Mom, don't let the little girls see this post.

David has been studying non-stop for the past couple of weeks. Meaning: my evenings have been very very open. I don't know what I did for most of the nights (clearly something very unproductive), but here is what I have accomplished in the past 3 days:

 This was actually pretty easy to make. Except one part that frustrated me. 

The real one is from anthropologie, the tutorial I used is from a girl in my ward who is AMAZINGLY talented. I wish I was creative like her.

(Mine only cost $2. not $48. That's a happy feeling right there!)

 I'm sending these skirts home to Anna and Emma. They pretty much guaranteed me today that they will like whatever surprises I send them. Although, Emma did say if I told her what it was, she could tell me for sure if she would like it. Good try. 

I made two of these but they are identical, so only one got a picture.

I even had a certain someone model for me. 

He is a good sport for letting me put him on the blog like this. I'm thisclose to posting it as his profile picture on FB, especially since he never gets on. 

SHABBY APPLE.

Shabby Apple is doing a giveaway for a dress from their Roamin' Holiday line!!!
I've been drooling over how much I want one!

If I win, I would get one of these:

So elegant, classy, and still modest. Everything a girl could want.
If I didn't have to think on a budget, I'd probably get them all.
Actually, I'd get the whole store and then live in their clothes. Oh, if only...... :)

Maybe

If I had $125 lying around the house, I would get this. And if I had even more money, I'd get one in every color.

I got the unlimited pass to 7 Peaks for this summer, so you can be sure I would wear these ALL the time.

Vegas: How I had too much fun to even take pictures.

We have SO many pictures like this.

I had a BLAST. Evident by my lack of pictures.

Our hotel ended up working out great. And I think even though the lack of a clean room and the lack of a correct booking and no pool, we would go back and stay there again. And they had valet. We were close to the basketball arena and since LV does such a good job of free parking (! - seriously, we were so surprised)

Cosmopolitan. It's cooler in real life.

Here is what I remember and there are parts of the trip I just can't remember what we did. (sad, I know. Too much fun, I guess...): 
Bowling (for which we were carded at 11:45 at night. what?)
50 piece mcnuggets. cash only. awesome.
mgm grand
ny ny
luxor
tram
excaliber
lunch--- somewhere? why can't I remember this?  OOOH, at a buffet. 
watching jimmer score 52 in a room of NM fans because we couldn't get in.
m&m world
bellagio/fountains
outlets - "welcome to ah-dee-daaas"
cosmopolitan!
caesar's
italian hot chocolate - basically a melted candy bar. YUM.
grimaldi's
h&m
mirage
fountains

serendipity

the venetian

having so much fun that everything anyone says is hilarious.

My favorites? Caesar's Palace, the Bellagio fountains (seriously, I think I could sit there all night and watch them) and, of course, Grimaldi's. 
And laughing so hard the whole time.



I think I need another vacation.
SOON.

Well, my friends. You are wonderful!

I went running again. I took my charmin garmin with me (After I played around with it this morning figuring out the different settings and alerts -- It has a virtual training buddy that will work out with me! Except I'm supposed to stay ahead of it the whole time.....)

I WENT FOR A WHOLE HOUR. 

Running and walking. A lot more walking than running, but I really did enjoy being outside today.

After I got home and uploaded my data, here is the route it said I ran:

 HA. How does that even happen? If this was true, I wouldn't even be back at home because my route doesn't go in a circle! And, how am I not in Provo? The GPS worked so well the other day, now I have to go figure out what I clicked to mess it up.

Wanna see what I really ran?

That is more like it. A CIRCULAR route. Thank you, Google Maps, for letting me rearrange my route.

I discovered a couple things about running today (which I already know/knew, I just had to re-learn them again myself).

1.) Running shoes are muy importante.  I thought I would be okay in my UnderArmour shoes that I bought almost 2 years ago (right after I had my second foot surgery!) because I haven't worn them a ton lately. I forgot that I put tons of miles on them right when I got them (that was my awesome month and a half of going to the gym/running everyday). So, I am planning on going to find new shoes semi-soon. (My catch-22 here: I don't deserve new shoes unless I run every day, but I'm not going to run every day until I get new shoes that help my feet feel good.) 

2.) Music. It can make or break me. Slow song? I slow my pace. I need to make sure I have continually upbeat music. Even if I like the slow songs, they are doing NOTHING for me. Except giving me a chance to give up with a fake excuse.

(look! My Garmin says 58:16! - That's not including the part where it wouldn't start for me)

3.) Sunshine! I like gyms. I know most people don't really. But I do. I guess it is because I get sucked into the TV/movie that is playing while I just add up minutes on the elliptical. Sunshine is the number one key to me enjoying running outside. Warmth + a little free tanning = motivation. Unfortunately, Utah has quite unpredictable weather, so I guess we will see how far this goes. 

4.) Your advice. Pretty much everyone said their motivation comes from the personal rewards that you get for exercising. I've been trying to think of something that will really motivate me to get off my touche and get moving. New clothes? New jewelry? Haircut/color? A trip to NY? $1/$5/$10 in a jar every day/week I go? A candy bar every time? (Isn't that why we exercise? So we can eat whatever we want?) A cruise? I still am not sure, but I promised myself something little for today. 

5.) The feeling. I don't enjoy running. Not really, not that much. BUT, I do enjoy how it makes me feel when I finish. The soreness. The tired-enough-to-crash-on-the-couch feeling. The sense of accomplishment that I a)did something productive for an hour b)did something healthy for my body and c)look how far/fast (not in my case) I went. But I think I mostly enjoying the happiness from the endorphins. I have taken enough classes, especially from my major, that all talked about how exercise is one of the best things you can do - because it strengthens you emotionally, physically and spiritually. Plus, I think I sleep better at night. And, I would like to get myself in better health before I get a baby bump.

Why does it look like the side of my hair is gray??

And now for a shower.

 Because, yes, I did just write this whole thing while waiting for my legs to stop tingling and collapsing on me. 

Have a lovely day!

P.S. We are going to be in Vegas in 6 days!

Help me, please?

Any runners/exercisers/athletes have any ideas for staying motivated to exercise?

My level is at a big fat ZERO and has been for almost a year. I'd like it to be around 10000000. But for now, I'd take anywhere around a 10. I need some serious motivation but I can't seem to find any lying around my house.  And I no longer have a gym pass, not that I was going frequently enough when I did have it. I think I was best at the end of 2008 when I went to the gym every (non-Sunday) day for like a month and a half. I felt great those days. I wish I could have that feeling back.

I went for a mini-run today. And struggled.
So any tips, advice, encouragement, etc would be greatly appreciated.
gracias.

I also got out my Garmin today. Which I just googled and found out it has been discontinued. Huh. Check it out here. Maybe I'll really learn how to use it now.

Did you know.....

....that I LOVE cheesecake?

Like an unhealthy Love? 

I remember liking it as a little girl. 

But, I think my real love for it started when I would go to Brooklyn to visit Dad at work and we would walk down Fulton Street (not the Manhattan one. the BROOKLYN one.) to the Original Junior's for lunch and he would buy me a piece of delicious.heavenly.cheesecake. 

Let me paint this picture for you. (with the help of some actual pictures)

A street mall. (from here)

My dad works in the building just a little bit down this block ----->

Junior's

We would walk down here and get this:

Junior's Cheesecake!

OH YUM.

Anyways, to get back to the point of this post, I found a delightful little swanky dessert shop that makes a mean cheesecake RIGHT HERE IN PROVO! It's called THE SWEET CONNECTION.

After begging to get some (read: mentioning this place all day long non-stop),
I went and got some. I got these two:

I ate the Turtle one first. It was excellent. 

But I think my heart belongs with the NY Original. 

It was just that delicious.

I'm going back.

Nickelcade!

David hurt his knee, and has limped around on it for a week-ish, demanding to know what was for dinner and refusing to go to a doctor. His knee was pretty swollen and had pretty limited ROM right at first. I am glad it is almost back to normal. But when he was limping around, I noticed this bruise on the back of his leg. I'm not quite sure why it is in this specific spot on his leg since he had an MCL sprain on the inside of his knee. But bruises are interesting.

Ignore the ugly setting on the camera. The bruise was actually a way dark purple-y color. When I first saw it, it was about the size of a nickel. Then it became the size of a PILE of nickels. 

Which I would take to Nickelcade tonight if they actually were nickels. Too bad they're not.

Allred Valentine's Tradition

In keeping with the tradition of my Grandma Allred, my mom makes everyone giant personalized sugar cookies for Valentine's Day. She even mails them out to those who don't live at home. We got ours in the mail last Friday.

I think they had a rough trip, but they were yummy!

Valentine's Day.

I am only going to spend 10 minutes on this post, so you get what you get. 

Our V-day was very low-key. There was studying, working, and normal busy stuff going on. We decided to get dinner that looked like this: 

Except with about half as much pepperoni. It was quite delicious. And low-key was the best. None of the "expensive dinner/flowers/chocolates/presents" rush. Just us enjoying each other's company. That's how I like it best. :)

And since it was Valentine's, this blog now deserves a kissy picture.