New blog

Looking for my new blog? Check it out here: Between West and Main.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! It ends November 30. I'm going to stop posting on this blog, so this should be one of the last reminders to head on over to the new blog. Don't want to lose you readers! Thanks!

New post

Hey lovelies... new post on my new blog! Check it out! And don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Don't forget...

Hey everyone! Happy Halloween!

Just a reminder to move over to my new blog, Between West and Main. I'm doing a giveaway for the new Mindy Gledhill Christmas album... go check it out!

New blog!

I've mentioned it a few times now, but I promise it's real! Now you can check it out... my new blog!

Between West and Main

I've got a "launch party" going on at the new blog... enter to win some fabulous prizes! Click on the first picture you see (girl playing the horn) and you'll find more info there. Don't forget to change your feed and start following Between West and Main!

A few laughs for the weekend

Here are a few laughs to enjoy over the weekend...

Source: 9gag.com via megan on Pinterest

This just made me crack up... when I was 15, I totally fell for those emails.

Source: nudelipsbighips.tumblr.com via Ashley @ Between West and Main on Pinterest

Guilty.

Source: weheartit.com via Becky on Pinterest

Source: imgfave.com via Becky on Pinterest

Okay, where do you rank yourself with this? I'm not sure I'm this bad, but... yes, if I lost my phone, I'd be dead.

Um... October?

So, the whole blog launching thing is taking me a bit longer than expected. My apologies. I'm switching over to Wordpress and there was a bit of a learning curve. I think I'm almost there. I'm hoping to have a "launch party" next week. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, can we talk about where October has gone? It is already October 21! Oh my goodness, you guys! We're almost to Halloween... which means we're almost to Thanksgiving... and then it's Christmas time... and then the new year. Okay. Stop, Ash. I'm just taking one step at a time and am looking forward, first and foremost, to this weekend. Why? No reason. Just a chill weekend with The Boy, catching up on stuff around the house, doing some reading for work, grabbing some dinner with my parents, you know, the norm. Basically, I'm enjoying the journey. And I'm happy doing it.

What are you doing this weekend?

Under construction

Please excuse the lack of posting... I'm trying to put a few final touches on my new blog and it is taking most of my "blog time."

In the meantime,

Source: kenzibeans.tumblr.com via Ashley @ Organized Stress on Pinterest

Look Mom! I'm on CJane!

I'm on C Jane today! Scroll down to the picture where she talks about meeting with the people at Deseret Book... I put that meeting together...and she came! I got to meet all of these bloggers:

www.trying2staycalm.com
www.blog.cjane.com
www.shannonmakesstuff.blogspot.com
www.theredheadedhostess.com
www.lechateaudesfleurs.blogspot.com
www.wellbehavedmormonwoman.blogspot.com
www.beinglds.blogspot.com
www.chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com
www.jenn-lee.blogspot.com
www.Iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com

We discussed our purposes in blogging and some other pretty great things. (More info on "other pretty great things" to come.) I walked away from that meeting feeling so inspired and motivated to go out and do good. Part of that inspiration was a makeover on my blog. I'm in the process (or rather a good friend's husband is in the process of helping me) of creating a new blog. New name, new design, everything. (Shhh...don't tell Blogger, but I'm even moving to WordPress!) Don't worry, I'll make sure you have links to the new blog when it is up and running. I'm really excited!

Reminder for [me] you

I was talking with a good friend last night about making tough decisions. Don't you love those? Ya, me too. (Or maybe not so much.) I feel like I'm pretty good at making a decision and sticking with it, however, when it comes to really big decisions, I don't want to mess up.

Her advice to me was, "Take it to Conference." (Kind of reminds me of that line from You've Got Mail when Tom Hanks tells Meg Ryan to take her decision "to the mattresses." Also a line from the Godfather, which I've never seen. I digress.)

Lightbulb. Why didn't I think of that? I wanted to share the wisdom with the rest of you and say, if you're struggling with something or seeking answers to questions, start preparing now to listen to our Prophet and the other Brethren and have faith that their words will be an answer to your questions. I know that happens and I know there will be something for you...and me.

President Uchtdorf teaches that “there are messages in each general conference given as a gift and a blessing from heaven specifically for our personal life situations.” Read more of his words on preparing for Conference here.

The Dirty Dash

Guess what I did this weekend?

The Boy, his sisters, and I ran a 10K in the mud! Have I ever had this much fun getting down and dirty? Nope! The real name for this event is "The Dirty Dash." It's a 5/10K run with obstacle courses throughout the run, and all of the obstacle courses are in the mud. We climbed bails of hay, climbed walls, ran through mud pits, ran through a swamp, climbed through huge muddy pipes, did the tire run, waded in waist-high water and climbed over and under pipes... and slid down a huge blow-up slide. I had mud in every imaginable place, including my teeth, and couldn't have been happier.

Before the run... look how clean we are! Team Bree-Z! (Bree, second from the right, is going on a mission in a couple of weeks so we ran the 10K in her honor.)

After the run... we were so, SO dirty! And yes, we smelled.

 I do believe this will become a yearly tradition for me. I haven't laughed this hard in a very, very long time. And yes, the $4 hot shower was worth it... slightly awkward, but worth it. 

Just a couple hours after the run, I was showered (best shower of my life) and with my mom and sister for the General Relief Society Meeting. I may or may not have been picking up from my nails throughout the meeting. Gross.

Elaine Dalton

I've had the pleasure of working with Sister Elaine Dalton for the past few weeks while she promotes her new book, A Return to Virtue. These are my impressions of her after getting to spend time with her.

Read the rest of my article here.

I'm guest posting today...

Check out my post over at The Readheaded Hostess! I get to participate in this awesome blog hop to celebrate The Family: A Proclamation to the World.

Celebrating the Family

Shannon over at The Redheaded Hostess contacted me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I'd be interested in participating in a blog hop to celebrate families. [Can we do a little celebratory dance together? This is my first blog hop, and, who wouldn't want to celebrate families?]

My post will go up tomorrow - I'll be sure to link to it tomorrow so you can read my thoughts on the following paragraph from The Family: A Proclamation to the World:

"By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed."

Reasons

Really great excuses for not blogging:


1. Work is keeping me insanely busy... lots to read after hours. (Not complaining.)
2. The Boy. (Deeeeefinitely not complaining.)
3. Life. (Okay, I'll complain a little bit about a dirty house, laundry pile, and a sink that is clogged.)


Here's to prioritizing. Sorry Blog, you've been beaten out by a clogged sink.

Is that vintage?

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased this necklace:

There's a story with this necklace. Curious?

Last night I stopped at Whole Foods after work to grab a couple of things for dinner with Boy. The female employee at the cash register said, "I really like your necklace. Is it vintage?"

I smiled and had to bite my tongue a little to keep from laughing. The first thing that popped into my head when she said that was "Harvard Sailing Team + Hipster." I thanked her sincerely and said, "No. I just bought it at the mall a couple weeks ago."

If you haven't see this Harvard Sailing Team episode, watch it now. I hope you chuckle like I did when you hit minute 2:50.(I suggest watching the whole clip, but for the sake of Grandma's fashion and vintage necklaces, definitely watch through 2:47.)

 

Big sigh

I have a couple of (very sigh-worthy) things here for you to enjoy over the long weekend:

Source: justbesplendid.tumblr.com via Katherine Rushforth on Pinterest

Source: piccsy.com via Tracie on Pinterest

Source: wanderlustnix.tumblr.com via Ashley @ Organized Stress on Pinterest

Source: bhldn.com via Sandy on Pinterest

Cinnamon Ink

Okay - have you heard of Cinnamon Ink? Well, now you have. It's a darling blog and the author, Kate, is celebrating the one year anniversary of her Etsy shop by giving away one of her darling prints. Go enter!

The Satorialtwist

No, I didn't spell the title incorrectly. It really is "The Satorialtwist. I'm sure you've all seen the regular Satorialist website, but this little twist of a website makes me laugh. Here are some examples:

Fall fashion

I haven't quite had my fill of summer, but I am getting excited for this:

Source: polyvore.com via Ashley @ Organized Stress on Pinterest

Classy layers...

Source: polyvore.com via Ashley @ Organized Stress on Pinterest

Beautiful peacoats...

Source: polyvore.com via Ashley @ Organized Stress on Pinterest

SCARVES!

Source: polyvore.com via Ashley @ Organized Stress on Pinterest

BOOTS!

Dinner last night

Last night, the Boy and I went to Whole Foods together after work and picked up the fixings for this:

Source: souvlakiforthesoul.com via Noa on Pinterest

Caprese salad, which falls in my top two favorite meals. Main ingredients: tomatoes, fresh mozzerella cheese, fresh basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a pinch of salt. We grabbed a loaf of delicious bread and enjoyed every bite of the meal.

Here's to good food and good company.

Friday lovin...

A few favorites for you...

Sam's TJ Maxx recommendation... I went. I conquered. Oh ya.

Can I please discover the gender of my future babies the way Joanna posted here? Then can I buy one of these from Elle?

Have you heard of Kid History? If not, watch one of the episodes from Katelin. They're hilarious.

Don't you wish everyone had one of these: The magic "Make Everything OK" button

Can I please live what Sarah just went through? Please?

I'm incredibly excited to try this. Thanks Kayla!

Strawberry salsa and a bookshelf

Hi!

Guess what I did two weekends ago? (Yes, this post is a bit late, but I've been busy at work and I'm catching up on blogging.)

1. Spent four hours at the local farmers market...without my phone... and with a boy. (Yep.) Fresh cherries and raspberries, and strawberry and mango salsa accompanied us home. (The cherries and raspberries didn't make it far though.) Have you ever tried strawberry salsa? De-lish.

2. The boy and I went back to my house and we put together my new Ikea bookshelf. (Read: HE put together my new Ikea bookshelf. I watched and handed him the tools.) I finally have a bookshelf...and she's beautiful. She fits perfectly in my room. I had a hard time deciding between the black and creamy white - but I ended up going for the creamy white. My room is a light taupe color and I have a ton of black pictures frames to hang up, so I wanted to keep things light. (Pictures to come.)

With all the books on my shelf, I wanted to spice things up a little... I found this idea on Pinterest:

Source: assets4.designsponge.com via Kristy on Pinterest

See those two bookends? They're bricks...covered in fabric or paper, I can't tell. Isn't that great? The fabric here isn't my favorite, but I love the idea. I think I'd like to try this and see what kind of spice it adds to my room.

Girl gift

Need an idea for a bridal shower gift? I saw this on Pinterest and decided to do it. I got on Amazon and ordered Scrabble letters for less than it cost to ship them. Grabbed a $5 frame from Ikea and glued the letters on. I've done this for a couple friends and they turned out pretty cute! I know I'd love to get this as a gift, so hopefully they liked it.

Grandma

The grandma I knew best passed away a little over three years ago. I was on my mission in Germany when I read my mom's email telling me my grandma had passed away - while resting in her rocking chair. Perfect way to go, right? She deserved a peaceful passing like that. She was, and still is, incredible. Saying I miss her is an understatement.

All three years of high school I took darkroom photography classes. I ate that stuff up. My senior year, I was going through some of my grandma's stuff with my grandma and my mom and we came across a roll of film that had never been developed. WHA?! So, with my life in my hands, I took that roll of film to school and carefully developed it. My friend recently referred to this story as a real "time capsule." Seriously. I couldn't believe the pictures I had and the stories we discovered because of them. This is one of the pictures we got from the film - my grandma, Eleanor. Isn't she fabulous? She now occupies space on my dresser so I can remember to try and be as fabulous as she is/was.

And if you notice that gold heart locket to the left of that picture, that belonged to her. It has her initials carved into the gold. Love that little memento of hers.

A little surprise inside...

I finally did it!

A cigar box? No...

Surprise! An earring holder!

Welcome to the top of my dresser... See those old-school glass herb bottles? Yep. They're holding my earrings that I can't hook on the green velvet. They fit perfectly in the box, but for cuteness purposes, we ("we" meaning me, myself and I) displayed them so. (P.S. recognize that greenish-blue frame in the background?!)  

(P.P.S. Seriously, who would want a fatty cigar hangin' out of their mouth? NAST. They do make great boxes though. Gotta love that green velvet.)

Nerd

Okay, I'm a nerd. But these are just way too funny to not share with all of you.

Source: canv.as via Brent on Pinterest

Ba ha ha ha ha...

Source: thenextweb.tumblr.com via Tom on Pinterest

Get it?

Source: bowerbirdbeau.blogspot.com via Trine on Pinterest

I'm on the computer too much.

Source: svpply.com via Olivia on Pinterest

This is just cool. Wouldn't it look great in a reading room or office?

Source: google.com via Tammy on Pinterest

I know this last one doesn't really match the others... but no one ever minded a little nerd love, right?

Like I said...I'm a nerd.

Braid tutorial

Anyone else been wondering how to do this cute braid I keep seeing everywhere? Thank you, Pinterest.

Source: hairromance.com via catrrrtee on Pinterest

Fail...

So, remember when I told you I was going to try making these:

Source: moredesignplease.com via catrrrtee on Pinterest

Yes, well, I tried ("tried" being the key word). It was an eeeeepic fail. What's with the balloon not popping? It was dried to the glue...lame. Maybe I wasn't using the right glue. Wish I would have found this diagram sooner. Ha.

On a lighter note, thanks to the last few of you for following me and helping my OCD-ness a bit. Love that you read me!

Old Book, New Look

I love her. I love this. Aren't these beautiful ideas? And I love the song, too.

See more of Lisa Occhipinti's lovely work here.

P.S. I'm just two followers away from "200." Can you help me with my OCD tendencies and make it an even 200? Thanks. xoxo

Pill - O

Have I mentioned I'm moving this week?

Yep.

I am.

A cute room in a little red brick house has my name on it. I'm slowly gathering my things (throwing out a lot of stuff...I didn't realize I had so much stuff) and trying to stay organized while making the move. Through the process of organizing and packing, however, I've had to call down the powers of heaven and exert all effort in keeping myself from thinking I "need" to go to IKEA to buy "supplies." I don't need more stuff. But seeing my inner-dilemma, my sweet mama gave me three huge pillows she isn't using anymore. Holla! So guess what I get to do? Make covers for them!

Here's what I'm thinking:

Source: inkblotsandpolkadots.blogspot.com via Victoria on Pinterest

Kristin has some fabulous ideas and tutorials.

Source: loveoffamilyandhome.blogspot.com via Katelyn on Pinterest

Or maybe this one...

Source: thriftyandchic.com via Sharenda on Pinterest

If I can figure this tuck one out, I think it will definitely win one of the three positions...

Source: comeonilene.com via Abby on Pinterest

This idea caught my eye, but then I thought twice. Might be a little too narcissistic for a single girl sleeping in a lumpy twin sized bed. I'll revisit the idea once I'm attached to a man.

Cowmen

I went to the Days of '47 Rodeo with my family on Monday.

Two thoughts:

1. I don't think they're cowboys...they're cowmen.

2. Why in the world are they so attractive?

Hey Blondie...

Work is all-consuming right now, but the hunger pains were too great to avoid lunch today. I ran outside, sped-walked across the street while passing a homeless man standing on the side of the street with his "poor and hungry" sign.

"Hey Blondie! What's the hurry?!"

The look on my face must have been hilarious because he looked at me and gave me a huge, toothless grin.

Needless to say, I slowed my gait a little on the way to food.

Which glue today?

I'm really curious to know how much time this person had on their hands when they thought of making this diagram...

And on a less sarcastic note, don't you wish we had diagrams like this for more things in life? It would make life so much easier.

Source: designsponge.com via Kokomajojo on Pinterest

Summer nights

I love summer nights because...

I get to hang out with my beautiful little sister

I get to make smooooooores in our backyard

I get to take pictures of my nephew demonstrating the "proper" way to eat a smore

I get to take pictures of my darling mama. Isn't she cute?

I get to play night games in my PJs

I get to dance with my nieces and nephews then fall on the grass to look at the stars

Awkward and Awesome

So, let's start with the awkward and get that out of the way, because it's pretty awkward. I feel awkward just thinking about it.

I'm at Walmart (first mistake) on Saturday printing off pictures to frame for my new room. (I'll show you as soon as I have them hung.) I've just waited almost an hour for my "instant" prints, because they failed to put "broken" signs on two of the machines. Then I get to the checkout stand and this nice, old lady gives me an awkward smile. I say hello and ask her how she's doing. She says okay. Oh. I tried to talk to her a bit, but I didn't get anything back. Then a girl about my age comes up and puts her stuff on the conveyer belt - the checkout lady shot a major glare at this girl, and the girl asked, "Oh, I'm sorry. Are you not open?" The older woman replied, "Well, I've been waiting about an hour to go to the bathroom. I'm old, and I have diharrea and gas. Sorry. Sometimes you just can't hold it, so I have to go now." Exact. Words.

*Insert cricket chirp here...*

The other girl and I looked at each other, I smiled at the checkout lady, took my bag and said, "Have a nice day!"

Awkward.

On a much happier note, guess where I went on Saturday night? I was supposed to be in Los Angeles with some friends this weekend, but some stuff came up at work and I really didn't want to miss two days of work. So, a friend called me and asked if I would join him at the Deer Valley Music Festival. I was sold. But it gets better. Then he told me who was performing: Chris Botti. Holla! If you know me well, you'll know that I have more jazz music in my iTunes playlists than any other music. I. Love. Jazz. And Chris Botti happens to be one of my favorite trumpet players, after Louis Armstrong, naturally. We drove up there and as soon as we were out of the car, I melted. The scenery is breathtaking; everything is nestled in the mountains by Park City. We had incredible seats that demanded we walk by the stage...where Chris Botti was standing. I may or may not have an itty-bitty crush on Chris Botti. He kind of looks like Sting, if you need a comparison. (Oddly enough, Chris Botti was the opening band for Sting's tour a few years ago when Chris was trying to launch his career.) Anyway, let's just say that one minute all I wanted to do was get up and dance, and the next minute I was paralyzed with how gorgeous the music was. There's something about seeing/ hearing jazz performed live - it's unlike anything. Next stop, Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC.
Incredibly awesome.