Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 321

It has been SO rainy! I don't mind the rain, but I am READY for the sunshine.

Over the weekend.... I did NOTHING. I hate that. I sat on the couch all weekend because it was cold and rainy and didn't have anything to do. I don't want another repeat of that. I also woke up Saturday morning with a sore throat. I went from bad allergies to cold. However, I told that cold where to go because I took some ongaurd and got a lot of sleep and drank lots of water and it went away that night. Thank goodness for that. My allergies have also pretty much gone away now... probably because pretty much all the blossoms have fallen off of the trees.

Tuesday I was asked to give a class about massage for our relief society spa night activity. It went really well. Everyone really took in everything that I had to say. It was better than I expected it to be. Everyone understood the important of massage and was inspired to get them more often and take better care of their bodies... which was the whole point. I also taught the girls a few techniques that they could try on each other and lectured about having a foam roller. I have a love hate relationship with my foam roller... I recommend it to everyone. Anyway... great class.

My diet is going down hill fast. I am back on sugar and sticking less and less to my diet. To make things worse, Friday we had "Fun Food Day" and I made my Lemon Lavender cake and I ate crap all day and this week is quarter end, so they give us a bunch of treats and give us lunch and breakfast... It's sad. Anyway... I feel fat and crappy again. I have been going to the gym and working pretty hard at the gym and the days that I'm not busy, MacKenzie and I have been walking after work and my co-worker Joe and I sometimes walk around the campus for a break. It's not enough though. So that leads me to what else happened this week...

Tonight I met with a personal trainer. I have done the personal trainer thing before through 24 hour fitness. It's expensive I know, but I think I have gotten desperate for a change. Last time I did it... It was only for 5 weeks I think maybe a little longer, and we only met together twice a week. We talked about diet, but he didn't really make a plan for me in that area. This time... I think it will be different. From what we talked about tonight anyway. I will be going to Orem to this guy's personal gym. I will be working out with him Monday-Friday for an hour every day. He will put me on a detox diet for the first 14 days... after that he will give me shopping lists and meal plans of what I will eat along with working out with him everyday. It is going to be hard and it will suck... I'm not sure it will get any easier... but I need to do this. I want to be in good shape. I want the transformation. So... I'm hopeful. I am strong and I work hard... so I think I can do this. I start Monday.

I FINALLY finished Ally McBeal. It took a long time to get through 5 seasons. That show was weird and a half. There were SO many different guest stars. So many of the main characters left with no explanation. I was glad when I finally got to the end. So now I am catching up on my other shows. Blacklist, New Girl, Agents of Shield, Blindspot, Mindy Project, Nashville, etc... I started watching Dance with the Stars because of Nile... he is the deaf guy that won America's next top model. He is SO GOOD. It is amazing to me that someone who can't hear music can dance so well. He is also VERY nice to look at. Just saying. At night I have been watching Catfish. I have now gotten two of my roommates hooked on it as well. (I didn't even mean to make a pun there... just happened). It's hard not to fall in love with Nev and Max. Such a fun show. I am in the 3rd season now. So good.

I had a date set up for Wednesday...... I was going to write about it... however, I think it deserves it's own post. So I will write one tomorrow.

Still practicing the Ukulele and Guitar. I put a new battery in my tuner so now both are perfectly in tune. It is amazing how long I played my guitar out of tune. I knew it was, but I didn't think it was as bad as it was. Anyway... still trying to decide if I am going to start recording myself sing and play. That has always been hard for me to sing and play at the same time, so maybe that would be good practice for me.

 Getting close to setting my patio back up. As soon as I feel like it is going to stop raining, I'll get the patio ready. I'm excited. Nothing better than having my patio back (back to pretty and being a hang out space) and spring cleaning. Still getting going through stuff to get rid of stuff. I love having a clean and non-cluttered space. I know... so weird. I thought that was normal, but I don't think it is because the majority of the people that I have lived with have not been like that. One day... I will have more control over my house. I dream of having my own place once day and what it will look like. Anyway....

I guess that is all for this week. Peace.

Photo of the Week 319

You know how I love sunsets... this was taken just up the street from where I live. Just have to walk up a little hill and then I have a pretty nice view over Provo.

Rainy Day's and Monday's

I guess Rainy Days and Monday's DO get people down. I was the only one at the gym today.



Not mad about it....

Redecorating the Living Room

My living room in the basement has been decorated the same for the last 5 years or so. It was inspired by my trip to India. I loved it... especially loved how unique it was... but I was ready for a change. Side note, while searching for my old images of my living room online... expecting to just come across my blog in the image search I found that pictures of my living room are posted on a  few different websites and I had no idea until just now. I guess people don't need your permission to do that? One of them sited my blog but the others didn't. Whatever. Here is what the living room used to look like.

Now I'm not doing a FULL makeover to the room, a lot of the main stuff is staying the same, but I have been switching things out here and there. I'm not going to give you a picture of the entire room because it isn't done, but I wanted to show you bits and pieces so far.  I have obviously changed the look by going more neutral and taking out a lot of the colors. Question now is... do I get a new couch? I was looking at a charcoal grey one. Do I take the decals off of the wall? Do I get any additional seating? Or will that look too crowded? When I feel like the room is complete, I will post a final picture... so far I like the changes I have made but I do feel a little bit stuck of how I want to complete the look.

Got rid of my old book shelf and got this one. I love the look of this one even though it doesn't hold as much as my old bookshelf did.

Did away with the colored pillows (well, they are all still there, just covered with these new cases... except for the fur one) and went neutral.

Got a coffee table. Not 100% sure on the table runner... just testing it out, might just like the plain wood better. Oh and a new rug... which I am in love with. Thank you RugsUSA for my 80% discount on Cyber Monday.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 320

So Prince died today. So weird that all of these big celebrities have been dying lately. Also weird that my fish, Purple Rain, died so soon before Prince did. Coincidence? You can decide.

Today I was coming back from the gym on my lunch break and about to get on the elevator. The door opened and there was a guy inside. He wasn't coming off the elevator... just stalling there. I started to wonder what was going on. He started to slowly back out of the elevator and I looked at his face and he seemed to have a weird look on his face... confused? Unsure about something? I don't know. He finally gets all the way out and starts to walk away and I walk in feeling very suspicious of what was happening. As soon as I walked in the elevator and the doors closed I should have guessed what happened. He farted in the elevator and now the smell was trapped in there and so was I. Gross! I don't know why people haven't caught on at work yet that smells stay trapped in the elevator for a VERY long time. If a smoker just came back from their smoke break, that smell lingers for a long time. If someone has bad body oder THAT smell lingers for a long time... so if you decide to fart in the elevator, that too is going to linger for a long time. Aren't they embarrassed by that? I would be, but I would never do that in public... like ever. Yuck. Hopefully the people that got on after me didn't think that I did it.

I have been walking (and a little bit of jogging) after work everyday to get my 10,000 steps in. Usually my roommate MacKenzie has been going with me, which has been nice. Makes the 3 miles go by faster when you have someone to talk to. Today she couldn't, but on my way out I ran into my friend Daniel who I hadn't talk to or hung out with in a while and asked him if he wanted to come, so he did. That was nice. He has been such a dear friend over the last few years. I mean... we don't hang out or talk that much, but he is one that I know always cares and I could go to him for anything if I wanted to and he would be there. If only I could convince him to go on another trip with me... we shall see. I'm working on him. He isn't opposed, I just have to get him to commit. :)

I learned another new song... this time on the guitar and not the ukulele. It is a song called "5 foot 3" and it is my favorite song by the band Flannel Graph... the ones that I saw at the BYU radio station with Stacey. Anyway... I learned it on the guitar and I can play and sing at the same time which is really hard for me to do, so even though it's an easy song, I am going to pat myself on the back for it. Maybe I will record it and post it on here. I don't really do that... but maybe I will start. We will see.

I'm still watching Ally McBeal. That show is weird and a half. I'm pretty over it... but you know how I am... I have to see it through until the end (if I know there is an end) I'm on season 4 so I just have to finish this season and I have one more season to go.  Meanwhile... I am still keeping up on all of my other shows, but the one I am still super hooked on is "Catfish". Not only that but I got my roommates hooked on it too. It is just so interesting...plus I just love the guys that do the show. MacKenzie and I are getting a big crush on Nev. Not ashamed to admit my TV crushes. I became social media friends /pen pals with Morgan from "The Travel Bug" maybe I will reach out to Nev too. ha ha. We shall see. I did start following his page on Facebook though and it made me like him even more because he puts out a lot of positive messages... especially to women to love themselves for who they are and not get caught up on outward appearances. What a great guy. Just trying to be a positive influence on the world. It's respectable.

So I wrote all about my adventure to the Sun Tunnels. I had so much fun making new friends. What a fun group. I was most festinated by John, the Deaf guy that came. He is the sweetest. I was also SUPER impressed by him. He has been deaf since he was 2 because of getting sick and being allergic to the medication the doctors gave him but not knowing. However... he didn't learn sign language until his mission his friends told me. That blew me away. How do you go through life with no language. He was AMAZING at reading lips and could talk a little bit. He told me that he read a lot of books. Anyway... super cool guy, I am excited to hang out with him again and in the meantime, I have been learning basic sign language on YouTube so that I can hopefully communicate with him a little better next time we hang out. Hopefully I can learn from him too, but he mostly just reads lips with people he hangs out with. Although these friends... were really good about learning sign and including him in all the conversation. Really cool. I hope to be spending more time with all of them. I always wanted to learn sign language too, so maybe this is now my excuse.

I had a date on Monday with a guy that I met online. He lives in Sandy, so we met for dinner in the middle. We talked for 3 hours... so I would call that a good date. I told him after that I had fun and he wrote back telling me he had fun too... but then I haven't heard anything since. I wish I could tell what people were thinking sometimes. This is why I don't put stalk into anyone until not only we have met in person... but gone on a few dates at least... then I can start thinking of them as potential. Until then, I don't assume anyone is going to stick around. It's sad, but true. Who knows... maybe I will hear from him again and we will hang out, but I'm not holding my breathe. It's fine, I had fun, but it's not like he was amazing.

Tonight after my walk, I went to the Food Truck Roundup by myself. I just didn't feel like eating another salad. That is all I eat for lunch and dinner every day. It was time for a change. Plus I love the roundup. I just try not to go anymore because it's expensive and not healthy. It's ok every once in a while though. So I went. It was so nice outside, it seemed like a good activity to do. No regrets.

Other than that... I have just been working and exercising every day. Nothing too exciting. That and enjoying all of the blossoms. My favorite trees are all in bloom right now, they are always the last ones to bloom, but they are beautiful and they smell the best. I just want to hammock under them and take in the smell. Thankfully my allergies are dying down as well. those are a pain. That was me week. Until next week!

Photo of the Week 318

These are some of my favorite trees during Spring. They look beautiful and smell just as great.

I LOVE Spring!

All of the trees are in bloom, including my favorite orchard in Provo. So I decided to try and take some hammock pictures for Nod Hammocks since I have been slacking on hammock pictures for them lately. It was a little hard to get pictures in the hammock by myself... but I managed to get a couple.