6 Years

Today is my 6 year anniversary at Novell. Can you believe it? I really can't. I never thought I would be there that long. Not that it has been a bad thing... just had no idea what life would hold for me. Last year... on my 5 year anniversary, I wrote all the things about my job that I am thankful for. I'm still thankful for those things.

Today when I told my co-workers it was my 6 year anniversary and we should have treats... my co-worker, Jamie in the legal department, she said... we have treats! Ha ha.. it was just by chance, but I was still happy about it anyway.

Here's to 6 years. Who knows how much longer I will be at Novell... but I'm thankful for the time I have been there so far. Even if they are going to kick me out of my office and into a cubicle in the next 6 months.....

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 260

I have been feeling SUPER crappy this week. I hate being sick... I feel so gross. Seriously the only thing I have been trying to do is get extra sleep. NyQuil has been my friend this week. I can breathe... I can be thankful for that.

My friend Nathaniel interviewed me again tonight. The first time he interviewed me he was doing a project on the Bachelor. This time he is doing a project for Mazda... so he was interviewing me on my thoughts and feelings of why I like my new Mazda... which I do. So I had lots to say about it. The interview took over an hour and I felt like it went really well. I had a lot of good things to say about it. I had to find 5-7 pictures about how I feel about my Mazda... surprisingly that wasn't hard for me to do.

This last weekend was a fun friend weekend. I hung out after the Talent show and on Saturday night with Lindsay, Becky, Tom, Stacey (from Studio C) and Ian and Allison (just Friday night) and it was so much fun. I finally feel like I have a group of friends again. I know I have always had a lot of friends... but not a group of friends that actually thought of me and invited me to stuff. It's nice... to feel like I have a group of friends.

Speaking of friends, my friend Jed teaches Institute, which he does an excellent job at, and he was teaching on talents and asking me if I would share my talent of photography. It is always a compliment to be recognized for your talents. It made me reflect on how far I have come with my photography skills over the last 5 years. It's pretty cool, and I'm glad it is a skill I have learned and gotten better at because it will come in handy a lot in my life and lives I come in contact with. It is also a talent that I have really come to enjoy and take pride in... especially in my travels. Even though I know I'm not the best, I am satisfied with my work most of the time. Which is good enough for me.

No dates this week. Not that I wasn't asked. I was. I guess it's true, when it rains it pours. I was supposed to go on a second date this week and some guys wanting to still go out with me, but I have been feeling crappy so I have been staying at home. I guess there is a guy that wants to go out with me that knows one of the guys that was on the yurt trip. He saw the yurt trip pictures and asked him about me and wants to take me out. Weird... since I don't think I look great in those pictures... but whatever. I just want ONE of these dates to turn into something. THAT would be nice. Going out on a bunch of first dates it's really all that fun. Going out on dates is better than no dates though.

I had a dentist appointment this morning. Already that time again. Seems like 6 months passes so quickly. It's funny because I go in there and the dental hygienist asks me what I do to keep my teeth healthy. I'm honest. I say I brush once a day before I go to bed. Some people would think that is gross. I have always thought it was fine. She then asks me how often I floss. I say it goes through phases... I don't floss as often as I should... that is for sure. I actually don't know how often I floss. I really should work on it being more. I feel like I'm terrible while I am confessing this to her. Then the dentist comes in and looks at my teeth. He pokes around a bit and he says "Your teeth look great. Whatever you are doing, keep it up!" Ok then.... will do! ha ha. That about sums up my trip to the dentist every 6 months. That and talking about my molar that never surfaced the gums... we talk about that every time like it's new information when it has been that way my entire life and I have been going to the same dentist for 5 years.

My dad went with me to Young Chevrolet to figure out all the issues that I had with them. I didn't get all of the money back that they screwed me over, but I did get over half. So that is good. Thank goodness my dad is awesome. So thankful he was willing to drive up there on Saturday. He is good to me. Always has my back and willing to help me out. Both my parents are. I'm really thankful for that. It's nice to know that someone always has your back, especially family. Hopefully the saga with my car is over. Now I just need to worry about paying it off. Hopefully it will be that much faster now that some of that money is taken off.

So I haven't gotten into another show since I finished Parenthood. I have been watching random movies and staying on top of shows that are still running and such. Well... I did find this show on Netflix called "The Travel Bug" which I was drawn to... because well... that is basically me. It didn't take me long to watch it because it only has two seasons on Netflix and the first season only has like 6 episodes. I was most interested in episode 5 in Season 1 because my next trip is going to be there... but they were all interesting. By the end... I got ideas of where I wanted to travel and what I wanted to do. I also may have developed a crush on Morgan, the host of the show. He's young and cute and single and loves to travel... AND that adorable accent doesn't hurt either. I maybe started following him on Instagram ... which his Instagram is private and he doesn't have that many followers, and he accepted me. SO.... yeah. ha ha. I maybe also wrote him. Pathetic I know. The teenage girl came out of me. I guess I have a thing for fun and adventurous guys. Guess what though? He wrote me back and started small talk. Maybe he will be my new pen pal crush. Anyway... time to choose another show. That one was unexpected... it just showed up in my recommendations on my Netflix.

So I guess that is all for me this week. I am hoping this next week will be better ... like not being sick anymore. I guess I have gotten used to my office and being on the 8th floor, so there is that. We are coming up on Quarter End, so it will get busy soon. Not a bad thing. Busy is good... as long as I have energy and am not sick... this week I have had ZERO energy. Anyway... that is all I got. Later.

Photo of the Week 258

Another week, another sunset

Sick

Well.... I thought that I was in the clear and that I avoided it. Not so. I am sick. Hopefully it doesn't last long and I can catch it before it gets out of control... right now I just have no energy no matter how many sleep I get. I guess I have been around a couple of people that have been sick, so I don't know why I think I would be immune to it. Here's to hoping it won't last long.

Forever Besties

When I was on my date last Thursday at the sushi place they gave us fortune cookies at the end. This is what my fortune cookie said.

I don't usually have fortune cookies that come true, but this one seemed pretty possible, I just didn't know who it would be. Well... all of the sudden B-Rad is in town and I get an email from Steve asking if I could get together for lunch. Of course I would! I would do anything for those boys, plus I had been dying to meet the babies. It's always good to spend time with these guys and their wives and kids. Time passes, but when we are together, it's like time goes right back to where we left off last. We of course were missing Nate, but maybe we will be all together again soon. Get's harder when we are all living in 3 different states, but the states at least are all next to each other this time. We have shown over the years that we make things happen. :) Love these boys. We are forever Besties.

Introducing Baby Benjamin & Baby Becky

Within the last few months... two of my best friends (Brad and Steve) added a baby to their cute families. Even though I don't see the boys as much as I used to (I think back to the days where we used to spend every day together) I still consider these boys to be some of my best friends. They will always be like family to me. So when they have a baby... it's ALMOST like adding another niece or nephew to me. I love their kids. No exception for these two little cuties. I have been excited and waiting to meet these two babies and so happy and excited that I finally did.

Meet Baby Benjamin, Brad & Lauren's 2nd born. I think he looks like a mini Brad. What a cutie!

meet Baby Becky, Steve & Steph's 1st born. ADORABLE!

I didn't get to hold baby Benjamin, but I did get to hold Baby Becky and I loved every minute of it. I rocked her to sleep and was in baby heaven.

Slate Canyon's Got Talent

Tonight was the ward Talent Show that Ian and I put on with some help from our committee. I didn't think anyone would come because half of the acts cancelled, but people came and everyone had a good time. We had Mike MC and he was awesome. My idea for the talent show was having interactive quizzes in-between acts and the results would show up on the screen on the projector. I think everyone really loved that. Anyway... there was food, there was laughter and we were entertained. I usually love performing in Talent Show's... but putting it on, I had no desire to perform in it. I did put my little touch on decorating. It was simple, but added a little something to make it a personal touch. Brother Earnshaw was amazing and let us use the State Hospital and helped us set up and clean up. He is so helpful helping us put on activities and never questions what I want him to do... he just does it. Anyway... I guess although I was disappointed by the lack of participation in the talent show, we did have variety in the acts and it was still a success because everyone had a good time.  Until the next ward activity.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 259

Last weekend, I so badly wanted to go somewhere and do something fun because it was a 3 day weekend... but with Stake Conference and the baptism and other things, I didn't really get to go anywhere. Oh well. Maybe next year.

This week has been kind of crazy. I had to move my office from the 4th floor to the 8th floor all of the sudden. Too bad I will just have to do it again in another few months. I'm NOT excited about moving into cubicles. What also sucks is that we have to move all of the contracts and files up there to our new floor as well. Last time we had to move they got people to move all of the files for us. Not this time... we had to do it ourselves. LAME! My new office is now on the other side of the building... so I have a different view. It's not a bad view, but I already miss my old office and the sunlight coming into my office and warming me up. Thankfully it is not as cold on the 8th floor... but I still miss the sunshine coming into my office. Oh changes... I have seen so much of it in the last 6 years I have been at Novell. It's crazy.

Ben & Jerry's has a new ice cream flavor. It's "The Tonight Dough Starring Jimmy Fallon". I have been looking everywhere for it. I can't find it anywhere and it is making me sad.

I had two more dates this week with different guys than last week. They were both pretty nice. The first one, Tuesday's date... we met at Thanksgiving Point... I thought we were just going to eat somewhere there, but he surprised me and I hopped into the car with him where he had a flower waiting for me on the front seat and then he took me to a science museum and then went out to dinner after. It was a lot of fun, because he was sweet and he was funny. The second date was just dinner, but conversation was good. He is a therapist, so conversation gets deep pretty fast, but it also means I feel like I am being analyzed. I felt that way a little when I was going out with Dave. Not that this guy was trying to make me feel that way at all, but I guess I just feel that way because I'm self conscious I guess.

After finishing up Parenthood on Netflix, I watched some dumb movies, and then my mom recommended "Death Comes to Pemberly" which is what happens 6 years later after Pride and Prejudice ends. It was better than I thought it was going to be... but of course I think it would have been better if it had all of the original characters in it, but obviously that wasn't possible. After I was done watching that, I realized that Parenthood had one more season and then it ended.... so I went to my go-to sketchy website to watch all of the episodes of the last season until it got to the ones I was able to watch on e Hulu and then I watched the rest there. I finished Parenthood for real now and I have to say that I am so sad it's over. That was an emotional journey for me watching that show. I loved it. Also, I have to say that it was the first drama that I can think of that I just loved the ending. I love the way they ended the show, truly. I cried, but that isn't shocking because I cried a lot during that show in general. Of course I was going to cry at the finale. Oh man... so sad it's over.

Besides what I just mentioned... I was just getting ready for our Talent Show tomorrow... that is about it. I really though I had more going on this week. Guess it has just felt like it.

Photo of the Week 257

Happy Valley, the place I currently call home

Young Chevrolet - My Biggest Mistake

I wrote about how terrible my experience was just shopping for a new car and test driving it. Everyone says that is the fun part... it really wasn't for me. Not at all. Once I decided on what car I wanted and at the right price.... I thought the frustration would be over. I just had to make car payments... that is the only thing I would have left to think about. WRONG!

I decided I wanted the Mazda CX-5. I fell in love with that car when I test drove it. Thank you Mazda for making an awesome car. I had gone to a small car dealership who was run by a friend of my co-worker. I really didn't want to get taken advantage of because I am a young girl and a first time car buyer. So he was nice enough to lay out the price for me. He found a KSL add for the car I wanted, used, by Young Chevrolet in Layton, Utah. The price was $25,900. He showed me what they bought that car for on the site car dealerships use... which was around $23,000. Obviously the dealership needs to make a profit off of it, so they sell it for a few thousand more. I get that. Then he told me that with the taxes and doc fees that I shouldn't pay a penny more than $27,900 and they told me that was a fair asking price. I believed him. He even called the dealership for me to confirm the price. They agreed. Now, they also had the same car, same year, same color that I wanted with at least 10,000 less miles on it at the Mazda dealership in Orem which is also a lot closer to me and for the same price. After my experience there test driving and what I heard about that car dealership from the guy I was talking to... I told myself it would be worth it to drive over an hour to buy the car from Young Chevrolet instead. I wish I could go back in time and make a different choice.

On November 29th, my mom drove me to Layton to buy the car I fell in love with. I was so nervous the night before that I couldn't sleep. I don't know if it was because it is the biggest purchase I have ever made and I was nervous about making the right decision or if was a gut feeling inside that I was making a mistake and I didn't want to get screwed over. I'm going to go ahead and say it was the second one. As soon as we sat down in Chris's office to finalize buying the car he then started saying that they "forgot" about this $300 extra cost on the car. I said, no way. I'm not budging. This is what was promised to me for a fair price for the car, that is what I'm paying or else we will go to the other dealership that had the same car for the same price with less miles on it. He played the stupid car dealership waiting game... where they make you wait for no reason while they "talk to their manager to see what they can do". I thought that only happened when you were test driving. I don't know what they try to accomplish by doing it, but it only makes me more mad, because I know they are doing it on purpose. I went through it at every dealership that I went to. I thought this time would be different because I already had the price for the car. He came back giving some speech about how they were losing money on the car (which I already know is completely false because I had another dealership lay it all out for me on how the pricing works). but that he could do the price I was asking. I thought that it was over... I was wrong. He started talking to me about my loan and that it was a 7 year loan and if I only made the minimum payments every month for the 7 years, with the interest the price I would be paying for the car would be $32,000. I asked.... ok, I know how interest works and that makes sense, but if I paid it off in 3 years, it would be the price we talked about right? $27,900? He said yes... of course. So I thought we were good and I agreed.

I'm not sure if it is because I am a young girl, or if it is because I am buying a car for my first time or if it happens to everyone... that they feel like they can lie or twist their words and throw in other costs and don't tell you about them or they tell you about them but make you feel like it is included or it's not costing extra.... but that is what they did. They told me a warranty was included... but then I ended up paying extra for an extended warranty that I wasn't aware of. They added on extra costs like something for windshield protection and some other thing that I thought was included and if I knew it wasn't, I wouldn't have agreed to it. Conclusion... I was promised an out the door price of $27,900 that I fought for and went out the door tricked into paying $32,000 and not even aware of it until looking through my paperwork again for another reason.

If that wasn't enough, they also made a mess of my loan. I thought about getting a loan on my own before going to the dealership, but then thought to myself... well, what if they can give me a better rate? Another big mistake. When they were first figuring out the loan for my car they came and told me my best rate was with Wells Fargo. I said out loud "Awesome! I bank with them anyway and they are super great". Towards the end of December, I had not received any welcome letter or statement about my car payment. I actually went into Wells Fargo for another reason in January and when they had my account pulled up they said "It looks like you have an Autoloan with us." I told them I did, but I hadn't received anything about it yet and was starting to get worried. He told me that it hadn't gone all the way though... like the dealership hadn't finished processing it or something. I thought that was weird and figured I would receive something soon. Then a week after that I got something in the mail from Capitol One asking me who my car insurance was with. I had no idea why Capitol One would care since my loan was through Wells Fargo. A couple of weeks after that, I got a phone call from Capitol One asking me why I had not made a payment on my car yet. I was now VERY confused. I hadn't heard ANYTHING from Young Chevrolet. I hadn't received anything in the mail from Wells Fargo OR Capital One. What was I supposed to do?

So I called Young Chevrolet. I called several times. Each time, I would talk to the secretary who would then transfer me to the finance department who would never answer the phone and I would leave a message and nobody would call me back. I called several times... sometimes several times in one day and NOBODY would call me back. Each time I called I would get more frustrated and my messages would get more and more mean. I don't like being mean by the way. I just wanted someone... ANYONE to care about me. Chris, the guy I bought the car from did call me back one of the two times that I called him and left a message. He said, yep, you are with Capitol One. Then I told him what had happened and he said... oh yeah, that is weird, let me talk to finance and see what happened... in which of course he would never call back. The longer this went on, the more angry I got and the more angry Capitol One got with me for not paying... in which I would get mad right back because they had never sent me anything in the mail. EVERYTHING was so sketchy. I FINALLY got a statement in the mail from Capitol One on January 30th. They wanted January's payment, February's payment and a late fee... even though I had not received a statement before that. Does this seem sketchy to anyone else? Meanwhile... I'm still waiting to hear back from Young Chevrolet of why my loan changed in the first place.

It could have been so simple. All Young Chevrolet had to do was call me back and say... Hey Tracy, I'm really sorry about that. We changed your loan because there was a better rate with Capitol One (or whatever the reason is) we totally should have let you know about the change and sent it to you in writing. We are so sorry about that. We will send you those documents ASAP and let us know if there is anything else we can do for you.

That would have been awesome if that would have happened. However, that is NOT what happened. I never out of ALL the times I called them for several weeks... NEVER got a call back from them. Wow... I'm really valued as a customer there. You know what happened? My Dad had to call them for me and the Manager called him back and pretty much said, she is with Capitol One. Call them and figure it out. Thanks a lot Manager! I was really looking for a reason for the change. Why the mix up? Why no paperwork? Not just... go talk to someone else about it because I don't care.

So I think... well, if Young Chevrolet doesn't care about me, maybe Chevrolet Corporate will. So I wrote them an email complaining about Young Chevrolet. They wrote me an email back saying to call them. So I called them... and they said because I bought a Mazda and not a Chevrolet... they can't help me and I need to call Mazda. I said it had nothing to do with my car. I actually LOVE my car... it has to do with crappy service at Young Chevrolet.... however they told me they couldn't help me and to call Mazda. So I call Mazda... and they told me they couldn't help me because it's a Chevrolet dealership... which is what I thought... but even though she couldn't help me, that was probably the best customer service I had received so far in this entire process. I wish I remembered her name so I could give her a personal shout out of how thankful I am for her. I almost started crying to her on the phone and she showed me so much empathy and felt so bad wishing she could help me and called Young Chevrolet and connected me to the Manager's phone to leave a message (which I did).

I got a call back from the Manager who said all of the polite things on the phone because that is what he was supposed to say, but you could tell he was annoyed talking to me especially since he had already talked to my dad. He gave me the same speech as Chris did when selling me the car that they lost $500 on the car (which I know is B.S.) and that there was nothing that he could do... and you could tell he didn't care.

Next step? Drive over an hour to go back into the dealership WITH my dad to try and get some of the money back that I was cheated and maybe even an explanation about what happened with my loan. I'm not getting my hopes up too high though since I know they don't care about me. I will try to make one more complaint to Chevrolet Corporate to see if anything can be done, but beyond that, I don't know what else I can do.

What has this entire experience taught me? Well, although I'm a 32 year old woman that has been independent for years and has excellent credit and capable of buying a car on her own... I will never try and do it on my own again. When buying a car, a young woman like me isn't taken seriously and will be taken advantage of and they don't even care. Even though I did my research first and educated myself more than I ever had before on cars and the process of buying a car, it doesn't matter. Would this of happened with my dad there? I can almost guarantee you it wouldn't. This is why I am taking him back with me.

Not only do I have a bad taste in my mouth for Young Chevrolet and will speak ill of them for the rest of my life and tell everyone I know never to buy a car there, but this entire process from beginning (3 months of looking and test driving) to right now (almost 3 months after I bought the car) have been such a miserable experience, I never want to buy a car ever again. Hopefully it will be 10 years before I need to, but I will dread the day that I have to because this experience was so terrible.

Italy & Greece Video

My computer kind of broke RIGHT before I was going to finish this video. Poor Allison had been waiting very patiently for this video to be done. Well... it is finally done and I showed it to her first before I put it out on the web for everyone else to see. She loved it... in which I am glad. It's hard not to love something you are in... but I felt like we did a good job capturing the trip... the good, the bad and the hilarious. For your viewing pleasure... here you go.

All You Need Is Love

Yesterday was Valentines Day. I honestly didn't really even think about it all day. I had too many things to do. I had Tomas's Baptism and the lunch after. Then I had to run errands including shopping at Costco with Ian for Stake Conference that night which for some reason they wanted refreshments and Ian signed us up. So I barely had enough time to get home, shower and get read and bring the treats over to Stake Conference. Sat though 2 hours of Stake Conference which was great... amazing music and President Sandberg spoke which is always amazing. After it was over Ian and I had to hurry and get the treats and set it up in the back before people started leaving. We both socialized and had to wait until everyone was done and then we had to clean up and then lock up the church. I didn't end up leaving until 10:30pm... got home and went to Sodalicious with my roommates because that is the only valentine we all wanted. And well... that wrapped up my Valentines Day. It was actually nice that I was so busy that I didn't have time to think about it... because sometimes this Holiday can make me a little depressed... instead, I didn't even have time to think about it. It was awesome.

However, this doesn't mean that I didn't feel any love. First I got flowers on a date on Thursday. Although I'm not interested in the guy that gave them to me, it was very sweet and the flowers are beautiful.

We also got a little heart attack love from the Relief Society.

Then today the love continued at a brunch that Ian hosted at his house... where he made banana bread french toast. What? Have you ever had that before? I hadn't. It was pretty good. I made mine into a heart... because why not? I ended up hanging out with this group for the rest of the afternoon because we were having so much fun. Seriously... I love these people. I should hang out with them more often. It was nice to have Stake Conference just for the fact that we were done by noon and for once I had time to hang out with friends on a Sunday... usually I get home from church and spend the rest of the day/night with my family. I kind of miss having that friend time on Sunday that I used to. Don't get me wrong, I love my family time... I just miss morning church for that reason. I could have both.

I also got some Tinder Valentine messages from different guys. It's nice that the guys are making the girls feel special... even on Tinder. ;)

It's been great. I hope you felt loved this weekend. More importantly... spread the love! Happy Valentines Day.

Tomas's Baptism

Today was a special Valentines Day. Why? I attended a baptism this morning. For who? My sister-in-law's brother, Tomas.

Tomas moved to Utah a few months ago and since then he has been coming to my parents house for Sunday dinner pretty much every Sunday. I have gotten to know him a little bit more and he is just the nicest guy and so friendly and easy going. I knew that he had moved to Utah to make some changes in his life and when he first moved here... he wasn't super interested in the church. It has been really neat to watch his interest change while he has been here. At first he didn't care to go to church. Then he started going to Chad and Clara... then he started going to his own singles ward in his area.

I honestly didn't even know he was talking with the missionaries... until this last Sunday. My brother asked me what I was doing for Valentines Day and invited me to go to Tomas's baptism. It was a quick thing. He felt good about it and said... let's do this this weekend! He asked me if I would come... and of course I would be there. I thought it was amazing with how last minute the baptism was ... how great of a turn out he got.

The Baptism was so great. Clara gave the talk on Baptism and it was so sweet to see her get so emotional with how happy and excited she was for her brother to join the church. I don't blame her. When you know families are eternal and you can be sealed together to be with each other always... it's exciting to have another family member on board. I also loved seeing my little brother baptize him.... and all of the little kids gathered around to witness this exciting event. My brother has turned into such a fine young man. He is a great husband and father and provider for their home and cares so much for our family and being there for us and it makes me happy to see that he is doing so well and has a strong testimony and it living his life just the way he should. He is a good man. I love him. Tomas is such a sweetheart and I'm so proud of him and the changes he has made and the decisions he has made and I think it is awesome that he is just another part of our family.

What a special day. Congrats Tomas!

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 258

I got my tax return money already. Wasn't that fast? I love that. I also bought my plane ticket to my next trip, but I found a great deal on it, so I still have plenty of money left to go towards my car and other things. So excited.

I finished Parenthood... at least what is on Netflix. I loved it. Now I need to decide what to watch next. Some other shows that I have watched on Netflix are already gone, so it makes me feel like I have to hurry up and watch all of these shows on my list before it's too late. ha ha. Pathetic I know. Who cares.

Monday we had to go to a meeting at work. Novell was bought by Attachmate a few years ago... now Attachmate has been bought by Micro Focus (In England) and that is what the meeting was about. It latest 2 hours and it was about the changes that need to be made to keep the business going. Some of the things that were talked about... there will be a bunch more lay off's in April. Should I be worried? Who knows. Pattern over the years shows that my job is pretty secure, but I guess you never know. I'm not worrying too much about it. I don't think there will be as many lay off's this time as when Attachmate first took over. The other change that is happening is that I have to move offices again. That is what happened when Attachment took over as well. Although it was a great change... I moved to the 4th floor and got a Window office. This time I am moving to a window office on the 8th floor... which would be fine it that weren't temporary. We are moving on Tuesday and will be there probably up to 6 months. We have to move all of our files up there and everything. Then they will be doing construction on the 4th floor and when they are done in the summer... we will move back, but not into an office. I will be moving into a cubical. When I found this out... and found out how soon it was going to happen, I was MAD! Seriously... I have had my own office since I started working there 6 years ago and honestly it was one of the things I loved about my job. I love having my space. I feel more productive. I feel like I am getting demoted. I guess I will just try and appreciate my office for as long as I have it... but I am not excited about moving twice and I'm REALLY not excited about being in a cubical. Ugh. That was the worst part of my week. That and boxing up the contracts with nobody helping me. That was fun.

I had another guy that found me on Facebook and started chatting with me and wanted to take me out but it never ended up happening contact me again this last week... only this time in the middle of our chatting he told me he had a girlfriend. I asked him why he was talking to me then? Obviously he was interested in me before... we were not ever friends, so isn't it inappropriate to be talking to girls that you are interested in now that you have a girlfriend? I don't get it. Guys do this to me and I wonder what is going through their head when they decide to contact me.

Let's see, what else. I watched the Bachelor on a projector with 3 guys on Tuesday. That was entertaining. I guess girls are not the only ones that are into it. Guys like the drama too.

The loan for the car is sorted out and I started making payments... but I'm still mad how it all went down and I am going to call the corporate office to see if they will care about me and what happened since the dealership did not. They pretty much screwed me over. Thanks a lot Young Chevrolet! I will never buy a car from you again nor would I recommend ANYONE go to you. I thought my experience at the Mazda dealership was bad... now I can't decide which one was worse. I don't think I will have do a big purchase like that again without a male with me... if I'm not married by the time I make my next big purchase, then I will have my dad come with me... because obviously they don't respect young women.

There is a new Amish Market right down the street from where I live. I'm really excited about it. A lot more excited than I was about the doors and locks business that was there before that. This market has a bunch of awesome stuff. My roommates and I went on Saturday and I bought a few things, but there are so many things that I want to go back for and try. So far... I bought Mango Salsa, Peach Salsa and a Cinnamon Peach Syrup. I haven't tried the Peach Salsa yet... but the other two are so good. I have been putting the mango salsa on my salmon and avocado spinach salad. YUM!!! It is soon good. I love it. So excited to have that market with great stuff so close that I can walk to it.

I went on two dates this week. Both were.... interesting. In different ways. One was a total tool that I'm pretty sure was either on drugs or his brain is permanently damaged from his past drug use. The other guy was soooooo sweet. It was just so awkward and conversation didn't flow the way I wanted it to and yeah... I just want it to feel natural and be easy. Anyway... I won't be going out with either one of them again.

So happy that my computer is better than normal. Brock is going to make it even better! If that is even more possible. I ordered RAM and it has come... so I just need Brock to Install it. Now My computer will run super fast even with multiple programs open at the same time. So excited. I love that I feel like I got a new computer without having to get a new computer.

I guess that is it for my week. It is still super warm. I wonder if it will be warm enough for me to start tanning before my trip. I feel like I should get a base tan again before my trip like I did last year so that I don't burn big time. I would love to do that without going to a tanning bed though. I didn't love that experience except for the fact that it really did help me not burn last summer. It is also warm enough that I should start running outside. Let's see if I can get motivated enough to do that. It has been a while since I have run outside... which is totally different than running on a treadmill. We shall see... but I am loving the warm weather and I feel like I should be taking advantage of it more.

Photo of the Week 256

Green Canyon Yurt

I took my first little road trip in my new car. I filled that trunk with everyone's adventure equipment and pumped the jams and hit the road with these two in the car. Kristen and Tyler. Kristen is my new friend in the ward. Tyler... well, Tyler is this guy from Australia that visited our ward two Sunday's ago. I probably wouldn't have noticed him or talked to him... but he bore his testimony in our ward. I kept running into him and talked to him a little bit... then went back to where he was sitting outside and asked him if he wanted to go on our yurt trip since he is bumming around Utah for a month and we had some opened spots. He turned to me (a total stranger) and said "what is snowshoeing and what is a yurt"? I explained both to him and he said he was in. This is a perfect example of why I love Australians.

Last year, on this same weekend... I did a snowshoeing trip to Lily Lake Yurt.  That was my first yurt experience... and I liked it enough to give it another go this year. This year however, I wanted to control who came on the trip. We booked a yurt that held 12 and Allison and I wondered if we had that many friends to fill the yurt.

This year was an entirely different experience. First of all... we haven't been really having Winter. So there wasn't a lot of snow. In fact, I hiked the entire way there without my snowshoes. It got a little harder at the end, but I was fine. I did use them on the way back which was helpful for the icy part of the trail. Secondly the hike was a little longer to get to the yurt. Last year, I believe our hike was about 1.5 miles. This year it was 3.75 miles. That doesn't seem like that far... but in snowshoes and the trail not being marked plus carrying your backpack uphill... we were all pretty tired when we got there. Third, we got a yurt that fit 12 people instead of 8. The yurt was a lot nicer than last years. A lot more space, more comfortable beds... and the temperature inside the yurt was perfect... unlike last year. The yurt also provided a lot more stuff.

We ended up filling 10 of the 12 spots. Not bad... not bad at all. I was the only person that knew everyone there... a lot of people didn't know other people there... except for Tyler, Tyler didn't really know anyone. Not even really me. I'm so glad he came though because he brought a lot of laughs to the group. He has such an interesting story and he is so much fun to be around. We all had so much fun getting to know each other, eating and sharing food together and playing games. There is something that bonds a group together when you are all stuck in the same room together for a long period of time. Everyone had so much fun. I just adore this group and I couldn't imagine anyone else I would have rather spent my weekend with. It made me so happy that everyone loved it so much and had so much fun. Everyone left friends or even better friends. Such a good time. We had a lot of laughs in that yurt.

The next day it was time to make the 3.75 mile snowshoe hike back. This time would be a breeze though because it was all downhill. It was WAY faster to get back than it was to get there. We were all sad that is was over. Maybe I can get everyone together to reunite for an awesome camping trip this summer. Except for Tyler of course. He will be back in Australia.

I'm glad I organized it. Even though we hardly had any snow it was so fun. I love that everyone loved it and was so happy to be there and that we all got along so well. I guess I will keep this a thing. Winter Yurt trips. What a great group. What a great weekend.

Reanne's Birthday

My oldest niece, Reanne turned 12! I can hardly believe it. It didn't seem like it was that long ago that  she was a baby and I would rush home from school or work so that I could take a nap with her in my arms and sing to her while walking up and down the stairs to try and get her to stop crying. Now she is 12. She is now in Young Women's and getting ready for Jr. High next year and has developed into this really smart, creative, talented, sassy, fun and cute girl that is becoming a teenager.

My good friends Liz and Ben treat their nieces and nephews for their birthday. I love that idea because it's a special bonding time with you and the niece or nephew. You do something together instead of just buying them something. I really want to be Favorite Aunt Tracy... so I decided this year that I was going to start doing that with my nieces and nephews. I'm sad that not all of them are here. Even if they were... the ones I don't see very often are not used to me and would probably not want to go do something with me one on one... but I am going to try and do this with each of my nieces and nephews for their birthdays. Reanne was first.

I took Reanne to my favorite... Sodalicious. The beauty of Sodalicious is that you can create your own drink. So I showed her the board of all the flavors to choose from and told her along with creating her soda, she could also pick a treat. The drink she created sounded a little bizarre to me and I was afraid that she wouldn't like it... but she told me she trusted her taste buds. The drink she created was Orange Fanta with fresh lime, sour apple and raspberry. Along with that she got popcorn. I was a little worried about her drink because it didn't sound great... but she tried it and she loved it. I actually tried a sip of it as well and it wasn't as terrible as it sounded. What mattered was that she loved it. I was happy that she was excited to go out and spend time and get a treat with Aunt Tracy. It was a fun little bonding moment. I sure do love this girl. Happy Birthday Reanne.

Brock

I just have to do a personal shout out to Brock. Who is Brock? He is my BFF Tech guy at work. He is seriously the coolest and can fix anything I have asked him to fix weather is for work or not. Not only did he set me up with a new computer and new monsters at work... but he also was helping me look for cars when I was looking, tried to help me fix my lava lamp when it was broken and pretty much anything I ask him he is there to assist me. It's awesome. He also has become a good friend.

This shout out though... is because he just fixed my laptop. Seriously... he is the only person so far that I know that knows how to fix Apple stuff. He has also helped me with stuff with me phone. I was unsure about asking him for help at first because it is my personal computer and not a work computer and wasn't sure if he could work on it at work... but he jumped at the opportunity to help me. He helped me look up online what hard drive I would need to replace my corrupt one, while I was at it also helped me look up what battery I would need since my old one wasn't holding a charge very long. I ordered both things, they came very quickly and I brought everything into work and he took my computer for a day and a half and brought it back like it was a new computer. He took the old battery and hard drive out, wiped the computer clean, reinstalled everything, upgraded to Yosemite, transferred all of my files back on and even made sure my movie that I had been working on in iMovie was working and would import the video I was trying to get in there. If that wasn't enough... he also cleaned my entire computer inside and out so that it is literally like a new computer. How amazing is he?

Next he told me I should get some RAM if I wanted things to run faster. So I ordered that and he will install that next. Isn't he amazing? I told him that I would make him a Chocolate Haupia Pie (my favorite) which he is very excited about. Not that that even equals the amount of money he saved me by doing this for me. Total with the RAM I will have spent around $200 on those 3 things that he installed to make my computer run like new. If I would have taken it in to Apple to fix it (which I would have if it weren't for Brock)... it would have cost me $200 for parts plus $400 for labor. Which at that point you almost might as well get a new computer... which would be around $1,200 or more.

So THANK YOU BROCK! Thanks for fixing my 5 year old computer and making it like new and for doing it for free. You saved me a lot of money and a lot of frustration. Seriously... I owe you way more than a Chocolate Haupia Pie... but that will have to do for now.

L-O-V-E That Spells Family

Words can not express how much I love this group of people... my family.

I'm glad I was put into this family and that I get to be with them forever. I even lucked out with amazing in-laws and the cutest, smartest and funniest nieces and nephews.

I love them because they love me despite my imperfections. I love them because they are always there for me no matter what and I can always count on them. I love them because I can confide in them and I know they will support me and be on my side. They share in my excitement when things are going well and they let me cry to them and sometimes cry with me in life's trials. I love them for all of the different talents that we all have that help us help and be there for each other. I love that everyone is so willing to help and be there for each other. I love them for their example to me... their example of righteousness, their example of loving marriages that are not easy, but in working together how great it can be. Example of being great parents and raising great kids. I love my family for having a home where everyone is welcomed and not judged. I love that we have very little drama. I love that we can get together weekly (the ones that are all in Utah) and always enjoy each others company.

I couldn't be more proud. Proud to be part of such an amazing family. I am who I am because of them. I would do anything for any of them. Did I mention what a good looking bunch they are too? I Love them all.

Kitchen Addition

I have added a couple of things to my kitchen that I am pretty excited about.

The kitchen has always been kind of a European cafe inspired kind of look and feel to it (even though when I started that I had never been to Europe). When Allison and I decided to go to Italy and Greece, I knew I wanted to get a cool picture of an outdoor cafe to blow up on canvas and hang in the kitchen. The entire trip I had this in mine and took many pictures of many cafe's. I never got one of exactly what I was expecting or looking for. However... I was happy enough with how one of them turned out to blow up and hang in the kitchen. I also feel like it happens to match the colors of the kitchen well. So... I'm happy with it.

The other thing I added to the kitchen.... I have been wanting to add to the kitchen for a while. I just put it off because I kept having roommates that had one and they are kind of expensive... but when Penny moved out I decided I was finally going to do it. I bought a Kitchen Aid! It's beautiful and I love it. I almost got a red one because it matches my kitchen... however, I may not always have a red decorated kitchen, but I know I am always going to have my Kitchen Aid, so I went with silver. I love it and I know I will get so much use out of it over the years. I love my kitchen. I think the only thing that would make me love it more is if I could stain or paint the cabinets a different color and I could get a new light fixture for the dining room. Ok... maybe I would change a few things, but decoration wise... I love it.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 257

So it is February and it is getting even warmer. We are up to 60 degrees now. So weird. Weirdest Winter ever. Don't get me wrong, I like it... but I also know we need the snow. Hopefully we get enough up in the mountains? Maybe Global Warming is a real thing.

So sometimes I go to Walmart (not very often) and sometimes I am surprised when I find cute stuff there. And sometimes the stuff is too cute to not buy it. Look how cute these little succulents are that have magnets on the back so you can put them on the fridge. What? Also I guess I'm really into mugs these days. I think they are cute, so whenever I see a cute one, I buy it.

I am still watching Parenthood. I am almost done with Season 4. I love it. I just love drama I guess.. but I also love that each of the families all have their hardships. Of course it is dramatized... but it's real problems. I love seeing how they get through it as a family and stick together. There are also a lot of really sweet and tender moments. When these moments happen you can sometimes see me crying in my office. No big deal.

So I have been dealing with a lot of crappy guys... I mean guys that are going out with me or talking to me just because they want some action. You know... this is why I have lost faith in men... that there are still good ones left out there. I still try to give guys the benefit of the doubt, but I get disappointed over and over again. It's tiring. Or maybe there is just no guy out there that thinks I'm worth more than trying to hook up with. Who knows. It's really disappointing though.

Speaking of disappointing guys, I still browse Tinder. It's more for entertainment than anything at this point. These days people have made accounts for lots of things. I think Mr. Compliments was one of the first, but I have now matched with Brownies and Grilled Cheese... this week I matched with Gaston (like the cartoon from Beauty and the Beast). He told me we should get married and have lots of lads like him. Then I matched with Charming. He asked me if I was his Tinderella. I doubt this sort of things happens outside of Utah.

Tonight I watched the Bachelor with my good friend Liz. I'm so glad we still hang out. I enjoy it. Plus the Bachelor is hilariously entertaining. I love laughing at it with others. I mean... it's so overly dramatic that it is funny. I also find myself checking out the girls and wanting their hair or love how they do their makeup or love what they are wearing. I do wonder if the girls are really so crazy or if they just edit it to make them see crazy. OR if they egg them on? I don't know... but it works. I'm entertained and I can't wait to see what happens next week.

Tuesday was the night everyone decided to stop by on the same night. I went to a birthday party, the home teachers came by which they never do and my friend Ellis wanted to hang out so we did... which it was fun to hang out and catch up with him and talk about traveling. Also Ian stopped by. It was the night to make visits I guess. I like it. Jonathan also stopped by Monday night to hang out in the Fort and he shared some of his German chocolate with me. Mmmmm... so good. Oh yeah... and I still haven't taken down the fort. I was going to tonight, but I think I will do it this weekend. It's just so cozy. I love it, but it is time for it to come down.... until June.

I'm so thankful for my Tech friend at work. He worked on my computer again. My laptop is still struggling but he is going to fix it, which I am so so so thankful for because I couldn't find anyone that knows how to work on Mac's and probably would have had to spend a lot of money to pay someone at Apple to fix it. Instead, Brock helped me backup my computer and showed me online what new battery and what new hard drive to buy and I bought them and when they come he is going to install them and we are going to wipe my computer clean and it will be like new with those new things. Much needed. Thank you Brock! You are the best!

I went to Institute (my stake Institute) for the first time in a LONG time. Probably like a year or something like that. I went for Jed. He is an amazing teacher. He knows how to make it fun AND learn from it. This is why everyone loves going to Jed's class. I guess that is all that has been going on this week. Just another week in the Life of Tracy.

Photo of the Week 255

The sunset in Midway on our way home from Park City on Saturday.

Sundance Film Festival

Saturday morning I got up early to go up to Park City with Allison and Dallin. When I say early.... that means 7:30 on a Saturday which to most people is normal and not a big deal... but to me it is totally absurd to get up that early on a Saturday for any reason. However, we had a good reason for getting up and making the drive up to beautiful Park City.

Allison, Dallin and I had all never been to the Sundance Film Festival and have always wanted to. Yep! I put it on my Winter Bucket List every year and every year the festival comes and goes without me attending it. A lot of people go in hopes to see celebrities... I just wanted the experience.. to at least try it out once. So off we went.

If you don't buy tickets ahead of time, you get to the box office early and hope to get a ticket to some show. Since they are all independent films... you never really know what you are going to get. Our first two choices were sold out, so we got tickets for a Documentary called "Dreamcatcher". Sure. Why not? Our movie didn't start until 3:15pm... so we had from 8:30 until then to kill time in Park City. It was the second weekend of the festival, so we knew we were most likely not going to be rubbing shoulders with any celebrities. It was early and we had a lot of time to kill so we grabbed a hot chocolate and a pastry to kill the time while we discussed our options.

We did a lot of walking on the adorable main street and around other parts of Park City. We finally decided to take a gondola ride (ski lift) up the mountain... not to ski or snowboard like everyone else, but just to check out the views of the mountain and of Park City. You pay a set price to ride the gondola as many times as you want... so we just sat in there and went a couple of times. People looked at us funny... but it's ok. It was around 14 minutes round trip... so it helped kill some time plus it was super beautiful. It was also hilarious because Dallin is afraid of heights and may have freaked out a little bit on the way up.

We then grabbed some lunch and then headed over to our movie. "Dreamcatchers" happened to be a documentary about a woman that got herself out of prostitution and started the program to help other woman get out as well when they were ready... giving them an option out when most of them do it because it is the only way they know how to survive. It was very sad... but it was also inspiring. It's sad that it is a part of our world that we live in, but it is inspiring when people change and get out and knowing what it's like... using their experience to inspire and help others to get out of the situation too. I'm thankful for people that use their time for good and to help others.

After the movie we drove home. It was an early day. Kind of a long day. It was a fun experience that I'm glad I finally did and was happy that it was with good company. I'm thankful that there are so many fun/cool things to do in Utah. I love that after living here for 10 years I can still find new things to do and new places to go. It was a great day. Another check off of the Utah Bucket List.