Well I for one, am glad that November and this "Month of Gratitude" thing is over. It was harder than I thought and I repeated a lot of days saying I was most grateful for my fiance... Next year I'll think of more.
So on the final day I have one main thing I am grateful for...
YOU!
Seriously I keep writing on this blog because of you, my readers. I appreciate you so much for taking the time to read and comment! You guys are fantastic! I recently celebrated my 100th blog post and that's all because of you! You made it happen! You keep me going! I am so grateful for you today!
Today I am once again grateful for my fiance. He drove down to see me today and take me out to dinner. But I'm not just grateful for him, but for the relationship we have.
A lot of my friends date someone and get married in less than a year, but I've always thought it takes a year to get to truly know someone. Chris and I have been dating a year and there is still so much we don't know about each other! We're constantly learning from each other and maturing. We're both still pretty immature, but we're growing up together and that's something I love about our relationship!
I also love how forgiving our relationship is. When we get in an argument or something happens, we both love each other so much that we'll do anything to make sure our relationship is saved. We work through things. We don't hold grudges. We forgive each other for our stupid pasts and move on! We don't hold our pasts against us. We have a very strong relationship and we work hard to keep it that way.
When it was posted on Facebook that we were engaged, all my friends who were married commented saying how great married life is. Well, no offense to them, but I don't really care about their views on marriage when they haven't even been married a year. They haven't fully experienced married life. Married life should be long and have struggles and ups and downs and things to work for and push through. You don't experience all those things after one year.
I like listening to my grandma about her relationship the most. Her husband died a few years ago, they were the greatest couple, and I want my relationship to be like theirs. In high school, he would walk miles to her house just so he could see her. They didn't have cell phones, yet he would wander the town looking for her. And their relationship only grew stronger after marriage. She sat back and wrote him everyday when he served in the Navy in the Korean War, they stood by each other when they couldn't have children and ended up adopting six (including my wonderful mother), she sat by his side till the very end of his life.
I want my relationship with Chris to be like that. And I feel we have the potential to. Everyday I find a new way to love him more. Sure we have our rare arguments but every good relationship should! I will do anything to keep our relationship strong. He's my soul mate and I love him. I am most grateful to have him in my life.
Today I'm so thankful for the humor my family has when we're all together! Seriously, it's crazy how funny they all are! I love them all so much! They are the best thing in my life and I love that they're with me no matter what, forever. :)
Clyde and I thank you for reading our blog! We wouldn't be up to 100 blog posts if it weren't for you readers! We really do love you! Thank you so much! Don't forget to follow our blog, like us on Facebook, and stalk our Pinterest pins! THANK YOU FOR MY 100TH BLOG POST!!!
(I originally came up with this post like 5 days ago (in the shower) but didn't get the chance to write it till now. So keep in mind that "like 5" days ago I was very much sick and it was thought up much better then... this post is just a mess, you don't even have to bother reading if you don't want to. I won't be offended.)
So I love showers! I just do. I take at least one shower a day, but often times I'll take more than one. Especially when I'm in school. When I'm stressed with homework or sad about anything, I hop in the shower. Last school year I'd randomly take a shower at like 1AM for no reason. I just wanted to shower. And seriously, I think up half my blog posts while in the shower. It really helps me think for some reason... too bad I can't take my homework in there...
But last week when I was sick, one particular day I felt AWFUL!! I thought I was going to die. I was coughing so hard it hurt my stomach and ribs, I was stuffed up, was getting a headache, and was also working. I hated it.
So I took a shower.
I swear, as soon as I hopped in the shower, I stopped coughing! The hot water felt wonderful and relaxing... it was magical.
So since I think showers are magical, I decided to do some Google searches to see if showering really does have benefits (besides the obvious cleanliness one). I was shocked to find that the majority of what I found pointed to cold showers! I never take cold showers, I hate cold... but after what I read maybe I should try it.
So I found online at "Art of Manliness" that take a warm shower then switching it to cold at the end is sometimes called a "Scottish Shower" (which I'm sure my fiance with love) and it has lots of benefits (and James Bond is known for doing it).
Here are their seven health benefits of a cold shower:
Improves Circulation
Relieves Depression
Keeps Skin and Hair Healthy
Strengthens Immunity
... increases testosterone...
Increases Fertility...
Increases Energy and Well-Being
(keep in mind this was a "mens" website)
Okay... so I have depression, I love my hair, I have a horrible immunity system, and I always think I need more energy. Why has no one told me this before?? Seriously! If this is all true, I need to work on this.
Another website informed me that this "cold shower" only has to take like 10 seconds. Some time for the front and some for the back. And just that 10 seconds will help you to get used to the cold, not just in showers, but in everyday life. "Your ability to withstand cold with increase dramatically."
My fiance loves fishing. He also loves jumping in the lake, river, or wherever we're fishing to swim around. That water is always cold. But supposedly, if I do these cold showers, I'll be used to it, and be able to tolerate it much easier.
Is that true for my tolerance of the cold temperatures in Logan???
Don't worry, I also learned about hot showers as well. The top five benefits of hot showers (according to Philanthropy) are as follows:
Cleaner Pores, Cleaner Skin
HSP (Heat Stress Proteins) -A More Resilient Body
It Relaxes You
Relieving Muscular Aches and Speeds Up Recovery
It Builds a Better Body
These ones weren't as straight forward as the other one... You may want to click on the link above to read about them yourself.
Basically both hot and cold showers have wonderful benefits for the body! And regardless, I still love showers. I think they're fantastic. In fact, I'm going to take one right now. Thanks for reading!
I think I'm grateful for something today. But I don't know what it is...
I guess I'm grateful that my cold is much better now. My cough is one of those good coughs that you can tell you're getting better. My grandma says they're the best coughs and that I should keep coughing like that... my grandma is funny.
I am so grateful that I started dance classes again today! I've missed dancing so much! I'm so happy that I get to dance again! :) :) :)
I hope my love of dance leads me somewhere. I keep looking for dance teaching jobs in Logan and I'm trying to intern with the drill team at Logan High. My minor is PE Coaching with a dance emphasis so I really hope that leads me to a dance teaching career! It's my number one goal in life!
I am also very grateful for my little brother for making cookies with me tonight because I desperately needed a treat! He also deserves thanks for driving to the store to grab oats for the cookies when we realized we didn't have any in the house. Thanks Nick!
I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS APP! I've been playing it on Facebook for a while, but today I was finally able to download it to my Kindle Fire!
I've always been a huge lover of music and I love finding new (or old) music to add to my iPod (which is a joke because my 8 gigabyte iPod is full and I can't add any more music unless I take some off, it's an annoying process, I'm working on getting a new iPod).
This app allows me to challenge my friends to show off my love and knowledge of music! It's so fun to challenge with different stations. I have these playlists:
80's Collection
90's Alternative
Classic Rock
Love Songs
Modern Country
Modern Rap
Musicals
Today Hits
And I'm pretty sure I purchased an Animated Movies playlist, but I'm not seeing it on my thing right now... I'll get back to you on that...
But they have tons more playlists to choose from! You just have to play to earn coins. From there, coins can buy you a new playlist. You get three coins for winning and one for losing. So either way, you can build up coins faster than you'd think.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook said:
"SongPop is one of the most fun Facebook games I've played in a while."
Which, you know, is a very generic quote, but it's something right?
I love this app! It's so much fun! Just, test it out for yourself and see how great it can be!
I lost someone very special to me today. My Great Grandma Mary. She turned 96 this month. She was always one of my favorites to visit, even though we didn't get to visit her in California that much. I loved her very much and will miss her dearly! I know she's happy in heaven now, though. I'm glad she's back home with her savior, and I can't wait to see her again someday!
I have a lot to be grateful for today. It was a beautiful Sunday with my family. Church was good. I looked good. Playing Wii with my siblings was great. It was just a beautiful Sunday.
I've been complaining a lot lately about working too much to write. So here's an idea of why I was saying that.
With my combined two jobs I worked 62 hours this week. That's a lot of hours!! It was a holiday week too! Yes, I worked on Thanksgiving (and got paid time and a half for it) Unfortunately, with most jobs when you get over 40 hours you get paid time and a half for overtime, but I don't get that because I didn't work over 40 in a single job. However, the job I worked more at, I get paid twice as much as the other one. So by my calculations, this week I've made over $700.
Yep. That's definitely something to be grateful for.
It's amazing to me that in a few short months I went from maybe making $400 a month to making $700 in a week. Except realistically, this is a one time thing. Maybe I'll do the same hours this week, but then my second job will be over. It was just a short project and now it's nearing the end. The deadline is either today or Friday. If it's today, I'm slightly screwed, but it's not entirely my fault things aren't done. If it's Friday, I'll have to put in lots of hours, but I will make sure it gets done. I hate leaving a job unfinished.
I'm very grateful for my family, my jobs and my electric blanket. It keeps me warm at night! :)
This week I've had a terrible cold, and while this picture is majorly edited (and 3 years old), I did indeed have a very red nose from blowing my nose so much.
HAD A VERY SHINY NOSE
I'm a huge believer in Vaseline and I used it to help soothe my hurt nose. So my nose was very shiny.
AND IF YOU EVER SAW IT, YOU WOULD EVEN SAY IT GLOWS
I wouldn't say my nose was glowing... but I did feel very hot because of how rubbed raw it was, so if felt hot and glowing.
ALL OF THE OTHER REINDEER USED TO LAUGH AND CALL HIM NAMES
Okay, maybe if Rudolph looked like this one, it would make more sense for them to make fun of him. But lets think this through: red, shiny, glowing nose... Rudolph is clearly suffering from a weak immune system like me and his poor little body clearly can't handle the hostile North Pole weather! So their teasing and name calling is absolutely horrible and unfair!
THEY NEVER LET POOR RUDOLPH JOIN IN ANY REINDEER GAMES
Well of course they didn't let him play! If he's like me, he was too busy coughing, sneezing, and blowing his nose to concentrate on actually playing the game!
I guess the rest of the song doesn't prove my point that RUDOLPH WAS CLEARLY ONLY SUFFERING FROM A COLD. Like me. The end.
*Note: I have a hatred of playing Christmas music before December. This is the only exception I'm allowing, to prove a point.
Also, thank you PicMonkey for making me look like a reindeer and Google for the pictures.
Today I am grateful for Friends. And by Friends, I mean the TV show, not my actual friends (even though I am grateful for them, but they aren't what I'm writing about today).
I love Friends! I think it's the best! It always makes me laugh and I love that TBS and Nick at Night always play Friends so I can watch it. I have yet to see all the episodes but I hope it will happen soon. Chandler is funny. I like it.
Today, and for the rest of... ever, I am grateful for my fiance. I've said it before and I'll say it a million times again, I could not have found a more perfect match for me. I've been suffering from this awful cold all week and he is taking care of me. We were at the movies and I was coughing and he offered that we leave even though I knew he was excited for the movie (Skyfall, not as good as I expected, but good, not great). He spends a day shopping with me without any complaints. When we get in the car after walking in the cold night air he tries to warm up my hands before we start driving away. He changes the radio station in the car because he knows I hate Christmas music before December (more on that later). He always opens doors for me. He kisses my neck while I'm brushing my teeth. He does everything he can to make me feel better. And most of all, I know that even after a year of dating each other, his love for me has not weakened in anyway, it has only grown stronger.
I am grateful for the wonderful meal that I had today! Seriously, it was fantastic! All made and prepared by the wonderful members of my family! We tried new recipes that were so delicious (I'm hoping to share them with you soon) and the best turkey breast ever (we opted not to use a full turkey, which I liked better).
I'm also very grateful that my fiance was able to join my family for Thanksgiving. It is wonderful to have him as a part of the family. I love that he excepts us and our weird dinner table conversations. I'm grateful that after all the weird talk tonight, my large, stuffed to the brim, belly and my horrible cough attack that lasted like five minutes where I was nearly gagging and almost throwing up... he still wants to marry me. I have a keeper. :)
I'm grateful that my beautiful engagement ring is now fitted and back on my finger! (I don't think I told my blog that it was taken away from me for a couple days to get fixed. It was terrible! But now it fits much better and it's never leaving my finger again (not true, I've already taken it off to help cook, to shower, and will be taking it off again to go to sleep (I tend to cut my face with my fingernails in my sleep and adding a ring doesn't turn out very well)))
Okay, I realize that video was kind of lame. But HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!! I am so blessed to have you as the readers of my blog! I say that I love my readers all the time, because I truly do, you guys are incredible! I'm so grateful for this blog and the opportunity it gives me to write. I love writing and I'll never stop writing on this blog because it makes me truly happy!
I am very grateful my parents got our family tickets to see Trans Siberian Orchestra tonight! They are so incredible! What a fantastic show!!
I public apologize to all those who were sitting around me seeing as I was coughing a lot tonight... I'm sorry if I disrupted the awesomeness for you. It certain wasn't fun for me.
One thing I'm not grateful for... the weird ocean noises I'm hearing in my left ear. Trans Siberian Orchestra, as much as I love you, if you got me deaf I will never forgive you for it.
I now "have prepared for you a musical snack" of what I just witnessed tonight. If you've never heard Trans Siberian Orchestra or if you love them like I do, please enjoy! (10 bonus points to anyone who can name the movie I quoted. Hint: it's a chick flick
TSO- Wizards of Winter, this is one of my favorites by them and I love this Christmas display!
I grew up dancing in Ballet West's Nutcracker and my studio's Nutcracker every year from the age of 4 till 13. I have a love of The Nutcracker and this song is just so amazing to me!
They ended with this song so I will too! This is my mom's favorite and one of their very best in my opinion!
So I'm curious as to how many of my readers have consistently annual Thanksgiving traditions?
My family does not. Every Thanksgiving is different. Sometimes we visit my Nana in California, sometimes she comes here, sometimes it's just my parents and siblings, sometimes we have a Pre-Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt's house in Smithfield, sometimes my cousin who lives in Orem visits. It's never the same!
But everything Thanksgiving is great. Why? Because I get to spend it with my family.
I have been so blessed! My brother and sister are my best friends and my parents are simply incredible (and I'm not just sucking up to them because they're paying for my upcoming wedding). It doesn't matter to me what we do for Thanksgiving or where we go, because I always have them.
This year is different though.
This year my fiance is coming to my house for Thanksgiving. His family will be in St. George and he's working on Wednesday. So he's celebrating Thanksgiving with us.
I love that he is already a part of our family! My future spouse already spends so much time with my family and they all get along really well! It's such a blessing to have found the perfect man, and to have my family love him too.
However...
Next Thanksgiving will be our first Thanksgiving as a married couple. I'm not sure what we plan on doing, but, thanks to Pinterest, I have a few traditions I want to start for our little family. (All photos are obtained from Pinterest! Particularly here)
I love doing crafts! This particular craft is perfect because it's reversible and I'll be a newly-wedded poor college student.
This is way down the road, but how cute is this for little kids? I'm totally making this for my kids someday!
But this is the main one. Every year on Thanksgiving you pull out the same table cloth and all your Thanksgiving guests sign it saying what they are most thankful for that year. I love this idea! I am starting it next year even though we probably won't be hosting a Thanksgiving dinner in our little apartment.
.... I have a quick correction. My family does have one Thanksgiving tradition. Every year we go around the table and say what we are most thankful for. But really, how is that much different than this table cloth idea?
I am super grateful that my boss let me take this morning off of work!! I have a terrible cold and have so much work to do for my other job that I needed those few extra hours for sleep and working from home. My boss is awesome! She's always very nice and makes us cupcakes. I LOVE CUPCAKES!
Thanks Tammy for letting me take this morning off!!! You're the best!!!
I realize that this will only sound as an exaggeration, but I swear it's true! I was sick all three years of high school. Seriously. I cannot remember I time that I wasn't sick. I was always coughing, stuffed up, getting sinus headaches, always tired. As if being in high school isn't stressful enough, add constantly being drunk on cough syrup.
But my curse ended May of my senior year of high school. It was the week before my ballroom team performance. We had dance practices from 2:30 till 10:00 PM. I was constantly at the school, I hardly even went home, I couldn't go into work (and ended up getting fired for it) and, as always, I was sick. I was coughing and was having a difficult time breathing. (random side note, I also got food poisoning that week along with a couple other members of my team. Curse you Del Taco!!)
So it was three days before our first performance. They had me run my solo in costume on the stage so they could get the lighting right. I finish my 3:50 minute solo, go off the stage and sit in the audience, trying to catch my breath. I was trying to breathe normally, but it wasn't really working. About a half hour goes past and I still haven't caught my breath.
My pediatrician-in-training best friend decided to put her training to use. She called my mom and told her I needed to see a doctor. She talked to our coaches and told them that I couldn't dance anymore. So thanks to her, my mom came and we headed off to the doctors.
The clinic closed at 9:00 and we went in at about 8:45. They weren't very happy about that. So they send me in a room with my mom and the doctor lady comes in with her stethoscope. She puts it on my back and tells me to take deep breaths. Okay. Well even at this point, I hadn't fully caught my breath. So I'm trying the best I can.
"No! Like this." The doctor began doing yoga breaths to show me how to breathe. OH! Because at 18 I had no idea how to breathe. Come on doctor. We came in and told you I was having trouble breathing, give me a break.
"Well since you won't breathe deeply for me, you're going to have to get an x-ray." Oh yes! I was so excited! I had never gotten an x-ray before! So they get an x-ray of my chest.
While waiting for the results, they check my temperature. My mom kindly asks if I have a fever. The doctor give my mom an evil look. Yes. I had a high fever. But doctor, I had been at the school since 6:30 that morning. My mom hadn't seen me all day! How was she supposed to know I had a fever? And since I had been dancing most the time, I never thought that I might have a fever.
"Left lobe pneumonia." Was my verdict. (PS, I never got to see my x-ray! Lame! Also, this summer I got an x-ray on my foot, didn't get to see that one either! It's like doctors hate me and my want to see an x-ray!)
I was prescribed these major heavy duty pills. Only got six of them for of $90. So I rested as much as I could the next day (ended up nearly failing a class for missing that one day of school! I still don't like you Mr. Caldwell!) and started dancing again the day after.
But somehow, after getting pneumonia, I stopped getting sick all the time! My immune system was healed!! I got a cold in college maybe once a year, but they were never that bad or lasted very long. I was healed! .... until I started working in a daycare.
Since starting my job two and a half months ago, I've gotten sick twice now. I'm pretty sure I was only better from being sick for like a week before I started feeling sick again.
... umm... so that was really long and pointless to get to my main point:
If you currently have pneumonia, come give me a hug. Because maybe getting pneumonia again will cure me.
This week, our beloved mascot is celebrating Thanksgiving with his pilgrim hat! He is also celebrating No-Shave November. He can grow quite a fine mustache. :)
(if you look closely, the pilgrim hat is actually a witches hat. PicMonkey didn't have any Thanksgiving themed edits)
I'm grateful for our cow mascot. Because he is pretty awesome. And he loves holidays as much as I do! :)
Day 17: I'm so grateful for my ballroom friends!!! It's so great to go to a USU Ballroom performance and be welcomed with smiles and hugs! It's amazing how the people you're on a team with easily become your best friends. I'm so grateful for them and how happy they make me! I love you guys!
Day 18: I'm grateful I'm marrying a guy who can cook. I have never been a fan of cooking. I kind of hate taking the time to do it. Baking is okay, I love making deserts, but I'm not one for cooking. But yesterday my fiance made us a wonderful chicken curry lunch! It was delicious! I love that I won't be expected to cook all the time in my marriage, even though I'll try. :)
Day 19: I'm grateful for Soup and Noodles because it's one of my favorite meals. It's just delicious. And the only think I'm willing to cook. (tomato soup and elbow macaronis, SO GOOD! Chris called it a fancy Spaghetti-O's, but I disagree)
I've gotten a really bad cold and am going off of like 3 hours of sleep. So I don't have anything else to say. I'll talk about my fantastic weekend another day.
I'm grateful that my wonderful friend (and bridesmaid) Lindsay Judd hosted a marvelous Thanksgiving Feast for like 50 people. It was so much fun! She's too popular for her own good...
I'm grateful for MY laptop. Because right now I'm using my fiance's, and his is dumb sometimes, though the keyboard is so smooth and easy to type on... I just don't like it as much as mine though. And his doesn't have all my pictures on it, so I can't add pictures to this post and I wanted a picture of me and Lindsay Judd. Actually I could steal it off Facebook...
I'm grateful for Facebook that makes it creepily easy to copy pictures from. Dang. I have so many pictures up on Facebook and basically any of my friends could steal them. Maybe even strangers! I need to review my privacy settings...
Wow. Apparently on Facebook this is the only photo of just the two of us that we are tagged in. But I know for a fact there are many more, she just untags herself in all my photos. Well, there we are. Dyeing Easter eggs on Easter in our old apartment. Man... I miss when we lived together and shared a bedroom. Those were some great times. Love you Lindsay!!!
Day 14: Yesterday I was most grateful for my mom and sister for going wedding dress shopping with me! It's so exciting to finally be able to shop for a dress, and I found the perfect one. Seriously. I NEED THAT DRESS!!! But we're checking out another store to make sure we get the best one for the best deal. But I'm still hoping for the one I fell in love with yesterday. I can't say anything else just in case my fiance reads this. Sorry!
Day 15: Today I'm most grateful for the power of prayer. Sorry. I'm LDS, and the next paragraphs are very Mormon-y. So if you don't want to read on, you don't have to.
So last year I accidentally took home a pair of gold pants from the USU Ballroom team (shown below) and they have a performance this Saturday so they need them back. I knew they were in my house somewhere, but I had been looking all week and could not find them! I was so scared! I would feel absolutely terrible if I had lost those pants, especially two days before a performance! So today I thoroughly cleaned my room and still couldn't find them. So I prayed. I prayed that I would be able to find the pants. I didn't get an answer right away. There wasn't some magical appearance of the pants or I suddenly knew of their location. Nothing like that. I just continued to clean my room. I had to take some boxes downstairs to the basement and while I had already looked through that stuff, I could have sworn the pants were in my bedroom somewhere. So I took down the boxes and saw a laundry bag. I was like "Oh yeah, when I first moved down here, the pants were in there, but I took them out." But I looked anyways, and there were the pants. :)
I truly believe in the power of prayer and I know that my Father in Heaven listens to each and everyone of us and He knows what we truly need and He will help us get what we need, no matter what. Sometimes the answers take a long time, other times it only takes a couple seconds. But He will answer.
I'm grateful that my prayer was answered today and that I was able to find the pants.
Okay, sorry, you can't actually see the pants that well. But this was the event where I borrowed the pants and took them home from. So this picture is the best for this post.
I'm also grateful that while I left the stove on while writing this post it didn't burn the house down. :)
Hey readers! Here's a photo of my beautiful new engagement ring!! (please ignore how my nail polish is messed up) I love my ring! It's so much more special that he picked it out all on his own and I don't think he could have done any better. It's absolutely beautiful! It's small and delicate, but I've never really worn rings before so it's nice that it's small since I'm not used to them. It's currently big on me. We're fixing that Saturday. So we're given the option to have a wedding band to go with it. However, we're kinda broke. So we're going to save that for later.
Today I'm grateful for stupid computer games and ipad apps that keep me entertained. :) Ha ha. Today at work Amiee and I began playing Plague Inc. on her ipad and I loved it! It's horribly morbid, but I love it. It's just a great game. You try to spread your disease across the world and kill everyone. Ha ha. Yep. So that's what I'm grateful for today. Lame, I know.
Hmm.... I don't really know what to write about today...
Oh! So my fiance and I started a diet thing today. It's actually the exact same eight week thing I did before but with a few tweaks. I'll write a post about it someday. So I guess...
Today I'm most grateful for my body. I know that sounds weird. But I'm grateful that I have a fairly healthy body. And although I've been told by three different doctors that I will be getting arthritis in my knees someday, I'm grateful to have an athletic body. I'm grateful that I can workout without flaws. I'm grateful I've danced my whole life and can continue to dance as I wish. I'm grateful for the body that I have been given. :)
Recently I've been annoyed with Facebook. If it's not broke, don't fix it! I'm sick of all the changes. I hate timeline. Hate it! It makes it harder to stalk my friend's Facebook walls (ha ha, admit it, we all do it sometimes). I was a little upset when every "Happy Birthday" post on my wall was grouped together on the timeline so it was only a little square. Lots of things are much more complicated than they should be. Facebook tries to tag your friends into everything you do AND it's really creepy about tagging! When you put up photos it tries to guess which one of your friends it is... and it's usually right.
But this post isn't about any of that. In fact it doesn't have to do with Mark Zuckerberg's changes at all. It has to do with my friends. Two friends in particular. Who invite me to EVERYTHING!!! I probably get two event invitations from them weekly... each. That's not even the worst part. If I don't see it or don't respond to it soon, I start getting notifications from it. So I get tons of notifications for events that I don't plan on going to.
And why don't I plan on going to these events? Well, one of my friends goes to UVU. And for some strange reason wants to invite me to every UVU student event. I am not a UVU student! I go to USU. I see how that could be a little confusing, but really, they're like two and a half hours away from each other. And UVU isn't that exciting anyways. Yes, it was my 2nd choice college, but when typing UVU and USU, UVU is the one that says it's "spelled incorrectly", therefore, not that cool and not that exciting.
So when I push decline on all these events, Facebook asks me "Why can't you attend this event?" Oh, well maybe because I'm not a student. And it gives me the option to block all events from this friend. However, he is a member of the UVU Ballroom Dance Team. We were on the same high school ballroom team together so I majorly support him in this and occasionally I get invites to ballroom events. Those I love to hear about and want to go to! But they are few in the amount of invites I get.
Yesterday we paid the deposit to book my wedding reception venue (I'm getting married in the Draper LDS Temple so I only need the venue for the reception). It was my third time being there and I love that place! I am super excited to have my reception there! http://www.atriumweddings.com/
The Atrium give you so much included in your package! It's incredible! And all for a decent cost too! Included automatically are:
11 guest tables with 8 chairs per table
Standard linens and linen toppers for each table (many color choices available)
Seasonal table certerpiece choices
Music system
DVD player with TV
Bride's dressing room and groom's changing room
20 three foot long sparklers
Separate kid's room
Lots of parking (with a parking attendant watching over)
A hostess for the evening
And all is in a very beautiful indoor reception space with plants, furniture, and fountains
There are other features and items you can add on for additional fees.
To book the Atrium you only have to go in and sign a simple contract and put down a $500 deposit. If you wish to book the Atrium on a Monday through Thursday, the price would be $1895. On the weekends the cost is $1995. This is seriously one of the best prices I've looked at in the Salt Lake area with all these items included. Really, I don't have to worry about decorations at all!
I'm so excited to have my reception held in the Atrium! When I begin planning more details I'll keep this blog updated on the other features of the Atrium, but for now just know that I'm excited and I really like the Atrium!
Day 10: I'm most grateful for my grandpa. He passed away almost three years ago but he's never stopped being an influence in my life. My grandpa served in the US Navy in the Korean War. He was married to my grandma for 50 years, they never dated or loved anyone else. They were always the cutest couple and I loved the rare moments I got to see them. Their love story inspires me to be like them and to never give up on my one true love for the rest of my life. I will forever be grateful for the way he loved my grandma.
My grandpa helped raise six children, one of them being my mom. I can't imagine my mom to be any better than she is, she was certainly raised right. He took special care of his grandchildren and treated us with kindness no matter what. He was strong in all he did until his final days on this earth.
I love my grandpa! I'm so grateful for his service in the Navy! I'm grateful for all the US military and for all the veterans! You are true heroes and you will always continue to amaze me with your bravery and willingness to serve. Happy Veterans Day!!!
My grandpa and his family.
Day 11: I'm grateful for old friend. More particularly my best pal Colton who returned on Tuesday from his two year LDS mission in Peru. He was a wonderful missionary! He was always a great friend to me, the best friend I had. It was wonderful seeing you today Colton! Welcome home! :)
Two-ish years ago when I was living in Logan there was a storm warning for the "Storm of the Century"! I had a ballroom performance cancelled, classes were cancelled, it was a pretty big deal.... Until the storm hit. It wasn't that bad at all, and didn't last very long. My friends and I were sledding during the "storm" and even drove to Dominos for some pizza. The power didn't go out like the news had predicted, and we were all just fine.
I'm pretty sure that this snow we've been getting today is worse than that. It started snowing yesterday sometime before I woke up (at 8:00 AM) and it didn't stop until today at 2 ish. There is a ridiculous amount of snow outside! It kept me from driving to Logan today to get my ring fixed and see my fiance. When we finally could drive, we drove down the street to see tons of broken tree branches lining the road because of the amount and the weight of the snow.
While this storm can't be considered a blizzard, it was still pretty bad because of the amount of snow. If you're in Utah I hope you made any journeys through this snow safely! I hope your weekends weren't ruined by the snow, like mine. Have a great rest of the weekend!!
These are taken from my porch at about 11 AM this morning.
So I finished reading Matched by Ally Condie a few weeks ago and have started on the second book, Crossed. These books are wonderfully written! Ally Condie is very talented, she's beautiful with words and ideas.
Matched is a young adult novel taking place in a dystopian future. Cassia's whole life is decided and orchestrated by the Society. On her seventeenth birthday she is "matched' with the boy she is destined to marry. But when she finds an error in the system and learns she's matched to two different boys, her life gets changed in so many ways.
This book is incredibly similar to The Giver by Lois Lowry. In both book the "society" the live in is very much planned out and organized. They are very similar to each other, but both have their own distinct story. This book has also been compared to The Hunger Games, which is possibly my favorite book series, but I'm not sure if there's a huge connection between the two besides a female lead and a twisted society.
I really liked Matched. I felt it was slow in some parts so it was difficult for me to get through. Characterization was a little weak. I feel like I don't know the characters enough to really feel for them. If we're comparing Matched to The Hunger Games, Katniss is much better developed and you feel for her character so strongly, while Cassia you just follow along in her story. I love when books can just completely pull you in, rather than just bring you along for the ride. Matched only took me for a ride. Ally Condie is a very talented writer and I loved this idea! Her story line is fantastic! Slow, but fantastic.
I do recommend this novel, especially to the young adults for whom it is written. It is worth the read.
As a note, the third novel in this series, Reached, comes out November 13th, four days from now. I'm currently on page 68 of the second one, Crossed, so I might not be there to buy it as soon as it comes out.
If you've read this novel and have your own thoughts to share, please leave a comment! Thanks for reading!
I apologize that the past couple days my only posts have been these gratitude things. This week has felt very stressful and crazy and I was going a little crazy (still am) so these gratitude posts were all I could muster. I'll work on that...
Today I am most grateful for my fiance, and I'll probably say that a million times, but he deserves it. I really have been having a bad week. Today wasn't so great either. It snowed all day, I hate snow (except on Christmas), my mom is stressing me out, she thinks it's her wedding not mine and doesn't care what Chris and his family want for the wedding, and I worked lots of hours this week, and while I love my job working with little kids, little kids and babies can make life stressful. So this week I haven't been feeling so great emotionally, physically, and mentally.
But my fiance took me to the Real Salt Lake game last night, we hung out at my house after the game watching TV, he slept on my couch, this morning we looked at our wedding reception venue (it's gorgeous, I'll write about it sometime soon), went out to eat, got cookies, and just talked. And it made me completely forget how stressed I was, how depressed I was feeling, and how sick I felt. He seriously took away all my stress.
I love Christopher because when I'm with him, I am at my most comfortable and happy state of mind. He completes me and makes me feel better no matter what. So today, he is what I am most grateful for in my life. I cannot wait to be married to him for time and all eternity!
Today I am most grateful for REAL SALT LAKE!!! Why? Because my fiancee and his family are season ticket holders. And there is a game tonight. So he's coming down from Logan for the game. RSL plays at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy. Where do I live? Sandy. So he was coming down, going to the game, then coming to my house to see me, which is great because we usually only see each other on the weekends. But now, I also have a ticket. So I'm going to the game and get to see my fiancee and I'm just super happy.
Today wasn't a great day for me. I felt sick all day and worked 8 hours in a daycare. It was stressful and tiring. My mom is stressing me out about finding a wedding venue and my fiancee is freaking out about the location... so today wasn't great.
However, I guess I'd say I'm most grateful for the weather so far this November. I really hate winter and snow (except on Christmas) so I'm always afraid that it will snow on my birthday, because living in Utah, it usually does. But this year has been great. It let me have a wonderful, warm picnic on Saturday, it's nice since I have to walk to and from work everyday, and warmer weather just makes me happier. It will probably snow tomorrow because I said all this, but for now, I'm most grateful for the weather.
Okay blogging universe, I need your help figuring out something, the location of my wedding reception. Here are the facts:
My parents live in Sandy/Draper, Utah
His parents live in Kaysville, Utah
We have been going to USU in Logan, Utah and have lots of friends there.
The distance between my house and Logan is around 2 hours, a little less usually.
The halfway point between Logan and Draper is probably Kaysville
The halfway point between Kaysville and Draper is Salt Lake
It's sort of a tradition to hold the ceremonies in the bride's hometown, Sandy/Draper area. We already plan on getting married in the Draper Temple, but should we also have the reception here? Or would having it in Salt Lake be better to make it easier for his guests to come. Salt Lake is certainly more practical. Salt Lake would also make it easier for our Logan friends to come.
See why I need your help? My mom is set on having it here, and doesn't want to have it in Salt Lake, which I really have to factor in since my parents are paying for the venue. But my fiancee doesn't love the idea that his guest have to drive 45 minutes to Sandy.
Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. This would be a HUGE help. Thanks readers!!
Today I am most grateful for the beauty of flowers. I seriously love flowers. I think that they are gorgeous and they just make me happy! So today, when touring a reception center, the greenery and flowers really persuaded me. They were so beautiful!
If I could choose the most perfect flowers for my wedding, they would be these:
But maybe with a red ribbon around them. Sigh... so beautiful! But I'm not sure where or if I can find these in Utah. But my hunt for flowers hasn't begun yet.
Regardless, today, I am most grateful for flowers. :)
So I know it's a little late, but WELCOME TO NOVEMBER! I love November! It's one of my favorite months because the autumn time is so pretty... and my birthday is in November. But also Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving! Even when we have a small Thanksgiving, I'm still reminded of each year's Thanksgiving and all the amazing people in my family who gather together.
So on Facebook all my friends are doing a month of what they are grateful for. So I'm going to do that on this blog! I'll post everyday what I am most grateful for! I'm calling it the Month of Gratitude and, hopefully, I can keep this up every year for the rest of this blog. I'm a little behind so I'll improvise a little. Here goes:
Day 1: I am grateful for Halloween. Ha ha, I know it's silly, but the day after Halloween is when you realize how great it really was, and how sad you are that you have to wait another year for it to come again.
Day 2: I am grateful for Kathie Savage and my dad for working together to get me a part-time job that pays $14 an hour. It was a long 8 hour day of work on the 2nd of November, but it was worth every penny.
Day 3: I'm grateful that the weather was beautiful, that the picnic was beautiful, that the ring was perfect and that I have the greatest fiancee in the world. :)
Day 4: I'm grateful for my parents and all they do for me to buy me gifts and make me cake and give me the best birthday ever!
And finally today...
Day 5: I am most grateful for my sister and all that she does to make me happy. I've never met anyone who is happier than she is all the time and I love her for spreading joy with the rest of the world. :)
I have a very beautiful engagement ring resting on the ring finger of my left hand, and I never want it to leave. Unfortunately, neither of us knew my ring size, so it doesn't quite fit me perfectly yet. But we're getting it fixed on Saturday (not fixed, it's perfect!!).
However, since I want to wear it all the time, it's size presents a problem. It can slip off fairly easily so I can't keep it on around water, or it will really slip off. And I don't really trust it staying on in my sleep so I can't wear it to bed.
(This is the pathetic part)
So this morning I woke up and got really excited and I was like "I get to put my ring back on!!!!" So I put it on and I'm all happy... then I look at my phone... and realize it's 5 AM. I don't have to be up for another 3 hours. So I take my ring back off and go back to bed. But at this point I'm too excited because of my ring, that I end up waking up every half hour. Come to think of it, I haven't gotten a good night's sleep since I got this ring. Silly ring, it makes me too excited to sleep.
CORRECTION
It's not the ring. It's what it symbolizes. Having this ring on my finger means that I get to marry the most perfect man, the one true love of my life, in six months. It means that I can get ready for the wedding. It means that I am bound to Christopher. It means that our love is strong and will never die. Bet you didn't think that's what a ring meant, huh? But that's what mine means. And I love it. I am super excited all the time now because I cannot wait to marry the love of my life!!!
I know this post is really cheesy and dumb, but I just had to vent my feelings somewhere.
So anyone who follows my other blog (which you can find by clicking on "When the Cows Come Home" at the top of this blog) would know by now that I got engaged over the weekend... on my birthday... :) It was the best day ever!
That means changes are coming to this blog. This blog is dedicated to wedding ideas, but since I'm now planning a wedding, it's going to be following my wedding planning, including photos and details. I'm really excited for these changes, I think that they will be really good for this blog.
Thank you to my followers and readers who are still reading even though I haven't posted on this blog in like a month. There will be a lot more coming soon. :)
My wonderful fiancee arranged his proposal so pictures were being taken of the whole event. Therefore, I will tell my proposal story in a later post, with pictures, when I get all the pictures off my dad's camera and onto my computer. It will also have a picture of my beautiful and perfect ring!
IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!! :) I turned 22 today. And it was literally THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!! Here's a list of all the exciting-ness of this weekend:
Picnic with Jimmy Johns, strawberries, and Apple-Grape sparkling cider (all presented to me by my fabulous boyfriend)
Texas Roadhouse steak (family dinner!)
Banana cake (made my my amazing mother!)
Roast Chicken with potatoes, carrots and onions (made by my wonderful sister, I'll ask her for the recipe so I can put it up on here)
New boots
Taylor Swift's RED
Wicked album
8 Impressionists painting (include Degas, my favorite!)
New pants
New tank top
New jewelry (given to me by my boyfriend's parents)
$35
Hmm... what else... oh yeah.... A DIAMOND RING!!! :) :) :) :)
Ha ha, yeah, I'M ENGAGED! Chris surprised me on our picnic. I plan on tell the whole story in a different post because, thanks to my amazing new FIANCE, my family was hiding and taking pictures of the whole event. So when I get the pictures off my dad's camera I'll write about his proposal (I'll try to keep it from being to lovey-dovey).
Well I hope all my readers had an amazing weekend like I did (somehow I think i win though...).
So it began with two of my favorites, co-hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. Let's be real, Carrie Underwood is simply fabulous in every way. However I was upset that they poked fun at Taylor Swift. Yes, her new song We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together is very childish and silly and easy to make fun of, but Taylor Swift has a very special place in my heart. She wrote songs about and for teenage girls while I was a teenage girl. She wrote her songs for me! And so I support her in many ways. Yes her song is silly, it's sort of okay to make fun of it, but please don't make fun of her dating situation. Observe:
Did anyone else notice how much she freaked out at the end there? Taylor Swift is growing up and trying to act more mature (though her latest song doesn't show it...) And I don't blame her for failed relationships, I've been through many failed relationships. Relationships are hard. Don't give up Taylor! You are a huge superstar anyways, who needs a man? ;)
She really is so beautiful. I loved her dress for these award. She looks fantastic in red. And whomever introduced her to red lipstick, bravo, it really looks good on her. And while I've never wanted to be a blonde, I've always loved her hair. Did anyone else also notice that Taylor Swift didn't win anything this year? I think that's a first for her. I love her performance. Again, she's stunning in red. And I'm rather fond of that song. I'm hoping to either get her new album Red for my birthday on Sunday or get iTunes gifts cards to buy it. Either way, I want her CD soon.
Again, Carrie Underwood is simply fabulous. I love this dress! If I could get married in this dress, I would. I think that Carrie isn't the best host, but she's beautiful to look at and kept appearing on stage in new fabulous dresses. I went to one of her concerts in Salt Lake and I'm pretty sure her second job is a quick dress change artist. She sang Blown Away which was great, it's a wonderful song, but she sounded a bit flat. However, Carrie Underwood's songs are nearly impossible to sing because her voice is just so incredible, so maybe somedays she has a hard time singing her songs just like everyone else. I was a little sad she didn't win Female Vocalist, but I'll accept Miranda Lambert, I love her too.
Moving on to Miranda Lambert, no, her dress was not quite as stunning. I love the skirt, the top just didn't seem to fit her right. And the neutral color didn't do her any good either. Sorry Miranda! Fun Fact! I have an autograph from Miranda Lambert when she came to the Sandy Amphitheater. Nobody knew who she was and there weren't many people there, but I got to talk with her and get an autograph. So I'm pretty cool. :)
Miranda and her husband Blake Shelton were fabulous tonight! Miranda won Female Vocalist of the Year, Blake won Male Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year. And together they won Song of the Year, by writing Over You together about Blake's brother. It was so cute to see them on stage winning that award and it see their bond and their love for each other. Miranda was very emotional and crying, which is adorable considering it was Blake's brother and dad (although she is now in their family, but still, a very cute moment). Both seemed very surprised by their awards and very humble. I loved how Miranda, when accepting her award, talked about all the other nominees and how much she loved them and how she didn't feel she deserved the award. She's just cute sometimes. Blake seemed in shock for winning Entertainer of the Year, but to me it makes sense. The name "Entertainer of the Year" should mean something. Blake is always on The Voice, entertaining, he sang Footloose for the new movie, entertaining, and he release some pretty amazing song, also very entertaining. While I love Keith Urban and would have loved to see him win, Blake really did deserve it.
I love Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. I'm pretty sure they're the cutest couple ever! I loved their duet during the tribute to Willie Nelson. I loved Faith Hill's solo song, she did beautifully. But, two things 1. Did anyone else think her teeth looked weird? I mean this in the best way possible. It only looked like she had braces on. Which is fine! I had braces for 2 years. That's just what it looked like to me, no big deal. But 2. She looked really skinny. Like sickly skinny. And it worried me and my mom because we love her so much! So Faith Hill, I truly hope you're healthy, I hope you are taking care of yourself. You're incredible, I'm kind of jealous of your husband, and I love you!
Tim McGraw, what can I say, you're amazing. Congratulations on winning Musical Event of the Year with Kenny Chesney (even though I'm not a Kenny Chesney fan).
My mom is a huge fan of Little Big Town and I like them a lot as well, but... Pontoon, is probably my least favorite of all their songs. I'm happy for them for getting more recognition and getting on top with this song, but I'm not the biggest fan of it. Congratulations for winning Single of the Year with Pontoon and Vocal Group of the Year! You guys really deserve it. You all looked great on the red carpet and while performing. Karen's dress while performing is my new favorite dress ever. And anyone reading who doesn't really know Little Big Town, please listen to Boondocks. It's a great song.
Hunter Hayes is adorable. He deserved to win New Artist of the Year for sure. However, it really bugs me that his song Wanted is sung "wan-ned". There is a "T" in there. Sorry, I'm a future English teacher.
Eric Church won Album of the Year with Chief, which I personally don't love, but good for him anyways! :)
Even though he wasn't there Toby Keith won Music Video of the Year with Red Solo Cup. A fun little song that proves Taylor Swift isn't the only one writing childish music. :) I do love this song though. It makes me laugh, like most Toby Keith songs do. I love you Toby Keith!!
Mac McAnally won Musician of the Year... maybe I'm just a horrible country music fan, but I actually don't know him... sorry. So I don't have anymore to say. Congratulations though!
How could anyone not love Willie Nelson? I loved the tribute to him featuring Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, Mickey Raphael, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and of course Willie Nelson. He won the first ever Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, which is well deserved. :)
Thank you Brad and Carrie for the photo above. :)
Now for some of my favorites from the red carpet:
Kimberly from Little Big Town wore this fabulous dress. I loved it. I thought she looked gorgeous and I realized how much I love her hair up. Her makeup was beautiful and her jewelry simple yet elegant.
Yahoo! voted this dress one of the worst, but I don't mind it too much. I love the matching green shoes and clutch. And I kind of just love Hayden Panettiere. This dress reminds me more of the stuff I see at ballroom competitions, not the red carpet. But I still love her and I like her neutral makeup a lot.
Who doesn't love Reba? I think she always knows how to look fabulous. She's funny, talented and very pretty. I adore her shoes and this bright blue dress looks fabulous on her!
Yahoo! also didn't like this one... Maybe it's just because red and black are my favorite colors, but I think that Kimberly Perry looks fabulous. It's a very simple dress, yes, but it's classy, I love the accent of the red belt and I think she just looks very well put together. Maybe I'm not be best fashion expert though. :)
I love this light blue dress on Kellie Pickler! It's a very beautiful and elegant dress! If anyone doesn't know, she shaved off her pretty blonde hair in honor of her friend diagnosed with cancer, and she still looks fabulous with no hair. I love her. She's so funny. Kellie looked great tonight!
My family loves Lady Antebellum! We've been to all their nearby concerts and gotten their autographs. They all looked fabulous on the red carpet. I love a man in a nice clean suit...
Well that's it for now. Tomorrow I'll give you my least favorites from the red carpet, but for now, it is way past my bedtime. Goodnight!
