195 Dresses

Here is a great video about a young woman who started a project to help girls find more modest dresses. I know how hard it is to find a cute dress that is appropriate to wear. If you have more questions regarding modesty standards of the LDS church, click here!

The coolest thing about this video is I know this girl! She worked at our office during the summer.

Very sweet girl. :)

If you want to know more about the LDS church (you may know them as Mormons) here is a link to my personal Mormon.org page where I answer questions about of beliefs as well as a link to the Mormon.org site.

Gym Incompetency

Last night Adam and I went to his gym so I could test out the facility and see if I wanted to switch. I must say, I was really impressed with their layout and general cleanliness/modern look. My old gym serves its purpose but that's about it. It's completely utilitarian. Adam's gym also has a pool/sauna/hot tub/steam room which I think is worth the extra cash.

Anyway, we spent the next hour+ going through our workouts. Even though I've been in gyms since my Junior year of High School, I always feel like a noob when I go with someone else. I was on a cable machine doing what I thought was a really awkward feeling workout when Adam comes up to me and says "I love you, but you're doing that backwards." As my face turned red, I realized why the lift was so uncomfortable, so I turn around and try it the right way, trying to keep what dignity I had left.

The workout got better after that and I got back into the groove of things. I have a feeling that I'll be switching to this gym just because it's so clean looking and well organized. Sorry, old gym. It was never going to work out between us. You were too old and manly.

*I'm just going to say that I could go to a gym every day 

purely to watch Adam work out. Wowza.*

After our gym expedition, we headed home around 11:20. Adam looks at me and says "Do you feel like being a little naughty and staying up to finish The Fellowship?" (We recently moved on to Lord of the Rings after we finished StarWars). I figured I was still young and didn't need much sleep, so I agreed and we finished the first movie around 12:40. Adam went home after that and I crawled into bed, knowing that getting up tomorrow was going to be worse than usual because of the workout.

Lo and behold, I was late for work again this morning. Sleep deprivation + first workout in a while = death. So here I am at work, kind of sore and pretty tired but at least I'm in a good mood.

Now for some workout related ecards because I have a thing for the funnies.

Body-Building Brother

I just want to say I'm proud of my big brother, Skylar, who had been working towards competing in a body building competition and I'm so impressed at his dedication and hard work. I was able to attend his show last weekend and see him strut his stuff on the stage.

He got 4th place in the novice division!! I'll just say that we have really good genetics when it comes to body types. 

Skylar matches the wall color, post show, with our sister Ariel, who matches the fridge.

(Check out her cool double-jointedness) 

Anyway, I'm proud of little Skylar. I love you!

Are You More Feminine Than A Fifth Grader?

Today I decided to sleep through both my alarms and wake up ten minutes after I should have already left for work so today I have unshaven legs and an outfit on I'm sure I wore last week. I told myself that I would just braid my hair instead of the whole hair dryer/straightener thing but for some reason I spent way too much time trying out intricate braids I saw on Pinterest.

I thought it turned out pretty okay, 

but my hair isn't in super great condition to be in a braid. 

Anyway, I think I'm finally getting the hang of being a girl. If you would have had a conversation with 13 year old me with my anime t-shirts and fluffy hair, I would have told you all about how I never wanted to get married or fall in love, never wear pink or heels, never use lotion, and never bother with my hair. Now, six years later at age 20, I will tell you that I think about/plan my wedding in my head on a regular basis and can't wait to get married. I would also tell you I wear heels almost every day of the week and one pair is Barbie pink. I would tell you that I spent $50 dollars on a matching collection of perfume, body wash, and lotion at Bath & Body Works a couple weeks ago. I will also tell you that I put 20-30 minutes of time to my hair every day, even when I don't have work.

A lot of things can change in six years. I won't say that I'm overly girly but I've come to accept that fact that I am a female and I don't really want to change that. I do, quite often, don my sweats and Cannibal Corpse t-shirt and laze about playing Warcraft and then go and find someone to punch for a while (true story), but for the most part I'm pretty well groomed.

Anyway, my outfit is really cute today and I'm also really bored at work. I will probably do some work on my stories or space out for a while so my dizziness can subside. After work today I will be heading to Adam's gym to see if I like it better than mine, and later he will check out mine and then we can make a decision on which one to keep because it'll be super fun to work out together and now we will both have a spotter for those heavier lifts. I'm super excited to get back in the gym because boys can be very distracting at times. Now he can distract me at the gym. Let's hope he still likes me when I'm all gross and sweaty.

Week Of (Attempted) Fashion 14

This last week I haven't really thought out any outfit so it's mostly reruns. I did, however, buy a new dress from a fancy online store but I have yet to find the shoes to match. Other than that bout of girlishness, I want nothing more than to wear sweats and a tee shirt but when it's constantly 80+ degrees in my house and I have a boyfriend I don't want to scare away, I am forced into dressing accordingly.

Girl-Power

Girls have a funny habit of sticking together. I would say it is more prominent in the middle school/high school  years but we're all guilty of it. I remember in school, if one of us girls said we had to go to the bathroom, we would either ask or someone would offer to go with us. Maybe even the whole group. By the time I hit my Junior year in High School, I finally broke the habit and decided I liked going to the bathroom by myself (I also became kind of a recluse in those years).

As we get older, this happens less, which is why I was stunned when I was on a double date (just a few months ago) and I mentioned to my little group that I needed to run to the bathroom and I would be right back. The girl with us turned to me and said "Do you want me to go with you?" with a very serious look on her face. I assured her I could make it on my own and later laughed about it with my cousin (who was her date). Although I broke the bathroom habit, I still do some of the other girls-together things.

This morning I got a text from my roommate asking if I had jumper cables. Her car had died in the driveway. I texted her back and said, no, I didn't but I would be down in a couple minutes. I ran downstairs in my pjs and talked with her a while, deciding after listening to the car trying to start that is was in fact, a dead battery. She got a hold of a friend with cables and as we stood out there waiting, I realized I was doing it again. I was of no help but I was there to be the person that is there to commiserate with. Us girls do that. We just need someone to be there who can see/feel what we're going through.

I've had many a conversation with my father regarding the female mind and all the "feelings" that come along with that. Personally, I would like to number myself amongst the more logical of the fair sex, devoid of those crippling emotions that get in the way of reason but alas, I am not without my girl moments (although I want to state that they are few and if they do happen, I try to have them come out in private). My dad, being a cold, logical person (he would like us to think) always taught me that emotions can compromise your judgement and I think that's true, but they can be good as well in the right time and place.

So as I try to limit the ridiculous girl-things, like the need for a potty-partner, I think it's okay to say that men and women are very different from each other and that's okay. Last night I was watching a show with Adam called Red Green, I believe, titled "We can't help it, we're men" and it illustrated all the big differences between the inner workings of the male and female brain. I think we need to have that difference because men are the Yin to out Yang, our opposite, and they complete us.

Aaaand I'm off work. Audios!

Socially Acceptable People-Stalking

Lately I've been coming up with short, catchy, yet inappropriate, songs that I sing in my head at work as well as share them with Ariel when I get home (because she thinks I'm funny). These songs have diverse topics such as, and not limited to: illegal substances, questionable behavior, racial profiling, and human anatomy. In my defense, these songs just present themselves to me, I don't think of them on purpose. I am not a particularly crude person, I love all races and abhor all illegal substances, yet my brain likes to come up with the most ridiculous tunes that would offend most people, and they never get out of my head.

I made up a new song yesterday, which I will not share on here (but if you ask me in person, I may sing it for you), and have been singing it all day at work. The only problem with that, other than it being horrendously inappropriate, is that when I answer the phone at work, sometimes it's the first thing to pop into my head instead of my normal greeting. I'm pleased to say that so far I haven't said it out loud completely (I did stutter into it once) and I'm hoping I never do, because that's the kind of thing that can offend clients and get me into big trouble. It would be bad, but funny. But bad.

*topic switch*

Since I spend a lot of time on the computer, I have seen my fair share of blogs. They are great ways to get insight into other people's lives (in an acceptable stalker-ish way) as well as learn how to make cool things (like DoItYourself projects on Pinterest).

I believe these blogs are helpful and entertaining, but also affect me in another way. Most of the blogs I read are written by married people. This goes without saying that they blog about their married life. A lot. This helps/does not help me for a number of reasons:

How it helps:

• Seeing how other married couples get over fights and problems in their marriages helps me to prepare for my own future marriage.
• When the blog is written by a male, I see into the man's perspective which, again, will help me in the future with understanding my spouse.
• I can read about cool date ideas that have been tried and tested by real humans.
• If they have kids, they talk about what raising them is really like, because all the information I get is usually glamorized by tv, books, and such.
• It get's me excited to be married some day.

How it hinders:

• If they have kids, talking about them usually makes me want to not have them for a really long time because this is the real stuff people, not glamorized.
• It makes me wish I was married, not only for the companionship, but because it seems like I would have a lot more funny things to blog about. (See how much I love this blog? I'm willing to get married so I can make it better).
• It makes me feel young. A lot of people want to feel young, but for me, I'd like to be viewed as at least an adult. I'm officially out of my teens so I should be an adult by now, right:?
• Reading these "married blogs" occasionally give me anxiety attacks, mainly consisting of thinking "I will never get married!" and "I don't think I could ever be a good wife/mother/blogger!!".
• These things are addicting. I find myself getting mad at the blogger when they haven't posted in a long time and if when they do, it's a short, uninteresting post that consists mainly of a Instagram photo of food. Makes my blood boil. 

So you see, it's a love/hate relationship. Now here's the pressing question of the week: Will I still be funny when I'm married?

(Am I even funny now??)

Dreams, Books, And Blood Loss

This morning I woke up to my alarm then fell asleep, woke up to my second alarm and then fell asleep again. I woke a third time as my sister entered my room, looking to be entertained. She plopped on my bed and after a few minutes or squealing and scratching each other, we started dream sharing. My family is blessed (cursed?) with very vivid and strange dreams so, naturally, we like to share them with each other. It reminds me of that scene in "The Giver" where the family is required to take turns around the table and tell their dreams and how they made them feel. Great book by the way.

So Ariel recounts her dreams about the hierarchy of sea monsters and firemen and I remember my dream from the previous night about a old family album full of cannibalistic pictures. Not the happiest of dreams. Either way, I knew I was going to be even later for work since I wanted to hang out with my sister (she had the day off). So I took my time getting ready and helped her pick out an outfit for her interview today. I seem to be the go-to girl in my family for business clothes, whereas Ariel is the one for comfortable casual clothes which is great because I own way too many pencil skirts and heels so I raid her closet for the weekends and she raids mine when she needs to dress up. Miraculously, all three of us sisters wear about the same size clothing, as well as my mother who occasionally swipes our clothes.

I'm sorry, I wasn't really going anywhere with that story. I'm kind of just writing for the sake of writing.

As of this past week, I've been feeling pretty off, but now I realize what was ailing me. I was very sleep deprived, I'm anemic and haven't been taking my iron pills, and it's that time of the month to top it off. So I'm running out of blood and have no sleeping time to help replenish it. Hopefully in a couple of days I'll be back to my fiery old self. I've done enough moping around for the month.

I feel the need to talk with someone but everyone at work is holed up in their office. Lame. They need to come out and entertain me. One of my favorite attorneys has been out all week and he's the one I like to talk with the most because he's really snarky and he appreciates my reciprocated snark as well. I just need someone to play with/talk to. I can go almost a whole work day talking only to the occasional client on the phone and that's for only a few minutes at a time. Drives me crazy!

So now I'm on Amazon trying not to buy all the books because that means I will have to buy another bookshelf which isn't exactly a bad thing. I'd like to be a well read person. I also think reading helps me develop my own stories that I'm writing as well as my vocabulary (one of my favorite things is sharing new big words with Adam and them trying to use them in a sentence, which usually turn out to be rather ridiculous).

Yesterday as Ariel and I were at Barnes & Noble, she made a snide comment saying, "There is your book section, with all the covers having beautiful young people and up close shots of their eyes." (I'm a fan of Young Adult Fiction, don't laugh). She then picks up a random book and says "Like this one." I look at and instantly recognize it and say "Well actually, the first book in that series was really good." She laughs at me but deep down I feel proud of the amount of books I've read. Even though they are all slightly ridiculous, especially now that I'm no longer a teenager. I do read older people novels as well, I just get my fantasy craving taken care of with those books.

I apologize, now I'm just rambling on. Either way, I just want to leave work and hug/kiss Adam. It's been one of those weeks and I just need a really long hug.

Week Of (Attempted) Fashion 13

I'm missing a lot of Saturdays lately but I blame that on the fact that I usually don't even shower till noon and then it could take another couple hours before I'm picture-worthy. A lot of this weeks outfits I am enjoying, and I realize I wear a ton of stripes. I probably need to branch out a little more in my fashion choices but I'm kind of mentally burnt out. Maybe next week I can rekindle my flame. I feel so old!

Rain, Refresher Of My Soul

I'm in love with the weather today: overcast and pouring rain. We, the people of Arizona, don't get much rain here so when it does happen, it's a huge deal. When I comment on how much I love the rain, people usually say something to the effect of "But you're from Washington, I bet you're used to a ton of rain!" I desperately want to correct them and say that I am not from the rainy Seattle side of WA, but in fact, am from the dry-er side, but I refrain and let them keep their delusions. It's technically a high desert that we fixed with a lot of irrigation. Don't get me wrong, it probably rains more than Arizona but it's not a constant thing like our Seattle neighbors.

Monsoon season in Arizona is one of my favorite times of the year because I get my fix of the rain (which is my favorite type of weather) and also we get the glorious lightning storms! I freak out about them every time.

Just a couple nights ago I was staying up way too late talking with Adam when we stopped and said "What's that noise? Is that rain?!" So we ran I ran to the window and pulled open the blinds to see an awesome rain/lightning/thunder storm in progress. We sat on the window seat and watched while we talked and then when I walked him to the door that night, I couldn't help but stand out in the rain (in my pjs) and just soak in in (literally and figuratively). If there is rain, I usually have to be out in it. I would say my element is water, despite my lack of swimming skills.

By the time I finished writing this, it stopped raining, but it's still overcast which is good enough for me. I'm hoping I have a chance to go outside today after I'm done being required to have my hair looking nice and sit in the rain for a little bit. If I was being sappy or dramatic, I would say the rain refreshes my soul.

Oh! The rain came back. I'm loving this. :)

The view from one of my huge windows. It may not look like it, but it's pouring.

Half my office area is all windows. :)

A Sappy Happy Post

I hope I don't jinx anything by writing about this, but I just want to get it out there. I'm feeling pretty darn happy. It's not an all the time thing because life comes with it's ups and downs but generally, I'm pretty happy. It's safe to say that it's mostly Adam's fault that I'm so happy. He's great to talk with about anything and he is the perfect movie watching partner (especially since we have similar tastes in films). He's also a huge help in the kitchen even though he distracts me enough to make me burn bread sticks.

The guy has to watch movies with ice packs 

because he's so hot!

He sits next to me in church and brings his suit coat in the 110 degree weather so I can have something to put over my legs if when I get cold during the meeting. He opens my door for me when I get in the car and he wants to fix everything broken inside my house. He also plays the guitar and sings to me which makes my heart stop and melt every single time.

He even came with me to my brother's wedding. 

Adam is an excellent story teller and occasionally gets a southern accent when he's talking about guy stuff. He's a super positive, super ambitious man who makes time in his very busy schedule to some see me. Adam has the best smile and shows it off all the time. He's confident in himself and tells me sweet but honest things that help with my own confidence. He's patient and kind and doesn't pick on me too much when I give him "girl directions". He is brutally honest and very physically strong. He has a great relationship with his family and with his Heavenly Father and he's the best friend anyone could ask for (he's also more than a friend, btw).

Like I said, he's very in shape. 0_o

He also doesn't know this blog exists, which is how I might keep it for a while. I'm sure he might find this post kind of sweet with a little bit of creepy mixed in. I could really go on and on about the great things about him but I'm sure that if you haven't already threw up in your mouth from the sappiness, you would if I continued.

So here is to boys who are really men and strive to be the best kind of person they can be.

-This concludes my sappy rant about the cutest boy in the world.- 

Week Of (Attempted) Fashion 12

So this is about a week late because I left for Washington last Monday and didn't have these pictures with me. I also did not take any pictures during my stay in Washington, which is probably a good thing because I pretty much wore the same thing every day... almost.
I'm back on track this week with taking pictures! Go me!

I Need A Vacation From My Vacation

Yes, I am still alive. It feels weird being gone for so long after taking a nine day vacation which turned out to be more work than being at the office. I planned my days just right so I had two weekends and one full work week off, which sounded great at the time. So I spent the weekend playing like I usually do and then flew out to Washington to visit home. Through a series of unfortunate events, I had a dear cousin who passed away right before I left so I made it home in time for the funeral.

So my relaxation vacation turned into birthday party planning, scheduling time to meet up with old friends, a trip to Seattle for a funeral, and a sooner than expected wedding. I must say, I'm pretty excited to get back to my old routine, just relax and work my normal hours at work. I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation, but that's not going to happen till Christmas.

I was talking with the boy last night (who met my parents for the first time this weekend) and we decided that today after work we are going to do nothing. And when I say nothing, I mean flop on the couch watching movies and eating Chinese takeout. You have no idea how excited I am to do this. Thankfully the boy Adam (he finally has a name!!!) likes to be just as lazy as me after a hard days work.

Now it's time to get back into the regular flow of life for a while.
The next post will have trip pictures, I promise.