Current Happenings

(via)

waking up in my own bed... Really weird. I just got home from a week long vacation at my parent's house. Christmas was glorious. 

watching Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies-- over Christmas vacation, I watched the entire LOTR series and the new Hobbit movie. It was a good nerd-out. 

enjoying the last "free" week M and I have before school starts again.  

making some posters for one of my best friend's wedding! So fun. 

writing our 2014 goals, and a rather long to-do list.

ordering my Christmas present-- Communication Arts magazine. SO excited!  

planning out the next year/semester/week/and following year. So much to plan, and the new year is the best excuse to get super organized and back on track. Hello, forgotten planner. Here I come. 

dreaming about Summer. And cutting my hair. And getting new glasses.

playing with my new iPhone--Christmas came and she was goooood. :) 

feeling ready to start the new year and attack some goals!!! 

reading Creative, Inc.  

loving time spent with family and friends over Christmas.

wanting to become more on top of things next year--school, work, church responsibilities, marriage, home duties... And now wanting to take a nap. Haha!

Snippets Of Our 4th

Happy 4th of July! ...Last week. :) 

Hope everyone had a happy 4th and didn't get stuck in crazy firework traffic like we did (rookie move). 

And I thought, what better way to celebrate my 100th blog post than with a few fireworks? :) 

xoxo

Anatomy of a Weekend

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend! A big thanks to all the troops past and present that have made it possible for me to do whatever the heck I want on this three-day weekend. 

Here's to freedom. 

We had a pretty great weekend! Saturday we went to a Real Salt Lake soccer game (my first ever soccer game) with some friends. It was fun to watch--those guys really don't stop running! 

On Sunday, I taught Sunday School and we did a bunch of church-y stuff. Haha.

Then on Memorial Day we went up to Bell Creek Canyon and hiked up to the waterfall. 

It was long and steep up to the waterfall, but it was worth it! I don't think my broken toe was very happy with me, but oh well. Haha.
We definitely had a chill day after that... Jamba Juice may or may not have been involved... :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!
xoxo

Thoughts on 23

Welp, I guess I can't sing this song anymore...

Today is my birthday, and I really liked this quote (pictured above) that my friend pinned on Pinterest. 

It really encompasses everything I want to strive for this year. I have a bad habit of comparing myself, especially as an artist, to others. It ends now! 

Well... Maybe tomorrow? Hahaha. 

But really, I just want to spend this next year being an even better me. There are so many fun and challenging things coming up for me this year. Some things I am terrified about. Some things I am super stoked about. But overall I'm ready for whatever comes. 

I'm really grateful for my family and friends. And although (as some of you may know) I may not be Utah's biggest fan, M and I have made some great friends here. Grateful to everyone in my life (especially my family) that has helped me survive this long. ;) 

Now... Here's to a day of work (a day spent wondering what M's surprise he keeps mentioning is) and a kick-ass free Red Robin burger for dinner. 

Self, it's going to be a good day. 

xoxo

New Year, New School, New Busy Schedule

Wow! Already February... Can't believe I missed blogging Christmas and New Year--we have a few things to catch up on! 

For Christmas, we drove back to The Promised Land (aka Colorado) and stayed with my parents. It was so great to see my fam and Marcus's families. Yay for holiday breaks and family time!

My Mom's mantle decoration

My first Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate--in a lovely holiday cup

My DIY peter pan collar

Driving away from the Denver skyline

Christmas lights at Temple Square

Right before New Years, Hubby and I moved to a little apartment closer to downtown (and I really like it!). It is older, but it just feels cozy and more like a home. But boy I am glad to be done moving! What a pain in the butt. And the UHaul I reserved was not nearly as big as it said online....Hubby had to do a little, um, creative packing. 

So glad to be done with that mess. We are pretty much all settled in--besides a few floating shelves that Hubby has procrastinated hanging. :(

I also started at another new school (#foreveratransferstudent) in January. My classes are pretty cool, but there is a lot of homework to be done! As I write this, I should probably be doing one of three other projects. >.< 

Oh, well. I have to make time for things I want to do too, riiiight? What's that? That's what I said when I was watching the Bachelor? Hm. I need to think up a few more justification excuses. I'll probably go do that instead of homework. ;)

Some Favorites for a Friday: 

Music Video: 

Macklemore- Thrift Shop 

Newly discovered blog/vlog:

Dulce Candy 

Recipes I am TOTALLY trying this weekend (or soon):

Chicken Tenders

Dupe for Chik-Fil-A Sauce

Sappy in the Morning - A Smile for Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! 

This year I am so grateful (among so many things) to have an amazing Hubby. He is my world, my rock, and my best friend. He is my biggest blessing. 

I am also so grateful for my amazing family and his. I love the holidays spent with family and good food- everything is so comfortable and festive. 

So, so grateful for everything I have. 

Funny story from this Thanksgiving morning: Rolling over in bed this morning, I looked at my amazing Hubby and said sweetly, "I love you so, so much." He looked down at me with a raised eyebrow. "You're kinda sappy in the morning, aren't you?" 

Thanks babe. 

Love you too. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! 

xoxo

Sometimes...And the 4th.

Sometimes life gets crazy lazy. 

I admit it. I've been a lazy non-bloggin bum. 

I wish I could say I had a good reason. 

Buuuuttttt... Sometimes you just have to slow down for a while.

Right? 

Not that I've been able to slow down life. Very hard to do that, although it is sometimes tempting to drop everything, have Hubby pick me up from work, and rush to the airport where we purchase to one-way tickets to the Bahamas and become nomad fishermen. 

Not that I've been planning anything. 

But life lately was filled with basketball workouts with Hubby, thrifting trips, old classic cars in the junkyard behind work (currently the new home of some baby kitties), those terrifying crescent rolls that JUST. WON'T. POP., glass elevators (swearing may or may not have been involved when I saw how high I was getting), funny graffiti, and FINALLY rain... Yah, life's not so bad. :)

PS. I hope your Independence Day was wonderful--ours definitely was. We had a BBQ with some great new friends, went to a minor league baseball game and chilled in the "grass section," and then saw the awesome firework show afterward. Lots of fun! God bless America and our brave troops. How truly wonderful it is to be able to decide who we want to be, what we want to be, where we want to go, and just how lazy we sometimes want to be.  :)