26

last week was my birthday. i celebrated with shopping, eating out, seeing the secret life of walter mitty finally, and going to a byu basketball game. it was a good day, kind of quiet. i'm glad i got to spend it and the rest of the weekend with my family.

as my lovely little brother kindly pointed out at my family birthday dinner last week, if you round up, i'm 30. which, thanks, carter. i still have four years of my twenties left! sheesh. but somehow 26 does feel a lot older than 25, for some reason.

but, i am determined to make this a great year. a couple weeks before my birthday, i was looking back on the past year, and, even though a lot of things have changed, i don't feel like i've actually done that much to improve myself. well, i guess that's not entirely true--i'm always thinking about that, and i think i did an okay job. but, as far as my list of 25 things to do when i'm 25 goes, i didn't do too well.

let's revisit:

1. save enough for a big purchase (car? new computer?)
2. go on a spontaneous trip
3. go to an avett brothers concert
4. get a big girl job
5. learn to sew and now i have a sewing machine! happy birthday to me :)
6. start learning a language which i need to pick up again...
7. receive a master's degree
8. go somewhere i've never been
9. west coast road trip
10. record something
11. go to the temple
12. publish something
13. learn to ride a bike...i guess
14. consolidate  moving twice will do that to you!
15. read the standard works
16. go to a fancy party
17. family reunion--aspen grove 2013!!
18. read classic novels--i've got a running list
19. read c.s. lewis
20. make a piece of art to put in my house
21. eat something new every month--let's face it; i go to the same places and eat the same things. i need some variety up in here.
22. write and send a letter at least once a month
23. hike the Y
24. go legit camping
25. choreograph a song for zumba

so, 8 out of 25. it's not great, but it's something, i guess. this year i don't know if i'm going to make a list like this, but i'm definitely going to try to make it a really great year. 26 is going to be great!

thoughts on tuesday: recent goings-on

last week was busy busy busy, and there are some things i want to write pertaining to those great few days. but right now i just want to unload my brain a little bit :)

last night i went to a zumba class for the first time in a really long time. i've been meaning to go for literally months--i've been researching all these places and keeping tabs on schedules and trying to work up the nerve and the motivation to actually go. well, yesterday i did it (after i slept late on my birthday and missed my original first attempt). but the point is that i went, and it felt so great to go back. the music started and i was moving in those familiar latin rhythms and it was awesome.

several months ago, we heard about jolley's pharmacy in salt lake. while it is a functioning pharmacy that has been around for 60 years, it is also an adorable gift and floral shop. so, mom and i made a trip and found some really cute things. a couple weeks ago we went again and found more cute things. yesterday i went again, by myself, because there was one really cute thing that i just couldn't forget about. i limited myself to only getting that one thing (which was too expensive for its own good anyway), but there were other things that i would have gladly left with. oh, jolley's. you're a gem.

speaking of gems, on saturday i was driving home from work, and i took a different route due to my lunch choices, and i passed this cute store.

it didn't look quite like that when i passed--i would have pulled over right then to check out that rainbow cart thing--but still. super cute. so, naturally, i stopped after work yesterday just to see what could be seen. i ended up with a heart-shaped teacup and saucer, but, again, there were other things that i would have gladly left with. because emilie jayne is a consignment shop, the prices are really reasonable--there were some great furniture pieces in great condition that i was seriously debating. i'll probably need to make another trip sometime soon since my house has almost no furniture or decoration (outside of my room, of course).

the weather has been so lovely lately! i hate being stuck inside when it's so great outside. on sunday i took advantage of it and went on a walk in the neighborhood. i'm a fan of walks, and i saw a lot of cool stuff. one of the things i really love about this area is that the old houses have so much character; people really pay attention to the details.

 

 

i ended up walking for about an hour, which was actually kind of a long time, and i wore my saltwaters for the first time, which was probably kind of a bad idea. and i had to rush home to watch nancy and tonya, the awesome olympics documentary. i mean, figure skating was made for drama, am i right? but anyway, it was the first of many sugarhouse walks.

 

there has been a lot of reorganization in my house lately, which led to a lot of anxiety for me. i think it ended up that i am moving to the master bedroom this weekend; i'm still not sure how that happened, but i'm not going to complain. it does mean i'm going to have a whole new space to work with! 

stylewatch: kate spade

the title of this post is misleading, because i'm not really revealing a new trend in modern fashion or anything. everybody knows that kate spade is awesome. but over the past few months i've realized that her aesthetic is so close to mine it's ridiculous. basically i'm obsessed with kate spade.

she's all about bright colors and gold and polka dots and stripes and well-executed florals, and that's what i'm all about! if i could buy everything kate spade, i would. i went into a kate spade store last year, and it was physically painful knowing i couldn't buy any of the beautiful things in there. one day! for now, take a gander at a small sampling of the lovely things she makes.

this is kate spade. she's gorgeous! and classy! (via)

i mean...wedding shoes, anyone??

she makes these great book clutches...great gatsby, pride and prejudice, romeo and juliet, the catcher in the rye. (via)

 

pretty much my motto for life.

look at this--virtually all the dresses are amazing and adorable.

via

via

and how cute is this book? i will be buying this.

and just so you all know, my birthday is coming up and it would be just so great if i got a little kate spade surprise. anything will do! :)

reason #97 why i'm not meant to be single

i didn't really plan for this to be my valentine's post, but i guess it only makes sense :)

so, the reason: i hate driving. i feel okay about it when i'm out on the open road and no one is really around and you don't have to think so much, but otherwise, i really hate it. every time i think about driving myself somewhere, i have to think about how tricky it will be to get there or if the parking situation is difficult or if there will be a lot of cars on the road. it causes me a lot of anxiety--sometimes i won't go to a place because i know i will be too anxious. pretty much my biggest fear about moving to salt lake was that i would have to drive myself all over, and there are way more people in salt lake than there are in provo, which means way more cars i can crash into. it's probably a miracle that i've never been in a car accident, not because i'm a bad driver (although i don't think i'm great), but because i get so tense.

i'm not meant to be single because i probably won't be long for this life if i'm going to be left driving myself everywhere for the remainder of it.

or i guess maybe i just need a chauffeur? ;)

small victories

the past few weeks of work have been pretty hectic, for reasons that are largely too boring to describe. but these past few weeks have been all about the small victories for me--i guess my philosophy has been that if i don't take a teeny bit of time to celebrate those, i'm going to go crazy, since things are usually pretty mundane.

there's this one student that i've been fighting pretty hard for, and we've been on kind of a rollercoaster, from volatile phone conversations laced with obscenities to now exchanging emails full of exclamation points and smiley faces. this student has a little bit become my friend, even though we will never meet, and problems just kept coming up. today all the problems were resolved and i could finally tell her that we had everything we needed.

sometimes it's easy to get bogged down by the monotony of everyday life, but i have to keep reminding myself that dealing with people is never monotonous, and really, dealing with people is never insignificant. and i'm glad i can do my little microscopic part to help. it feels good, you know?

 

thoughts on saturday

how is this my first february post? february is the best, and i haven't even acknowledged it in social media yet! valentine's day is arguably the cutest holiday, this february has been pretty moderate, so far, weatherwise, and of course the coolest people have birthdays this month. i think having a february birthday is actually a pretty good thing, because it peps me up enough that i usually avoid the february doldrums that some people seem to suffer.

i'm feeling like it's almost time to read harry potter again. it's been too long since i've been immersed in harry potter, and my life could use a little bit of that magical wizarding world right now.

i keep buying notecards and thank you cards. i can't help it! why are there so many beautiful notes out there? is there any possible way that i can actually send all these out? i don't know that many people. and think of the postage costs! but, the thing is, i really do want to send notes and cards to people. so, if you want to get a beautiful, thoughtful note from me, just let me know. i have plenty of  stationery options to choose from :)

this week i got some cardio in by watching this amazing jane fonda aerobics video. i have a deep love for aerobics, but it's been awhile since i've done one of these. so classic! the outfits alone are priceless. but the best/worst part was that the next day i was so sore! my calves are still tight and it's been four days. that jane fonda, man--she knows how to get you working.

oh, the olympics. here again to take over my life. more later.

have i told you guys yet about my quilt? well, i'm quilting. i'm almost done with the top, too, and it's pretty awesome. i have to take frequent breaks or else i get overwhelmed by weird perfectionist tendencies (i don't get it--i am not really a perfectionist. i like to do a good job, yes, and i work hard, but i'm not someone who has to control every detail. but the sewing thing makes me really self-conscious, for some reason. that probably says some things about me, but let's not get into it.), but it's coming along nicely. i'm excited to get it done and have a real thing, that i sewed, to have and use.

oh, and can i just say how bummed i am that the third series of sherlock is over, just like that, and i am once again without benedict cumberbatch? three episodes is not enough! not nearly enough!