Why Fashion Friday Posts Are Difficult To Do In Winter

One of my unwritten New Years Resolutions was to never miss a Fashion Friday post. I left it unwritten because I know that sometimes it is honestly impossible to go out and take fashion photos, especially during the winter time. I was right to leave this goal un-written since here we are, the last Friday of January and I've done one fashion post so far this year.

My lack of fashion posts doesn't go without trying. I tried. I promise I tried. You can ask my husband about my almost crying when the weather and daylight hours would not work with my schedule.

See, I work a full-time job. 8-5. During all daylight hours. Now, if I had a home with good lighting, or could purchase good photography lighting, then maybe it wouldn't be such an issue. But in all honesty, the fashion posts that get the most attention, are always done outside, and I completely agree that outdoor pictures look and feel the best. Lighting is better, backgrounds are better, and there are so many more opportunities instead of just a blank wall.

Winter is such a beautiful time of year. Fashion photos in the snow can be absolutely gorgeous... Can be. Winter can also be the ugliest time of year. Gray mounds of snow piled up on the sides of every street, gray skies, fog, no sunlight, as bleak and depressing as the beginning of a Charles Dickens novel.

During the winter no one WANTS to leave their home. We only leave because we're forced to. Getting an outfit together, driving to a decent location and standing in the cold doesn't ever sound fun, but we do it anyways. Sometimes.

But there's such an unpredictability during the winter. Weather is constantly changing. This past month we had temperatures in the single digits which jumped up to 40℉ and rain in a single day. The wind is almost constant and makes it feel even colder. It snows whenever it feels like, which is hard to predict considering the clouds are really talented at covering any sight of the sun.

I want to be a fashion blogger... part-time, only on Fridays. But during the winter it's just so incredibly difficult! So while fashion posts are still a goal for this blog, it may still be a while before the consistency starts. But I'm excited for when they do!

My Favorite Winter Accessories

I found it so beautifully ironic that during a photo shoot for winter accessories it began to snow. Going through the pictures you can see the snow slowly getting heavier. So sorry for the random white blurs, but I personally love it.

Let's go through each detail one by one. Everything was bought years ago (except one item) so there aren't any direct links to products, but I'll do the best I can to find matches.

RED HAT: Given by a friend

RED STRIPED GLOVES: Rue 21

EAR HAT: Pac Sun (Similar)

BLACK AND GRAY GLOVES: Rue 21

HEADPHONE HAT: Old Navy

I love all my winter hats but I'm particularly fond of the ear one. I had been asking for it and Chris gave it to me for Christmas! It's new, but I've worn it a lot. I also love the one with headphones. I was listening to the Heroes & Villains playlist on my Spotify account. A new song was added to that playlist this week in honor of tomorrow's story so go check it out! 

I loved creating this post, I love winter accessories even if I don't always love winter, and I hope you all loved it as well. Don't forget to shop for your own winter accessories below, because if you live in Utah, like me, we still have cold weather for a while. I included a cow hat below because I do own a cow hat, and I'm a huge fan of it.

Winter Begins

Oh look, finally a fashion post with my dyed hair! I died my hair about a month ago but I haven't posted any pictures yet. I went darker because I love having darker hair! It has red in it as well but not an orangy red, a really pretty dark red that only really shows up in the sunlight. I love having my hair this color! 

It snowed this weekend! I always love the first snowfall and I love snow in December, but that's it. Starting January I just want the snow to go away. But I live in Utah where that doesn't happen, and quite frequently the snow starts in October. It started at a good time this year though, mid November, I approve of that. I hate when there is snow on my birthday. 

This outfit is excited for you because every part of it is older and you won't be able to find it anywhere. So below I have a few suggestions for similar items or items I just like, also because the dress and sweater were gifts and I don't know where they came from in the first place. But this outfit is very brown and I don't wear brown often so this is different for me, but I loved it. One last thing, when I was creating the widget with similar items, the pieces I chose were all brown or close to the colors I wore, but they changed color. Basically if you click on the picture to actually see it better or purchase it, it is available in brown. 

Lastly I want to add that fashion posts will be more difficult for me because I work until five and the sun sets at five. So either I have to take pictures at lunch (in the freezing cold) or inside my apartment with horrible lighting and blank white walls. So outfit posts will be very scarce this winter but I will do my best.  

It's so cold!!! 

The Snowboarding Experience

When I was younger my family went skiing. And. I. HATED. IT! It was the worst! It was cold, it took forever, and my stupid ski kept falling off and sliding down the mountain! Worst experience ever!

Flash forward to 2014 and I make the decision to try snowboarding to please my husband and his family (that's not true). Every year around Christmastime my husband's family stay at their condo in Wolf Creek and going snowboarding/skiing at Wolf Mountain. Not wanting to feel left out or cause anyone to not participate in their traditions, I decided to learn to snowboard, even though I was terrified.

So wearing my brother-in-law's clothes and using his snowboard (actually a combination of the twin's stuff (they are both on LDS missions so they didn't need it)), I geared up and joined my in-laws at Wolf Mountain.

My husband was wearing his new hat with a built in beard, which proved to be way to hot on the surprisingly hot winters day, but he looked good!

So I get strapped into the snowboard and we board the ski lift and head to the top of the bunny hill, where I fall off the ski lift into the snow and my husband helps drag me out of the way of others exiting the ski lift (thank goodness for my helmet, sunglasses, and the cold that helped hide my shame).

I sit at the top of the mountain, surrounded by my in-laws all trying to tell me how to tell me how to stand up. But I can't, because I have no strength... basically anywhere in my body... which was all proved through the duration of my experience. So my father-in-law had to help me up... multiple times.

After quite a bit of back-seat driving I am abandoned by everyone except my husband, who proved just how kind, loving, and patient he is as he sat there as it took me twenty (or more) minutes to get up after my many falls. Somehow I learned how to go down the mountain and we reached the bottom of the mountain and we got back on the ski lift to try again.

At the top, I again fell off the ski lift, to the major concern of the lift attendant who tried to instruct me on something but I was too concerned about getting up again to really care. So there I was at the top again, not knowing how to get up. This time took much longer to get up partly because a huge group of people were blocking my way and even if I did get up I wouldn't know how to get around all the people.

So I sat there, my husband far away from me down the mountain, but still in sight. Some random woman comes over and tries to teach me how to get up but it's just so difficult! And then my husband starts hopping up the mountain (miraculously without falling) to get back up to me. My mother-in-law shows up off the ski lift and comes over to help as well. So I am finally able to get up and start gliding down the mountain.

At this point I'm so frustrated about how difficult it is to get up that I do everything in my will power to not fall down. That time I only fell down three times going down the mountain and I started to understand why people might enjoy snowboarding, and I knew I liked it much better than I ever did skiing.

I think we went down another two times, each time my mother-in-law using her skis to help me up when I fell (thanks Michelle, you're fantastic!). Then we went into the lodge and had giant greasy French fries that were absolutely delicious! And I was done. I did not want to go back out in the cold again, I did not want to use any more of my strength, and I was just done.

But they made me go one more time so they could get a recording of my awesome snowboarding skills, which didn't even turn out so you can't see it. I went down the mountain one more time, without falling down once and I fell an exhilarating rush of adrenaline and felt really happy... until I reached the bottom, didn't know how to stop so I fell backwards and landed ridiculously hard on my arms. I was able to go back to the condo after that with my mother-in-law and eat fruit and take a nap.

I ended up ridiculously sore and unable to move basically any muscles for a few days. It was/is awful. I think I will try it again next year, after I complete all my New Years Resolutions and am stronger and can possibly be able to lift myself up off the ground, but for a first time I was happily satisfied and glad that I did it!

Have you ever tried something new that scared you? Leave a comment below and let me know! 

THANKS FOR READING!! 

December Review

December is over? When did that happen? When did December even happen? I don't remember December actually going on... True story.

Basically nothing happened this month. We had finals. We moved. We struggled to pay bills. We celebrated Christmas. Our new place is still unorganized and chaotic. And that's basically my December. So this post will be incredibly short compared to my other Monthly Review posts.

________________________________________________________

The month started out with finals. My finals were incredibly easy this semester and I am so grateful for it. I worked super hard this semester and plan on working even harder this next semester! Here are my final grades for the semester:

Yay me! Passing grades! I really think I can do better by working harder. I'm happy with these grades though. I passed! :)

We moved and I have no pictures of our next place yet because it's not ready to be seen yet. It's a work in progress and I hope we all get settled soon.

And then suddenly it was Christmas. I had a fantastic Christmas! I wrote about it in THIS POST. But we actually did a lot more around Christmas time as well. We went to Zoo Lights, we visited Temple Square Lights, we played countless games, we rode Trax, we hung out with my grandma and Nana, we went to my cousin's baptism, I got my haircut, we ate so much good food and gained lots of weight (much to our enjoyment), and we had a fantastic Christmas break! ...and it's not over yet! We're going to my in-law's condo on New Years to snowboard, for my first time! I'm so nervous and excited! Here are just a few (okay, a lot) pictures from our break so far:

Driving around to see Christmas lights (although Logan doesn't have any)

My favorite Christmas treat: Candy Cane Kisses, BEST CANDY EVER!! 

Finding a house barricaded with snow! 

Going down the stairs Christmas morning to see what Santa brought us!

Christmas!! Yes, we love our onesies! 

Posing with a rhino at Zoo lights!

Zoo lights

More Zoo Lights!

Nativity scenes at Temple Square

The Salt Lake Temple! So beautiful! Also, check out our new coats! 

The temple does the best tree lights. 

Love this temple! 

Light tree

Having fun! 

Oh, and yes, my hat is a cow, and yes, I did get in for Christmas. Thanks Michelle!!! 

Giant Christmas tree!! 

I don't know why I love this picture so much! 

After my haircut my cousin curled my brothers hair. 

He looked so beautiful! ;)

Love you Nick! 

I love my new haircut and my Pikachu shirt! 

For some strange reason this month I've gotten more page views than any other month so far, and for this I am super grateful to you, my readers! You are so fantastic and I love you all! Thank you for making Things I'm Good At my most popular post this month. For me it was very personal and eye opening. I loved writing it and I'm glad you all enjoyed it. Thank you so much for the support you give me! You keep me writing! 

Did you have a good December? What would be in your December Review? Please leave a comment below and tell me all about it! 

THANKS FOR READING!! 

My Christmas Wish List

Last week I posted my 2013 Holiday Gift Guide... which was a joke. I hope people were aware that that was a joke. Although some of the products you have to admit were pretty awesome. :)

With Christmas coming up I think it's time I put up my personal Christmas Wish List, and if you would like to buy me anything from the list please send it to... just kidding. Please don't buy me anything. But leaving comments on blog posts would be a great Christmas gift! And if you do that for me you'll get your Christmas gift from me, a Spotify playlist of all my Song of the Week Saturday posts. Which is actually a pretty cool playlist, but I could be biased. Hey, if you want your favorite songs to be on there you have to share them with me first.

Anyways, this year I have two lists: things that I want and things that I need. These lists are obviously very different. Also, this list is for my family and friends but I still hope it's enjoyable to my regular readers. If not, leave a comment to let me know.

THINGS THAT I WANT:

• A sewing machine 
• I really do, I don't know why... Pinterest probably
• Clothes
• Because what girl doesn't need more clothes? And I'm incredibly sick of my current wardrobe.
• iTunes gift cards
• Because music is incredibly important to me and I always want more!
• Beta fish 
• But my apartment technically doesn't allow it... But honestly, there are beta fish at my work in the offices and I just love to sit and watch them swimming around, it makes me happy. I need one!!! 
•  A new laptop
• Because this one is incredibly slow no matter what I do and it's just incredibly frustrating to use.
• iPod
• Because I love my iPod nano, but it's full and I can't add more music and I can't find any music from it to get rid of and it's just sad that I can't put my new Ariana Grande CD, Yours Truly on there. 
• iPhone
• Or just a smart phone in general. I know this is not going to happen, but I am so bored of my phone and just want to join the smart phone club. Also, I've been stalking my friend's Instagram pages and would like to join that club too. 

I understand I most likely won't get anything on this list. Except maybe clothes. And I'm totally fine with that. I honestly don't need these things and I will (eventually) be able to buy them myself. I'll be happy whether I get them or not because here is the list of what I actually need. 

WHAT I NEED:

• A good snow coat
• I have a lot of really cute pea-coats and I love them to death, but it gets really cold here and I need a good, warm, water/wind proof, sturdy coat for winter. With a hood. Because I have a fairly good snow coat right now with no hood... and it's short... I want something I could play in the snow in. And I found all my gloves and hats so I'm good there. But I want to be able to pick it out so I don't know if I want someone just buying it for me...
• Snow boots
• I also have a good pair of boots but for some reason the designer was like "Let's make the best snow boots with great traction and warmth... but we'll add a three inch heel to it". And I love heels, but for running around in the snow sometimes I'd rather do without the heel. I'd also want to pick this out myself so...
• Money for the above two items... or school or rent or food
• Actually things are looking up for us money-wise, but some extra money in our account is always worth it, because we just eat soup or pizza from Chris's work every night and I get bored of it. 

This post ended up much longer than I expected and I admit it's not the most exciting. But regardless, what's done is done. 

What's on your Christmas Wish List? Leave a comment below and let me know!

THANKS FOR READING!! 

Things I'm Good At

I got the idea for this post from a Jenna Marbles video on Youtube. I would share the video on here but part of it is inappropriate and I don't want to have that on my blog. So feel free to look it up if you want.

These past few weeks have been difficult for me with school, moving, constant stress, and depression. But things are starting to look up... slightly... I'm still insanely poor and have to pay college tuition on Wednesday... stressful!

Anyways, in an attempt to make myself feel better about myself, here are the things that I am good at. 

I'm really good at driving in the snow. This is good because I live in Northern Utah where it snows a lot. I learned yesterday that some Canadians don't know it snows in Utah. Well, it does. In fact, our license plates sometimes say "Greatest Snow on Earth", although I don't believe that's true. But it does snow a lot, usually from October to May. This year we got a late start on the snow and it's just barely starting up, but that means it'll probably last till summer. There's a saying that there are only two seasons in Utah, winter and road construction, and that's basically true. But yeah, it snows here, today it was -24 degrees when I first went outside. And it's real surprising how many people in Utah cannot drive in the snow, so I'm proud for being good at it.

I'm fairly good at writing papers quickly. Like I should be doing right now. I have my final essay due at midnight tonight and I haven't started it yet. Let me clarify, I haven't started writing the paper, but I've done tons of research and wrote out notes for my paper. It only has to be at minimum three pages so I'm fairly confident I can whip out a good essay before midnight.

I'm good at dancing. It's true. I was in the Ballet West Nutcracker three times, I danced half-time at the Poinsettia Bowl in 2010 (which I will be writing about soon because it's such a good story and my school is in the Poinsettia Bowl this year, GO USU!!!) and I just absolutely love dancing! I've done ballet, jazz, tap, and both Latin and standard ballroom. I'm currently looking for a dancing teaching job because that's one of my main goals in life, to teach dance.

I'm good at making minute rice. And Ramen, and toaster items, and other microwave items. But that's about the extend of my cooking abilities. Oh! But I am good at making cookies!!

I'm good at finding good music. At least I believe I am. Jon McLaughlin and Christina Perri are my two favorites and they are a billion times better than what's popular right now. Like Miley Cyrus? She can't sing. Or all those rappers? They can't sing at all! But Jon and Christina are not only talented singers, but also play the piano, which happens to be my favorite instrument.

I'm good at giving gifts. I absolutely LOVE buying and giving people gifts! It's one of my most favorite things in the world! It's why last year I spent over $200 on Christmas presents for my family, why I gave my husband 24 all Star Wars themed gifts for his 24th birthday, and why I love doing giveaways on this blog. But, alas, I currently have no money so I'm super disappointed this year that I can only give each person on my list one gift, and it has to cost less than $10. I'm so upset. But don't worry because...

I'm good at making cards. I love making creative cards! It's so much fun! I just love crafting really. And, according to my sister, I'm good at writing cute and meaningful notes to people inside said cards. So I will be making special cards for all my family for Christmas in an attempt to make up for lack of good gift giving.

I'm good at sleeping. This is only partially true. I occasionally struggle with falling asleep, but once I'm asleep I'm out and I can sleep forever! That's why I struggled so much with my 8:30am class this semester and why I never look good for 9:00am church. I'd much rather sleep than do anything.

I'm good at making future lesson plans for when I become a teacher. I find it so much fun to explore Pinterest and different teaching blogs and find ideas for school lessons. Not only that, I create my own and save them to an external hard drive. Even though I won't graduate for three and a half years, there's nothing wrong with being prepared, right? :)

I'm good at doing hair. It's true! I am! And I absolutely love doing it! I love playing with my hair and love testing out new styles I find on Pinterest. The only problem is I have super shaky hands so I can only do my own hair, don't ask me to do your hair because it won't turn out as good, but I'm used to it on myself.

I'm good at using Pinterest. Well duh, I mentioned it in the past two things! I'm on Pinterest ALL THE TIME and am super good at pinning things. Not as good at actually doing the things, but I'll get there someday.

I'm good at being neutral. Every year of college my roommates would end up splitting into two groups and hate each other, but none of them hated me and I somehow avoided having to pick sides. I don't even know what I did but it's a talent. I think it's because I don't really care what other's do and am very accepting of others, I'm also super good at never letting my emotions show. So I could hate someone and they would never know. That's totally a talent. But I currently don't have any friends so maybe I'm too neutral...

I'm good at helping others. I have this inner desire to love and help everyone I meet (why don't I have friends again???). I use Charity of the Month on this blog to help others, I volunteer with an elementary school twice a week, I started 12 Days of Service this month, I love doing anything I can to help others and make them happy and I only wish I could do more.

I'm good at being a janitor. Is that something to be proud of? Maybe not, but it pays the bills so I'm happy about it. I'm really good at my job and work hard to make sure I'm one of the best. I've always been a hard worker, no matter what the job and consider that an additional thing I'm good at.

I'm good at people watching. Not a talent, just something I'm good at. I'm also good at not getting caught. I hear the best conversations sometimes and no one even knows...

I'm good at eating French Fries. Put French Fries in front of me and I'll eat them all. Every last crumb, every last grain of salt. I love French Fries! They are quite possibly my favorite food and I crave them everyday.

I'm am incredibly good at talking myself out of buying something. Only with clothes though, with food, not so much. But with clothes I rarely buy new things, even though I hate all my clothes, because I can quickly talk myself out of it. It's a fantastic trait considering I have no money but I'm hoping I can control this ability once I do have money and start to work on a new wardrobe for myself.

I'm good at writing. Or at least I consider myself to be good. I make mistakes, I know that, but everyone makes mistakes occasionally. I believe that we continually learn from our mistakes and when I make a mistake writing on this blog I want for my readers to point it out so I am aware and work harder to avoid doing it again in the future. Not only am I good at writing, but I absolutely LOVE writing. So while I previously said that I was too depressed to write, I'm continually learning that I have to write to keep myself happy. I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be writing on this blog as much as I possibly can because it genuinely makes me happy.

Pinterest Sunday

I have been on Pinterest so much this week it's ridiculous! To see all my pins, feel free to CLICK HERE. Below are just some of my favorites from the week. Thanks for reading!

I would like to have a better job. That would be really nice for me. This article had some really good tips and it's a great reference for me for the future. To see the article CLICK HERE. 

4 EASY SCHOLARSHIPS ANY STUDENT CAN WIN

I don't have the best GPA right now and yes, being married brings a bit more financial aid, but we could always used more money for college. This is a great resource because you don't have to have a fantastic GPA to apply to these scholarships. 

I am NOT excited for winter to come, but I cannot get over how beautiful this picture is! 

I really miss ballet. I'm hardly even flexible anymore. I just love this picture and like to look at it and wish I could be doing that again... 

These are so simple and quick to do and can be incredibly effective! I'm sick of being at this weight, this is the biggest I've ever been in my life, so I'm working on changing that. These simple exercises are great for inner thighs, which are always a trouble spot for me. :)

I'm sick of going through a lot of cleaning on Saturdays and then letting everything pile up through the week. So I'm thinking of making a checklist/routine like this. This is a great example and something that I think would be great for my little apartment.