Irelyn Turns 3!

I'm not sure where the time has gone, but little Irelyn turned 3 on Sunday. She was really excited to be turning 3 because she has been telling me about it all month long.

Well, I have started a new tradition with my nieces and nephews that I take them out for their birthday and get them a little treat. Bonding time with their Aunt Tracy. Well, she is the second one to go out with me. I drove up to Salt Lake just to take her out. As soon as I got to the house she came prancing out all excited.

We chatted on the way to Menchies. She told me how nice my car was and how much she liked. It she told me to turn up my music because she liked it and wanted to dance to it (that girl knows how I roll) and she just had a big smile on her face.

When we got to Menchies I held her while she held her bowl and I put the ice cream in... but then she scooped the candy in (which I guess she usually doesn't get toppings, so she was pretty excited about that). I prepared my bowl and then we sat to chat and eat. She picked out all of the candy first. We danced to the music. She told me about her birthday party she had with her friends. It was all very adorable. You could tell by the chocolate and the smile on her face that she was happy.

We had about an hour together total... but I loved my little birthday outing with Irelyn. She is pretty darn cute and has quite the personality. She is a happy little girl and pretty fun to hang out with.

Then we were back at my brother's house.

Irelyn - "Are you going to stay?"

Me - "No, I need to drive back home to meet up with some friends. I drove up here just to take YOU out to ice cream for your birthday."

Irelyn - "I like you"

Me - "I like you too"

Happy Birthday Irelyn. I sure love you a lot and glad I get to be your Aunt!

So I Went To This Party...

Sometimes.... I have no plans for my weekend... and I just never know what will happen.

My friend Kristen had a birthday weekend. Friday night was a dance party at her work and we found these heads. So we tried to take Hipster pictures.

Holi Crap! I Didn't Go!

Yesterday was Holi.... also known as the Festival of Colors. I had it in my calendar. I always do because I always go. I don't need a Facebook reminder telling me when it is because I have gone for so many years... I know.

However, this year I didn't go. *See what I did there? With the title?... Clever I know*

I partially didn't go because I couldn't find anyone to go with me. The older I get... the more I feel like my friends are over it. I would always be up for going... however, I have been so many times that I didn't put that much effort into begging anyone to come with me. So I skipped this year.

But I always celebrate in my heart... because I do love the festival. Getting messy with color is fun, but I also love that it is a welcoming of Spring and a Festival where people join together and just share the love. Everyone there has smiles on their faces. It's a happy Festival. 

So maybe next year I will be back. Maybe my Holi days are over. Guess we shall see what life throws at me next year. Until then... Happy Holi everyone! Spring is here!!!

One of Those Nights

I need to work better on my diet.... but it was just one of those nights. At least I have been running almost every day.

The Tonight Dough

Last night I was sitting around with MacKenzie and she had a lot of homework to do and knew she was going to be up late and mentioned that she needed caffeine. I told her that I would go with her to the Sev aka 711 after I took a shower. 

So we ran into Daniel on our way to the car and he wanted to go with us and told us we should walk. So we walk to the sev. When we get there... I wasn't really planning n getting anything. I was just hanging out and keeping MacKenzie company. However... ever since The Tonight Dough came out... I ALWAYS check the ice cream, to see if they have it. I never expect it to actually be there since I have been checking everywhere I go for the last month and a half or so and it's NEVER there. Plus... we had looked up online what states it was released in and Utah was not one of them. 

So I took a quick peek at the ice cream, in the sev down the street from where we live... and there it was! I perked up and had to do a double take to make sure I was really seeing it. I gasped and then squealed with joy. That is not an exaggeration. Daniel and MacKenzie both looked over at me and asked me what happened. I was so excited. I pulled it out of the freezer and said after all the weeks of looking for this ice cream, I had finally found it. I took a picture to send to Allison at work... because she too had been looking for it everywhere she went. We each got one and we also bought one for Allison... because we are nice like that. 

We went home and I dug into it. It is as good as it sounds and as good as I thought it would be. I don't know if it was also so good because I had been searching for it everywhere for so long and finally found it, but it is good. So good, I should have bought two... because when I went back tonight... it was gone. I really hope it comes back. Who knew that the first time I would find it that it would be just down the street from me. Such an unexpected but pleasant surprise!

I'm pretty sure this is the best thing to happen to me all week. I mean... besides going to the temple. Seriously. 

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 264

It's been a good week. No reason in particular, but I guess I have just been enjoying the great weather and the beautiful flowers.

I have also stayed consistent with running after work... even when MacKenzie doesn't go with me (which I am very proud of myself for). We went Friday, then I went again on my own Monday, Wednesday and today by myself. I think we will go again tomorrow. So the 3 miles is getting easier. Maybe one of these days I will have to change up the route and make it longer? Mmm.... Do I want to run longer than 3 miles? I'm not sure.

I'm not sure what I have been watching. I watched another season of Dr. Who and I still feel the same about it. I took a break from it to watch half of the last season of Mad Men since that is now on Netflix. I also have been watching Repeat After Me with my roommates which is pretty funny. I think it's a new show. I have also watched a couple of movies. One of them was Saints and Soldiers: The Void. Why? Only because I found out that my friend Stacey is in it along with his roommate who is also in my ward, Matt. Matt has been a little harder to get to know because he is so quiet and reserved, but he is super nice. Anyway... they are both from Studio C and they are both in that movie (which was super slow and boring) but Matt was a main character and did a great job. Stacey had a very small role, but also did a great job. Pretty cool to be able to say that you are in a movie. It's on Netflix for anyone to see.

Work has been very frustrating. It is getting busier because we are getting close to quarter end. Paula has been out all of this week for her daughters wedding which is fine and I knew about that. However, the other one... Sarah... I just never know if she is actually going to come into work or not. I feel like she is not at work more than she is at work... or if she does come in, she is super late. I have been lectured so many times with coming in 15 or 20 minutes late and she gets away with this behavior because she is family friends with our boss. It really irritates me. I know she has health issues... but she could still be working. I feel like she is young and immature and has never had a real job before and is not taking this job seriously. The longer this goes on, the more frustrated I become. This week has been extra stressful because Paula has been gone... and so has Sarah. So far she came in one day and then 3 hours today. One of the days she text me before work and told me if I needed her to come in, she would.... but if not... she was going to go ahead and stay home. So... obviously she could work. She just doesn't feel like it. I couldn't imagine treating my job that way. I even go into work if I am sick. Unless I literally can't get out of bed or if I'm throwing up... that is the only time I don't go in. She makes up excuses about how she is more sick because her roommates kept her up late so she didn't get as much sleep as she needed... or she gets sick from eating gluten or sugar... but she eats them anyway and then gets sick. But whenever I see her, she seems fine... and she is telling me about some boy she made out with. Oh... and her cruise coming up. I'm sure she will be just fine for that. It just makes me mad when people can get away with that kind of behavior and then I am stuck covering their work having no idea if they are actually going to show up for work or not. Today was one of those days. I was covering everything and it started to get overwhelming. I can do it... I can handle it, it's just a little more stressful and I don't get breaks.  Venting session over.

I went to the temple on Tuesday straight after work. It had been a long time since I had been. It was nice to go back. Felt good to be there. I thought by going straight there from work that I would beat the rush, but that was totally false thinking. When I got there it was SUPER crowded. It's ok though... I was in no rush to leave the temple. I liked being there for a while since it had been a while. I guess it was the last week for all the temple workers that will be switching to the Payson temple which is why it was a little crazy? I don't know. I'm glad I went though.

I went to Institute last night. I try and go when Jed is teaching to support him. Also he is a really great teacher. This week the lesson was on marriage... which I thought would be interesting to hear him teach it. It involved a lot of humor. They always are... but this one especially. You could tell it was not something he wanted to teach on. He is great though. I also think he appreciates me coming to support him.

We have kept the tradition of sodalicious with friends on the weekend. We quite like our tradition. MacKenzie and I also saw Insurgent on Friday with Ian. Well... Ian showed up eventually. Mind you, going to the movie was his idea... he just met us there and didn't show up until we were 10 minutes into the movie (not the previews... the movie) ... what's the point of going together if you really are not going together. MacKenzie and I snuck in our Sodalicious into the theater. Such a good idea. We all really liked the movie, but that was no surprise to me. I liked the first one, so I figured I would like the second as well. After that I hung out with Stacey and Matt's puppy until 3am. We are both such night owls... it can be bad.

Speaking of Stacey. He tagged me in an instagram photo this week... some artsy shot in my car when we were driving to sodalicious one time. I had no idea he took it, and you can't even tell it's me (which is fine) but because he tagged me in it... and he is so popular with like thousands of followers, I had all of these teenage girls looking at my Instagram and liking random photo's of mine that night. It was weird. Now my car is famous though. Ha ha... not really. Someone complimented my dreamcatcher in his comments. Man... I know all of these YouTube celebrities around here.... I don't think I would be able to even handle being famous on a small scale. Stacey ALWAYS get's stopped wherever we go. If I ever did though... I hope that I would handle it as well as he does. Anyway... that's my week.

Photo of the Week 262

I love the temple. I also love Spring. I love this picture that I took that perfectly captures both of those things.

Hungry Hungry Hippos... I Mean Humans

Thursday, Ian and I put on another ward activity. This video of people playing real life Hungry Hungry Hippos has been going around and it's catching on and more and more people are doing it... including us. So glad we did, it is SO much fun. Everyone that came had a BLAST! Stacey and I took lots of video's of the event and I had a fun time putting together this video of the activity. If this video doesn't make you want to play, I don't know what would.

Allison and I started the night before blowing up balloons since we knew we had SO many to blow up. The trick after that was figuring out how to get all of the blown up balloons to the church. It filled up my entire car and I couldn't see anything!

Here is the Activities committee that helped put it on.

After everyone was done playing....

My Calling is a lot of work, but it sure is fun too.

Possibly The Weirdest Email I Have Ever Received

Sometimes I forget just how public my blog is. Sometimes I don't really think about how much I share. I mean... I do, but I don't really think of who is reading... who is reading regularly and if we even know each other. Sometimes people that read my blog regularly feel like they know me because I am so open and share a lot of what I am doing and a lot of my thoughts and feelings. It doesn't bother me at all, but sometimes it is interesting with some people. They know me so well... and I really don't know them. It's one sided and a part of me thinks that is cool and another part of me thinks it's a little awkward. It has brought a lot of great opportunities because I have had friends tell me something I went through and wrote about made an impression on them or I have made better friendships and relationship's with family and friends because they read my blog. It's cool. However... sometimes on a rare occasion, people feel like they know me well enough to give me advice when they have never met me. Like this email I got. I mean... I know who she is, but we have never met. I came close to marrying her brother. She was the only sibling of his that I didn't meet because she lived in another state... but she started reading my blog when we were dating.... and continued long after the engagement broke off and he was not only no longer a part of my life, but he was married to someone else. We because Facebook friends while I was dating her brother and we still are. She for some reason took a liking to me. I mean... I feel like I'm a pretty likable person, but why keep up on a girl that your brother didn't end up marrying? She is very sweet... and it has been 5 years since she wrote me this email.... but I have never been able to forget it. You will see why...

Email was titled:

Fiesta San Jacinto - possible weird email read at home alone

Hi Tracy, I have work off today because today is a paid city holiday call San Jacinto-must love San Antonio. This is going to be kind of a weird email but here goes: I have spent some time thinking about you. I love watching stuff you do like the disco outfit and countless other things. What I have concluded is that you are one of the most articulate, outgoing and upbeat people I have ever not known.

Here's the part where this message gets kind of weird. I spent a good part of my 20's avoiding things I shouldn't have - I could tell you more about this if you would like but here's the point: I avoided and avoided a mission. I am now 33 years old and DO regret not serving a mission.

The bottom line here is that I think Tracy Mills has ton of things to offer the world.

***Warning more weirdness ahead***

The Black Stallion I is my favorite movie.

Watch this clip now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kczfqks1LLw

Sometimes I think you are a beautiful wild horse that needs to have all that energy bridled. Have you ever seen the move the Black Stallion? In the movie there is a powerful untrained Arabian horse. Eventually through a series of events the horse is discovered and trained to be a champion race horse. The horse does not change who it is, but all the power in the horse is channeled by the trainer, and eventually the world sees & knows the horse as the champion it already was.

What am I saying here? I think you are the wild horse that is running on the ocean and through town. Do I think you need a bridle put on you - yes. What is the name of the bridle? A mission.

Back in the day when I was an undergrad in the business school they would always says that the difference between a finance major and an accounting major is like bowling: Finance people want to throw the ball, accountants keep score.

I am bringing this up because I think Tracy is the type that wants to throw the ball. I think I have seen enough of you to safely assume this is correct. However largely, I think you have been keeping score; I see you doing this on your blog pretty frequently. I will give more detail if you want. We can get out your blog postings and tally when you were in the game or when you were keeping score, lately it's been keeping a lot of score. Think about it.

I used to read your blog to spy on my brother, but now I read it because I think you're interesting and DO have a lot to offer. I AM suggesting it's time for you to do a mission, don't avoid it anymore. I AM suggesting you put on the bridle, get in the game, THROW THE BALL, become more of the real Tracy. I KNOW this is hard; I DO think you will regret it if you don't.

I'm sorry if you found this to be offensive, judgemental, egotistical, overly blunt or otherwise inappropriate. I have never written someone I don't know, especially on this personal of a level. You can block me off your facebook or tell me off, either is your choice. I will say that I wouldn't have written you this stuff if I honestly didnt think it was true. Just watch the horse in the movie...

Also, if you are not overly offended by now if you would ever like to visit San Antonio for a couple of days I would like to have you here. I think you would enjoy it.

With Love, ___________

See what I mean? It's a compliment and ..... not at the same time. I also to this day still don't understand what she meant when she was talking about throwing the ball and keeping score. I will say this though... it's 5 years later and I still have no regrets with any of the decisions I have made in my life. Including going on a mission. Would I have been an awesome missionary? If I had decided to go, yes... I believe I would have been, but I think that all depends on the desire you have to serve. I didn't go because for some reason, that desire never came. I was never against it... I don't know why that desire never came, but it didn't. I'm ok with it. I think I have been a great missionary in other ways and will continue to be. Am I a Black Stallion? I never really considered myself to be one. I'm still not sure if that is a compliment or not.

Like I said, weirdest email I have ever received. Maybe someone can help me make sense of it. Either way.... I kind of like it when people feel a personal connection with me because of what I share and write. It's a cool thing. Hard to explain, but I'll take it... the bad, the weird and the good.

Food and Care

Friday I was invited to go to charity event called Food and Care  put on by the Provo Soup Kitchen.

You show up at the soup kitchen... outside they had TONS of ceramic bowls made by children to professional artists. You pick out a bowl. By the bowl which start at $5 and up.

While you are shopping for a bowl and eating, they had an old person band playing songs like a 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon and a song about yo yo ma.

After you buy the bowl, they wash it for you.

Then they fill it up with soup (you choose between 3 different kinds) and a roll.

You end up giving to a good cause, and in the end you get a meal and a cool bowl. Pretty cool even huh? I had never heard of it before, but we were all glad that we went. We had a good time.

Work Bats

First off... happy official Spring. I'm super excited for Spring and I am loving everything turning green and blossoming. Just makes me happy.

But let's get to what this post is really about. I don't come out of my office much besides to get more water and use the restroom. The other day... I came out though. My co-workers got ice cream from Culvers and we were chatting outside of my office and my bosses office right next to mine. We were just chatting away when all of the sudden this bat comes out of nowhere and swoops above my head. It really caught me off guard.. I mean, who expects to see a bat to come at them next to their office? Not me. I may have squealed a little bit but then I just started laughing... because it is funny. It just kept flying by.

So naturally... I follow the bat.... along with a couple other of my co-workers. Someone else had called facilities to get the bat, but we decided we got this. We followed the bat around until it would get tired and land. It took a few times of trying to catch him before we finally did. We probably chased it around for like 15 or 20 minutes. We got him though. We trapped him in a little trash can and then I used my cardigan to keep it in the trashcan. Don't worry, I didn't put the cardigan back on after that, it went home and straight into the wash. We took it out to the balcony on the 8th floor and set it free. We started calling ourselves the bat catchers.

After we had already let him go, facilities showed up with a net and told us that they kill them. I didn't like that. He was a cute little guy. We then looked it up and found out it is illegal to kill bats in the state of Utah. So... the lady that caught the bat with me is going to send them an email saying... hey, just so you know... it's illegal to kill bats, love the legal department. ha ha

Anyway, that was probably the most exciting thing that happened at work all week. That and my manager accidentally knocking a spoon out of the pint of ice cream, and it flipping up unexpectedly into my bosses ice cream, bowl. That made me laugh pretty hard to. However, I still think the bat wins.

Story of the bats continues....

As it turns out, seeing that bats at work is pretty much a daily thing now. It is no longer a surprise to see them flying up and down the halls. We caught another one before facilities came to get it. We make their job easier. This time we waited for them to come get it instead of letting it go ourselves. I thought it was so funny that they made a sign so that people would know... HA!

Then Tyler discovered another one! This one was sleeping in the window above my office door. I don't think I would have ever noticed him if Tyler hadn't told me. I don't really think to look up there and he was staying so still and quite. I really think he was just sleeping there. I thought it was kind of cute actually. I told everyone that he wasn't bothering anyone and people should just leave it alone. So they did. He slept above my office all day and facilities came and got him at the end of the day. My office out of all of the offices. It is like they can sense that I like them and are not scared of them.

It sure has brought a lot of excitement to work. People freak out over them. One lady came out of her office with an umbrella... not sure what she thought that was going to do. ha ha.

7th Year Blogiversary

Although blogging has gone out of style for so many... I have managed to keep it up. Today is my 7th year Blogiversary! How about that!

Well... you know the drill. Tradition is I give a summary of my year (instead of at the new year). Last year's list was pretty epic. Let's see if this year's summary can top it!

1- Went to the Festival of Colors for the 8th year in a row
2- Still have my Salt Water fish tank (which means I haven't completely failed after a year)
3- Went camping & hiking in Moab
4- Learned the art of Book Binding (it was harder than I thought it would be)
5- Tried lots of new recipes
6- Took a sushi making class (The Piano Guys were in our class which consisted of 8 people)
7- Traveled to Peru (First time to South America!)
8- Went to Machu Picchu (Another wonder of the world off my bucket list)
9- Ate and wore Alpaca (also gave an Alpaca a hug... a little twisted? Probably)
10- Stayed in and explored the Amazon
11- Walked on a floating island on Lake Titicaca
12- Auditioned to be the next Mormon Bachelorette (didn't even come close to making it)
13- Became a frequent attender of the Food Truck Roundup
14- Lolly came to Utah to visit me!
15- Attended the Strawberry Day's Rodeo
16- Sewed my first beach tote (It turned out awesome)
17- Gave my patio a makeover
18- Had some dinner parties on the patio
19- Actually made a real effort in trying to get tan
20- Went fishing (in the Amazon & Utah)
21- Attended my first Amos Lee concert with my BFF neighbor (was NOT disappoited)
22- Hosted some more couch surfers
23- Did some hiking around Utah
24- Camping around Utah
25- Played in different lakes around Utah
26- Attended my first Demolition Derby
27- Got together a few times with the boys (Brad, Nate & Steve)
28- Got to meet Brad & Steve's new babies Benjamin & Becky
29- Did some photo shoots for people
30- Sang in church with my neighbor (piano man) Jed
31- Went to Italy & Greece (First time to Europe!)
32- Took an Italian Cooking class (Loved it!)
33- Wrote a letter to Juliet in Verona
34- Had a gondola ride in Venice
35- Saw the Roman & Greek Ruins
36- Went scuba diving in Santorini
37- Went horse back riding in the fall (best time to go)
38- Went through 2 different corn mazes with 2 different groups
39- Dressed up in a group costume with my roommates (Peter Pan & The Lost Boys)
40- Went on some Motorcycle Rides
41- Became activities co-chair in my ward (my eternal calling)
42- Played Turkey Bowling (our first ward activity)
43- Went to a Mimi Knowles concert
44- Went Four Wheeling
45- Went Jet Skiing
46- Visited Allyson & Rich in Texas (first time to Texas outside of the airport)
47- Explored New Orleans for the first time
48- Went Laser Tagging
49- The ENTIRE family was together for Thanksgiving (which I always love)
50- I bought a new car!!! (I LOVE it)
51- Went Shooting
52- Threw the most amazing Polar Express Christmas party
53- I turned 32.... Yikes!
54- Saw lots and lots of Christmas lights including at Temple Square & Salem Pond
55- Went to a BYU Basketball game with my good friend Wes (who I hadn't seen in a couple years)
56- Went on a ton of dates... good and bad
57- Went to a Jazz game(my 3rd one... had awesome seats)
58- Made some new crafts
59- Went snowshoeing (3 different places this Winter)
60- Had Fort week (5th annual &  3rd biannual)
61- Attended my first Sundance Film Festival (Finally)
62- Started a new tradition of taking my nieces and nephews out for their birthday (Reanne is the 1st)
63- 2nd Yurt trip (This time with a bigger and more fun group in a new location - Logan)
64- Tomas got baptized! (My sister-in-law's brother... my brother baptized him)
65- Celebrated my 6th year anniversary at Novell!
66- Went to the piano bar a couple more times (to see my neighbor play)
67- Moved to the 8th Floor at work
68- Got a private concert of Flannel Graph at the BYU Radio Studio (because of my new BFF Stacey who is in Studio C)
69- Put on an AMAZING Hungry Hungry Hippo Activity!!!
70- My blog has 75 Followers and has been viewed 176,323 times

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 263

This week my toilet broke and so did my oven. Dang it.

I gave my google presentation to Ian and Allison on Saturday. Ian LOVED it. So much in fact that he was sold on the plan. He also was so excited about it that he made Jared (the guy we are trying to convince to come) to come over on Sunday to see it as well. Somehow it went from me, Ian and Jared seeing my presentation to me and 7 guys. I'm not complaining... but I don't know where that came from. I didn't hate it.

James was in town, so I hung out with him for a little bit. Went to a BBQ at his friends house where he was staying and brought my new neighbor since he was wanting to hang out. The BBQ was interesting... mostly because I was next to this guy who I had met a couple of times before a couple of years ago who had just gotten a concussion that day from skiing and had a little bit of memory loss... so I had the same conversation with him 10 times. I mean... that is always entertaining right?

I finished watched "666 Park Avenue" with my roommate on Friday night... Friday the 13th. I thought that was appropriate since it was a scary ish show. There is only one season... and we were pretty committed, pretty into it, so we ended up staying up until 4:30 am to finish watch it. Typically I wouldn't care too much because I can sleep in the next day. However, the next day I was going to Salt Lake for my trade, so I only got a few hours of sleep. By the time I got back 5 hours later, my roommates were just getting out of bed.  Continuing with shows... I am also on the 4th season of "Dr. Who" now. It has gotten better, but I still don't know how in love with the show I am. In all fairness... I haven't been paying a ton of attention to it either because I was so put off by the first season. Just been background noise. I also watched and finished another show. It is a Netflix original series that my roommates and I thought was pretty funny called "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt". I'm sure they will make more seasons... but I finished the first season in a day. Mind you each episode is also only 20 minutes.

Tuesday I met up with Desiree for dinner half way between the two of us. It was fun catching up. We went to Wild Zucchini and I love that place. I love anywhere that I can get a delicious salad. Anyway, it was nice. I really appreciate Desiree's friendship and that we have been able to maintain it so well over the years despite our busy lives... especially her's... married, twin toddlers and being in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I admire her. She doesn't have to make time for me, but she does... and I appreciate that. Love her.

Tonight I had another ward activity. They seem to creep up so fast. I mean, we are supposed to put one on once a month, but I guess between all of the meetings we have to go to and putting on munch and mingle and putting on big ward activities... it seems like a lot. This activity didn't take a lot of prep, which I appreciated... but it was a blast. It will of course have it's own blog post, but let's just say everyone had the time of their lives.

Work has had it's busy days and it's slow days this week. Typical for my job. You just never know what each day is going to be like. I am approaching quarter end though... so work should be kicking up. Today I told my co-workers that it was time that we had another activity. I swear it's my job to remind them when we need to have fun. They never disagree with me. So... something is in the works for Spring. Anything that gets me out of the office and outside will make me happy.

I also had an interesting discussion with my manager that really got me thinking. I don't remember how it got brought up, but I said something like my job was great, but it wasn't my dream job. He asked me what my dream job was. I told him to get paid to travel. He said... you know, in the 6th years that I have known you, if you asked me what job I think you should be working... I would say Corporate event planner. I don't know why I had never thought of that before... but that is so up my alley and something I do and do well. I mean... I feel like I have been planning activities for years... like a second job, but one that I don't get paid for. I have also traveled the world. These are two things that I would need to be a corporate event planner. I think I would find my job more fulfilling if I did it. I just don't know if it is too late to change careers or what I would need to do to get into that. If I have enough experience to get into it without ever having an official job in that field. I'm fine to stay where I'm at, but my manager said I should talk to the corporate events planner at Novell just to pick his brain. So I wrote him to see if I could meet with him and have him tell me what I need to do and if I have what it takes and if this is something I want to seriously consider. It would be kind of a stressful job, but I know I would be good at it and I think it would be a lot more fun and exciting than what I am currently doing. As fun as it is to watch Netflix all day. Anyway... he wrote back and I am scheduling a time with him next week to meet and chat. I think some sort of change in my life would be good. Not that anything is bad or wrong with how things are going now... I just think it would be good for me. Whether that change comes in the form of a job or moving or a boyfriend (wouldn't that be nice)... I think a change would do me good.

Pilates kicked my butt this week. It was just me and the instructor. It's cool. We have been working out together for so long now, we are just two friends working out. She doesn't go easy on me when it is just the two of us. I was sore for days. I'm so thankful that Mackenzie has agreed to go running with me after work 3 days a week now too. I SO need that motivation from someone else and so does she... so hopefully we can keep it up and it will be a really good thing for both of us. It felt good to go. Don't get me wrong, I still hate running, but it felt good to be outside moving and after the run always feels good. Like I'm treating my body right. Then after my run I made myself a spinach, salmon and avocado salad. Mmmmmm heaven. I was also enjoying all the blooming trees and bushes along the way. I couldn't get over how pretty the flowers were... so much so that I couldn't help but pick some on the run and bring them home so we could have a little bit of that beautiful Spring happiness in our house. :) I'm weird... I know. You should have seen me running with the flowers in my hand.

Photo of the Week 261

I LOVE Spring... and it's HERE! I keep seeing more and more flowers bloom and it makes me SO happy.

St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patty's Day. Sure... I celebrated. I wore green today.

Ok... yesterday I celebrated a little bit more with my ward. We ate soup in green bread bowls and green shamrock sugar cookies while listening to a real Irish band.

Hope you had a fun Holiday... and didn't get pinched.

Flannel Graph

I have become pretty good friends with Stacey in my ward. He also happens to be a Mormon star... he is a member of the very popular (with Mormon's especially children, teens and their parents) TV show on BYU TV called Studio C. You can also find TONS of their skits on YouTube. Everywhere I go with Stacey... people recognize him and want to say hi and get their picture taken with him. It's kind of weird... mostly because I don't really watch Studio C so to me he is just my fun new friend.

Being friends with Stacey apparently comes with some perks. Because he is a part of BYU Broadcasting... on the film side, he gets invited to everything. So.... he was invited to go listen to the band Flannel Graph that was going to be on the BYU Radio show, Highway 89. Apparently it is a new show and they get local artists or artists that are coming through on tour to come in and play their music and they interview them. So Stacey, knowing how much I love music, asked me if I wanted to go with him. That was an easy YES for me. I love music and I love discovering new music and this was a great group to discover.

As it turns out... it was just me and Stacey in the Studio besides the people who run the program... and Flannel Graph's main singer's husband. That is it! We got our own personal concert. I loved every minute of it. They were so nice and SO talented. I really love their music. That night I went home and  bought both of their CD's on iTunes. I have been jamming to them in the car ever since.

Here is a little taste of their music.

And this one too.... this song is one of my favorites and this video was taken from the show I was at!

If you want to listen to the show that I saw recorded... it is on tomorrow night at 8pm MST on byuradio.org you won't regret it. In fact... I may just listen to it again.

Thanks Stacey for taking me, such a cool opportunity, and thanks Flannel Graph for making great music. I hope you make it BIG.

Tinder Moments

Tinder has brought me a lot of entertainment over the months. Out of my almost 600 matches... I have only met a handful of them, but even when I'm not meeting people... I'm still entertained. Sometimes disgusted ... like when I see profiles like this... which has happened more than this once. I see it occasionally and it makes me sad.

Then there are some where you are like... wow, well, at least you are honest and straight to the point. Not trying to trick any innocent girl into thinking you are not a D Bag when you actually are... you are just up front about it.

Then there is food. I don't know who started this trend, but it's kind of funny. I think I first matched with Brownie, then Grilled Cheese. Most recently... homemade bread.

Then there are my favorites... the characters. Whenever I come across these, I love swiping right because I can't wait to match with them to see what they will say to me. I think I have shown Prince Charming on here and how he asked me if I was his Tinderella. I'm sure he has a script that he says to all of the girls he talks to, but I still enjoyed it. The ones that carry on a conversation and say things that are personal to your pictures... they are funny. I had an entertaining conversation with Gaston a while back about how he wanted to marry me and have 12 lads that he would teach them all to hunt with him... etc... More recently I have matched with Ken Doll

Also Bilbo... although I was pretty sad Bilbo didn't say anything to me. We could have had great conversation of adventures.

But probably the funniest conversation I had with a character was.... Jafar. Why guys are making up profiles of villains, I don't know. But I would love to meet these guys. Most of them seem pretty witty.

Keep in mind, that the way Tinder works, is that you have to have a Facebook profile in order to sign up. Therefore, these guys are setting up and making up these fake accounts of characters just so they can use it for Tinder. You would think one would have better things to do with their time, but they must be just as entertained by it or else they wouldn't do it. I have talked to some guys on Tinder and they said that girls get the better end on Tinder... girls don't make up funny profiles to chat with guys on Tinder. Maybe I should be the first. Either way, I sure get a kick out of it. Oh Tinder.