*~*Day 26*~*

A photo of somewhere I've been...

I don't have any of the photos from when I went, but I found some good ones online:

Carlsbad Caverns is probably the coolest place I've been. I contemplated putting this as my travel story, but I think it works better for this one. We took this vacation so long ago, I was probably 12 or 13, so probably 10 years ago, and I still carry the memories with me. With Carlsbad Caverns you get to walk through the bat caves and look at the stalagmites and stalactites. I remember we had a tape player that you could listen to while you walked through and it explained all the cool details of the caves and I remember I had it on so I could tell everyone about what I was hearing. I was kind of proud of having that and kind of being the faux trail guide person. Those caves are the coolest things ever, it's a must see for any family vacation. You even get to wait outside of the caves at night and watch the bats come out, I never knew (before this trip at least) that bats came out in swirls, like they circle as they swarm out.

While on that trip we also rode a train from there to New Mexico and I remember we went to the best Mexican restaurant that was amazing; and we also went to this sweet shop that had fudge, I remember that part too. It was an amazing trip! I definitely would recommend this for a cool family vacation.

Until Day 27...

*~*Day 25*~*

What's in my purse, this kind of goes along the lines of what I won't leave the house without, but only because it shows how much of a control freak I am.

The Basic contents of my purse (meaning I check for them before I leave the house):

• Wallet
• Phone
• Car keys
• IPod
• Gum
• Pens for my planner
• Work keys

The extras of my purse (meaning I don't check for them but I hate when I realize I don't have one):

• Hair ties
• Mini brush
• Other pens
• Body spray
• Ibuprofen and Tums
• Manicure kit
• Chapstick

Has anyone ever seen The Wedding Planner? You know when they accidentally break the statue and Jennifer Lopez pulls out glue and nail polish remover and Matthew McConaughey asks her what else she carries with her in her purse and she responds with "My life"? That is me to a T. I can't tell you how many times someone has asked if anyone has something like a nail file or medicine for a headache or if I've ever needed a hair tie in the middle of the day, it's just got so much useful stuff in it. It may sound weird that I have so much, and it does end up turning my purse into a black hole, but I always seem to have a need for everything in it. Although I will say I do not carry glue or nail polish remover, guess it's just not an every day need for me :)
I think the only semi-weird part of my purse habit is when I go shopping for a new one, it has to have a lot of pockets or zippers and I have to be able to figure out where all this stuff will go, but that's all I find weird about it. I will say this also hinders me from carrying around a different purse each day, I know a few girls who change their purse with their outfit and I just can't do that because I'd inevitably end up forgetting something I really need so I usually have to pick a purse that will last a while and go with anything.

That's my purse, until Day 26...

*~*Day 24*~*

A photo of something that means a lot to me, I've had this one picked out since the beginning so I'm excited to share it now...

Excuse my hair in this one, but this picture pretty much represents me in a way. This is me with my grandparents on one of my birthdays, I think 18 but I could be wrong. I'm such a family oriented person, I can't begin to explain how much my family means to me! But you'll need a bit of a back story to see why this is so important...

My mom was 17 when she had me, my dad left before I was born so I didn't really have him around, since my mom was so young we obviously lived with my grandparents, I have two aunts that were younger than my mom so we lived with them too. I was practically raised by this whole gang of people. My grandpa was the father figure in my life, my aunts were like sisters, and my grandma was a typical grandma. My aunts would always do my hair, especially for picture day, and sometimes, if I was lucky, they'd take me to the mall with them. I'd get to have sleepovers and watch MadTV with them. We even had our little nicknames and games with each other (my favorite has to be our "guppy guppy". I was a HUGE Little Mermaid Fan and so my aunt Cindy would come up to me and we'd pinch each others cheeks and say guppy guppy. I get to pass that on to her kids now!). I love my family with everything in me and know I would definitely not be even 1/10th of the person I am today without them and their influence. They taught me so much, gave me so much responsibility, and really helped me in times of need.

Now my grandpa, can I just say EVERYONE should of had a grandpa like mine! He is the perfect guy! I'm not saying that because he was mine, he really was. No one will ever be able to replace him in my life, and no one could come close to being the guy he was in my life. I was his first grandchild so him and I had a really special bond growing up. I have so many memories of him and me spending time together. He was my Papa, the greatest one that ever lived. He was great with babies, great with teenagers, great with everyone. I have to say he is the biggest reason for any decision I made. I love the rest of my family, but growing up I always wanted to make sure I had his approval. He earned your respect just by being him, he didn't have to do anything to do it, you just knew he was great. He was also funny, he loved making people laugh!

It's heartbreaking to talk about, even to this day, but he ended up passing away on Halloween back in '08. I will never forget that day because I dreaded it for my whole life. He was the hardest person to say goodbye to, he meant so much to us all, but his and my bond, that's the hardest thing to not have around anymore. I know he'll always be there and I always will remember him and make sure to do things he'd approve of, but there really was a drastic change when he passed. I still hate celebrating Halloween sometimes, but sometimes I want to in his spirit. I love him so much and miss him terribly every single day, it still brings tears to my eyes to think about it. My favorite part of his funeral, however, was people had showed up who knew him when they lived next to him when he was a child! Can you imagine knowing someone so long ago and still they made such an impression on you that you show up to their funeral? I can honestly say no one had ever made such an impression on me when I was younger. When I saw that it inspired me to try and be that same kind of person. Some days I don't achieve it, unfortunately, but it is someone I ultimately would like to be in other's lives.

So that's why this is so important to me, when he was in the hospital a nurse saw this picture and said you can see how close I was to him with my head leaned into his like that. She said it really showed our bond. It's true, he really meant a lot to me and showed me love and how important family is in life. I'll love him forever for the lessons he taught and hope to pass on to my children in the future.

Until Day 25...

*~*Day 23*~*

A travel story, oh boy, I have quite a few of these, though not as much as I'd like or am willing to stop at! I think one of my favorites was the first or second time I visited Larry in Arizona. You see, before I visited him the first time, we talked a lot about if we got married and I had to move down there to be with him and how I'd be able to do that and how we'd make it work. I loved those conversations but at the same time it was hard to seriously think about it because I'd never been there and I was thinking how I'd stop work and school and leave my family and the biggest thing was how the heck I would get the cats down there without them freaking out. I don't think cats could stand a 16 hour drive without trying to get out of the car somehow.

So one of the times we were talking about this we kinda off hand mentioned me going to visit and I thought, why not? I have vacation time, I really wanted to see him, and a lot of his buddy's wives would go and get to visit everyone, I was the only one who never had, so spur of the moment I decided a time that would work and just drive down, no biggie! Just drive down, how hard could that be? Well after mentioning to my mom and step dad they thought it might be a good idea if my mom went with me because I'd never really driven that far by myself and it was quite a drive to do all alone and they were just kind of worried about me. I thought it might be weird, no way was I okay with us sharing rooms,  I didn't want to have to worry about entertaining my mom. After her agreeing she'd get a separate room, obviously, we put the planning into action.

After looking around for a while, I thought I found the perfect motel, it said it was close to the base, it was pretty cheap, and the pictures and reviews weren't half bad. So I booked it for 2 nights, I only got to visit for a weekend because that's all the time he got off. So my mom and I set off, it was a VERY long drive, I didn't realize 16 hour is such a long time time in a car! We had to stop in Cedar City to sleep on the first night out and got up at like 5 the next morning to start driving again, my mom is used to getting up early, me, yeah, not so much!

After driving, and driving, and seeing some pretty scenery, and more driving, we FINALLY arrived in the city, and we happened to get to a light where we noticed on the right was the entrance to the base, on the left was the hotel, seriously within spitting distance, you could walk to the base from the hotel. Only problem is the base was HUGE so you couldn't really walk too far into the base and not get heatstroke. The motel, well lets say at first site it's a DUMP! the "non smoking" rooms smelled like a combination of smoke and lemon cleaning agent, thanks! The walls were pretty thin, the toilet in my mom's room wouldn't stop randomly running, the locks were half broken (there was also a sign next to the locks saying to lock the door because management doesn't hold responsibility if anyone were to walk into your room...great!). I was really nervous, but honestly didn't care, I got to see Larry after 9 months of just phone calls, it was awesome! We went to go get Larry because he promised us he'd take us to their food hall thing for dinner. Once I saw him I gave him the BIGGEST hug, there is NO greater feeling than seeing someone you love so much after such a long absence! We ended up being turned away from the food building at first because I was showing my shoulders, which apparently is against the rules there and Larry never noticed :/ so we had to go back to the car to get a shirt of Larry's so I could cover my shoulders. The rest of the time we had no problems, but that's because we stayed as far away from the base as we could :)

The whole time we were there we would watch Burn Notice marathons (never heard of it? Go see it now! it's an awesome show!) we'd order pizza, stay in our air conditioned room, eat, nap, tickle each other, and  just talk. Oh my gosh it was amazing! We did nothing but hang out and had absolutely not a single care in the world. I didn't care about work, school, anything back in Utah. Everyone deserves a vacation like this! Even though the motel was a little icky, it was an awesome place to stay, it was so simple and nice for us at the time I loved it! We also took off a night to go out with a couple of his military buddies, it was so awesome seeing Larry with some guy friends, he's such a homebody and content with that lifestyle I never really see him around buddies, but this was a whole new Larry. They were really funny and he's never been sexier, just seeing that personality come out of him like that! Like I said, it was the best trip. I probably wouldn't have come home had it not been for the kitties.

The second time I visited him I decided to fly and rent a car, of course this was before I figured out it was still over an hour long drive from the airport to the motel, and of course I stayed in the same one. This time it was just for his graduation so we didn't get to spend too much time in the room, we had to venture out in the heat. But it was awesome to see his graduation and all the awards he won and feel how proud of him I was. We did the same thing with napping, eating, watching TV, eating, and just hanging out in the room. I loved it, I would never take those times back or change to a nicer motel or anything. I know I've said it a lot, but I just feel I can't express how amazing this time way. You REALLY appreciate each other when you are forced to spend some time apart.

So yeah, up till now that's the best time I've had traveling somewhere and it was for the best reason. Now we're planning on our trips together and I'm very excited to start traveling a lot more :)

So until Day 24...

*~*Day 22*~*

My Favorite Recipe, I think I have a direct one for that, there's one that's always my go-to recipe, although it takes a while to cook so it can't be something spur of the moment or anything, it's THE best if made right. It doesn't really have a name, I just refer to it as the chicken-taco-mix thingy ha ha, everyone just seems to know which one that is. It's one I pretty much know by heart by now too...

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast (this will usually be enough to create leftovers for a family of 4 so you can use more if you have a big crock pot and a ton of mouths to feed)

2 cans chopped tomatoes (I don't remember the size on this one, maybe about 12 ounces? It's the ones that are the size of about 2 cans of soup, maybe a tiny bit bigger) I usually like the roasted garlic ones, or just a flavored one to add even more to the mix.

1 can of Jalapenos (it calls for chilies too, but I'm a baby with spice so I can only handle one or the other, and these are just the tiny cans)

1 package taco seasoning

1 tsp lemon juice

Package of tortilla chips, I strongly recommend the scoops kind, but to each their own and you can use your own favorite kind.

You don't have to add the following, but I love to:

1 can diced olives

Grated cheese

Sour Cream


So you put the chicken in the bottom of a crock pot, in a bowl mix the jalapenos, lemon juice, tomatoes, and taco seasoning. Pour the mixture over the chicken and cook it all day (generally we'll do medium for about 6-8 hours, but this usually varies, just keep an eye on it). Then after it cooks (and this really is the hardest part) you shred the chicken on the bottom of the crock pot. After it's shredded you can scoop some onto a plate, add any additional toppings (generally any that you like on tacos works amazingly with this) and eat with the chips. It's amazing and it makes the house smell so yummy! It's very easy too, I absolutely love crock pot recipes, I usually like to plan meals ahead so if I can use a crock pot so that it's done by the time I get home then it's that much better. Try it next time you just don't know what to have for dinner, it's my absolute favorite!

Until Day 23...

*~*Day 21*~*

My ultimate happiness equation:

(Warm Weather)

+

(Friends episodes)

+

(Jolly Rancher suckers, especially the fruit center ones, completely serious)

=

(Happiness)

I have one, single good memory of going away for the weekends back when I was younger, and that was sitting on the couch, leaving the porch door open so the nice breeze would come in, watching Friends, and eating Jolly Rancher suckers. It was sublime, bliss, just awesome! I would never want to go back to those weekends, but I love every Spring being able to do it all over again. Only problem is Jolly Rancher suckers don't seem to be around anymore. It's probably what I look forward to the most every Spring when I have a day off.

Until Day 22...

*~*Day 20*~*

The meaning behind the name of my blog, this one I struggled with for a bit. The thing is I was reading random blogs of people I knew, and occasionally some I didn't ;) and I saw people having little life adventures and being able to not only create memories, but to be able to keep them forever because of the blog. I was pretty jealous, I'll admit, even if they had silly little blog posts about nothing really important I loved reading their stories and being able to see more into their lives. I thought maybe, just maybe, if I had my own I'd find a reason to have little adventures and get out of the house more. Honestly, I felt my life had become so boring and my nights very lazy that I absolutely wanted more adventure, travel, or just stories in general. I told myself if I really did do a blog I'd have to find something fun to do, not just "sat around watching TV while Larry played games again" sort of stuff, no more! Well, not exactly no more, I just needed to bring in more fun with it. Thus the blog idea was born!

Originally I was thinking it'd be fun to do one about me being in college, so I was going to do a title like just another college girl, but then I realized I hope I'm not in college for the rest of my life so that'd be a temporary URL, and you can't really change urls and have the same blog so I decided to do something else. But, wait, what am I? Who am I? What/Who will I be for, hopefully, the rest of my life? That's a really tough question to answer, and then I realized that I'd like Larry to be included in this blog, even if he doesn't post, I wanted people to see us as we are and to make him have these little adventures with me so he'd have to be included. Alright so how about a girl and a boy? Nope, taken. Okay, so a boy and a girl? Taken. Hmm...this is going to be a little tough. After much looking around I decided on just a girl and her boy, I actually like this a lot better than the other ideas I had and not because I was stuck with it, maybe I am a little more used to it now, but I really just like the simplicity in the name and how it really does describe us. We're not exceptional people, we're just a girl and her boy! Plus he doesn't really post anything, it's all me with sometimes ideas or excerpts from his mind :)

And there you have it, folks, my blog name, I hope it's as clever as I like to believe it is ha ha. So until Day 21...

*~*Day 19*~*

My favorite book is today, and I have to tweak this one a little. You see, picking a favorite book is like picking a favorite movie, it's just too hard when there are so many options, so I'd like to post on my favorite authors and my favorite of their books:

Up first is Emily Giffin, She is an amazing author. I love her story lines in the books. They don't always seem to be happy ones, but she makes them end beautifully, in my opinion. My favorite of hers has to be "Something Borrowed" and "Something Blue" they are both the same series, in fact Something Borrowed is going to be a movie coming out this May

They are both about a lady who has an affair with her friend's fiance and has to deal with the feelings she develops and how to choose between love and friendship. It also continues on with the friend and how she deals with the friend and fiance relationship. Don't worry it all ends really well. Definitely worth reading through at least once!

  

 Next up is Susan Andersen, now her books are a bit more...detailed we'll say, but she has gotten me hooked on romance stories, make fun all you want, but I love them and it's all because of these two books (Be My Baby and Baby I'm Yours), which I don't believe are a series, but they both got me hooked.

I won't go into what they are about, but I like

them. I probably wouldn't really recommend them because only people who really like the romance genre might actually like them and not a lot of people will admit they like those kinds of books.

  

Third is Christie Ridgeway. She's like Susan Andersen, another romance writer, another "detailed" one and another one that got me hooked really fast! I love her "knitting series," which is just about 3 sisters who live in this little town, I want to say it's in California, but I could be wrong. They are in a knitters club, but they are younger, and apparently they know how to make really pretty things with just knitting. Another author I wouldn't recommend unless you like the genre.

 

 And last, but definitely not least, is Nicholas Sparks (collective groans need not be heard!) I absolutely LOVE his books, the movies definitely don't do the books justice! I can't tell you how mad I was at the supposed acting in "The Last Song." If you saw it and liked it, read the book, it is 20 times better, and that's not even an exaggeration! I would recommend any of his books, but I do have a couple favorites...

The Last Song (movie sucked, but the book was amazing enough to mention twice) which is about a daddy-daughter relationship that starts of rocky and through some pretty unfortunate events becomes strong, but is it too late?

And then there's The Lucky One, which is also going to be a movie coming out in a couple years. I'm so excited, I'm a little nervous about the actors, but I'm going to keep an open mind about it. This one is about a returned soldier who had a picture of a girl he didn't know while overseas and believed it was his lucky charm so he decides to go on a big trip to find this woman when he knows NOTHING about her. It's romantic and awesome! Read it before it comes out.

So those are my favorites, love them all, could read them time and time again. Even made Larry read them and he couldn't complain too much! Hopefully someone found one to pique their interest :)

Until Day 20...

*~*Day 18*~*

My cravings, I have a couple actually (I would include Zupas in this because lately I've been craving it anytime I'm hungry, but I've already done my whole schpill on that). But there are two things that whenever I smell them or know they are around it's all I can think about

Number 1-

Wendy's, that's right, Wendy's. I've yet to taste a burger that was better than this place! I love their cheeseburgers, plus I ALWAYS have to a have a chocolate frosty to dip their fries in. If anyone ever goes here around me, I HAVE to have it then. I don't know what sort of stuff they put in it, but this is the ultimate burger place to me. I haven't actually eaten here in quite a few weeks (I'm doing SO good not eating out right now so it really sucks to post this one) but whenever I do decide to go out next I'd put good money it'd be to here!

And Number 2- 

Pepsi, oh my goodness, how I love Pepsi. Again, I haven't had it in a really long time and I don't drink it often, but if someone has one around me and I can hear the can or bottle open I instantly crave it. I think giving up Pepsi was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I've actually had to do it more than once. What's funny is I now have gotten to the point where if I drink it then it kind of upsets my stomach. I used to have to have Pepsi anytime I ate anything, unless it was breakfast I had a Pepsi with it. Then I started substituting juice and water whenever I wanted it and now I love those.

Those are my cravings, at least as far as food goes. It's been so hard giving both up and I still get the strongest cravings for them every once in a while and sometimes it's really hard to say no to them, but I really feel better about myself when I can :)

So until Day 19...

*~*Day 17*~*

My and my family...

This is probably one of the only pictures of all of us and it was all the way back in Christmas of '08, that's how often we all are in the same spot actually. It goes (clockwise from top left) my brother Andy, step dad Will, stepbrother Shawn, mom, Larry, and my step brother Colby. I love all my family, we're so crazy together. We tease each other a ton, but that's just how we do it. We have affectionate names for each other like Bigfoot (that's theirs for me :-/) but it's what makes us laugh. In fact one time, we went to Lagoon and we were standing in line for a ride and long story short, I was trying to get through one of those spinners that lets you in the line and it wouldn't turn so Shawn called me a retard so I retorted by calling him a jack ass and the ride operator actually said he felt bad for me that he'd call me a retard because he thought I was that used to being called something. Made Shawn feel like a real ass and I laughed real hard because no one knows that's just how we are :) I really do love them all!

Andy right now is in the Philippines in the military for a couple months, then he'll be back to his home base in Hawaii. We're hoping to see him this year, fingers crossed. He drives us crazy, but we miss him terribly!

Shawn lives in Heber, I probably see him once a month, if that, he's crazy, always has a new story. Knows how to make us all laugh. Him and Will together are a double threat, they probably keep us laughing all day.

Colby, he's the biggest gamer you've probably ever met. He's the youngest, but he's funny too. He's planning on joining the military soon, which is good, but it'll suck to say goodbye to another brother, but he's smart, so we know he'll do good wherever he goes.

  

This is my dad's side of the family. I met him when I was 21, probably one of the most exciting moments of my entire moment. So clockwise from left goes Don (dad), Ariel, Tori, DJ, JR, and my step mom (wow, that's a weird word to type, I don't usually call her that) Tracy. Although I've only known them for a few years now, they are awesome! I get along with Tori and Ariel like sisters..get it? ha ha that is SO their kind of humor! Even though they live in Indiana, I talk to them pretty regularly and I really love being able to spend time with them. I usually get to spend vacation time with them every year and they always take me to new exciting places. This year they are coming to Utah and we get to explore more here! The more I get to know them the more exciting it gets. I'm such a family oriented person and growing up I always wondered about his side of the family, last year we did this HUGE family reunion thing for his mom (technically my grandma, another weird one to type) and I got to meet even more family members it really touched me to get to know them and see them all. It really means a lot to me to know these people!

Ariel is almost 18 and will be going to BYU-Idaho, last I heard. She's really excited from what I can tell. She's such an outgoing person! Her and I joke a lot about how klutzy we are, it's a fun topic for us ;)

Tori is 16, she's silly! She'll literally talk to me about everything it seems, we'll just talk about our days at random. She likes to be in plays, she does really well in them too.

DJ is total boy! He's so tough, but he's crazy too. He likes to be silly. I'll see him play with swords, with action figures, pretty much anything he can find is a new toy for him.

Jr is very shy. She is so cute, I believe my first night meeting her she actually read me a book and everyone was so amazed she would open up so fast.

There's still so much more to know about them but I get excited to be able to!

And that's my family! But only the top of the iceberg, I'm really close to my aunts and grandma on my mom's side too, but that'd make for a really long post if I put all that up :)

So until Day 18...

*~*Day 16*~*

Celebrity Crush, AKA easiest post EVER!! Larry isn't going to like this, unless he reads all the way to the end, but ...

RYAN REYNOLDS!Oh my gosh, this guy just can't not look amazing! He is awesome in all that he does, drama, action, comedy (of course!), everything. I'm completely obsessed with him. Larry and I have our "lists"-ya know the one where you pick 5 celebrities you're allowed to be with-and I always joke Larry could have 10 if I can just have Ryan on mine! He's just so cute. When I read he got divorced, obviously a sad situation, but I was thinking Yes! I can think he's hot and obsess some more! Once they are married I usually stop talking about them as much just because it's weird to me. But he's single again so he's back on the list ha ha.  I think the only real movie I saw him in that I didn't particularly care for was Buried (too creepy and upsetting in my opinion) but other than that I've loved everything he's been in and will continue to watch all of his movies.

The great thing about him, he's not all looks. He keeps himself in shape, but it doesn't seem to be his ONLY thing he thinks he has going for him. He ran the NYC Marathon to raise funds for Parkinson's in honor of Michael J Fox, he's caring and giving. He seems genuine and he doesn't look to be afraid to try out new things. He's funny, but he stays away from the funny man typecast also, like he likes to be taken seriously.

Okay, I'm sure we all get it, I really really really like Ryan Reynolds, but you know the one negative to him, he's not Larry. Seems silly I know, but I would never trade Larry in. He's a great guy, my great guy! I also want to make sure he knows this, because I know he gets a bit of a complex when I talk about celebrity crushes :) Love you babe!

So until Day 17...

*~*Day 15*~*

Wow, I'm starting to slack! Sorry, been a hectic week for me. Onto the day...

Something I don't leave the house without, well there are a few things.

1. My phone, I hate leaving the house without my phone. Not because I'm a phone freak and NEED to text all day long, although that is kind of important, but more or less it's just something like my right hand, I could be surrounded by clocks all day long, but until I look at my phone I have no real idea of the time. I love that everyone I know, or want to know I guess, is in my phone, I don't remember numbers because of the contact list, yes I'm one of those people. I also like to be able to text since work gets pretty slow and it can be my only means of communication in a whole day. I also don't like the thought that if I were to get in a bad accident I'd have no way to contact the important people to help me. It's a scary thought, so I strongly prefer to make sure I don't leave the house without this.

2. My planner. Oh my gosh, I LOVE this thing, I'm a total freak, if it's not written down in my planner I'm completely lost. Yes, all those pens coordinate to an activity or something in my life. It goes a little like this:

• Green=Money in (I hardly ever use this, except for payday)
• Black=Personal appointments, reminders, etc.
• Red=Money out (used A LOT!)
• Purple=Work activities, schedule, etc.
• Blue=School activities, schedule, etc.

I know this makes me even more of a control freak, if not a nerd/geek/dork/what have you, but this is my life. If I didn't have a planner I would be completely chaotic and probably no fun to be around, really!

3. A book, really any book, I just happen to be reading this one at the moment (part of the Daemon series, I posted about on Day 1). I always need to have something in case I end up doing something all by myself for a really long, boring amount of time. Yes my incredible new phone has some games on it, but I enjoy reading and it makes time pass a lot faster than games! I think any day I'd take reading over games.

Generally if you don't see me with these things my mind is wondering where they are, how I am doing without them, or what I could be writing in my planner, honestly. I also don't like to leave without my purse, but on occasion I will just bring an ID and debit card for emergencies so I didn't put it on here.

So until Day 16...

*~*Day 14*~*

My TV show addictions huh. Well I don't currently have a working TV so any shows I watch or know of are strictly "Through the grapevine" but the ones I NEVER miss are...

1st up, Teen Mom 2, Really I love 16 and Pregnant and I loved Teen Mom 1, but now it's the 2nd one, and when 16 and Pregnant starts up again it will replace this one, they always switch them back and forth. I won't ever miss an episode of these shows, it may seem stupid, but I love watching these people raise their kids and see them become moms, and sometimes a dad if the guy is involved Overall,. I think my favorite mom was Maci, she was very level headed with her decisions.

2nd is Biggest Loser, I LOVE watching everyone transform themselves on this show.  I don't always watch every season, but when I watch a season I won't miss an episode. I love seeing the before and after parts. It's a very emotional show, but it's inspiring. Just watching it makes me feel a little better about my health.

3rd my Kardashians. I love the whole entire Kardashian series, whether it's the whole family, whether it's Khloe and Kourtney in Miami, or this new one. Plus I see they are coming out with one about Khloe and Lamar EEK! I get a ton of crap for this one, but I think they are a funny family. I don't care that Kim is only famous because of the sex tape, I don't care that they don't really do anything, they are hilarious. The only reason I started watching them is because living with my mom and being back to having cable I started surfing the guide and saw the Khloe and Kourtney take Miami and thought "oh this will be good for a laugh" turns out I was right, but it was a sincere laugh, not a "oh god I hate these people" laugh.


I'm also starting to watch The Bachelor, now that I know the winner it's more fun to watch them when I know who to watch for. I've tried watching Shedding For the Wedding, but it's hard watching two weight loss reality shows when there are different contestants and hosts. I also started the Real World Las Vegas, even I'm ashamed of that one, but sometimes I just need to have a show playing.

Until Day 15...

*~*Day 13*~*

Favorite musician..

So it's kind a toss up between a few here. I have to say first is No Doubt, probably always will be. I've followed their music since The Box was on TV (does anyone remember the box? It was AWESOME and I wish they'd bring it back. If you don't remember or know the box, that sucks, cuz it was amazing!) Anyways, I remember listening to "Ex-Girlfriend" and telling my aunt Cindy how much I liked them and she said she had an old CD of theirs and didn't really care and gave it to me and I've been hooked ever since. I love their energy, I love how cool their shows are, I've been to two of their concerts, mostly because they don't come to Salt Lake very often, I own pretty much every CD of theirs. I think the only thing I hate regarding them is Miz Stefani breaking off to do her own thing and now their are so many more people into her music, but they don't know where she started, they don't know The No Doubt that was. But I'll forever be a faithful fan of theirs

Second up is probably Three Days Grace. I love their music, mostly because I had kinda gotten off music, I was more into movies, and while working at Alert I worked with the biggest music nut, Tierney, who never let me forget how important music can be. I started listening to the radio and heard their "Animal" song and checked their other music out and I LOVED it. They are probably the first and one of the only bands I don't hate a single song of theirs. I prefer some songs to others, but I like every single one of them!



There's a few other musicians I like: Uncle Kracker, Sick Puppies, Theory of a Deadman, Cavo, Adelitas Way, Breaking Benjamin, etc. Mostly just because I can yell them out in the car and it feels good! The two are just my absolute top two, like I'd take a day off work to see them in concert pretty much.

Until Day 14...

*~*Day 12*~*

My favorite family tradition, that'll be kind of a hard one because any family tradition I have in my family is a great one because chances are we will be hanging out together and I'm really close with my family. But I think my favorite one is probably Christmas.

Almost every year for Christmas we wake up and have breakfast at my grandma's, usually scones, bacon, eggs, toast, and probably hash browns with some juice. We usually open gifts there, then Larry and I go to my mom's to open gifts and stay there and talk about anything and everything. Then we head home to get ready to go to the Bradsby home out in Clearfield. I think my favorite part of this tradition is Larry and I have gone to their house at least 4 (4th of July, 24th of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) times a year for 5 years now and we ALWAYS get lost on our way. We usually end up staying there till midnight and then head home to open our gifts and then pass out from all the excitement of the day.

We usually do something similar for Thanksgiving, without the gift giving and instead of a breakfast and a dinner we usually do two dinners, one at my grandparents and one at his. Oh and we ALWAYS play poker at the Bradsby's which makes it so much fun because we're always loud and laughing and just having a good time.

Although my family does know how to make things fun, holidays have been twice as much fun since I started going with Larry to his family's house!

*~*Day 11*~*

My least favorite chore around the house...

Okay, I really like to be in a clean house, but sometimes I just don't feel like cleaning at all, I try and save it for the weekends, but when I've skipped a weekend and then the next weekend there's twice as much it's not really fun to do. I think there are things about every house chore I hate doing, but I think my very top one would be vacuuming. I like vacuuming small areas, but our living room is pretty big, it's like two rooms put together so to vacuum that takes a lot of time and maneuvering of big objects! Plus I know if I vacuum I have to take a shower afterward because it builds a bit of a sweat, whereas if I just clean the bathroom or dust or Windex I'm usually good to go out afterwards like a normal person, but if I vacuum I know I'll be kept inside for a while so I better hope nothing comes up once I start!

I'm also not a huge fan of cleaning our shower, it's just a shower, no tub, but it sucks to clean the bottom and it hurts my legs to be crouched down so low for a while, so that'd be a close second disliked chore. Followed by dishes, that one is just too time consuming!

Other than that I like cleaning :) I don't have any pictures for this post, but I'm sure anyone can use their imagination for it.

Until Day 12...

*~*Day 10*~*

Favorite place to eat

Zupas!!! Oh my gosh, if you haven't ever eaten here, you MUST!! It's fantastic. I was introduced to this place at work and I don't think I've ever liked something this instantly since my aunt Cindy took me to Training Table in, like, Junior High! This is a soup, salad, sandwich place but you feel so good when you eat there! My favorite thing to order is the California Turkey with the Wild Mushroom Bisque, you can dip your sandwich into the soup and it's SO delicious! Plus you get a piece of bread when you order soup AND you get a chocolate covered strawberry no matter what. It's the best! I VERY strongly recommend this place to anyone out there. I could probably eat here everyday and not get sick of it :)

Here's a link to their site, check out there menu:

Zupas

Until Day 11...

*~*Day 9*~*

My most recent purchase...

Ta-da! My new phone, the EVO from Sprint. So a while back my mom mentioned she was thinking of switching from Verizon to Sprint and getting a phone with apps. Right off I thought she was crazy, leave Verizon? They have the best coverage! Plus an app phone? I've seen many people turn into what I call "app zombies" because all they do is look at their phone, you could be talking very loudly about them and they'd be none the wiser, add to that I wasn't sure my mom was an "app phone" person, I thought she liked things simple, I didn't think she'd actually get one. Well we went to a Sprint store that Saturday (which was last Saturday) and we talked to one of the reps about the good things:

• With Sprint you get m2m with everything and EVERY network, so really you only have to worry about calls to businesses or homes for it to count against your minutes.
• To get a smart phone with unlimited data, text, and 450 minutes it would be $15 cheaper than my plan with Verizon that only had unlimited text, VZ Nav and 450 minutes with no data or anything
• The two networks now shared towers so they'd get about the same coverage!
• I could use my old chargers for the new phone even though my old phone was just a standard flip phone!
• I also get a 15% discount for working at the credit union, how? I have no idea, they just told me I did and I didn't argue
• Add to ALL that you get a $150 rebate (I think it was that much) AND $125 towards  your account when you bring your number to Sprint.

I was pretty tempted, I can't lie. So we made plans to go over last night and I was just going to get more information, my VZ contract wasn't up till the 21st so I was just looking. Well after seeing my mom get this cool phone (she got the full touch screen while I got the slide out keyboard one) I was even more tempted and had to go through how I could make this work. I called Verizon to find out what my cancellation charge would be after giving them some story about how I lost my job and was looking at cutting back on expenses (hey, I wasn't going to actually tell them I was leaving them for a better phone!) and found out it was a reasonable amount and voila! 45 minutes later I have a new phone, new plan, and a whole lotta fun :)

Now I just have to get a cover and possible 3rd charger (apparently I use it enough to drain the battery at work) and I should be all set! I will admit touch screens make me nervous, they just always seem to be on the fritz, but I'm willing to give it another go and keep my fingers crossed I don't break it too much!

Until Day 10...

*~*Day 8*~*

So today is my "song that matches your mood/day" day, I chose given up by Linkin Park (although this is the first time I've ever heard this song) because today was just one blow after another it seemed so I just have given up.



For one, we were supposed to have a free lunch at work, Cheesecake Factory WITH a piece of cheesecake with our mean-yum yum, so I didn't bring a lunch, obviously, and then I found out that it was pushed to Friday actually so I had to go out to eat which I didn't want to do because I have been trying to save my money and not go out as much and it's a slippery slope, you go out once and you just make excuses to go out again. Luckily Kasey and I ended up deciding we wanted Zupas so it wasn't too bad, just could've been better.

Second, I realized today at one point that I forgot to do another assignment for my online English (this would make 4!) and so I logged on to see if I could hurry and do it and realized that the one I was thinking of was actually due Monday and then I had another assignment due yesterday (I'm now up to 5 missed assignments-how am I EVER going to pass this English class). I would like to point out I've done several online classes and have never had this much trouble, I'm not sure if it's just I want this semester to be over with and was looking forward to taking those new classes or what, but I seem to be struggling this time. I did email my instructor tonight so hopefully he'll throw me a bone (I just asked that he give me a way to do extra credit and help me get my grade up since I'm sure it's really low right now). Fingers crossed!

Third, I was helping a member at the credit union today and after helping her do everything (which required overrides I didn't have) I had to void EVERYTHING out and re-do it, which was a pain. Then after I scanned my checks in I saw one of their checks wasn't signed and so I had to void it out again, and that just caused so many problems. Just UGH!!!

My good part of the day though: My new Evo phone! Omg this phone is SO cool, but more about that in another post!

So until Day 9 (hopefully it's much better than today!)...

*~*Day 7*~*

The dream wedding post...So I don't want to really give anything away, since Larry and I talk about this quite often, but really my dream wedding would be a no stress, beautiful, island, and, might I add, cheap wedding ha ha. I would LOVE to be married on the beach, but I know that could never happen for 1) cheap and 2) have everyone I'd want to come be able to afford something like that! (and a secret 3rd reason: I wouldn't want to get any wedding dress dirty from the sand :/ )

I love the blue of the ocean in these pictures, and the sunset in the other picture is just gorgeous!

Another option I like is to have a Tuscan-type themed wedding, this is a bit more doable in Utah, but we'll see how affordable that actually is. I can't find any good pictures to show what I see in my head for this, so guess you'll have to use your imagination :)

Because Larry and I have talked about what we want I pretty much know a lot of what I'd like to do and have a good picture in my head of what it'd look like, but that's for me to know and anyone out there to find out...one day. I'll tell ya now though, whenever we get married (and I do mean whenever at this point) it'll be a small wedding, I don't like the idea of a huge fancy, "blow your money on one day instead of a future together" sort of wedding, that we can agree on more than anything!

So until Day 8...

*~*Day 6*~*

An animal I'd like to keep as a pet, another easy one. As much as I LOVE my cats and would love to have a dog, I'm assuming this is meaning something that may not be seen as a normal pet and mine would have to be a...

Bear! I absolutely love these animals. I always have. There's something that's adorably scary about them. I understand when you see them they can do a ton of damage, but really I'd love to see them in their natural habitat just to see them when they know no one is looking. I know that's pretty much impossible without risking my life, but they are awesome. Plus they are so territorial, I love that they are known for not messing with, especially the mama's with their cubs. People always compare themselves to "mama bear" so they are known to be protective of their own. I really don't know how it started that I liked these animals, probably a trip to the zoo or something, but that's my idea of a cool pet, no one would rob you or break into your house if you had a bear on the premises...just saying :)

My favorite bear encounter in my life, so far, was a family trip to Yellowstone, I didn't take any pictures from it, but I do have a boring 2 minute long video. When we went we stayed near this bear and wolf exhibit thing and it had live bears and wolves and originally we were told we could hide food for the bears and then the people bring the bears out and let them look for it, but turned out only little kids could do it and the times they did it weren't convenient for us, so we never really saw that, but when we went to watch them I found I could watch them for hours and not get bored. Plus every morning we woke up to the wolves howling and waking us up, there's no prettier sound to wake up to in this world, I feel. It was amazing!

I found some more cute pictures online of some others, tell me you don't find them a little cute, like you'd want to hug them! ha ha...

cutest little cub!

(my kitties sometime do this while we're sleeping so I had to add it)

Their backs are so strong, their paws so big, their fur..not so soft as I found out at Yellowstone, but still so pretty!

So yeah, a bear, that's my pet of choice if I could choose. Until Day 7...

*~*Day 5*~*

My OCD...

...Oh won't this be easy :) I'm completely obsessed with alphabetizing and numerical ordering of things. I have to have my DVDs in alphabetical order, I have to have my books in a height order and then alphabetized by author and then by title. My stepdad used to come into my room, back when I lived them, and reorder my movies because he wanted me to catch it and freak out and have to fix it. Now the only real problem this presents me is when we buy new DVDs and I have to rearrange my whole shelf to make room for them.

I also have to have volumes, like on TVs or radios, set to (get ready for this) even numbers, or anything divisible by 5, but it can't be a 4 or 6 number because that's too close to 5. So for example it has to be 2, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20... and so on, there is a real pattern there if you choose to see it. I used to be so completely consumed with this that even when I was in friend's or a family member's car I had to have them change it too. Everyone thought it was funny to mess with me on this and I eventually got past having to have other's set theirs to this so now it's just my personal volumes, but it's still there in my head to always bother me ha ha.

 What's more, I have to have things organized as well. I always carry my planner around with me so I can have something to write plans down in or make sure I could check it in case someone asked me to do something with them and I needed to remember. It also helps me make lists for things to get done during the weekend. If I don't carry my planner around I usually feel lost and confused.

We have a joke in my family that I don't have OCD I have CDO, which is OCD in alphabetical order, the way it should be ha ha. I think a lot of these have to do with my inner control-freak issues, but they keep me calm and not nearly as neurotic as I could be if I didn't do these. I'm sure it seems like a terrible way to live to an outsider, but to me it's life and it actually keeps me happy :)

So until Day 6...

*~*Day 4*~*

Pic of you and your friends:

Let me start by saying I'm kinda weird when it comes to the term "friend" I have TONS of boundaries and walls I put up with friends, so there are some people out there I'd secretly call my friends, but until we actually did something outside of our norm I don't usually say friend to their face (it's a friendly fear of rejection thing...like I said I'm weird). But onto the rest...

I'll start with my oldest friend, Jasmine. I hope she doesn't mind her picture here. I've known her since like birth. I have absolutely no recollection of how we met, or when, or how we became friends, but she's always been around even when we stopped seeing each other after 6th grade. I would definitely not be who I am today had it not been for this friendship!

And now onto my closest friend, Stacey. We've known each other since 7th grade and I can attribute our friendship to her asking me to sit with her at lunch one day when another friend of mine, the ONLY other girl I really knew in school, missed a day and I was all alone. Me and her have been through pretty much EVERYTHING together. She's now married and pregnant and I'm so excited to see her get everything she wished for!

My Alert girls! I love going out with these girls. They definitely know a good time and how to make me laugh when I'm really mad. Even though the job wasn't always the funnest I'm so glad I met these girls! It's me, Jaynon, and Tierney in the picture. Jaynon will be leaving to Italy with her husband next month (as sad and extremely jealous I am, I'm also really happy for her). Tierney is just the best ever, especially when you just wanna punch someone ha ha. She's awesome!

My craziest friend, Lee. Have to mention him as he is currently the only one who comments on the blog and he's just so funny. Everyone needs a friend like Lee!! I stole this picture from his Facebook page so hopefully he REALLY doesn't mind!

And last, but certainly not least, is Larry! Love of my life. The guy with which I share EVERY LITTLE detail. He's probably not so excited about that, but he puts up with it ha ha. This is THE one who has changed my life the most. He's the whole reason I'm not nearly as shy as I used to be. We've had a few bumps along the way, but I know, and will always know, he will be with me at the end of the day. He's seen me in my worst of times, and I'd like to think best of times as well, but who knows if they were the absolute best :) He's probably the smartest guy I know, even when I'm rolling my eyes at his crazy new ideas! Love you babe!





I'd also like to make honorable mentions to Traci from school, she doesn't read this or anything, but she's helped me a lot in my math class and I really have enjoyed getting to know her so far! 

Until Day 5...