m-squared

Chicken Tikka Masala

2012-01-17T10:11:00.000-06:00

I made this is a recipe a couple weeks ago and we LOVED it. While we were in Utah over Christmas we went to the Bombay House-(really good Indian food) and I had been craving it ever since. So I found this recipe and Duke and I both agree it's pretty spot on to Bombay's recipe! Also, it's not one of those daunting recipes with a million plus ingredients. Anyways thought I would share in case anyone else is interested in eating delicious food. Here is the link to the recipe: Chicken Tikka Masala
Also the website I got the Cafe Rio copycat recipe from. This lady knows how to copy a recipe.

Arkansas Trip

2012-01-12T17:56:00.000-06:00

The day after Christmas/that we got home, I turned back around and headed for Arkansas- just Winston and I. Winston is an expert traveler. He made himself right at home and didn't complain once! It was reallly fun to see my family and friends. All my family was there except Britt and Jules. And Winston was spoiled with lots of attention from the family, but was shunned/attacked by the cat.

I also got to go check out the new Crystal Bridges Museum just finished in Bentonville. Let me tell you, it's all the rage there, and I have to say it's pretty cool! Especially for little old Bentonville. It was a project founded by Alice Walton; she poured millions of her own dollars into it and so did the Walton Foundation as well. Plus Walmart donated I believe it was $20 million dollars so that the museum is free of charge to all who visit for the foreseeable future. I think its so great that they chose to do something so great with their money that benefits others instead of just themselves! (I think Walmart's great if you couldn't tell)

Some of Winston's interesting sleeping positions in the car

Here's a video that is somewhat painful to watch of my unsocialized cat meeting Winston for the first time. We were excited to see how the cat would react and so my Brittany requested that we film it so she could see. Anyways, needless to say, we kept them separated the rest of the time...

my little baby

We had some fun with this contraption my dad got for his back. Never a dull moment.

I took full advantage of all the awesome trails all over Bentonville and took Winston for a bunch of walks everyday.

Lots of games

Winston exploring the dog park

Crystal Bridges Museum

This was a really cool piece made entirely of spools of thread

Spools of thread

The detail on this was incredible

Celebrated Jeff's 25th birthday

lurve

2012-01-11T18:14:00.000-06:00

So Duke's Christmas present to me this year was an Illustrator 101 class through Nicoles Classes. Which he actually got on cyber monday when it was 40% off. Yay! This was the first homework assignment..and although it may look like anyone could have done it, it kinda took me a long time. And I kinda ripped off a poster I had wanted, so that was my inspiration. Anyways, even though it is small, I'm kinda proud of myself! I actually did something in Illustrator!!!

I heart Sundays

2012-01-10T15:44:00.002-06:00

Sundays are great, right? This last Sunday was really nice. The weather was perrrrrfect! We went to church, I came home and took a nice nap (nothing better than a Sunday afternoon nap), made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and took Winston to the park. It was just one of those glorious days you wish could be everyday.

sleepy mornings

One of my other favorite Sunday traditions is skyping with the fam. Recently we've switched over to Google Plus hangouts, so we can all join in no matter where we are. Sometimes, it's a little chaotic, but I still love it. (thanks for the screenshots britt!)

Our little family in Florida

Jonathan, Mushu, and my dad (not pictured) in Arkansas

My mom (with a dog in one hand & baby in the other-grandma hungry??) & Erica in Utah

Graham Crackers

Plus Britt in Provo and Tyler in Idaho. I love my family!

Utah Christmas Vacation

2012-01-01T21:24:00.006-06:00

Christmas Vacation was great. We spent most of the time in Logan, UT with Duke's family. I also got to see Brittany and Jules for a few hours before they left to Indiana for their Christmas celebration. Then I got to see my friends Whitney and Scott and their pup Milo who were the best hosts ever!!! Here's some of the things I did:

Ate at Cafe Rio 3 times, of course

Attended my first deaf church service

Did 25 push-ups in our annual (as of now) Christmas push-up contest

Played a bunch games!

Shot guns for the first time!

Delicious turkey dinner

Logan Temple

Watched Harry Potter 7 part 1 & 2

Went on a small hike (pictured below)

It was sooo fun!! Here's a million pictures! ps. Utah is so cold and I'm glad I don't live there in the winter anymore. So very happy. But I love the summers!

Duke's Grandparents opened this Nature Center!

Making Gingerbread houses with the fam!

The saddest house you ever did see

I know it looks like the gun is pointed at Duke, but it is behind him. Duke is a psycho about gun safety. He doesn't trust "civilians' with guns.

Helping me with the apple pie. Such a sweetie.

Flying home

Goodbye 2011

2012-01-01T17:47:00.000-06:00

New Years Eve 2010

Since 2007 I have always said that odd years seem to be my thing. And it definitely was true for 2011. Truly, one of the best years I've had yet. Quick recap of the big and not so big but fun things that happened:

Moved from Utah to Arkansas
Visited Duke in Florida in January
Lived through Bentonville's Snow-pocalyspe
My sister Brittany got married in Feb
Got an awesome job at Walmart Headquarters
Visited Duke in San Diego in March
Got engaged to Duke in April
Utah in June for Rachel's wedding and for funsies
Went sailing
in Florida with Duke (first time sailing peeps!)
Went to Itay in July with my best friend...still haven't blogged about that. whoops!
got MARRIED!!!
Honeymooned to the Bahamas
Moved to Florida
Went to Arkansas for 2nd reception
Weekend trip to New Orleans
Turned 25
Got the cutest puppy in the whole wide world! (also my first dog ever)
Attended my first Marine Ball
Celebrated 11.11.11 at 11:11:11
Indiana for Thanksgiving
Utah for Christmas
Arkansas after Christmas

Anyways, it really was such a great year on so many levels. I'm kinda jealous of myself, or maybe nostalgic is a better word, when I read this list. 2012 will be great too. Life is pretty good about always getting better.

Happy New Year!!!

New Years Eve 2010 with the fam in Mexico!

Christmas Break!

2011-12-21T16:21:00.000-06:00

How great is Christmas Break?? Best invention ever!! I'm in Logan Utah currently having tons of fun with the in-laws. Tomorrow, I get to go down to provo and see my sister and bro in law. We'll fly back on Christmas day and I'll drive up to Arkansas with my pup to have a Christmas part 2. woot!

I do miss Winston. I find myself wondering what he is doing and wondering if he misses us. (he doesn't). We left him with some friends who have another dog and a small child who loves dogs, so I know he is in good hands! Duke has been comparing his 4 year old niece to your dog the whole trip. Kind of sad?

Just felt like doing a quick update. PS. I do not miss Utah winters!

Dog day afternoon

2011-12-16T22:53:00.000-06:00

Today was an absolute delight. It was in the 70's, I went shopping in Destin, went to the dog beach with Winston in Pensacola, ate at our favorite restaurant in Pensacola, and saw some friends before leaving tomorrow. Winston was is doggy heaven at the beach. He didn't get in the water at all, but loved running around and playing with the other dogs.

Tuscan Oven--If you live in/near pensacola..this is the best pizza- GO

Hello Birth Control!

2011-12-14T22:37:00.002-06:00

So at my church we have something called Activity Days. It's for the girls aged 8-12 and we meet 2 wednesdays a month and have a little activity. I just became in charge and we only have 4 girls. 3 of them are sisters and they are ADHD and CRAZY. Like insane. Tonight was the first activity I was in charge of, so I thought I'd have them come over to my house and we would decorate Christmas cookies. You know, a fun, festive activity. Turns out it was like babysitting rabid monkeys or something. My poor dog was victim to these monkey's, and I think he is scarred for life. Anyways, there are no social filters on these girls. Here are just a few things said to me tonight:

You have a lot of peach fuzz.

Do you and your husband sleep together?

Girl: Do you have any more icing?

Me: No

Girl:Then can't you go to the store and get more?

Me: um, no

Then in succession-

Can I get on your computer?, Can I play video games?, Can I play with your dog? Can I have more milk? Can we watch a movie?

I guess it will make for some good stories. Needless to say, I'm never having an activity at my house again! freaking kids.

December Update

2011-12-13T22:39:00.001-06:00

Life is crazy people. CRAZY. Work is getting a little more stressful with all these Christmas orders and questions. Winston had puppy classes yesterday and a vet appointment this morning. I have commitments for everyday this week. Still have to do my Christmas shopping (whoops)- there isn't much, but one gift is time consuming, and I have to finish it tomorrow. Plus a million little errands that are always staring me in the face. PLUS as of today, we are going to Utah for Christmas. It's a long story, but that is the plan. We're leaving Saturday for a week. So now we've got to find a place for Winston (tried to fly him out, but its just a no-go in the winter :( ), have to find subs for our classes we teach on Sundays, cancel puppy school for Monday. Just all those little things that come up. And of course I'm the one who has to take care of everything. It's do-able, I realize this. I just want to complain about it. I was thrown off a little by our sudden change of plans. But it is Duke's turn for Christmas and the opportunity presented itself. I also really need a dentist appt and haven't figured out my dental insurance. And I need to order new contacts. Which means I have to get ANOTHER eye doctor appt (i had 2 already...dumb Tricare) and that's gonna be over $100. And new glasses. You know how all the little things just add up? And its about that time of month? That's where I'm at. But alas, everything will be ok. It always is.

Anyways. On the other hand, life has been good! I had a cookie exchange party last week that was splendid! Winston has been a ball of furry joy. The weather this week is more than I could have asked for, which makes me so happy. I get to eat at Cafe Rio in like 4 days. I get to see my Utah peeps. I've been binging on candy cane kisses. I really couldn't ask for more. Just get me through this week please!

Loving Pomegranates right now!!

can you spot the lazy dog?

It may look like he is being strangled-but the string is half in the mouth, half around the head. Its his fav toy

I kinda love where I live right now!!

current addiction.

mister cute face

Honey butter pork tenderloin thanks pinterest! Duke loved this and it was super easy

Duke & I teach the 4 year olds at church. When we run out of lesson and there is extra time we do things like.."everyone pretend they're a robot! 'I-am-a robot-I-will-eat-you' " One girl actually said that. It's awesome.

I'm obsessed with that sad little face. We love each other!

Winston's first day at puppy class-socializing!

Play day at the dog park

The dog park on base-wiggly field-how cute is that?

Oh and also as a side note-you may notice the scars Winston has on his back. (maybe not in these pics..but others) Found out he has septicemia (blood poisoning) when he was 3 days old. So instead of running the usual tests, they gave him some injections to save the little guys life. So that's the story if you are wondering.

Thanksgiving Weekend Part II

2011-11-30T10:20:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday morning we headed 2 hours south of Indianapolis to Louisville, KY! We visited one of my very best friends Natalie and her husband Paul. Natalie and I met in the dorms at BYU and were roommates for 5 years in Provo- until she got married and moved away. So it was so fun to see them and reminisce about the good ol' days. Here's some pictures. And yet, we didn't get a picture together.

Nat, Paul & crow

Found a cool swing

and we giggled like school girls

Happier than on christmas morning

Papa Johns House. We google-earthed it. He has a helicopter pad in back

Nat & Paul

My husband is special

Our drive back in the cold rain without defrost. Ugh

REUNITED with my pup!!!! He looks thrilled, I know

And one last swing picture

As a side note, life has been a little crazy this week with work and what not. I just started taking over phone calls and that was a fiasco. Plus all the emails from over the thanksgiving weekend. Then Duke's computer cord decided to die and my computer is on its deathbed. Sad. But we will get through.

Another side note, I upgraded my phone, but still have the old one and I am still getting text messages on both (even though one has no service) I was really creeped out until I finally read about iMessage-and that you can send messages over wi-fi between ipad/iphones/ipod touches. I thought it was possessed. I know those were 2 boring and meaningless side notes. Sometimes I don't know when to stop.

Thanksgiving Weekend Part 1

2011-11-29T19:23:00.001-06:00

Such a good holiday weekend! Duke & I drove to Indianapolis for Thanksgiving, where my grandparents and Aunt & Uncle live, and my parents and two brothers were there too. Everything was great although the drive up was freezing (no heat in Duke's car--didn't think that one through) and no heat or auto defrost on the way back. Always a good time. On black Friday we went to see some sights in Indianapolis. Downtown Masonic temple/cathedral thing, big Christmas "tree" and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. All were delightful!

My precious grandparents

Beautiful Jello!

Scottish Rite Cathedral

World War I monument

my bro, me and my mom

quality phone time

Monet!

We still love each other

2011-11-24T11:08:00.000-06:00

"Thanksgiving is a magical time of year when families across the country join together to raise America's obesity statistics. " -Stephen Colbert (my hero)

Hope it's a good one

Thanksgiving Eve

2011-11-23T23:32:00.001-06:00

Happy thanksgiving eve! Duke and I are currently in a hotel in Nashville, TN, on our way to indianapolis for the holiday. It's been an cold drive. See, it hasn't been cold enough to turn the heat on in our cars yet in Florida, and well dukes heat does not work in his car..which is the car we took. Whoops! I've never been so cold!!! So in the spirit of thanksgiving in grateful for HEAT!!

Also I did a "guest post" over on one of my bff's blog. I wrote a list if what I was thankful for and left a video clip that served as my inspiration for wearing my stretchy waistband pants tomorrow! So excited for delicious food!!!

Also, I'm half asleep right now, so I apologize for the ramblingness if this strange post. Goodnight!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pumpkin Goodness

2011-11-21T09:29:00.001-06:00

Last week was a lazy week. Nothing very exciting. Just living life and what not.

But I did discover this flavor of Blue Bell ice cream--and I have to share. I'm obsessed. It was even better than I thought it would be. carmel swirl, sugared pecans, pumpkin goodness. Do yourself a favor and go get it. (unless you live in utah..then you're out of luck..sorry)

Also, it's 9:30AM and it's already 72 degrees. Have I mentioned that I love Florida weather?

Treats & Snoozin, Snoozin & Treats

2011-11-19T12:14:00.001-06:00

Winston's been doing a lot of this:

He has little scars on his back from some injections he got when he was sick before we got him.

And a little bit of this:

And being crazy with the neighbors dog. The other dog was just playing, but Winston went crazy on him. Kinda cracked me up.

I love him!!

A trip down memory lane. kinda

2011-11-17T14:41:00.001-06:00

Remember this post? The weird blind date where I played a joke on that guy? Well I don't know if you've been watching the Sing-Off, but if you are, he's in the group from BYU Vocal Point. My old boss told me he was on there so I started watching. They just got voted off this week but they did pretty good. Anyways, the guys i circled the guy who it was. So know you can put a face with the story. oh good times.

Canoe Trip!

2011-11-17T08:00:00.000-06:00

Friday we woke up bright and early to go on a little canoe trip on the nearby Blackwater River. We brought Winston along and met up with some friends. It was a beauuuuuuuuutiful day. I thought Duke was crazy because i woke up, checked the weather and it was 36 degrees. But it warmed up and got into the 60s while we were out so it wasn't so bad. Six miles--took about 4 hours. Winston slept half the time, but I'm pretty sure he loved it! Even though Milton is the middle of nowhere we are trying to take advantage of what's around us and I think we were both pleasantly surprised with how nice it was.
Also-side note-they find alligators in this river-scary, right??! Although the guy said they are all burrowed under the sand this time of year....slightly comforting.

Here's a bunch of pictures, mostly thanks to our friends who were brave enough to bring a camera into a canoe and duke who brought his phone. (i am too paranoid of tipping)

This was Winston about half the time- peaking over the side. so cute!

He also loved rolling around in the sand

Last Week Recap

2011-11-15T16:03:00.001-06:00

Have you ever wondered what happens to broccoli if you steam it for 2 hours? Well I found out. It looks like this:

And it will make the inside of your silver pot look like this:

Also, I have found my new favorite iphone game: pigs in trees. and it is free!

We went to the Blue Angels Air show on Saturday. My first one. And it was delightful. Also got to see a bunch of cool planes.

This is the plane that Duke is flying in right now during training (T-6):

This is the Osprey- Duke's second choice in aircraft's.

Osprey:

This is Duke's #1 choice of aircraft's (C-130)

And the blue angels!! (not my picture, obviously) I learned that at the closest, they fly a mere 18 inches apart. That is INSANE!!!!

I apologize for my obsession with my dog. I have never been a dog person until recently, and I never understood the obsession and thought it was annoying from other people. But somehow I believe that Winston is my baby. Duke says I act like I gave birth to him. He is scared for when we have human children. Here's a cute video from yesterday.

We also went on a fun little canoe trip, but that will have to be another post of its own!

Marine Ball

2011-11-08T19:14:00.000-06:00

Saturday was the Marine Ball..aka celebration of the Marine's 236th birthday. It was my first time going and it was fun! I didn't really get that dressed up this time (i looked like i was going to church, everyone else looked like they were going to prom..whoops) but next year i'll have to get more into it. It was a long night that started at 5:30 got home at 12:30. We had dinner with Duke's squadron, then cocktail hour, the ceremony, and dancing-which is when we left..we are old people now.

It was neat and fun to get all motivated about being a marine (or a maine spouse i guess). We were lucky too because we had the Commandant of the Marine Corps (highest ranking marine) for the guest of honor. So it was just a fun little night out.

we also ended up in a limo..long story, but fun!

Winston can sit

2011-11-08T13:05:00.001-06:00

I taught Winston his first trick yesterday and I'm surprised how quick he got it! We're definitely putting him in puppy school but he has to be at least 10 weeks for that. So in the mean time we make do.

Also saw the biggest nastiest spider on our patio last night. Worse than the spider pictured in the previous post. I'm loving the weather down here, especially since its my first winter out of utah! (77 today-yay!) but not loving the spiders. I have a fear!!

Spontaneous Road Trip

2011-11-04T13:32:00.003-05:00

****WARNING: there is a photo of a very large gross spider somewhere in this post. I'm so sorry for posting it, but i HAD to.

Last Saturday we decided to hit the road to a place Duke had found called Florida State Cavern. It was just a couple hours east of us and it was fun! We stopped to take some pictures of the cotton fields. I think they are soo cool!!! I really want to pick some for some reason.

Went on a little hike while we waited for the cavern tour...

Here's the gross part...We were talking about coming back to go camping there, and then duke saw the biggest spider web ever followed by the biggest spider ever. After I saw a couple more of these I decided we were NEVER camping there. SICK NASTY. But i had to put a picture to show you. I'm sorry.

The Caverns:

It was a fun little trip. woo.

Halloween Tricks

2011-11-04T13:06:00.000-05:00

You've probably already seen this, but if not its soo funny!! i'm totally doing this to my kids one day. mwahahha.

Meet Winston

2011-11-02T11:03:00.000-05:00

Here is my newest love. Sir Winston Churchpaws. 8 weeks old tomorrow. It's been 2 days and I'm completely smitten. I drove up to Birmingham on Monday (4 hour drive) to pick him up and he did so good travelling! He follows me around everywhere I go and I love it!! If only he would stay this small and adorable forever.

Puppy

2011-10-30T19:24:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow, I'm driving up to Birmingham to pick up this little guy

I'm so excited!!!!!!! I love all his little wrinkles! We are still very undecided on a name. Duke really wants to name him Chesty- after Chesty Puller...some famous marine or something, but I'm not really into that name. It might come to flipping a coin. We'll see!

Halloween Costumes

2011-10-27T09:50:00.000-05:00

I was trying to find costumes for Duke and I but I got distracted by these completely ADORABLE costumes for little kids!! I can't wait to dress my own up....some day.

Breakfast

2011-10-25T21:07:00.000-05:00

I have a new favorite breakfast that I thought I'd share. Warning: it is a form of oatmeal. I know not everyone is a fan..but i LOVE it. I use to always eat the single serve package cinnamon swirl or something of the sorts. And while I still like it, sometimes you get sick of eating hot mush. So my newest thing is eating the oatmeal "raw". I found this recommendation on a blog, gave it a whirl and i love it!!

Just put some oats in a bowl (not the instant kind), pour enough milk to cover oats and let the milk soak in for a few minutes to soften. Then I add honey, sliced almonds, bananas, or whatever other fruit I may have. I think it's so great. I've eaten it non stop for 3 weeks. Maybe someone else will like it as much as I do??

A very She & Him Christmas

2011-10-24T15:56:00.000-05:00

Downloaded this puppy today from Amazon for $5. I recommend you do the same.

shins, sounds & cookies

2011-10-22T11:52:00.001-05:00

I got off my blogging kick for a little while. 4 days to be exact. It was some rough times. Can't really say I've been up to that much. I am digging the new ios5, however geektastic that is to say. when you use google maps, it actually give you MULTIPLE routes now. And I like the new reminder app thingy.

We got to see The Shins AND The Sounds last weekend on the BEACH and it was very fun/awesome/cool/fun etc. Both were good!

The Shins

The Sounds

pretty beach sunset

Also, here's a fun autumn recipe I found on pinterest--Pumpkin Gingersnap Cookies. I really liked them!!

Picture from their website.

For Sale

2011-10-18T10:24:00.000-05:00

I'm selling my wedding dress. Ahhhh. I'm kinda sad about it. But I'm also pretty sure it will sit in a box for the rest of my life. Anyways, the point of this post is if you know anyone who may be looking for a dress... you can send them my way or point them to this link. Thank you mucho

LINK TO DRESS

Don't Compare Yourself

2011-10-18T10:18:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I do this

Birthday Recap

2011-10-15T13:41:00.001-05:00

I think my favorite part about birthdays is all the phone calls/texts/fbook love. (even though i didn't get to all the calls-sorry!) People are so nice.

Duke only had to go in for a couple hours in the morning (before I was even awake), so we went canoeing! It was such a beautiful day and so was fun (even though I'm a weakling canoe-er). I was actually really scared/paranoid the first bit of the ride because- in the office where we paid for our canoe, there were all these pictures of alligators (babies...but still!) they had found in/by the river. I kept thinking I saw one, but it always ended up being a log. I'm officially scared of alligators.

Then Duke surprised me with a bicycle that he even attempted to wrap. Very cute of him. I love it. I can't wait to ride everywhere on it.

Then I worked out, baked and had friends over to play games, in which I also forgot to take pictures. Sometimes you just have to live the moment and forget the pictures though, right?

Baking Creations

BEST FROSTING EVER. Couldn't eaten it by itself.

All in all it was a great birthday. Thanks to all the friends who came! Cheers to 25!

One Little Video

2011-10-15T01:22:00.000-05:00

Love the Killers, love b. flowers. and his kids are cuties.

Twenty-five

2011-10-14T12:19:00.000-05:00

Today is my birthday!! I love birthdays. All birthdays. They are just fun. I like to celebrate.
I am now 25 years old. Kinda can't believe it. I remember when I thought 25 was officially OLD. But here I am and truth be told I think its going to be a really good year. Reasons being:
1- I know myself so much better than when I was, say, 18 (oh so dumb!)
2- I know what I want in life much better than when I was 22 (perfect age?)
3- each year I appreciate life and all the people in mine so much more.
4- I really do think life gets better every year. (for the most part)

So YAY for birthdays!!!!

Project Time

2011-10-13T23:20:00.001-05:00

I completed a project!! (well half-way actually...still have the chairs to do). We got our kitchen table from Craigslist. And it was fine as is, but kinda boring looking I thought. So I decided to paint it. Spray paint style. It's not perfect, but it's good enough for me and I like to look at it now. I wish I had endless money to decorate however I'd like, but alas, I do not. I've accepted it's gonna be a few moves before my house looks the way I'd really like it to. But I still like the little home we have. It's fun.

ok so here is the table before:

I actually made all those patches on top. tried to hand sand. bad idea.
(oh, and beautiful lawn, no? Its sand and weeds)

and After...wa laaa!

I also ruined a perfectly good shower curtain in the process. But it was all I had. Anyways, I'm proud of myself for finally doing something "crafty" and "productive"

Tomorrow's my birthday and my plans are:

read as many blogs and spend as much time on pinterest as I want and not feel bad
workout
make cupcakes
make pumpkin goodness
watch some tv shows perhaps
mayyyyyyyybe go to the beach (if I haven't spent all day on the computer)
drink as much diet coke as I want!
have some friends over, eat yummy pizza, cupcakes, pumpkin goodness, play games.

woot woot!!

A Little Laugh

2011-10-12T09:15:00.002-05:00

Mormons

2011-10-12T00:11:00.000-05:00

I've never said much about my religion on here. I don't want to offend anyone and because I've just always held it a little personal I suppose. However, I saw this video again today and I really enjoyed hearing it and thought that others would too. In the light of all this Mitt Romney political drama, there's all kinds of Mormon criticism, which isn't anything new. Mostly I've been hearing people of other faiths define what we believe/who we are. Here is a leader of the LDS/Mormon church explaining why Mormons are Christians from Oct 2007 General Conference.

Take some time and watch it, whether you're mormon or not. It's some great food for thought.

For full talk click HERE

For his explaination on his 2nd point see HERE

weekend in n'awlins

2011-10-11T12:50:00.000-05:00

We had a little bit of fun this weekend. Duke had Columbus Day off, so we drove off to New Orleans for the weekend. Scored a nice little hotel in the city thanks to the Priceline Negotiator! Here's our trip in pictures...

Baton Rouge LDS Temple

Capital City Grill- Baton Rouge

La Boulangerie (our FAVORITE place)

La Boulangerie-Apple Tart--yum

St. Louis Cathedral

Looks like Disneyland

Inside St. Louis Cathedral

Beignets from Cafe Du Monde (overrated)

Best croissant of my life- La Boulangerie

Good pizza- better branding. I appreciate these kinds of things

we match. unintentional

One GIANT regret was our lack of cajun food. I mean, hello, isn't that WHY you go to new orleans?? We had found some good places to go to, but the first night we went to some dumb burger place that Duke's friend told him about. And it was mediocre. Then we left sunday at lunch time, and we weren't hungry. So we'll have to go back again. However, the trip was worth it thanks to La Boulangerie. SO SO SO good. Stacy- I kept thinking of you and your chocolate croissants. You would have loved it.

But we did catch a good little jazz band at the visitor's center! So we got some culture. Don't worry. Now its back to "reality". My goal for this week is to prioritize my time. The whole Stephen Covey 4 quadrants thing. I've got a giant to-do list and a billion thank you notes to be pumping out!! But the world wide web is just so much more interesting!!!

Bridals

2011-10-07T13:27:00.000-05:00

I realized I never posted any of my bridals anywhere. And since I really have nothing to blog about I thought i'd share some. Duke and I are headed to New Orleans for the weekend. Woot!

Weekend

2011-10-04T08:30:00.000-05:00

I just want to begin by saying I love october. October 1 I went outside and the temperature had finally dropped to a nice mid-70's high. I bought little pumpkins and gourds and wore a sweater. It was great. Plus October is my birthday month. So you just can't go wrong in October.

I would also like to say that I have decided that life looks better through instagram. It just looks more fun. And so I've been taking a lot of instagram pictures lately so that my life can look like more fun.

This past weekend was fun. On Friday Duke and I went down to Destin to do some outlet shopping and get a bite to eat. I love the Destin outlet malls. They have everything you could ever want. I, however, limited myself to 2 stores..and then my shopping budget was gone :(. But we also made a stop by Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for some delicious caramel apples.

Saturday we went to our friends house for a delicious brunch and some General Conference. It was delightful.

I also got to try out my handy dandy stand mixer and made some really good chocolate chip cookies!

I also feel very lucky/blessed with this whole military thing. It's so hard moving somewhere new and trying to make new friends. I need friend interaction to keep myself sane and happy! There is a cool group of people in the area, who are in flight school right now and who go to our church. On Saturday night a bunch of the wives went to Panera and it was really great getting to know everyone better.

Sunday started off with a delicious brunch of pumpkin pancakes, bacon and eggs.

Sunday continued by lounging on the couches listening to General Conference. And then we went nextdoor to play with our neighbor's cute little weimaraner puppy, Jimmer.

So as you can see, I've been taking a lot of instagrams. I feel a little obsessed, but I'm glad i'm taking more pictures. I always regret not taking enough. Now I gotta find a way to take more video. Those are the real gems!

Reception Pictures

2011-10-03T10:43:00.000-05:00

The reception was held in my uncle's backyard in Cedar Hills. The weather and everything was great. Big thanks to everyone who helped make things run smoothly. And thanks to my mom for making the ruffled crate paper and my friends and Brittany for helping with the paper rosettes!

Flowers byPersimmon Floral

My Grandma

Cake from The Chocolate

delicious cookies made my Whitney

Invites designed by q.a. designs

thank you stacy for helping me paint this!

yummy Yogurtland land that i didn't get enough of

Semper Fidelis-Always Faithful in latin/Marine Corps motto

hello, adorable!

Roy

Mark interpreting

I love this picture

Duke's sister, grandma, and mother

Duke's Aunt and Best Man Dan

Erica

Brittany & Jules

Suzy

Jonathan

Cherilyn my cousin

Loral and Rachel

Eric and his cute nephew Hendrix

Jackie

My very cute cousins kids

Scott & Whitney

Bouquet toss

Stacy- the lucky winner

I love this pic too. And Claire in the back with her hands up

precious

bff's

(almost) all my bff's

And that's it! I would like to take a second and just tell you that I made almost everything for the wedding except where noted. It was a lot of work, and I didn't even execute everything because I ran out of time. But I definitely couldn't have done what I did do without help, so thank you again!!!!!

Wedding Part 2

2011-10-03T07:47:00.000-05:00

I loved my wedding day, it was happy. It is great so great have all your friends and family in the same place celebrating happiness! Here are some more shots from the temple.

my sister brittany and husband jules

All the wonderful people who came!

My family

My siblings

Duke's family

Duke's siblings

Our friends

my girl friends

bff natalie

WEDDING!! part 1

2011-10-02T16:06:00.000-05:00

I have to say I worked hard on my wedding all summer long. Probably too hard. I sometimes thought it would be the death of me. Because of all this hard work I was scared that things were going to go wrong. The day before the wedding I had a few breakdowns, and lots of tears. But I am happy to say that the day of was perfect for me. I was happy and didn't notice anything wrong. I'm so glad I was able to just enjoy the day and not worry about silly things. I do wish I could have had more pictures with Duke before the reception. We didn't do "groomals" and so we only have pictures from the temple, where the sun was pretty bright and I look like i'm glowing in all of them. ha. However, I really did love our photographer. Alixann Loosle. She did a great job and did a great job at Brittany's wedding as well. So here's some pictures!

We love each other.

Parody

2011-09-28T09:30:00.000-05:00

Provo Utah Girls aka California Gurls by Mormons. I found it pretty entertaining, however if you never lived in Utah you may find it weird and creepy.

Tuesday Tidbits

2011-09-27T15:08:00.000-05:00

Do you like my title's alliteration? Thought I was clever.

Today I challenged Duke to a staring contest-I won in like 7 seconds. So then he challenged me to a non-staring contest. No one won because we couldn't stop laughing. What is a non-staring contest? Well we witnessed this new game being played by some rugrats a few weeks ago at Five Guys. I guess it's the new thing. You have to get all your stares out first. Then you both have to blink until you just can't anymore!! These kids were so good they were going for at least 5 whole minutes. Blew my mind.

I went for a walk today around my "neighborhood" because I didn't really feel like working out. I felt white trash walking around aimlessly in my white T-shirt and cut off sweats, no make up. (This was at 2:30pm). I always see random WT/NWT (non-white trash) walking around our neighborhood at EVERY hour of the day. I always wonder where they are going. Duke says "they're just going for a walk!" But I don't buy it.

Here's a picture of our house from the outside. I would take pictures of the inside..but it's just not to that point yet. Maybe in December when I get the rug I bought that's on back order...maybe.

Also, made these last night and we really loved them. Also making this tonight. We are on the lookout for the best recipe for tomato soup. Wish us luck.
PS. I'm actually really enjoying this whole cooking thing.

Keep In Mind..

2011-09-26T19:17:00.000-05:00

Via Pinterest.

Something I need to keep in mind.

the little things

2011-09-23T12:43:00.003-05:00

I was just looking through a bunch of candids my wonderful uncle took at my wedding. I saw this one and I got a big smile on my face! He is just way too cute!! That little smile of his is just so adorable. Melts my little heart every time.

I'm also finding out he's a pretty good husband. He knows how to make me feel all special and loved. He's really good at leaving me secret little notes that I don't find for a while. One example: I had written down my menu plans last week and later saw his little note he added:

Yesterday I woke up and he had turned the fan off when he left for work and even turned the air up to 77. (I'm a freak and keep it at 77 during the day...I get cold too easy!!) It was sweet to know he's thinking about me.

It's all the little things that make me love him so much.

m squared

2011-09-21T21:16:00.001-05:00

If you are looking at my blog right now, you may notice a GIANT new header. I didn't intend on it being that ginormous, but I needed a new header, and at the moment I'm too lazy to fix it. But you sure won't miss the blog title when you come to my blog!
My sister brittany might say that I "copied her". She's grown up Brittany Bland aka b-squared; but while she was downgraded from the second power, I was upgraded. Soo, I was going to change my header from "miss mickelle" to "mrs mickelle", but i thought m-squared was a little more fun. So there you have it.

Another thing I wanted to share was this sweet song that's been stuck in my head lately. Before I moved down here to Florida, I taught the 3 & 4 year old sunday school class at my church. Part of it is singing time and this was one of the songs they were learning. I always loved hearing all the little kids singing it at the top of their lungs. Especially the chorus, "Jesus LOVES MEEEEE"-- that's how they'd sing it. So i've been listening to it on youtube lately. Just melts my heart.

Tuesday Thoughts

2011-09-20T14:08:00.001-05:00

Do you know what food I crave almost every single day, more than any other food?

Chocolate Chip Cookies.

They are just so amazingly delicious. Today my craving WILL be satisfied!!!

On a side note, I've noticed I've been on a blogging kick the last few days. It feels weird. I guess I'm in need of some kind of outlet when Duke's at work.

Speaking of Duke, he let me-actually he wanted me- to cut his hair yesterday. I've never cut a man's hair. Never used clippers. I watched one youtube video and read some tips and I've watched him get a haircut a few times. He needs haircuts weekly, and told me if I don't learn how to do it, he's just buzzing it all off. But i like his hair so I'm trying. Yesterday I tried..and it ended with him going to the barber to get it fixed. hahaha. Hey, I gotta start somewhere!! I can't believe he even trusted me to try. He must be crazy. But that's why I love him!

Bahama Mama

2011-09-19T21:52:00.000-05:00

For our honeymoon, we were lucky enough to go to the bahamas! A trip that his family all pitched in for. (Thank you!!) We stayed at the Atlantis resort in Nassau, and naturally, it was tons of funnnnn! And a really good de-stresser from wedding madness. So here are some pictures.

a waffle cone ice cream chair!! i love ice cream

Atlantis, herself

My lover and myself

The Sharks were Duke's fav part

drinks by the pool!

view from the balcony

hello

sometimes we read

sawfish!!

won some free money

found this cute little guy in our room!!!

It was wonderful!!!!!!!!!!

Friends

2011-09-19T21:12:00.002-05:00

After three weeks I still think marriage is pretty great. I love it. One of the best things about weddings is that it brings all the important people in your life together. I've been really REALLY blessed in my life to have such good friends. I really am so grateful for those of you who were able to come to my wedding! It was sooo much fun seeing everyone and I wish I had more time to spend together with everyone. I already miss all of my deary's! I know that once you're married you tend to make more "couple friends" and I'm looking forward to new friendships, but I want to keep all the old ones forever!!! In fact, I'm glad I didn't get married too young, so that I was able to meet all of these awesome peeps. Here's some pictures of some of my little friendies taken recently.

bff's from Arkansas--hanging out before I left arkansas.

jenna and I

Then my awesome sister Brittany threw me an awesome bridal shower at The Chocolate in Provo..aka The most adorable and delicious place on earth (Also the same place I got my wedding cake from).

It looks like i'm not wearing pants in this picture...and maybe I'm not...

And these amazing ladies came to the shower!! I love all of them so much!! Thanks guys :)

*Obviously some very important persons are missing from the pictures. But I love you just as much! Miss you all!

Hello

2011-09-17T22:11:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to blog and say hi out there. Hi whoever is out there! I have lots of things I could blog about right now, but I don't have pictures on the computer I'm on, and it's just to much effort to get to them. And a blog post with tons of words and no pictures is BORINGGGG!

(this is the best I could do picture wise)

I have to say, It is nice to have time to read blogs again, to write in my blog, to sit and watch TV. It's been far too long. Far too long. Maybe I can actually Google chat with people just like old times. I kinda have a job now actually. It's one of those at home, a couple hours a day jobs, so it doesn't really count. Just some facebook/twitter/customer service maintenance. But I'm starting to look for a real (part-time..lets not get carried away...) job on base. Back to reality

Annnd just for fun:

Moving

2011-09-15T09:52:00.001-05:00

I think I'm getting older. My back has never hurt so much moving. Last Thursday we headed back up to arkansas for our open house, which turned out beautiful!! A big thanks to everyone who helped. My mom has some very talented friends. Then we packed up our moving truck and on Sunday made a 16 hour drive back to Florida. (PS moving trucks are expensive, ugh)

Monday I unloaded a million boxes and since then I've been unpacking and cleaning like a crazy person! It's been fun though. I love our little house and it's so fun to have a place that is our own and I can do whatever I want with. I'll post some pictures eventually...

On another note, I did happen to make the world's best lasagna the other night. Not a big deal, but if you want to see for yourself, I got it from allrecipes, and it really is the worlds best lasagna, in my opinion. I feel like such a little wife. And i'm kinda LOVING not working 40 hours a week at the moment. But don't worry...i'm looking for a job... slash i got a job offer last night to make $500 a month doing some twitter/facebook/emails for a company from home a few hours a week. But I'm looking. Well I'm off to the social security office to officially become Mickelle McCrory! Woot!

Hey y'all

2011-09-06T22:41:00.001-05:00

I'm in Florida! Wedding was pretty much perfect, but I'll cover that when I get my wedding pics back. Bahamas was awesome. I don't have Internet here until next week, so this will be short. Anyways we've been getting all set up in our little house. We didn't have water when we got back (fun surprise), but duke being the boyscout he is, put cups outside in the pouring rain so we could at least brush our teeth. Yep, I used dirty rain water to brush my teeth on Saturday. Then he took a bucket shower outside in the rain. Luckily though, he knows the couple who lives next-door to us and they go to our church as well, so we showered sunday and monday at their place and today we have water!!!!!!! I have never been so happy. I literally jumped up and down.

After 10 days married life is still good. There was an incident when trying to play a game of checkers on empty stomachs, but all is well.

Duke and I head back to Arkansas in a couple days to have a reception back there. Its just one big party after another! And then well finally get to open our gifts. Yay!

Oh and I almost forgot! Duke and I went to this cute little antique store that is in the old post office, and strangely enough it also has a delicious cafe! I'm talking DELICIOUS! AND we scored a globe that's got to be at least 20 years old, bc it says Russia is the USSR. I love globes. Isn't it great??!

- Posted using BlogPress from my telefono

Wedding Nightmare

2011-08-22T12:19:00.000-05:00

I had my first wedding nightmare last night. I went to pick up the cake and the lady said we never placed an order, and then she just had to give us the only cake she had on hand (it was ugly). Then I realized the only table we had for the cake was a kitchen table and I needed a small round table!! It was a nightmare. Lets hope for the best.

I also had another vivid nightmare where I got forced into some kind of slave labor camp type thing, and we stopped at a walmart and I ran away and I hid behind this big letter C for days or weeks. It was scary. And I came out, I was transformed into a black girl and married a guy named CJ Johnson????(also black) It was weird.

Today is 5 days until I am married. It is also our official 2 years. Well I am off to begin the day of craziness. Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FRIEND RACHEL!!!!!! i love her.

Life According to my iPhone

2011-08-21T23:32:00.002-05:00

Hello long lost blog. Im in utah. I get married in 6 days--Still very surreal. Haven't seen my fiancé since July 3. He flies in on Wednesday and I cannot wait to see him!!! Here's what I've been up to in the meantime:

One of my 100 to-do lists

Sewing things for wedding

Drove through Joplin, MO on the way to Utah. Still lots of damage.

Picking flowers with Brittany

Trying so hard to beat my highest score on sudoku, and coming soo close!! Ugh.

A lovely bridal shower thrown by my family! With delicious homemade cafe rio salads.Thank you!!

Bridal preview..whoops! Speeding like a mofo to get to bridals. Suppose to be there at 6:25, rolled in at 7...thanks to I-15 construction, traffic, and accident. Then britt got pulled over going 87 in a 65...but thanks to my wedding dress and Britts clean record he let us off. Good times!

My fiancé sent me flowers and chocolate because i was stressed out. (and told him he should do something nice for me).

And hanging out with my sister!

Ps I love Utah summers. Ahhh.
PPS-no idea why the formatting is so weird...probably bc im posting from an iphone. the joys of technology.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Utah bound

2011-08-14T19:05:00.000-05:00

I'm on my way to Utah with my momma! First time I've had this much free time in months. It feels good. Anyways, here are some quick updates.

I'm officially unemlpoyed as of Friday at 4:30. I'd be lying if I said I'm really torn up about it. FREEDOM!!!
I've been gluing and folding and cutting and sewing and painting my face off for the last few weeks. Hopefully it will pay off!! Here's one preview of something I painted:

cake toppers!

Duke and I found a house! to rent that is. We'll probably only be in Florida for like 6 or 7 monthish, but it's very exciting to have our own little place. I can't wait to move in!!
I just passed a sign in Colorado that says "Happiness is a crock of beans"
My mom is using 2 GPS's on this trip. JUST IN CASE!!!!
One day I will blog about my trip to Italy. Maybe tomorrow on the road. Except I don't have pictures with me. But it was fabulous. fabulous. Already planning my trip back someday.... :)

Anywho. Life has been crazy. Mostly filled with wedding planning/crafting and working. I'm ready to get this party starteddddd!! 13 days. can't wait.

Weird people

2011-07-26T16:32:00.001-05:00

I've been researching peanuts and nuts for work and I came across this random fact today:

"Tom Miller pushed a peanut to the top of Pike's Peak (14,100 ft) using his nose in 4 days, 23 hours, 47 minutes and 3 seconds."

I feel really bad for Tom Miller, bc he pushed a peanut up a mountain with his nose and he got nothing from it except probably severe back pain. I mean, have you ever heard of Tom Miller??

Also, I'm back from Italy! It was amazing! But I've got a wedding to plan and only 32 days to go!

USA

2011-06-25T12:16:00.000-05:00

I've had a goal as far back as I can remember to visit all 50 states. I saw this little map thing (i also have a map obsession) and thought it was cool to see my progress!! PS. I've TECHNICALLY been to minnesota and georgia, but it was only in the airport, so it doesn't really count. Anyways I have 9 more to go! woot!

READ THIS BOOK

2011-06-22T22:06:00.001-05:00

Right now I'm reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I LOVE it. So fascinating. I probably love it because i'm in total agreement with all his points. But whatever. I think Michael Pollan is a genius and i think everyone should read it.

Other than that its just stress city for me!! I don't even know how I found the time to write this post. Goodnight!

Engagement Photos

2011-06-21T23:01:00.000-05:00

Duke and I got our engagement pictures taken a couple weeks ago and I have a few to post!! I only got a few, bc she takes 6 weeks to edit them all. So I'll post more later. But for now, here are a few of the ones I liked! oh and our photographer was Catherine from http://woodlandfieldsphotography.com/. Also it was extremely humid and i was sweating my face off just so you know.

Florida!!

2011-06-16T22:16:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I was in florida with mr. loverboy!! it was a lovely little weekend if I do say so myself! This above picture is on our way home from the airport in mobile--2 hour drive, no AC, and 90+ degree weather. So we bought an ice bag for the way home. It was pretty funny. You gotta do what you gotta do!!!

pretty flowers duke brought me at the airport

The next day we went sailing!!! Well duke took a refresher sailing class, then i met up with him to go sailing afterwards. It was SOOO FUN!!!!! we are gonna get pretty serious about sailing. So be ready.

In case you've never been to Pensacola--the beaches are BEAUTIFUL!!! the town...is GHETTO. Some parts are nicer than others, but the main city is scary. In that context, we saw this car below:

this pizza was AMAZING!!!

Other fun things we did were: Get our engagement pictures taken, did some gift registries, sat out on the dock in his backyard, motorcycle rides to the beach, beach volleyball, jumping off his dock, made yummy food, just hang out. Florida's fun. Here's more pics:

this is duke's backyard

He is so handsome!!

YAY!

life is crazzzzzzzzzzzy

2011-06-15T23:11:00.000-05:00

I feel like the busiest person in the world right now. My days consist of going to work, planning a wedding, desperately trying to squeeze in a workout or seeing friends, and sleeping. The last couple weeks have been a good whirlwind though. I was able to go to Utah for a whole week! I worked on wedding stuff the whole time of course. Went to my friend Rachel's wedding, which was beautiful! And got to spend time with Brittany, Jules, Tyler and my other lovely friends in Utah. It was great. Here is a summary in pictures:

sticker says "ain't skeered"... however, i was.

It was fun and productive!!! yay!

wedding update

2011-05-31T11:14:00.000-05:00

We do have a date! August 27 we will be getting married in this pretty building:

Then a reception in my uncles backyard in cedar hills to follow!

This week I'm actually in Utah, visiting my sister, working on wedding plans and going to a friends wedding on Saturday! And although it was 49 degrees and raining yesterday (this is not an exaggeration) I'm happy to be here! I'm crossing my fingers for 70 degrees today. I got my wedding dress yesterday! Altered and ready to go! Happy about that, feels like I'm finally making some progress. Since I've been here I've also eaten at Red Iguana (yummy), yogurtland, took my ring to be resized (weird not wearing it), went shopping with my sister (and left with nothing), and visited my grandpas grave (memorial day).
I'm also very excited to be off work this week! Even though I woke up at 730 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep (my body is trained well). And I'm still the only one up...funny how things change!

Now I've just got to plan everything else for the wedding and I'll be good! 87 days!

walking to work

2011-05-19T18:31:00.000-05:00

I pulled up google maps the other day and I realize that I walk 1/3 of the way to work each day. Here is a diagram:

and yes, that is pretty accurate to where I park everyday (i tend to get there late...eek)

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T20:43:00.000-05:00

My momma and me Oct 14 1986

I'm soooo grateful for my wonderful beautiful mom!!!! Everyone says I'm just like my mom so obviously she's pretty great. I'll always be thankful for the million times I locked myself out of the car and she drove to come unlock at school and beaver lake (1hour round trip for her) and for bringing all my homework assignments and books to school I had left at home. THANK YOU!!!!!

I LOVE YOU MOM!

My Mom in Hawaii 20 years old.

Me in the same shirt 18 years old! Definitely got our money's worth with that shirt!

the beauty dept

2011-05-07T11:16:00.000-05:00

The last couple weeks I had been going through one of those phases that I think many girls go through from time to time. A phase where, everytime you look in the mirror you think, "ew, why do I look like a dead person?" or "why is my face breaking out like a 13 year old boy?" or "why does my hair look worse than limp spaghetti noodles?" or just a general "ew" feeling when looking in the mirror. It happens from time to time. And although other people probably think you look the exact same, it really only ever matter what YOU feel like, and personally I like to feel good about myself. After consulting with my sister and we decided at times like these the remedy is finding a new hair style, new makeup look, buy some new nail polish or accessory, just SOMETHING to make you feel better. Anyways on that note, I'm totally loving this new blog that Lauren Conrad is behind: thebeautydepartment.com. It has tons of good hair and makeup tutorials and tips and basically just all things beauty. And it has some great design behind it too! I recommend checking it out >>

Normal

2011-05-05T22:02:00.001-05:00

Story of my life.

In 9th-12th grade my friends and I kept a quote book that I recovered from the attic recently. I found a quote from my lovely self in a conversation with brittany and stacy:

"Guys, sometimes people think i'm....*whisper* normal"

we are who we are

2nd happiest day of my life thus far

2011-05-04T20:04:00.001-05:00

I'm going to Italy!!! That's right. with my bestie stacy!! July 15-24. WOOT WOOT!

I also bought my ticket to Utah for May 28-June 6. Which is equally exciting on a different level. I get to see my sister brittany and all my besties I left out there and eat Gurus and yogurtland everyday of my life and my other bestie RACHEL is getting married! This is shaping up to be a pretty good summer.

Betrothed

2011-04-17T18:13:00.000-05:00

Well it's no secret there's a ring on my finger these days, but it is only right to blog about one of the biggest/happiest days in a girls life! I'm engaged to the love of my life! It's a very surreal feeling. And it feels so right. I couldn't be happier about our decision. Don't worry, I won't bore you with all the details here, but if you would like to read the full story, you can find it HERE!* Yep, I made a wedding website. I've had a severe lack of sleep the last couple days, but at least I've got my priorities straight!!
****DISCLAIMER--the site says our wedding date is Sept 10, but that is a random date it had me put in. We still have no idea.

I was lucky enough to visit Duke in San Diego last weekend. We had a ton of fun. We ate waaaayyyyy to much. (my pants seriously don't fit the same since i've been back) We had some good laughs and made some good memories!!

Got in late Thursday night, so didn't do anything till Friday. But Duke brought me some pretty yellow roses to the airport!

Friday morning we went to an awesome restaurant called Hash House a go go.

It was seriously amazing!! I thought of my friend Loral and her husband---you guys would love this place. The portions were outrageous and the food was delicious! I got a blueberry/pecan pancke and it was HUGE.

Duke got some kind of hash thing with a biscuit and mashed potatoes.

It was a chillier day and kinda rainy. We went to mission beach and walked around and got ice cream and read the oatmeal comic book.

Then went to the mall to hit up h&m. I love that store. I wish they believed in expanding their stores or online shopping. come on!
Saturday we ate breakfast at a little french bakery/cafe thingy.

It was yummy, then we drove out to Ramona to hike up to cedar creek falls, which was realllllllly pretty. beautiful area. That is where Duke asked to me marry him! Once again the rest of that story can be found here.

Engaged!!! woot woot!

happy

Sunset Cliffs

Bleu Boheme

Such a great weekend.

my hair & happy things

2011-03-22T20:42:00.000-05:00

My hair is a love/hate relationship. I love my hair. I would be ugly without it. However, it takes a lot of time to have hair. You have to wash it, and then blow dry it, and then brush it and then figure out what to do with it. And then the next thing you know, you have to do it all over again. I realize most people probably wash their hair everyday and its no big, but that just doesn't work out for me. I typically wash my hair 3 times a week...Last week, it was 2 times. Saturday was a scary day. Sounds gross, huh? I just hate washing my hair. If I wash it, I have to blow dry it and that means damage to my already fragile hair. I even revolve what days I run around what days I will wash my hair. Anyways, I'm sure thats more than anyone cares to know, but the point is, I'm not gonna let my hair decide what I do anymore! I will wash it when it needs washed and whatever happens, happens.

Guess what? The walmart home office has a little pharmacy inside of it for the associates, isn't that kinda cool?? hah, I just found that out today. I love Walmart. They really do make the world a better place. Anyways, remember my post about fast walkers yesterday? Well today I was walking with this guy I work with to the pharmacy and on the way back he said, "I'm glad you're a power-walker like me" and I started laughing, and told him my feelings about walkers as well. Especially when it's cold outside...helloooo, lets move it! Anyways.

I also got my very own AAA card today!! yay!! My mom has had one for years, but for some reason I got one this year too. I feel safer.

Also, I love Sam's club/Costco. We don't have a Costco in Arkansas for obvious reasons, but I feel like they are essentially the same thing. It is factually true that the food is better at Sam's club than at walmart. If you don't believe me, buy a carton of strawberries and/or blueberries at Walmart and then buy some at Sams club and well, then you will believe too. And its just fun to buy stuff in big quantities for some reason...I don't know what it is. AND! I went today and they have a self-checkout now! and its cool, bc you get to use the laser gun scanner thing. Anyways, it made me happy.

Now that I have officially rambled for the length of this post, I am finished.

Quarterly Braindump

2011-03-18T17:17:00.000-05:00

I have to get something off my chest. a random pet peeve of mine I just have to vent about to feel better.
here we go:

I find myself annoyed/feeling weird when i'm reading a blog post and the post is finished, but then the blogger adds in some questions at the bottom that relates to the post. For example: Lets say the post was about how the person loves post-it notes, at the end she writes: "what about you? do you love post-it notes? what are your favorite kind?" ahhhhhh it drives me crazy!!!!! i don't know why. It just looks like they are fishing (i almost spelt that phishing) for comments. It makes the person look robotic and not like a real person. It just irks me. I love blog stalking, its one of my favorite hobbies. but oh the questions...why?! (disclaimer-i still continue to read the blogs with the questions bc i like them. also this does not apply to a post that in and of itself is a question to the general public) it felt good to put that out there.

I have 2 other things to say:
1. I've never appreciated friday as much as I have the last 2 fridays. working is so tiring. Even though I pretty much sit all day, Everyday I come home and crawl into my bed.

2. I like people who walk fast. Not that I don't like people who walk slow. I guess what i'm trying to say is that I have an appreciation for fast walkers, I have an instant kinship with them. I am a fast walker. I think I always have been and I really can't help it. It takes a lot of effort for me to walk slow. Like you know when you're walking somewhere and then you see someone ahead of you that you know, but don't really feel like chatting it up with, so you just slow down so you never catch up? Well when these kinds of things happen, it is so hard to walk slow! I just don't know how to do it I guess.
I also know that sometimes I walk so fast that I scare people. It always cracks me up. I'll come around a corner or something and people will kind of jump or scramble to move out of the way. Maybe that means I need to slow down. But i can't!

On a side note, I changed which parking lot I park in at work and since then I've realized it takes me longer to walk from my car to my desk than it does for me to drive from my house to work. Only by about a minute or so, but still...it seems so wrong.

sandy ego

2011-03-12T22:07:00.000-06:00

The silver lining of a long distance relationship comes when you get to visit each other in fun places. Last weekend I went and visited my boyfriend in San Deigo and it was very fun. Good way to celebrate my last few days of freedom before becoming a slave to the man again. It was a super short trip, but we had a couple days to do some fun things. For any food lovers out there, let me just tell you, if you are looking for the best mexican food you've ever had in your life, go to Luche Libre taco shop in san diego.

Luche Libre

It was soooo gooooooddd. so good. Also We went to the cuuuutest little french restaurant- Cafe Chole, which was also absolutely divine and precious.

We also decided that you can judge a restaurant by it's bathroom (that is nicer restaurants--prob not your dirty, yet delicious mexican restaurants). If the bathroom is impressive, generally speaking, its going to be a good restaurant. We appreciate weird things. And we really love food. Every restaurant we go to, we either hear about on tv, or spend a good amount of time researching on urban spoon and cross checking reviews on google, yelp, seriouseats, chow hound, you name it. We don't mess around with our food. We appreciate good food and will do what it takes to get it!!

Moving on... we went to the lovely san diego zoo! It was really cool and lots of fun. You should go sometime. Animals are pretty cool. Plus I've been reading Life of Pi (highly recommend it!) and he lives in a zoo, so it was a little more interesting than usual for me.


i don't really want to talk about my pose in this pic.

i love giraffes eyelashes!

fun fact: elephants gestation period is 22 months. yikes.


i took like 60 pics of the polar bears..i just couldn't stop!

fun fact: hippos have no sweat glands

Other fun things we did include: going to La Jolla beach and I got to do a legit flight simulator and "flew" over San Diego, and did a couple 360's and only crashed like 4 times!

la jolla shores

he's gonna kill me for putting this pic on here--but hes the one who took it. mwahaha

I love san diego. Its a beautiful city, very clean, warm, lots of cool stuff. I love visiting it!

My Best Friends Wedding!

2011-03-03T18:04:00.000-06:00

Sooo as I mentioned my sister, Brittany, got married on Feb 5 in salt lake. It was sooo much fun!! and it really turned out so beautiful. The whole day seems like a such a blur. There were sooo many people I hadn't seen in a long time and so many people to talk to and catch up with. It was so fun to see all the people who came out though. That's one of the reasons weddings are so fun I think, you get to see so many people who you haven't seen in a while.
Also, i was thisclose to catching the bouquet. In fact in flew directly into my hand, as you will see in one of the pictures below, and then just bounced right back out. It was so tragic. And then a cute little girl just picked it up. (she was closer to the ground) I suppose it made her day, so I'm ok with it. I just felt it was my duty to catch the bouquet at my sisters wedding..but i failed.

All these pics are from the photographers blog: alixannlooslephotography.blogspot.com. She did an awesome job i thought.

do you see that desperate attempt of mine?? so pathetic...

Best Day Ever

2011-03-03T16:20:00.000-06:00

Today is the best day ever. And I will tell you why:

1. Slept in till about 10:30
2. Got a JOB!!! Walmart-private brands analyst (kinda scared about actually DOING the job)
3. Job turned out to be DOUBLE the pay i thought it was. Yes, literally double.
4. The weather is 70 degrees and sunny
5. I went for a run
6. In 3 hours I'm hopping a plane to San Diego to spend the weekend with my boyfriend.

Seriously, could this day get any better? Some days you're the hydrant, some days you're the dog. Today makes up for all those sucky days.

It feels so good to have a job.

Frozen Yogurt tales

2011-02-22T01:04:00.000-06:00

So when it comes to frozen yogurt, I consider myself a connoisseur. My boyfriend says I am a food snob. Either way, I just have a really deep LOVE for frozen yogurt. I even drove 40 minutes out of the way on my way home from Kentucky to get some. This is how much I love it. With this all in mind and the fact that I walked in after having a really downer-kind of day, let me tell you this little story.

Bentonville is a little behind the craze. But they did recently open a new place called YumYos. I've been excited to try it out and today I did just that. Here's how it played out... I walk in and some girl, hopped up on redbull, is behind the counter and says, "is this your first time here?" I say "yes.." and she's like "oh!" and walks all the way over from the counter to tell me how to do the yogurt. "We have 15 different flavors and you just get a bowl and the middle lever.." me interrupting--"combines the flavors" (yeah i get it) she continues "and we have thirty six different toppings, so be sure to try them all out!" I kinda wanted to be like, 'sweetie, this isn't my first time in america, but thank you?'

Anyways, My usual go-to is the cali tart with a bunch of fruit. So, i grab my bowl and start pouring, and the second it hit my bowl, I already knew it was no good. The color and texture were not right at all. so i moved to the strawberry. The strawberry looked like a better consistency so I gave it a go. Popped on some not-so-fresh fruit toppings and paid a whopping $4.76. I had one bite, and was disheartened. The strawberry flavor wasn't horrible, it was just very mediocre and just not what i'm use to i suppose. but I dug to the bottom to try the tart, and was seriously grossed out. It wasn't tart, it was SOUR. So i ate all the fruit off the top, downed a few more bites of strawberry, then thought, maybe the tart wasn't that bad. So i tried it again, and I couldn't help but make a face. It was absolutely horrible.

But then I came home, gave it to my little sister and mom, and they thought it was great. But it is kind of a fact that my mom has highly desensitized taste buds so that really doesn't say much.

I will say the best frozen yogurt i've ever had is probably fro.zen.yo in DC. But it also could have something to do with the fact I was very hungry the 2 times I had it. But still. I believe it's completely delicious. Also Spoon It Up in provo is high on my charts and Yogurtland is delicious as well. and red mango is good, but the non-self-serve thing kinda blows.

I tried to tell my boyfriend how after you've had the good stuff, the bad stuff is so apparent. It's like if all you had ever eaten was Spaghetti-o's you wouldn't know what you were missing out on. But after you had say, carrabba's spaghetti, you would never go back to spaghetti-o's (unless of course, you are homeless, on the verge of death and someone hands you a can of spaghetti-os). He claims he can't taste a difference between any of the places. And thus, I am a food snob. But if I am, so be it. I just like good quality yogurt. sue me!

(and wow this was the longest post ever about yogurt)

hello sunshine

2011-02-20T01:02:00.000-06:00

There comes a point during every winter where you realize winter just kinda sucks. and you can't help but yearn for spring. Well folks, that time has come. I have to say, winter hasn't bothered me that much this year. But the last three days have been a nice sunny, 70 degrees which is soon to fade, i'm sure, but it made me realize how great 70 degrees is. In my heart, I'm done with winter--I'm moving onto spring. I've already seen the swimsuits appearing in target and walmart (i'm staying away from malls these days, so that's all i have to go off) and I've seen the bright colors in the clothing. It's coming!!!

hooray

Some other random items of note..

Essie nailpolish is now sold at walmart!! I saw the display in the cosmetics section and then fell in love with about 30 colors, but settled for one---called cute as a button. And i'm in love with it.

looks kinda like this

I have a new obsession with the color coral. Its just so pretty all of a sudden. (similar to my stripes obsession, except no money to buy things with--but i do still love my stripes)

I saw Social Network (finally--i'm so behind the times these days) good movie, but kinda surprised its up for best picture...

I got ticket #8 back in january, a nice big speeding ticket from a not very nice cop, that i still need pay. I'm trying really hard these days not to speed. I've been using cruise control everywhere i go.

I ran 5 miles today!!! That is a lot for me. I like to run and I run often, but I typically run 3 miles and RARELY i'll do 4. And once I ran 6 miles. But I decided I'm going to my first half marathon and I don't have very long! April 2. So wish me luck!

Oh and I forgot to say in my last post, the best part about my random trip to Kentucky. I pulled a little surprise. After she begged me to come, I told her I wasn't, and then pulled some great moves of trickery, and then showed up about 5 minutes after the other guy i drove up with had showed up. It was hilarious and awesome. I love surprises. And usually i'm really bad at holding in surprises, but luckily I only had to hold this one for a few hours.

That's all i got for now. I know picture-less posts are boring...so i'll post pictures next time. Promise!

the day after tomorrow

2011-02-11T01:45:00.000-06:00

Remember that dumb movie? I only saw it bc Jake Gyllanhal was in it. Anyways, the weather has been crazy here. But you probably know that unless you live in Africa or something. I got home from Utah on Tuesday morning. Wednesday morning I woke up to this:

I've lived in St Louis/Bentonville my whole life and I have never seen that much snow out here that I can remember. I had heard about all the snow while in Utah and was kinda like, "yeah, yeah, i've lived in utah the last 5 years...snow schmow." But I drove to walmart today and it really was weird.

I have never seen snow like that here in Arkansas. It seemed so out of place, so foreign..and wrong. In that aspect, it was really weird. Crazy weather. But although the weather's been a bit chilly the last couple days, the 10 day forecast has given me much to look forward to!!

untitled

2011-01-30T13:31:00.001-06:00

Sometimes I wish I was a witty/funny blogger every time I blogged, but alas, it is not in me. I would love to just entertain people with every post and every sentence I wrote. For now, I will just stick to updating about my life and writing when needs be.

I'm in Utah right now. I've gone through 5 boxes of Kashi bars since I've been here (1 week). Never eaten so many in my life. It's what's keeping me alive. Favorite flavors so far: Pumpking Spice Flax crunchy, Dark mocha almond chewy, Honey Toasted 7 grain crunchy, and Almond toasted something or other crunchy. I'm kinda into the crunchy stuff right now.

Well thats all for today. Except my awesome photographer cousin is having an awesome photography giveaway. So i'm blogging in hopes that I will win, but if i don't, maybe one of you reading this will! She's based in Houston, but has some travel dates to Utah, DC area, and Montana this year. so check it out.

Go HERE: giveaway

Mouse Infiltration

2011-01-25T11:35:00.000-06:00

does this look cute? Well it is NOT

I'm in Provo for a couple week with my mom helping my sister with wedding stuff before her wedding in a couple weeks. My mom and little sister are staying at my grandma's house, however I am not. My little sister discovered that my grandma has a pretty intense mouse problem. And I just have to share.

SO a week or so ago, my little sister (Erica) was at my grandma's and heard a mouse in a vent, that was apparently stuck there. They got a mouse trap and successfully killed the mouse. But that wasn't even close to the end of it. They knew there were more, bc when she'd go in the storage pantry in the garage and turn on the light she could hear them scurrying about (gross).

My grandma is watching my uncles cat while he's out of town and Erica said that a couple nights ago, in the middle of the night, the cat apparently heard something and then ran out of the room. Then she came running back in with a MOUSE in it's mouth, ran under her bed and all around the room, then dropped the mouse in the doorway and batted in all the way down the hall, then ate the whole thing.

So we got more traps. As of today there have more 5 mice killed. I found the last one tonight, bc i wanted to see if I could hear mice in the pantry. So I went in there...turned on the light...didn't hear anything, but then I saw a mouse trap, with a mouse in IT. Honestly, I've never seen that sight before. It was not pleasant. Plus only its nose was caught in the trap. It must have been a slow, painful death. And then I heard more scurrying! Which freaked me out and I was done.

Pretty gross, huh?

Erica's tally sheet

just stuff

2011-01-16T20:18:00.000-06:00

Hello blogging world! Life is going swell. No job yet, but I do have some leads and one job in particular that I really hope I get!! In the meantime I have really been enjoying this time for getting lots of things done! I've been pretty busy actually. The last couple weeks have been filled with doing stuff for my sisters wedding, cleaning and organizing my old room, some odd jobs around the house, hanging out with dear friends, job searching, and lots of exercising! It's been fun. I'm glad I moved home. Most people in Utah would always say "why are you moving home??" As if its the worst idea possible or that I'm subjecting myself to torture, but I feel pretty good about it. I miss my peeps in Utah, other than that I love being back in arkansas.

I'm in Florida right now and it is great.

Also, I have access to netflix instant watch stuff, and I have decided I'm going to rewatch all of LOST. I'm very excited about it. (not as obsessively as I did last time...just a little here and there)

Today I was sitting outside barefoot in a light hoodie and realized that in one week I will be in Utah freezing my face off. Not looking forward to that weather...

But! I am excited to go out to Utah for a few weeks, get all my stuff finally, see some friends and go to my sisters wedding!

new years resolutions 2011

2011-01-06T17:27:00.000-06:00

1. drink NO soda (for at least 6 months...)

2. eat better--significantly less sugar, more veggies

3. olympic triathlon

4. exercise better--resistance training 2x's/week, cardio 2-3x's/week

5. spend less $$

6. learn ASL

7. never, ever text while driving (i dont do it often, but i should do it NEVER. and neither should you!)

8. read scriptures everyday

9. GET A JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made a daily checklist to help me for the daily things i want to do. i love the new year. so much hope to be better...we'll see how long it lasts!

Life Update

2011-01-05T12:59:00.000-06:00

December might have possibly been the busiest month of my life ever.That being said, it was fun. 2010 was a really, really good year. And I'm even more excited about 2011. Mostly because I will get to celebrate 11.11.11. Its gonna be the best day ever.

In other news, I have officially moved back to Bentonville, AR and am taking up residence in my parents house. 2 months ago, somebody told me that 80% of graduates these days are moving back in with their parents. I swore that would not be me. Here I am!!

But!! I graduated!!! And i even got a 4.0 this semester!! woot woot!

I had a great christmas and went with the family on a cruise to cozumel. It was delightful. I'll throw some pictures up in the next blog post i get around to.

Best Craigslist Post

2010-12-10T15:33:00.000-06:00

I just laughed my butt off. Please read this current craigslist posting:

For Sale: Worst Cat EVER (Davis County)

Date: 2010-11-12, 5:37PM MST
Reply to: comm-kxns3-2057295036@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

Please take my cat. I have owned him five years and I think it's someone else's turn to have to put up with him. He opens kitchen cupboards and eats ANYTHING he can find inside. I mean ANYTHING. So far he has eaten cornmeal, rice (uncooked), bars of soap, entire loaves of bread, boxes of cereal, pop-tarts, pudding cups (yes he gnaws his way through the plastic), entire tubs of margarine, carrots, apples, a mango AND THE PAPER BAG IT WAS IN, boxes of uncooked spaghetti, bags of powdered sugar, animal crackers, whole raw eggs, and many many many cookies. YES I FEED THIS CAT REGULARLY. I have to keep my kitchen completely spotless and have child locks on all my cupboards, but he's learned how to fish stuff out with his paws. Not to mention all the garbages in the whole house. While I was typing this he snuck in behind me JUST NOW and licked the hot loaf of bread that is cooling on my stove. It's literally three feet away from me.

On the bright side he hasn't eaten any bananas yet.

He is a NICE CAT. He is soft and purrs and is cuddly and loving and would EAT YOU ALIVE IF YOU SUFFERED A STROKE OR HEART ATTACK AND WERE UNABLE TO DEFEND YOURSELF.

I would let him live outside--he LOVES to go out--but he eats birds and that makes me sad.

SO!

Maybe you live on take-out? You don't cook? You own a barn full of mice? You already have magnetized locks on all your cupboards for your toddlers? This cat loves people and gets along with other cats and dogs. Let me know if you want him!!

Location: Davis County
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Brazilian Blowout

2010-12-06T20:11:00.000-06:00

Have you heard of these? I just did yesterday..and now I must have one. Funny how that works. Then I found this giveaway for it TODAY on love & photography blog. So I am doing everything to win it. It looks pretty amazing...and my hair needs help. If you haven't heard about you, you should check it out. Unless you are brittany bland and you're hair always looks like this. Whatever it is they do to your hair, it stays looking perfect for like a month. I'll take one please!

cuteness

2010-12-06T19:48:00.000-06:00

My friend Whitney is a talented and aspiring photographer. Duke was in town the last couple weeks and she offered to take some faux-engagement pics to builld her portfolio. I'm glad she asked bc I had fun doing it and I love the pics she took. I've already looked at them 100 times. Here's a few...you can look at her blog to see more.

I think this one is my fav:

this is duke's fav

to-do

2010-12-06T18:04:00.000-06:00

This last month has been one giant whirlwind. There are only 2 weeks left in my college career. Wednesday's my last day of class. Seems like only five and a half years ago I was a little freshman with so many hopes and dreams. good times.
Here's my to-do list for the next two weeks:

write 381 analysis paper
make handout for 381
media presentation for 381
381 take-home final
update portfolio
blog stalk people till wee hours of the morning
plan & throw bridal shower for my cousin Rebecca (2pm on Sat-come!)
buy a gas cap..bc i drove off without mine
catch up on facebook
BUY CHRISTMAS GIFTS!!!
visit BYU placement center
blog
job search
Figure out where to live in 2 weeks
blog stalk some more
plus a million other things i don't feel like writing out anymore

Time to get busy!!!

I love making lists. When I'm stressed, I just need to cry a little, make a new list and then I'm good to go.

schweppes happiness

2010-11-19T13:23:00.001-06:00

I saw this cool ad today (which is by the people who made the superbowl sock monkey commercial for kia that i loved) that is being stubborn but heres the link:

http://creativity-online.com/work/martini-rossi-balloons/21861

but it reminded me of an even better one...an oldie but a goodie.

by George Papperson Y&R, Melbourne

It makes me happy.

Scary Mary

2010-11-12T14:04:00.000-06:00

I've been catching up on my YouTube videos, so this may be the first of many. Here's a recut trailer of Mary Poppins turned Horror movie.

hot holiday toys!!

2010-11-04T15:34:00.000-05:00

My dad was on the news today in arkansas to talk about Hot Holiday Toys available at the one and only Walmart. Toys have really advanced in the last 15 or so since I was a young gal.

On a side note, I was also thinking how weird it is that I can say,

"remember when i tipped over the shopping cart my newborn brother was in bc i was a jealous brat 22 years ago?" or "I moved to arkansas 15 years ago." It's weird that life has been that long already. Anyways, the video is below. Click to see!

http://nwahomepage.com/hot-holiday-toys-details/?nxd_id=197496&shr=addthis

seaside

2010-11-04T02:14:00.002-05:00

I've always loved this song, but I've been freakishly obsessed with it the last couple days. I think it's a sign.