2017, by the numbers

I really like doing this year-end review by the numbers. Another year on the books. Happy New Year, everyone!

Traveling:
Miles driven in my car: 17,669
States lived in: 2
States lived in/been in (including airports): 11
States lived in/been in (not including airports): 4 
Airports been in: 12
Countries visited/lived in: 1
Round-trip plane trips: 4
Amusement parks visited: 0
Times driven to Utah and back: 6.5 
Nights away from home: 46

Work: 
Jobs held: 2

States where I am an LCSW: 2

Personal:
First dates went on: 0
Second dates went on: 0
Books read: 62 (20,583 pages, per Goodreads)
Places lived in: 3
Wards member of: 2
Roommates had: 0 (2 if you count parents, 3 if you add in one sister...)
Cars driven: 4
Blogs posted: 11
Friends on Facebook: 312
Calligraphy classes taken: 3

Physical:
Massages received: 5 

Races run: 7
Run/walk miles logged in RunKeeper: 550.1
Overall pounds lost: 9.8

Entertainment:
Restaurants visited/ordered from: 103

Times went out/ordered/got food from restaurants: 143

Movies watched: 27 

Plays/musicals attended: 4 

Spiritual/church:
Callings held: 3
Blessings (including setting aparts) received: 4
Temples/temple grounds visited: 6
Number of proxy initiatories completed: 67
Number of proxy endowments completed: 16
Number of proxy sealings completed: 0
Live sealings attended: 0

101 List:

101 list goals completed: 14
101 list goals in progress: 13

2016, by the numbers

I really like doing this year-end review by the numbers. Another year on the books. If you have ideas of other things I should track for this next year, let me know. Happy New Year, everyone!

Traveling:
Miles driven in my car: 19253
States lived in: 1
States lived in/been in: 5 (6 if you count the layover in New York on the way back from Brazil)
Countries visited/lived in: 2.
Round-trip plane trips: 3.5
Amusement parks visited: 1
Times driven to Utah and back: 7.5

Work: 
Jobs held: 1
States where I am an LCSW: 2
CEUs completed: 52

Personal:
First dates went on: 10
Second dates went on: 0
Books read: 71 (24,537 pages, according to Goodreads)
Places lived in: 1
Wards member of: 1
Roommates had: 1
Cars driven: 4
Blogs posted: 13
Friends on Facebook: 293
Calligraphy classes taken: 2

Physical:
Massages received: 6

Races run: 3
Run/walk miles logged in RunKeeper: 87.61 (wish I had started logging all my runs sooner... I didn't start logging them in there until my first race!)
Pounds lost since 6/20/16: 17.6

Entertainment:
Restaurants visited/ordered from: 89
Times went out/ordered/got food from restaurants: 142

Movies watched: 32
Plays/musicals attended: 1

Spiritual/church:
Callings held: 3
Blessings (including setting aparts) received: 4
Temples/temple grounds visited: 6
Number of proxy initiatories completed: 99
Number of proxy endowments completed: 24
Number of proxy sealings completed: 7
Live sealings attended: 1

101 List:
101 list goals completed: 17
Novels written: 1

In flux

I feel like my life is totally in flux. My roommate moved out. My lease is up next month, and I'm supposed to tell them what I'm doing by the end of this month. My parents are coming home in six and a half months. I'm getting a new boss at the beginning of the year. (Fifth boss in just over four years. And I haven't moved or changed jobs.) Ward boundaries are likely going to be changing soon.

What am I supposed to be doing with my life? Where am I supposed to be? I have no idea. But I'm trying to move forward and keep living my life regardless. So, here's what I've been up to the last few months while I haven't really been blogging. In no particular order:

• I'm keeping an eye out for other apartments, though I haven't looked at any yet. (I think I'm going to pay a bit extra for month-to-month where I am currently until I know ward boundary stuff and then really start looking harder.)
• I signed up for my first half marathon (that'll take place end of April) and I'm still trying to run regularly, even though the Galloway group is off-season right now and the weather is TERRIBLE. How do people run in this? Looking forward to next Galloway season when it'll hopefully be better weather and I'm probably going to be a pace group leader. And I've got some serious training to do to make sure I keep the required 16 minute/mile pace for my half.
• Speaking of running, I ran a couple of 10K races... Barber to Boise and Scheel's Turkey Trot. 
• I did an Ironman in a Month Challenge last month at the Y. (Why on earth would anybody ever do 112 miles of biking? The swimming and running were fine. But biking? Ugh.) And the Ironman reminded me how much I do like swimming. It's just hard to convince myself to get up really early and change into a swimsuit when it's freezing cold outside, even though the indoor pool is great. My bed is just too warm and comfortable. 
• Hit the year mark of being in our new store location. Crazy how time flies.
• Spent time with extended family, both at a funeral in Colorado in October and at Thanksgiving in Reno.
• I finished my Gothicized Italic Calligraphy class and am going to take Copperplate starting in January. 
• I've invited groups of girls over a couple of times now for hanging out and am trying to make more friends. 
• I did NaNoWriMo again in November. I seem to switch off years on having a good idea and then not, and this year was an off year. But I did write 50000 words! So... go me. 

And probably other things. But I think those were some of the highlights that happened while I wasn't blogging. Moral of the story I've learned the last little bit? Bloom where you're planted. Because I haven't really done that since I got my own place, but I feel like I've finally gotten a bit more into the groove of doing that. Only took me almost two and a half years...

2015, by the numbers

I really like doing this year-end review by the numbers. It makes me happy. Though numbers can't accurately sum up everything, I think they do a decent job. I'm interested to see how my numbers next year will stack up to this year's numbers. Happy New Year, everyone!

Traveling:
Miles driven in my car: 14183
States lived in: 1
States lived in/been in: 5 (6 if you count the layover in NY on the way to Brazil)
Countries visited/lived in: 2
Round-trip plane trips: 2.5
Amusement parks visited: 0
Times driven to Utah and back: 6.5 

Work: 
Jobs held: 1
States where I am now an LCSW: 2
CEUs completed: 31.25

Personal:5
Dates went on: 0
Books read: 85 (and according to Goodreads, that was 29,739 pages read)
Places lived in: 1
Wards member of: 1
Roommates had: 2
Cars driven: 3
Blogs posted: 6
Friends on Facebook: 437
Massages received: 12

Entertainment:
Restaurants visited: 118
Times went out/ordered/got food from restaurants: 167

Movies watched: 43
Plays/musicals attended: 7 

Concerts attended: 1 

Spiritual/church:
Callings held: 3
Blessings (including setting aparts) received: 3
Temples/temple grounds visited: 5
Number of proxy initiatories completed: 61
Number of proxy endowments completed: 13
Number of proxy sealings completed: 5
Live sealings attended: 1

101 List:
101 list goals completed: 31
Novels written: 1

My Year in Facebook Statuses- 2015 Edition

January

• New favorite life accomplishments: 1. Totally rocking a Minute to Win It type game and moving 50 M&Ms from one bowl to another using only a straw and my breath. 2. Becoming an LCSW!

February

• Someone told me today that I remind them of Brené Brown. That's one compliment that will really stick with me. She's totally my spirit animal.

March

• First world problem of the day: realizing you're super hungry right when you finish your dental appointment. Deciding whether to stay hungry a bit longer to enjoy your super clean teeth or to just give in and eat is a really tough decision...
•  An amazing hour and a half massage right before bed? Don't mind if I do! I love having a massage therapist as a roommate! :-) (Also, if anyone wants a fantastic and reasonably priced massage, contact Meagan. I can personally vouch for her incredible skills.)

April

•  Anybody else sometimes Facebook stalk themselves at 2am? No? Just me? Ok...never mind. Off to bed I go, then. :-) (And for the record...I blame Meagan for starting this. Haha.)

May

• My toilet got clogged yesterday and my fire alarm went off over a piece of burnt toast tonight. Why did my apartment suddenly decide to make me pretend to be an adult who fixes things?

June

•  Waking up with a headache is the worst. Today might be a kind of long day...

July

•  ...apparently, I have new upstairs neighbors. And I'm once again reminded how loud people can be, even when they're just walking around.
• Why do I always forget how much I love swimming and how soothing being in the water is to me? I might just have to splurge and get a membership to a gym with a pool...
•  So excited for holiday/vacation day tomorrow! Pretty sure this is my first time using a holiday or vacation day since starting my job where I'm not leaving town. Little sad, but it'll be so nice to just relax at home, especially with this great weather!
• Started the day off with a water aerobics class where I felt slightly out of place, as I was the youngest participant by at least 30 years. But it was an awesome workout, and I have a feeling the day is going to continue to get better!
•  So tired after such a long (but fun and productive) day. Hiked Table Rock, went to the farmer's market, cleaned the church, floated the river, read a bit, ate pizza and watched a movie, and played Phase 10. Who knew you could fit so much into a Saturday?

August

• Had so much fun at the Pentatonix and Kelly Clarkson concert! Gotta love amazing artists at a great outdoor venue on a perfect summer evening with great friends.
• In honor of my upcoming birthday, I'm considering jumping out of a fully functioning plane. Because why not? Any recommendations for good skydiving companies in the area, or within a good road tripping distance? And anybody want to go with me (or have other awesome birthday suggestions)?
•  And...I'm roommate-less again. What is it with all my roommates leaving me for Utah? So rude! Haha. Gonna miss you Meagan! Provo and UVU aren't gonna know what hit them. J

September

• Lovely weather, enameling, a free 10 minute massage, and a dollar scoop of Ben and Jerry's for dinner. I'd say September's edition of First Thursday was a success...even with me parking in what was apparently a paid lot and getting a small ticket. Whoops.
•  Oh my gosh! I forgot how much my blood pressure rises during BYU games. What an amazing last play! Go Cougars!
• I had such an amazing weekend in Grand Teton and Yellowstone! Sad I missed watching BYU beat BSU, but I really couldn't pass up going on such an incredible trip. I need more adventures like that in my life. (Now, if only I had more vacation time...Haha.)
• Anybody want to give me their TV provider log-in info so I can watch the BYU game? J (I don't like games being on channels I don't have!)

October

• Ok, Phoenix/Mesa friends, I'm coming down October 22-25 for another friend's wedding. (What is it with all these friends getting married in Arizona in October?) I have a bit more time to play and explore as compared to this last weekend. Any recommendations of things to do? And anybody want to join in on said adventures?
• Survived the three days of grand opening! So tired and ready to collapse into bed...But still so excited and grateful to be in a new and beautiful store with such a great team.
• Got a window seat, even though my boarding number was C18, then I got to watch Say Yes to the Dress on my flight because of the free live TV! Thanks, Southwest. This trip is off to a great start!
•  Finally signed the contract to add my new roommate (who has been here for almost 3 weeks already... haven't been super impressed with this new management company). Instead of just a one-page agreement like the previous company, they essentially made me re-sign an entire lease. Reading through all the stuff I had to agree to almost makes me want to just buy my own place and stop renting! But I don't think I'm quite grown-up enough to do that yet... right?

November

• I don't think I've ever been so unprepared and unmotivated for NaNoWriMo before. I'm not even sure if I see myself getting to 50,000 words. The 1667 words for the day is intimidating enough right now. This month is going to be interesting... but here we go, anyways.
• Oh, NaNo. I'm less than 4000 words in (where I should be around 13000 words if I were on track) and I just decided to switch from third person to first person narrative. This is going to be fun.

December

• This cold weather is making me very excited to go to somewhere where it's summer to celebrate Christmas. Who needs a white Christmas? Not me.

Summer 2015, bullet-point style

Um... where did summer go?

I haven't written since April, and I keep putting this post off, thinking that I'll do a nice and long catch-up post, talking about all that's happened in the last 5 months. And I kept telling myself I couldn't write a post without pictures, but if I have to do that, then this really will never get posted. So I think I'll do more of a bullet-point update and if you want pictures, you can see my Facebook pictures. And if you want more details, you can always ask me in person. (Novel concept, I know.) So, without any further ado:

Things that I was able to cross off my 101 list this summer:

• Participate in St. Luke’s weight loss challenge (January-May 2015)
• Go to a temple open house (May 23, Payson temple)
• Read scriptures for at least 30 minutes for a month (June 2015)
• Visit the Boise Art Museum (June 4,  during first Thursday)
• Order delivery (Papa John's, June 27)
• See 5 new plays/musicals I haven’t seen yet (Count of Monte Cristo, Pippin, Gypsy, Over the River and Through the Woods, Dial M for Murder)
• Watch entire Dressing YT course (I should probably write another post about DYT...I love it!)
• Hike Table Rock (July 24)
• Get food from food truck (Pizza from Provo Farmer's Market, August 8)
• Go to concert (Kelly Clarkson/PTX, on August 8)
• Go to the Boise Train Depot (August 12)
• Go to Yellowstone (September 10-13)...also went to Grand Teton, and technically got 5 more stamps in my National Park Passport between the 2 places, but I'm not sure if I should count that

Other non-101 list updates:

• Floated the river a couple of times.
• Went to Utah a few times.
• Visited the Family History Discover Center in Salt Lake--it was way cool. I highly recommend it. (May 22)
• Read quite a bit. And did quite a bit of hanging out with friends.
• Went to the Boise Farmer's Market
• Got a makeover at the DYT salon. So fun!
• Went to an overnight bachelorette party at a cabin in Cascade.
• Meagan (the roommate mentioned in my last post) moved out. It was super last minute. She just felt like that's what she had to do and move to Utah to pursue school. I miss her. She was a great roommate
• Started working full-time in one store, so I don't have to keep being a "split personality" working in two different stores, as my boss calls it.
• Went to the Western Idaho Fair (August 27)
• Got another year older. Weird.
• Did some enameling during a first Thursday. Neat experience.
• I'm going to be getting another roommate at the beginning of next month. It's been kind of nice living by myself for a bit, but it'll be good to have someone else around.

Uh... I guess that's it for now. Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll get another post sooner than 5 months from now. :-)

More 101 things and a new roommate

Yikes. Looks like it's been a while since I blogged. I had all these grand plans of all that I was going to talk about and include pictures, but that feels like too much effort and I'm getting further and further behind. So... Here's the quick update of what's happened in the last two and a half months.

I crossed a few things from my 101 list (11 down now!)...
Go to a dueling piano bar
Bear testimony in sacrament meeting
Visit the Idaho Botanical Garden
Tour the Old State Penitentiary
Buy an annual pass for something (bought it to the Idaho Botanical Gardens... it's great)
Write in journal every day for a month

I got a new roommate, Meagan. I wasn't really looking for a roommate, but Meagan was in my ward and mentioned that her roommate was getting married and that she needed at least a temporary place to live as she worked to find a more permanent place. I was a bit hesitant, as I was liking having my own place. But I felt like it could be a good change, as I had been isolating a bit too much. And Meagan living with me has even better than I could have hoped for. It's been really great for both of us. I'm very grateful to her, we've clicked surprisingly well, and we are becoming good friends. It's going to be weird to have her leave me for a bit over a month for a trip she already had planned before she moved in! (Though I think I've convinced her to stay a bit more permanently. She thinks I'm a much better roommate than my last roommate did. Haha.)

Work's been crazy, but good. Some days are really hard, but good things are happening anyways, and I feel like I'm learning and growing a lot. Plus, I'm an LCSW in Idaho now, too!

I'm not being as successful at being healthy (exercising and eating right) as I should be. It's been hard when I still haven't been sleeping super great and I do seem to get headaches more often than I'd like. Though the massages I've gotten from Meagan have helped. (Benefits of having a massage therapist for a roommate!)

So... yeah. There's your super quick update. Hope all is going well with all of you that might occasionally read my blog!

2014, by the numbers

The numbers from this year are a bit different than the past couple of years, but fun to look at all the same.

Traveling:
Miles driven in my car: 17115
States lived in: 1
States lived in/been in: 6
Countries visited/lived in: 1
Round-trip plane trips: 1
Amusement parks visited: 0
Times to Utah: 7

Work: 
Jobs held: 1
Hours worked counted towards licensure: 1967
CEUs completed: 26.5
Bosses had: 2

Personal:
Dates went on: 1
Books read: 59
Places lived in: 3
Wards member of: 2
Roommates had: 2
Pets lived with: 4
Cars driven: 1
Car windshields replaced: 1
Journals written in: 2
Blogs posted: 18
Friends on Facebook: 456
Sleep studies completed: 1
CPAP masks tried: 3

Entertainment:
Restaurants visited: 103
Times went out/ordered from restaurants: 147
Movies watched: 47
Plays/musicals attended: 2
Concerts attended: 3
Live comedy shows attended: 1

Spiritual/church:
Callings held: 3 (4, including visiting teacher)
Blessings (including setting aparts) received: 10
Temples/temple grounds visited: 7
Number of initiatories completed: 146
Number of endowments completed: 25
Live sealings attended: 2

101 List:
101 list goals completed: 17
Novels written: 1

Lives touched: ?

But these numbers certainly can't capture what was this year was. It's interesting to compare my "Year According to Facebook Statuses" post to this one. I think I try really hard to be positive on Facebook, and try to not post very many "downer" statuses. And I guess I kind of do the same things with my blog sometimes...try to focus on the happier things, and gloss over some of the harder things. My journal is where I really record more of the bad. On this blog (and on this blog post), it's probably hard to tell how hard this year was (though the 10 blessings I received could be an indication of that). But it was a really crazy year, full of things that I never would have expected, both good and bad. I do have many fond memories of 2014, but also lots that I am ready to leave behind. I am very interested to see what 2015 brings.

My own apartment... and sleeping (or lack thereof)

I've gotten kind of terrible at blogging. Whoops.

I'm not even sure if I mentioned this in my blog. But at the end of August, Karen moved to Utah, so I moved in to a house with a different roommate (a girl I hadn't met before, but she seemed nice enough when I got a tour of the place). It was a really nice house and a good price, but it was a bit uncomfortable. My roommate and I just didn't click. At all. But I was determined to stick it out. It felt so right for me to move in with her. Why should I give up? However, after being there about a month, I got a 30 days notice from my roommate. That was rough. I'm really not a bad roommate, I promise! But it was a month-to-month arrangement and she owned the house and apparently no longer wanted me there. So I woke up one morning and there was a note telling me that was my 30 days notice to find other living arrangements. Ouch.

I really didn't know what to do. After that rough experience with that one roommate, I was really hesitant to move in with someone random again. But things fell into place for me to get my own apartment. And as hard as that last roommate experience was, it did help me realize how ready I was for my own place. If I had moved into my own place straight from living with Karen, I think I would have questioned it a lot more. I think I needed to go a bit down a wrong road in order to find the right one.

Anyways, I really like my apartment. I don't love paying all the bills myself, but I get over it when I remind myself how nice it is to do what I want without walking on eggshells around a roommate. It's been fun to decorate and furnish how I want instead of relying on what's already there. Maybe one of these days, I'll hang some pictures on the wall and put things away enough to take pictures for a little apartment tour, but that day is not today. Also, it should be noted that I do have a spare bedroom and bathroom (and an inflatable queen Aerobed), if anybody wants to visit.

In other news, I'm still exhausted a lot. After getting the results from the sleep study (and finding out my insurance requires putting someone on a CPAP for sleep apnea before other options), I've been on a CPAP machine for close to 3 months...but I'm still really tired. I talked to my doctor about it and now they're trying to figure out what else is going on. Now that the apnea is treated, it must be something else. So I'm trying a sleep aid, but I think it's going to be some trial and error. It's not fun being tired all the time... especially when it means my emotions are haywire and I'm not able to fully think clearly. But I'm hoping we can figure something out. And I am grateful for good health insurance that is helping pay for all of this fun stuff.

Seattle

So... a bit behind in posting this, but better late than never, right? :-)

For some reason, I've always wanted to go to Seattle. I don't know why, but I've wanted to, and so I put it on my 101 list. As time went by, I figured it wasn't going to happen. But Karen figured out a way to make it work--over Labor Day/my birthday weekend. And it was fantastic. Karen, Jenna, and I had a blast.

We left Thursday after work and arrived in Seattle really early Friday morning. (My birthday!) We stayed with some family friends' of Karen's on Capitol Hill. It was a beautiful house with a fantastic view and close to everything.

Once we got some sleep, we got going on Friday. We started out by going to Volunteer Park and exploring a bit and also checking out the gorgeous dahlia garden. After that, we went to Ballard Locks and wandered around Ballard a bit before going kayaking on the Puget Sound and kayaking through the Locks. Super cool.

We then got a bit more fancy and had dinner at Skycity Restaurant, which was a neat experience. A nice birthday splurge. And they even have a photographer that comes around and takes your photo and you get it e-mailed to you for free.

Saturday, we started out by going to Smith Tower. I took a seat in the Wishing Chair. Tradition is that a wishful single woman who sits in it will be married within the year... I'm looking forward to proving it wrong. (Or maybe I'm just not wishful enough.)

We then went on the Underground Tour, where we learned some really cool facts about Seattle. Pretty fun stuff. We wandered around Pikes Place Market and then went to Chihuly Garden and Glass. Most of my pictures didn't turn out that great, but I'm super proud of this one. (Not the one labelled Chihuly...that was another photographer they have that takes your picture and then e-mails it for free. I'm not that professional.)

Sunday, we went to a sacrament meeting with the people that we were staying with in a beautiful and unique chapel. I wish I had been able to explore more. We then visited the Seattle Temple grounds and then visited Discovery Park. We had a little picnic on the beach, and then napped on the grass near the lighthouse. It was a beautiful day. Oh. And we visited Bruce Lee's grave. Random, I know. But it was super close to where we were staying. And why not? :-) 

Monday, we woke up and drove home. Kind of a long drive. Especially when ALL of Oregon has a 65 mph speed limit.

But I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Even the crazy roads that made for crazy driving. So grateful for GPS that would give me a bit of warning to get over because a lane was about to end or I suddenly had to take a left exit, Seriously...it was nuts.

And with this trip, I crossed off 3 more things from my 101 list... buy dinner that's at least $50, take a trip every year in honor of my birthday, and go to Seattle. Woot!

101 list (and other) updates

I haven't blogged in a while... and I have lots of updating to do, apparently. With Karen leaving, we were fitting in a lot of fun things (along with some not-so-fun-things...like moving). But quite a few of the fun things we did had to do with my 101 list.

I've never been shooting, and I've wanted to. So my home teacher took me, Karen, and a couple of other friends to go shooting with him. I didn't actually break any of the clay pigeons, but I did come close a few times, apparently... even though I've never held a gun before.

We were supposed to go paintballing, but it didn't actually happen. Karen bought a Groupon for it, and when we went for our scheduled time, apparently it only paid for part of it and we would've had to pay a lot more money. So the group of us went and got crepes instead. But we tried. And Karen found a tiny paintball and smashed it on me. So... maybe I can count it?

Karen and I went to the Western Idaho Fair...and somehow managed to not get any pictures of the two of us. Whoops. (Though you can see lots of pictures of some things we did see at the fair at Karen's post about it.) But it was a lot of fun, wandering around, seeing the shows and animals and contests. And I did take a picture of a quilt that reminded me of my family. A missionary's mom had taken quotes from her e-mails and made it into a quilt. Super fun idea.

And because I haven't blogged about this 101 list item yet... I am getting laser hair removal. So... that's in process and I think it's helping. But I still have several treatments to go and hope to see even better results!

But other than 101 list stuff, we did lots of other fun things. Like go doing some aerial yoga, watching Merry Wives of Windsor at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, seeing Nickel Creek in concert at the Idaho Botanical Gardens, watching Paula Poundstone, going to the World Center Birds of Prey Museum and the Boise Aquarium, and floating the Boise River. Good times. :-)

But yes... I have officially moved. Just to the next town over. My commute is pretty much the same to both stores (I'm not right by a freeway entrance any more, which I miss). But the location is still good, I like the house I'm living in and my roommate (Jessica) seems really nice, plus she has a couple of super sweet cats. And I'll be in a new ward (we'll have to see how that plays out). Work is still keeping me busy, but I got a new boss recently and I really like her. I've been very fortunate to have great bosses. 

Tahoe and Other Adventures

For the Fourth of July, Karen and I ended up going to Tahoe. It was quite a drive (and not a super pretty one, if we're being honest), but we stayed semi-entertained listening to audiobooks and podcasts. But the time in Tahoe itself was great.

We drove up Thursday night and left Sunday, so we had two full days there, which was wonderful (especially since neither of us had to take any vacation time). Friday, we rode up the Heavenly Gondola, and then went even further up on a ski lift. The view was beautiful and it was so peaceful. At times, it felt like we were the only people in the world, since not a lot of people were up there. We later went to the beach, ate burgers at a restaurant, and then went back to the beach to watch the fireworks over the lake. Saturday, we hung out at the beach, got delicious sushi for dinner, and then played in the arcades of a couple of casinos. I wish the trip had been longer, but I'm very grateful that Karen made the trip happen. I had going to Tahoe on my 101 list, but once I moved to Boise, I figured I wouldn't pull it off. She convinced me that we could and we did! It was great.

In other news, Karen has decided she's moving away from Boise at the end of next month. It makes me sad and I'm still not entirely sure where I'm going to end up. But, as I'm trying to look for the positives in this situation, it is pushing us to do a lot of stuff we have never gotten around to doing together. Friday, we went out to eat at a yummy Italian restaurant that I had a Groupon for and then wandered around Warm Springs, looking at all the beautiful houses. And yesterday, we went swimming at the pond and then saw a double feature at the drive-in. We have a lot of things still to accomplish on the list, so I'm hoping we have a good last few weeks together. And I hope I figure out soon where I'm supposed to end up.

Home and Trusting in the Lord

A couple of weekends ago, I was able to go to Provo and see my parents one last time before they left to go to Brazil to serve for three years as mission president and companion. I was able to be in the presence of an apostle of the Lord as they were set apart, which was a really neat experience. It has been weird to come to terms that my parents aren't going to be around physically for the next few years. (Though I do hope to visit them at Christmas.) I must say, I am very grateful for technology... even though they're over 6000 miles away from me, it can seem like they're just still in California if I don't think too hard about it. I've already been able to talk to my mom on the phone, and I've been able to e-mail both my parents and get pretty fast responses. So even though they are much farther away physically than before, they certainly don't have to feel that far away if I need them. :-)

Anyways, with them being gone, and with some other random things going on in my life, I've been thinking a lot about home again. I ended up thinking about it even more when I realized that I hadn't printed out a particular old blog post and put it in my journal like I normally do. So I went to look it up and print it out. I almost laughed when I read through it and realized the topic and found that so much of it still resonated with me. (For reference, it was this blog post.)

Since I wrote that blog post, Boise really come to feel like home, in no small part due to my roommate, Karen. But with some things going on, and with Boise starting to feel a bit temporary again, I don't know how everything is going to play out. I hate being in limbo and I just wish I knew the answers now. But as my dad told me in an e-mail today:

I think that the Lord will make it clear for you and the way will open up.  Remember my trials with the opportunities that seemed to make so much sense, but never really happened even to the point of having us to have to pray for it?  None of it made sense at the time.  I had three CEOs wanting to hire me, but for one reason or another, in all three cases, things were "on hold"........even though they REALLY wanted me to start.

God knew what needed to happen.  I just had to be patient and hang in there.  I was clueless as to what was getting set up to happen.  But, God opened the way and now, here we are.

You have a ton of faith in Him.  He will help you move in the right direction.  Just stay committed to that and don't worry (I know............that is easy for me to say). 

So basically...I need to keep trusting in the Lord. No job opportunities worked out for my dad when by all reasonable accounts, they should have. So instead, he was able to work on a bunch of things he wanted to do (including opening up a pharmacy with my cousin) and now he's able to serve the Lord full-time. But trusting in the Lord is a constant battle for me. It's talked about in EVERY father's blessing I've gotten for at least the past couple of years and I guess it's a lesson I still need to learn. 

It will work out. It will. I just need to keep doing my part. And for now, that's continuing to make sure Boise is home for me (at least for now) and make sure I'm open to His promptings if things do need to change. For He truly knows best.

Two Weekends, Two Weddings, Two Trips to Utah

This weekend was the second weekend in a row that I was able to go to Utah to be at a wedding. Last weekend, it was my sister's wedding. It was a fun (though slightly exhausting day). But it was so wonderful to be surrounded by family all day and just feel the love that was there. And Aubrey made a beautiful bride.

This weekend, I came back down to Provo for Sara (my old roommate)'s wedding. It was another lovely day (though again, kind of exhausting) with another lovely bride.

Weddings all around!

Now I just need to drive back to Boise tomorrow, make it through another work week, then drive back down to Provo one more time... this time, for my parents being set apart before they leave on their mission. And then I think I'll be done with that drive for a while. :-)

Twin Falls, Hero, and a "New" Dress

Twin Falls
A couple weekends ago, Karen and I decided to get away from Boise for the day and headed to Twin Falls. It was lovely. We did a session at the Twin Falls temple, checked out Shoshone Falls and the Perrine Bridge, and visited her aunt and uncle in Gooding. I love little escapes.

Hero
Karen and I were out shopping and she asked if I wanted to make a stop at the Humane Society. I didn't see the harm (especially since we were wondering if a cat she had adopted previously that had run away had shown up). Unfortunately, that cat wasn't there, but there were some adorable kittens. And as soon as Karen realized one was a polydactyl, I knew we were coming home with a kitten. Meet Hero. He's adorable.

You see his little polydactyl paws, right? 

He makes this face a lot. Definitely likes his meowing. :-) But he also likes cuddling, so it's ok.

However, we're now outnumbered... just two people to three animals. But we're surviving so far.

Dress
My sister (Aubrey)'s wedding is coming up, and I was really struggling to find a dress. I don't look great in two of her wedding colors, and the third color is really hard to find right now, since it's more of a fall/winter color. Then I realized that I had a dress in my closet that my mom had given me that I had never worn, since I didn't like the color and it didn't flatter me at all. I heard about using Rit Dye to dye clothes and decided to give it a try. Look at this lovely (ha) before picture. See my not happy face? Understand why it's just been sitting in my closest for a couple of years?

Karen helped me to remove the belt loops for the sash (I couldn't find the seam to remove them myself... I'm not that talented in sewing yet) and then I used the washing machine method and mixed two different colors. I moved the sash up a bit (I look great in empire waists) and I had a totally new dress that I'm really looking forward to wearing at Aubrey's wedding! It's a bit lighter than I meant it to be, but I still really like it.

The side effect of using Rit Dye? I now want to dye lots of my clothes that are faded or that I don't wear as often as I could because I don't love the color it is right now. Hopefully I don't go too dye crazy...

Building a Snowman and Aerial Art

So... I can't remember actually ever building a snowman. Sad, I know. But I did live in California for most of my life that I remember. And then I just never did it in Provo. (I generally don't like playing in the snow. I much prefer watching it fall while I'm cuddled up in a blanket with some hot chocolate and a book.) So I added it to my 101 list and kind of forgot about it. But then Karen has been really good about bugging me to do my 101 list. (It's nice to have supportive roommates.) I know there are goals on my list that simply won't happen at this point, and I'm okay with that. I kind of figured that's how the snowman one would be when it was suddenly March and the weather started acting like it was spring. But Karen dragged me up to Bogus a few weekends ago and we made a couple of miniature snowmen. The snow had pretty much turned to ice except for the first few inches, so we weren't able to make them super big, so we went for quantity instead of quality. (Maybe next year we'll make a big one.)

 Also, since I don't ever remember making a snow angel, either, we took the time to do that.

Another thing on my list was to try some aerial art. I figured this one wasn't going to happen, since I couldn't find anywhere in Boise that did this. I knew there was a facility in Salt Lake, but not around here. But I happened to Google it one day and found an aerial silks workshop being taught at Ophidia Studio, so I signed up and went. It was way harder than I was anticipating. So much flexibility, arm strength, and core strength are required. I got a bit frustrated, but it was pretty fun to try it out. I'm already sore, just a couple of hours later. I'll likely be feeling it more the next few days.

Also, the studio does have some aerial yoga and aerial fitness classes. I may have to check those out at some point. Maybe during my next 101 list? :-)

500 piece puzzle

One of my 101 list goals was to do a 500 piece puzzle by myself. I'm not a huge puzzle person, as they kind of frustrate me at times. But I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.

My roommate (Karen) knew about the goal and when she saw a 500 piece puzzle of Brigham City when she was at the DI one day, she knew it was perfect for me. My mom grew up there and my grandparents still live there. So it was fun for me to work on. Definitely took a while for me, but I survived. And I loved that feeling of accomplishment.

Also... thank you, Karen, for letting me take over the kitchen table for a couple of weeks as I worked on it. You're the best. :-)

Vulnerability- a comic

So much blogging this week! Hopefully you're not sick of me.

Vulnerability is a hot topic for me and something I've been thinking a lot about. But for a while, I was avoiding thinking about it, to the point that I checked out Brene Brown's Daring Greatly twice, and each time I returned it to the library without reading it. (Still need to check it out again... and read it this time.)

But I know I wasn't as happy as I could be. By closing myself off, I wasn't happy. I wasn't fulfilled. And I think that's partly why I had such a bad year in 2013. I separated myself. Didn't allow others in. Which kept m heart safe, but totally and utterly deflated. So when I found this comic a while ago, I knew it was something I wanted to share. But since I wasn't in the best place emotionally, I still didn't really want to think about it. I didn't want to consider its impact on me.

The guy illustrated the following C.S. Lewis quote:
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.”

And for the comic itself:
http://zenpencils.com/comic/103-c-s-lewis-to-love-at-all/

Whew! Powerful stuff.

But on a happier note, I'm allowing myself to be a bit more vulnerable. Just a little bit. It's still terrifying. I still hate it. But it also is making me happier. To know that people still love and care for me, even when I am being vulnerable and showing uglier sides of myself. And by being vulnerable with the right people, I actually feel safe. Safer than I was when I kept my heart locked up. And it is slowly making Boise more of my home.

McCall Winter Carnival (and my need for alone time)

This weekend, I went with some friends (Karen, Leslee, and Michelle) to the McCall Winter Carnival. We stayed at Leslee's sister-in-law's family cabin in Cascade on Friday and Saturday night. Friday night, we just settled in and hung out. On Saturday, we went to McCall to check out the parade, ice sculptures, and booths.

(The Great Wall of China... McCall style!)

We didn't get to see all the ice sculptures, since it was really crowded and rather spread out. But there were some neat ones that we saw. Like this one. And a pyramid. And a pretty adorable abominable snowman. We had a really late lunch at the delicious Pancake House. (They have cinnamon rolls the size of a dinner plate!) Mmm. Then we headed back and took naps because we were all so tired. (None of us had slept particularly well Friday night.) Saturday night, Karen and I escaped to the Gold Fork Hot Springs. It was really nice, though a bit hard to see since it was so steamy and crowded. But the stargazing was AMAZING! Seriously. Sunday, Karen and I went to Sacrament Meeting at the Cascade Branch. Everybody there was really nice. Then we just kind of hung out at the cabin until we headed back to Boise.

Super brief summary of the weekend, I know. It was a good weekend. Nice escape. I just don't know what other details to fill in.

But what this weekend really helped me to discover how much I need alone time. I definitely identify as an introvert, but I guess I'm generally able to get quite a bit of alone time that I haven't really noticed, even if it's journaling or reading alone in my room before I go to bed or eating a bowl of cereal by myself in the morning. I didn't get really any alone time this weekend, as all four of us slept in the same room and we all came in the same car. Plus, no matter where we went (ice sculptures, eating, church, at the cabin, etc.), we were SURROUNDED by other people. There was no real place to escape to and be by myself. Which isn't a bad thing inherently. (I do like having friends.) But it was a bit rough for me. And I didn't realize how hard it was until we got back to Boise and I went to a stake fireside last night. I felt myself getting antsier and antsier and when refreshment time hit, I really couldn't stick around. I dashed out to my car and went home.

So work today was also a bit rough, since I still haven't really recovered (from lack of alone time and from lack of sleep). And in my job, I'm around other people quite a bit. I was able to keep it together okay at work, but then when some things went wrong after work, it was a bit harder to deal with. Simple things I normally would just shrug off almost sent my anxiety levels through the roof.

But after home evening, I was able to come home and be alone and listen to my "Ocean Waves" Pandora station. So I think I'm mainly recovered. And now it's time for bed. (I'm definitely still not caught up from my lack of sleep. But that's okay, right? I'm having fun and making memories.)

Bowling League!

I'm doing a bowling league again this winter! And it's awesome. Each week, we get three games of bowling, a pizza to share with the team, and plenty of fun... all for $10 a person. Doesn't get much better than that.

I must say, it's interesting to see how people react when we say we're in a bowling league. People seem to automatically assume we're awesome. (We apparently even had some people from Karen's work fighting over us to be on their team at their work party.) But... we're really not that amazing of bowlers. Seriously. After the first week of the league, we were in last place. (Though we somehow won last year because of our super high handicap. Which was really funny, because we had no idea we were doing so well because we didn't understand the whole handicap thing. All we knew was that the other teams kept scoring higher than us each week, so we figured we weren't doing that well. Someone eventually explained what was going on, so all the other teams taking note of who the Queen Pins were suddenly made sense.) And I am a terribly inconsistent bowler. It's a bit frustrating to me, though I still have plenty of fun. This week, I scored 104, 73, and 111. Last night when I went bowling for Karen's work party, I got 128 in the first game (and even within the game I was a bit inconsistent... getting a spare or strike several frames in a row, and then bowling into the gutter the next frame). We weren't quite able to finish the second game (the place was rented for two hours, not two games), but I ended the ninth frame at 65. Oops.

However, what's rather exciting (and what I really wanted to share) was last week's bowling... our first week of the league. That week, I got 81, 99, and then finished off the night with a 150. No idea how I managed to get the 150. It's the highest I've ever scored before. But I took a picture for proof. (Actually, Karen took it for me, since she brought her nice camera.) And I was super happy because I got to check another thing off my 101 list! (I wasn't sure if I'd be able to check that one off... but woot!)

Hopefully I'll be able to become a bit more consistent of a bowler this season. But if not, at least I'm having fun!