Memorial Weekend in Santa Barbara- Day 4

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I hope that you all have had a great weekend and remember why we have this nice day off. As I went to the beach this morning with my friends, I saw flags and crosses all along the beach. I thought it was great. I am very thankful for the soldiers who have and are fighting for our country. We are truly blessed.

Today was the last day of my trip home. I told you it would go by too fast. It really did. I am not really ready to go back yet, but I'm leaving very early in the morning to fly back.

This morning Brad and Lauren came back over and we all got ready to go to the beach. Before we left (while I was eating breakfast) we let my mom's birds out of the cage so we could play with them. They are so fun because they are tame. I love those birds. My nieces named them Sweetheart & Little Dude. They were a big hit with Steve & Brad. While I was eating my granola, the birds came and landed on my bowl and started drinking my milk. I thought it was so funny.
We then went downtown to the Harbor where Brad, Steve and Lauren rented kayaks. I would normally love doing this, but wasn't feeling that great today. So while they kayaked, Lorelie, Ashlee and I took a nap on the beach (I got a little sun burn) and built a sand castle.

After that we headed home. Once again my dad had BBQed for us. So everyone had a great lunch and then Lorelie & Ashlee headed back to UT, Steve headed back to San Francisco, and Brad & Lauren headed back to Newport Beach. So now it is just back to me and my family. I fly back to Provo tomorrow and Jamie drives back to Arizona tomorrow as well.

Because we packed in SO much this weekend, I was pretty tired and just took it easy the rest of the day with my parents and sister.

Before Ashlee & Lorelie left, Ash and I wanted to take a picture next to this sign next to my parents house. Ashlee's last name is Whitaker (close to Whittier) and mine is Mills.

The weekend was a blast. I love my home of Santa Barbara. I love my family and spending time with them whenever I can, and I am blessed with many good friends. It was SO great to be able to spend time with Steve & Brad this weekend. We have been best friends for 6 years and I don't get to see them very often anymore, so it was really a treat. So glad they were willing to drive and come visit me. I am also so glad my parents don't mind having a packed house. Over the years, my parents have downgraded in size on the house. This weekend we had my parents in their room, my sister and her two kids in another room, me and Ashlee & Lorelie in another room and Steve was on an air mattress in the study! That is 7 adults & 2 kids in a 3 bedroom house. It was a blast, but I always love a party. :o)

It was a wonderful weekend.

P.S. I posted all of the pictures on facebook for anyone that wants to see.

Memorial Weekend in Santa Barbara- Day 3

Today we all got to sleep in, which was great. This trip has been wearing us out. We sat around in the morning and then went to church with my parents. After church Brad and his wife Lauren drove up from New Port Beach, where they are living now to spend the rest of the weekend with us. We went to iMadonnari at the Santa Barbara Mission. It is something they do every year. They have artist (many local, but some not) working all weekend on a chalk drawing at the mission. A lot of them are quite amazing. It is like going to a museum, except this one will eventually be washed away. We also visited the rose garden by the Mission.

We then came back home and my dad put on yet another amazing BBQ for us. One last night, one tonight and one more tomorrow afternoon. My dad feeds us like royalty! The BBQ is amazing. We also have been enjoying eating outside on this beautiful weekend of perfect weather. It also has been so fun to be with my friends AND family.

After dinner we went to hang out at the beach and watch the sunset, the boys chased the seagulls and we just laughed and played. Ashlee, Lorelie and I want to spend as much time at the beach before we have to go back to Provo. It was a beautiful way to spend the evening. It has been so fun to be with Brad and Steve again too. I have really missed them. Such great friends, and getting together is just like old times.
After the beach we came home and played "Things" the game for hours. It was a lot of fun. Now we are off to bed. Tomorrow is our last day in beautiful Santa Barbara. I'm sad already. I don't want it to be over, I have been having SO much fun!

Memorial Weekend in Santa Barbara- Day 2

Although it was a late night last night when Ashlee and Lorelie came in to town, we started this morning off early. I took Marine Biology in college and it was one of my favorite classes. As part of our lab, we would go tide pooling. I had not done it since, so I really wanted to go while I was home. I looked up the tide schedule and it just so happened to be that the lowest tide of the month was this morning at 5:30! We got up at 6:30 and got there a little before 7 (because my parents live that close to the beach). It was awesome! I love the ocean. It was the perfect temperature, the sun was out and we saw beautiful cranes and pelicans, lots of star fish, mussels, and much more. It was awesome. I think that Ashlee and Lorelie enjoyed it as well. My mom took us, which was awesome. It was the perfect way to start the morning. There were so many great pictures, it was hard to pick my faves, so I ended up with a big collage.

Here we are on on this beautiful Santa Barbara day. Look how happy we are to be here instead of Provo. :o)
We then came home and my mom made us breakfast. Can I tell you how much I have been loving eating breakfast? Then we took a little rest and hung out with the family before heading back out for more fun. Next I took the girls downtown to "Longboards Grill" on the Wharf in downtown Santa Barbara. We all ordered a sea food dish (since we are in Cali, eating on the ocean where we have an endless supply of fresh fish). It was fun to next to the window where we could stare out on the water and watch birds fly by and watch the boats and such. After lunch, on the way to meet up with my mom and sister, we saw a cute seal laying out on a boat next to the wharf.
Once we met up with the family again, we decided to rent one of those family bicycle's. We rode around a path that goes along side the beach. It was very relaxing and the scenery was beautiful. I think everyone had a good time, including little Asher and baby Gwen.
After that we met up with Lori and her kids and walked around State street, looked in a few spots and admired the charm of downtown Santa Barbara. I appreciated it growing up, but I think I appreciate it even more so now that I don't live here anymore. LOVE my hometown. William was extra stylish and cool in his sunglasses.
We were pretty exhausted by the end of all this. So we headed home, my dad made an AMAZING BBQ dinner (I really miss those while I am away) and now, one of my best friends, Steve is in town. We have another fun day ahead of us tomorrow. More and more people keep getting added to this party weekend in Santa Barbara. I love it.

Memorial Weekend in Santa Barbara- Day 1

I came home Thursday night. My mom came and got me from the airport. I can't tell you how nice it is to be home, especially after the Utah Bi-Polar weather. Plus, I always enjoy coming home anyway. My sister Jamie and her kids came too. So today, we spent the day chatting and playing with the kids AND today was my first day I could eat more than 500 calories. It was so exciting I almost burst! We spent most of the day up at my sister Lori's house up in the mountains. Her house is so cute. It is amazing what they have done to the place. I was most excited to meet my new nephew Zachary who was born a couple of weeks ago. He is SO A-Dorable! Seriously, so tiny and so perfect in every way. I enjoyed every minute I got to spend holding him. I love him already. It is amazing how much you love your nieces and nephews.

So because I love my nieces and nephews so much, I just loved playing with them today. I love that they know me and like me and that I have formed a great relationship with each of them. I'm pretty lucky to have 7 amazing and adorable little nieces and nephews.
So my two sisters and my mom and I had lunch at Lori's. Best lunch I have had in 26 days. :o) After that we went for a little hike to the River by my sisters house. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, perfect temperature. So we sat out in the sun and waded in the nice water and the kids threw rocks and it was relaxing and wonderful.
While we were at the River, these two deer came RIGHT by us and crossed the river. I love seeing deer, they are such beautiful animals. This is nothing new for my sister living in the mountains though... she gets to see them everyday, along with wild turkey and sometimes a snake or two.
After we got back from a day at my sisters house, my good friend Holly that I grew up with came and got me and we went to "The Beachside Cafe". It was so fun to see her and catch up. I also love that we got to sit outside and eat right next to the ocean. While I was looking out on the ocean while we were eating dinner I saw a dolphin. Oh the things I love about being home. It was fun to go out to eat again. It was a beautiful evening.
Then I came home and made some granola so I could have some at home. THEN my friends Ashlee and Lorelie got here. They drove from Provo today to come spend the weekend with me at home. I am looking forward to tomorrow. We are going to have a jolly good time.

This weekend has already been amazing and it has just started. I can already see me not wanting to go back to Utah.

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HCG report. Today is my LAST day on 500 calories. My last day of the drops was on Monday, so from Tuesday on I was able to wear lotion and make up again. It feels great! On Tuesday I made granola I can eat during the maintenance period. Oh, just smelling it makes me happy. It's so good and I can't wait to eat it for breakfast tomorrow! So I didn't quite make my goal of 20. I made it to 18. 2 pounds away from my goal is not too shabby. I'm happy with it. My pants are pretty loose too, so I am hoping I dropped a pants size. That would be JUST what I wanted. I just need to try on a smaller size to find out if it was enough. Thanks for everyone that supported me in this. I have a hard time and get defensive when people give me a hard time about this diet (and a lot of people do) telling me what I'm doing is not healthy or its stupid or I will just gain the weight back, but this is the 3rd time I have done it and I am the thinnest I have ever been in my life. I never thought I would feel thin ever, or happy with my body. Right now I am, so I appreciate the support during my many HCG journeys. I am excited to be off and to be able to exercise and start cooking again!

On Monday is snowed. Really, like full on snowed for hours and stuck to the ground. Gross huh? You know, since it is a few days away from June. I guess it hit the record for the latest snow in Utah .... EVER! So glad I could be here to witness History (not). I'm over the Utah Bi-polar weather. Hopefully it is done now and maybe it could warm up a little in June and give us some sun? That would be nice.

Something I found out this week, the train in Heber is no longer doing The Polar Express for Christmas. Sadness! It was so fun. I'm glad Ash and I got to go on its last year. Sorry to all of you that didn't get to go. It was fun. I don't know what they will do now, I'm sure they will come up with something. Hopefully it is equally as awesome.

This week at Tutoring, I learned something new from one of the kids. It's not beneficial in anyway, just funny. The boy told me what a "Corn Dog" & "Horn Dog" is. Ever heard of this? If you are thinking food, you are wrong. He said a "Corn Dog" is when you bump your knee into someone else's behind, so a "Horn Dog" is when you kick them in the behind. Educational huh? Oh the things kids learn in grade school. Who comes up with this stuff? He did inform me that you only do it to guys though, not girls. Glad he is learning to be a gentleman, or maybe girls still have cooties.

I have observed that guys like girls in boots. I don't know why. Every time I wear boots (doesn't matter if they are over my jeans or under my jeans) I get checked out more by guys. I always get compliments by guys. They don't tell me that I look nice (well sometimes they do) or they like my outfit, they tell me they like my boots. My co-workers (middle aged married men) always compliment the boots. Doesn't matter if I have worn them many times before... they compliment them every time. I like the compliments, its nice. I just wonder what it is about boots that guys like so much. I feel pretty awesome when I wear boots too, but maybe it is because of my observation. Maybe there is some sort of power behind boots. j/k. It is all interesting though.

Pedicures

Normally with my friends, I like to get together and catch up by going on lunch dates. Since I can't eat a whole lot on my diet, I thought it would be fun to go on a pedicure date. Get to sit in a massage chair while people make your feet and toes pretty and smooth. You sit and talk while you pampered. I love it. Tonight I got together with a good friend of mine that I have not seen in a while. Kellie! She was one of my young women's leaders that I used to hang out with lots in high school. Her husband taught my seminary class our Jr. year. I went to the hospital when she had her first baby. He is now 11! How times passes us by. Anyway, it was so great to see Kellie and catch up. And a pedi was LONG overdue for me anyway. Thanks Kellie!

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Took this picture back in the fall in my photography class. I loved the colors!

Trophy Quest!

Sorry for so many pictures, but this was quite the event! Remember when I posted about FHE and the point system? And how each month a group won the trophy and the trophy gets passed around yada yada? Remember how a bunch of us stole the trophy? Well, we had planned to give the trophy back....with all the effort we put in to stealing it, we wanted to make giving it back more fun. So a few of us that stole the trophy (planned the event) got together and came up with Trophy Quest. It was brilliant really. The thing is... April came and things got super busy for everyone and we had to give the trophy back before we could do what we planned. But then my group ended up winning the trophy from our amazing FHE Video! So we could still do Trophy Quest, except we decided to make it a ward FHE activity since Jessica and I are both FHE mom's and we had been two of the people behind the master plan. So we assigned each group leader to help out (but Jessica & I did most of the work). I wanted to do the maps, because I wanted to make them look like old treasure maps. *picture above* I first went online and found a map of the Frisbee golf course (which is where most of the activity took place). Then I soaked tea bags and wiped them over the maps and crumpled them up. I let them dry, dabbed them with cooking oil and then burned the edges and marked up where i wanted them to go. I like how they turned out.

Trophy Quest was modeled after "The Amazing Race" TV show. They all got into FHE groups at the park. They were given a puzzle to figure out. Once they figured it out, it would lead them to the parking lot. Here they were given instructions of their next task... which was getting an egg from point A to point B using each group member. After they brought the egg back, they got their next clue.

The next clue, lead them to the Blue Roof Chapel. They had to drive over there as a group and find hidden Easter Eggs. once they found the plastic Easter eggs, they opened them up to find the next clue. When lead them back to the park... at the benches.
Once there, they received another set of instructions, which told them they needed up to 3 groups members to finish a whole pie to find their next clue. This was the really fun part to watch. They could not use their hands and most groups did use 3 people eating one pie. It is like bobbing for apples. Can't think of the germs. At the bottom of the pie, in a plastic bag was the treasure map! They got another set of instructions telling them that the map was leading them to different places in the park where they had to pick up 4 flags of the same color and then the "X" on the map is where there next clue would be.
So they chose a color, and ran from the pond, to the bushes at one corner of the park to a Frisbee basket at the other end of the park finding and collecting these flags. The last flag was given to them at the next station. Where they received instructions to solve a puzzle using the scriptures and then had to unscramble a word which would tell them where to go. That word was "Playground".
So here is everyone running to the playground to find the LAST clue that would lead them to the trophy! It was fun to watch everyone running all over the place and getting really into this activity that Jessica and I worked really hard on.
In the playground was a sign that gave a clue to where the trophy was hidden, which ended up being in a gutter by someones house. The group below was the first there and the first to find the trophy! The Champions! They were pretty excited and got really into the game... which I loved. I am proud to say that even though I did not participate (because I helped plan the whole thing) General Mills came in 2nd place! Way to go!

Jessica and I were happy when it was over and saw how much fun everyone had and what a success it was! We were the master minds behind it all. It made me feel like I was on the activities Council all over again! It was a lot of fun for us to plan too. We got into all the details. Hooray for fun FHE activities. Hopefully many more to come. Sorry this was so long.

P.S. If you want to see more of the pictures I took from this activity, they are posted on my facebook. Cheers!

Hair Cut

Got my hair cut and colored this weekend. Thanks Nicole! Love it, as usual. It is nice to have my side bangs back. Now I just need to work on a tan.....

Ruffled Pillow

I decided to have another craft night with my mom while she is still here. I have many craft blogs that I look at on a weekly basis. The ones that I like and want to try and tackle, I print off the directions and set them aside to do sometime. That is where a lot of these crafts come from. Some I actually come up with on my own... but not most of them.

I love decorative pillows, so I have printed off a few different ones that I wanted to make. I chose this one first. I already had a pillow and all it took was a bed sheet. So many things you can make out of bed sheets... its great! Mine did not turn out exactly like the one on the blog, but I think it turned out really cute. I have bigger ruffles on mine, mostly because I was lazy and didn't want to hem each strip. I still think it turned out super cute though. It looks great on my bed. If you would like to make one of your own, go here.

Notice I have a new picture on the wall? It is a picture of the Timpanogos Temple that my mom bought for me, since that is the temple that I went through to receive my endowments. I love it, and it even matches my room perfectly. Thanks Mom!

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HCG report. I hit a plateau. I have only lost 13 pounds. Am I frustrated? Yes. After seeing the weight come off so quickly the first week, to hardly see it come off at all the next week if VERY frustrating. Am I giving up? No. I have a week to lose 7 more pounds to reach my goal of losing 20 pounds while on this diet. So... I am switching up my foods and drinking more laxative herbal tea (nasty) and we shall see what happens. I am going to try and stay positive. Hopefully I have still been loosing inches even though I have not been seeing the pounds come off. That kind of happened the last time that I did it almost a year ago. Anyway, I miss cooking. I can't wait to get back to normal eating. One more week to go.... then starts maintenance. Gum has really helped me this time around. I don't know why I didn't get it before. There is only one type of gum that you can have on this diet. It has to not only be sugar free, but it also has to have XYLITOL in it. The only kind I have found that has it is Trident. Doesn't matter... it helps me a lot.

The other day I got an email on facebook from Tracy Mills. It was weird to see that... I mean, I didn't remember writing a message to myself. It was some girl from the Midwest just saying hi because we have the same name. Kind of funny, but not the only message I have received from a Tracy Mills that I didn't know. A year or so ago I got a message from Tracy Mills in England saying hi. It's totally random, kind of weird and kind of cool (as far as getting emails from strangers go). Although... I would rather get an e-mail from random really attractive guy. But, whatever. Now that I think about it, that has happened before too, but not very often. Has this happened to anyone else before? Getting message from someone that you don't know with your same name?

When I got home from work yesterday this lady and some dude were standing behind my car waiting for me. I got out and she was like "HEY GIRL" like I was supposed to know her. "Remember me?" Nope, sorry I don't I told her. "Girl, you were drivin like Beyonce!" I just laughed. I don't know how Beyonce drives. But whatever. Turns out she wanted to sell me cleaning thing. Being black, I thought she was very funny (I think black people are just naturally funny, I don't know why, but I love it). So she sold me on it. Mostly I bought it because most of the money was going to a good cause.

Other than that, nothing too exciting this week. Well, I wrote about most of it already when I talked about my Sunday. Oh wait, remember how my shoe was taken by a guy in my ward so he could do some sort of service for me this week? Well, last night I got a pretty flower dropped off with a note. It was very sweet. Don't know who picked my shoe, so I don't know who it was from, but its sweet all the same.

Photo of the Week 12

I found him in the Secret Garden.

What a day!

Yesterday was an interesting Sunday. Not bad, just interesting.

It started out with an FHE meeting, where everything that came out of my mouth was shot down by the co-chair. I wasn't sure if I was just being sensitive or not, but then 3 other people that were in that meeting came up to me and asked me how I was doing since I was verbally attacked. She may not have meant to come across that way.... but that is how me and the majority of the people in the room felt. We all left a little frightened to have a difference of opinion.

Next I went to help out my mom with my sister's kids while my sister and my brother in law are in Europe (I'm totally jealous). I first had to talk my niece Reanne into not being so upset and to get a dress on and convince her to go to church. Once we got to church, it went pretty smooth.

I got invited to dinner. This is not rare or weird in itself. I accepted the dinner invitation. You probably are wondering *I thought she was on the HCG diet and could hardly eat anything*. This is still true. So why did I accept the dinner invitation? It was an HCG meal from an HCG recipe cookbook. There were two other people there also on the diet. I never thought I would be invited to an HCG dinner, seriously, never crossed my mind. That is why it was weird. Kind of awesome at the same time, but weird.

I went to ward prayer. Also not an unusual event, but we were required to bring one of our shoes for a guy in the ward to take. Our shoe would be picked by a guy in the ward and they will do some sort of service for us this week. This is a nice gesture, but does this require us to give up a shoe? I feel like there could be another way to accomplish this.

I went to a birthday party for a girl I never thought I would like or be friends with. But the other week, we talked and decided we were friends, so I was invited to her birthday party... so I went. Just did not expect it.

Oh, and how could I forget the Sunday drive with Jessica & Tina. Just a little drive around town to make sure things were okay with Jessica's car. As we are driving along, we see this....


That pretty much sums up the interesting day I was having. We sure got a good laugh though. I don't think the guy appreciated us taking a picture, or the fact that we kind of followed him, but we had a good time. That counts for something right?

Last, I had a great chat with my good friends Karen C & Karen M who were sitting outside on the doorstep. So nice that it is finally getting warm enough to do that. We had a great chat (which I always do with them) and had some good laughs and then Nate and Isaac joined in the conversation. The night ended with this conversation....

Me- "I don't want to go to work tomorrow."

Isaac- "Yeah, I haven't seen you there in a while."

Me- "It's because I'm on a diet."

Isaac- "Oh, so you don't eat anymore?"

Me- "Pretty much."

To us, this conversation made perfect sense. Everyone else just started laughing and didn't know what the heck we were talking about. It took me a while to catch on why we didn't make sense. In case you are wondering, Isaac and I don't work together. However, he works in a building next to me and we occasionally see each other in the East Bay Cafe on the Novell campus.

And that was the end of my interesting day.

T-Shirt Hat

I told you I wanted to keep busy with projects. Well, here is another one. My good friend Desiree and I got together for our second craft project. Our first one took a while, but it was a success. If you missed our awesome chic mirror's, check them out here.

This time, we decided to try something a little easier and a little less time consuming. We made hats out of t-shirts. Most of you know how much I love my hats, I have blogged about my hat obsession before here. Never before have I attempted to make my own hat though. I bought a shirt because I have tried to get rid of most of my old T-Shirts, but you can get super cheap ones. I thought it would be fun to make a green hat. I don't have one of those yet. How cool that you can make something cute and fun out of something old that you don't wear anymore. I think it is so clever.

I actually really love how mine turned out. So much that I wore it the next day to work. That night I went to the movie's with a bunch of girls and got some compliments on it too. They thought I bought the hat. The project was fairly easy, but the instructions were not explained well. If you would like to see how we made it or want to make one of your own, see how here!

Thanks Desiree for another fun and successful craft night!

7 Layer Jello

This is a little bit of a process, but its my favorite jello!

7 Layer Jello

3oz - strawberry
3oz - lemon
3oz - lime
3oz - orange
6 packets knox gelatin
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 c water
4 1/2 c hot water

1. Dissolve 1 pkt gelatin in 1/4 c water. Add strawberry & 3/4 c hot water. Pour into 9X13 pan & refrigerate 20 mins or till set
2. Dissolve 2 pkts gelatin in 1/2 c water. Add 1 can sweetened condensed milk & 1 1/2 cboiling water. Pour 1 cup milk mixture over strawberry layer & refrigerate 20 mins until set. (milk mixture is enough for 3 layers)
3. Repeat with lime, lemon & end with orange jello with milk mixture inbetween.

Brett Domino Trio

Ever seen Britain's Got Talent? I love that show. Too bad I can only watch it on YouTube. Anyway, I remember seeing these guys on the show and thinking they were pretty funny. I forgot about them and never thought to check up on them until my brother in law posted this video on his facebook. It made me laugh out loud. Its awkwardly funny and creative. If you like Just Timberlake songs, you will get a kick out of this. Enjoy!

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Tomorrow, my co-workers and I are going to go see a movie. It is going to be paid for by the company, not only that... but we get to go during work hours which also means that I will be getting paid. I am going to get paid tomorrow to either see Iron Man 2 or Robin Hood. I look forward to this treat every three months. :o)

The last couple of weeks, the kids that I help tutor have not had a lot of homework since it is the end of the school year. So we read with them for a half hour and then we play with them the other half hour. My favorite moment this week came when I was helping a little boy read a Star Wars book (after I actually got him to sit and read to me). Everyone was reading together when all of the sudden one of the older girls (12 or 13) who was sitting in the corner reading by herself yells out to the whole room "Hey! What is Herpes?" Everyone was silent. "What? It's in my book" One of the guys tells her its a disease and leaves it at that. She didn't believe him for some reason. Meanwhile I am over thinking what book she is reading and once again.... if I should be worried for these kids. I seem to worry about them a lot.

I said that I would report on my diet. It has been exactly one week today since I started the HCG diet and I am happy to report I have lost 9 or 10 pounds. I say 9 or 10 because I forgot to weigh myself the first day, so I don't know if I lost one or two pounds the first day. I am hoping that I can keep losing a pound a day. If I can... I will be able to reach my goal weight. When I have done it in the past, the weight loss tends to slow down after the first week. I will keep you updated. I was pretty hungry the first few days, but that is normal for me. I have not been as tired in the first week as I have in the past, I have been feeling good and not too miserable or grouchy from not having food that I want. It has made me think though. EVERYTHING revolves around food. Almost every commercial on tv, billboards, social gatherings... food, food and more food. You don't notice it as much until you can't have it. As soon as you can't have something, you crave it. Or at least that is how I am. I really envy people that don't have to worry about their weight, the people who can eat whatever they want and don't have to worry about putting on the pounds. Growing up being a little on the chubby side, its hard. You don't feel good about yourself, you wish you looked as thin as the other girls, you blame the reason why you don't date or guys don't like you on your weight but I didn't know what to do to get it off. Its not like I ate super unhealthy growing up or that I didn't exercise. I was always active. I tried different diets, but my body stayed the same. So I gave up on ever trying to be thin. Then I found a diet that worked. The HCG diet ACTUALLY worked for me. It is not a fun diet by any means. It takes a lot of self control. It is kind of funny actually, when you are overweight you are miserable and would do anything to be thin and feel good. On this diet, I am doing what it takes to get there, but I think to myself I would rather be fat and happy. ha ha. I am fine though. Only a couple more weeks and I will be done and it will have been worth it. I am the thinnest I have ever been in my adult life, and am continuing to get thinner. I am proud of myself for getting to this point. It is nice to not feel overweight anymore.

When I get home from work, Lifetime plays reruns of Grey's Anatomy. I have been watching and I'm hooked. I have seen random episodes from the first 4 seasons... but enough to put together what happened between the characters. My roommate Tina also loves Grey's and borrowed the 5th season from a friend. Well, we just finished watching the whole season. We got through them pretty fast because we would watch a disc at a time. I would be embarrassed if anyone came over while we were watching. We would both be laughing and crying like babies. Now I need to watch Season 6. I just love the characters on that show though. And I have always been interested in the Medical Field. I enjoy dissecting things and when I was learning about lymphatic drainage when I went to The American Institute, we watched a live dissection. I was so interested and not grossed out at all. I also loved the cadaver lab. I just find it all interesting. I also have learned from that show. For example: My boss today was talking about different things that he likes to eat. He mentioned that he likes ceviche. My co-worker asked what that was and I was able to answer right away and tell her it was a chopped up fish dish. I learned that on Grey's. Ha ha... not something I would have known. I learn about medical things too.

P.S. I love McDreamy.... and I am looking for a McDreamy of my own. Tall, Dark and handsome.

Cake Stand

While I am on this crazy diet, I am trying to keep really busy to keep my mind off of food. You know, since I am only eating 500 calories a day.

Anyway, I'm not sure if you know this about me already... but I'm a party planner, I LOVE to have dinner parties. When you have a lot of food on a table, and you want to display it beautifully you need cake stands. They can be kind of expensive, so I decided to make some of my own. When I was at the store, I bought a few candle stick holders and a few plates. I stacked them and put a little "Gorilla Glue" on it and whala! You have yourself a pretty cake stand. I think they turned out lovely. I can't wait for my next dinner party to put them on display.

I did one 1 layer cake stand and one 2 layer tiered cupcake stand. You could do however high you want, with whatever kind of candlestick holder and plates that you want. You could have a lot of fun with it.

Photo of the Week 11

I always wanted to visit "The Secret Garden". I had no idea that I could find it right here in Utah. It was lovely. :o)

My Office

A long time ago I posted a blog post about my job at Novell. Well... a little bit about it. Then later I posted my first photo of the week photo. I have been at my job for over a year now and I felt like I should feel more at home there in my office... you know, decorate. Just a little. Nothing too fancy, but I wanted to blow up a picture that I took and hang it on the wall. On facebook I had a vote to see which picture I should blow up and put in my office and Photo of the Week #1 won. So I did it! I blew it up on canvas and it is hanging on the wall in my office and I love it. My co-workers thought I bought it somewhere. When I tell them that I took the picture, they ask me for a copy sometimes. I even have a friend that blew it up and put it in her office.

I also got a plant and a candy dish. The candy dish is not just for me (especially now that I am on the diet) but it is also to welcome in my co-workers. I figured my co-workers and I could become better friends if they visited me in my office more, even if their is candy involved. :o)

I also bought a heater.... I'm so much happier now because its FREEZING in my office.

I have a picture of my whiteboard. I never write on it, but sometimes my boss does when talking about stuff with me. My co-worker's daughter, when she comes to visit, she comes and draws pictures on my board. When I was having a bad day, she knew and then went home and drew me a picture and her mom brought it to me the next day. Isn't that the sweetest? So I have that hanging on the board too.

So here is how it turned out. I feel like there is still a lot of space, but it feels more like my space now. I like it. I don't know if you can see... but I also have some other pictures hanging on the board and on the book shelf. I also folded a bunch of origami cranes out of candy rappers that I have eaten. I also have some cards that people have given me on the top shelf by my personalized calendar from Novell. bla bla bla, I am sure you don't care, I guess this is more for me to remember in the future (the details).

So now you see where I work, where I spend the majority of my days, where I sometimes blog from. Sitting, right here in my office, listening to my music, smelling my fruity candle, working.

Happy Mothers Day

It was so nice to actually be with my mom on Mother's Day this year. I came up with a cute gift idea. I talked with all my sisters and everyone liked the idea and helped make it happen. I took pictures of half of my nieces and nephews and my brother in law Dan took pictures of the other half of of the nieces and nephews. Each one is holding a letter and together they spell out Grandma. Perfectly enough I have enough nieces and nephews to spell out Grandma..... well, there will be in a couple of days when my nephew Zachary is born. So that is why the last one is blank. I think it turned out cute and my mom loved it.

I am so thankful for my mom, everything she has done for me and the example she is in my life. She is always there for me and has taught me so much. I am also thankful for my grandma and all that she does... and for my sisters and the great examples they are to me. They are amazing mothers and I learn so much by their example. I am lucky to be the baby sister! I have so many great examples to look up to and follow. I am blessed with amazing women in my life. That goes for my good girl friends too (mothers and future mothers).

The Temple Reminds me.....

The temple reminds me of my eternal worth
The temple reminds me of joys beyond this earth
I love this house of holiness
Where ord'nances divine
Bring forth the blessings of God's love
And they can all be mine

Chorus
Have you seen the temple
On a dark and quiet night
Have you felt the power of
Its majesty and light
Its spires reach up to heaven
Its doors call out to me
"Come enter in and find the joys
That last eternally"

The temple reminds me of my eternal worth
The temple reminds me of joys beyond this earth
I want to be found clean and pure
Upholding every truth
That I may enter in God's house
As He would have me do

Words by Joy Saunders Lundberg
Music by Janice Kapp Perry

Last night was very special. I went through the temple for the first time. I always thought that my first time through would be when I got married or if I had decided to serve a mission, you know... when you need to go through, but I have to say.... it was kind of neat to come to a point in my life where I didn't have to go through.... but I wanted to go through and I felt ready. I decided in the fall that I wanted to go through, but I wanted to really prepare myself and be very spiritually ready and have worked to get to that point. I'm so glad I did. It was a very special experience. I was very blessed to have a lot of my family there. Of course I understood that some of my siblings couldn't make it, but I was happy for the ones that came. It was so special to have my mom and dad by my side helping me every step of the way.

I know that the Provo Temple gets pretty busy and crowded, so for my first time through, I decided to go to the Timpanogos Temple instead. It was beautiful. Loved it.

My sweet roommate Ashlee was so excited for me to go through the temple for the first time, so she made me a white cake. She spent two days decorating it to try and make it look like the Timpanogos Temple. It was awesome! I love it. It was so sweet to have someone decorate a cake for me and celebrate this special time in my life. (for those of you who are wondering about my diet, we ate it the night before... the day before I started the diet)

A special thank you to my wonderful family and friends for loving me and supporting me every step I take in my life. It means the world to me. Love you all!

*Side note* I decided to go do baptisms one more time before going through the temple. When I went they gave me family names AND I got to do 15 names! That is a record for me. I used to go every week for over 3 years and never did that many at a time. I thought it was awesome for my last time doing baptisms.*

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 12

Today is my first day on the HCG diet (round 3). I am hoping since it has been about a year since I did it last.... that I will be able to lose 20 pounds. I will let you know how it goes. I'm hoping to see good results and for it not to be too painful.

The other day, I was in the bathroom and there was a lady who left the bathroom without washing her hands. I think this is gross. WAY gross. Why would you NOT wash your hands after going to the bathroom? This reminded me of a conversation that I had at my previous job (we had a lot of interesting conversation there). My co-worker (male) had just come out of the bathroom and he said a guy went to the bathroom, didn't wash his hands and then picked up a soda he had set down and left. He came back and told us how gross this was. He also said this sadly was not uncommon to see in the men's bathroom. I was totally shocked and grossed out. I hardly EVER notice this happening in the girls bathroom. I think the majority of girls wash their hands before leaving. I wanted to make sure he was being honest, so I started asking different guys what they think the percentage is of guys who wash their hands after going to the bathroom. When I asked most guys said 50-60%. EWW!!!! I even asked one of the male managers. He also said 60%. I looked it up online and studies that have been done show women at 90% and men at 75%. A little bit higher, but still! All I can say is Why? Can anyone explain this to me please?

I have already decided that for some reason I attract awkwardness. I don't know why, but I do. Do you ever wonder though... what makes people decide to be awkward? Example: One time I went to go see a movie. My friends had all left to go get snacks and such before the movie started so I was a lone... the only one sitting in my row (I was towards the middle). All of the sudden, this guy comes and sits in the seat RIGHT next to me. There were SO many empty seats. First thought was maybe he thought I was cute and wanted to talk to me before the movie started. I would be okay with this. After he sat down next to me, he didn't say anything. Not one word. It was so weird. I didn't know what to do. I didn't say anything either. Later my friends came back and soon after that his wife joined him on his other side. Usually people at least have one seat between them and someone they don't know if there are LOTS of available seats. Does anyone else think that is weird? I sure did.

Speaking of wanting space, does anyone else have a space bubble? Or is it just me? When we went to see the play "Once Upon A Mattress" I had my friend Sara on one side of me and a stranger girl on the other side of me. It's a full house, you can't have empty seats in between you. I get that. This stranger girl was totally invading the space bubble though. She had her mom sitting on the other side of her, but she was leaning into me and eating her popcorn in my face and touching my side with her elbow because she was leaning into me. If I know the person (like if Sara had been doing it) I would not have cared, but a stranger? Come on! I need my personal space. All I am asking is that you lean into your mom instead of me. Is that too much to ask?

Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Today I saw a bunch of guys dressed up as a Mariachi band and performing at Provo High School. Today at work, we celebrated by having a pot luck (my idea). I am not so sure why we celebrate.... they don't even celebrate in Mexico. In September however, they have a huge celebration for their Independence Day. So why do we celebrate Cinco de Mayo? Not sure... an excuse to party and eat Mexican food? I'll take it!

For our pot luck, I just signed up to bring rice and beans... but then Alex (one of my co-workers) who is from Mexico challenged me to make a real authentic Mexican dish. If I was going to make beans, he suggested I make Frijoles Charros! I like to cook new things and I am always up for a challenge, so I took the challenge! When I first started cooking, I was a little frightened by all of the meat that went into this bean dish. However, when it was all done, it looked and smelled delicious. Although I am normally confident in my cooking abilities, for some reason I was nervous with how this was going to turn out, if it was going to be like what Alex ate in Mexico. He told me it needed to be soupy, but not watery. When I was done it was neither. That night I had a dream that I brought the dish to work and Alex was telling me it was not soupy enough and that I needed to add this and that to make it better. Ha! Turns out, it was delicious and everyone loved it. In fact, I was hoping I would get to bring more home than I did for my roommates. The guys were going back for seconds and thirds! Its A LOT of meat, but it was great and approved by Alex which = authentic.

So.... if you are ever craving Mexican food with A LOT of meat involved, I would recommend this recipe.

Frijoles Charros

1 Pound cooked beans (canned or dried)

1/4 lb or less chopped ham

1/4 lb or less chopped hot dog

1/4 lb or less chopped bacon

1/4 lb Chorizo

2 or 3 Jalapeno or Serrano Chilies

1/2 large or 1 small onion chopped

1 Tomato chopped

1/2 Bunch of cilantro

Pepper

Oil

Heat oil in pot large enough to fit all ingredients. Fry Chorizo. Add bacon, onion, chilies, hot dog and ham. Saute for a couple of minutes. Then add tomato and cilantro. Cook 2 more minutes. Add beans and pepper.

This should be soupy, but not watery. If not soupy enough, add a little bit of water, tomato puree and salt.

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!!