My Life

Catch up

2011-11-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Ok...It has been forever since I have been on here, yet again. I'm going to just do a quick catch up. As usual (at least for about a year) I have gone down to Provo almost every weekend to see a concert/show. They are typically just local bands that I love :) I have not had a chance to bake or cook much. Which has left me feeling a bit unsettled. I feel like I'm just kinda staying in the house that I'm at and that I don't really live there...I don't really feel comfortable cooking or baking there because I feel out of place and really not much of my stuff is out and usable. I can't wait for my move to Provo...to live in my apartment and to have my things available to me at any time, also to be able to decorate how I want and to just feel comfortable again.
Yesterday was Halloween and I really wanted to hand out candy to trick or treaters so I went to Molly's house and passed out candy to the kiddos. While the kids were coming I also cooked dinner for Molly, her mom, brother and I...I made spinach and cheese stuffed chicken, roasted rosemary potatoes and asparagus. It was so good!
Right now the plan is that I will continue to live where I am until May and then I will either move down to Provo at that time or I will move in with a friend for a couple of months before the move to Provo in July. It seems so far away and yet so soon! I'm so ready for a change but also some stability. I can't wait!

Quick meet-up

2011-09-13T15:32:00.000-07:00

On Friday night Molly and I went to the state fair to see Fictionist (haven't hear of them?!?! You should follow that link and become familiar!) While there I was able to meet up with a fellow blogger (I say fellow blogger like I'm really a blogger, I'm not!) Caitlin from Hue and Hum (you should also follow that link and become aquainted, she is great!). Caitlin just so happens to be the wife of Robbie (he plays guitar for Fictionist, sings some backup and has a jazz project on the side). Can I just say that she might be one of the sweetest people I have ever met!
I suppose I should back up and explain the reason that we had a short meet-up. Caitlin is an artist. Pretty much a really great artist! I have bought a set of three paintings from her, won a print she did in a giveaway and recently she started an etsy shop where you can buy some of the art that she does. In addition to painting she also sews. Like really awesome custom designed t's! So I decided that I really needed one. And I bought one, which brings us to the meet-up.
Molly and I got to the concert and were a bit suprised to see that there were not many people there. Sad! But we danced in our seats (no one else was up and dancing and I get embarassed super easy, so dance in our seats it was) and sang along have a grand time! Part way through the show Caitlin made it there and stopped by to introduce herself and also to give me the shirt she had made for me (I know there have been a lot of these little tangents but I feel in a bit of a tangenty mood, any how because I'm super awkward sometimes I actually thought about how I should say hi, yep awkward! But she was so sweet and came up said she was Caitlin and gave me a quick hug. Thanks for helping this awkward girl!) and she also brought me a print of a painting she had done to say sorry for taking a while with the shirt (I didn't think it took her long at all!). She then said to wait around after the show so we could talk and so that she could get a picture of the shirt and a picture of us together. So Molly and I went back to rocking out :)
After the show we walked over to her and had a short conversation (that was not awkward, maybe I'm not as awkward as I think?) and then took a couple of pictures. Which will bring us to the end of this post...good job if you made it this far :)
p.s. Sorry for the quality of these pictures, neither of us had a camera so we just took them with my cell phone.

Oregon Trip

2011-08-08T18:38:00.000-07:00

I was able to go to Oregon the weekend after I got back from Vegas. It was so nice for me to be able to see my family! It was also excellent that I was able to spend a little time with my friend Afton, I miss her and my family so much! I love living in Utah but I sure wish I could have Utah and have my family and all my friends here! While I was home we went shopping, ate at my favorite fast food (Jack in the Box), played at the beach for an afternoon, spent some really great quality time with my nieces and nephews and I was able to partake of our family tradition of spending Sunday afternoon at my aunts house playing card games and eating junk food :) I love the time I get to spend at home and this time I was able to spend a little more time than normal which was really nice!
p.s. I didn't take any pictures while I was there...I was too busy having fun :)

Vegas!

2011-07-21T09:20:00.000-07:00

Ahh, Vegas was so much fun! I LOVE road trips and so the trip down was great, we sang at the top of our lungs, had mt. dew, talked and got more and more excited for the meet up with our friends and the Neon Trees concert the next day. When we got to Vegas Molly humored Darice and I and drove up the strip so we could quickly see everything. Then because she is GREAT she even agreed to walk part of the strip so that Darcie and I could check things out :) We saw the show at Treasure Island (dumb!), had dinner at Planet Hollywood and then walked to the Bellagio to see the fountains. By that point we were so tired that we just sat down on the sidewalk (Vegas is so dirty, I can't believe I did that!) and waited. We didn't know how often the fountains went off and so once we had waited about an hour we finally asked a worker and it turns out that we had just missed the last one so we had waited there for an hour for no reason! As I said we were exhausted so we decided to take a cab back and not walk the three miles back to our hotel. Holy moly cabs there are expensive. It was about $10.50 for a three mile cab ride. I think we all crashed really quickly that night! :)
The next day we got up and me and Darcie walked to Starbucks so she could get her coffee fix and Molly got ready (she slept later than us and so took a bit longer to get ready) then we all got in the car and drove to the resort that the concert was going to be held at. Molly and I stood in line pretty much from noon until they let us in and then we (Molly, me, Darcie, Debbie, Molly 2 and Taisha) stood at the barricade until the concert started. Although at a couple of points Molly and I were able to get out of line...we both spent $10 in slot machines which we lost right away and then we had a quick lunch.
The concert itself was amazing! I have loved almost every Neon Trees concert I have been to but this one was a new favorite! I was brought to tears a couple of times (first time ever at one of their concerts) and we were front and center. Plus we got to hang out with the tour guitarist after and we were able to see and talk to everyone in the band except for the bassist before the concert....Ok that is all for now. I will leave you with some pictures. There are a lot of them :)

Darcie, Me, Molly 2 and Molly

Molly, Me, Molly 2, Darcie and Taisha

Taisha, Molly, Molly 2, Darcie, Debbie and Me

Tyler Glenn

Branden Campbell

Tyler Glenn, Elaine Bradley, Branden Campbell, David Charles

Tyler Glenn

Chris Cordley

Promise

2011-07-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

Following that last post I promise that my next one will be positive! I'm heading to Las Vegas for a concert with a few friends and I can't wait to tell you about it and hopefully have some fun pictures :)
P.S. Thank you for the comments. Sorry it was such a downer post, I was just having a bad day. I love you all.

Eternal Families

2011-07-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

I feel like not very many people read this and those that do will not judge me for my feeling on this topic or they have heard me talk about it before.
Let me preface by saying that I believe in eternal families and that I do hope, pray and plan on having one of my own.
With that said I kinda want to vent a little bit in the hopes that it will maybe help people to be a little bit more sensitive to this topic when they are at church and it is brought up. I will give you a brief history of my family and then maybe talk about ways that this topic can be so hurtful/hard to hear about at church. Sorry this was the topic in my Sunday school class yesterday and I'm way to shy to say anything in church but I always come away from these lessons feeling sad and a little alone.
Our background: My mom was adopted and then because of problems with her adoptive family she grew up in foster care. In one of the foster homes she was in the family was LDS and she was baptized. Then the next familiy she was in was not LDS and so she didn't return to church because they were another religion and insisted that she attend the church that they went to. My mom has told me that she always knew that the LDS church was true and so when she and my father were married they were married by an LDS bishop but they never attended church (neither were in a place in there lives where they were willing to put God first). My parents were divorced when I was 8 and my mom remarried. My step dad is LDS but has not been active since he was a child. My mom and step dad were separated really early on and stayed that way (they saw each other every day but we didn't live together) and while they were separated my mom contacted the LDS missionaries to have me and my sister baptized. We took the lessons and decided to be baptized. I remember that during one of the lessons my mom asked if she could be sealed to my sister and I and was of course told not at this time because my step dad was not active and she needed a Priesthood holder to be sealed with (her husband). My mom had been active during this time but when she was told that being sealed to her children was contingent on a worthy Priesthood holder she was really hurt and quit going to church. My sister and I were baptized but we both became inactive really quickly. To be honest I was baptized because I felt like it was the right thing but I had never read the Book of Mormon or really asked myself if it was the right thing to be doing (I was really young). I don't ever regret my decision and I have since gained a very strong testimony.
Ok so with all of that being said I'm sure you can see why I have such a hard time with the topic of eternal families. I don't have one. My mom is not active, my dad doesn't believe in this church (he is very active in his church), my step dad is not active, my sister is not active and none of my other siblings are members of the church. I believe that just because my family can't be sealed at this time (I don't think realistically in this lifetime) that things will work themselves out and we will be together but that is of course not doctrine. I just feel like my family will not be broken up. But with that being said hearing all about how great eternal families are and (I hear this almost everytime this topic is discussed) how sad people are for families that are not eternal because they will no longer be families in Heaven is very hurtful. I just feel like there has to be a better way to handle the topic. I'm not blaming the authorities of the church for this at all. Really I don't blame anyone, I just think that people don't really think about what they are saying before they say it.
Wow, sorry that is a really long post. Please don't be offended. I was just feeling really sad and upset when I left church yesterday and thought because I don't journal that I would type it up for my blog. Love you all!

Becka's Bridal Shower

2011-06-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

Wow I have been gone a long time. I have been really caught up in the Provo music scene lately and have been to a concert almost every Saturday and so I just have felt like no one probably wants to see post after post of me raving about a new band that I'm in love with!
But last night I was able to go to the cutest bridal shower I have ever been to! Seriously the girl that threw the shower is amazing. I'm sure she spent next to nothing but it was the prettiest/most unique shower that I have seen. Becka is very loved and it was so much fun to see someone express that love is such a creative way. My cell phone pictures in no way do this party justice. I'm hoping that when the host shares her pictures that she will be ok with me posting some on here. Here are some pictures;

When I got the invite in the mail I knew that this was going to be a blast...it was seriously one of the cutest things I have ever seen and the directions made it pretty clear that we were going to have a good time! To start the night out we started at Becka's house and were given a photo scavenger hunt to lead us to the party destination. The clues were all aspects of Becka and Alex's courtship/personality. It was fun to see and learn things about the two of them. I have known Becka since she first moved into the singles ward that we were in and I knew right away that I was going to be friends with her...I was just hoping that she didn't care that I had already decided that :) When we got to the shower there was a fabulous table set up with the decorations that I took some pictures of. We had a delicious dinner (chicken salad sandwiches, strawberries, salad and a ginger mango lemonade). We then took picture with a frame (I forgot to take pictures, I can't wait for you to see it, it makes no sense with out the visual aid) and then Becka opened gifts. We then sat down to dessert...there was a chocolate mousse, cupcakes with to die for buttercream frosting and a cake that was fantastic. We all got a little favor...you can see the little bag on the plate in the picture. It had a cute hair bow inside. Then we sat around for a bit talking before parting ways.
I was so happy that I was able to be there to celebrate Becka's upcoming wedding. I don't think I could be more happy for her. She is such a great person and I'm so happy that she has found the man who helps her to be as happy as she is. Alex is a great person and they are so blessed to have found each other. Congrats Becka and Alex!!!

Administrative Professionals Day

2011-04-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

I really work for some of the best people. I feel so blessed to be in a job that I enjoy and find to be stimulating but its also really nice that the people that I work with/for have no problem acknowleding and showing their appreciation for the work that I do on a daily basis. They always tell me how much the appreciate me and then on top of that for holidays and also for Administrative Professionals Day they go above and beyond to show that apprecitation. Today they bought me a gift card to a nail salon with enough money that I can get a manicure or pedicure at least 8 times through the summer and then they took me to lunch at the Grand America which is a five star hotel/restaurant in Salt Lake City. I stopped in the gift shop/bakery and bought a couple of things and took a couple of pictures. I also stopped in the bathroom and took a picture of the little chandeliers that are in every stall:) You would think that since this is my third year going for lunch there that I would not be quite as excited by the sites but I still am:)
Here are a couple of pictures

Neon Trees concert

2011-04-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

On Friday myself and my friend Molly went to the Neon Trees/My Chemical Romance concert. I got there at noon to start standing in line since it was a general admission concert and we wanted right up front for the Neon Trees portion of the concert. Surprisingly the wait (all 7 hours) was not that bad. It was cold and it rained/snowed/hailed and there was wind but we met up with some girls that I had met online through twitter and we all had a ton of fun hanging out and getting to know each other. The fans of Neon Trees are so much fun, we always meet new people when we go to concerts and have a lot of fun planning our next meet up:) We were having so much fun all day that I didn't manage to get any pictures of our wait and only got three pictures of the concert (MCR fans are not nice! They kept shoving and pushing us). But we did manage to get right up front on the right hand side (Molly had to stand behind me and protected me from most of the pushing although I somebody on my left kept grabbing my bum, not cool!). After the concert we spent about 45 minutes chatting with the guitarist of Neon Trees and again I forgot to take a picture:)

What I see each morning

2011-03-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

I'm so blessed to live in such a beautiful place...this is what I see almost every morning while waiting for the bus near my house...

It really makes happy to see such beautiful things each morning:)

Day 30, Woo Hoo!!!

2011-03-03T07:35:00.000-08:00

We are finally to day 30! I'm so happy that I took this challenge and had something to blog about for the last 30 days...although I did have a few fun things happen during that time that I didn't blog about. I'm hopeful that now that I'm in the habit of blogging regularly that I will blog at least once a week...we shall see:)
Day 30 says to post a picture of yourself from today (I had no time to take a picture) and to write about 5 good things that have happened since starting this challenge.

1) I have learned more about myself
2) I have been pretty consistent about blogging each day which hopefully will help me to blog regularly
3) I have learned how to write posts ahead of time and have them post at a later time:)
4) I have learned that each post doesn't need to be a novel to be a post!
5) Sometimes just a picture is enough:)

Day 29

2011-03-01T12:10:00.000-08:00

Day 29 says to tell three wishes that you have....
1) To marry a man that I love and that loves me
2) To be able to have children (either naturally or adopt)
3) To have a happy and productive life:)

Day 28

2011-02-28T12:03:00.000-08:00

Day 28 says to write about something that stresses you out...for me one of the things that stresses me out the most is being behind at work. I have a lot of cases at work and it is really easy to get behind...but at the same time, two of the attorneys that I work for only have court one or two weeks a month (they just have an insane amount of files on those days) so when they get back from court it is really busy for about a week while I try to process all of the files that they have brought back and then I have a week or a week and a half of not so much crazyness and then I start the process of getting all of their files for their week or two of crazyness. It is stressful and annoying to me when I'm not on top of everything and even though I try my best I do make mistakes and while I realize that is human it still drives me nuts:)

Day 27

2011-02-28T11:59:00.000-08:00

Day 27 says to post an original picture of the city you live in....I don't have any pictures of North Salt Lake which is the town I live in but I do have a couple pictures of some architecture in Salt Lake which is a place I have lived and worked...

Day 26

2011-02-28T11:46:00.000-08:00

Day 26 says to post about your dream wedding...my dream wedding would be to marry someone that I love more than life itself in the Temple and then have a small reception/luncheon with family and really close friends. I'm not really interested in a big shindig:) Here are a couple of pictures of dresses and reception ideas that I find pretty.

Day 25

2011-02-25T14:47:00.000-08:00

Day 25 says to put your iPod on shufle and post the top ten songs;

1) With a little help from my friends (Across the Universe soundtrack)
2) One debt away (Middle Class Rut)
3) Yellow Submarine (The Beatles)
4) Stronger (30 Seconds to Mars)
5) In the next room (Neon Trees)
6) The Moment (Safety Suit)
7) Screenwriting an Apology (Hawthorne Heights)
8) Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol)
9) Stay the Same (The Shoes)
10) Birds of a Feather (The Civil Wars)

Day 24

2011-02-24T14:31:00.000-08:00

Day 24 says to write about something that you have learned. I have sat here for about 20 minutes trying to think of something to write about and I'm having a really hard time thinking of anything. I can't think of anything substansial at all so I guess I will say that I have discovered that I really enjoy traveling and going to concerts:)

Day 23

2011-02-23T14:19:00.000-08:00

Day 23 says to post about your favorite movie. I don't really like to watch movies very much but there are a couple of movies that I really like although I wouldn't say that I really have a favorite. I really like Top Gun (although not as much now that I have seen it as an adult), The Little Mermaid, 500 Days of Summer, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Holiday, Beatuy and the Beast and The Lion King.

Day 22

2011-02-22T14:16:00.000-08:00

Day 22 says to post about what is in your purse. Right now my purse has my wallet, my day planner, lipstick, keys, two cameras (one film, one digital), a check from work, my cell phone and a lot of receipts.

Day 21

2011-02-21T14:16:00.000-08:00

Day 21 says to post your favorite picture of yourself of all time and say why it is your favorite picture. I have already posted my favorite picture...I'm sure that my favorite picture has changed several times. This is my favorite picture right now because it is a picture from the best concert I have been to so far and it is with one of my very best friends and the lead singer of my favorite band:)

Day 20

2011-02-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

Day 20 says to write out what your nicknames are, when I was thinking about what my nicknames are I could only come up with a couple and one of them is not really appropriate. My friends call me hooker (the inappropriate name) I'm not really sure why that nickname started but we all seem to call each other that:) I also have the nicknames Steph or Stephie and my nieces call me Aunty. I can't think of any other nicknames though.

Catch up

2011-02-19T13:52:00.001-08:00

I wrote 5 new posts this morning to catch up on my 30 day challenge:)

Day 19

2011-02-19T13:51:00.000-08:00

Day 19 says to write about something that you miss. I miss my family. I miss getting to see my nieces and nephews grow up and learn new things. I miss seeing my mom and sister everyday. I miss seeing my other siblings and my step mom and my dad. But at the same time I know that I'm where I'm supposed to be doing what I'm supposed to be doing. So for now at least I will continue to miss my family and look forward to all of the times that I'm able to go home and see them and look forward to them coming to see me.

Day 18

2011-02-19T13:49:00.000-08:00

Day 18 says to tell what your favorite place to eat is...There are several places that I like to eat at on a pretty normal basis but I really love the Melting Pot and I like that it is a place that I can only go to a couple times a year. I like that when I get to go it really feels like a treat:)

Day 17

2011-02-19T13:43:00.000-08:00

Day 17 says to write about something you are looking forward to. I'm looking forward to going to New York in May. I'm so excited to go to the east coast and be able to see some of the places that I have seen on movies and in pictures and always wanted to see. I'm a little afraid that I might love it there so much that I will want to live there and that is just to far from my family and friends:) Here are a few pictures of some things I'm hoping to see while there.