New Goal

So let me start off by saying that I am sorry I have not updated in awhile....pretty sure most of you have stopped reading, because I have been somewhat of a bore (not that I had many readers anyway). So just to play catch up...I have been working a lot and really enjoyed our Thanksgiving. We went down to St George and spent time with Family, which is always great fun!! I also got to drive home in my first snow storm. A 4 hour drive took 8 hours because there was so much snow!!! It was a little scary, but with Christmas music in the background, I made it aright...and only skidded on ice once...not too bad it I do say so myself!

Anyway, I am now anxiously awaiting Christmas....my most favorite time of year is now and I am enjoying it being cold and overcast, although I would not mind more snow....come on already! I really hope there is snow on the ground when Christmas arrives.

So, now for the title of this post. I am pretty excited because I have decided to embark on a journey to accomplish one of my life long goals. I technically won't be starting until January so I guess you could consider this an early New Years Resolution. I am slightly hesitant to announce it as I have a history of not accomplishing many of my goals....horrible, I know! Anyway, I have decided to start running so I can eventually run a marathon. My co-worker....who is very motivated....would like to run one as well and so with the the motivation of each other, we are planning on running one (date to be announced later).

So, wish me luck....I will keep you updated as I begin this journey. We are going to begin training on the first Monday after the New Year!!!

Movies and such...

So I suck and completely missed the entire month of October...deal with it! Anyway, Halloween was good and I enjoyed my witch costume and spooky dinner at the cousins house. Now, I am anxiously waiting for Thanksgiving and a four day weekend in St. George. Mostly I am excited because during Thanksgiving weekend it finally becomes acceptable to play Christmas music and have your Christmas decorations up. I am sick, I know!

Anyway, in other news I am getting excited for Thurs....Harry Potter baby!!! I love my job because a company we work with gave us pre-screening tix and so I am going at 6:30pm on Thurs to see this masterpiece. To prepare I spent this past weekend watching all but the last 2 movies!! Tomorrow and Wednesday I will finish and then be all set for Thurs. I really hope this movie does not disappoint.

As Promised

Here are the crafts we have been working on...minus one more wall hanging and, the blocks which we are doing tomorrow!

Favorite Time

I am getting so excited for this time of the year and being in Utah this year Fall and Winter is going to be awesome!! It is still way too hot, but the nights are getting really cool and soon it will be super cold! In Halloween and fall spirit, we have begun to do crafts. Such crafts include: Halloween wall hangings (yes, I sewed a quilt-like wall hanging...and it came out super cute!), see through glass Halloween picture frames, fall table clothe with hand made leaf place mats, and spider egg sacks. I shall post pictures when I have them all complete. Also, I have spent an insane amount of money buying yarn for an afghan that I am crocheting. We shall see how this turns out as in the beginning I would do half a row and have my cousin fix my mistake. So far, I have been able to do about 3 or 4 rows on my own! I shall also post a pic of this when I am done....don't count on that any time soon.

One other thing, besides the crafting, that I love about the Halloween season is the scary movies. I guess you could consider me a bit of a scary movie junkie. This past weekend was spent watching scary movies with some other awesome movie junkies. I love a good suspenseful movie that leaves you hanging on to the edge of your seat!I have to say though, that I think I am a bit desensitized since most of the movies were far from terrifying. It was still a fun weekend and we did get through quite a few movies. Fun times!!

A Few Tid Bits

So since I haven't blogged in a while, this is really a mash of everything:

• This past weekend our friends from CA came up for a visit and over the weekend we headed up to Park City and walked around Olympic Park. Very neat place. It was so fun to see athletes practicing on the ski jumps and landing right into a pool of water. They even had bobsled rides, alpine slide rides, and zip lining. And, I even got up the courage to zip line.....the little one....but after it was over I wished I had paid a little more to do the long one. It was so much fun!!!!

• On wednesday, I went to my first Bees game with my mom. From Sandy we took TRAX which is a train lie the metro link in CA. It was fun going, but coming back it was late and a little scary. One thing I have notice about public transportation is, the later it is...the weirder those that ride are. Gotta love mass transit!!!!

• I am finally in love with the weather. It is still kind of hot in the day time, but it is a different kind of hot....and at night it actually gets kind of cool. It blows my mind that I could actually wear a jacket in August. I am getting so excited about fall and winter!!

• On a more frustrating note, I am in the process of getting my insurance license to Utah and in doing so I had to be re-fingerprinted. I did this about a month ago and am now having to do it again because the stupids that did it before messed up the way they should have been done. Come on people...how hard is it??? It is a freaking computer based program the walks you though it. A trained monkey could do a better job. So, now I get to go early tomorrow to get it re-done. Great!

Since moving to Utah I've....

• spent many a night up until past 1am. Two reasons for this are 1.) the family. I love them all dearly and we have such a great time when we're together, and so we stay up playing games and eating until 1am and 2.) daylight lasting until 9:30pm. Seriously?!?! It is now starting to get dark at just before 9 now, but for awhile, the late daylight really threw me off!

• lost three pounds. I have started weight watchers....again. I have been on it for 2 weeks and let me just tell you this has been no easy task. My family members love to cook yummy food and it is not weight watcher friendly!!

• found an awesome job. I am working for Farmers again, but this agent is awesome. It is a big office and the people are amazing. Plus, I have gotten so many gifts and such from the owners, co-workers, and vendors....I give you permission to be jealous

• cut my hair. I was getting tired of it long and so I chopped about 5 inches off!! I love it!!

• went to my first real rodeo. We got free tickets....10th row!! Can I just say I would not have minded if one of those cowboys got bucked off and landed my lap!!

• enjoyed fireworks for the 4th in front of our house. In California with the awful dryness, fireworks done at home are not allowed, so here it was fun shooting off fireworks right in our front yard

As Promised

So here are the pics I promised I'd post. I'm only 6 weeks late...not bad right???

This little room is my favorite. Bathroom, wash room, water heater room, cat room. It is super great!!!

I love my room, but it is a bit smaller than my old one

The awesome windows we get to watch our lightning storms from!!!

I must say that I love the kitchen!!!

And my huge backyard!!

Oh and I also should mention that I decided to chop about 5 inches of my hair off. Those pics to come soon...I promise!

New Life

So, sorry for the lack of posts since I've moved. I have been gone for a month now and it has seriously flown by. First, on the way to our new home we stopped in St George to stay with my Grandma for a week. My cousin was down to help us with the last minute packing and so she was there to ride with my mom and the dog, while I traveled with the cats. That was interesting. Pretty sure they hated us for a long time since we moved them twice, took them on the road twice, and then brought them to am empty house.

Anyway, we finally arrived to our new home on June 2nd while our PODS arrived a few days later. The first few days were a little crazy, and I'm pretty sure the people at Walmart know us by name. For the first two weeks I think we were there every day.....good times!!

So now we've been here for just over three weeks and I have completed my first week at my new job. I was kind of stressin' about not having a job but looking back, I am so glad I had a couple of weeks to adjust. Anyway, I am starting to really like my job. It is another Farmers agency and he is a top producer so it is pretty big which is kind of cool. I even have my own cubicle!!

So, for now things are great since our house is almost completely unpacked and I am working. I am also loving being close to family. Game nights, food galore, and tons of fun!!! I promise to post pics as soon as we get done with everything.

Graduation

A little over a week ago I became an official graduate!! YAY!! In some ways it feels like I was in school forever and in other ways it feels like it went speeding by. I am however, so glad to be done. It has been something that I always assumed would be accomplished, but when you start out as a Freshman and see how many classes you must complete, it seems like you'll never actually get there!!

Anyway, the day was great. Started at 4:30am to get there on time...yikes!! After the ceremony, we had a little grad/going away party. It was so much fun to say bye to everyone....and I must admit...the gifts are always nice...HAHA!!!

Below are a few pics of the days events!!

Now off to bigger and better things!!! Utah, here I come!!!

Whatever

Ugh...so sorry for the lack of posts. Life has been very busy and a bit ridiculous to say the least! We have just 2 short weeks before we embark on our adventure to Utah. Bittersweet experience as I am so happy to be closer to family, but oh so sad to leave my friends here in CA. I will miss you all more than you know!! A little over a week ago we headed to Utah to look for a place to live....fail! So, now we are trying to find something from CA while we both continue to work and pack our house...fun!!!

In other news, only a week left of work and then I'll be jobless....sure hope I find one soon. For some odd reason I am really calm about the whole thing...maybe when the cash flow is stopped I'll be singing a different tune...we shall see!!

Also, I will seriously be glad when we move so that I can go back to some sort of normal life. We have no kitchen and I have no time to work out which is not helping my plan to become healthy...I am actually getting sick of eating....seriously never thought I'd say that...HAHA!!

So, in a nutshell we have no place to live, I have no job and we leave in 2 weeks....should I be worried?????

Stick 'em up!!

Got this idea from my cousins blog!!! Totally love them!! Click the sticky note and join the fun!!

Motivation

So, sorry for the lack of post regarding my journey. Things have been so busy with deciding to move and what not. Plus, with Easter goodness I decided not to weigh myself so I really can't say if I gained or not....we'll just pretend it didn't take place...haha!!

Anyway this week I am the same from two weeks ago....glad it's not a gain, but a weight loss would have been nice. I am pretty sure I did not meet any of my goals....eek!! Lately the only thing on my mind is the move....which I'm super excited about!

So, this week I have decided to recommit myself. Monday and Tuesday have been ok, but with my mom's b-day yesterday...we shall see! Since my nights are spent packing from now until the move, I won't have much time to workout at night, so I am going to try mornings. Starting tomorrow, I will try to get up at about 5:15am and hit the gym! Hey, if it were easy, it wouldn't be hard...right???

My goal this week is to get to the gym before work tomorrow and Friday....maybe even workout on Sat morning

Until next week!

BIG CHANGE

So...for those that have not heard, I am officially moving to Utah with my Mom. We are leaving California on May 24. EEK!! Time is gonna fly! The end of May and beginning of June will be crazy as we have a trip planned to help my grandmother during Memorial Day week, which is right in the middle of all of this....should be interesting.

I am going to really miss all my friends I'm leaving behind, but am also really excited to be embarking on a new adventure. It will be weird because I've never lived anywhere else. YAY to new adventures!!!!

Oh, and if you happen to know of anyone who needs living room furniture or a King sized bedroom set....let me know. We need to get rid of ours and they are fairly cheap considering the quality.

Next Step Modeling???

HAHA...probably not, but I really like how my pics came out. My friend Camille is trying to become an established photographer and asked me to help her out. This past Saturday we headed out and she did a wonderful job with the pics. Below are a couple of my favorites....

Overall, great day....minus the wind and the one time where I got really itchy in the wild fields...lol. For more info on Camille, see her blog at www.camilleannphotopraphy.blogspot.com

Diet Coke and Taco Bell

So week 4 was great. Another one pound weight loss = me super happy. I only exercised twice, but cleaned house on Sat so I'm pretty sure I'm counting that as another workout. Yes, this house cleaning involved cleaning my room, so goal accomplished! My journal writing has been non-existent, and I'm pretty sure that I am giving up on drinking more water. I just love diet coke too much!!!

Which brings me to my title. These are two of my guilty pleasures. I love love love diet coke and taco bell. I love that you can eat there cheaply and relatively healthy. I'm pretty sure I ate there almost everyday when I was on weight watchers like 5 years ago.

Anyway, this weeks goals:

work out 3 times
write in my journal twice
get 7 -8 hours of sleep

Until next week!

Week 4

Wow....have I seriously been at this for a month?!?! Time sure flies when your having fun....or not!! Anyway yes, I am a slacker; it is Thursday and I am just now posting my results...get over it!!! LOL!

Well, I didn't weigh in until Tues and I was down a pound. YAY!!! Surprising because I only worked out twice and have found that it is not possible for me to drink less diet coke. Therefore, I also did not drink as much water as I had hoped. And, to top it all off....I went to the rainforest cafe for a birthday and yes, had the volcano cake (I did share it with 5 other ladies, but still!!) I also, ate too much candy and really just enjoyed food a little too much this week. Oh well, I just hope it doesn't catch up with me this week.

Here are my goals for this week (as it is Thursday, I have already started working on these)

Work out 3 times
Drink more water
Clean out my room (this burns calories so this is a bonus!!)
Write in my journal twice

Until next week!!!

Week 3

So, week two is gone. Thank goodness!!! Pretty sure I only wrote in my journal once and I'm pretty sure the girl scout cookies didn't help me much either. Oh well. And, though I only worked out 3 times, they all were pretty intense, so I am fine with the 3 as opposed to 4. Weight loss this past week = .5lbs.

So a new week means new weekly goals.

1. Limit my soda intake to three times this whole week.
2. Increase my water intake
3. Eat less girl scout cookies....they are almost gone...I swear!!
4. Write in my journal 4 times this week
5. Exercise 4 times

Until next week!!!

Feel the Burn

Well, not yet, but I am sure by tomorrow I will be. Right now my body is somewhat like jelly!!! I went to a weight lifting/cardio class at 24 hour fitness with my friend Camille tonight and man....what a work out. This is such a great class. I am so excited to go back next week!

In other news, something really random and rare happened to me the other night. I have been pulling money out of the ATM ever since I was old enough to have an account. It has always amazed me how they so accurately always give you the right amount....never an extra $20 and never short. Well, I am here to tell ya that they do make mistakes, and I am the lucky one it has happened to.

I went to the ATM last night as usual, and in place of one of the twenties, was a sheet of forever stamps. Great! And, even better, there were two stamps missing. I'm sorry, I did not ask for stamps, and if I had, I would also be unhappy that two were missing...hello?!?!?

Because the bank was closed, I had to call them today to have them fix this problem. And they had better fix it or else!!!! I had to submit my story in writing, and am currently waiting for them to kindly place the $20 in my account!! So yes, this is my current issue. Oh how I love banks....I always have so much luck with them...not!

Week 2 Here I Come

Ok, so one week has passed. Pretty good week if I do say so myself.
For goal #1 I met my goal. I worked out Monday through Thursday; twice at the gym and twice at home.
Goal #2 I did okay, but could have done better. My food choices were far better than before, until I hit the weekend. It is so much harder to eat better when I'm home.
Goal #3...meh. I honestly did not focus too much on being positive. But, looking back, I don't think I was really thinking negatively so...whateve!! Will actively work on this during the coming week.
Goal#4 again, not too much focus. Will work harder at putting others first. (It's not that I didn't do this, I just did not think about it....just so you don't think I'm selfish or anything..haha)
Goal#5 I did pretty well on this one. I did not write in my journal everyday, but I wrote 4 times this week...huge improvement from none right????
Goal##6 Sleep...who needs it??? Just kidding. Most nights I only got 6 so I need to continue working on this.

So week in general.....ok, but could have been better. I only lost .5 lbs, which I am ok with. This week will be a challenge as I am expecting a little visit from an unwelcome guest...if ya catch my drift. I am sure this has to do with my low weight loss....and this week should be interesting because I will want to eat EVERYTHING!!!!

So, for week 2 here are my goals:

Workout 4 days
Just resist the urge to eat everything
Focus on helping others
Write in my journal 5 times
Get 7-8 hours sleep

Until next time!!!

Say Goodbye...

.....to the old me. I am going on a diet...seriously this time. I have been reading my cousins blog and she has been making weekly goals and blogging about it. I am going to try this in hopes that blogging about it will make it harder for me to want to quit. I am not only going to be blogging about my wieght loss journey, but also work on other goals I want to accomplish. So here goes nothing!! Below is a before pic. This is the old me....you will never see this person again. At the end of all this, I hope to be 140 lbs.





Yikes!! Ok so here is my weekly goal:

• Excercise 4 days this week
• Make healthier food choices
• Try and remain poitive in every situation
• Find ways to help those around me
• Record my daily progress in a journal
• Get 7-8 hours sleep every night

Ok, there it is. Wish me luck!! Oh, and should you find me slacking on my updates, please send me mean notes either on here or on facebook...I need the motivation!!

Life at 23

Ok so being 23 doesn't really feel that much different from 22, but I had a great b-day. Wow, where has the time gone? Is it serisouly almost March? I completely skipped a month on this thing!! Anyway, a few happenings:

1.) My B-day was great...Disnelyand, BJ's, Summit House, CPK, Gifts, Hugs, Cookies, Candy....and not all in the same day. I basically had about four days of celebaration. The best kind of birthday!

2.) I recently attended a motivational seminar at the Honda Center last Wednesday...AMAZING! I am super motivated....seriously. I have only had one downer day since going. My boss paid for our office to go so it was also a nice break from work!! And, who wouldn't be motivated by Michael Phelps?!?!? No, but seriously, it was a great day with great speakers. I am now making a greater effort to look at the glass half full in evry situation and am going to try and focus more on others than myslef. Should be good.

3.) The first weekend in March, we are having a special stake meeting with an apostle. Yes, Elder Anderson. And, this is not Stake Conf.....it is a special extra meeting....what does it all mean??? Who knows, but it should be good. But, the exciting part is the Sat night before. The Young Single Adult's have a combined state fireside with him and my ward had ben chosen to provide the choir. I get to lead!! Nervous much????

Oh How I Love My Job!!

Funniest thing happened at work today. My co-workers and I were brought to tears from the laughter. Though the insurance world is mostly boring and unexciting, the clients are priceless. The things we hear are hilarious. Today was exceptionally funny. The following dialogue occurred between our insured and Noel, my co-worker. We have what we call FFR's or Farmers Friendly Reviews. We offer these periodically to make sure our clients are up to date with their coverage. Anyway....enjoy!

Noel: Hi, my name is Noel from Farmers Insurance. I was looking for Yu.

Yu: Who? Me?

Noel: I dunno, are you Yu?

Yu: What you want?

Noel: I'm looking for Yu.

Yu: What you want?

Noel: Let me clarify. I'm looking for Yu Taw!


Poor Noel was on the phone for like 5 minutes before there was any resolution. I was laughing hysterically the whole time she was on the phone. Best part = he is coming in for a review next Wednesday and I am so excited to meet Yu Taw!! Freaking fantastic. Man, my job can be so entertaining sometimes.

A Day at the Getty

This past Saturday my mom and I and our friends Sherry and Aubrey decided to take a last minute trip down to LA to see the Getty Museum. Though I have lived in CA my whole life, I had never been and since it is free....we decided, why not? It is so big and pretty interesting. I must admit though, once you've seen 3 or 4 rooms of art, it all starts to look the same. It was very cool to see them though. I actually enjoyed the gardens and the view of LA more. Overall, good little trip. I can now say that I have seen the Getty.

This is a general view of the gardens. In the middle part where it looks like a maze, they have water running through it. It is very neat looking.

So I go a new camera for Christmas and I have to say, it takes some pretty good pics....or maybe that is just the talent of the photographer...haha! Love the close up of the bee. I am really afraid of bees so this makes the pic that much better.

Love the view of LA...if only it was clear...but no, smog is what we get! Anyway, if you look especially close you can see the LA Temple. It is so funny to me that in every other city where there is a temple, it stands out, but in LA it appears smaller that all the sky scrapers...it is still so pretty though!!

Life as a Working Adult

I have discovered a bunch of things, both good and bad since I am now a full time working adult.

1.) I have more free time at night....positive. I can now do things such as read...leisurely (can I just say that I am in love with Twilight. I got the series for Christmas and am obsessed), watch tv without homework interruptions, and make yummy meals for dinner.

2.) I can't just ditch at the spur of the moment, if I don't feel like going to class....negative. Being in school can have its perks!!

3.) I feel I can now devote more time to becoming healthy...a.k.a. going to the gym....positive...I think. I made my first trip to the gym this evening. First time in 3 months and I rather enjoyed it. It helps when you don't have to go alone!!

4.) I am really tired and it is only been 4 days....negative. I am not used this, but hey it's only 40 or 50 more years, right!! YIKES.

I haven't fully decided whether or not I'd rather be in school still or if I like only working. Only time will tell I guess.

Christmas and such...

So I know this is really late, but I have been so bad at checking my facebook, blog, and email since I have had a lot of time off. Anyway, wow....Christmas is over and we are in the New Year. Christmas was so good to me this year. I got boots, an amazing red coat, a new camera, the Twilight series, and one of my favs is the after-market auxiliary plug for my iPod for my car. So happy that I can listen to my Ipod in the car again.

In other news, December was a great month for another reason. I graduated from Cal State Fullerton. I never actually thought the day would come. Time as flown by so fast; it feels like just yesterday I graduated from High School, and now I'm done with college. WOW!! I haven't gotten my degree yet, and I won't walk until May, but it feels so good to be done! This semester was so intense too, and I am amazed at how fast it went by.

Anyway, I am glad to be done with school, I really enjoyed my Christmas, I am happy for 2010 so I can make and hopefully keep my resolutions, and I hope you all had an awesome Christmas and New Year!!!

Here's to 2010!!!!!