been a year and a few days since my very first post, “For the Love of Green.” I can’t tell you how much I have enjoyed writing on this blog. I have loved being able to be personal and yet quarky at times. Looking back, my oh my, what a year it has been. From mom being so super sick to me going on dates, or looking up other crazy blogs, or writing about my internship and really just filling all of you in on what is going on in my life.

Those who have continually read this have read and felt my emotion during differnt parts of the year. I know that I have learned and grown from everything that I have been part of. Thank you all for your support and love. You are amazing and such a big part of my life.

In about 8 months I will be graduating from the University of Utah in Public Relations. I honestly can’t believe that I have made it through college. The saying goes that “college are the best years of your life,” I totally can back up that statement. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. As for after college, I am working on that right now. I really don’t have any idea, but I know I’ll be able to figure it out. I know that I am always looking for a new adventure and always looking to improve myself.

Well not much else to tell you, except that everything is going great!!!

My Adventure to Bryce Canyon

October 15-17, I traveled to Bryce Canyon National Park to hang out with my sister.  We had so much fun goofing off together. 

I left Salt Lake on that Thursday around 10 am.  It really isn’t too bad of a drive.  Mainly straight.  I made a few stops along the way down.  I arrived at Ruby’s Inn around 2:30 pm and Megan had just got off work.  After she introduced me to most of her co-workers we went for a driving adventure.

We drove up some road, that I don’t remeber the name of, but it was really pretty and we also drove to a lake.  The landscape around the lake was soooo pretty.  It was a perfect day.  The clouds were thin and high in the sky.  The blue of the lake and the sky perfectly framed the small mountains.

 

That night after dinner at an awesome restaurant, we had a bonfire with some of the people Megan knows.  It was lots of fun. 

 

The next morning we decided to get up early for the sunrise over Bryce Canyon.

 

 

After sunrise, we decided to go back to bed for a little while.  Around 10am we finally got up and got our things together and headed out to the canyon to go on a hike.  The hike we took was the Navajo and Queens Garden loop.  It was soooooo cool!  Walking down the Navajo trail at the beginning, it takes you down in between two walls of red rock.  It was soo pretty.

At the bottom of these switch backs was a tall tree, it was cool.

 After the hike, we went back and got lunch.  After lunch we went back into the park and started being tourists for the day.  We drove to the end of the road in the park and then basically stopped at each look out point and took pictures of us and the rock formations.  It was a great afternoon.  After an afternoon of being a tourist we were exhausted.  We went and got dinner at the Pines and it was delicious, especially the pie. Mmmmm mmm.  That night we relaxed, watched tv and then went to sleep.

 

On the last day, we got up and had breakfast and we went for a drive to an awesome pizza place in Kodachrome and then headed back down Highway 12 to a road that takes you to Bull Valley Gorge.

 

It was a great trip…I think next time I head down there, we are going to go slot canyon climbing. 

 

 

 

 

 

Change of Season

Well now that Halloween is over, THANK HEAVENS.  Let me be honest, I really am not the biggest fan of Halloween.  I think that it is a great time for kids, but when you throw adults into the mix of it all, it just becomes something not all that fun.  Now that it is over, I can focus on the more amazing holidays, which I am so excited for.

 

Thanksgiving is almost here and I can’t wait!!!  I love enjoying the company of my family and the company of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, ok really just everything about thanksgiving.  Plus the day after, I start decorating for Christmas.  I love Christmas.  I love the meaning, the feeling and the giving.  It is truely a wonderful time of year that brings peace and joy.   I even started listening to a little bit of Christmas music on the way to school today. 

 

Well, this is just a short one today.  I’m sure that I will have more as the holiday’s are fast approaching.

 

Love you ALL!!!

What a weekend or week

I am not sure if it feels like it has been weeks and weeks all crammed into one weekend or just one weekend that has been a blur. 

 

Last week my dad started the adventure of driving everyday to Provo to check on how his mom was doing.  At one point we thought she would pass earlier that week, but she held on to say all of her goodbyes.  Finally, after a long wait she passed away.  Grandma passed away on Friday, November 13 in the early afternoon.  From what I know and what I have been told, it was her time to go.  Grandma had been sick for a while and her body was done. 

 

Also happening this past weekend, little Cohen was sick and in the hospital.  My cute mom went and stayed with him so Jake and Melyssa could get some sleep.  Cohen is now home and doing much better.  As we have gotten to know this little guy, we have found out that when he isn’t smiling or laughing then he is not feeling well.  We’re just glad that he was able to recover enough to go home.

 

With the passing of grandma, follows the viewing and funeral.  Everything went smoothly.  It was nice to see family, even though it was a sad occasion.  As sad as it was, you could feel all the love from each family member.  The funeral service was very nice.  Talents of cousins, daughters and sons were shared.  Her life was celebrated with honor.  Grandma will be missed but always cherished for how much love she has shared over the many years of her life.  She is a wonderful woman who had a wonderful life.

 

 

I am Thankful

This is my most favorite time of year.  I love the spirit of Thanksgiving and Christmas that fills the air.  It is truly a magical time of year. 

 

Two days before Thanksgiving marks the 1 year anniversary of my mom being officially home for good.  I cannot tell you how grateful I am for her life.  My mom and I have a bond that is so strong.  We are best friends.  I love her so much.  Going through that struggle with her in the hospital was one of the hardest thing she had to deal with and I had to deal with.  Through prayer and fasting, I knew she would be ok, but it did take time for her body to become strong and healthy again. 

 

Last year when she came home, we had Thanksgiving  dinner at our house.  She sat on a chair and instructed Melyssa and I on how to cut the turkey.  As we gathered at the table, we knew this was celebration of life, her life and how thankful we are for her.

 

This Thanksgiving, mom, dad and I are going up to the cabin and having dinner with the Landward family, Suzy, Stayner, Laura and John. 

 

In the midst of the holidays, mom and I finally got dad to agree to move his office back down to the basement.  Mom and I are really excited to make our front room a front room again.  Honestly, I’m just excited to paint and to decorate for Christmas.  It is going to be a busy couple of weeks for us, but I’m excited. 

 

To end this post, I would like to express my gratitude for all of you who take time to read this.  I love sharing what is going on in my life, especially when I don’t see many of you often through out the year.  My life wouldn’t be the same without my friends.  I am thankful to have all of you as friends. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving.  Love you all.

Thanksgiving Photoshoot

This Thanksgiving, mom, dad and I went to the cabin to have dinner with Stayner, Suzy, Laura and John.  It was such a beautiful day there.  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun shone brightly warming everything.  Laura and I took advantage of the beautiful weather to take pictures of each other for facebook, because we needed new ones.  It was a lot of fun. 

 

After our photoshoot, dinner was served.  It was delicious.  There is no better way to spend Thanksgiving than with family, food and good conversation. 

 

Here are some pictures from our photoshoot.

John's Dog, Skye

Laura and I

Me

Me

Laura

What a great Thanksgiving!!!

Photography…big part of my life!

If there is anything you need to know about me, is that I love to take pictures.  To me, it doesn’t matter the moment, how someone looks, or even if it is the right facial expression.  I just love to take pictures.  I love capturing the moment of a little child giggling, a grown person reflecting, laughing, pondering…really any moment in a person’s face brings a photgraph to life.  That is what I love to capture. 

This last semester, I took a digital photography class.  This has been one of the best classes I have taken in my college career.  We learned so many different elements of taking a photo and how to make it pleasing to the eye.  I also learned that taking a photo can also be art.  I have never explored photography in this way.  I like to focus more on the portait side. 

So what I have put together are some of my favorite photographs over the semester.

Well that is about it.  I hope that this gives you an idea of what I have been doing all semester as far as photography goes.  If you every want your picture taken let me know.  It will be so fun!

MeRRy ChRiStMaS!!!

To my friends and family, Merry Christmas.   I wish the best for you and this upcoming year.  Love you all.

Christmas!

What a wonderful Christmas!  This year we had our friends, Rob and Mary join us for the Christmas celebration.  It was such a delight to have them all to ourselves for the last few days. 

Mary and Rob came into town on Thursday, Christmas Eve and so did Megan.  I worked the 5am-1pm shift, which was soooooo long and I was soooo tired.  I tried to take a nap when I got home, but that didn’t happen.  That night, I was planning to  go to midnight mass with a friend just to see what its like.  I went with her around 7 ish and only made it till about 9pm.  I was doing fine with energy, but when I was with the group, I just didn’t feel like it was Christmas, being away from my family.  I started to cry.  I just didn’t feel comfortable in the situation, so Jillian drove me home and I watched movies with my family for the rest of the night.

Christmas day brought relaxation and fun.  We slept till about 8 am, Megan and I took the dogs for a quick walk…it was sooooo cold that morning.  When we got back we had breakfast and everyone got showered and waited till Jake and his family came over to open presents for the grandkids.  This year we decided to scale back.  Which means that we didn’t give presents to one another.  But of course, mom still chose to do something.  We got to choose one thing that we wanted and then she also gave us something special.  Megan and I each got a necklace that our grandmas got at somepoint in her life.  Mine is a simple gold chain with gold balls around it.  Mom also found matching earrings.  Its really pretty, I absolutely love it. 

For the rest of the weekend, we watched movies, looked at Christmas lights, went to dinner, ate too much and just relaxed and enjoyed the holiday season and all that it has to offer.  This was such a great Christmas.  I hope that all of you enjoyed your Christmas as well.

Last Semester…I can’t believe it

Well everyone…I have now been in school for 16.5 years of my life.  Really all I can say is WoW!  This upcoming spring semester is my last semester for my undergraduate degree at the University of Utah.  If you didn’t know, I have been studying Public Relations, which is a Mass Communications degree.  I have loved absolutely every class that I have had…of course there are a few exceptions like Mass Communication Law and maybe a couple other classes that I might have misplaced in my memory.  I have really enjoyed my main PR classes.  The great part about those classes is that the professors taught with a practical aspect.  They would tell us about their experiences and what works/doesn’t work for them out in the real world. 

At the start of my college career, my time was spent in the general education classes that really are there so the university can take your money and suck you into the school life.  However, there were some classes that were fun and interesting, but then there were the few that were just pointless and soooooo stupid that I wished I had transferred out of the class in the beginning.  Partially why I think they make you take some of the bad Gen. Ed. classes is to make you look forward to the actual classes that you will be studying in your major.  Once I was able to start in the major core classes, the fun began. 

For those who choose to stay in their program, get the chance to move up in the same classes together and you become great friends.  That is one thing that I have absolutely loved.  Starting I believe at the end of my sophmore year, I met Starlee.  She and I have had almost the same classe schedule so we became the best of friends. 

For my last semester of school…I am happy to say that I am done with all of my PR classes.  I have 12 credit hours of electives that I am able to fill with whatever I want.  Honestly, it was a little difficult figuring out what I wanted to take, mainly because for the last 4 years, I knew what I had to take and new that it needed to be done with in a reason of time.

So here is what I am so excited to take:  Cardio Ball Fitness, Weight Lifting, Womens Choir, Pilates, Sign Language, Rock Climbing and Canyoneering

It is going to be one of the best semesters of my life!  I can’t wait to get started!!!

he’s just not that into you

Hello Family and Friends who read my blog…I would like to pose a question:

   Say you go out with a guy and you both have an enjoyable time on the date.  Over the next week, you’re playing it cool, not trying to be pushy or whatever.  He leaves for a school break.  Once he gets back, you text him just saying hi, not even asking him to go out again, just a friendly hello.  He then texts you back, “things are good, I’m not looking to date anyone right now, can we be friends.”   So being the kind of person that I am I said, “Good to hear.  See you around then.”  Nothing mean, just  straight to the point.  From there I know that I shouldn’t bug him that often and just leave it as a casual friendship.

   I’m totally fine with just being friends, I have no problem with that, but what bugs me is when they say, lets just be friends, because honestly there really is no “friend” factor.

   So the question is…Why do guys say, “lets just be friends?”

   Now, I don’t want to over analyze anything, I just want a fairly straight answer.  I am a kind of person who doesn’t need hints, I can take a straight answer.  I just don’t like it when guys say it.  Its as if you weren’t becoming friends on that first date.  I feel like when you go on a first date with a guy, that there is a mutual friendship whether the date goes well or really bad.  I just don’t see the need to say, lets just be friends. 

   So I would love your opinions.  Would you do anthing different?  Has this happened to you? Give me some advice to help me know that he was just not into me.

Living Vicariously

   This past weekend, I went with my friend Christie (yes we have the same name and we look a lot alike too) anyway… we went to see the movie, “Leap Year.”  This is probably one of the cutest chick flicks that is out on the BIG screen.  I loved it throughly.  From beginning to end, there was no awkward moments, bad situations and it was just a clean and cute movie.  I really want to see it again.  The basic story line is that two opposite people meet by chance, in life you wouldn’t think that they would be together, but since this is the cinema they do end up together .  (I’m sorry if i just ruined the movie if you haven’t seen it, but still GO see it)  Most of the chick flicks I find have a common story line.  It usually starts with a man and a women who either know each other or who will meet at some point on their journey, anyway they are complete opposites but yet somehow in the end they find that they can’t live without each other.  It’s that perfect love story.

   In my life, I have yet to find that opposite person who is my complete.  Which is fine, it doesn’t make me upset or sad to not have a significant other in my life.  I know that it is going to happen at some point, but for now, I am trying to make a life that I will be able to enjoy, learn and grow from.  I was texting a friend the other day and we were talking about our lack of love lives and how we kind of live vicariously through movies and or someone else that we know.  I don’t see too much wrong with this, but then it makes me wonder…am I only doing this because I’m scared to take the chance in fear of getting hurt.  Of course I know that there will be times where getting hurt is probably the better option rather than having something work, but for the wrong reasons. 

   From dictionary.com, Vicariously is taking the place of another person or thing; acting or serving as a substitute.  So if we ”live vicariously” then we can either allow ourselves to step outside the box and take that adventure or to stay within the box and allow the ordinary happen.  Personally, I find that I am a little bit of both.  There are some days where I will step outside the “norm” box and put myself out there.  From past experiences, it has had about a 75% working rate.  Now, when stepping outside the box, It isn’t just in my dating life, but in different social settings it has been helpful to step outside.  However, there are times where I will stay in the box.  In the comfort zone that I have created for myself.  I don’t find this as a bad thing but it’s not a great thing to do.  If you want to stay in your comfort zone, it can be difficult letting someone in to share it with you.  By stepping out, you not only share the comfort zone, but it makes it easier in future social situations.  Either way, you are always taking the chance of getting hurt, but if that chance weren’t taken then I feel like our social lives would have no purpose.

   So, is living vicariously a bad thing to do?  I really don’t think so.  I feel that having the mind-set that there is that perfect someone out there just for you gives hope.  The only time when I think it would be a bad thing is when we don’t check ourselves back into reality.

For the Love

Lately in my posts, I feel that I have given off a feeling of anger or something like that.  I honestly don’t know why, I’m not angry by all means, it’s just some of the small things that happen get me a little bent out of shape. 

This title for this blog post is, ”For the Love.”  Even though Valentine’s Day is almost here I thought I would post something early. 

Valentine’s Day never works out for me.  For one thing, I don’t have a boyfriend and I never have a date that night.  This has been the pattern for the last few years.  I have been just fine with it.  I don’t mind a weekend home.  Over the years, I have steered away from the commercial part of Valentine’s.  It just isn’t my thing.  However, this year, I felt compelled to share in the atmosphere of love.  I decided to make heart-shaped sugar cookies for every person on staff at the JCC.  There are about 130 people working here at the J now. 

When I told my manager and another co-worker about it, they said ok.  What I didn’t know and didn’t find out till later is that my manager had to get approval for me to make heart shaped sugar cookies.  When I found out about this, I was ticked off.  I was ticked off to find out that I had to have approval to give service, an act of kindness.  OUT of ALL things I had to have approval to do something nice.  Yes, this is the Jewish Community Center and the Jews don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day because it is a Christian holiday in honor of St. Valentine.  What I am wondering is when did a day for love become so secular?  Now, in the present-day, I would think that it wouldn’t be such a big deal to celebrate a day for love.  I just don’t get it. 

For the Love of Love, why can’t a person just do something nice and share a little love without the approval of an authority figure.  It is not like any feelings will be hurt.  There will be enough sugary goodness for everyone.  I just wanted to do something nice, I don’t see the harm in that.

I just don’t know what to think about it.  I’m just a nice person, wanting to do something nice for others.

Birthday

Every year I get pretty excited for my birthday…well, I get really excited for my birthday.  I don’t know why people hate celebrating their own birthday.  It is a day to celebrate ones self and to enjoy what has happened in the past year and think about what is to come in the future.  Just because you are getting older doesn’t mean anything bad.  It just means that you have completed another successful year of your life.

This last year was full of many unexpected events.  Mom was on the end of her road to recovery and slowly starting to get back into the normal swing of life.  We started taking water aerobics at the J.  We had such a fun time.  She is one hard working woman, not just at home but in the pool she kicked some trash.  Baby Max was born not too long ago.  Sadly, I don’t exactly remember his birthday.  Many of my friendships have changed, some have grown stronger and some have stepped out of my life.  All of these changes among friends has been a though thing to go through, but over all it has turned out well.  I worked as a Shabby Apple intern, which was so much fun.  I made great friends and had so much fun.  I also went with my parents and the Bergs to the Oakley 4th of July Rodeo.  It was great. I had so much fun.  I love that rodeo, can’t wait for next year.  Among all the other activities, there were weddings, hikes and a road trip toe Nevada City, California.  What a great year.

This upcoming year, I am looking forward to graduating, and seeing what is next in my life.  I have no idea what I will be doing, where I will be working, but I plan on taking full advantage of all the opportunities that head my way.

Celebrating a birthday is not only for that one day.  It is for everyday that you live.  Celebrate your life, your love, your faith and your happiness.  When you do this, everything will turn out the way you want it to.

Rock Climbing

This last weekend I went down to Moab, Utah for my Rock Climbing class.  This was an amazing trip!!!  Friday morning Jen, Tara and I got packed all of our gear into my little Subaru and hit the road.  It took us about 4 hours to get to Moab. 

We camped at the Goldbar Campground group site on Potash Road.  It was right next to the river and surrounded by amazing and beautiful red rock.  As soon as we got there, we set up our tent and got everything situated.  Later on in the day as soon as everyone got there, the instructors started to teach us about belaying and what we will be working on while climbing.  That night we had our dinner and just chilled by the fire before bed. 

THe morning, I woke up bright and early, as I always do when I am camping.  I got up made my breakfast and got ready for the day.  THis weekend the instructors kept a close eye on the weather.  There was an 80% chance of a rain and snow on Saturday night. 

So Saturday morning the class met up with the instructors at Wall Street to do top rope climbing.  They set up 5 routes and just let us have at it.  I was amazed as to how secure and safe I felt in my harness with the rope tied correctly through and just the fact that I had a support team down at the bottom giving me encouragement.  THe other part that amazed me was how well the rock climbing shoes I was wearing had such great grip.  I think if anything I needed to learn through this experience was to trust my feet more.  I wasn’t going to go anywhere on the rope, except maybe side to side.  So if I had trusted in my feet a little more, I know my confidence would have skyrocketed. 

 

Around Lunch time the class decided to go to Corona Arch.  This was a beautiful 1.5 mile hike through red rocks and just amazing landscape.  Corona Arch is a 110 foot repel down the middle.  As scary as it sounds, it was absolutely amazing!!!  As you are lowering yourself down to the base you start turning and getting a view of everything in the canyon.  It was breathtaking.  By the time that we all got off the arch and hiked backed to camp, the storm was right on us.  We were all scrambling to get everything secured and prepared for the wind.  Unfortunately, the tent I brought wasn’t going to cut it.  We decided to tear it down and just get everything in the car.  From there the class met up at a little diner in Moab for dinner and presentations.  By the time we were done eating it was about 9:30pm.  We were thinking about driving home, but since it got to be that late we were so tired that we decided that it would be best to just get a room and stay the night. 

 

Sunday morning, we woke up and packed everything and headed home.  It was such a great trip and awesome adventure.

Come One, Come All

Hello my friends, I want to let you in on what is happening in P town (Provo) this weekend.

Drum Roll Please…….

The Shabby Apple Trunk Show

 

The best part about it, is that you get to try on a variety of Shabby Apple Dresses to see what works for you.  So come and find that perfect spring dress at a discounted price.  What better way to spend your saturday at a sale full of dresses and your best gal pals.

 

Here are a couple of stellar shabby apple dresses

 

 

 

    

 

Just looking at these dresses you know that you wouldn’t want to miss out on the best sale of your life. Just think of how fashionable you will be after you stop by the Shabby Apple Trunk Show.  If you want to take more of a gander stop by the Shabby Apple Website.

 

Shops at Riverwoods

4801 North University Avenue
Provo, UT 84604

 

Can’t Wait to See You There!!! 

The Summer of Christie

Hey everyone, it’s that time of year again.  The leaves start to open, flowers start to bloom, you can hear neighbors coming out to play, all of this means that spring and summer are just right around the corner.  I am extremely excited for the change in season.  Not only because I’m graduating, but because I have so many fun things planned.  SO here is the Summer 2010 list of things to do!

Summer 2010 

• Go to Hawaii
• Go to San Francisco
• Watch movies in the park
• Paddle boats at Liberty Park
• Go Rock Climbing/slot canyon climbing
• Hiking
• Go to Lagoon
• Try new cookie recipes
• Play at the park
• Go on Picnics
• Lazer Tagging
• Bowling
• Go on LOTS of dates
• Go to concerts
• Go to the Oakley Rodeo
• Go to Bees Games
• Get Pedicures
• BBQ-learn new recipes
• Go Ice Blocking
• Golfing/ hit a bucket of balls
• Fly a kite
• Go to the Farmers Market
• Take Lots of Pictures
• Play in the Gateway Fountain
• Hang out in Park City
• Go Fishing
• Go horse back riding
• Go mini-golfing
• Go out to breakfast
• Have breakfast on the deck
• Float the Lazy Provo River
• Utah Chalk Art Festival
• Drive-in Movies
• Go to Zions
• Go to Goblin Valley
• Go Camping!
• Go to the Cabin/float the river
• Mountain Biking
• Go to the Living Planet Aquarium
• Events at the Gallivan Center
• Go swimming/lay out at the pool
• Swiss Days with mom
• Off Broadway Theatre
• Gardner Village-shops/events
• Try new restaurants
• Clark Planetarium
• Salt Lake Art Center-Art Exhibits
• Campfire up a canyon
• Jazz Festival
• Batting Cages
• Go Dancing!
• Find new Crafts
• Go Karts
• Hot Springs
• Culture Festivals
• Demolition Derby
• Have Sleepovers

 

Well I think that is about it for now, if you think of anything else let me know!!!      

Green Valley Gap

This last Sunday, April 11  ended my second rock climbing expedition. 

   A class of 32 students and 6 instructors headed down to St. George on Friday, April 9, all traveling either separately or in a carpool.  In my car, we some how managed to cram in 4 girls and all our gear.  It was quite the masterpiece.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture.  Just imagine a Subaru Impreza Sedan trunk filled with 4 packs, sleeping bags, pads, food and other miscellaneous stuff.  We were filled to the brim.  I don’t even know how we made it all work, but we did.

We left Salt Lake around 9 and picked up one of the girls in provo around 10.  As soon as we all got back in the car we hauled buns down the I-15 freeway to St. George.

About 4.5 hours later we pulled into the Ace Hardware to meet up with the rest of the class.  After hanging out in the sun for a little while we proceeded over to a field to set up camp, get the gear we needed and then we headed over to our climbing site. 

The rock in St. George are very different from the rock in Moab.  Plus the skills learned in Moab were to introduce you to top rope climbing and smearing.  Smearing is where you plant the ball of your foot on the surface of the rock to give you balance and movement into your next move.  The rock in St. George had crooks, crannies, and pockets where you could find positive foot and finger holds.  However, on some of the rocks the difficulty was higher and so that meant a little more of a challenge. 

The class Rock 2  was to review top rope climbing and then teach us how to clean a route when we are done for the day, clip in when lead climbing and to set our own anchors and then repel back down to continue climbing.  As you can imagine, Saturday was a very busy day full of information.  With all the information taken in, it was a great day of climbing and improving skills. 

The only downside to the day was that I got fried.  I decided to work on my tan and wear an exercise tank, I promise that I still put on sunscreen, but it wasn’t enough.  My shoulder blades now look like they have burned wings on them.  However, now that my skin has soaked in all of the rays from the weekend, I am looking pretty tan.

Sunday, we woke up and packed up as much as possible before we headed to the climbing site to do some free climbing.  It was nice because I got a few climbs in and worked on a few of the skills.  When we finished everyone headed back to camp and packed up and headed home. 

THe drive home was long and tiring.  But I was glad to be home.  I can’t wait to get back out there and do some more climbing.  For those of you who read my blog, if you climb I would love to come with you and practice.

Graduation, Friends Forever

Five years of school = 1 day of bliss, accomplishment, excitement, passion, jumping for joy, fist pumps, high fives, hugs, kisses, tears of joy and triumph.  I can honestly say that I felt all of those in just one day.

 

 The morning was filled with excitement as I started getting ready for my big day.  I got a new red dress, cute beige shoes, pretty pearls and to top it off, a cap, gown and tassel.  I was ready to go.  I could just feel the excitement bubble inside me.  I was graduating.  After five years of schooling, I couldn’t believe that it was my turn.  My turn to show that I had gained all of this knowledge, experience and strength to be successful in life.  What an overwhelming feeling!   

We left the house around 10 am and headed toward the Huntsman Center.  Before the commencement festivities of sitting in a plastic uncomfortable chair for 1.5 hours, we took pictures outside on the lawn to commemorate the day.  Departing to find my seat, I found friends that I hadn’t seen all semester.  We laughed, cheered, teased and just soaked up the moment with each other and the idea of graduation and moving forward.  It was a great reunion.

 

As we filed down to the stadium floor, all I could think about was that I was graduating.  I couldn’t believe it.  It still hasn’t sunk in yet.  I was so excited when they called my name.  I jumped and fist pumped the air.  Haha, I was so excited.  Dad got it on film.  Not much time after that, as a graduating class, we turned our tassels and cheered.  We made it!

 

After the ceremony, I met up with the family and we took a few more pictures.  After lunch, Megan and I went to the Garden Park Ward to take some pictures while I was all dressed up.  It was lots of fun. 

 

That night was the Sugarland concert.  My cute friends Kandis and Kendall bought tickets for them me and a date and Megan.  We all couldn’t wait to go.  They got me an extra ticket for a date.  Mind you that I was stressing out about finding a date for about a month.  Then I realized, why stress?  I should just take someone who I do like and who I think would be fun.  His name is Mike.  I’ve known him for a couple of months.  I met him through friends that I play games with on Sunday nights.  Anyway, he’s tall, a great dancer, likes country music, is funny, flirty and just a fun guy to be around.  We went to Red Robin for dinner, which was super yummy.  Then we headed off to the concert.  Sugarland was amazing!!!! One of the best concerts that I have been to. Mike was so much fun to bring to this concert. We just had a great time!

 

 

 

Graduation…a day to remember!

New York, New York

It has been forever since I have written a blog post, I am so sorry. I figure that now is a good time to update all of you on my trip to New York.  Sometimes I still can’t believe that I went there.

  

Thursday: 

This day was mainly a day full of traveling.  I hopped on a plane early in the morning and I got to NY around 3pm.  From the airport, I took a cab to Battery Park.  This is where I stayed with my friend Heather.  She lives just down the street from the park.  Since there are no mountains (at least where I was) NY makes up for it in how beautiful its parks are.  

This picture is me and the view of I think New Jersey.  

 

  

In Battery Park, I was able to see the sculpture made from the World Trade Center, Castle Clinton, and the Korean War Monument. 

World Trade Center Sculpture

 

  

Castle Clinton

 

Korean War Monument

 

Also from Battery Park, you could see the statue of Liberty. 

View of Statue of Liberty from Battery Park

 

  

Continuing my little adventure, I walked up to where the World Trade Center used to be.  It is now a lot full of construction workers, machines and a new view on what will be placed there.  They are in the process of building a new WTC with a memorial garden area.  I hope to go back and see it when it is all complete.  Just down the street is a temporary WTC museum.  There was a giant difference from walking on the sidewalk outside to walking into the museum.  Walking in, it became silent.  This silence was not erie, but respectful.  I remember that day.  I was sitting in my 9th grade english class when I started hearing about all that was going on. 

World Trade Center Area

 

That night, I met up with Heather and we headed up to Times Square.  Times Square is insane, intense and just amazing.  I have never seen so many lights.  It was as if daylight was still going on and it was 8 pm at night.  We walked around a little bit and then found a great Asian restaurant.  One thing I loved about walking around in NY, was all the statues that were just there.  Some of them had a purpose and meaning but then some were just there for the heck of it. 

  

Me at Times Square

Times Square

Heather and I in ToysR’us, they had a ferris wheel inside

Random statue in the Fashion District

  

Friday: 

Friday was a busy day.  First thing that morning, I went to see the Statue of Liberty!  This was amazing.  However, I didn’t have much time to wander around the island because I had to get back for a bus tour at 11am.  I had enough time to run to the statue, take some pictures and then run back to the boat.  From there they stopped at Ellis Island, and I decided that it would be better to stay on the boat.  

We finally made it back to Battery Park.  I ran off the boat and went to the subway.  I was so scared that I was going to miss my tour.  It was 10:40am and the train left at 10:42 am.  As soon as the train got to Times Square, I started running. I only had about 5 minutes to run about 7-10 blocks to get to where the tour was leaving from.  I was calling the company to see if they had left yet or where I could meet up with them.  The lady on the phone told me that the group was in a white tour bus.  I was about 1 block away and I saw it driving down the street.  My arms went up in the air as I yelled out “No.”  I ran as fast as I could to make the bus, but yet missed it by two minutes.  I walked into a little store and called the company again to find out their first stop.  As soon as I walked out, a lady was running to me.  She asked me if I was supposed to be on this tour, I said “yes,” she said “come on,”  I followed her onto the bus.  Somehow, someone on the bus spotted me and they pulled over.  I was so thankful that they saw me and pulled over. 

Statue of Liberty Pictures: 

Me and the Statue

  

Statue of Liberty

  

Pictures from the tour: 

The fire house where they filmed Ghost Busters and Seinfeld

  

"Friends" Apartment

  

The Cosby Show front door

  

After the tour, I walked around Central Park.  This park was more than I expected.  Everything was kept clean.  The grass all over was green and it all was just so pretty.  As I walked around, I enjoyed watching people and the variety of street performers trying to make a living.  After my walk around only part of Central Park, I walked back to Times Square to get my novelty item shopping done.  I love buying souvenirs.  It’s totally corny, but overall worth it.  

Friday night, we went and saw a show on broadway.  We went to Avenue Q.  I would describe this as Sesame Street for adults.  It was a cast of about 10 actors/actresses.  They did such a great job.  They were animated and just brought each puppet to life.  Plus the jokes were just so super funny.  It was great! 

Saturday: 

We spent the day wandering around, going to the museums and shopping.  We went to the Guggenheim and the Metropolitan 

Me out front the Guggenheim

  

The Met

  

LOVE

Well, this concludes my trip.  It was amazing.  I will for sure be going back one day.  Hope you enjoyed reading.

Soul Searching

Well, considering that it has been a little while since I have posted, I thought I would write a little something.

Now with school finally over, I took my extra time to take on a 2nd job, which didn’t work out as a good fit for me.  I have also been taking on different projects around the house.  The first major project was to scrape the goop off of the front porch, then to paint the walls, and railing.  Along with the front beautification process, I also painted the trim around the windows.  As of right now, we only have the front door to paint.  It has been quite an undertaking, but it all looks pretty good if I do say so myself.

What is next for me, well to tell you the truth, I have no idea.  I am done with school at least for now, I am debt free except a car payment and I really don’t have any attachments (romantically concerned).  So the big question now is, What to do?  I have had a thought of moving to North Carolina to stay with a friend while she goes to school.  The other idea is to go work in Montana at a ranch for a few months in the fall.  I just really don’t know what I am going to do.  The nice thing is that I don’t have to make a decision right away, but I need to be thinking about it.  I guess its time to go do some good soul-searching. 

For the last five years, I have had a plan.  Now, no plan.  It’s not that I need a for sure plan, I just need a direction to take.  I feel like I would do well on my own in the real world.  I know I would be able to trust myself and my values would stay strong.  I just want to know what to do next.  I know that marriage is still a little ways off.  I know what you all will say, but I know that I still have time before I get married.  So right now I just need to find out who I really am and take this time to develop that person. 

Well, as always, I am open to suggestions.  In the end, I know that it will be up to me and God to make that final decision, but I know that I need to work on it till I get there.

As I am writing this post, I almost feel like I have written the same thing about 3 times, which if I have, then I am sorry that you had to read it, but I think I just needed to say it at least for myself. 

Time for some soul-searching, I’ll let you know if I find myself.

Forget What Were Told…

I love the song “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol.  It has to be one of my favorites.  I blast it in the car, repeat it on the internet playlist and sing all of the words.  There is something about the lyrics, melodies and notes of the song itself. 

I think that it is interesting how songs and music in general play some kind of role in our lives.  There are songs that can match our mood to the T.  No matter if you are sad, happy, angry or scared, there is a song that may have lyrics or melodies that represent your present mood.  This song tunes into my wants and desires.  I want to find this in my life and live it the rest of my days. 

Chasing Cars, has a couple of different meanings to me.  The one that stands out mostly from the lyrics is that there is hope for someone to be with you and do everything with you and be that companion.  At the end of a verse, the lyric poses a question, “would you lie with me and just forget the world?”  Honestly, who wouldn’t want this.  However, I don’t think that it necessarily has to be a boyfriend or girlfriend, it could be one of your best friends.  It is all about someone who will support you and be there for you.  A friend-mate is very important to me.  They are the person that I can confide in.  They are someone who I can be silly with, laugh with, cry with and just be myself with.  Once you have found your friend-mate, you know that every happy, sad, angry moments will workout because you have that person you can depend on.

The other meaning of this song for me, is a desire.  These lyrics describe who I want to be with.  I want someone to lie with me and forget the world.  The two of you are in this together.  You are supporting one another.  I love the lyric, “I need your grace, to remind me to find my own.”  We all get lost trying to find our best selves.  There will always be times when we fall and need help to get back up.  With where my life is right now, I feel that I am only singing half of the lyrics.  I haven’t quite found my other half to lay with me and forget the world.  One day I will, one day I will forget the world and it will just be the two of us.

We’ll do it all
Everything
On our own

We don’t need
Anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world?

I don’t quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They’re not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world?

Forget what we’re told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden
That’s bursting into life

Let’s waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads

I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world?

Forget what we’re told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden
That’s bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes
They’re all I can see

I don’t know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things
Will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world?

Change

Ok…since a bunch of change has been happening, I thought it was time to spruce up the blog page a bit. Well, really…I didn’t do anything except choose a background and click a couple of buttons, but I like it. Hope you like it too!

Wedding Bliss

This week, I have 3 weddings to attend.  All of which I am very excited for.  The first of the 3 is Katie and Chandler.  I met Katie in Alpha.  She is a darling girl. Always willing to help, be a friend and just loves life.  I am truly happy for her to have found the man of her dreams.  The 2nd wedding I will be attending is Jake and Janice.  This couple is darling. I guess it would be cliché to say that they are made for each other, but they really are.  They have so much fun together and you can see it when you are with them. 

The last wedding this week is for Amanda and Trevor.  I met Amanda in Alpha about 4 years ago.  We have become very good friends over the years. She is a darling girl and I know will make Trevor happy.  Trevor is a great guy.  He is perfect for Amanda.  I am lucky and very excited to be a bridesmaid in their wedding. 

Here is my toast to all of the Happy Couples:

To my friends so dear, I wish you the best in all that you do.  May your adventures take you to wherever your heart desires.  Always love one another with all of your heart.  Be kind, sweet and nourish each others souls.  Stay true to who you are and always accept your mate for who they are.  Live life to the fullest and never look back.  I love you all very much.  Congratulations!

Void?

Am I missing something?  I don’t think so.  I haven’t lost my keys or shoes in a while, well except I can’t find the other sandal, but that’s not a big deal.  So what is it that I am really missing? 

In August of 2005, I started my college career at the University of Utah.  Since then I had been taking classes each fall and spring semester for 5 years.  I always took the summer off to rest, earn money and just enjoy.  Now that Summer 2010 is over, I am not going back to school.  It is a very strange feeling.  I didn’t buy books, parking pass, school supplies or even new clothes.  All of these things make up the start of what seemingly would be a successful school semester, but now I don’t know what to set my goals toward.  All of these non-happenings have left me in a void state. 

Now what?  I have no idea.  I have a job, which I plan on staying at through the winter.  I’m going to Hawaii in November and to the cabin the next two weekends.  I’m doing these things, but is that really filling the void that I have at the moment?  Well, yes I guess to a certain point it is.  These trips do give me something to look forward to, but they are only short-term.  Looking long-term, which I try not to because it is hard to think about the unknown.  Maybe I’m not supposed to look at how I can fill the void, but more how I can find a way to get to feeling ok about it.  Not sure. 

So now, I think it is time to put my best foot forward and start looking for something that will become fulfilling for me as I keep moving forward.  So here is what I am thinking of:

1. Finding a second job to learn something new

2. Taking a class to learn a new skill (i.e. cake decorating)

3. Home improvement projects

Well those are a few of the ideas I have had.  I am open to suggestions.

Autumn!

Utah weather changes everyday.  I think this state has unique weather patterns.  It could be raining, sunny, windy, snowing all in one day.  You would think that you had traveled to a different place, but to your dismay you are still in Utah.  To my delight this last storm not only left our house without power, but it brought cooler temperatures and a clean city.  I enjoy a good gully washer rainstorm.  With cooler temps, school starting and the change of season coming it only gets me thinking about autumn decorations! 

I LOVE to decorate!!!

If there is something you didn’t know about me, it is that I love to create, re-arrange and make objects look beautiful.  Thankfully, I have a mom who lets me paint the house different colors, hang pictures on the walls and do home improvement projects.  Most recently, I stripped the porch, painted the walls, scraped and painted the window frames.  I usually never know when a project will spark my interest, but when it does, I am all gung-ho on making it happen.  (that’s how I got dad to move downstairs)

Because this change in weather has got me thinking about autumn, I think it is time to clean up the house and bring out rich colored decorations and really make the feel of the house transform.  I am a huge fan of making crafts to use around the house.  I probably have an over abundance of different things I have created living in different spots around the house. 

While I start to plan to what I do, I take inspiration from different pictures from websites.  (and yes, Martha Stewart living is usually included as inspiration)  Some of my favorite things to decorate with are pumpkins, leaves, acorns, well really just everything and anything that reminds me of the autumn spirit.  Warm colors, warm sweaters, crunchy leaves and the smell of the season changing.

As soon as I figure out my autumn project, I will share, but for the moment I am taking suggestions. 

 

Update!

Well, ok so its been a little while since I have posted something.  So here is the update…

I have been working side jobs at a reception venue, Rose Sachs Gardens.  I help out doing event managing for some of the weddings there.  It is a beautiful place.  If you get the chance, check out the website www.rosesachsgardens.com You will love it! 

To all those who do read my blog, I believe that you get the inside scoop on what is happening in my life.  For one thing, I am very open on certain topics (probably a little too open).  Anyway, so I wanted to let you know that I have been dating a really great guy for about 3 weeks now.  I know you are wondering all the details and of course I am going to fill you in.  His name is John Ekins, he is 27 and in his last year of school at the U of U.  He is studying to be an athletic trainer.  He is from Delta, Ut.  He actually grew up with my cousin Kyle and they played football together in high school.  He also knows my Grandpa and my cousin Andy.  Small world. 

How we met…Most of you know that I love country dancing.  John also loves it.  So it was the week of labor day weekend and I went dancing with Lyndsi and Sarah.  I saw John and just asked him to dance.  From there we just hit it off, we have quite a lot of things in common.  Labor day weekend came around and he came and spent the whole weekend with me and my family.  It was soooo much fun.  It was a great way to start to get to know him and for him to see me in probably one of the most comfortable settings and places that I love.  We had a great time hiking around, hiking the river, watching movies and he’s a really good kisser .  So yeah….it was a lot of fun!  And since then we do stuff off and on when our schedules allow and it has been great.  I will for sure keep you posted as this all develops, but consider me one happy girl.

For the most part, that was the biggest update. And since its very exciting, I had to share.

It’s Official

Haha, ok I’m laughing because I am probably the most giddy girl right now.  In my previous post, I introduced you to John.  Well as of last night, we are now officially boyfriend and girlfriend.  For one thing, its almost weird and surreal to say that just because I have never had a boyfriend.  Secondly, I’m just really happy.  Anyway, I just wanted to let you know.

Meet The Parents

This last weekend, I went with John to Hinkley, Utah.  Home of the Ekin clan.  It is about 2-2.5 hours from SLC.  Thankfully, I only had to meet his parents.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to meet his siblings, but it would have been too much meeting everyone in one shot.  John’s parents, Jane and Gene Ekins have lived in Hinkley for a long time, I’m not sure how long but they know just about everyone. 

John and I arrived at his home Thursday afternoon, got settled in and then ate dinner.  After dinner, Jane and I went to a quilt trunk show.  A woman came and talked about all the quilts she has made.  She brought some and they were just soooo pretty.  After we got back we played Shang Hi (a mix of rummy and uno sort of).  This game is so much fun.  I got pretty good at it…the real trick is trying not to get caught in the end with a hand full of cards.  I think we played that game till about 11pm.

Friday, I slept in and then we all got in the truck and drove around to pick up a bale of hay and get some corn stalks to decorate Jane’s front porch.  This was a fun little adventure.  Then the afternoon was spent just hanging out.  That night we went to the horse movie, I think its called Secretarian.  It was a good show.  Had good values and lessons.

Saturday, I didn’t sleep in.  I think I woke up about 7:30a.  We had talked the night before about stuff and it was a lot to think about.  So my mind started thinking about it at 7:30 in the morning.  So I decided that I needed some time alone to think and meditate.  I grabbed a blanket and tried to quietly go up the stairs and out the front door and sat on the front porch.  I guess I wasn’t quiet enough because they heard me.  Gene came out and wondered what I was doing out there.  I told him, I just felt like sitting outside.  He laughed and then by that time, Jane and John came out.  John then sat with me and we talked a little more.  He could tell that everything we had been talking about this weekend was on my mind.  So we sat outside for a little longer and talked and then his mom came out to tell us to come eat.  The rest of the day we worked on a sprinkler, his mom baked and we watched some football.  That night, John and I spent the time talking about different things that we had on our minds.  It was a good talk.

Sunday, we went to church.  I think that is just about all I have to say about that.  Haha.  It wasn’t bad, it was just church.

Overall, it was a great weekend.  It was so much fun to see John interact with his parents and see the love that he has for them.  I am actually meeting one of his brother’s tonight. Wish me luck.

Change of Season

The air is cool, crisp and ready for change.  I think I am ready for it also.  I love when the seasons start to change.  Watching leaves bud on trees and blossom into shade on a hot summer day.  Then seeing the leaves change to red and gold as the summer season comes to an end and fall begins.  Storms begin to roll in and brings SNOW!  I love watching the snow fall.  My favorite kind of snow storm is when it appears as if you live in a snow globe.  The snowflakes are big and fluffy.  Everything is quiet and you sit and watch as the flakes fall to the ground ever so gently.  It is one of the most peaceful snowfalls.

Somehow this year, Mother Nature delighted us with a lovely warm October.  The days were perfect.  Though the air would be cool, the sun gave warmth and made it so nice to be outside.  It was as if the sun was kissing the skin of our cheeks.  I loved being outside this month.  Warm afternoons and cool evenings, made it for a very enjoyable month.

Being the last week of October, storms start to roll in and change the season.  Leaves fall from trees, birds fly away and coats are pulled out of a long sleep.  As fall changes to winter, I love to pull out warm blankets, old movies and hot coco.  I don’t think there is anything better than wrapping up in a blanket and watching a movie as snow is falling.

One of my favorite parts about the beginning of winter is watching the storms roll in, but then after the storm leaves there is a light dusting of snow that just enhances the mountainside.  It is almost as if it creates a new world or at least a new dimension of the world that we live on.  Some people say there is life on other planets, which could be true, but I don’t think they have as beautiful place to live as we do.  Every season, every year we get to experience changes in weather.  Each experience brings new emotions, sounds and a glimpse into what the upcoming season has in store. 

Laura and I were up at the cabin just a couple of weeks ago.  We went for a walk on the other side of the road.  As we walked down into the little glade, we stopped and took in the most amazing smell.  It is a mixture of mountain air damp leaves that just have fallen off the trees.  It is divine.  If only it could be bottled, but I’m glad it can’t because then it wouldn’t be as special.  I look forward to this smell every year.  It reminds me of how wonderful nature is and how it brings so much joy into my life.

Scary Movies

During the Halloween season, scary movies are in a higher abundance than any other time during the year.  At least that is my opinion.  As for myself, I am not big on watching scary movies.  I love movies with a good thrill, suspense and even jumpy moments.  I can’t stand the blood/gore type scary movies.  I think the paranormal movies freak me out.  Seeing as how John and I have been dating, I told him we should watch a scary movie.  Mainly because that was probably going to be the only Halloween activity I participate in.

Not ever watching a scary movie with a boy is a completely different experience, from my point of view.  It is nice because you have someone to hold onto and hold hands with incase you get scared.  I will have to admit, I am one of those girls who jumps, hides and closes their eyes when you don’t want to watch the scary part.

We watched a movie called, “The Cave.”  The actual movie was pretty good.  When the first jumpy part came, oh did i JUMP!  John, laughed at me and said, “I think I know how the rest of the movie is going to go.”  During the rest of the movie, I was jumpy and had to cover my eyes once because it got too gross.  Overall the movie was good, but I think I made better entertainment for John.

My perspective of a guy’s point of view, watching a scary movie:

Guys love scaring girls.  Guys also love protecting girls.  Two very opposite traits, but they tend to go hand in hand. 

The Girl: Ahhhhh, I’m scared

The Guy: (thinking) I’ll make you a little more scared, then I will hold you so you won’t be scared.

The Girl: (laughs) and holds on tighter to guy

Ok well this might not be super accurate, but I think you get the idea as to how the two play hand in hand.  Either way, I have a feeling that for the guy and girl, they don’t mind being scared just a little bit. 

Well, at least I didn’t mind being scared, just a little bit.

Hawaii

Hawaii was amazing!  For anyone who hasn’t gone, I highly recommend going.  I mean really, how can you say no to warm weather, moderate climate and beautiful scenery?

Our first day there, we were going to go snorkeling, but the parking lot was full so we ventured on to other beaches around the island.  We stopped and took pictures along the way.  Each beach is so unique and so beautiful.  What I thought was very cool, was that at each beach, the sand was different.  Some sand was fine and small, the other beaches had coarse textured sand.  One of my tasks that week we were there was to gather sand for John.  So we bought a little jar and started collecting sand, seashells and pieces of coral.

As we traveled around the island, we stopped at the Dole Plantation.  It was really cool.  We didn’t take a tour, but they had a nice gift shop and a little pineapple garden so you could have an idea of what they do.  The random part about it was the coy pond.  These fish were huge.  They had food to feed the fish, so as you can see, they were FAT.  As we drove around the island, we found a ranch.  They had movie and jungle tours.  We decided that the next day we would go back and go on a tour.  It was a lot of fun and gave us a different perspective of the island.

On another day, we went paddle boarding.  This was sooooo much fun!  You have a surf board and a paddle.  You then take it out on the water and paddle around.  There was a river next to the place we rented the equipment and we paddled our way up.  I was so sore the next day.  We then hung out at the beach and just relaxed.

My favorite day was when we went snorkeling.  What an experience.  Being able to swim with the fishies was so neat.  You felt like you were a fish right with them.  I was so glad to have brought an underwater camera to take pictures.  It was just sooooo fun!

On our last night we went downtown to Waikiki to do some shopping and wandered around.  It was so much fun walking around and going into all the different stores.  Now, you would think that Hawaii would have different stores compared to the mainland.  Well come to find out, its about the same.  They just have a beach out back. 

On our last day, we went to Pearl Harbor.  This was such a neat experience.  We went out to where you could see the Missouri in the water  from when it went down.  It is a national and living cemetery.  The feeling while looking at the names of all those who died, I don’t know how to put it.  It was a very solemn but joyous in the fact that you knew they were serving on your behalf.  We also went to the aviation museum.  This was really neat.  They had actual planes used in battle.  Driving there was a surreal feeling.  We were driving down the middle of the landing strip of where those planes would land.  I couldn’t believe that all of that happened.

I know that this was not as detailed a review of my trip, but it at least gives you an idea of all the fun we had.  I hope to go back again and just be a beach bum.

I’m A Loser

Since my last semester of college, I have been progressively and continually working out.  I’m building a better me.  That semester I took weight lifting and cardio ball.  These were great classes to get me started.  I made friends, my teachers were great and I started to see results. 

The next challenge after that semester ended was keeping up with everything.  I had to overcome the intimidation of the gym at the J.  Though small in size it was very intimidating.  Especially when there are a lot of fit people who workout there.  It took a few times of going and just practicing my regular routine that I finally felt comfortable.  Now after going and being consistent, I see friends and other gym “buddies” each morning when I workout.  It makes it fun to workout. 

I want you to know that I have no goals to accomplish with all my exercising.  I don’t do well with goals in the weight loss area.  I am just happy with the improvements that I get to see each time I’m lifting weights and running/walking on the treadmill. 

I don’t diet, I just try to eat less of the bad stuff that tastes soooooo good.  I try to eat 6 small portions throughout the day.  It mainly means that I take apples, oranges, granola bars and other good snack food to keep me full and keep my metabolism up.  I love food, there really isn’t a better way to put it.  So I am not about to sacrifice something I love.  That will just cause me more pain.  Haha.  Not really, but you know what I mean.  Plus I am not about to try any weird diet.  I believe that dieting isn’t what it is cracked up to be.  By changing your food intake drastically, your body doesn’t have enough time to catch up.  That is how you lose all the weight first off.  But you might get out of the habit of your diet and gain it all back.  This process is so not fun and so not worth it.

I try to exercise 5 days a week.  MWF, I do about 35-40 min cardio and my weight lifting routine, which takes me about 40 minutes.  T/TH, is all cardio.  I try to do about 40-50 minutes on those days.  My cardio usually consists of hills on the treadmill at about a speed of 4.0.  If I am on the olyptical, I try to do intervals of sprints and jogging.  The important thing is to keep the heart rate up.  My lift routine consists of; bench press, shoulders, triceps, back, biceps (curls for the girls) and low row.  I also try to mix in abs between sets to let that specific muscle recover and so I don’t forget abs at the end.

My starting weight which I recorded back in March 2010 was 210 lbs.  My current weight right now is about 191 lbs.  Even thinking about it is a WOW factor to me.  My favorite part about losing weight is the inches I am losing.  I really could care less about the number of pounds on the scale, I am more interested in the inches that are disappearing around my body.

So, I am a LOSER and dam proud of it!

MeRrY ChRiStMaS!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! 

Christmas is always a special time for me.  I LOVE the lights, the colors, the decorations and the spirit felt throughout the month.  I LOVE driving around looking at light displays at different houses.  Even the most simple design is beautiful.  I LOVE when a fresh layer of snow has just fallen and it makes everything sparkle.  I LOVE when it snows in big fluffy flakes.  It makes me feel as if I am in a snow globe.  I LOVE the smell of pine trees and the aroma filling the house.  I LOVE the smell of freshly baked goodies.  I LOVE to wrap presents and make each one special and beautiful.  I LOVE spending time with my family and sharing the day with them.  I LOVE hiding Smokey and Lucy’s Christmas presents under the tree and watching them hunt.  I LOVE to sing Christmas songs when mom plays the piano. 

One of my favorite things I love doing is decorating for Christmas.  If you have ever been to my house, you will see that we love Santa.  Santa is very alive in our family, and will always be.  My very most favorite statue is of Santa kneeling at baby Jesus’ cradle in the manger.  Each year, I pull this statue out with care then placing in center on the mantel.  It reminds me that even through the commercial that Christmas has become; we need to remember what this day is truly for and it is for Christ.

I wish that you may have a wonderful Christmas full of Love.  Merry Christmas.

A New Year

Seeing as how 2010 is now gone, 2011 is in full swing.  I can’t believe how fast time passes, seasons change and how months seem to get shorter.  It is interesting to look at today and think about time and how miniscule it is compared to eternity “the BIG picture.”  Though as fast as time seems to come and go, I still plan on trying to be the best me and doing things I love to do. 

I am excited to start a fresh year, make new friends, have new challenges, and who knows…maybe get married (that will be an entirely different blog post at somepoint).  In this new year, I am hoping to be happier, healthier, friendlier, a money saver, more optomistic, more loving and compassionate.  These are only a few things I want to invest myself more deeply in.

I hope that as you start your new year, you will be excited for all the new things that are to come.  Love you all.

Secrets and Surprises…

Ok there are so many things happening right now in my life, but I can’t really say anything about it.  Part of it I have no idea what will happen then the other part is that all of you don’t know what is going to happen.

Thats really all I can say about that right now.

Engaged

When: February 19, 2011

John took me out to dinner at Madelines (in South Jordan) to try out the food because that is where we are having our luncheon.  That night was a dinner theatre and the show was Romeo and Juliet.  So were eating and watching, well it gets to the part where Juliet is on her balcony saying “romeo, romeo wherefore art thou romeo?”  She stopped and said “I think we should have someone from the audience come do this part.  John was totally pointing at me and I didn’t really want to.  So she said, “since he’s throwing you under the bus, why don’t you come do it.”  So I stood up and repeated the lines, then she asked, “who are you with and whats the relation?”  I told her, I am here with my boyfriend John.”  She then said, “well why don’t you use his name instead and lets put a blindfold on too.”  So I said the lines again, “John, John wherefore art thou John.”  As soon as I finished she pulled off the blindfold and there John was down on one knee and he said, “I’m right here Christie, Will you Marry Me?”

It was a great surprise.  He couldn’t have planned it any better.

First day of…School?

Well, it feels like the first day of school tomorrow.  I have new clothes, new things to learn and new people to meet.  I couldn’t be anymore excited then I am right now.  I am so excited to be learning different things that will help me in my career and in life.  It is going to be so much fun!

I will be working in the Student Recruitment Office.  My title is Campus Visit Coordinator.  I will be coordinating appointments with advisors, tickets for activities, tours, U Night program (for students to stay the night in the dorms). 

I am just so thankful and so happy to have been selected for this position.  I have been looking, applying and interviewing for so many different jobs; I have been waiting for the right one to come along.  I am so thankful for my family to have kept me in their prayers and thoughts and those who have put ‘good words’ in for me to help me along.  I know that all of these things have helped me to get to where I am at today.

Updates

So many things have happened over the last month, I can’t believe how fast time has gone by. 

My new JOB!!! WoooHooo!!!

I am the new Campus Visit Coordinator for the Student Recruitment Office at the University of Utah.  It has been great!  I am loving all the different tasks, projects, people I work with.  It has been such a great change and blessing for me.  I love working 8a-5p and knowing that I have weekends off, paid time off, holidays and all other kinds of compensation.  My job is to coordinate the campus visits of prospective students.  We take their information and give them a packet of information.  I also schedule advising appointments in the different colleges.  Right now I am working on finding two new student assistants to hire for summer/fall. 

Wedding Updates:

I finished paying off my dress.  My first fitting is on April 23rd.  I am so excited!!! I have the cutest cowboy boots to wear with it!  I can’t wait!!! I have been working so hard on working out and losing weight.  I think I am doing pretty good at it.  I try not to eat as much and stay away from all the sugary yummy good stuff, but i fit a few snacks in between. 

We have a photographer.  We are going to use, Bella Day Photography, check it out at www.belladayphotography.com.  She has great pictures and came at what I believe to be a good price. 

Right now we are just working on concepts for the reception.  The theme is “country chic.”  Using different kinds of bottles, wild flowers, jars, rustic, old, eclectic windows, doors and whatever else we may find to decorate and display pictures.  I just have a feeling that it is going to look great!  I can’t wait.

Spring?

Has spring sprung?  Somedays, I am unsure if spring is really here or not.  It has been a very wet, cold, snowy spring so far.  That is why, I am unsure if spring is really happening.  Today, it is supposed to be about 79 degrees, which is AMAZING!  I am extremely excited for the beautiful day ahead.  Execpt the fact that I will be spending most of the day in the office.  Oh well, I will enjoy it tomorrow. 

I abolutely love spring.  It is the awakening of from the deep sleep of winter.  Buds, blossoms, birds chirpping, grass growing, it is all beautiful.  It is a breath of fresh air in the morning.  Everyday, flowers, birds and kisses from the sunlight wake-up to say hello.

Spring also brings longer days in the sun, which means summer time will shortly be on its way.  I have a feeling that this spring will last a little longer. 

I am just glad that it is spring time officially…I think?

Chic-ly Gaudy

So far in my bridal journey, I feel that I have been a pretty good bride.  I haven’t been too demanding, rude or as we all know the term, “Bride-zilla.”  Nope, I haven’t done much of this.  My recent searches on the World Wide Web have been for bridesmaid dresses.  To be honest, we all know that you want your bridesmaids to look pretty and nice, but not as beautiful as the bride.  Sorry if I just crushed your dreams in being a stunning bridesmaid, but it’s just the way it goes.  I want my bridesmaids to look great and to do that, I want to bring out their best features such as skin tone, curves and bone structure.  I have found such dresses  in my search and wanted to share them with you.

This first picture brings out wonderful features in each bridesmaid.  The ruffles add interest, the waist is pulled in to show off their curves and this skirt is full which makes it fun to twirl in.  My favorite part about these dresses is the fabric and color.  A shimmering gold to compliment each of the girls skin tones.  It’s a perfect blend of chic and gaudy.

Nothing says wedding like glossy baby blue dress detailed in white lace.  And matching umbrellas of course. 

Now, floral designs bring a whole new life to a wedding.  People are always asking you what kind of flowers you are going to have for your centerpieces or bouquet.  Well what about the flowers your bridesmaids are going to wear on your special day?  Wouldn’t you want someone to ask you what type of rose, daisy, lily or pansy your bridemaids dresses will display.  Flowers are an important part of the wedding decor, you might as well express your flower style on the bridesmaid dresses.

Well when all is said and done it really doesn’t matter what the bridesmaids wear, just as long as the bride looks beautiful.

My 2 Moms

Most people will tell you that they have an “adoptive mom.”  I think this is true for many people.  There are so many moms who look after us.  We should feel blessed to have them in our lives as an extra guardian angel.  I know that I feel blessed to have them in my life.

 

Over Memorial weekend, my mom and dad went to visit my adoptive parents, Rob and Mary.  They live in Nevada City, California.  It a beautiful part of California.  Until going there a couple of years ago, I never would have thought that California has beautiful mountains and amazing forests.  So once mom and dad arrived back at home, I sat down with mom because she had some presents for me.

 

Her and Mary got me something borrowed, something new and something blue.  It was the sweetest gift I could have ever received from my moms.  My something borrowed were two cameo pins to make into a necklace.  They belonged to her great-grandmother.  The something new is a pair of beautiful earring that match my dress.  They have a small rhinestone diamond ball and then a champagne pearl on the bottom.   Simple yet beautiful.  The something blue will be a ribbon that will be attached to my garder belt. 

 

This is why I have two wonderful moms.  Not because they bring me special presents, but because they are my guardian angels watching over me.

Cabin

I love the cabin.  I love everything there is to love about the cabin.  I love sitting and listening to all the sounds of nature and taking in the fresh air.  I always believe that when I go there, I feel like I’m cleaning my lungs out from the dirty city air.  I love to watch movies, read books, look through old books, take naps, go on walks, hikes and play in the river.  I just love the cabin.  It has become a special place for me to go.  I always am at ease while visiting the mountains.

 

This last weekend, I was able to spend the weekend there and just enjoyed every minute of it. 

 

 

John and I were able to go visit Diane’s Ranch (Alpha Sorority Advisor).  It was just beautiful.  We plan on taking some of our engagement pictures there.

 

This is me at Smith and Moorehouse Resivoir.

 

John practicing his Yoga Tree Pose.

 

It was a great weekend.  I can’t wait for the 4th of July weekend coming up!

My Johnboy

Wow.  Time flies when you are planning a wedding.  To all my blog readers, sorry I have not posted any summer adventures.  I guess the biggest adventure this summer is that I have been planning my wedding, which is taking place in 16 days.  I still can’t believe it on some days. 

In all honesty, I am so excited to have found the man of my dreams.  John has been such a blessing in my life.  He is the sweetest most loving man and I am so excited to be his wife, friend, love and companion through the rest of the days in this life and continued on in the next.  He knows how to calm me when I’m upset, he eases my frustrations, makes me feel special, makes me feel beautiful.  I don’t know how I found such a man, but I’m glad I found him.  He is wonderful.