Photo of the Week 338

One of the many geysers in Yellowstone.

Yellowstone

It had been over 10 years since I had been to Yellowstone. You know what I decided? Yellowstone is pretty, but I like Grand Teton more than Yellowstone. I think Grand Teton is really underrated. Yellowstone is still great though and I learned it was the first National Park. We had a fun time exploring it.

First thing we went to was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone which has a beautiful waterfall. We did a short little hike for a better view of the water fall. It was a little cold... fall is already in full swing up there. I'd rather be a little cold than really hot though... especially when I'm hiking. Great little hike. We enjoyed it.

Stopped to set up the hammock in a forest of dead trees. There have been a lot of fires in the area lately.

We found a pretty place that was tucked away in the forrest. It was very quiet and beautiful and hardly anyone passing by. PERFECT!! I brought dehydrated meals for breakfast and dinner. Love getting to use my Jetboil and it's nice to have a warm yummy meal instead of just road trip junk food. My kind of breakfast in bed.

Of course we saw some Bison.

And stopped by Gibbon Falls.... which we both LOVED. Yellowstone is great!

Choose Your Own Adventure Weekend

Labor Day weekend is a great opportunity to get out of town since it is a 3 day weekend. I was itching to leave Utah. Hillary was feeling the same. So we decided to get out of town. We didn't know where we were going to go, we were just going to pack up the car and go!

We left after the gym... so we didn't end up leaving until almost 9pm. We decided at the gym that we would head to Grand Teton since we are running out of warm weather.

We also had no plans beyond that. We decided it would be a choose your own adventure weekend. We would take turns deciding things as we went along. Where we would stop, if we wanted to stop and shop at gas stations, if we wanted to stop somewhere random along the way to take pictures... we didn't care what we did. There was no agenda. We were just happy to be getting out of town and relaxing and enjoying the outdoors. We had a lot of random stops! It is so nice to not be on a schedule. To do whatever you feel like doing at the time.

We also didn't book any camping spots or hotels. Why? Because we were going to sleep in the car. I had been wanting to try this for a while because my car is big enough to do it and if it is comfortable enough... why not. Makes things easier. As soon as you are tired you just park somewhere and sleep. So that was the plan... and you know what? I LOVED it. I mean, I could improve the bed situation, but it was so EASY and we didn't have to plan anything or pay for anything or set anything up. It was just right there all the time. So we would just move stuff from the back seat to the front seat when we were ready to sleep. Easy enough right? I most definitely want to do this again and improve on the set up next time. We both fit in there with plenty of space. The first night we stopped at a park in Blackfoot Idaho because we got tired and needed a place to park. I didn't know if we would get in trouble for parking at the park... but the park didn't seem to close, so we were fine. The next two nights we found a pretty place to park within Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks that were out of the way. It was perfect.

And of course we had fun just driving and enjoying the music and the scenery which is good because there was a lot of driving... and Hillary is the queen of taking pictures and took LOTS while I was driving.

More pictures to come... but I thought I would introduce how we did this trip because it was a little different and very enjoyable. Hillary is a blast and I hope another one of these adventure weekends happens again. Loved it.

Star Valley Wyoming Temple

On our little Labor Day Road Trip... we were driving through Afton Wyoming and I saw an Angel Moroni in the distance. Is that a temple? I don't remember there being a temple there last year when I passed through. We got closer. Indeed, it is a temple. When did that go up? So we looked it up.

Not even dedicated yet. Cool! Didn't even do that on purpose, but so fun to run into a new temple. Naturally we pulled over to take a picture.

BONK!

Thank you Jimmy Fallon for creating a stupid app that makes me laugh. I showed it to my boss and she thought it was so funny she made everyone on the team do it. Here are a few of them.

Jayna wanted to see what happened when you did two faces at the same time. It only did her face! Ha! Not sure why it chose her face over mine.

Here is one of my many BONK transformations.

Awkward Moment

Today I was in the cafe at work, getting a salad from the salad bar as I typically do these days. It has gotten to the point where the lady at the register that checks me out almost every time wonders if I eat anything else. She makes comments... your salad, as usual. How is that salad going for you? Do you eat anything else? How do you eat a salad every day? I couldn't do it... stuff like that. I just smile and nod and tell her I do my best to stay healthy and this is easy for me to come get a small salad from the salad bar. What else do I say?

Today when I got in line to check out at the register with this same lady (who is very friendly and chatty with everyone) the guy in front of me was showing her some video on his phone. I don't mind, I just wait until she is ready to check me out. I'm in no rush. Then the guy comes over to me. I thought he was super friendly as well and wanted to show me the video also... since I was there? I don't know... I just go with whatever happens at work. There are a lot of different people with different personalities and you have weird/awkward elevator conversations and interesting encounters in the hall ways and Hot Grandpa (what Lauren and I nicknamed the body builder at the gym in his 50's) showing me his abs in the gym and wanting to share his food with me in the break room. You know... you just roll with it. So I look at this guys phone like he is going to show me whatever he just showed the lady at the register... but then instead of showing me a video, he gets closer to make a comment.

"I haven't seen you in the gym in a while. What happened? You were going so regularly".

I pause and look at this guy. I have a few different thoughts go through my head. First, I have never seen this guy in my life. He doesn't look familiar. My next thought is, does he think I'm someone else? However, I am a regular in the gym. So... maybe he is in there all the time and I have just never noticed him. If this is true, I feel bad. There are not that many people that go to the work gym when I do, so I feel like I recognize the people that are usually there at the same time as me. He obviously noticed me. However, I am one of the few girls that is a regular at the work gym these days.

I feel like I don't hide emotions very well, so I was just hoping that these thoughts didn't show on my face. I tried really hard to play it off like I totally recognized this guy and started explaining that I do try and get my cardio in at the work gym on my lunch break, however, I meet with a personal trainer after work... so it doesn't always happen, but I am still working out and working out hard... not to worry. Is it weird that I have to explain myself to strangers? That I have to update random people on my health and fitness? Maybe it is good to know that people notice? People that I don't even know or recognize? Ha ha. I mean... It is good that people check up on me because it makes me feel more accountable. I just wasn't expecting it from someone I have never seen before in my life. He then told me my hard work shows. It's paying off... he can tell. The lady at the register agreed. Thank you? Ha ha.

For some reason this experience made me feel awkward and strange. I mean... I try to always play things off cool, even when I don't feel that way, and I hope it comes across that way... but I seriously was so weirded out that this guy was checking up on me that I had never noticed before.

Am I crazy? Would anyone else feel weird too? Or am I totally overreacting?

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 339

Another week! I guess times flies when you are having fun... or when you are busy, or both.

I already blogged about The Grid and Silver lake which was pretty much my weekend. I did also get together with a guy I was seeing hear and there for over a month... and then he pretty much told me he was too much of a mess to be involved with me, but then started texting me again almost 2 months later saying he missed me and wanted to see me again. They always come back. ha ha. He is a mess. I enjoy his company but I never expect anything from him. Is that sad? Maybe. It was good to see him again.

Sunday was family dinner. As usual. Always relaxing and nice. After dinner I went over to my cousin's house to work on the travel blog again. I feel like WordPress should be easier to figure out than it is. Usually I am pretty good at figuring out techy stuff. Not this... I feel like a retard. Plus... Heather and I both have so many ideas, we get excited and sidetracked and then don't get as much done as we should. ha ha. It's slowly coming along though.

I already blogged about Boyz II Men. So fun. They are awesome. I'm glad they are still performing and that people still want to see them. They are great. Just Josh and the girls. Ha ha... His wife, Miranda is fun. We all had a blast. Glad we all got to go together. I love a good concert.

Tuesday I went out with another guy I met online. He was ok. Not really my type and I knew that before I met him, but for some reason there are a few guys that are persuasive enough to convince me to go out with them even though I don't really want to and am not excited about it. We had a good chat, but I don't care to go out with him again. And of course... I feel this way and he will be one of the guys that keeps trying to hang out with me. Why is that? Why can't the ones I like be the ones that pursue me? Such is dating I guess. That is why it is a miracle when people get married.

Wednesday, MacKenzie came over to watch our shows. I LOVE that she is back in town. It is so much fun to watch shows together than watch them separate and then text each other about them... which is what we were doing all summer. Plus, I just like having her around. I loved living with her. We are in the same boat, we think similarly and we have great conversation about life. She is easy to get along with and we love the same shows. So glad she is back. Even though I don't see her everyday anymore, I will take once a week. :)

Today has just been chill. Went to work. Went to the gym to work out with Josh and now I'm just home. Trying to catch up on stuff but having a great time just doing nothing. I really need to get motivated to start working on some projects. That would make me feel better. Just never seems to be enough time in a day. At the same time, I seem to be way more productive when I am busy than when I have nothing. Why is that? It's true though. It's like I'm already in busy mode so it is easy to keep being busy, but when I'm being lazy... it's so much easier to keep being lazy then wanting to work on a project. Maybe I should start scheduling my projects? Instead of having a free night to do whatever... I should be in my calendar that that free night is to work on a video, or a book of a trip or to go through my closet again. Maybe I will give that a try.