To blog or not to blog...

...that is the question. I've had some pretty great things happen in the past month or so. I've debated blogging about it but I'm just not sure I want to send it out into the interwebs just yet.

I will say this, my new ward is pretty fun. I've met some really fun and exciting new people and made some great friends. I've been to Bear Lake, attending movies in the park, had BBQs and pool dates with the girls.

As far as what else is going on...I guess time will tell if I share it with you all. But I do want to just say - I am happy. I am far happier than I have been in a very long time.

My Wish List...

I have, very nearly, survived three straight semesters of grad school. I have moved into a new apartment, my birthday is coming up. Spring is trying desperately to take hold...I feel the need to celebrate. In the past several weeks I have spent the majority of my time not in class, on the computer. Whether it be working (like right now) or homeworking (that would be later), I am pretty tied to my computer as of late. That also means I've been doing some virtual window shopping...I'm not a homework machine, I need breaks... There is this website that my dear sister introduced me to and has resulted in hours of time well spent...aka, wasted/procrastinated. Go check it out and follow ME!

But all this window shopping and pinning has resulted in me wanting to buy...lots of buying. I have thus far refrained but with my celebratory frame of mind, it's proving difficult. What should I get? Cast your vote, my friends!

1. This dress, this dress, or this dress? or maybe this dress?

2. Or maybe this necklace?

3. or this gem?

4. Lisa calls these shoes ghetto...ghetto fabulous!

5. I have yet to find the perfect pair of yellow pumps but these just might tide me over until I do..

As you see...this is a very serious problem.

What do you think blogosphere? How should I celebrate the passing of another year?

I think the universe may be trying to tell me something...

...on my super cute new memo board I have three coupons for three different shoe stores. I have a $10 off at DSW, $10 off at Famous Footwear and 10% off at zooshoo.com. I have been searching said stores for something to use these discounts with but alas, I haven't found anything that just cries out...BUY ME!....

I'll wait while you all recover from shock....

.....



.................................

Fortunately, they don't expire for a while, so I've got some time to find something adorable!

My Vanity project

Many thanks to my dear friend, Ashley Stolworthy, and Lemon Drop Photography. Because every girl deserves to feel beautiful.

Halloween

I wasn't sure what or even if I would going to dress up this Halloween. My ward wasn't doing a Halloween party (we went to a Haunted House instead...bleh). But Wednesday night after getting off of work around 5:00, I decided I wanted to dress up as my childhood nickname namesake. Lisa and I went to Joanne's to gather supplies and I realized how little I know about sewing and fabric. I also realized that two days before Halloween is not a very good time to be heading to the fabric store...it was packed with last minute costume creations. Anyway...here's the final product. I must say, I'm actually pretty proud of myself.

There was lots of glitter involved

Pretty good if you ask me!

Oh the Buttons!

You know how I love buttons!!!

Roses and Thorns

Roses
Spent the morning taking photos of my shoes with my sister. She's making me a shoe calender. I know, she's pretty cool.

Got to see Audra McDonald in 110 in the Shade...pretty sweet.

New shoes really do fix most problems.

I am a matter of weeks away from being done with my first term of grad school.

I get to go to Bear Lake next weekend.

Went to Lagoon last night.

I absolutely love my Curriculum Design class.

I may buy new bedding tonight...I love bedding, books, and shoes. It doesn't take much to make me happy.

Thorns
My right eye has been twitching since Thursday
No more boy.

I've had the same headache since Monday.

I've got a two big curriculum projects due on Monday.

I've had Bad Romance by Lady Gaga stuck in my head since last night.

Personal Victory

I was perusing DSW.com on my lunch break and came across these beauties. They're on sale...50% off...my size. It seems like it was meant to be. The stars align and I think of all the compliments I'd get on these shoes, how great they'd look with my black dress and then I slowly drift back down to reality and remember, even if they are 50% off, how often would I really wear these? How many other pairs of shoes do I currently have in my closet in this same color family? How often do I wear those shoes? Remember that budget thing? Crap. So I will just gaze and admire but know that these won't ever grace my closet and I won't ever see them with my black dress.



sigh.....

Winter boots

As anyone that has seen my closet or my feet in the winter time can tell you, I don't have practical shoes. I have heels, ballet flats, boots (heels with no traction), sandals, sneakers so old they leak...you get the idea. I've finally gotten to the point in my life where I will no longer buy a pair of shoes just because I like them. I am trying to get out of the mentality that I can buy a new outfit to match the cute shoes. Don't get me wrong, I love shoes and always will and I will continue to purchase cute shoes but I will first ask myself, how often will I wear these? Do I have anything to wear them with? Do they look like they will hurt my feet? If the answer is yes to two of those three questions, I am going to try my darnedest to put the pretty shoes back on the shelf. BUT if I need them, well...that's a whole other story.

You would think that after living in Utah almost my entire life, and having experienced 25 Utah winters, I would have snow appropriate shoes. I don't. I have a very hard time buying shoes that are practical because they tend to be less that cute. If I were smart I would design practical, cute shoes that don't cost a fortune. I don't know why someone hasn't thought of it before!

Too bad Santa didn't leave these under the tree for me this year.

Going to the Chapel...er Temple...

Vince and Brynna got married yesterday morning in the Manti Temple. Their reception was at Talon's Cove in Saratoga Springs. Yesterday was entirely devoted to wedding activities. Lauren and I got our hair done by Frank (seriously love him!) at 11. We then came back to my apartment got a few last minute items together and then headed south. We had to stop at South Town Mall to get jewelry. We had a difficult time deciding what we wanted. I really didn't care too much but Lauren really wanted pearls and couldn't find anything that she really liked. We went to Macy's, JC Penny, bought some earrings at Dillards then went back to Macy's to buy different necklaces. We weren't matchy matchy they way Lauren wanted but we were both happy with out purchases. My necklace was $40 but i paid $9! Love sales! We then grabbed some lunch at the food court and then headed out to Talon's Cove to get the reception ready.

When we got to the reception site the tables were set up with chairs but that was it. We had to put all the rented table clothes, runners, chair covers, bows, centerpieces, candles, gift table, sign in etc. in a couple of hours. It turned out pretty well actually. I was pretty proud of us. Brynna and Vince were late to the reception, which i was pretty sure would happen. But they were happy and loved how everything looked so it all worked out in the end. I spent most of my evening making sure the bride and groom were happy and had everything they needed and making sure everything went smoothly. I surprisingly had a very good time. I didn't know many people there but I hung out with Lauren and a guy name Dru. He used to be in our ward but has since moved on. AND my sister's sister-in-law was there too. Random, no? She was there with a guy that knew Brynna. We did the bouquet toss (Lauren literally shoved me out of the way) and after Lindsey came up and said hi. So random. Nicki was there too. It was good to see her.

All in all it was a good night. Probably because I was sort of in charge...if i hadn't had something to do I probably would have been pretty bored. I even got asked to dance and really, what girl doesn't like that? I'm happy for the couple and I'm glad that it went as well as it did. Everything looked good, even if the cake didn't really match anything else. It was still a beautiful event. CONGRATS Brynna and Vince!

Lauren and I tied each of those bows. 10 tables, 8 chairs plus the 6 at the head table...oi.

My hair...Frank is the master.


This is the back of Lauren's hair...Frank strikes again!

So this is the dress that I'm wearing for my friend's wedding. I think it's pretty. It is so much better than all the other dresses we tried on. The other two bridesmaids are a size 4. I am not a size 4. Dresses they looked good in did not look good on me. I am a bigger girl. I need me some structure! I may or may not wear it again but it's not bad, as far as bridesmaid dresses are concerned.

Update of Sorts

I took my last dose of my antibiotic today. Hooray! I had strep throat two weeks ago. It was not fun. I haven't had strep for at least a decade. I used to get it all the time when I was little but I had my tonsils taken out when I was eight and hadn't had it since. I wasn't even sure if you could get strep if you didn't have tonsils...well you can. So I spent about three days camped out on my couch. My poor roommate was great but I felt back because I had basically taken over the living room. I had my drugs set out on the coffee table. There were Popsicle wrappers and medicine and empty bowls with pudding and water. It was pretty nasty. I was definitely a little stir crazy by the end of the week.

When people hear that I've had strep they immediately take two steps back and put their hand up in a defensive posture, never mind the fact that I have been on antibiotics. That always irritates me. People find out you're sick and they say something stupid like, "don't breath on me!" or "don't cough on me!" Like because I'm sick I forget about proper etiquette or acceptable social behavior. Do I normally breath on you? and really...taking two steps back from me and putting up your hand between us...is that going to prevent you from getting sick?? I don't want you to get sick but really, is that going to do anything? I'm not asking you to kiss me or hug me or take care of me in anyway, but is it really necessary to make a point out of asking me not to get you sick? When people do that it makes me want to sneeze on their food or cough all over them. Nice, right?

My friend is getting married in May. May 9th to be exact. I'm going to be a bridesmaid. We got our dresses Friday. I wasn't ever "officially" asked to be a bridesmaid, it was always sort of implied, so until Friday I wasn't completely sure I was actually going to be in the wedding. I have a feeling that the bride doesn't have a whole lot of help in the planning and execution of the wedding. I'm pretty sure that me and another bridesmaid are going to be doing a lot of helping. It should be fun and somewhat stressful. Who knows...I may come out of this experience determined to elope when I get married. I have a pretty dress to wear so at least we'll look good in the pictures, if nothing else. I may be calling in some family favors in the next month so, be warned!

This is for all you people tagging me on facebook...

To all you people, with nothing better to do but tag me over and over and over in your notes on Facebook, here you go! Enjoy! There is more than one "tagging" exercise here because I was repeatedly tagged in numerous notes.

Here it is, for your procrastinating enjoyment....25 Random things about yours truly.

1. I always rub my feet together when I am falling asleep. I'm not sure why I do it but I do and if someone asks me to stop, I can't fall asleep.

2. I love shoes but I never wear them in the house and always take them off under my desk. I'm not one of those strange, don't wear shoes in my house, you'll get the floor dirty, I just don't wear shoes inside 99% of the time.

3.When I was younger I used to have recurring nightmares about wolves and bears and lions coming down from the mountains and killing my family. I also dreamed about rabid dogs.

4.I can eat the same thing for lunch every single day for weeks - possibly months - and not get sick of it.

5.My first apartment after college always creeped me out at night.

6.I have a highly active imagination and any bump or noise in night can and will terrify me. I once was house sitting for a family I nannied for in College. I was working on a paper late and didn't get to bed until 2 or 3 when I heard a loud "thump" it freaked me out so much that I crawled into a corner in the room I was staying in and called my older brother, in a different time zone, to tell me what to do.

7.When I was younger, I wanted crutches. Sick and twisted, I know. I thought they would be fun.

8.I love ranch dressing. I put it on everything that could possibly taste good with ranch and some things that you wouldn't think to.

9.I organize my shoes by color and type - heels vs. flats

10.My favorite ice cream is Orange Swiss chocolate or something. It's orange sherbet with chocolate chips in it. they don't make it anymore...it's sad.

11.I moved 4 times in a 12 month period...I don't recommend it.

12.I get really excited about books...especially old books and I organize my books by genre, time period and author.

13.I have worked in my current job for over 2 years.

14.I think I have green eyes but many people tell my they are blue

15.If I like a book I will read it repeatedly.

16.I love old clothes, 30's and 40's type stuff. People dressed so well and looked so classy!

17.If food has a strange texture, I won't eat it. I can't stand oatmeal or mashed potatoes because they're too mushy and I feel like I'm eating something some one else regurgitated.

18. I frequently skipped class in college if I didn't like the class (sorry mom and dad!) But i still managed at least a B, usually an A.

19.Occasionally I'll be hit with fits of domesticity and I'll clean and organize my room or make a real meal.

20.I dream of making a difference in the world. Make my mark.

21.My favorite candy bar is a kit kat or nestle crunch

22.I love the smell of laundry fresh out of the dryer but i hate folding and putting it away.

23. I honestly don't know what my natural hair color is anymore. I've been dying/highlighting my hair since high school. I used to be blond but i'm not sure anymore.

24.I rarely remember my dreams but when I do it's never the entire dream and it's always a very small thing or event of the dream.

25.Sometimes I surprise myself with my girlishness.



And here we go for number two...

1. Where were you 3 hours ago?
I was at Fedex/Kinko's overnight my Sarah Lawrence application

2. Who are you in love with?
myself...no just kidding. I am currently not "in love" in love with anyone. But I do love my family and my friends.

3. Have you ever eaten a crayon?
not that I remember but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

4. Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?
a couple of post-it notes on my desk.

5.When is the last time you went to the mall?
saturday. i got some jeans and a cute pair of green shoes

6.Are you wearing socks right now?
nope

7.Do you have a car worth over $2,000?
at one time it was, but I'm not sure if it is anymore.

8.When was the last time you drove out of town?
that would have to be last summer/fall when Lisa and I went to St. George, good times.

9.Have you been to the movies in the last 5 days?
yes, twice in fact. I saw Taken on Friday and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Saturday night. Both were very good movies and I highly suggest either.

10.Are you hot?
no...i'm kind of cold (yes, i purposefully chose to answer that question referring to temperature)

11.What was the last thing you had to drink?
Diet Coke with my lunch

12.What are you wearing right now?
denim skirt, black leggings and a black top

13.Do you wash your car or let the car wash do it?
i haven't washed my car in a while but I probably should. the inside could definitely use a once over with a vacuum

14.Last food that you ate?
orange chicken...yes i went to Dragon Diner

15.Where were you last week at this time?
working from home

16.Have you bought any clothing items in the last week?
yes, jeans, shoes and nylons

17.When is the last time you ran?
that's a funny question.

18.What's the last sporting event you watched?
i can't even remember and no, i did not watch the super bowel.

19.What is your favorite animal?
the kind that don't die

20.Your dream vacation?
somewhere warm with lots of museums

21.Last person's house you were in?
Shannon

22.Worst injury you've ever had?
I had surgery about a year and a half ago but that wasn't related to an "injury". I don't get normal injuries...I get strange and mysterious diseases instead.

23.Have you been in love?
yep

24.Do you miss anyone right now?
all my college buddies

25.Last play you saw?
Les Miserables...i know it's actually a musical but there was acting. Before that it was Pride and Prejudice

26.What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex?
i don't have one...maybe that's why i'm perpetually single

27.What are your plans for tonight?
Probably have to stop at the UPS place and at some point my parent's so my mom can shorten some jeans for me and laundry in there somewhere

28.Who is the last person you sent a Facebook message or comment?
my mom...weird, i know.

29.Next trip you are going to take?
College reunion of sorts in May

30.Ever go to camp?
we did a lot of camping as a family and i did go to girl's camp AND i even went on a Pioneer Trek

31.Were you an honor roll student in school?
sometimes

32.What do you want to know about the future?
where will i be next year

33.Are you wearing any perfume or cologne?
nope but I sometimes will wear Bath and Body Works White Cherry Blossom

34.Are you due sometime this year for a doctor's visit?
yes

35.Where is your best friend?
at this point, probably home

36.How is your best friend?
super duper

37.Do you have a tan?
that's just mean

38.What are you listening to right now?
Michael Buble. he makes the day go faster

39.Do you collect anything?
books, movies, shoes

40.Who is the biggest gossiper you know?
I think we all have a little of the gossiper in us but I don't know anyone that is a Gossiper

41.Last time you got stopped by a cop or pulled over?
Probably 6 months after i turned 16 and he hit me (with his car).

42.Have you ever drank your soda from a straw?
fairly regularly

43.What does your last text message say?
"will i want to vomit on him?" and i did not make that up!

44.Do you like hot sauce?
nope

45.Last time you took a shower?
this morning

46.Do you need to do laundry?
not necessarily but Tuesday is our assigned laundry day in our building.

47.What is your heritage?
Scottish, English, German, Norwegian (i think)

48.Are you someone's best friend?
i think so

49.Are you rich?
not by a long shot but I have enough to get by

50.What were you doing at 12AM last night?
sleeping

Because I'm a nerd and you love me!

I was walking out the door this morning and my mom told me I looked dapper. I told her that dapper is only used in reference to men. Now...here's the dorky part of me coming out. All day long I've been wondering what the actual, technical, dictionary definition is and if there is any reference to gender. So...I, being the increadibly amazing and cool person that I am, looked it up. Turns out that there is not any specific gender reference in the definition...HOWEVER, all of the examples of usage had male pronouns. So while there is no gender associated with the word officially, common usage and cultural norms have given the word a male connotation. So in an attempt to better the vocabulary of the general population here is the technical, dictionary definition of "dapper". Learn it. Use it. Love it.


dapper: adj.
1. Neatly dressed, trim
2. Very stylish in dress
3. Lively and alert
4. Marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners