Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 231

I finished my Peru book! Woot woot! I'm happy with it. Well... hopefully I will be just as happy with it when it comes in the mail. Sometimes you see something online and you think it looks great... like a shirt I got online, and then you get it and it's not as great as it looked online. Yeah... that happened. I think this is different though. I'm sure I will love it even more when I get the copy in the mail. Now to work on my Southeast Asia book to finish by the end of this month. I think I can do it. A little out of order... I know. I guess I am always most excited for the trip that was most recent. Just got busy with the holidays when I got back from Southeast Asia. It will get done though. I'm determined.



Today was the last day to vote for Mormon Bachelorette. I really couldn't look anymore. It just makes me feel bad about myself. I know I shouldn't care. I think I had a great Skype interview... but I have no idea what they are looking for. And obviously I'm not popular enough. Oh well. It was worth a shot. I have also been feeling uncool with my instagram's lately. Not very many people are liking them. Not cool enough? I don't even post every day like some other people. Again... I shouldn't care. But I do... this is what being involved in social media does to you! ha ha



My sister Jamie posted this thing on Facebook about what your super hero name is. I took the test. Apparently this is my superhero name...

I have been trying to be better about going to the gym and running. I hate it, but I do it. It is a nice break from work... but I really need to count calories more than anything... which I also hate doing. I wish I was one of those people that didn't have to worry about every little thing I put in my body and if I worked out or not and that I would just look the same. That would be nice. But alas... that is not my fate. I never want to go to the gym, of course after I am always glad that I did, but I have to tell myself that it is a break from work.



Speaking of work... I am now being micromanaged. They are keeping track of my every minute that I am in my office... even if I am just staring at my screen watching Netflix because there is nothing to do (like today). I'm going to vent for a second,  because I can... it's my blog. I HATE being micromanaged. It makes me feel like I am a child that they don't trust. I know it shouldn't, but when people are watching my every move at work, it makes me not want to work as hard for them. I have been working there for 5 years. I am not doing anything different now than I have been the last 5 years. Yes, I come in late most days... but everyone gets to work sometime before 9. I do the same. If there are days that are really busy... then I stay after and get everything done before I go home. I honestly don't see the difference between me getting there at 8:45 and other people getting there at 8:15 and then spending 20 minutes down at the cafe getting breakfast. I'm just doing my breakfast at home instead of the cafe. I have made positive changes to the way we do things, I work hard, have very few errors, have the fasted turn around time and I rarely complain about things going on at work... I keep to myself. Many times I don't even take a lunch and work through it (which I always figured made up for me being late)... I guess not. It all needs to balance out... but me going overtime doesn't matter... I just can't go under my time even if it is by an hour for the week. Even if there is nothing to do and I just sit and watch the time to hit the exact minute that I came into work that morning. Yep... I have a real grown up job. I'm done venting. I know I have it good at my job... guess just wanted to remind everyone that it isn't perfect. No job is I guess.



I have spent some time with some guys this week. None of which I met online surprisingly. Saturday night I spent with my neighbor, Adam. Not my BFF Neighbor... I wrote on my Instagram that I was at a concert with my BFF neighbor, Darrell... and then Geoff and Anthon were all offended that they were not my BFF Neighbors. Doesn't mean I don't having them all as neighbors. Same with Adam. We had a great time chatting and watching a REALLY dumb movie. Adam is the one that lives next door... but I never really spent time and got to know him until we were in Thailand. Funny huh? Well. We finally hung out again. Tonight I went on a date with a friend. Met through a mutual friend a couple of years ago. Haven't really seen him since until the Lake outing a couple weekends ago. All of the sudden he wants to take me on a date. Which is fine. Nice guy. We went out for sushi, which I always love. Sometimes I just wish that I meshed better with some guys. I don't really mesh with this guy... but I think he thinks we do. Friday night I hung out with the new guy in my ward. I'm still trying to figure him out and what he is thinking. We had a great time... but is he just trying to make new friends? Or is he interested? I still can't tell. Guess we will see what moves he makes in the next week.



Had some traumatic experiences with the fish tank. I spent some time at the fish store after and told them everything that happened and I picked up some new fish and new snails and crabs and we will see what my fish do next. I think my fish store friends think I'm hilarious though. I doubt they have many people like me that come in stressed about their tank and tell them stories of all the things that go wrong. Their daughter loves me though. She is always giving me hugs and when I went in this time she had 3 adorable puppies that she gave me to hold. So cute.



I am in season 5 of Dexter. I honestly can't believe I am still watching. I'm sucked into the story... but it is all pretty twisted.



Friday night I went with my mom up to Salt Lake to go to a baby shower for Jessica Tate and Rachel Van Wickle. Jessica and James adopted a handsome baby boy and Rachel is pregnant. I hadn't seen any of the Tates in a long time, so it was so fun to see them and their parents. They really are like family. I great up with them. My mom and Janice are good friends. We all had a blast visiting for a few hours. I love seeing my Santa Barbara family... no matter where we are, it feels like home.

Photo of the Week 229

This is a sunset from last week. Fires from other states made our skies smokey... which makes for ver beautiful sunsets.

Amos Lee Concert

I am a music lover. I love going to concerts of my favorite artists. Amos Lee has been on my list of concerts I want to go to for a while... so when he came out with a new CD this summer and I saw he was going on tour and to Salt Lake, I knew I had to go.

Problem with a lot of concerts I want to go to, I have hard time finding people that know the artist or have a desire to go to the concert. I knew that my BFF neighbor also loves Amos Lee, so I convinced him that he had to go with me. Which he agreed.

The concert was at the Red Butte Garden. It's an outdoor venue. I was excited about this. I love being outside in the summer... especially summer nights. Summer nights in Utah are the best. Rain didn't even cross my mind when I bought the tickets seeing it was the end of July... but rain is what we got.

We have been having some summer showers lately... but usually they don't last long, so when I left work today and saw that it was raining... Darrell and I both figured it would blow over by the time we drove up to Salt Lake. We didn't change into warmer clothes, we didn't even bring an umbrella. We are really smart like that. I think we assume the best of summer. When we got there, the rain continued. We were probably the only ones there that didn't have umbrellas and we were getting quite wet. We felt so stupid. We were cold and wet and just waiting for the rain to go away. Everyone else came prepared for the rain. Why did we do this to ourselves? We tried to laugh it off... but we were getting pretty wet and wondered how much we would be able to enjoy a concert in the rain. This was a first for me... an outdoor concert in the rain. First for both of us really. Darrell was a great person to go with cause we both tried to look at the positive and we could both laugh at the situation.

We brought a couple of chairs and a blanket that was plastic on one side. However we had nothing over our heads and we were just tired of getting wet, so Darrell set off to see if they were selling umbrella's or pancho's... which oddly they were not. They were however selling blankets.. like the one Darrell had. So he bought another one of those and we had one over our bodies and one over our heads. It was comical really... but it kept us warm while we listened to the first band. I really tried to enjoy the venue. It is ideal for summer concerts. It has beautiful gardens, it's right next to the mountains and on the other side you can see a view of salt lake city below. Really beautiful. It would be been so perfect if it weren't raining. We were still excited to see Amos Lee though, so we kept our smiles and laughter through the rain.

While we waiting, Darrell and I listed all of the songs we hoped Amos would sing. And then the rain stopped. And Amos came on stage... and he sang all the songs we wanted except for one (which is amazing) and it was an awesome show. Amos Lee has an incredible voice and is pretty funny as well. I would have liked more stories to go along with his songs... but he talked a little. He has such great music! If you are not familiar with his music, I have attached a youtube video of one of my favorites.



It was an amazing concert and I'm glad that I was able to go and so glad my BFF neighbor came with me. We always have a good time together. Well done Amos Lee. Good show.

Matching

There are many times that I show up at my parents house for Sunday dinner and I am matching with one of my cute nieces or nephews. Mostly just with the color top I'm wearing. Usually my Grandma is the one to point it out (she is so observant and is the best at noticing what you wear and giving you compliments).

Today we had a double match. Chad and Calvin were matching green...

And Irelyn and I were matching black and white stripes with pink. I look like a fat giant standing next to Irelyn... but I still think it's a cute picture anyway.

Painting - Take 2

It's kind of sad that it took me 5 years to paint again... but so it is. My first painting was a silhouette of a couple... and it seemed pretty doable for a beginner like myself, so I decided since it has been 5 years, I would do another one of those. Obviously my first one was better, but I was also going for a different look this time.

I would also like to note that one of the reasons I haven't painted in so long is because I felt like I had to paint on canvas (which it would look better on canvas, which means I would need to find someone to give it to or somewhere to hang it after... which I have no place to hang my amateur paintings. My last one went to Brent and I never saw it again (good thing I took a picture). So I came up with the idea to paint in a sketch book. It won't be as smooth and pretty as canvas, but at least I can paint to my hearts content and just keep it all in a book. Hopefully this will get me painting more often and then my painting skills can improve and I will paint more complicated stuff. I don't want to get ahead of myself here though....  anyway, just remember I'm starting out simple.

Flashback Friday 177

I believe this is when I was in 3rd grade. I'm not positive... but I think whoever was taking student of the month pictures just took a few pictures of me because I was there (I must have known them) it wasn't my month for student of the month.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 230

Happy Pioneer Day! Wish I had the day off like so many of my friends, but alas... I had to go to work. They did however provide pie and root beer (pie and beer day) yeah... I had never heard of it, but I will take free yummy pie. My boss also let me go home an hour early, so that was nice.

I also had a much needed massage today. You wouldn't think having a desk job would mess up your body so much... especially when you spend many of your lunch breaks working out. It really does though. I went to a new massage therapist this time and she was great and really worked out a lot of spots in my back that are messed up because of my crappy chair at work and the way I sit. She told me I need to get a new chair. Once she mentioned that I was like... yeah... I DO have a really crappy chair at work that I have been sitting in for years. I need a new one! So I think tomorrow I will try and find an empty office with a nicer chair with better support to exchange my crappy one for. I also need to stretch more. I'm so glad I decided to get a massage every month. My body really needs it.

Yesterday was my sister's birthday! Happy Birthday Jamie! Miss you already! I forgot to post this picture of us while she was in town. Love my family.

On Monday I hung out with my BFF Neighbor. We used to see a lot more of each other. I don't know why we don't hang out as much anymore... but he invited me over for dinner at his house on Monday because he was cooking for dinner group. So I went. We had a nice chat while I helped him clean up. We also watched the most beautiful sunset. I was going to post it for my photo of the week! Dang... next week. The sky was smokey from fires from other states and when that happens, it makes the sun the most beautiful colors. I took pictures with my nice camera because the camera on your phone can not capture color in the same way.

I am trying to hang out with more people lately because I am tired of being by myself all the time. I try to invite someone to do something with me... or I invite myself along with other people. Is that pathetic? I hope not. I guess I am just trying to be proactive instead of just sitting around wishing I had more friends. So that is why I asked Anthon to take me fishing... and why I invited myself along with Becca and her friends to the lake last weekend. I enjoy being in the company of others... but sometimes I wish I loved a lone time... I mean a lot of alone time, but I don't. It just makes me depressed and feel REALLY lonely.

I am working on my Peru digital book. I know I probably should have done the Southeast Asia one first, but this one is more fresh. I am about half way done with it and then I will go back and make the Southeast Asia one. Hopefully I will have them both done by the time I go on my next  trip so that I'm not behind. I think I can do it. If I work on it a little bit everyday... totally doable.

Speaking of Peru, I wore my shirt that I bought in Peru for the first time on Friday.. I think it is awesome. I saw a guy at the food truck roundup last week that was wearing the same one in White and it had something else instead of a llama. I got the llama one on purpose. Anyway.. kind of love it.

I have had several people tell me that I need to watch Dexter. So... I started watching it. I finished the first season and I'm still not really sure what I think about it.

I had my interview with the LDS Matchmaker team... to see if I will be chosen as one of the two based on the interview and not based on the Facebook popularity contest... because I already know I lost that. Big time. Kind of makes me feel not very cool... but oh well.

We were supposed to get google fiber last weekend. We never got an email... so I called them. They are like... oh we are not going to give it to you until November... for no reason. SORRY!!! Ugh. I see them set up around the neighborhood all the time. Just come set us up!

There is a new guy in my ward. Kind of cute... super nice, but I think he is kind of socially awkward? Or maybe he is just super shy. I can't figure him out. He finds me at church and we end up sitting together. He will text me during the week, but then when I text him he doesn't text back... or he texts but never invites me to hang out or do anything. I don't get it. I'm wondering if I should just forget it or if I just need to initiate... which goes against "The Rules" and what I normally do.

My tomato plants are starting to get some tomatoes. Almost ready to pick... some of them anyway. Woohoo!

I guess that is all for me this week. I can't believe that July is pretty much over. Oh... except to finish my Pioneer day. I went  over to my parents house for a little BBQ before I went to my massage. Then I went back to meet up with them and watch the Pioneer Fireworks at a park in Mapleton. Best firework show in Utah if you ask me. We sat right under where they shoot them off. It was pretty cool actually. Best part.... right when you thought you saw the grand finale... a minute goes by and there was another finale. Everyone cheered so loud. It was awesome. I wish pictures of fireworks were as awesome as they are in person.

Photo of the Week 228

Another picture from Tibble Fork yesterday. That place sure is pretty!

Tibble Fork Fishing

Tonight I went up to Tibble Fork after work with my neighbor and friend Anthon. He goes fishing a lot, so I asked him if I could come along. I enjoy being outdoors and I enjoy hanging out with my friends. Why not. I want to take full advantage of summer while it lasts and I don't feel like I have been doing a good job of it so far. One of the beauties of summer is that it stays light outside for so long... why not go on little outings after work?

Tibble Fork is up American Fork Canyon, close to Silver Lake. As you can see, it is beautiful up there. Utah is a beautiful place. Maybe one of these days I will start taking my nice camera to get better pictures. Until then... camera phone pictures will have to do.

Anthon and I had a great time chatting while enjoying the beautiful scenery and relaxing. I really wanted to catch a big fish and take a picture and send it to my cousin Travis and make him proud and that I am holding up as a member of the bass slayers club... but no such luck. I didn't catch anything. The fish were jumping and dancing around my bait... but no takers. Anthon caught a couple of small ones. Nothing worth keeping to eat.

We still had a great time though.... and that's what it's all about right? I need to do this more often. Maybe if I just keep inviting myself to hang out with people... maybe soon they will start inviting me to things on their own. :)

Jordanelle Lake

Saturday my friend Becca let me tag along with her and her friends to Jordanelle Lake between Provo and Park City. I didn't know any of her friends... except Rich, we had hung out in a group a few times a couple of years ago.

I had never been to this lake before. If we would have gotten there earlier... I would have played in the water, but I didn't want to be wet and cold. Anyway, this was the perfect weekend to try out this lake. Why? There was an event. There were food trucks (which Rich and I tried out a couple) and live music. Once it got dark... there was a boat parade. That was a treat!

Also a firework show. My 4th fireworks show of the summer. I love fireworks and this was a good show because they had some fireworks on the water.

I had a good time meeting new people, eating, hanging out by the lake while chatting and all that good stuff. I love discovering new places in Utah.

Basement Ice Cream Parlor

On Thursday we had a little work outing. Where to? My co-worker's (in another department) parents basement. Why go visit my co-worker's basement? Well... her dad made it into a model train playground and and ice cream parlor. It is quite impressive actually. We stayed for a couple of hours and played with trains....

And more importantly we ate ice cream for lunch made my my co-workers dad. We had shakes, banana splits and some sort of fizz drink. It was all good. Sugar overload.

But it was the cutest little ice cream parlor. How cool to have that in your basement! We had a blast. We love our team activities.

Technology

"Yes, I love technology, but not as much as you you see, but I still love technology... always and forever" - Napoleon Dynamite


Sometimes... a lot of times... I forget how lucky we are to have the technology that we have. I think we have gotten so used to it that we take it for granted... until your phone is broken or your internet starts working. Sure, there are bad things about technology also. The fact that we are completely dependent on it, we don't communicate as well without it, it can be a big time waster, so on and so forth. However... I like to think I have a good handle and balance with technology in my life. I'm here to talk about how awesome technology is and how blessed I feel to live in a technology advanced world.


The other day is when this all really hit me. My friends Allison, Quinette and I were all trying to figure out each others schedules so we could plan out the rest of our summer. So I said... no worries girls, I will make a shared google calendar that we can all add to and see each other's schedules. Done.


Allison and I are planning a trip. We went online to look and buy plane tickets (me at work, her at home). Did people ever actually go to travel agencies to plan and buy trips or is that just in the movies? Anyway... it wasn't working, so Allison called and bought both of our tickets. I now owe Allison money.


I don't like owing people money, so I need to pay her back ASAP. I don't want to write her a check. I mean... who knows when she is going to make it to the bank and that is a lot of money that I am not sure when it is just going to disappear out of my account. Nobody gives cash like that. Plus... I don't want to go to the bank either. Solution? App on my phone called Venmo. We both have it. I just look up Allison in my contact list and then type in the amount I owe her and press send. I know longer owe Allison money... at the click of a button. We start to plan our trip with a shared board on Pinterest. This is the fun part.


I also decide I want to throw a dinner party while Allison and I are sitting there. I want to try new recipe's. I go to Pinterest and find new recipe's for the entire meal. Now when should I do it? Check the shared calendar to see when we are all available. Check the weather for the day to make sure we are not going to be having any summer storms that night. Now it's time to invite friends. I get on facebook and send out a group message inviting people to the party. They all reply within the hour. I look at the recipes to see what I need to buy. I add those items to my shopping list app on my phone. Everyone comes. We have a great time. Music is provided at the dinner table by Pandora on the phone. We take pictures with our phone to document the event. We share some of those pictures with our family and friends on Instagram. All at the touch of a button on our small phone that we can carry in our pocket.


I'm at church. I forget to bring my scriptures. In fact... I don't want to carry that heavy book around anymore. No worries... it's all on my phone So is the Ensign... and all of the lessons... and the hymns in case you don't have a hymn book. Also... if you are wondering who the executive secretary is or how to get in touch in so in so... there is a ward and stake directory where you can look all of that up. All at the touch of a button on a small device you carry around with you anyway.


I'm meeting up with a friend. They want me to meet them at a place I have never been before. I put the address in my GPS on my phone.... I get there no problem. No getting lost (which is what used to happen to me... all the time).


 I am wanting to meet new guys. I want to go on some dates. I hop on Tinder... match with some guys and have dates in no time.


I'm wanting to work on my health. I get My Fitness Pal app on my phone. It keeps track of my calorie intake and how many calories I can eat for the rest of the day. Then I go for a run and turn on map my run that tracks my route and tells me how many miles I have run. There are many more... those are just the two I have used.


Alarm = phone. Not only is it my alarm. It also tracks my sleep cycle and the alarm goes off when I am in the lightest sleep and wakes me up gently.


Bored while you are waiting for an appointment or on the plane? Play a game of solitaire, Sudoku or Angry Birds on your phone or watch something on Netflix.


Remember when people left the country or moved away for long periods of time and you had to write letters? That was the way to keep in touch. It was the only way. Now... well, John left for South America. Instead of see you in 5 months or maybe we can try and write letters (which we wouldn't have been able to do because he isn't at one address) we have WhatsApp to send pictures and text and sometimes even video. We were able to keep in touch to plan what was going to happen when I met up with him in Peru. Then there is Skype and Facetime so you can see each other face to face. It's the best thing when someone is so far away. Like my Facetime call with my mom on mothers day when I was in Peru. I also wanted to brush up on some Spanish before I went so I would kind of know what was going on when I got there (not that it helped) so I got Duolingo to help teach me.


This is just a very small list of the possibilities, that I have used. There is so much more out there. It amazes me. I love that it all makes my life easier and more convenient. That is all.

Flashback Friday 176

Going back to Winter of 2006. Sara and I became good friends and both like going to and throwing parties. So we started throwing parties (mostly at her apartment because she had more room and it was nicer). We figured out that we were good at throwing parties and lots of people would come to our parties and get excited for our next party. In fact... we even had a couple of people meet at one of our parties and later got married. True story.

One of the parties we threw was a masquerade. Who doesn't love masquerades? We invited everyone and people got really into it. Some even made their own masks or painted masks on. We had a spot for people to take pictures, we had Mocktails and we had good music which brought fun dancing.

I kind of miss my party throwing days... but I feel like the older you get the less big groups of random people want to attend these events. Oh well.... I guess I will always be throwing a party in one way or another.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 229

So as you have heard me talk about, I applied to be the next Mormon Bachelorette. Although I found out that there is going to be more than one this season. SO many girls applied that they are choosing 3. I don't think that up's my chances that much more... but if you have not done so already and you have a Facebook account... please like, comment or share (or all three) my photo on Facebook. Click on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/TheMormonBachelorette/photos/a.661182803960550.1073741827.125948454150657/661192273959603/?type=1&theater

I don't look at my competition because I don't want to compare myself and feel stupid or sad that I am not as pretty or popular as the other girls. I know I have major competition and have never really expected to get on. At the same time, you never know until you try. Also I have been incredibly surprised how much love and support I have received today from people about this entire thing. Even my friends that are not Mormon. That in and of itself was worth it. It is nice to know that people love and support me. At this point it is really just a popularity contest on Facebook for every girl that applied. Because of this I'm not really sure why I had to have 2 Skype interviews and go to the casting call... but oh well. All part of the experience. It is scary to put yourself out there in such a public way.... a part of me feels awesome about it. No fear... nothing to lose. Another part of me feel foolish and slightly embarrassed about it.... like I'm so desperate to find love. Whatever the outcome, I am thankful for the love and support from my family and friends (it has meant a lot to me) and I hope that something good comes from it.

I could use a little something good... because I keep going out on these dates.... dates that are great and then all of the sudden it's not. The guys are sweet and then the next day turn into jerks. Maybe I just attract jerks. I don't feel like I'm the type of girl that would attract jerks... but maybe I am. I'm tired of it. I always want to throw in the towel and give up... but I can't. I keep going on dates in opes that one day I will find a good one. I feel like I deserve a guy that feels lucky to be with me. A guy that respects me. Can't wait to see me. A guy that is going to make me feel special. It has been a while since a guy has made me feel special.

I finally went to the food truck roundup tonight. They have it every Thursday night in Provo across from the Front Runner. I will blog more about it later. I will say that it was a little crowded and there were so many trucks, and I have a hard time making decisions. I will just have to go back and try more. What I had was great... but I can't say that it was a great first date.... at least I thought. At least it was good food. I can't wait to go back and try other trucks. So fun that they have that here in Provo. There are a lot of cool and unique things that Provo has that I appreciate. Always discovering new things. Provo keeps me on my toes.

Work is great. Getting used to my computer now. I have become good friends with the IT guy because he has come to help me so much. He is fun and new at Novell so he is still excited about his job I think. My work stalker has been leaving me alone lately which I am thankful for. I talked to another lady at work and she said he stalked her as well, but it was worse. So I guess I had it good. She even talked to HR about him. Yikes. Also today for work we had ice cream for lunch, but not just anywhere... in my co-workers parents basement... which has an ice cream parlor. It was pretty rad. I will blog more about that later as well. Tomorrow we are seeing our after quarter end movie. One of my favorite times of year at work. :)

I have been trying to lay out still... trying to get a tan. I have some color, but a long way to go before I can call myself tan. Still crashing the Glenwood pool. I'm cool like that. I like to hang out by the pool with 20 year olds.

My sister Jamie and her family left on Wednesday, so I went to go hang out with her one last time on Tuesday night. I always enjoy spending time with my family. I wish that I got to spend more time with Jamie and her family and Lori and her family. Wish we were all closer, but I guess it makes you appreciate the times you do spend together that much more. Love my family.

I guess that is all for my week. I really need more friends. Friends that will do stuff with me. Either that or I just need to start going on hikes and going places by myself. I'll work on that. OH! I forgot. I also took Ellis to the fish store with me since he is now interested in the salt water tank world. He helped me catch my big mean tomato clown fish... and I took it to the fish store and exchanged him. I was going to exchange both of them, but I couldn't catch the smaller one. I will work on him next. Anyway... I exchanged him for this awesome fish that I have had my eye on for a while every time I go to the fish store. They gave me a smaller one so that he can grow up in my tank. I think he is super rad. I named him Michael Jackson.... you know... because he's black and white.

Photo of the Week 227

Another picture from the hike to Silver Lake. Looks like I need another adventure so I have different pictures to put up. :) This one sure was pretty though!

Patio Dinner Party - Take 3

So i'm making this a tradition. I love it, the people I invite love it... and it's a great way to enjoy the summer evenings... which are the best. Last year's dinner party was a hit and I used pretty much all new recipe's from Pinterest, so this year I did the same. Tried all new recipes and I loved this menu even more than the last. On the menu we had...

Coconut Curry Chicken
Cilantro-Lime Sweet Potatoes
Strawberry Spinach Salad with Mango, Blueberries & Cashews
Peach Lemonade  &
Mint Chocolate Mousse Cookies & Cream Parfaits


And I love that I had this cute patio bar to put all of the food on. Can you tell I'm just in love with my patio?

The food was all delicious and fairly healthy. I also love setting up and decorating. I am just as much into the presentation and ambiance as I am into the good food. I like how it turned out.

The display was beautiful, the food was delicious and I couldn't have asked for better company. We all had a great time. RJ even played a little guitar for us. There was a little singing, a lot of laughter and a lot of smiles and good conversation. It was a perfect summer night. Something about a good atmosphere, good weather and good food that really bring people together. I loved it. It just got better as the evening went on, the weather got cooler and we were just lit by the patio lights and candlelight. I typically only do this one time during the summer... but I loved it so much I feel like I need to do it at least one more time. I think I will.... until then, patio dinner party was a success! Thanks to my friends for coming!