Valentine's.

We try not to go all-out  at Valentines because

 a) it is easier to get into restaurants/do things any other day of the year

 b) we like to celebrate love every day. cheesy? yes. 

c) it is cheaper. hello! college student budgets here.

Our tradition is to get a heart-shaped pizza and root beer and spend the whole evening with each other. simple. easy. peasy.

Also, when we have kids they will LOVE this tradition.

Then they will love us even more.

AND pizza is always good in my book.

Win. Win. Win.

Sometimes (v2)

(linking up here!)

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I can't stop myself from when there is candy in our house. Or ice cream.
Or even frozen cool whip if I'm feeling desperate.

I want to freeze frame the weekends when I don't work and we have nothing to do and can just sleep in. Because someday these moments will be gone.

I want to soak up all of Provo, especially now that the leaving part is really happening. 

I decide to take the plunge and run a half marathon. (what was I thinking?!)

I find it mildly concerning when I get sick and can't train for said half marathon.

It really hits me that life can change so fast. And unexpectedly. 

I can't believe how lucky I am when I get my annual Valentine's cookie in the mail from my mom! and when I get to fall asleep every night next to my best friend.

I feel like I never, never, ever can be a morning person. No matter how hard I try.

I feel like a really good person when I can create something beautiful.

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Impulse

Sometimes I have this irrepressible urge to chop off my hair. The only problem is that every time I cut my hair, I want to cry. (I know, silly and maybe even ridiculous. It's just hair, right??)

Last Thursday I decided I was sick of it and started browsing for what to do. I was DETERMINED to have a good experience this time. Friday afternoon, it was cut.

Pinterest had a plethora of pictures to go to for hair inspiration. But these were some of the only ones I could find that had the long layered style.

But, these pictures gave me the BEST haircutting experience I've ever had. I sat down, explained to her how weird my hair was - thick, lots of it, sometimes has a tendency to curl - then showed her these pictures and she basically said, "okay, you want this: _______________".
She just put everything I showed her into words and in hair terms. If I didn't understand something, all I had to do was ask (which I did, since I was more willing to talk to her since she let me blather to her all about my hair).

Talking to your hairstylist definitely makes the experience 100000x better. Plus when it took her 30 mins to dry my hair, she didn't even bat an eye.

I tip better when I'm happier, and I will even buy some product off you. Too bad I found someone I liked with reasonable prices right before we move.

February Photo Challenge

I don't have the real list of challenges handy, but this is today's.
#febphotoaday

"your view today"

Sometimes.... (v1)

here - but it's tumblr. anyone know the real source?

I can't stop thinking about babies [It's what you do when you're a newlywed(ish) in Provo and everywhere you look someone's pregnant.] or Dallas [and everything involved in moving us there].

I just want to eat cheeseburgers or pizza! all day every day. 

I am kinda a bad person and am not the nicest driver. My daily commute makes me a mean [read:semi-vengeful] driver sometimes. 

I wish I could dye my hair darker! love those deep browns. 

I strongly consider spending a lot of money on vacations, clothing, a new sewing machine!, eating out at fun places. Am I a teeny bit worldly wanting this stuff?

I'd be lying if I said no.

I just don't understand the allure of drug seekers. I have to deal with them every once in awhile and it breaks my heart to see how they let something else control their lives. 

I get weirdly excited about how much change is going to happen in the next year or so. The future is so exciting!

I feel overwhelmed with gratitude when I realize how incredibly blessed we are with everything we've got even though we don't make millions of dollars.

I can't believe how close I am to not being in Provo. I've been here for almost 6 years. A lot of growing up happened here. An education happened here. Falling in love happened here. A little piece of my heart will probably stay here.

linking up here.

A swaddle blanket for Jamie

I went to Jamie's baby shower last weekend and this is what I gave her. I got the idea from here. It's meant to be a blanket that you can swaddle your baby in and tie it closed so they don't wiggle it undone..

I just made it with soft flannel that receiving blankets are usually made from. And obviously, it's a cream color. (Excuse the semi-blurry pictures. We are working on fixing that, but no matter if I use my camera or my phone something funny always happens.) 

We hope our new niece decides to make her appearance soon! 

Blanket numero dos.

This past weekend I went to my dear friend Kristen's baby shower - Candace has pictures.

I started this blanket right after Thanksgiving, but because of Christmas, I didn't finish it until after break. 

I used Caron yarn, in cream. Super easy to work with and I'm still in love with this blanket pattern. 

NY/Christmas

I won't bore you with repeated posts on every little detail, so here are some pictures on our fabulous trip.

NY transit museum.

You can walk through all of the different trains they have had since the subway was built. They are restored and have ads from the time period too. Some were hilarious.

Why I gained weight: fresh bagels, baklava, candlelight, Indian food in grand central, lots of pizza, delicious burgers

Christmas!! Lots of presents and fun. Georgie tried to rip every piece of paper he could find.

The High Line. Seriously one of my favorite parts of the trip. It's an old elevated rail line that is now a park. It was beautiful even in the middle of winter. 

All the random ones. A dog that likes to sleep like a human, cutest puppy ever, birthdays, bringing my wedding dress home, etc...

Also one of the best parts of the trip. We took the Staten Island Ferry back and forth. It was so fun. David and Dad are listening to the end of the BYU game on his iphone in the middle of the bay. Love technology.

Not pictured: Family Olympics. Sorry, Mom. All the craziness didn't get captured on camera! :)

Christmas

I've already spoken my piece about the real reason for Christmas.
Now for the presents side.
Did you know I get six Christmases this year?

We did Black Friday this year. (My first time ever!) The day before Thanksgiving I convinced David that we should get an xbox. We went to Walmart on Thanksgiving (LOVED the late night thing. Waking up early doesn't sound fun.) and got in line and waited for forever to check out with our xbox. We had decided this would be our "big" gift for each other. But of course we couldn't wait to open it and we have been playing it ever since. I still have absolutely no buyers remorse over getting it. I mostly got it for the Kinect and I love love LOVE playing it with David/friends. We almost packed it in our suitcase to take home to NY to play over Christmas break too.

There was a fun dessert party (with wayyy too much sugar) with some of my most favorite people ever. (Jessi, darling, you were missed.) We had a secret santa gift exchange and it was so fun to see the gifts given. It is so funny how well we know each other.

stolen off FB - Thanks, Alisa!
Also, my hair is getting so long. Hair cut, anyone?

Monday night we did all our packing and we opened a couple presents (one I wanted him to have to use while I finished working for the next couple days). Then the next day we each opened another one. We also had another Christmas opening presents from his family before we left because we didn't want to take any with us just to turn around and bring them back.  Plus we had Christmas with my family in NY too. It kind of takes the anticipation out of it, but it's not like we are seven years old again and can't sleep on Christmas Eve.  We actually helped with filling some stockings.

After we finished opening presents and sat amidst a floor of wrapping paper with everyone excited about what they received, all I could think about was how we are SO blessed.

We have enough to live comfortably on (and we really don't make much money now but it still works out so well) and we could still give presents to those we love. I love both parts of the process - getting stuff is always fun and giving is even better because it is so fun to buy things for other people, even when you're not sure what to get them.

Hopefully these feelings of gratefulness continue to last well into the new year. We've got lots of exciting things planned for our life and even when things go wrong (which they inevitably will because of how much I keep trying to plan for them) I just need to remember how great we really have it.

Even when I get presents that look like this:

Because inside is what counts and it is stuff that looks like this:

Merry late Christmas.

As you can tell, I've been enjoying my break and not blogging. Sorry. :)

Goals!

I like to think I'm a fairly rational, reasonable person.  But really, I'm not.
I fit into the "hopeless romantic who loves to dream, can be very dramatic
and gets emotional for unknown reasons" category.

So when I say 2012 is going to be my year for BIG things, it means I probably won't get around to most of them. But I can't help but be unreasonable and uber ambitious around New Years so here are some of my goals (both practical and ridiculous) for next year.  (And yes, I am lumping similar ones together....)

via

• Make bedtime an earlier thing. And don't be such a grump when I wake up. Be more patient. With patients, with coworkers, with David, with MYSELF.

• Get rid of leftovers in the fridge BEFORE they mold. (Gross? yes. TMI? Maybe. But hey, this is my list. Get your own.) Don't wait until the last minute to do laundry. Tidy up a clean house instead of having to clean a dirty house.

• Run a marathon (Ambitious, I know. I've even picked one out - never mind that it is at a crazy time for us.)

• Don't let my commute ruin my day. (did you know there are VERY few things that directly correlate to your happiness? Driving is one of them. And I'm guilty of letting it get to me a lot.)

• Do better at my church callings:
• Visiting teaching. I struggle with it sometimes.
• Actually learn to play the organ better (and try REALLY hard not to laugh every time I mess up).
• Be a better nursery leader. Make it a place where playing is intertwined with learning. Come up with activities that fuel their creativity and development. But also realize that every week doesn't have to be (and probably won't be) perfect. Just love them.

via pinterest --- no original source. any one know?

• Acknowledge God's hand in my life more. Be grateful more. Complain less. Realize and remember that the Atonement is for me and covers everything in my life. Learn more about it continually.

• Make something every month. Create goodness.

via

• Read a good book every month.

• Talk to my family more. Phone, email, skype. There is so much technology that I need to take advantage of and use for better reasons than sitting on twitter/facebook all day.

I think that's enough unreasonable optimism for now. Anything else you'd recommend?

linking up here!