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)

Thursday Things Update Style

So...I know that Thursday Things sometimes ends up being an update of sorts and today's post is no exception. I haven't posted in a couple of weeks and for that, I apologize. Life has been treating me so well and has been so insanely busy that I just haven't had time to be here....but I am here today! Hopefully you didn't miss me too much....

without further ado....

• Since the last time I blogged I have:
• signed a contract for a new apartment.
• rented a storage unit
• begun the awful process of moving. oh how I hate moving.
• saw The Amazing Spiderman movie. SO GOOD.
• Went camping w/Solider Boy's ward
• threw my sister a baby shower
• went to my last meeting as a Relief Society President.

• so yeah. I've been busy. which is good. the next three weeks? also going to be busy. in the next three weeks I will:
• go to my family reunion in New Mexico. I'll get to see my grandpa who I haven't seen in about 8 years and introduce my boyfriend/future fiance to my family. 
• yes. you read that right. someday Soldier Boy is going to go from being my boyfriend to being my fiance to being my husband. Currently there is no timeline for these events, other than we want them to happen and I can't wait for that day.
• I will move out of my current apartment and be "homeless" for eight days.
• Go to Soldier Boy's family reunion. That will be crazy fun times.
• Move into my new apartment. (SO EXCITED!!!)

•  Because I'm moving, I'm being released as Relief Society President. This is bittersweet for me. I have loved my calling and I love my sisters, but at the same time I'm a little burned out and am ready for change in my life.

• I've recently had my nails done twice with shellac polish and oh. my. gosh. BEST THING EVER guys! Seriously! This stuff doesn't chip, it just grows out and it's fantastic and I love it so much. also. my friend who does it? she's adorable and does fun things.

• I just turned on Pandora at work and all I asked of the Pandora gods was for good things to be played today. The first song on my Today's Hits/80s Pop/Contemporary Country mix? Bon Jovi. You Give Love A Bad Name. Well-played Pandora gods. Well-played.

• My boyfriend is seriously amazing. I love him so much. We always have the best time when we're together.

• oh and his daughter? She's the cutest thing ever. Seriously, love her. I made her this dress from Pinterest a couple of weeks ago and she looks ADORABLE in it. :o)

• I am very excited to spoil my future nephew. He'll be here in about 8 weeks! eek! 

• You know what's really awesome? life. I love life. 

Hope everything is going well with all y'all. :o) Here's to the rest of summer being AWESOME! Until the next time....ciao!

2 months of happiness plus an adventure in the mountains

Hey guys! How are all y'all?!

Last night Soldier Boy and I celebrated 2 months of happiness. I love being his girlfriend. It makes me so happy to do girlfriend-like things for him. I make dinner for us several nights a week and it is one of my favorite things to be able to do that. Soldier Boy loves it (what boy wouldn't?!) and is so appreciative it just makes me want to keep on doing it! sigh. Life is good in our little world.

So on Friday night this last weekend I told Soldier Boy that I wanted to go on an adventure. Well, his suggestion was that we go up Spanish Fork canyon and try out the natural hot springs that are up there. We've tried the ones in Saratoga Springs and the ones in Ogden, but not these particular ones. We'd heard good things about them and decided to give it a go. After looking up some information we decided to head on down. Now, we prepared to go on a little hike - but also knew that there would be close to a full moon so we thought we could do this hike without a flashlight. This was not a brilliant idea. Luckily, some kind samaritans saw our plight as they were hiking OUT of the canyon and gave us their almost dead flashlight. It gave us just enough light to get to the hot pots and back completely dying out right as we got to our car.

Now, we knew from our little googling before hand that this hike wouldn't be super strenuous and would be about 2.25 miles one way....well, what we didn't really think about is the fact that hiking at night takes longer because it is dark and even with a flashlight it's hard to see. So....our little adventure of hiking and soaking in the hot pots and the hiking back took WAY longer than either of us anticipated BUT it was a TOTAL success and was SO MUCH FUN.

One thing to note if you ever go these hot springs - the sulfur content is higher than any other hot springs Soldier Boy and I have been to in Utah. It turned my sterling silver CTR ring black. Granted, cleaning said ring with jewelry cleaner or silver cleaner will clean it right up. For now I'm leaving it because my ring looks SUPER awesome black. But I wouldn't wear any other jewelry in the future.

Just as a side note, Soldier Boy and I decided that our favorite hot springs are the ones in Ogden. I don't know if we'll ever go to the ones in Spanish Fork again. That long of a hike sort of defeats the purpose of relaxing...but it was absolutely beautiful up there. The view of the night sky was absolutely incredible. :o) 

feelings on a Tuesday afternoon

this meme/idea stolen from the lovely Rasha over at and this is what She said.....

I feel... anxious

I want... for all the puzzle pieces to fall into place
I need... to stay calm
I wish... I could know when everything was going to happen. I like knowing the "when" of things.
I watched... my favorite tv show with Soldier Boy last night.
I am... trying to be patient. I'm not sure it's working.

I love... Soldier Boy. He is currently my rock when it comes to all the coming changes. He is so strong and wonderful to me.
I hate... having to keep secrets from certain people in my life. But some people can't know what's going on yet.
I hurt... knowing that I'm going to break some people's hearts this week.
I hope... that everyone can be understanding when certain things come to light...

What are you feeling?

 

p.s. I promise that I haven't forgotten about Tender Mercy Tuesday. I have been feeling a little off lately and haven't felt like I had things to share. I am going to start taking time to reevaluate what I have been blessed with in my life. I know it is important to share these things. Watch for a new Tender Mercy Tuesday post next week!

sometimes....

sometimes life is really busy. Now is one of those times. I'm sorry. I wish I wasn't so busy sometimes and I could post really cool things, but then I don't really have cool things to post right now. My dating life revolves around my sweet, adorkable boyfriend Soldier Boy. I'm kind of head over heels for this guy and I'm okay with that.

The good news is that it's Thursday and that can only mean one thing.....

• my weekend up north was SUPER fantastic!!! I loved every minute of it and had the time of my life. 

• Soldier Boy's daughter (who really needs a 'nym....hmmm...) is ADORABLE and she loves me. which is good because....

• I get to spend all day with her tomorrow! due to some interesting circumstances that I don't quite understand, I'm babysitting. :o)

• I'm really, really excited about this. My original plan for my day off included lunch w/Soldier Boy, so that's still happening - there will just be an extra person with us. ;)

• 2 more weeks of dance classes....yes, I AM counting down. I'm rather excited for the end of the year.

• I'm getting really excited about my summer this year. Soldier Boy and I have tentative plans for a good chunk of June and I'm rather stoked about this.

• Work was insanely busy all week long. Gah!!

• My brain is fried.

• But I get to go dancing tonight, so it's all good.

That's all guys. Life is good. I'm good. Give me a couple weeks and then things will be even better. Maybe I'll actually blog about my summer adventures.... :o)

Have a great weekend!!

blergh

I seriously make the worst sick person.

When I was younger my mom would have to bribe me/tie me down in my bed to keep me home from school when I was sick. I was too responsible and loved school too much to want to miss it. I remember one particular year - sophomore year of high school I believe...it was spring time and I had strep throat for the third time that year. I had gotten my drugs that morning but wasn't cleared to go to school. However I had a test for my computer class that my teacher had warned us COULD NOT be made up NO MATTER the reason we weren't there. I went to school and took the test. My mom was so mad at me!

Fast forward to yesterday and today. Both days I woke up feeling awful. I knew I could function if it was absolutely necessary, but overall I felt icky and didn't want to move. I did what any grown woman does -  I called my mom. I needed her to tell me it was okay to stay home. :o)

So I've been home sick - and let me tell you - it sounds all glorified and stuff when someone else is the person that gets to skip out on work responsibilities and be home sick but when it is you? It sucks. Hard core. I've hated just lounging around. There's nothing good on tv, I don't have enough energy to clean the kitchen or be crafty and it's really hard to concentrate on a book when you're sick. So you do nothing but watch reality tv shows.

Here's hoping I feel better tomorrow. It's my day off so I can continue to get loads of sleep and hopefully feel well enough to get some tasks done and then play with the boyfriend all weekend. Speaking of the boyfriend, he's been so sweet to me while I've been sick. He took such good care of me last night. I'm a fan of him. ;)

Have a good weekend all! Stay healthy!

Friday Giggles and Awesomeness

So....I sort of had two Mondays this week. The real Monday and then yesterday....after having Wednesday off and getting to play all day with Soldier Boy and his daughter coming back to work yesterday was just horrid.

ANYWAYS. It's finally Friday and I'm looking forward to it being tomorrow night when I can go on a date with my handsome boyfriend. :o) In the meantime here are two awesome videos that I found while perusing the interwebs this morning.

This first one is a clip of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, the company of men that parodies classical ballet while dressed as females dancing a part of Swan Lake. It's hilarious - at least - to me it is. I understand that not everyone out there is going to understand WHY this is so funny...but trust me. It's hilarious.

Hilarious, no? :o)

The second video that I found is a flash mob in the Copenhagen Metro. I think it would be THE COOLEST thing to experience a flash mob like this. Pure awesome.

Happy Friday everyone! I hope it is a great day for you and leads to the best weekend. :o)

just a few things....

hey guys. remember me? yeah. i've been busy. sue me. I'm always busy. :P but it's the good kind of busy - I'm busy having the TIME OF MY LIFE!!! :o)

anywho. here are just a few things on my mind as of late:

• the boyfriend is awesome. Today we celebrate our one month of officially dating-ness. he is so super fantastic and I am so lucky that he is mine. so, so lucky.

• yesterday i spent the day with the boyfriend and his daughter. It was a great day filled with sunshine and happiness. the only downside was having the day end and both of us driving away from each other until Saturday night. :P

• if you haven't tried out e.l.f cosmetics you totally should. they have GREAT products with AMAZING customer service. just for example: i ordered some product and it shipped and what not, but it was missing an item. i emailed them today, they got back to me the SAME DAY and are shipping out the missing product asap. This makes me REALLY happy. OH and they are now selling select products in Target. awesomeness.

• I'm not going dancing tonight. I have too many things to get done. PLUS Soldier Boy isn't going...and I don't like going when he's not there.

• Blogging for work? It's awesome. I am in love with it. I want to do more of it.

• I am moving in July - but I don't know where to yet. It makes me nervous to not know details to certain variables in my life. sigh.

• oh. if you know of somewhere that is month-to-month renting, with an unfurnished bedroom north of orem and south of sandy available sometime in July please let me know? thank you. :o)

• after looking at my budget and looking at my loans - it has officially been decided that i will be paying off my car loan by the end of October. this is just 2 months shy of the three years that i have owned said car. I'm REALLY excited about this.

• my coworker just asked what we would like without eyelashes. hmm. interesting thought.

• I think I'm going to try out this manicure this weekend. Should be fun times.

and with that...i think i'm going to call it a post. have a great day y'all!

Thursday Thinga-ma-bobs

hey guys.

life is busy. I need to re-balance things out. Kind of like balancing tires on your car? Yup. Need to balance a few things out in my life. I should probably work on that this next week. in said balancing, I need to find time to be posting more again. I miss it. I miss you guys!

let's get this show on the road shall we?

• Soldier Boy aka my boyfriend is the best boyfriend. I love spending time with him.

• Last night had us in the craziest of laughing fits after something that he did. Oh man. I'm giggling to myself just thinking about it. 

• I love being able to laugh with Soldier Boy. It bodes well for us methinks.

• I don't work tomorrow. Huzzah. Seriously. This is good news!

• I have fun plans tomorrow...including finding out if my sister is having a boy or a girl, I can't wait to be an aunt!

• Starting Saturday Soldier Boy has his daughter for a whole week. I'm taking off Wednesday to have crazy fun adventures with the two of them. I'm very much looking forward to it.

• I teach Relief Society on Sunday. My lesson is not prepared. I'm trying to not be nervous about it.

• Because Soldier Boy has his daughter I will see less of him this next week. *sad face*

• I'm going to be moving at the end of the July. I don't know where to yet. Somewhere north probably. It needs to be month-to-month and reasonably priced. Any suggestions?

• I'm running in a 5k on Saturday. I'm hoping for similar results to the one I ran in October.

• I plan on running at least 3 more 5ks this summer. I need one in June. And August. I'm not worried about July or September. I know which ones I'll run then....

• My goal is to have my 5k down to under 30 min by the end of the summer.

• There are only 6 more weeks left to the dance school year. This pleases me more than you probably could ever know.

And that's about it. :o) Life is good. I'm busy - but not too busy (I think) and I'm very much looking forward to the future. I just wish I knew when "things" were going to fall into place. But then, I always wonder that. :P

Until next time peeps....Cheerio!

Favorite Things on A Friday

Dearest Friends.

Is it just me or has this past week felt FOREVER long? I am so grateful that it is finally Friday. Now if the work day will fly by then I will be a happy camper. :o) I'm very much looking forward to date night tonight and then spending the morning (post-rehearsal) and early afternoon with my sweet boyfriend. THEN I'm going to go to the temple tomorrow night. It should be good times.

Before I share a few favorite things with you, I'm sure you have all been waiting with baited breath for the outcome of my doctor's appointment yesterday. First of all, I was there for TWO HOURS. Seriously, longest wait of my life. Sigh. Oh well. The news is: GOOD! there's nothing seriously wrong with my knee. The popping is fairly normal - the grinding I feel behind my knee cap can be helped with a brace that the doctor gave me and he confirmed that my graft/meniscus all look fantastic. So that was good. I'm glad to have gotten it checked out and to have that worry no longer present. :o)

OKAY! Favorite things today!

I have a thing for brownies right now. mmmm...

Truth:

I love life. It's so great.

I think I need to try out this recipe.

this quote. oh man. AMEN.

Finally - a little bit of the Piano Guys awesomeness to kick-start the weekend the right way. :) Enjoy!

Monday Madness

hey kids.

I had the best weekend. Seriously, I wish that I could have just pushed pause on Saturday and stayed there for a very long time.

Soldier Boy, his daughter (suggestions for a 'nym?) and I had the best time up in his hometown. The sun was out, the skies were blue, and we spent a good chunk of time outside. :o) I got a little sunburned, but it was wonderful. We played on the swings, took naps (not intentionally for me), talked, watched a movie or two, rode the three-wheeler (SO MUCH WIN) and ate good food. Soldier Boy's sister and her family came up Saturday evening and that was really nice to see them and stuff. I didn't want to leave Saturday night and come back to O-town...but it was necessary. I had responsibilities to fill. :P

Regardless, this weekend was absolutely lovely. Soldier Boy surprised me last night and we had a great time together. I just love being with him! I can't wait until I can always be with him. :o)

Tonight we're going to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. I am VERY much looking forward to this date night tonight. :o) We're just one step closer to summer fun times and I'm rather excited for summer to be here. Soldier Boy and I are going to have the best time. :o) woot!

Thursday thingies

I'm uber swamped, running on 4 hours of sleep and hoping that I can get everything done that needs to get done. ha. but...here we go.

• I have the best boyfriend ever. We might have stayed up too late last night, but it was because we were having the best conversation. I love talking with him.

• dancing. tonight. be there or be boring.

• i'm hoping all ten members of my company are in class tonight. We only have 8 weeks until the show...we need to get crackin' on choreography!

• we got badges/swipe cards for our new security system at work. I love them. 

• I'm spending time with the boyfriend and his daughter this weekend....I'm REALLY nervous about it.

• Seriously, I'm ridiculously nervous.

• Although Solider Boy did say the sweetest thing when I was telling him about this fear. He said, "Alishka, you have nothing to worry about. Honsetly, [daughter] is not going to remember a time when you weren't a part of her life."

• See? sweetest boyfriend ever. Totally put me at ease.

• BUT it's still a new facet to our relationship. guess we'll see what happens.....

• It's going to be SO SO SO pretty this weekend. I'm stoked to play outside and stuff.

• ALSO my Beckybob is in town AS WE SPEAK and we're playing tomorrow and i am just OH SO EXCITED. Truly. EXCITED!!

that's about it. :o) Have a great weekend!

One week....

I realize today is Tuesday and that usually means that I post a wonderful Tender Mercy Tuesday post about blessings in my life. I do have lots of things to be grateful right now, but honestly I'm still riding cloud 9 as I think about what happened one week ago today.

Speaking of one week, every time I think of that phrase I think of this fun song  by the Barenaked Ladies. Also fun fact: the theme song to my favorite tv show The Big Bang Theory? Sung by the Barenaked Ladies. I knew they were awesome for a reason. ;)

Anyways. I had a great weekend - it was filled with zumba, dinner with friends, and Ballet West with Soldier Boy aka my boyfriend. (I don't think I'll ever get tired of calling him my boyfriend. *grin*) I'll post a recap about that later - I was slightly disappointed with parts of it and wowed with others. :o) In the meantime, I'm enjoying the fact that I'm dating the sweetest guy in the entire world. :o) Have a great tax day folks!

Friday Things....

Hey dearest friends! It's been quite the week over here in Alishka land. I've been so busy and trying to get  things done - it's been crazy! I'm very much looking forward to my weekend and the weeks to come...but for now let me express some of my thoughts that are in my head....

• It's Friday the 13th. EVERY time a Friday the 13th rolls around I can't help but think of that one Friday the 13th in which I tore my MCL.

• being able to call Soldier Boy my boyfriend is the best thing ever.

• I burned my finger curling my hair yesterday. My finger still hurts.

• I love chapstick. It's amazing stuff. I wonder who invented chapstick?

• Thank you Google.... the inventory of chaptstick

• I get to go see Ballet West's performance of Emeralds (and Petit Mort and Paquita) this weekend. I'm ridiculously excited!

• I'm getting very excited for summertime. Soldier Boy and I have lots of fun plans of things we want to do together and with his daughter (hmmm...I might need to give her a 'nym!)

• I don't think I've told you this yet....but my sister is making me an Aunt at the end of September! I'm really excited to be an aunt and have a cute little niece or nephew to spoil. :o) It will be fun times.

• There's a family reunion coming up...in July! I'm excited for that fun times. My family is pretty cool and I'm excited to introduce Soldier Boy to them all.

• I'm trying to decide what to wear to the ballet on Saturday...I'm thinking of a little black dress I have...or my brown skirt w/teal top. We'll see how I feel on Saturday. ;)

• I'm wishing I could go to Disneyland again. Right now. That would be awesome sauce.

• I hate taxes - they are retarded.

• Life is an amazing gift and I feel SO BLESSED right now.

ANYWAYS. I hope all y'all have a great weekend - hopefully this Friday the 13th isn't too crazy for you. ;) 

NEWS!!!

dearest lovelies.....

I have the best of news.

the future boyfriend (Soldier Boy) is now officially my real-life boyfriend!

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything that we were waiting for to go through is signed, sealed and delivered. This makes me so ridionkulously happy!

The story of how I found out is amazing. Are you ready for this?

SO. It's Spring Break round these parts so I only had TWO ballet students in my class and three in my choreography class (out of 5 for both of them) so...we goofed around a bit and whatever. So earlier in the day Soldier Boy had texted me asking when I get out of class so he knew when to expect my call (legit question, although slightly suspicious) and then just as I was getting out of class he texted me and asked for my roommate's phone number. also a little suspicious, but oh well. (btw I never see him on Tuesdays. I don't get done w/teaching until 8:15 putting me at home around 8:30 or so...it's just not worth it right now)

So I'm driving home talking to him and like 5 minutes into our conversation he tells me he has to go, but he'll call me right back. Within 5 minutes he does. we're talking and whatever and I'm walking up the stairs and as I get to my apt door, there's a HUGE bouquet of flowers (see pic below) and I'm all "someone left me (i think?) flowers..." and Soldier Boy doesn't say a WORD. then...as I'm opening the door, he hangs up and there he is walking towards me. He grabs my face....and kisses me. and I kiss him back. and drop like half the things in my arms (not the flowers) and then I pull away and say "it's all done then? signed, sealed, delivered?" and he said "yup." and then we proceeded to make out like rabbits. Okay, maybe not that bad....but there was a lot of kissing. and then he told me he wanted to take his girlfriend out to dinner so I quickly changed out of my teaching clothes and we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and I couldn't stop looking at him. I mean, kissing him before for that one week was good and all....but this. THIS was amazingly better because now there's all these feelings we've developed through real conversations.

So there you go. I am officially off the market (probably for the rest of my life) and I couldn't be happier.

the beautiful flowers my BOYFRIEND gave me last night. SO PRETTY!!!

craziness

Hi guys. So....I started a post on Friday, but then I didn't ever get around to finishing it and posting it. Then I stayed away from the internets (for the most part) this weekend. See...it was show weekend. That meant I spent all afternoon/evening Friday and Saturday at the Covey Center for the Arts. It was fun and exhausting all in one. Also - I realize I didn't finish the 10-day challenge. My life blew up with the show (some crazy stuff hit the fan late Thursday) and I really couldn't think of something to do PLUS the one thing I did think of possibly doing, I couldn't do because I wasn't allowed to wear jeans to work on Friday due to the board of directors meeting that happened. Oh well. C'est la vie.

The silver lining though to this weekend was that Solider Boy stuck around on Friday. We went to lunch together and then he came and suppported me and my ballet company at the performance that night. It was SO NICE to have him with me. We followed up the show with dinner w/a good friend of mine and then went back to my place to talk and just chill. He ended up staying another (unplanned, but still good) night in UT county and we got to spend a bit of time together Saturday morning before he left on his week long trip to California. sigh. I miss him.

Also, I've realized that I haven't really blogged about a lot of what happened last weekend (the 28/29 of January) or what not...and I'm pretty sure I don't want to go into all of the details about it all. It's a VERY long story and pretty personal, but the jist of it is this: we're not really dating right now and we're going to be that way for a little while. It's a complicated mess, but Solider Boy is my future boyfriend. One of my friends described it as us being "engaged to be in a relationship." We don't have a timeline for when we will be officially dating, but in the meantime we are good friends strengthening our friendship. We hang out and talk to each other because we both need that support. I honestly really like where we are in our relationship and I'm so grateful for this time to learn more about him and grow closer together without all the other emotional/physical aspects of a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship getting in the way. We both really like each other and we're excited to see where things go, when they can go. So...Soldier Boy isn't disappearing completely, I just don't get to kiss him or hold his hand right now. :'(

Anywho...there's the reader's digest version of where things are for us right now. :o) Have a great Monday y'all!

Day 1

So...some of you might remember the 21-Day Fashion challenge that I participated in back in late August.

Well, the wonderful April is hosting a Winter Edition that is only 10-days long! I'm really excited about this because I have been getting bored of my closet, but I have a hard time doing something like this challenge on my own. (I know, I should be better and try to do it....but it's just HARD!)

So, today is Day 1: Layers.

So, I went with my white sheer blouse (Kohl's) from the last challenge (it was my mix-in item) with a white DownEast shirt underneath, my brown jean jacket (shopko? who knows, I got it in high school) with my skinny jeans (target) and my awesome brown boots (shoe carnival).  I really like this outfit. I hardly ever wear this jacket. It is a tad on the small side - I don't think I could button it up if I wanted to, and it's very, very stiff which makes it hard to wear.

Hope you all have a fantastic Monday!

p.s. I had a wonderful weekend and time spent with this new boy toy of mine...I'm working on his 'nym and then he'll probably get a Dating Battles post. ;) Have a lovely Monday!

A day late and a dollar short......or something like that

I had EVERY intention of posting Thursday Things yesterday. I'm not exactly sure what happened.

Wait. I lied. I had a 2-hr company meeting + a 30 minute department meeting followed by a TON of data entry that HAD to get done yesterday. So....yeah. That's what happened.

But here we are. Friday. Things. And boy, do I have things for you.

• Blue Tango last night rocked my socks. It rocked last week too....it's just been good times all the way around lately at the Blue Tango. Love it.

• I kissed a boy. And I liked it.

• This boy does not have a 'nym yet. He's new. But he's not getting a 'nym until I figure out what's going on. I don't think it will be 100% a NCMO...but it might lean a little towards the fling side of things. And you know what? I'm okay with that and you should be too. In other words, I'm not suddenly in a relationship again. I'm just having fun with one of my friends...with benefits

• He's a lot of fun.

• And a really good kisser.

• It's movie night tonight. Despicable Me. LOVE THAT MOVIE. hopefully I'm not too tired that I die watching it.

• tomorrow is a Zumba day. YAY!

• I am also working overtime to paint a new addition to our office space. That's exciting stuff.

• THEN i'm going dress shopping with Sister B. I'm super excited and very hopeful that I'll find something adorable.

• My Broadway station on Pandora is hitting the spot 100% today. Love it.

Basically, life is fun. I'm having a blast and it's great times. 

Confuzzled

You guys, I am very confuzzled.

This is going to be a post with lots of thoughts that might be incomplete. You might not know the whole story behind all my thoughts. I'm sorry if that's the case, but I feel the need to share with SOMEONE what is going on and I need to get this written out because maybe it will make more sense. Maybe. I make no guarantees. Also, you can feel welcome to post any advice, but don't feel offended if I disregard it entirely. Remember, you might not know the whole story.

Okay, that being said.....

I like Monkey Man. I really do, but I just don't know if I feel anything deeper. I thought I did, I really did. But then....I don't know it's like someone pushed a button and now I'm not really sure I feel that way. Maybe it's because the thrill has worn off a little bit. Maybe it's because I was super duper emotional all last week, plus I had a slew of extra hormones and the stress of a wedding, my teaching job giving me some grief and teaching relief society weighing heavily on my mind.

This past week there have been more times when I have felt impatient and frustrated with Monkey Man then at any other time in our relationship, but the thing is - we haven't been dating for a super long time. 2.5 months. Which compared to my relationship with SwingKid is like a drop in the bucket. Not that I plan on dating someone for a bazillion years before marrying them....but 2.5 months is not a long time. I know that I don't know everything about him and I realized that in the past few days. We treat different situations VERY differently. We have different thought processes on how certain things should work. It's not on anything that is a deal-breaker for me....but how many of those differences can one have before they equal a deal-breaker?

Before you ask, no I haven't talked to Monkey Man about this. For two reasons 1) I'm still not sure what all of my hang-ups are - I just know they are there and that they seem to be really really big. But that just might be my imagination and 2) I'm nervous that it's going to mean breaking up (or something maybe not! but i just don't know) and doing THAT scares me. Monkey Man is the sweetest guy in the whole wide world and I don't want to hurt him. (Plus I've never had to really break up with someone before. I suck at it.) We get along really well...it's just...I'm not sure if he's someone that I want to be with for forever. He's going out of town in two weeks for a weekend and I think that's going to be really good for me. (even though I just was away from him for 9 days for Christmas...it just....was different then. something changed. Seriously, some elf pushed a button.)

I don't even know what I'm asking, or if I'm asking anything. This is one of those battles in love that bugs me. I just don't know what to do, but right now NOTHING feels right. There's a small part of me that wouldn't mind going on dates with other people right now....and I don't know if that's just because I'm confuzzled and I want to run away from the situation - or if it's a sign that it might be time to move one from this phase of my life. The thing is....I know that if I say anything or suggest even the slightest thing is going to completely blindside this poor, sweet boy. sigh. Any wise words my friends? I certainly could use them.

Friday Things!

Hello my dearest Internet friends! I apologize that it's been several days since I last posted, but with spending a whole day on a plane/in an airport and then enjoying the lack of responsibility that I have right now, I just haven't felt like posting! However, I thought on today, this being Christmas Adam and all, I would leave you with a few things..... :o)

• Being with my family is awesome. I haven't seen them since my sister's wedding in June and it's great to be able to spend time with them.

• I am starting to catch up on sleep and it is wonderful. I really love not having to wake up to an alarm clock every day. :o)

• Having the Brother-in-law around is...different. It definitely makes things more interesting. Not bad, just interesting. 

• I am intrigued to see what happens when there is more than one significant other around here. That will be fun times.

• I wonder what the coming year will bring. While I had a year full of growth and flourishing - it still feels like I did a lot of the same old same old. I guess that's an adult life for ya....but I still wonder what next year will be like. I'm excited for it to come so I can see. :o)

• I miss Monkey Man like crazy. When we said goodnight/goodbye on Tuesday night (really early Wednesday morning) I thought that the next 8 days were going to go by SO SLOWLY. But then we were talking last night and I realized just how quickly my vacation was going to come to an end. I think it helps that I'll still have a holiday and a few days before having to go back to real life once I'm back in Utah.

• Monkey Man got me a great Christmas present: a really pretty brown infinity scarf + black hand warmer things. (like fingerless gloves without the finger parts) He did a great job for the first gift giving-ness in our relationship. ;)

• I haven't been to the gym since Monday evening...but I'm going later this afternoon AND I am going running with my dad tomorrow morning. So that's good.

• Virginia is not that cold right now. In fact, when I stepped off the plane it was balmy 63 degrees. I love it. The house is a little cooler than that - it's the way the house was built, but the fact is there is NO snow, NO ice, and NO need for crazy amounts of layers. I am totally okay with this this year. In fact, I prayed for it. ;)

Basically, I am really enjoying my time off and my first real vacation in a LONG, LONG time. I don't really count the week I took off for my sister's wedding or any of the times I took off for other reasons and had a "staycation" as vacation. This is my first REAL vacation in a year and boy, do I deserve it! I hope you all have the best Christmas weekend ever! I'll be in touch...eventually. ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!