January Life Udpates

It's been a little bit since I did an update on life, so I figure it's about time to check in and touch bases on where I am and how I'm doing.  Lots of stuff has been happening, but I feel like I've been doing pretty good keeping my head above water... Until the plague hit.  Yep.  I'm sick right now.  It sucks.

Last weekend I headed up to Ken and Kristina's for Courtney's going away party.  Yep, that pretty little blonde girl in the middle there joined the Navy and left for Bootcamp on Tuesday.  She's tough, so we know she'll make it through, but she's also so pretty and petite that we worry about her-but that's what family is for-support and worry.  We love her and it was good to celebrate her before she left.

 

It was also good to see Ashlee again.  It's been such a long time and she's lost like 80lbs.  She looks amazing-I'm going to be using her as my inspiration for my weight loss goals now-she seriously looks so great!  We also got to go to breakfast with her family the next morning.

Also, I got to spend some quality time with the godkids.  Isn't this baby just the most adorable?  Splashing in the bath tub.

That also gave us some rushed time to get family photos before Courtney left, so we all trekked up to Ogden and visited one of my favorite parks, Beus Pond, to get some lovely photos with my camera.  It gave me some much-needed practice also.  If you missed that post, see all the photos HERE.

Aside from the fun, this weekend was one full of memories and weird revelations.  Just being in Beus Pond, and Ogden in general, brings back a ton of memories for me.  MelanieGrace and I used to go wander this park in the middle of the night, trekking through ferns imagining ourselves lost in a fairyland.  We also used to put on our favorite witchy skirts and go run through the sprinklers at 2AM... I miss those days sometimes...

Before we'd gone up there this weekend I learned that my very first ex-boyfriend, from when I was 18/19 years old-the one with all the memories in Ogden, was arrested two years ago for kidnapping.  WHAT?  I mean by Utah law if he was dating a 17 year old and that minor spent the night at his place without parental consent they could actually charge him with Kidnapping-and I don't know the details but WTF.  When I found that out it made me sick-like a gut-punch to the stomach.  

In other "small-world" news... My Facebook "people you may know" section seems to be a graveyard of guys I've gone out with once or twice and then never had anything... Well I noticed one of them that I went out with in August and decided to snoop only to find out he'd recently added Kristina's niece that I know... The sister of our navy girl I mentioned earlier.  I had to know what was up and sure enough now she's dating him!  How weird is that? Small small world...

A few weekends ago I made it out to El Chihuahua for Death Stars with Shawn, Justin, Ron and Vaugn.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with them and drink a bit.  Tomorrow night we have our monthly dinner with a few coworkers and their partners, and an old coworker we miss.  We're going for Indian food.  I'm grateful, because a good strong curry may be just what I need to burn this cold out of me.

Kitty and I are getting on a bit better.  She still drives me crazy in the morning with her meowing, and she tried to make a bolt for it when I walked out the door today and then pretty much screamed at me when I dragged her back into the apartment (what a brat!), but at least she's letting me sleep through the night now.

Tonight I'm meeting up with my French professor and Mandi and Jaek from French class.  Since our French class was canceled this semester we've decided to meet up for dinner every once in a while so we can still practice.  Tonight we're going to The Paris-I want Moules Frites!

  

Instead of French, I ended up taking Photography.  The class and this book are pretty great so far, I'm learning how to control things in my camera I didn't know before-but it's going to be a lot of work with projects every week.

Linguistics seems complicated, but so far the homework hasn't been bad.  Also, I hate Math.  My new professor (this semester) is not as good as my old one-and I'm having a harder time grasping it. Oh well.

Also in case you missed it, I was shopping for school supplies at the school bookstore a few weeks ago and ended up getting interviewed by Fox 13!  I posted the video (and I look like a hot mess) on the blog.

I've gotten my health back on track!  I haven't made it to the gym yet, (trust me I tried but it being January there wasn't a single parking space or machine free!), but I did join Weight Watchers and I've been doing really well on it.  Good thing, because I finally weighed myself and I had reached a new all-time high for weight and that is no bueno.  So, you can find my health updates and information on my other blog Health NOT to Health NUT which is back up and being updated again.

I tried these Traveling Noodles from The Londoner... Mine didn't turn out so great.  And I got horribly ill... I need to try it again soon and try and find out what it was that made me so sick in them.  My guess was the Tom Yum paste-which it turns out I don't like anyway.

When I went to the little Asian market by my house to get stuff for the Traveling Noodles I found this cute little Bento set-which has been awesome for taking vegetables to work with a little ranch dressing.  Since fruits and veggies are 0 points on WW, all I have to count is the ranch and that's not too bad of a meal!

I reviewed a few books this month (and have reviews for the next two Saturday's scheduled also).

• The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch
• The Dark Monky by Oliver Pötzsch
• The Goddess Test Series - Review on Saturday, January 24th! 
• The Beggar King - Review on Saturday, January 30th!

In case you missed it, here are some of my favorite posts from the blog this month:

• Book Title Tag
• My Top 10 Inappropriate Fictional Crushes
• Handmade Love: Love Yourself
• Handmade Love: The Stillness of Winter
• 2014 End of Year Book Survey
• January 12x30 Challenge: Love Yourself

Don't forget to enter the giveaway! 

This is the only time I painted my nails this month-sad huh?  250 bottles of nail polish and I rarely do... But this was the #PinkforLeelah mani I did using Color Club Beyond and Color Club Miss Bliss with ORLY Mirrorball over the top.  So much holo.  So pretty.

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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! 

 

Introducing Firecracker Lacquer {Review & Giveaway}

One of my favorite people in this world is my sister-in-law Arianne, and it was through her that I met one of her best friends Kendahl (who just so happens to be a nail polish addict too) at her birthday party.  I adored Kendahl immediately and when she announced that she was working on her own indie nail polish brand I was excited! Low-and-behold Firecracker Lacquer was born!  

Life Updates & Confessions

I got my custom illustration from Fat Babe Designs, and isn't it cute?  I love the watercolor background!

I confess... I bought an iPad.  I've had a hard time justifying the purchase since it's expensive and I already have an iPhone and a laptop.   But my laptopt went wonky and had to go into the shop, and I decided-hey!  I have a disposable income (because I have no kids!) so why the eff not?  I've been loving it-the picture above I drew with a crappy stylus using the Paper by Fifty-Three app.  So cool.

I also got a killer deal... I went for the 32GB one which costs $499, but bought it from Target... I ended up paying $498 out of pocket for the iPad and the case (normally $39.99) plus they gave me a $100 Target gift card with purchase.  So I really only spent $398.  That also included my roommate's employee discount, a 5% discount for signing up for the Red Card, and a 5% discount for letting the employee talk me into buying a case too.  BONUS! 

I confess... A couple of weekends ago I went up and spent the night at Kristina's.  We drove up to Ogden to pick up Courtney from her boyfriend's apartment... Which just so happens to be the same complex as my very first apartment... The apartment I shared with my first boyfriend and then MelanieGrace.  A time so rich in memories that standing there in front of that building looking up at the windows I'd see every day brought waves of nostalgia rushing over me.  It was pretty surreal.

I confess... I like my godkids... They're pretty much the only kids I go out of my way to spend time with (maybe I'm getting old and enjoying being child-free). And just look at baby Kat's mini gelly shoes.  I DIE.

I confess... I've been super tight-lipped about the whole boy/dating thing.  I'm just about ready to tell all-but mostly because it was Frank (you may remember me mentioning him briefly last November) that I let back in my life, and he's already out of it again.  Of course I still have to deal with him since we have friends in common and other stupid life events that I should have never gotten myself into... But let me just say-he turned out to be nothing like what I thought he was.  I'm not even sure "real" nice guys exist-or at least are single anymore.  This adorable little piece of art is by a fab artist and motivational source, Emm Roy.

I confess... I'm so lucky to have some fabulous people who support me in my life.  

I confess... I've been really bad about the gym the last three weeks... I went twice last week.  None yet this week.  UGH.  What is my issue?  I'm failing so hard at the #NOEXCUSES challenge...

I confess... Here's a little sneak peak at a giveaway I have coming up soon.  I'm terrible at painting my nails, but look how pretty these two colors are!  That's Pink! and Punked from Firecracker Lacquer!

Have you seen this?  Oh my goodness.  So clever-watch it now or you're really missing out! 

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June Recap

It's been a while since I gave you a life update, so here I am with a much-needed recap and some updates.

I've had a lot of great times and parties with friends this month that I just haven't had the time to write about! Instead, enjoy this visual recap of those times via my Instagram feed:

It's been oddly cold for Utah.  We had a couple of days in the 90s last week and turned on our swamp cooler finally, but the week before that it was raining and chilly all week, and last night was nice and chilly with gorgeous thunderstorms-which makes me very happy!

Mr. Bingo was in town from Oregon and his timing could not have been more perfect.  He's such a great friend and it was an awesome pick me up in a week I was feeling a little blue about coming to terms with the other relationship I was persuing not working out as planned.  Well, it took me exactly 5 days to get over that breakup, and seeing Mr. Bingo for an evening was awesome.  I'm already planning an Oregon visit in Oct.

I confess... I signed up for another swap... I know, I know, I'm addicted-but it's another book swap!  Sign-ups end on Monday the 30th, so if you want in on this one go and check it out!

I confess... I've been terrible about the gym this month.  I had a rough period and didn't go for a week, then Shawn and Justin were out of town and didn't go, then I had some other stuff come up... I need to not flake off so bad.  Starting next week I'm getting both diet and exercise under control and no more excuses!   Here's my "before" photo-even though it was a month in to working out and I actually like it a lot...

I confess... did finally see the doctor and have a full physical.  It turns out my foot problem is Plantar Fasciitis, which means the tendon in my foot is torn.  I'be been ordered to get good insoles with arch support, and to not even be barefoot around the house.  That's been a bummer, but I'm making due.

I confess... I also had to take care of some other things.  I had to have a mole removed on my neck (there are three stitches in there and it hurts!) and my doctor has requested I see a therapist about my anxiety issues.  Man, getting to be an adult and dealing with falling apart is no fun!  I've seen the doctor more times in the last month than I have in the past ten years... Which was probably part of the problem. 

My work has been a great company to work for.  A week or so ago they actually brought beers and wine to work (along with the soda, juice, and snacks they usually bring) and treated us to them in the sunshine outside of the building.  That's sooooo rare for Utah, and nice!  Next week they're taking us to a movie.

I'm ready for a vacation though... It'd be nice to get away for a while.

My manicure this week is Aly's Dream Polish Pinkberry, and it's a pretty one!

I've been able to do some really fun reviews this month!  Below are some I've done, click on the photo to see!

How was your June?
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