Hello friends, I'm back!

Hello blogosphere! I know I've been a bit MIA, but things have been busy lately. You know, just the usual - quitting my job, getting married, and moving Atlanta, GA. But stay tuned! I'm back with a vengeance and will be catching up on a good two months of posting! And for a little teaser, I give you one photo from the greatest day of my life

Ahem....an announcement....

I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!!......Duh, I think everyone already knew that. But what many of you don't know, is that right after the wedding I will be moving with my new hubby to Atlanta, GA. Jake is working with Vivint for the summer and has been there since the end of April. I miss him like crazy and I can't wait for this new adventure together. This big decision certainly was not an easy one though. I moved out of my house on Texas street a week and a half ago and I'm subletting a room in my friend's house til the wedding. All of my things are in storage and I'm living out of 3 suitcases for the next 3 months. Also, after 3 1/2 years I am leaving my job at Kemp & Associates. It's definitely bittersweet. It's a fantastic company and I'm really going to miss my co-workers, but this job of Jake's will allow for us to go to school full-time this fall - yay! Williams Sonoma is just giving me a leave for 8 weeks, so I'll be able to come back and work part-time there. I know it seems pretty drastic, but we've put a lot of careful thought and consideration into this and we're really excited. Bring on the heat, humidity and southern hospitality!

Next Valley Girl?

Oh. My. Goodness. I have a company trip to New Orleans this weekend and was wishing I could go with a hint of summery glow. I'm not into the tanning bed/skin cancer thing, so I decided to try spray tanning. It was quite an experience! I went in to a great salon here in Salt Lake called the Spa Club. It was a bit pricey, but on some things I figure that you get what you pay for, so I'd better not cheap out on a spray tan. So you get into this little room and strip down completely, then stand there awkwardly as an aesthetician air-brushes you. So when we were all done the girl turned on a fan and told me to air-dry before I got dressed. I guess I'm a total idiot, because I thought that meant that I should stand there til it dried completely. Well, 45 minutes later she came back to see if I had passed out in there. I guess she should've explained that it wouldn't dry completely for quite some time and I'd be ok just getting dressed after 10 minutes or so. Oops, haha! It must have been the extra time I gave it to dry, or maybe my skin just takes the color really well because when Jake & I skyped last night, he told me I looked like a Mexican. What do you think?.

I was freaking out at how dark it was when I woke up this morning, but I'm happy to report that after a good scrub-down in the shower, it looks pretty good. It's definitely lightened up and I think I like it! I don't think I'll do it again, but it was fun to try it out once and see what I'd look like as a SoCal girl!

Just keep swimming

Hola everyone, I just thought I'd check in to the old blog and let you know how things are going. I am moving out of my cute little house on Texas street this weekend and subletting my friend Melanie's room til the wedding. I'm sure I don't have to remind anyone of how much fun moving is, but the last several days have been jam-packed with box packing pandamonium. I got all of my kitchen stuff packed away (which is no small task) on Saturday before my wonderful friends Jane and Angela threw me a riotous bachelorette party. (photos and stories of that coming soon) Monday night my cute mom drove all the way down here from Logan to help me pack my stuff.
Me and my cute mom. This photo is super old, but I didn't take any during the packing party

You really do acquire a lot when you live in a place for so long! We were up til 2am working, so we decided that on Tuesday I'd take the day off of work so we could keep going. We got a lot done and were even able to take a whole car load of stuff to the D.I. Go us! My mom had to get back to Logan, so I took the opportunity of the free afternoon to meet with my dear friend and wedding coordinator Janilee. We met with a florist, then headed to a design store to buy some vases for centerpieces. Let me start this particular story by telling you that I'm officially going insane. The stress and pressure lately have turned me into a forgetful, air-headed, emotional wreck. On the drive from the florist to the store, I made a phone call to my calligrapher about the work she was doing on our invitations. For some reason I had given here my parent's correct address for the return address label, but the completely wrong zip code. Glad we caught that before they were all printed! Anyway, I had just hung up the phone after explaining what a ditz I was and asker her to re-do her work, when I turned around and realized I had locked my keys in my car. That is a FIRST for me! I then waited for my roadside assistance to show up and pop open the locks. It really wasn't bad, as I had my friend with me. By this time it was late afternoon and I was feeling hungry and frazzled, so I decided to have a relaxing lunch alone. I ended up at a place here in SLC called The Soup Kitchen. And my menu selection?: split pea & ham soup, a BLT, and not one, but TWO breadsticks. Hey, I guess that's the nice thing about having my dress made to fit me - I don't have the pressure of fitting into an off-the-rack-dress.

Feeling better but still exhausted, I went home for a quick power nap, then headed to Healing Arts Studio for a blissful 90 minute hot stone massage. I am no stranger to massage therapy, but the hot stone treatment was a first for me. It definitely will not be the last it was amazing!

The last couple of days since then have been busy with work, more packing, organizing and planning. I'm still doing it on my own and every day I miss this guy a whole lot more.

I am grateful for good friends

Church headquarters recently reorganized all of the YSA wards in the Salt Lake Valley. I've been in the stellar University 43rd ward for nearly 4 years, but today I found myself in my newly created ward, in a new building, and with new faces around me. Before they started the lesson in Relief Society they asked that every girl get up and state their name and one thing they are grateful for. What a good ice-breaker to get the ladies to start knowing each other! The one thing that came first to my mind are my friends. For some reason, I have been incredibly blessed with the most amazing friends. I've been struggling lately and they really have been carrying me through. So to all of my lovely friendlies out there: I am grateful for you!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

My lunch hours are often times spent running errands. Today I had to pick up a gift for a wedding reception I'm attending tonight, and I found myself at one of my favorite spots: Trolley Square. Much to my good fortune I wasn't able to find a close parking spot, so I ended up parking a block away and walking to my store. Being trapped in an office all day can make me miss what's going on outside. Well I'm happy to report that it is a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze and a balmy 76* reporting on the thermostat. Perfect weather in my lovely city of salty lakes? Yes, please.

Solo de Mayo

Wow, thanks so much for the supportive responses to my pathetic post earlier this week. I took my last final exam of the semester on Tuesday night, and while I still have a lot to do, my stress level has definitely come down!

I mentioned that Jake is out in Atlanta working, so this month I'm flying solo. I had a few things to accomplish and I really just needed an evening to myself. So last night I set out right after work to run errands, get a good sweat session in at Zumba, then a calming & relaxing yoga class. I then went back home to make dinner for one. In honor of our neighbors to the south, I wanted to make some sort of Mexican food so I settled on a black bean tostada. I was just kind of throwing things together so this isn't an official recipe, but it turned out really well.
I tried to get all of the ingredients together for this photo, but I forgot a few, oops For the first step I mixed black beans, frozen corn, salsa and a pinch of cumin.

I put a whole wheat tortilla on a baking sheet, spread mozarella cheese on it, then topped it with my black bean mixture. That went in the oven for about 10 minutes

While my base was baking, I cut up some veggies and made a dressing with about a teaspoon of sour cream + a tablespoon of salsa

Got my tortilla out of the oven, piled it high with lettuce, tomato, avocado and the dressing I made. And that's it - incredibly easy!

This turned out SO yummy! It filled me up, but didn't leave me feeling heavy & gross like some mexican food can do. Ole! Perfect meal for one!