A little Thursday by my side...

guys. It's Thursday. It has been a long, long (emotional) week and I'm glad to say the weekend is almost within reach. I unfortunately work tomorrow, but that will lead to a long weekend, short work week and another long weekend, so I think I can handle it....ANYWAYS. let's get on with things shall we?

• Last night I got together with my besties from my time in AIDA for a little frozen yogurt goodness. Man, I LOVE those girls SO MUCH! they are just super awesome. I always enjoy talking with them. :o)

• I went to a State Liquor store last night with my Sister B and bought vodka.

• Yes, I bought vodka.

• No, I didn't drink it.

• INSTEAD! I made vanilla extract by slicing and scraping Madagascar Vanilla Beans. It was a fun adventure. :o)

• Also, I just like saying the word vodka. It's fun.

• Soldier Boy, his daughter and I are all going to the Brigham City Temple open house tomorrow evening. I am VERY excited about this.

• As mentioned above I have a 3-day weekend (YAY Labor Day!), followed by a 3-day work week and ending with another 3-day weekend. HAPPY DAY. Seriously, SO HAPPY.

• My mind is still trying to get settled and realize that I'm no longer moving....it's kind of a weird feeling.

• Also, I need to go to the temple, it's been far too long, that will happen next Friday - on my day off. FOR SURE. :o)

• I am making a meal plan for next month so I can do more bulk shopping at Costco. Any meal suggestions you want to leave are VERY welcome. :o)

• In other news....August ends tomorrow and I'm having a really hard time accepting the fact that summer is practically over. :(

that's all folks! have a great weekend!!

Tender Mercy Tuesday: 62nd Edition

Hello my friends! It's been a little while since I've done a Tender Mercy Tuesday huh? Sorry about that - not that there haven't been blessings in my life....it's just I haven't taken the time to sit down and tell you about them.

Last night I received a wonderful tender mercy during my run. Now this might not make sense at first, but stay with me and it might make sense in the end. (I hope)

As you may recall, I have been doing ballet basically my entire life. So excuse me while I talk about dance for just a moment (this relates, I promise!) When you turn (pirouettes, chaines, fouettes, etc) there is a technique dancers use to not get dizzy: spotting. So, when you spot when turning and traveling across the floor/stage you pick a spot in the place you want to end up and you want this spot to be just above eye level so that your chin doesn't drop and the audience can't see your pretty face. BUT as you get closer to your destination, your spot has to change otherwise your chin is going to end up too high in the air, your focus too high and you'll defeat the purpose of spotting and end up a dizzy mess.

You're probably wondering right now what this has to do with running, well let me tell you!

See, when I run I like to pick an object to run to, often a lampost or a bush, or a tree. Something easily identifiable. Often, I pick this object with the thought that "if I just get to that tree then I can walk for just a second." Usually I then a pick another object to walk to...this process usually happens as I'm getting very tired and drained and am trying to push myself. Last week as I started running again (after too long of a hiatus) I found myself using this "trick" of pushing myself (or so I thought) quite often. Well last night, things went differently.

Soldier Boy and I decided to pick a new place to run besides the block around my house and jumped on his motorcycle to go to the City Park which I kid you not is less than a mile from my house. This City Park is HUGE. We had found a runner's map that ran a route around the park that was about 2 miles. We didn't end up going the 2 miles (we skipped one of the loops and took a shortcut. ;) ) but the great thing about this run is that I had a new realization. See, if I apply the theories of spotting to my run, then I go longer and keep up a very regular pace (especially if I'm listening to some good music, which I was!). See, instead of picking an object to run/jog to and then walking, as I got closer to my object of choice I would pick a new object to run to - BEFORE I reached the original object. Make sense? All I know is that it made my run so much easier last night - Saturday I had gotten really sick while running and was worried that last night would be the same. I am happy to report that for me, I have a new way to run and get through the hard parts (I even ran up TWO small hills WITHOUT STOPPING! This is huge for me as I hate hills) and a way to push through my runs. I am very excited to try this theory out again in the near future and hopefully use it in longer distance runs as I get more in shape.

Also - just a random fact about last night's run. After it was finished, Soldier Boy and I were stretching in the parking lot and all of a sudden fireworks started going off. It was a great way to celebrate the end of a great run for us and we chilled out on the grass for a bit before heading back to my place. :o) Good times.

Thursday Things

Hey all. Look at me! Posting TWO DAYS IN A ROW!!! I'm so awesome. :o)

It's THURSDAY (which I love) so that means....

YAY!!!! Let's get this party started, shall we? :o)

• I'm not going dancing tonight at the normal Blue Tango venue, but instead plan on spending a relaxing evening with Soldier Boy, his daughter, and my wonderful swimming pool. :o)

• I don't think I've told you, but if we're pinterest friend you've noticed...I'm the chairperson for the Annual Company Family Picnic. I LOVE the family picnic and am SO EXCITED to be heading it up. We're having a Western themed evening/carnival with a Chili Cook-Off that should be fun times. :o)

• School is starting and that means there are back-to-school sales EVERYWHERE. It makes me wish *I* was going back to school so I could justify buying fun things. Don't get me wrong, I am VERY happy to be not in school. I just wish I could justify buying things....

• I have grand plans for my day off tomorrow. I am (fingers crossed!) going to have NO MORE BOXES to unpack by the end of tomorrow/this weekend. Good goal right? :o)

• Soldier Boy is taking me out on a date! on Saturday! granted, we tend to do things that could be classified as dates...but this is a for real, planned for, paid for, paired off date. :o) Just like Elder Oaks defined it. :o) I'm SUPER EXCITED. (It's all a surprise, but I'm 99% sure we're going to the cheesecake factory.)

• So...I may have mentioned that I'm maybe getting into audio books? but I'm not sure yet...ANYWAYS. the point of this bullet is to ask for suggestions for books to listen to...i know not every book is perfect for audio reading, so which ones are your favorites?

anyways, i think that's all folks...hopefully your weekend is as splenderific as mine. :o) I'm hoping to get in a trip the Gardner's Village farmer's market...but we'll see. CIAO!

2 weeks later...

Hey guys!

So I've been living at my new place for TWO WEEKS as of today, and let me just tell you that I LOVE not being homeless anymore! There is so much less stress knowing that where I'm headed after work is a place that I can call MINE. Makes me happy.

Since moving I have found that there are Pros and Cons to my new place (as I think there ALWAYS is with new things.) So for your reading enjoyment, today I give you the Pros and Cons of living up north.....

Pros

• I have my own bathroom. Our new apartment that I share w/my roommate is a 2 bed/2 bath setup and I'm in love with it.

• Natural Light. Because of where our apartment is, we get SO MUCH natural light, especially in the late afternoon and this makes me happy.

• I still have a washer and dryer IN my apartment. This is fantastic.

• I only have 1 other roommate. SERIOUSLY cuts down on the drama. :o)

• I live in the middle of practically everything the Salt Lake Valley has to offer. It's SO FAST to get anywhere! 

• Swimming Pool/Hot Tub. need I say more? 

• I'm closer to Soldier Boy. WIN! Also, it puts us a lot closer to where his daughter lives and it makes it easier to spend time with her which is a HUGE win.

• I live closer to some of my friends. This is happy.

• Also, we live closer to some dancing venues

Cons

• the commute. Obviously commuting a minimum of 35 minutes each way does get annoying, but i have rediscovered an old favorite in morning talk shows and am slowly being converted to audio books. So it's not THAT bad.

• It's smaller than my last apartment....and I have a lot of stuff. I'm trying to go through things as I unpack and get rid of more...but still! 

• There's not a great place to put a good sized kitchen garbage can. This annoys me. I have one under the sink...but it's shorter which = me emptying it more often. I hate taking out the trash.

• The lighting in the apartment is WEIRD. There are no main lights in the lv room or either bedroom, and the plugs that are controlled by the light switches are in an awkward spot and are NOT helpful. (and even better, some of the light switches are in REALLY odd places. It's just weird.)

• I am not as close to some of my friends...which makes it hard to plan activities. 

• We live farther from Blue Tango...living close to other venues helps balance this out...a little bit.

I think that's it....for now. Who knows, maybe I'll update this list someday, for now I'm still trying to get that last box emptied and out of my apartment....until next time - adios!

I'm baaaack....almost

Hey friends! It's been a while hasn't it? :o) Life has been extremely ________ (pick your favorite adjective; I'm pretty sure it will fit. :P )

Seriously though, last time I left you with lists of things I HAVE done and things that were HAPPENING and yada yada yada. Since it's has just about been three weeks since I last wrote, I thought you deserved a little update.

so here you go a few things I have done (some picture proof...)

• I have officially moved out of my place of living in O*. I lived there for 3 years. It was good to me, until it came time to clean. Seriously? Cleaning that place was AWFUL. Luckily I'm done and I don't care anymore.

• SAW MY FAMILY!! to celebrate, we grilled pizza: 

• Drove to New Mexico....and back: 

• on the way back I kissed my boyfriend in all 4 states at one time:

• THEN I became homeless. You guys, being homeless sucks. Granted, I have somewhere to stay and all that jazz, but not having a place that is MINE is just not so much fun. :( 

• OH! I went to Soldier Boy's Family reunion. We went camping at Beaver Mountain and took a day trip to the North Shore of Bear Lake. HOLY MOLY is Bear Lake GORGEOUS! I had never been before and it was SO SO SO great. Unfortunately, I left all kinds of photo taking devices packed in a box/in my purse/in my car so there is no photo documentation...but it was FUN TIMES.

• My boyfriend? He's amazing. He had his daughter this past weekend (well, a little bit longer, but I digress) and he's just  the most amazing dad. Seriously, it warms my soul to see him interacting with her. I can't wait to have kids with him and all that jazz.

• also, my boyfriend puts up with my random emotional outbursts. I've had my share of them these past few weeks and I've been rather stressed and such and have had more than one crying session. Luckily for me, Soldier Boy lets me cry on his shoulder and holds me until I am better.

I think that's it for now. I'm sure I'm missing things...but once I'm moved in to my new apartment and I have some kind of internet I will check back in with you...until next time, keep smiling! :o)