Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 157

Happy Valentines Day. Hope it was great and filled with love. Mine was good, but I will blog about that later.

I have been busy at work this week. On the bright side, it is staying lighter longer and the sun has been shinning more and it is getting a little tiny bit warmer. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

I finally finished the 3rd season of Downton Abbey. Yikes. Not how I wanted things to go. Not at all. It makes me wonder what the next season is going to bring and makes me not want to watch it all at the same time.

Sunday was Reanne's birthday. She turned 10. Can you believe that? It is crazy that I am an aunt to a niece that is 10. She was so excited for her birthday she set up ALL of her ponies to watch her open presents. My parents got her office supplies for her birthday. I have never seen anyone so excited to open up gifts and see paper and a stapler and tape. ha ha. She is so funny, and creative.

Wednesday I had dinner with my dear friend Monica. We had a good long chat that made me think about things a lot... mostly relationships.... and making sure I'm in a good place and looking out for myself. I really appreciate her. I'm thankful for good friends in my life.

We had stake conference last weekend. It was great. I really love our stake presidency. However, I don't love when they just randomly call people up to share their testimony. I feel like that is something you should do if you feel like you should do it, not because someone else is putting you on the spot and forcing you to do it. Oh well.... at least I didn't get called up.

Tuesday's Hip Hop class was a lot of fun. I love the music and the dancing... and somehow I always end up in front of the line in the class.... just like zumba. It is kind of a big class, so I guess I don't mind.  Did I mention it is the same dance studio that I used to take tap years ago? I saw my old teacher there and she said she remembers me and told me I should come back to tap. I kind of miss it... so it is tempting. It has just been so many years. It would hurt my feet all over again. ha ha. We shall see.

So you know how I have been on a total kick with my new years goal to make more things that I pin on pinterest? Well, I tried something else. Salad in a Jar! It is pure genius! Seriously. You layer the salad in the jar so that the dressing goes on the bottom and then the fruits or veggies come next and so on and then you put the spinach or lettuce on top so it stays fresh. Then you store it in the fridge and that way you can grab it on the go (like to work) and you have a quick and healthy lunch. Oh and I just love my salad. Everyday when I eat it, I literally say out loud a lone in my office how much I love my salad. At first, my co-workers (the guys) were making fun of me. "What do you have in that jar". "Why did you put your salad in a jar?"... but then, when I dumped it all out onto my plate and showed it to them, they were like "yum, that looks good" in which I replied "Oh, it is." Now everyday is like "Tracy, did you bring your salad in a jar?" and I say, "Why yes, yes I did. I can't wait for lunch so I can eat it."

So I need to focus on my health. I mean... I'm a pretty healthy person. I eat pretty healthy and I exercise pretty regularly. I just signed up for my first half marathon (another one of my new years goals). I'm excited and scared.... more scared... but the exciting part is that there are a bunch of people in my ward that all signed up and we are going to do it together. This makes it so much more encouraging. It really does. I need all the support I can get. Another thing I am working on is sleep. Getting more sleep, improving the quality of my sleep. I was looking at the top paid apps and there was this one called Sleep Cycle that I bought. You put the phone on your bed and it tracks your sleep cycle according to your movement while you sleep. It is actually really interesting. After a week of tracking, it can tell you the quality of sleep you are getting. I have only done it for two nights but I am going to keep it up. It also has a really nice soothing alarm. All of the alarms on the iphone are lame and annoying... so it was worth getting the app just for the alarm sounds. They are so relaxing, like the music they play when you get a massage. It is super interesting. I will report back on my sleep when I have been using it longer.

So, I am already having to look for new roommates. That's right... both of my roommates are moving out. Not because of me by any means... our roommate situation couldn't be better. Meg is going back to school and moving to SLC and since Sarah is a teacher, she wants to do a summer camp with kids in Colorado with her months off of school. It makes me sad to lose them. It has been so great. Thankfully I have found more great girls that are most likely going to move in . However, whenever I have people that I really care about come and go out of my life (which happens often) it makes me feel like I don't have a lot of stability in my life. Even though I do, but when it comes to people... I kind of don't and it can be really hard on me. That is one of the many things I think would be great about marriage... no matter who came and went out of your life, at least you have your spouse to always be there by your side to go through things together. Hopefully my next roommates will be as great as the ones I have now.

My roommate Sarah was practicing the recorder one day so she could teach her class (I remember those days) and it was so funny to listen to it from downstairs. After laughing, Megan and I decided to join in. It is harder than I remember. ha ha. We had a good laugh about it though.