Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Jazz
I haven't kept up with the Jazz because I don't really care much about sports in general. I mean... I went to a couple Jazz games that were really fun a few years ago when they were doing a lot better. I don't think they are doing that great right now. It was funny because none of us were big Jazz fans. One of the girls had never been to a pro game before so she was excited. Ian wasn't all that excited and even said we should bail early! ha ha. Ian was given the tickets that were dropped off by his uncle or something like that. They were $100 tickets though so they were pretty decent seats! For the most part the game was boring and we all just chatted because The Jazz were getting beaten to the ground. Ian suggested we leave... but I fought to stay. I'm not a big sports fan, but being at a game is fun. It's a fun atmosphere... plus that one girl had never been to a pro game before ALSO you just never know what can happen at the game.
The Jazz lost, but I was glad we stayed until the end because they went from being 20 behind to 4 in the last 6 minutes of the game. It was fun to watch.
Either way, it's always fun to go to a game every once in a while... especially when you have great seats for free! We even got free parking. I don't know why they didn't make us pay... but I didn't argue it. Thanks Ian for the invite! My co-chair is turning into a good friend. :) Like it when that happens.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Mr. Food Truck
I go through phase with how active I am on Tinder. Well, I guess right now you could say is a somewhat active phase.
I match with several guys, but don't really talk to them unless they start talking to me first. Mr. Food truck was not particularly good looking. Wasn't ugly, but he seemed to be funny (in his small profile) so I decided to swipe right. We were a match and he shortly after started chatting with me.
He wasn't as funny as I thought he would be. He also seemed to be a bit.... intense. He would text me, and if I didn't answer right away he would text again. Example.
Mr. Food Truck - (text) Hey, what's up?
a minute goes by
What have you been up to?
another couple minutes go by
Do you still want to hang out?
another couple of minutes go by and I don't answer.
Mr. Food Truck then calls me.
I pick up feeling very annoyed "Hi, I'm driving... that is why I can't answer all of your text messages"
Stuff like that. So I knew before we even went out that we were probably not going to mesh very well together. However, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.
We meet at a place to eat in downtown Provo. He is polite and seems like a gentleman. We make a little bit of small talk about our day while we wait to be seated. Let me start off with going out to dinner with someone who is in the food industry is annoying. At least it was with this guy. Why? When the waitress said it would be a while before we were seated because they had a small staff Mr. Food truck says "Oh, I get it. Trust me.... if anyone gets it, it's me". Then during dinner he doesn't touch his food. It's no good. Tells me he is starving because he hasn't eaten all day because tasting food at work doesn't count because it's work. Then tells me he won't eat any of his food because it's not good and plus he has been eating all day so he's not that hungry. Mostly all he talked about was his food truck and how busy he is and how he just bought this crepe place because it was no good and he is going to make it better and then next he is going to buy this diner and then complain some more about how he is so busy and doesn't have a social or dating life.
When he wasn't talking about the food business, he told me how he joined the church. He is a convert. That's cool. So he starts telling me about his divorce and how his wife cheated on him and then he joined the church and was mad because they gave him a calling where he had to be there every Sunday when he can't be there every Sunday because of work and how they gave him 5 people to home teach right away even though he told them he was too busy for that... because of work and he claims they said "who cares, this what you do as a member of the church"..... which I don't believe for a second. I explained that if you talk to your Bishopric and communicate with them that you would love to serve, but maybe lets start off with home teaching 2 and see how that goes and I will accept this calling, but just so you know, I may not be able to be here every Sunday... if you don't think that is a good fit, maybe you can give me another calling.... they are NOT going to fight you on it. That is just not how the church works. If they were in fact saying that when he was communicating with them, then that is not a good thing and I would agree with him. However, he argued with me that he DID communicate that with them and they DID say that to him. So I just sat back and continued to listen. He then started telling me that a food truck friend of his got ex-communicated on his mission and had not had any interest in the church since... until he joined. I told him cool. Good for him. He said his buddy wanted to start coming back to church with him and was in his ward boundaries and the right age, but the bishopric rejected him from the ward because he didn't "meet the wards criteria" I tell him that isn't a thing. The church welcomes everyone that wants to come, so he must have misunderstood. He starts to get worked up and argue with me. He tells me it is true and they rejected his friend because he wasn't worthy to go to the temple and the point of the ward was just to get people married quickly. I don't believe him for a second, but I said IF that is true, you are right... that is not correct and should not happen. He continues to go off about it.
Mr. Food truck - "Yeah, so when my friend told me he was rejected from the ward, I got so mad and I called up the Bishop and told him to come take my temple recommend and that I was done with the church... I didn't want any part of it. The bishop apologized and let me friend in into the ward."
He finishes his story feeling quite proud of himself. After listening to him talk for about an hour without hardly saying anything I finally speak up.
Me - "I don't really believe that a Bishopric would do that, but if everything you are saying is true, but you did is still immature. Really immature".
Maybe I was too blunt, but I'm honest and I share my opinions. I said it in a nice way and tried to be understanding of his story... but I wasn't even having fun on the date since I was just listening to him talk anyway, so I wasn't too worried about what he would think about my opinion.
Mr. Food truck - getting even more worked up now and starting to raise his voice at me. "It wasn't immature! Even if it was, something needed to be done to get their attention to know it wasn't right... so what I did got their attention and it worked."
Me - "So you threw a fit to get your way? That isn't how you handle life. If what they did is true, you talk to them about it in a calm mature way. If you still don't agree with them, you simply go to a different ward. You don't threaten to leave the church because you threw a fit and didn't get your way. If you are truly converted, you would know that the church is true, but the people in the church are not perfect. You will more than once in your life be offended by something someone says or does in the church. The answer isn't to up and leave the church because of what one person does. You handles the situation poorly and were yes... immature."
After pretty much yelling at me at dinner (which I have to say is a first for me) he looked at me and said...
"Well... this was fun"
Me - "Yeah.... I got to know A LOT about you"
Which was true. I listened to him talk for over an hour while I sat there and listened and gave an opinion. It wasn't fun for me. None of it. I expected the night to end there honestly. I would have been more than ok with the,. What happened next surprised me.
Mr. Food Truck - "Well, do you want to go get a milkshake? I feel bad I didn't get to know anything about you"
I didn't really want to go, but at least he had realized that he wasn't being a good date, maybe he was going to redeem himself. I will give him that chance. So I agree. So we go walk to another place to get a milkshake. A terrible place to talk because the blender making the milkshakes all night is so loud. He asks me to tell about myself (nothing specific). So I tell him where I'm from and where I work which he then tells me they wanted to get the food trucks at my work.... back to him.... After that I managed to say I like to travel before he went off on how he is going to go to France this next year to learn more about food and the conversation was back to him the entire time. I think he learned 3 things about me. VERY basic things. I was done.
I hate it when guys do this on dates... and it always seems they do it when you have no interest in them... and well... he did it.
Mr. Food Truck - "So, can I take you on another date?"
Me - "Ummm.... I don't know" (it is SO hard to flat out say no when a guy asks you without sounding like a jerk)
Mr. Food Truck - "You probably think I'm an idiot and there is something wrong with me"
Me - "No, there is nothing wrong with you. I just think we have very different personalities and they don't really mesh together very well.... you can't really force that, it just happens and that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with either one of the people"
So... he walked me to my car and I said thank you for dinner and gave him a hug (as I always do no matter how the date goes) and we said goodbye and haven't talked since... which I hope will stay that way. I feel like I made myself pretty clear.
Dear Mr. Food Truck. For your future dates, you might want to make the conversation equal. That is why you want to take the girl out right? To get to know them? I hope so. If you are just wanting to listen to yourself talk.... well... that is what therapy is for. Maybe you should look into that.
You make great burgers, not a great date.
I match with several guys, but don't really talk to them unless they start talking to me first. Mr. Food truck was not particularly good looking. Wasn't ugly, but he seemed to be funny (in his small profile) so I decided to swipe right. We were a match and he shortly after started chatting with me.
He wasn't as funny as I thought he would be. He also seemed to be a bit.... intense. He would text me, and if I didn't answer right away he would text again. Example.
Mr. Food Truck - (text) Hey, what's up?
a minute goes by
What have you been up to?
another couple minutes go by
Do you still want to hang out?
another couple of minutes go by and I don't answer.
Mr. Food Truck then calls me.
I pick up feeling very annoyed "Hi, I'm driving... that is why I can't answer all of your text messages"
Stuff like that. So I knew before we even went out that we were probably not going to mesh very well together. However, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.
We meet at a place to eat in downtown Provo. He is polite and seems like a gentleman. We make a little bit of small talk about our day while we wait to be seated. Let me start off with going out to dinner with someone who is in the food industry is annoying. At least it was with this guy. Why? When the waitress said it would be a while before we were seated because they had a small staff Mr. Food truck says "Oh, I get it. Trust me.... if anyone gets it, it's me". Then during dinner he doesn't touch his food. It's no good. Tells me he is starving because he hasn't eaten all day because tasting food at work doesn't count because it's work. Then tells me he won't eat any of his food because it's not good and plus he has been eating all day so he's not that hungry. Mostly all he talked about was his food truck and how busy he is and how he just bought this crepe place because it was no good and he is going to make it better and then next he is going to buy this diner and then complain some more about how he is so busy and doesn't have a social or dating life.
When he wasn't talking about the food business, he told me how he joined the church. He is a convert. That's cool. So he starts telling me about his divorce and how his wife cheated on him and then he joined the church and was mad because they gave him a calling where he had to be there every Sunday when he can't be there every Sunday because of work and how they gave him 5 people to home teach right away even though he told them he was too busy for that... because of work and he claims they said "who cares, this what you do as a member of the church"..... which I don't believe for a second. I explained that if you talk to your Bishopric and communicate with them that you would love to serve, but maybe lets start off with home teaching 2 and see how that goes and I will accept this calling, but just so you know, I may not be able to be here every Sunday... if you don't think that is a good fit, maybe you can give me another calling.... they are NOT going to fight you on it. That is just not how the church works. If they were in fact saying that when he was communicating with them, then that is not a good thing and I would agree with him. However, he argued with me that he DID communicate that with them and they DID say that to him. So I just sat back and continued to listen. He then started telling me that a food truck friend of his got ex-communicated on his mission and had not had any interest in the church since... until he joined. I told him cool. Good for him. He said his buddy wanted to start coming back to church with him and was in his ward boundaries and the right age, but the bishopric rejected him from the ward because he didn't "meet the wards criteria" I tell him that isn't a thing. The church welcomes everyone that wants to come, so he must have misunderstood. He starts to get worked up and argue with me. He tells me it is true and they rejected his friend because he wasn't worthy to go to the temple and the point of the ward was just to get people married quickly. I don't believe him for a second, but I said IF that is true, you are right... that is not correct and should not happen. He continues to go off about it.
Mr. Food truck - "Yeah, so when my friend told me he was rejected from the ward, I got so mad and I called up the Bishop and told him to come take my temple recommend and that I was done with the church... I didn't want any part of it. The bishop apologized and let me friend in into the ward."
He finishes his story feeling quite proud of himself. After listening to him talk for about an hour without hardly saying anything I finally speak up.
Me - "I don't really believe that a Bishopric would do that, but if everything you are saying is true, but you did is still immature. Really immature".
Maybe I was too blunt, but I'm honest and I share my opinions. I said it in a nice way and tried to be understanding of his story... but I wasn't even having fun on the date since I was just listening to him talk anyway, so I wasn't too worried about what he would think about my opinion.
Mr. Food truck - getting even more worked up now and starting to raise his voice at me. "It wasn't immature! Even if it was, something needed to be done to get their attention to know it wasn't right... so what I did got their attention and it worked."
Me - "So you threw a fit to get your way? That isn't how you handle life. If what they did is true, you talk to them about it in a calm mature way. If you still don't agree with them, you simply go to a different ward. You don't threaten to leave the church because you threw a fit and didn't get your way. If you are truly converted, you would know that the church is true, but the people in the church are not perfect. You will more than once in your life be offended by something someone says or does in the church. The answer isn't to up and leave the church because of what one person does. You handles the situation poorly and were yes... immature."
After pretty much yelling at me at dinner (which I have to say is a first for me) he looked at me and said...
"Well... this was fun"
Me - "Yeah.... I got to know A LOT about you"
Which was true. I listened to him talk for over an hour while I sat there and listened and gave an opinion. It wasn't fun for me. None of it. I expected the night to end there honestly. I would have been more than ok with the,. What happened next surprised me.
Mr. Food Truck - "Well, do you want to go get a milkshake? I feel bad I didn't get to know anything about you"
I didn't really want to go, but at least he had realized that he wasn't being a good date, maybe he was going to redeem himself. I will give him that chance. So I agree. So we go walk to another place to get a milkshake. A terrible place to talk because the blender making the milkshakes all night is so loud. He asks me to tell about myself (nothing specific). So I tell him where I'm from and where I work which he then tells me they wanted to get the food trucks at my work.... back to him.... After that I managed to say I like to travel before he went off on how he is going to go to France this next year to learn more about food and the conversation was back to him the entire time. I think he learned 3 things about me. VERY basic things. I was done.
I hate it when guys do this on dates... and it always seems they do it when you have no interest in them... and well... he did it.
Mr. Food Truck - "So, can I take you on another date?"
Me - "Ummm.... I don't know" (it is SO hard to flat out say no when a guy asks you without sounding like a jerk)
Mr. Food Truck - "You probably think I'm an idiot and there is something wrong with me"
Me - "No, there is nothing wrong with you. I just think we have very different personalities and they don't really mesh together very well.... you can't really force that, it just happens and that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with either one of the people"
So... he walked me to my car and I said thank you for dinner and gave him a hug (as I always do no matter how the date goes) and we said goodbye and haven't talked since... which I hope will stay that way. I feel like I made myself pretty clear.
Dear Mr. Food Truck. For your future dates, you might want to make the conversation equal. That is why you want to take the girl out right? To get to know them? I hope so. If you are just wanting to listen to yourself talk.... well... that is what therapy is for. Maybe you should look into that.
You make great burgers, not a great date.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Red Velvet Cupcake in a Jar
One more recipe... at least for now. This is what I made for my co-workers for Christmas. I made one for myself too... you know... just so I knew it tasted good because I had never made it before. It was! I found this on Pinterest, but I changed it a little bit, and of course mine doesn't look as pretty as the one on Pinterest. It is hard to make layered desserts in Jars look good. I did my best... but yeah. The important thing is that it tasted good.
It was easy and fast AND good. Here is what I did.
Made a red velvet cake mix and poured it equally between all of the jars. Baked it in the oven according to the directions on the cake box.
After the cake baked I scooped out half of the cake in each jar (so I could layer it)
I mixed Nutella with chocolate pudding... so it tasted like Nutella pudding.
Bought Cream Cheese Frosting (I suppose you could make it too).
Layer cake then Nutella pudding then the cream cheese frosting. Repeat again.
It's rich, but so delicious. The beauty of it being in a jar... you can eat a little and close the lid and come back for more later. They were a big hit! Everyone LOVED them. I loved how fast and easy it was but still so good. I would make this again.
It was easy and fast AND good. Here is what I did.
Made a red velvet cake mix and poured it equally between all of the jars. Baked it in the oven according to the directions on the cake box.
After the cake baked I scooped out half of the cake in each jar (so I could layer it)
I mixed Nutella with chocolate pudding... so it tasted like Nutella pudding.
Bought Cream Cheese Frosting (I suppose you could make it too).
Layer cake then Nutella pudding then the cream cheese frosting. Repeat again.
It's rich, but so delicious. The beauty of it being in a jar... you can eat a little and close the lid and come back for more later. They were a big hit! Everyone LOVED them. I loved how fast and easy it was but still so good. I would make this again.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Greek Yogurt Biscuits
Another new recipe I tried for the dinner party. It was easy and good. I would make them again.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 6 tablespoons very cold butter, cubed
- 3/4 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 egg
Directions:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
- Using the paddle attachment, mix in cold, cubed butter until you have a crumb mixture. If you don't have a paddle attachment, you can cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or two forks by hand. You want to keep little pea sized clumps of cold butter in your dough because this will create little air pockets in the biscuits as they bake and make them nice and fluffy.
- In a separate small bowl, beat the egg and then stir in the Greek yogurt.
- Add the egg and yogurt to the dry ingredients on low speed until a dough ball forms and pulls away from the edge of the bowl.
- On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough about ten times.
- Roll out the dough to 1 inch thick. Using a 3 inch round cutter or the rim of a glass, cut out biscuits and place them on a Silpat lined or greased baking sheet.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. The tops of the biscuits should be golden brown.
Friday, January 2, 2015
White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecakes
This is the dessert I made for my little Christmas dinner party. I don't know about everyone else, but I loved it.... but I love cheesecake and mousse and all that stuff. I pretty much love all sugar. Wish I didn't. Anyway, it was good and pretty easy to make, so I would make them again. I like these types of desserts for a dinner party, because it's small and a little lighter, so it's just a little something sweet and refreshing after a meal.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- ½ package Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers (about 20 cookies)
- 10 After Eight chocolate mints
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 1-ounce package sugar-free white chocolate instant pudding mix (or a 3-ounce package of the regular pudding mix)
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 1-ounce package sugar-free cheesecake-flavored instant pudding mix (or a 3-ounce package of the regular pudding mix)
- ½ teaspoon real peppermint extract (do not use mint extract which is typically a combination of peppermint and spearmint)
- 1 12-ounce container frozen whipped topping, plus extra for garnish, if desired
- 1-2 drops of red food coloring (optional)
- Candy cane sticks, After Eight chocolate mints, and additional crushed chocolate wafers and crushed candy canes for garnish, if desired
For the crust
For the filling
Instructions
- Place the chocolate wafers and chocolate mints in the bowl of a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse again until combined.
- Spoon the crumbs into individual 9-ounce plastic cups (or other individual sized cups for serving). Place in the refrigerator to set while you are preparing the filling.
- Prepare the white chocolate pudding with the milk according to package instructions. (Note: Do NOT prepare the cheesecake pudding mix – that will be added as a dry stabilizer later in the recipe.)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until light and creamy.
- Add the prepared white chocolate pudding, the dry cheesecake pudding mix and the peppermint extract and beat until completely mixed, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure that all ingredients are well combined.
- Change your stand mixture attachment to the wire whisk. On slow speed, fold in the tub of frozen whipped topping and until well combined. If you’d like to tint your cheesecakes a light pink “peppermint” color, add 1 drop of red food coloring - you can leave the color swirled or mix completely for a light pink color. If desired, add a second drop of red food coloring if you want a darker pink color and mix again.
- Allow the mixture to sit in the refrigerator for about an hour to firm up.
- Using a large pastry bag with a large tip, or a spoon, top the chocolate mint crumb crust in each cup with the cheesecake mixture and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Garnish with additional whipped topping, a candy cane stick, a chocolate mint and crushed chocolate wafers and candy canes, if desired.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 252 - Happy New Year
Well, it's 2015. Is it weird for me to say I'm glad 2014 is over? I just reviewed my New Year's post from last year.... 2013 was VERY AWESOME! 2014 has not been quite as awesome. I mean, it hasn't been bad, I just don't know how I could have done better than 2013. I didn't even set new goals because I was so happy with how the year went. ha ha. I just reread the post to see how I did on my goals (because that is what I always do) and I saw that I didn't write any. Maybe that is why my year wasn't as great. I'm a very goal oriented person and I didn't give myself anything to accomplish or work towards. Well.... maybe this is an every other year type thing. 2013 was awesome, so 2014 had to not be as awesome so that 2015 can be super awesome? Let's hope so.
I haven't been doing much this past week except for getting fat. Well, I did go on a bad date with a guy that owns one of the food trucks that I have eaten at. That was interesting. I gave my opinion and pretty much got yelled at over dinner. I just sat there and listened to him talk about himself the entire time. He didn't ask me one question about myself. Those dates are always fun. Anyway... it wasn't fun at all.
Besides that I went out to lunch with my visiting teacher today, Stacey. She is becoming a good friend. I love that. She is getting married in a few months though, so I can't get too attached. I'm just sad we weren't friends earlier because she has been in the ward a while, we just never got to know each other. I also saw two movies this last week. "Into the Woods" and "Wild". I enjoyed both of them. I have always been so excited for "Into the Woods" to be made into a movie musical because it has always been one of my favorite musicals. I thought they did a great job with it.
Since I haven't had that eventful of a week, I guess I should review just a few highlights from the year since I do my year in review on my blogaversary.
Concerts this year:
Only 1 - Amos Lee, but I love him and have been wanting to see him for a long time, and he did NOT disappoint.
I started my reef (salt water fish tank)
Tried some new things:
New Recipe's
Food Trucks
Crafts from Pinterest
Book Binding
Snow shoeing
Camping in a Yurt
Ice Fishing
Gave my patio a make over
Got a big calling - Activities co-chair
Went on some new hikes:
Donut Falls
Angles Landing
Went scuba diving somewhere new
Saw two wonders of the world:
Colosseum (I think they took the pyramids out and put this one on the list)
Machu Picchu
Sold my car - 2003 Ford Focus
Bought a new car - 2014 CX-5
Visited 2 new states
Texas
Louisiana
Visited 3 new Countries
Peru
Italy
Greece
So maybe I did more than I thought I did... but it still doesn't beat the year before. That's ok because this next year is going to be AMAZING! Right? Lets see, what do I want to accomplish this next year?
Of course like every year I want to visit at least one new state and one new country. This shouldn't be hard. I am already planning my trip with friends to visit at least 2 new countries. I also want to scuba dive somewhere new like always and that should also be no problem because we are planning on doing that on our trip.
I would like to have better health. I feel like this is a goal I'm always giving myself. I have gained some weight back since losing the 55. Not all of it, but some. So I want to lose what I gained plus more to get to my original goal weight. I feel like that shouldn't be too hard since I don't have as much to lose this time, but we shall see. I also need to be better about exercise. Maybe I need to sign up for a couple of races to help me with this?
I know this one is out of my control, but I want this to be the year that I find love. The love that is going to take me to marriage.
I really need to work on my spirituality. That has been lacking big time over the last year. I need to make going to the temple a priority and go at least once a month and be better about reading the scriptures and saying daily prayer. So basic, but it's so hard for me... and then I feel bad that I struggle with it so much because it doesn't seem like anyone else does.
I feel like I am constantly doing this, but I want to organize and de-clutter my life. I'm constantly trying to find ways to create more space and get rid of stuff I don't use or need. Some things that I want to keep because I am sentimental about it but it takes up more space, I want to find a way to keep it in a more space efficient way. For example. I have always been VERY good about writing in a journal, pretty much since I was in 3rd grade. I have tons of journals that take up a lot of space. I'm thinking about going through each one (I know this will take a lot of time) and taking a picture of each page. Then just storing the pictures in folders according to the years of the journal. I can then either just keep it on my external hard drive or I could even have it printed into a smaller more compact book. I also need to transfer my tapes to digital on my computer and my mom helped me make another T-Shirt quilt that we need to finish. Stuff like this. I love freeing up space and I am going to continue to think of more ways to do that so I don't have as much "stuff"
I would like to go to a new National Park. I would like to take more weekend adventures and road trips (especially now that I have an awesome new car).
I want to socialize and network more than I do now. Reach out and be a better friend, and better daughter/ granddaughter, sister, a better niece and a better aunt. In fact I got this idea from my friends Liz & Ben. For their nieces and nephews birthday's, they take them out and do something cheap, like buy a soda or whatever... but it is about spending time and doing something special just with them. I want to start doing that with my nieces and nephews for their birthday's. Wish they all lived here so I could do it with all of them.
Is that enough to work on for a year? Too much? I don't know.... but here's hoping that 2015 is a great year. I do love the feeling of starting over and new possibilities.
Oh, and last night I didn't do much, but more than I thought I would. I brought in the new year with ward friends... chatting and saying goodbye to my friend Mary who is moving. She has been my friend for a few years... so it is sad to say goodbye, but always excited for my friends and their new adventures.
I haven't been doing much this past week except for getting fat. Well, I did go on a bad date with a guy that owns one of the food trucks that I have eaten at. That was interesting. I gave my opinion and pretty much got yelled at over dinner. I just sat there and listened to him talk about himself the entire time. He didn't ask me one question about myself. Those dates are always fun. Anyway... it wasn't fun at all.
Besides that I went out to lunch with my visiting teacher today, Stacey. She is becoming a good friend. I love that. She is getting married in a few months though, so I can't get too attached. I'm just sad we weren't friends earlier because she has been in the ward a while, we just never got to know each other. I also saw two movies this last week. "Into the Woods" and "Wild". I enjoyed both of them. I have always been so excited for "Into the Woods" to be made into a movie musical because it has always been one of my favorite musicals. I thought they did a great job with it.
Since I haven't had that eventful of a week, I guess I should review just a few highlights from the year since I do my year in review on my blogaversary.
Concerts this year:
Only 1 - Amos Lee, but I love him and have been wanting to see him for a long time, and he did NOT disappoint.
I started my reef (salt water fish tank)
Tried some new things:
New Recipe's
Food Trucks
Crafts from Pinterest
Book Binding
Snow shoeing
Camping in a Yurt
Ice Fishing
Gave my patio a make over
Got a big calling - Activities co-chair
Went on some new hikes:
Donut Falls
Angles Landing
Went scuba diving somewhere new
Saw two wonders of the world:
Colosseum (I think they took the pyramids out and put this one on the list)
Machu Picchu
Sold my car - 2003 Ford Focus
Bought a new car - 2014 CX-5
Visited 2 new states
Texas
Louisiana
Visited 3 new Countries
Peru
Italy
Greece
So maybe I did more than I thought I did... but it still doesn't beat the year before. That's ok because this next year is going to be AMAZING! Right? Lets see, what do I want to accomplish this next year?
Of course like every year I want to visit at least one new state and one new country. This shouldn't be hard. I am already planning my trip with friends to visit at least 2 new countries. I also want to scuba dive somewhere new like always and that should also be no problem because we are planning on doing that on our trip.
I would like to have better health. I feel like this is a goal I'm always giving myself. I have gained some weight back since losing the 55. Not all of it, but some. So I want to lose what I gained plus more to get to my original goal weight. I feel like that shouldn't be too hard since I don't have as much to lose this time, but we shall see. I also need to be better about exercise. Maybe I need to sign up for a couple of races to help me with this?
I know this one is out of my control, but I want this to be the year that I find love. The love that is going to take me to marriage.
I really need to work on my spirituality. That has been lacking big time over the last year. I need to make going to the temple a priority and go at least once a month and be better about reading the scriptures and saying daily prayer. So basic, but it's so hard for me... and then I feel bad that I struggle with it so much because it doesn't seem like anyone else does.
I feel like I am constantly doing this, but I want to organize and de-clutter my life. I'm constantly trying to find ways to create more space and get rid of stuff I don't use or need. Some things that I want to keep because I am sentimental about it but it takes up more space, I want to find a way to keep it in a more space efficient way. For example. I have always been VERY good about writing in a journal, pretty much since I was in 3rd grade. I have tons of journals that take up a lot of space. I'm thinking about going through each one (I know this will take a lot of time) and taking a picture of each page. Then just storing the pictures in folders according to the years of the journal. I can then either just keep it on my external hard drive or I could even have it printed into a smaller more compact book. I also need to transfer my tapes to digital on my computer and my mom helped me make another T-Shirt quilt that we need to finish. Stuff like this. I love freeing up space and I am going to continue to think of more ways to do that so I don't have as much "stuff"
I would like to go to a new National Park. I would like to take more weekend adventures and road trips (especially now that I have an awesome new car).
I want to socialize and network more than I do now. Reach out and be a better friend, and better daughter/ granddaughter, sister, a better niece and a better aunt. In fact I got this idea from my friends Liz & Ben. For their nieces and nephews birthday's, they take them out and do something cheap, like buy a soda or whatever... but it is about spending time and doing something special just with them. I want to start doing that with my nieces and nephews for their birthday's. Wish they all lived here so I could do it with all of them.
Is that enough to work on for a year? Too much? I don't know.... but here's hoping that 2015 is a great year. I do love the feeling of starting over and new possibilities.
Oh, and last night I didn't do much, but more than I thought I would. I brought in the new year with ward friends... chatting and saying goodbye to my friend Mary who is moving. She has been my friend for a few years... so it is sad to say goodbye, but always excited for my friends and their new adventures.
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