New Year, New Opportunities

A lot on my mind today! I would like to make note on my blog about a few new years resolutions that I have so that I can look back on them often and evaluate how I did when 2013 rolls around. These are my goals for 2012...

Pay off my car. I have 14 months of payments left and I would like to spread the 13th and 14th month payments into the 12 payments I make from now until the end of the year and have it completely paid off by December 31st, 2012. It will feel so great to have a paid off car, even though my car isn't an eye catcher. It is the first car I bought and paid for all on my own and I am excited to be car payment-less while I finish college.

Organize our closet. Pictures to come!!! Our closet is definitely the most embarrassing part of our house right now. It will be going out of my comfort zone to post pics of it but come on, we're college students and super busy. We don't have time for random little things like this, but I will make time this year! It will be neat to see before and after pics and share them with everyone. My plan is to throw a LOT of things away =) Dave isn't as excited by this idea as I am. Evil face... >] My general rule of thumb is that if I haven't used something in over a year, to toss it. It's just wasting space!!! I want to also put three laundry baskets either in our closet or our bathroom and have one be for Dave's clothes that haven't been put away yet, one for my clean clothes that haven't been put away yet and the third one for our dirty clothes. We have a bad habit of not putting our clean clothes away after they are cleaned and dried.

Clean out the storage room. Dave and I decided this would be our goal as a couple. We think there are many things in there that can be thrown out but there might also be some things we don't use that we can sell on ksl. It would be so nice to have a cleaner space to put things when we need to (and be able to find things when we need them!!!).

Get away, just the two of us, for no reason. St. George? Idaho? Mesquite? Dave doesn't know about this resolution yet but I would like for the two of us to go away for a weekend, with no real itinerary. We do travel for fun and for his competitions but I would like a whole weekend with him to myself and no list of things we need to do. Being lazy, sitting by the pool, going to some less-traveled bar and getting drunk and slow dancing. Whatever, I just know it is great for our relationship when we get to do things like this and leave all our cares behind.

I want to keep it simple, because these are things that I REALLY want done, but I also don't want to put too much on my list and not be able to finish all of it. I hope everyone else has made goals for 2012 and that they are able to stick to them. It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it!! =)

5 More Days...

Christmas Quiz! So fun!
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot Chocolate with marshmallows!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? What would Christmas be without opening presents from Santa??? I actually think that a mixture of both is good, but most of the time they should be wrapped. I remember when I was about 12, Santa brought my brother and myself a Nintendo 64 (wow, it feels super ancient to say Nintendo 64). It was all set up and hooked up to the tv and it was turned on and all ready for us to pay Mario Kart. We walked into the living room and were overcome with excitement. I think I'll always remember that. So, I think Santa was always very good at knowing when to wrap and not wrap, depending on what he was presenting.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Either white icicle lights or blue single strand lights.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? When I happen to find it fresh at the store, I do. I don't like fake mistletoe.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually late, whenever we have time, but this year we did it the night before Thanksgiving. It was so nice to have them up for a whole month to enjoy!

6. What is your favorite holiday treat? I make banana bread every year to share and it is so so yummy.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? As a child we always got together with our entire family, with all of my aunts and uncles and cousins. These days we're a bit too big to do that so we all break off into our smaller groups and celebrate that way. It was always a lot of fun having all of my cousins to play with. I also remember being about 12 and I got my very own boom box and the 5ive cd and the Bewitched cd (disney channel singing groups) and I was just on top of the world.I think the next year after that it was N'Sync and Backstreet Boys. Ha ha, good times.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I honestly have no idea, I don't remember. But I do remember one year I found the presents stashed in the closet (that's probably how I found out Santa wasn't real ha ha) and every year after that it was like a witch hunt, hunting down those presents.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? When I lived with my madre she would have us open our pj's every year on Christmas Eve. I think I'll try to talk Dave into letting me open one this Christmas Eve ;)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With random ornaments that are meaningful. We're still in college and don't do the whole, let's go out and buy Christmas Decorations thing yet.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? I love it but I also really really love summer and the warmth. I love snowboarding and skiing and traveling for Dave's competitions, so I love it.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Probably the ones I remember the most which would be my water baby, the gifts I talked about earlier in this post, Marc Jacobs perfume from my mom, and last year was awesome because Dave got me a helmet for skiing and his mom got me goggles. Now I'm all set up!

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Spending time with my family. Getting them a gift I know they will love. I really enjoy time with my family, so holidays are a great excuse to just hang out.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? I don't know of very many holiday desserts but I do love pumpkin pie and berry pie.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Going to my Aunt Robyn's house for Christmas. We have been doing Christmas Breakfast the past few years.

17. What tops your tree? A glittery red star.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving! Because the buildup for the giving is so much greater. You start thinking in November what you should get everyone and then putting everything together, wrapping, and giving your gifts is just all very exciting.

19. Candy canes: yuck or yummy? Yuck.

20. Favorite Christmas show? Last year I saw A Christmas Story for the first time, thanks to Dave. I love that and I have always loved How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the real version and the cartoon version). I love love love Buddy the Elf. All of the classics are amazing, its just too hard to choose one!!

21. Saddest Christmas song? The Christmas Shoes song.

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? I have always loved Greensleeves (What Child is This). It's awesome to play on the viola, so so pretty. I also love It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.

Babysitting

I wanted to find something I could do for some extra income before the holidays. I knew I would have a month off of school and I figured it would be perfect to fill my time up with a money making activity. At first I was thinking, "I could totally do the barista thing at Starbucks." But then I was thinking it would be a huge pain to be tied to a certain schedule. The schedule would probably conflict with my schedule at my full time job. Then my best friend Katie mentioned that she had been babysitting and the families in NYC were paying her up to $20 per hour (in UT I make about $12 per hour)! So I quickly jumped on that bandwagon and made myself an account on sittercity.com, the site she recommended. It took a little while but by early November I had a job with two different families, babysitting about twice per week. From then till now, I have made about $350 babysitting. It has paid for my family's Christmas presents and made the budget feel a little more comfortable. Last week family A gave me $20 extra and said "We gave you a little extra for Christmas and for being such a great babysitter!" Aww! I love that! Then last night family B gave me a card and when I opened it there was the sweetest message about how it has been so nice knowing someone great is watching their children so they can feel comfortable leaving on dates and such. There was also $40 in the card. These people are so sweet! Needless to say, it has been awesome babysitting. It's fun to go play hide and go seek and do puzzles and watch Beauty and the Beast and then I get to go home to my much quieter life when I'm done, with some extra money. I am meeting with a third family in January after they are back from holiday travels. We'll see what fun that brings!

Santa Baby

I have been looking and looking and looking at things I want online for the past 6 months...but I am such a budget freak that I refuse to buy pretty much anything unless it's a necessity. Like black leggings, those are a necessity mmk? Here is my list to santa this year...

Pink ear buds I saw at Wal Mart

This purse I fell in love with at the Fashion Place Mall (the kiosk right outside of Macy's in case Santa wants to know)

This Black & Decker food processor

These black leggings that Bodyc won't let me copy the picture of


This super cute sweater dress in medium

This cardigan in size medium (black)

These boots that I have been wanting for a long time in chesnut, size 8.5

and last but not least....

See, that's not a very long list! Just things I have been wanting for a while. Now here I go sending my list off to santa in the north pole.....=)

I am thankful!!!

So, pretty much I love to read blogs but I don't always love to write in mine and update. Today, however, people have started to post things they are thankful for on Facebook and on their blogs. Not only do I miss posting in my blog, but I feel like I have so much to be thankful for that it would be a waste not to write about it. Even if no one reads it. I can't guarantee I will do a post every day, but I will try to post about something I'm thankful for as often as I can this month. We really shouldn't be doing it just this month though! Today I would like to tell everyone that I am thankful to be an American. I have been really negative about things going on in our country and how our leadership, I feel, is failing us. On the flip side I would like to tell you what I think of when I think of America...
.Beautiful Washington DC. I went to Washington DC for my first time when I was 20. It was amazing!!! I can't even describe how I felt to finally be in our nation's capital. I think ever American should be required to visit this awesome place. I love the monuments and the museums. It definitely feels like a city that gets things done. It's just a great feeling to be there.
.Together we stand. I know that right after 9-11 people started to spread this slogan, but I do feel it often even now, 10 years after the collapse of the twin towers. I feel it when I attend fund raising runs like the Susan G. Komen run or the Food Bank run. I feel it when I see someone helping someone they don't know. I feel it when some stranger turns in an ipad they found to the lost and found (that happened to someone I know just today).
. I'm free. I'm so thankful to be free to think and do things. I can disagree with the president and I won't get thrown in jail. I'm glad to be able to form my own opinion on anything and everything.

I also love singing our nation's anthem and reciting the pledge of allegiance. There are more reasons but it's almost time for me to catch TRAX so I better stop now. Have a good night everyone!!!

This week=work your ass off week!

It's crunch time. My final for Financial Accounting II is on Thursday night. I am totally pumped. I have the front of my notes/cheat sheet written out. I wrote in microscopic writing, I hope I'll be able to read it when test time comes. I have been willing myself to do my homework and study with reminders of the freedom I will have for the next, short, three weeks. I keep daydreaming about watching Teen Mom, The Rivalry, and having RedBox nights. I am excited to take Photography I this fall. Hopefully I will actually learn how to use my nice SLR. I am not so excited to take Business Stats. My third class will be a communications class with Dave online. Then.......spring semester will be my last semester of my Associate's Degree!!! Oh man I am so excited. I might have to take classes at SLCC beyond that, so I can't totally wave goodbye to the community college just yet. I just can't believe after years of this, that I'm finally almost halfway done! It feels good. I plan to go back to school full time when I start at the U. Maybe not right away, but as soon as I feel comfortable financially. I wanna get this over with, baby! Here's to the next three nights of jam-packed studying and homework. Hooray!!!

Friends

This post is going to be very honest...I am surprised how much I am willing to open up in this blog, but why not? This blog is a journal to me. So I have been thinking about friendship a lot lately. I have had a few friendships in my life that I have decided for one reason or another, had to go. It took me a while to figure out who I was. In elementary school I tried to fit in with the cool kids, which didn't always work. The popular boy in the class (who was honestly fat and not attractive) would make fun of me one week and then was my boyfriend the next. In junior high I started carpooling with a group of girls who I would spend every weekend with. They were so much fun. Our group of 5 was friends with pretty much everyone at school. This continued into high school. We were popular, I would say. We would eat lunch every day together, but there were a few girls at the table who had joined us who would constantly gossip. I was no saint, I made up a few lies in junior high and smoked pot and drank a little in high school, behind my best friends' backs. I ended up feeling so bad about all of these things that I told them all about it. Still, I did them. I don't regret doing this, I have definitely learned from everything I've done. I'm happy to say that I am now one of the most honest people I know. Honesty seems to get more and more rare all the time. Side note, the kid who tried to make my life hell in elementary school came back some time in junior high and again in high school, begging for me to pay him attention. He told me how pretty I was and how sorry he was for all the dumb things he did when we were kids. Figures, right? The girl with gaps in her teeth who you picked on in grade school grows up to be pretty and you suddenly want her. Anyway, between the ages of about 19 and 22, I did some things I am not proud of but not ashamed of either. I waited until I was 21 to sleep with anyone, which I am proud of. I was in my party girl stage, newly 21 (not like I'm super old or like it was forever ago). The girls I was spending time with were obsessed with their looks, clothes, getting drunk, and guys. Shortly after this party phase began, I started seeing someone and I think my priorities changed. Not that my priorities changed from my friends to my new boyfriend, because I didn'tneed a guy to tell me when I could and couldn't go out with my friends. But the phase that I was at in life changed. I was exhausted after talking only about clothes and telling them they weren't fat. This is when I really started to grow up I think. I also had a little falling out with my mom. We didn't speak for about 2 months because I felt like she had disrespected me (we did make up after I felt like she finally understood me and the boundaries I was putting up and have a better than ever relationship now). I wasn't having it anymore. I decided I was at the age where I needed to take control and decide who to keep in my life and who to weed out. I realized I had the power to create the kind of life I wanted for myself. I went back to school. I got a new job. I really started to see that you have to create happiness for yourself. I feel like I move more in that direction every day. I have the power to decide who (and what) in my life is making it better, and who is not. If you are not, you need to go. So how do I know who is a true friend? Sadly, sometimes it takes a while to realize it when someone is not a good friend. When all you have to offer a conversation is the latest celeb gossip, what clothes you just bought, or how cute some guy is, I don't think you are a real friend. When you don't respect my opinion on something and just want to argue, I don't think you are a real friend. When you tell me I'm no fun because I have a boyfriend. When you tell me you will be at something that is important to me and you don't show because you feel like staying home. When you don't stick up for me. When you say you are there for me no matter what but soon prove that to be untrue. It really is rare to find true friends but when you keep only those who are true friends, you will be so much happier.
It might sound like all of the above is me me me (I'm mostly just venting), but I do know that a friendship is 50/50. You have to put effort into every relationship, especially a friendship. Trust me, I am the most loyal of loyal friends. The same things I expect from a friend, I give wholeheartedly. People who know me tell me all the time that I am a great friend but sometimes I give too much. Sometimes I get my feelings hurt because someone isn't willing to give as much as I am. I have a few friendships that are amazing. There are people in my life that help me grow, make me laugh, email regularly from far away, respect me, call for advice, understand me, accept that we are different (and even embrace it), never put a wall up to me no matter what they may be going through in life, treat me like I am family, and love me. I am so thankful for the relationships I have chosen to keep. These are the relationships that make my life a better place. They are rare and all the more special. Thank you to every one of you who belongs in this category =)