it's christmas time!

well, december is here. this means the end of the semester, finals, and seeing family! not to mention, the road trip to new mexico. so christmas has been on my mind. and instead of studying for finals tonight, i decided to make my own christmas printables after being on pinterest and seeing a ton out there. most of them have santa claus, or reindeer or presents or something like that. and then i found one with a verse of scripture that i love. but it wasn't free... so i decided to copy it and make one of my own! now, i'm not a graphic designer by any means. and i'm not about to pay a bunch of money for a fancy computer program. so, i made this using powerpoint and free fonts and scrapbook papers i found online. (i can't remember where i got the fonts... papers are from shabby princess)

i made a bunch of different color combos, because once i got the text in there it was extremely easy to change the color of the background and the font. anyway, i decided i'd post them here for anyone who wants them. if you want it in a different color, let me know and i'll be happy to make one for you!

(you should be able to click on the photo, then right-click to save. should print out 8.5 by 11)

gather and give thanks

happy thanksgiving everyone! ok, it's technically not thanksgiving anymore. but it was a great day. my contributions were sweet potato casserole, and glazing the ham. there was turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, green bean casserole, green salad, fruit salad, crescent rolls, pumpkin dessert and coconut cream dessert. soooo yummy! i'm very grateful that i was able to spend this holiday with family. i missed my sisters though. but it was good to be with my parents and my brother and his family. i almost learned how to properly throw a football. and yet, i still throw like a girl. :) here's to celebrating even more tomorrow by eating leftovers, putting up the christmas tree, and NOT going black friday shopping.

grimm vs once upon a time

two new tv shows... two new twists on fairy tales... two very different takes...

and i think i'm gonna like both. :)





      
  

 which one do you like?

hairy experiment

so, i have some hair problems. most of you know, my hair has some natural "curl", which means it likes to frizz out. however, it is also thin. and by thin, i mean i don't have very much of it. i hear people say their hair is thin, but they have a lot of it. that doesn't make any sense... anyway, because my hair is kind of fragile and i dye it a lot (who wants gray hair at 31? i mean 25?) it dries out very quickly. so i've been trying to find ways to make it look better without using heat.

i recently started going auburn. that's right, back to my red roots. (not literally my roots, my genetic roots. there are a lot of redheads in my family) and i rather like the color. i have also been looking for ways to skip washing it every day so that it doesn't dry out as fast, and hopefully the color doesn't fade as fast. yes, you can buy dry shampoo at the store to help take away the greasy look of not washing. but i have recently discovered that baby powder does the same thing. yay for saving money! although, it doesn't give your hair that freshly washed look, it does make it look less greasy. and if you have hair like mine, you end up pulling it back into a ponytail anyway.

i joined pinterest.com a couple weeks ago. and one thing i noticed is that people like to post yummy so-not-good-for-you recipes, fitness tips, crafts that i'll never get around to, and hair tips. one of the hair tips that i have seen pinned over and over again is this video from youtube.





so, i decided to try it. for those of you who are curious about it, this is how it worked for me. i did exactly what the girl in the video said to do. this is what my hair looked like when i woke up in the morning.

good morning frizz head! (yes, i already did my makeup. who wants to take pictures of what they really look like first thing in the morning?)

and this is what my hair looked like after taking out the sock and applying products  to get rid of the frizz. (biosilk, john freida secret weapon, and of course a little baby powder)

this is from the back....

so, i think it worked ok. the curls don't look much like the girls in the video. and the photo above illustrates one of my pet peeves about my hair. it is so thin in the back, you can see my scalp.  and this ALWAYS happens when i sleep on my hair. the only way to not have this happen is to wash and blow dry my hair in the morning. and since the sock bun curl idea has you skip that, this is what happens....

i end up with a ponytail, which kind of defeats the purpose of wasting time to curl your hair in the first place.

so, there's my experience. as usual, it left me wishing i had more hair, thicker hair, smoother hair, and what not. maybe if you have thick, smooth hair it will work better for you. in the mean time, i'm going to look for other things to try to make my hair look better than it actually is. if you all have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know! my dream is for it to look like this....

if only...

ZAZ - Je veux

theme song friday :) i discovered this little song today and it made me smile.

school is back in session

well, the school session started over a month ago, and it is certainly in full swing. everyone has told me that i'm crazy, but i am taking physics and three different chemistry classes, all with labs included. so, yes, i may be insane, but if everything goes as planned, i should be able to apply to medical school next summer. that's the plan for now, but it may change. as for salt lake, i am loving it! the weather has been beautiful, and there a lot of awesome people here. it doesn't quite feel like home just yet, but we are getting there. i love being a student again. although everything is waaaay more expensive than i remember it being the first time around. but all in all, life is GOOD. and i am super excited for fall. it's always been my favorite season. october is the best month! and it starts this weekend. so, the question on everyone's mind is... what are you going to be for halloween? :)

btw, this is the view from my apartment. isn't it amazing?

hello blogging world...

so, i have been absent from the blogging world for awhile. i have moved to salt lake, and since then i have only had internet access while i am on campus. so, i haven't made it a priority to check blogs or update mine. but i finally did today. and it was great seeing what everyone is up to. even if i don't leave a comment, i still read your blogs. i'm a silent stalker that way. :)

anyway, so life as a college student once again is pretty exciting. it consists of lots of class, studying, tests and the like. ok, so it's not that exciting. but i am pretty excited for this weekend. friday i get to move once again. (not fun) but it is definitely a change for the better. i will have internet, phone and tv again! although i have to actually buy a tv to be able to use the cable. anyone want to donate? ...
so yeah, a new apartment for me. and hopefully i won't have to move again for a loooooong time. speaking of living situations, it has been an interesting experience not having any roommates. it gets verrry quiet without other people. and no tv. but it's been good. i get a lot of me time. :)

the other exciting thing happening this weekend is the stadium of fire. i got really excited for it a few months ago when i heard that mr. sexy voice will be performing (aka brad paisely), but then was sorely depressed when i saw the price of the tickets. then this last week, one of my best friends in the world brought salvation in the form of cheap tickets... so needless to say, i will be in attendance saturday evening. fireworks and mr. paisley, what could be better?

yeah for moving!

ok, so at the moment, i'm just trying to get myself excited about all the packing and sorting that i have to do in the next day or two. but i do have an apartment lined up in salt lake, and i'm pretty dang happy about it. it's a stressful thing, not knowing where you'll be living. and when you figure it out, it's a huge relief. so, i'll be moving in at the end of the week. i may post pictures once i get there, if i remember. but it's a little one bedroom, in a great location, in a great new YSA ward (last week, they reorganized all the student wards and YSA wards into YSA stakes.) one of my friends from nm lives across the street, and i've met a few other people that live on the street also. i'm sooooooo ready to just be there already! is there a way to get the bewitched lady to come over and wiggle her nose so that everything i need is magically transported to my new place? i wish....

easter thoughts

i love these two videos. as easter approaches, i've been watching these to help me remember the reason for the holiday. it's not about bunnies or eggs or chocolate. even though those things are fun, there is a deeper meaning to easter, and i have been trying to focus on that meaning.

necklaces

lately i have been buying a lot of beads. and metal findings. for necklaces. i don't wear a lot of jewelry, but i've discovered that i like to make it. i have given a lot of finished necklaces away, before i got the chance to take a picture of them. so if you have one, you could take a photo of it and send it to me, if you so desire. :)
anyway, here are some of the latest creations...

april fools!

april 1st. the day of pranks and jokes. i don't usually try very hard to do anything special for this day, because it usually fails big time. i tried today. and it failed. so i guess i'm not a very good prankster. i changed my profile picture on facebook to a picture of my friend's ultrasound. i thought it would be funny. and yet... no one noticed. so, here's to the pranks that actually work. any of you pull jokes today that worked?
:)

slc here i come!

so, i guess it's kind of official. i'm moving to salt lake! i've decided to back to school, and i'll be starting in may at the university of utah. so yeah, there's the news. so if anyone has suggestions on places to live, or leads on part time jobs, let me know. i'm excited to have some plans and a goal to work towards again.

theme song monday?...

i recently discovered this song. and now i can't stop listening to it. enjoy. :)

the 'quarium

friday, we decided to go to the downtown aquarium. luckily we had a buy one get one free coupon. the boys liked all of the fish and frogs and snakes. there was even a swimming tiger (i didn't get a pic) and a tank where you could pet and feed stingrays. all in all, a grand day.

valentine schmalentine

i think this card expresses my thoughts about valentines day perfectly.

if you feel the same way i do, you can download and print the valentine schmalentine at mmmcrafts

Devils & Angels

a friend shared this. i found it pretty funny. :)

theme song thursday

i heard this on ncis los angeles this week. kind liked it. so i thought i'd post it. happy thursday!

it's a cold, snowy day.

thanks for the comments on the last post. just to clarify a little bit, i have actually made a decision. i have chosen something. but there is always that feeling that i could be doing something else. it doesn't matter what i do, i always have that feeling. so i was just trying to get that out there so i didn't sit her thinking about it all the time. i wasn't necessarily asking what i should do, just expressing the frustration of not having one perfect path to follow. i have decided what i am going to do, and it's going to be a long, hard road. but for once i am excited about it. and hopefully it will lead to the ability to do many things. thanks for all of your love and support

on another note, it is incredibly cold and snowy. i'm waiting for this weekend when it's supposed to get up to 60 degrees... the weather is terribly inconsistent around here. but i guess it's good to have some variety.

not much else to report. i've just been hanging out with my nephews and making decisions. i'll let you all know more info on those decisions once they've gotten a little farther along... :)

scattered

i don't have ADD. i know i don't. but when it comes to jobs and choosing a career, it sometimes feels like it. i have always been jealous when somebody says "ever since i was a kid, i knew i wanted to be..." when i hear that, it makes me feel like there is something wrong with me. i have always wanted to be so many different things. but the pressure to choose just one makes me hesitate, and i end up doing nothing that i wanted to. i enjoy doing many different things, but there has never been just one thing that made me happy. sometimes i just feel scattered. i have great short-term focus. but i lack long-term focus. i like to dip my hand in many different things, but never jump all the way in. personally, i don't think there is anything wrong with that. so why is it so difficult to find something i can do to pursue all these different interests? any ideas? i make a decision, only to change my mind a couple days later. i want to be a doctor, a musician, a writer, an astronaut, an archaeologist, a teacher, a researcher, a world traveler, a chef, and the list goes on. here i am, 30 years old and still undecided. and still feeling pressure to be something. why do i have to choose one? why can't i be everything? how can i be everything?

btw

i actually had a lot of fun designing my blog banner (see above) using a free digital scrapbook kit from shabby princess and the free photo editing software paint.net! i'm not really that into scrapbooking, but i love looking at all the cute stuff. i figured since it was free i would try it. not having any photo software experience whatsoever, it took me awhile to figure out how to use it. photoshop may be easier, but i wouldn't know. i don't want to spend that much money on it either. so if you want to try it out, feel free. cause it's free. :)

culinary creations

this is kind of a random post. when i uploaded the zoo pictures from my camera, i realized that there were a couple years' worth of photos that i never posted. so i will be posting them now, starting with this first group of photos. these are three things that i learned how to make last year. (or the year before). 

the first is lemon meringue pie... 

i learned this one for thanksgiving. use ready made pie dough and bake for 15 minutes (or a graham cracker crust like i did in the picture). mix 1 can of sweetened condensed milk and 3/4 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice. pour the filling into the pie crust and bake for 10 minutes. (i don't remember the oven temp) make a meringue (egg whites and sugar) and put on top. place it in the oven again to brown the meringue, and voila! you have a pie.

next there are birds nests...

this one is obviously for easter or springtime. it's basically a rice krispie treat, only with chow mein noodles instead of cereal. although you could probably use those bran cereals that are kind of shaped like twigs. you just melt marshmallows with some butter, then add the noodles and mix until evenly covered. i used a muffin tin to shape the nests. allow to cool and stiffen. then use m&m's, jelly beans, chocolate eggs or any other egg shaped candy.

and finally, canned peaches...

we had a ton of peaches from our little tree in the back yard last year. i tried to be creative with the photography. it was fun slicing up peaches and canning them with my mom. i'm not going to post a recipe... you can look it up if you are curious. but it's a good thing to know how to do. and if you have a hankering for some cobbler and need a jar of peaches, just ask my mom. :)

i'm alive!!!

yes, despite the lack of blog posts, i am still alive. and kicking. here is what has been going on in my life...

1. i moved to denver! living with my sister, watching the nephews every once in awhile, and planning the next steps in life.

2. i got a new laptop, which is why i am able to post again. hopefully there will be many more posts to come.

3. awhile back, one of my dear friends taught me how to make necklaces. since i moved, i have been beading like a madwoman! ok, not exactly. i've made 4 necklaces and two bracelets. maybe i'll sell them. maybe i'll just give them away. who knows?

4. i have started going to a gym again. it's painful but it feels good. if pain can feel good? i guess in some circumstances it can. definitely in this one. my goal to lose enough weight to feel comfortable in a swim suit and then i am going to treat myself to a tropical or beachy vacation. so watch out ocean and palm trees! i'll be seeing you soon.

5. i have come up with a list of things to do in denver, and i will be working on them the next few weeks. so far, i visited the lovely animals at the denver zoo, accompanied by my sister and my nephews. it was a beautiful winter day and i thoroughly enjoyed myself. here are some pictures so that you can enjoy the experience as well. :)