Confessions & Life Updates

Hey friends!  Man, December was crazy busy wasn't it?  The holidays and end of year always are, so while I feel like I've adequately recapped my year (HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE), I haven't so much talked about what's been happening lately or in December at all.

I confess... At the first of the month my work's corporate office asked Shawn, Blaire, Ron, and I to come down and decorate for their Christmas charity event.  It was a little stressful because they didn't have any idea of what they wanted-they basically just said "create a setting, we have trees and a chair and a backdrop" but then we showed up and they didn't have a backdrop actually.  So we rushed out and found the tree back drop, wrapped a bunch of presents, decorated the tree and it was ready.  It looked really good though, and it was fun to get out of work to do something good.

I confess... Kristina and I got together and made handmade bath salts and sugar scrubs for Christmas gifts this year. We made peppermint, margarita (really just lime), lavender, orange, lemon grass, jasmine, and mixed citrus (lime, orange, and lemongrass).  They were a big hit and fun to do!

I confess... My grandmother gave me some couches.  They're in great condition and really cute, and my awesome family (including my little brother Ryan, pictured above) helped me move them in.

I confess... Meggy graduated with her Master's degree the second week of December and we couldn't be more proud of her!  We went over and hung out for celebration, and it was lovely to see them! 

  I confess... Josh came in from Canada and it was so great to see him!  We had a little get together with some friends two nights in a row to celebrate.  On the second night we made egg rolls for old time's sake and played Cards Against Humanity.  

I confess... I spent Christmas with my family.  Above you'll see me snuggling with my sister's bunny and also my brother's wrapping job.  He likes to give gifts that are strange enough you'll think of him every time you see it.  A few years back it was a heavy stone yard decor turtle (who sits in my plant in the living room), last year it was a gaudy candle holder, and this year it was a hand book end. I actually really love his gifts-I need to get another matching book end so I can use them!  

My mother got me a big ceramic pots and pans set which is amazing and so needed, and my sister got me a super soft Ninja Turtle blanket and some other things.  All my gifts were lovely!  Josh's mom bought me some slippers and a heated scarf, and I've been wearing the slippers ever since.

  I confess... I made these watercolor family portraits for my mom's and Ari's gifts.  They were so fun! The only downside is that I put all this time into it and my brother broke up with his girlfriend (shown to the far right in the first picture) that night... Sooooo I don't know what my mom wants to do with that image. Such a bummer, but I should have been smarter-too young!

I confess... We finally got snow on Christmas! Personally, while I dislike driving in the snow and it was nice not dealing with that, I was starting to get concerned about the drought we're going to have this Summer due to the lack of water. I'm still concerned, but a little helped! 

 

I confess... I brought my cat home with me from my mom's house.  We're... Adjusting.  I don't think I'm a cat person as much as I used to be, and she's been SO clingy.  She follows me around meowing all day long and wants to be held and petted 24/7-including the middle of the night.   It's strange, she wasn't that way before (I adopted her with my first boyfriend like 10 years ago), or at my mom's house where she just slept all day and didn't interact much.  She's been so active and clingy here.  I'm really hoping that she calms down when she's more adjusted to the new living space.  I'm losing my mind.

 

I confess... She LOVES Josh though (but who doesn't?) and he thought she was sweet and loved on her the whole time.  I was glad she did, because in my annoyance I've been loving her less haha! She was his little shadow all week.

I confess... Josh's mom came down last night and we all went to dinner, then the both of them stayed at my place last night, where we had chocolate and watched horror movies, before heading to the airport this morning.  I'm sure going to miss him, but having him in town just showed me how we can still have as good of a relationship and pick up where we left off every time we get together.  I'm also visiting him for sure this summer!

 

I confess... I baked cookies twice this month!  First my peppermint cookies which I like for Christmas, and second I wanted to try homemade ginger cookies.  They turned out great, but I want to try fresh ginger in my recipe next time I make them.  Still tasty, and good and chewy-I'm not a big fan of hard cookies.

I confess... I'm having a sale on ad spots through the 5th-so snag an ad with $10 off before Monday!

I confess... Don't forget the 12x30 Challenge that Kenzie and I announced!  Monday we announce/share the first month's challenge which is to work on loving yourself, and we have so many fabulous suggestions and prompts! 

I confess... I'm all signed up for school this semester and need to go get books.  I'm taking my last French class for a while, Math, and Intro to Linguistics.  Should be an interesting semester.

Linking up with:

I Miss Halloween Already {October Updates}

I know, I know... It's November-but I've been crazy busy, so this update is happening a little late.  Let's start with Halloween, because I miss it already.  It was a great Halloween-though a little different.  Every year I host a Halloween party and invite all of my friends.  However, this year I just didn't feel up to it.  I'm still dealing with missing my best friend and the financial and emotional difficulties that come from learning to live alone.  My heart wasn't in it, and it felt like no big deal until Halloween day when something felt... Off.  I also hadn't realized how many of my friends relied on it, because I was asked at least 10 times if I was hosting and why I wasn't.  I definitely have to next year.

This year was also off because I had no idea what to be.  I confess...  I literally woke up Halloween morning and thought-I can be a gypsy!  I grabbed two skirts, three scarves, a tank top, a flowy cardigan, big earrings, lots of eyeliner, and the bells that hang over my front door and just layered them.  It actually didn't turn out bad, and I got lots of compliments to my surprise.

 

I confess that also stayed up until midnight the night before baking cookies.  It's been a long time since I've done that, so it was fun! 

 

2014 Utah Pride Festival Parade Photos {pt 1 of 2)

Sunday Callie, Brigg, Josh, Angel, and I carpooled over to the 2014 Utah Pride Festival together.  We arrived a little late, but walked toward the end of the lane in order to not miss our friends that were in the festival.  There were several of our groups of friends that were going to be in the parade, and aside from a lot of the other fun floats, we were especially looking forward to seeing our friends with ADP, Atheists of Utah, Out of the Shadows Theater Group, and The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

Birthday Weekend & Salt Lake ComicCon FanX Recap

This past birthday weekend turned out to be one of the best I've had in years.  I'm not even exaggerating when I say it was spectacular, start to finish!  I took Wednesdays through Monday off of work to enjoy it, and spend Wednesday cleaning, but Thursday was time for ComicCon.  Kristina, Ken, and Jan all met me at my house and we rode down together.  After waiting for an hour to get in we rushed off first to the Shadow Cast/Rocky Horror Panel, and after that we waited in line to meet Sean Patrick Flannery-who is SO nice and hilarious.

After meeting him and getting a photo with him we headed back to the South Ballroom to see the Out of the Shadows Theatre Group performance which was a montage of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Repo! The Genetic Opera, and Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Then our friend who was playing Frank-N-Furter met up with us and we sat through the Boondock Saints Reunion panel and the James Marsters Panel before walking around and hanging out for the day.

Friday morning we got up and headed back down to ComicCon.  We didn't really do many panels, just kind of hung around and wandered a bit-enjoyed quite a bit of beer-it was my birthday after all!  My cute godkids were with their parents for the day so they stopped to wish me a Happy Birthday, Jan brought me a tiara to wear for the day, and it was all around fun.  

After ComicCon my friends met me at Stoneground for a birthday dinner, which was fabulous!  Great food, great booze, and people I haven't seen in a while!  Even my sweet friend Cristina who I haven't seen in years (but who's been my best friend since I was 7 years old) was able to make it! 

Saturday morning I woke up and the roommate had snuck out to buy groceries to make me a birthday breakfast.  He put together an English Fry-Up and even bought stuff to make a latte-I have an espresso machine, it just never gets used!  We took our time heading to ComicCon and managed to make it into the Patrick Stewart Panel and later that evening the Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog Sing Along, which was amazing!

Sunday was a family day.  I finished up some homework (I'm so freaking behind in school right now...) and then headed over to my grandmother's for a birthday/Easter BBQ.  It was such a great weekend, and my heart is so full of love for everyone involved!