Biggest Winner

I used to say, "I would do anything to lose weight, except diet and exercise..." I thought I was funny!

8 weeks ago from yesterday I had my first weigh in for the Biggest Winner thing my school does. Today I had my last weigh in. Ready for the results.............

I LOST 20 POUNDS!!!

Well, technically I lost 19.8, but I'm going to round up! I lost the most in February, I kinda slacked off since I got back from the wedding! But I'm still pretty excited about my overall results!

Counting calories is pretty tough, and not really all that fun at all. I had a friend tell me, "You know what is easier than counting calories... NOT counting calories!" Boy is he right! Not counting is 10000x easier. But counting calories is the biggest eye opener I have ever had. I used to eat WAY too much in a day. I learned through this program that I don't really need a lot of food to get me through the day. I need a cup of cherrios and a banana for breakfast, a sandwich and some carrots and and apple for lunch, and maybe a frozen Weight Watchers dinner for dinner! I don't have to have deserts, I don't have to eat snacks all day long, and I don't have to eat right before I go to bed.

My workouts have been really good too! I used to go to the gym for a half hour and hop on a bike and feel satisfied about my workout. Now I know how to really work out, and I'm excited to keep up a good work out habit for the rest of my life.

My take-away from this program is that living healthy is a life changing decision. If I can study my scriptures every day, then I can work out everyday. Its just one of those daily things! Eating healthy is hard, and I'm going to have bad days here and there, but I can't just stop eating healthy! I am determined to keep it up forever!!!

Now that I have said all that about healthy food, I really must admit that more than anything right now I want a soda. It has been... 54 days since I last had a soda. So I can't decide if I want to wait until next Wednesday and make it an even 60, or if I want to go to Horkelys right now and get a big ol cherry coke!

Biggest Winner

I don't think I have said this on my blog, but I am doing my schools Biggest Winner program. (Basically its the Biggest Loser, but we changed the name so its not copyright infringement!)

I am on the yellow team, which we right away changed to the gold team. (Gold Team just sounds better!) There are 6 other girls on my team, and we have 4 trainers. We met each night to workout together, and we are becoming really good friends. The trainers are pushing all of us harder than we have ever been pushed, but going through it wil 6 other girls is really motivating. I also have a nutritionist that I meet with once a week. She put me on a 1300 calorie diet, and so far I feel like I've been doing pretty well! I think I will be able to keep this up, which really excites me!

At this point, I have lost .2 pounds, which is basically nothing, but its a little bit of a start. Plus that was before I started dieting, and that was from only workouts! I'm thinking now that I got this diet in place, and the crazy hard workouts every night, the pounds will come off faster than I can count!

Everyone keeps asking me what my goal weight is, or just what my goals are. I am determined not to have a goal weight, and here is why. I'm afraid that, knowing myself, I would set a goal that I could reach, say 160 pounds, which for my height would be a healthy weight, and then once I got there, I would say "CHECK" and be done with my healthy living, until I'm up to what I am now and have to do the whole thing over again. Instead of a goal weight, I have a goal lifestyle. I do not want to have Type II Diabetes. The main reason I don't want to have that, is because I want to open a Wellness Clinic for Women that would specialize in preventing Type II Diabetes. If I can prevent it in my own life, then I can help others prevent it in theirs. I am taking a health science class right now all about prevention and I love it! Why do so many people wait to get sick before they get better. If we change our life now, we don't have to get sick! (Of couse I'm not saying that all sickness is preventive, and its not always the persons fault). I just know that by good eating and a regular workouts, you will be healthier. I wish I didn't wait this long in my life to start applying it! So here's to me eating hardly any calories and working out harder than I ever have in my life to kickstart my healthy lifestyle!!! If anyone wants to help motivate me, I will take all the help I can get. Here's to being healthy!!!

13 more days til Christmas

I like countdowns. We have one at work! Only 13 more days until Christmas. Only 4 more days of work. Only 5 more days until I'm home!

Today I got home from work and didn't feel like doing anything, so I took a nap, and then I put in How to Train Your Dragon. I think after this movie ends I'm going to get a blizzard!

Yesterday I swallowed a pill for the first time in a long time! It doesn't seem like anything, but its a pretty big deal for me, so that was kinda awesome!

Also, yesterday we had a Christmas music fireside. I have always loved listening to Christmas music! But there is something even more special about the Hymns that are Christmas music. Sure its fun to sing Jingle Bells and I'll be Home for Christmas, but listening to really good singers singing Silent Night and Away in a Manager is the best! My ward has so many talented musicians, it was such a good fireside. It reminded me of my stake back home doing a christmas concert each year! I just love Christmas!!!

I played Scum the other night with my friends, and I went from scum to king in a matter of games. When I was king I had the best hand ever, and got out before anyone even had a chance to go basically! That game is so much fun, but when you go out so fast, its a little lame. But I rocked it, so it was fun anyway!

At work we have this huge project to get done. It involves clearing all the accounts payable since about 2006. We have over 2000 pages with about 10 charts on each page that have on average 10 different payments we have to clear. Today after lunch I asked my supervisor what she wanted me to do, since I have trained my replacement and didn't have a project or something to do for the next week, so she showed me how to do the project she had been working on. I worked for about 3 and a half hours just on these accounts and I only finished 15 pages. There are OVER 2000 pages to do! Its insane! And then after that project we have to do the same thing with Insurance payments which will probably be just as big! So I think for the next 4 days I will be sitting at my computer, listening to David Archuleta Holiday station on Pandora, clearing these accounts.... can't wait!!!

I just really want to be home. I know I was there like 3 weeks ago, but I miss my family already. I miss my sister Keri. I miss playing games with my parents. I miss my bed! But I'm afraid since I'm getting there a whole week before Christmas, I will have ruin everyones surprises before the 25th. Here's to hoping I don't... but I just am so bad at secrets! I'm a little worried.

Watching How to Train Your Dragon reminds me of my niece Anika. One time I went to give her a high five and instead of hitting my hand, she put her head into my hand and said "Train Your Dragon." Then Avery laughed really hard and she had to do the same thing! Those two are the funniest! I won't see them again until about April, but I think about them on a daily basis. I love those girls!

I want to learn spanish just so I can understand the songs David sings in Spanish. I sure do love listening to music in another language. But it would be nice to understand what it is they are singing about! The only thing I understand from David's new song is, Feliz Navidad mi familia, feliz navidad mi amigos. But there is a ton of other spanish words that I wish I knew!

I think I ran out of ideas to blog about... so... The End.

Doo daa lee dooooo

Basically, I just love being home!!! If you didn't know that already, you should just know it! I just think Arizona is the best state in the whole world, and if you don't know that yet, move to Arizona, and then you will know it!

I got home yesterday. About a month ago, Southwest Airlines didn't consider me to be a full time student since I was only doing my internship and not enrolled in 12 credits of classes. So they didn't give me any benefits, NO FREE FLIGHTS!!! It was horrible, I'm not sure how the other half live without the ability to hop on a flight whenever they would like to come home. So I had to buy my first plane ticket. I went through Aliengent Airlines which is this small little company that flies small little planes to small little airports. I flew out of Idaho Falls and into Mesa (both airports were smaller than the food court of the Salt Lake or the PHX airport). I paid for a ticket and got squished between two big men, one of which had a carry on dog that smelled. (Remember how I hate pets, I really hate sharing airplanes with pets!) But I was pretty tired and slept/played bejeweled on my ipod for most of the flight anyway. It was delayed about an hour which was annoying, but I tried really hard not to be annoyed. I kept reminding myself that there was nothing I could do about it, and I would be home eventually, so there was no point to be mad. But I was still mad!

But eventually it did land, and my mom and dad were waiting at the airport for me! They picked me up and took me to Oregenos! True story: I had never eaten there before. "Really, I'm sure we have taken the whole family here before..." my dad said. I'm pretty sure they all went without me :( But it was really good food, and it was fun to be with my parents.

We played a ton of games of Racko last night. And then we watched Jeopardy, Chopped, and Bones! My mom made delicious chicken and potatos and vegies in the crockpot. Then my dad and I went to the Apple store to fix my laptop. Then we ate ice cream!

And that was just the first day!!! I am so excited to be here for another week! I have some big plans, like going on a date with my dad later today, going to see Breaking Dawn with Keri and maybe with cousins and then tomorrow again with Staci!!! Watching my mom jump out of an airplane on Monday! Meeting my best friends fiance!!! Putting up Christmas decorations and lights! Oh ya, and Thanksgiving!!!

I just love being home with my family and seeing my friends again! And I'm NOT looking forward to going back to the snow and ice and coldness that Idaho has to offer! :/

11:11 on 11/11/11

Yesterday was the COOLEST date ever! When I was in high school I remember thinking that I wanted to get married on November 11, 2011... well that didn't quite work out, but it was still a really fun day! All day long I kept thinking about how I wanted to do something memorable. I barely remember what I did on 10/10/10, or 09/09/09, or 08/08/08.... so I decided this day had to be stuck in my memory because a date THIS cool won't happen again for another 100 years!!!

So here is my very memorable day.

Woke up, read my scriptures, took a shower, and hurried to work for a meeting that I forgot about until the night before. Both the student director and the medical director were going to a conference, and I thought I had to prepare the agenda and figure things out for the meeting, but turns out the other doctor thought he had to, and he did! So I went to work early for nothing!!! Then I got a text from my friend Karly telling me I better have my wish ready for 11:11! I had totally forgotten that you were supposed to make an amazing wish at 11:11 on 11/11/11. So I wrote down a whole sticky note full of wishes and made them all! I was working up front and all of us receptionists made our wishes, and then talked about how great of a minute that was!

Later I was in the conference room and there was an orange left up for grabs from the breakfast meeting the day before. I thought, hmm... I have never peeled my own orange, this will be memorable if I do this for the first time on 11/11/11! And before you start judging me, I have eaten oranges before, but someone else always peels them or cuts them or something first! Anyway, I peel it with my own hands, and its a disaster, but I felt pretty good about myself.

After work I call my sister to see how things are going and tell her about my 1st orange peeling adventure! Then she breaks my happy bubble by telling me how she remembers me peeling an orange before! She explained the situation and I totally remember peeling one when I was younger. So then I thought, great, if that first peeling of an orange was memorable, this 2nd one that I thought was 1st sure won't be memorable either. So I need ANOTHER memorable thing to do this day!

I texted Gaby and asked her what she was up to and if she wanted to do something fun. Her idea of fun was to make macaroni necklaces... mine was to go see Contagion in the cheap theater! My idea won! We hung out at her place until her hubby came back and the 3 of us went to dinner, and then Dave, being the lame-o he is, went home while Gaby and I went to see the movie! Half way through the movie stopped. The lights came on, and there was a flash light up at the projector sight! So we sat there for about 10 minutes while they fixed the film, and then the movie started! I was afraid that because of this delay we were going to miss 11:11 P.M, so I set an alarm and put my phone on vibrate so I would know! Luckily the movie ended at 11:07, so we didn't miss it! Also, that movie was SO GOOD!!! It was pretty intense, and so realistic! If something like that happened, the events in the movie are exactly how us idiot humans would react to it! It made me want to get my masters in Epidemiology and move to Georgia to work for the CDC! Its so interesting!!!

So as we are driving down main street, I interrupt Gaby to celebrate 11:11! I can hear her breath out and say done after a few seconds, and I'm thinking, there is only 60 seconds until I will never again see 11:11 on 11/11/11, so I have to make these seconds count! I thought of everything I wanted and wished for as much as I can until the clock turned 11:12...

Then, it was over! But thankfully, the weekend is not! Its Saturday morning, and I am thinking about all sorts of fun filled activities to fill up my day! So peace out blogger world, I am off to bigger and better things, but don't you worry, if something is super big and supper better, I will always come back to blog about it! ("Blogging is just graffiti with punctuation! -Contagion).

Homebound...

I want to go home... so so so so so badly!!! There is just something about Thanksgiving time that makes being at home 1,000x better than going home any other time of the year. Maybe its the weather in Gilbert in November! Maybe its spending time with extended family. I think its putting Christmas lights up with my dad!!! I am literally waking up every day reminding myself that if I get through today, I will be one day closer to going home! I feel as though time has moved very slow since August, the last time I went home. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I do the same thing EVERY DAY! Don't get me wrong, still love my job, but I can't wait to be home and not go to work for a week and a half! Hopefully after I get back the rest of the semester will just zoom by, and before you know it, I will be taking classes like, HR management, Project Management, Program Planning, Research Methods, Linear Algebra, and Prep for Eternal Marriage! That sounds like a whole heck of a lot more fun than sitting at my desk and looking at schedules and excel spreadsheets and thinking about what I'm going to say to President Clark when I present at Presidents Council.

Point is, I go home in 2 weeks from tomorrow. Thats only 15 sleeps away! And in 2 months, I will be my busy self taking classes! I hate not being in school. I just hate it! The ONLY upside is that I get to take a 10 day vacation at Thanksgiving!!!

Being 20!!!

What is it like being 20?

Its. Like. Heaven!

Its like sleeping in...
Its like showering in a shower with two heads! (Which by the way is very luxurious.)
Its like going to the pool and tanning.
Its like going to the beach and tanning.
Its like taking fun roadtrips and listening to my favorite music!
Its like playing card games with my mom all day long!
Its like WINNING card games all day long! (hahahaha)
Its like watching TLC and Chopped!
Its like going to the spa!
Its like being on vacation! Oh wait, its exactly like being on Vacation!!!

On my 20th birthday, my parents had planned to let me go to California with some of my best friends. I had been planning on the vacation of a lifetime since about April... but some things changed last minute. It ended up being just me and my mom, and let me tell you, it was the BEST VACATION EVER!!! My mom and I had so much fun! We got there Friday evening and just took the night to chill. Saturday we went to the Outlet mall and got some fun things! Then we went to the movies and saw The Help! Sunday we just chilled, we watched a lot of Chopped and just hung out and played games. Monday we went to the spa and the beach, Tuesday we spent a lot of time by the pool, Wednesday the beach again, and Thursday the pool again! It was all about spending time in the sun! I really didn't even get all the burned, just tan! (kinda!) Thursday afternoon we drove back and my mom is on her way back to Cali right now for a cousins wedding. I am just chilling in my parents house right now waiting for Kyle and his daughter to come over! This morning I went out by our pool and finished reading my book! Even though I'm not in Cali, I'm still on vacation!!!

I have a feeling that being 20 is going to be the best year for me! I am super excited for two main parts of this year. 1) I am going to get my bachelors degree this year. 2) I am going to get my MISSION CALL this year!!! Like I said, I think being 20 is going to be the best year EVER!!!

The Stone that was Yellow

I went to yellowstone again!!! It was the best day ever! I just love car rides, and I love my roommates, and I love Yellowstone! Its the prettiest place to be! Unfortunately my camera is broken, and I need to buy a new one. So I didn't have a camera to take with me, but my roommate did, and she took some really amazing pictures! So this post is just going to be her pictures! The second picture is awesome because the water behind us is Old Faithful! We saw it go off twice! Made me so happy!!!

Letters

I was writing a letter to my missionary friend Preston today and I realized how easy is for me to write about my day and my life in his letter, and yet I hate writing about my life in my journal! Then I thought about blogging, and how easy and often I get on here and blog, and yet the last time I really wrote in my journal was the beginning of February. I learned what my problem is. I need to have people read what I write. When I'm writing a letter, I know that my friend is going to open it and read it. When I write in my blog, I hope that people will read and comment on what I have to say. But when I write in my journal, I lock it up in this book that nobody ever reads. Thats like really lame. And yet... there are so many things that I can't blog about, that I don't want to write in a letter to a missionary, and that I really need to get out. Thats when my journal comes in handy! When I have secrets to share with myself, I write them in my journal... (and by that I mean I write about the boy(s) I like!)

Anyway, that was a random intro to this blog post, like I don't even know where that came from! (and I almost deleted the word like from that sentence, but I thought my dad would appreciate it there! NOT!!! haha) This blog was going to be about getting letters. I don't know what it is about a handwritten letter, but it is just the best thing in the world to come home to a little envelope with my name on it lying on my bed. It makes me feel 1000 times better than I do when I get a text message. Even though I love those too. (side note... I went almost 2 days without texting anyone... thats a record!) I love texting people, don't get me wrong. I love phone conversations even more! But a letter is probably the best thing ever. The communication is not fast by any means. It once took me 2 months to get a letter I was waiting for and I thought I was going to rip someones hair out! (I didn't want to rip my own hair out, thats painful!) But then when it finally comes, it just makes you happy!

One time I got a letter from my dad when I was in a really bad emotional time in my life, like last month! haha! Knowing that there are people out there who care enough about me to sit down and write a note to me just makes me forget all my stupid little problems (such as... he doesn't like me, therefore I'm a loser... you know... those kind of problems!) The words he used were inspired. They were exactly what I needed to get me through that hard time... Thanks Dad! I LOVE YOU!!!

Also one time I was in Europe and I had been there for over 3 weeks. I loved the country with all my heart, but the company I had... didn't love them as much. It was just a really hard time in my life seeing as I have grown up in the "bubble" and in Europe I was the only LDS person. The leaders pulled out letters they had kept from us the whole time from our parents. My mom wrote this letter to me way before I left for Europe, but it was honestly an inspired letter! It was like she had been watching my whole trip and knew just the feelings I was having, and she helped me get through it! I LOVE YOU MOMMY!!!

So in conclusion, sometimes I am a mess... but then I get letters from people and it makes my life better! I did not write this post so you would write me a letter (151 S 1st E Apt A6, Rexburg, ID 83440), I just wrote it so you would know that I love the people in my life that send me letters. And if you send me a really good one, you might just get a shout out on my blog! Wow...

Two Weeks Notice

Here is my two week notice!

Dear Rexburg, you have 2 weeks to get all this crappy weather out of the way. When I come back next semester it better not be here. OR ELSE! (jk, how do I threaten the weather... really!)

Dear male population (and some females too), you have 2 more weeks to talk about this Madness that goes on in March. Luckily now that BYU is out I won't be hearing as much about this Mr. Jimmer guy. I have gotten to the point that I pretty much zone out when I hear his name... lets be honest people, I DON'T CARE!!! And last night, having to watch him with his weird band-aid on his chin OVER American Idol... well that was just the last straw. No more Ms. Nice Girl.... American Idol takes priority over Jimmer. Sorry Jimmer but it just does. (side rant... I CAN'T BELIEVE the judges saved that weird leprechaun Casey! Saves are meant to be used when there is a really good top 4, not when the bad person gets kicked off during the top 11! Crazies!)

Dear classes, you have 2 weeks left! And yet inside of me I feel like you are never going to end. I hate you. Honestly, I have never hated a group of classes more so than this semester. Usually I have one or two classes, Accounting, or Business Communications, that I can't stand. But having a semester full of stupid classes is just about killing me! 2 more weeks, and I will never think about you dumb classes ever again! :P

Dear current roommates, we only have 2 weeks left together. This really does make me sad, and I'm sorry for bailing out on you and moving to American Manor. Its not personal I promise, I just desperately need a change. I will miss you dearly and promise to still hang out with you.

Dear future roommate (Tamazine) - ONLY 2 MORE WEEKS UNTIL WE ARE ROOMMATES!!! Literally I am thrilled at the thought of this! We are going to have the most fun EVER!!!

Dear Arizona, in 2 weeks... I will be with you! :D

Dear Mortensen family, 2 (and a half) more weeks until I'm with you! I have not wanted a Spring Break to happen more so than I want this one to happen! I can't wait to spend time with my favorite older sister (and the fetus inside of her) and my favorite nieces! We are going to have a blast! I especially can't wait until I watch American Idol with Angell and my mom, because that just sounds like the best time ever!

Dear Greys Anatomy, I just started watching you in the middle of the 3rd season last night, but I suspect we have a good next 2 weeks in front of us. Once I move out, I will no longer be able to watch you with Brittney's netflix, so lets make the next 2 weeks count!

My Perfect Day

Do you know the song Perfect Day by Hoku. Its on Legally Blonde in the beginning when you just see shots of the sorority. Anyway, some how this song was stuck in my head while I was getting ready for the day. So I thought a little about what my perfect day would consist of. I have always been asked, what would be your perfect date? Well I know that answer really easy, because its something I have thought about a lot. But just plain and simple, what is your perfect day... well I don't know. But I did think of somethings that would make my day perfect. (even though this day is basically impossible since it requires probably more than 24 hours in the day, 2 different states and 2 different season... just go with it)

So I would start the day in Park City Utah where I would wake up early, go to the gym, and then go snowboarding. I wouldn't snowboard for too long, just the right amount of time to experience snowboarding, but not get wiped out or too tired to do anything else.

Then I would go get my hair done. I love getting my hair done! Its like the best thing ever! I would get it cut, washed and colored. Also throw in an eyebrow wax... those are fun too!

Then I would hop on a plane (because flying is just way fun!) and go to Phoenix. Then my family would pick me up and we would go to a diamondbacks game and eat Cold Stone!

Then we would go to Olive Garden for dinner because... well lets face it, its the BEST!

Then Keri and I would go to a David Archuleta concert (preferably with front and center tickets with backstage passes for the party after the concert.)

By that time it would probably be late, so I would go back to my parents house, play a few games of Settlers of Catan (and win them all!) and then go to sleep in the queen size bed in the guest bedroom!

Basically... that is my perfect day! :D

Update!

I know its only been a little over a week, but I feel as though I haven't written in my blog in AGES!!! So here is what you missed on... GLEE (haha, Jk...)


As you may remember from a recent post, I got the amazing opportunity to go to the amazing city of Park (Park City) with my amazing family and my amazing BFF! (That stands for Best Friend Forever, in case you didn't already know!) Basically I could go into great detail about every thing we ate, like all the frozens waffles, the cups of hot chocolate, the wedding cake cupcakes, and the pizza... But I won't! I could go into detail about how amazing the weather was, how sunny and blue, and yet cold enough that the snow was perfect. We could take our goggles off on the lift to cool our selves down, and then by the end of the run we were all warm on the inside. I don't think I have ever had 2 days in a row with as perfect as weather. But I won't go into that detail either! I could also go into detail about the movie we saw in 3D on Saturday, actually I decided just now to go into that detail! Justin Bieber, Never Say Never, was the best movie OF ALL TIMES! Better than the Titanic even (ok, not really... but much better than Avatar!) Honestly, I heard of JB when I was in 12th grade before he was famous, and have been a loyal fan ever since. His movie was inspiring, funny, cute, hot (ok... he was hot!) and just plain good!

Here are some pictures...



So basically all day Sunday I was just complaining about having to come back to Rexburg, but it ended up not being that bad of a week at all! Monday was going to be lame, becasue it was the 14th of February and I'm not with anyone, but it ended up being just like any other day of me not being with any one, and I have done that for the past 19 1/2 years, so it really wasn't that bad! The rest of the week just flew by! Tuesday I watched Glee and thought it was super fantastic (they sang 2 JB songs!), and Wednesday I started to watch AI, but the power went out within the first 15 minutes. I was so sad. We ended up putting in a movie on my laptop and watched that!, I watched AI again on Thursday, as well as Bones. Basically its that time of year where I have a show on every night. Which actually makes me a good student, becasue I force myself to finish everything before I watch my shows. So I am litearlly gone from my apartment from 5:45 am to 5:15 pm (with the excpetions of a little lunch break or a quick change of clothes). Then when I get home I try to get everything done so I can watch my shows. Then when I miss some, like I did a lot this week, i catch up on Fridays. Today I woke up early so I watched The Office and Community, then I went to work, classes, and the gym. Then I came home and watched Castle, Glee, and Mr. Sunshine... I think I am a little addicted to TV and to Hulu. But hey, if I don't let myself take a chill from school and work, I won't have any fun right! Right... (like how I am trying to convince myself that my TV addiction is ok?!)

Anyway... its a 3 day weekend, and I have a HUGE to-do list. I am going to go to the Temple, work out, do my homework, send out a certain someones birthday package, clean my room, do my laundry, and prepare a RS lesson. Hopefully I can get this all done tomorrow and then I can just chill on Sunday and Monday!

Wow that was long, sorry if you read the whole thing and are completly bored. Anyway, thanks for reading my life story (for the week anyway!)

My Stange Addiction

No, this post is not a confession of my strange addiction, rather it is about the TLC TV show called My Stange Addiction. So, if you have not seen this show, you should watch it. My roommates and I are big fans of this show. We gather every Wednesday night to watch it together! Its the highlight of our week! haha. (Well, I love American Idol more... but thats for another post). I guess watching this show doesn't make me feel like a werido. I feel pretty darn normal when I watch people eating laundry detergent or soap, living with a blow up doll they think is their wife, cleaning everything to the point where she hates the grocery store becasue its not clean, and pulling out your hair and eating the follucules on the end. (If you didn't gag once during that list, you rock!!!) The show is so gross. Some aren't so bad, like a girl who is addicted to buying shoes. Ya that stinks that you are out 1000s of dollars, but your life could be worse! One time a girl was addicted to tanning. This one was actually nuts becasue she would go to 3 different tanning places EACH DAY, and then she would lay out in the sun for a while. When she went to the dermatologist and he said that she doesn't have any skin cancer, her response was, I told you so! And kept going tanning. Um, Psycho... you are going to DIE if you keep doing that! She was CRAZY!!!

Anyway, not sure why I decided to blog about this. I should be studying for my Insurance test I am taking in an hour, but rather I got on my blog and just thought about writting about that gross show! Can't wait to see whats on tomorrow!!!

Oh and 1 more thing... I CAN'T WAIT TIL THURSDAY!!! I am driving to Logan after my Econ class to meet my family at my cousins wedding. Then I am going to SLC later that night to pick up my bestest friend Amy Webb at the airport, and then its off to Park City for whats going to be the best weekend EVER!!!

(Tune in tomorrow at 9 on TLC to see the next episode of My Strange Addiction)

Focus on what you can control!

In a Jon Bytheway talk I love to listen to, he tells us to focus on what we can control. He gives the example of him focusing and stressing and worrying too much over a basketball game. Pretty sure Karl Malone isn't staying up late at night, Oh gosh, I hope Brother Bytheway does a good job at his next fireside. You see, things that are out of our control should not rule our life.

Well today, I had a plan. Ok, I still have a plan, but the first part got a little messed up! I had a plan of waking up early, which I did, going to the pool, which I did, and swimming 30 laps, which I did not do. I'm at lap 15, and I'm a little bit tired. So I get out of the pool, get a drink of water, and check the time. Oh sweet, I thought to myself as I checked the time, it only took me 20 minutes to swim my first 15 laps. I was unsure of the time it would take me, so I gave myself 2 hours to go swimming. Well I hop back in the pool thinking, I have a whole 90 minutes to swim another 15. Heck, I could probably go more than 30. I will just swim until I'm out of time, push myself harder and harder until I can not swim no more! Well as I am prep talking myself for what I thought was going to be another long while swimming laps, I hop back in and just go for it. 15 1/2... 16, 16 1/2... then the life guard comes my way. (by the way, I am so embarrassed swimming in front of the lifeguard, because I am a BAD swimmer, and the fact that they are a lifeguard means they are good. They probably just sit on there chair, watching me attempt swimming my laps and just laugh at me!) So she comes over and says something, but I really didn't hear her. I asked her to repeat herself and she tells me I need to get out of the pool. So I get out and she tells us that a little boy threw up in the pool, so we have to get out. I am sitting by the edge of the pool for a while when she comes back and says its going to be another hour until it is safe to swim. WHAT?!?!?! I have a plan, I have to swim 30 miles, I HAVE TO SWIM!!! Well, there wasn't anything I could do about it. So out I get, back to the locker room to change, and home I go, wet hair and all, only having swum 16.5 laps (not even close to what I needed to get.) So then I thought to myself, you know what Tara... you can't control the fact that a little 4 year old boy got sick and threw up. Poor boy. So think of a new plan (which is writing this blog and then watching the Office on Hulu) and stop complaining.

Try to stop focusing on things that are out of your control. Think of what you can control, and figure out what to do with that!

Coldness

I just wanted everyone to know how I am feeling about the weather outside...



I hate it.



Have you ever breathed in through your nose and felt ice forming on the inside of your nostril. So much so that your lungs just hurt to breath. You bury your face in your scarf, and breath deep and hard. Even then, it still hurts.

Have you ever had your skin dry more than you ever thought it was possible. You come home and lather lotion on until your skin stops stinging, and then you add more! My skin has never stung so much as me trying to re-mositurize it.

Have you ever stopped eating food because your kitchen ran out, and you are too afraid of the weather to run outside, get in your car, and drive to the store. (ok, I haven't stopped completely!)

Have you ever spent an extra HOUR at the gym just because you would rather work out your little tail off then go outside and walk the five minutes back to your apartment.

I have done all of these, today! And its only 10:30 a.m. Lets just say any temperature below 0 is not a friendly one. But when the weather channel tells you it is -21, and feels like -34... you just know its not going to be a good day. Luckily Friday its supposed to snow, so that will make the weather go up to at least 20 degrees. I can't wait!!!!

The only thing keeping me going tonight is the fact that I will soon be home, in my warm apartment, watching American Idol! Can't Wait!!!

We won!!!

Want to read a great story about a time me and my roommate Jessica won something!!!

So we were loading a video on facebook and it was taking forever so we decided to go and get the mail. We got this big flyer thing that had a car key on it. There was also a scratch area. So we scratch off the area, and saw that there were three gold bars! We Won!!! It said if the number under the gold bars matched the number on the key, then we were a winner, and guess what! WE WON! So we followed what it said to do on the flyer and we went to Idaho Falls to collect our Prize. The prizes were: A 2010 Ford, A big screen TV, an iPad, or $250 in gold! So here we are, driving to IF feeling pretty good about ourselves. Our conversation there pretty much consisted off, how do we plan on splitting the prize that we get.... Well we could both use the TV since we are roommates now, we could split the money in half, we could sell the iPad and split the money... we hadn't figured out what we were gonna do when we won the car...

So we get to the Fred Meyers place it says that the event was taking place in... and we won! A BRAND NEW CAR!!!! Um, not!!!

There was a flyer that had the pictures of the prizes, and under each picture was a number. Our number didn't match any of those pictures. :( But there was a prize that said, all other numbers win...

3 GOLD COINS!!!

So I ask someone that works there, and he takes our flyer, and brings back 3 dollar coins! WOW!!! We won 3 whole dollars. The fact that gas probably cost more than that to get there was a little disappointing. But we try and not think about that. Jessica was so generous and let me have 2 coins while she only took 1!!!

So that is our story of what we did on our Saturday afternoon. When I got back I finished watching the youtube video we were loading, and then I got my homework done! So ya!!! hahahaha

An Ode... to Amy Webb and Park City!!!

One time, Amy Webb and I became best friends! In this friendship, she made me a book! It was the adventures of Amy and Tara. In this adventure book, we had lots and lots of adventures. And one of the adventures was going to Park City! Thats right, Amy came with my family on our vacation to Park City! Well at the end of the book, she put... To Be Continued...

So this is the to be continued part of the story. My dear friend Amy Webb is joining my family again this year in Park City!!! It is going to be awesome! I am going to pick her up at the SLC airport, (does TSA stand for The Salt Lake Airport?) and then the two of us will drive our way through the canyon to the wonderful Park City Utah!!!

Oh my goodness, I cannot even wait! We are going to have the best time EVER!!! :D

Amy... if you are reading this... I want you to know... I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

Lazy Man Iron Man... 2

Ok... so remember last June when I had to work out for a class I was in, and I though, as long as I have to work out, might as well do this Lazy Man Iron Man thing and get a free T-Shirt. So I did, and all was said and done... Well I looked at my email this morning and read the student update (which I rarely ever do) and saw that the month of February will be doing... yet again... ANOTHER Lazy Man Iron Man. So the question is... Am I crazy enough to try again?!?! It was a really good experience, it kind of wore me out though. My grades slipped, I got my first ever B in college, and I was constantly tired. Also, if someone didn't already know this, the month of February is a bit shorter than the month of June. Thats a reason in and of itself not to do it again (ok, maybe thats not the best reason, I'm just looking for excuses.) So what do you think? Today is the 26th, I have 5 days to figure out if I am actually insane for wanting to do this again. Either comment or just vote on the poll to the right!

Hair

So I learned something about myself when I came to college. I LOVE dying my hair! Sometimes it doesn't always look the best. But its fun to try something new. Sometimes though, you can' t even really tell... I dyed my hair this morning and was thinking, it doesn't really look a lot different, so I went through and looked at a bunch of old pictures of me at each different hair color. Some of them are dramatically different, but others are not really... anyway, you can look at them if you want to, you don't have to though...


This is just a picture of me getting my hair done!!!


This is my natural color! Pretty cute, just kinda plain!



Then I dyed my hair out of a box and it kinda became and orange-ish color... not exactly what I wanted...


Then I got my hair done professionally and got highlights! It was so so so blonde!



This was just after I touched up my highlights again, even blonder!!!


Then I used a box to calm the highlights down a little bit. It kinda worked...


Then this morning I used another box, because you could see three colors in my hair, my roots, my last box, and my highlights. It is kind of more even now, but not exaclty what I wanted.

Anyway... who knows what my hair has in store for me next. I'm thinking black, and then maybe fire engine red... or maybe just different shades of blonde!!! haha

Sorry Tara...

I'm so so so sorry for all the pain that I have caused you recently.

I'm sorry for the pain in my fingertips from trying to learn the guitar. I know it is cool, but it hurts so bad! I'm sorry...

I'm sorry for the sleep depravation lately. My roommates are really fun to stay up and talk to, and I stay up way to late...

I'm sorry for the ab work outs I have been doing that makes it hurt when I laugh...

I'm sorry for the long work outs that make my muscles sore...

I'm sorry for wearing the new shoes that hurt my feet...

Basically... I am killing myself this semester. Not literally, but with 17 credits, 18 hours of work a week, learning a new instrument, and going to the gym daily, my body is worn out (and its only been 2 week)...

Somehow I will figure out how to live this way, maybe!