An Escape from the Mundane

For almost a year, I've been going 'walking' two or three times a week, during my lunch hour, with a friend at work. For almost the same amount of time, I've been trying to remember to take my digital camera on the route we take because it's absolutely beautiful. We walk from our office building over to State Street, up State to North Temple and veer right, toward City Creek; up through City Creek to Memory Grove, and up just a little ways into the canyon there. It's so scenic, it's hard to believe we work only a few minutes from there. So last week, when we got dumped on by all that snow, I talked to another secretary in the office that takes a similar walking route that we do. She said that Memory Grove and City Creek were so pretty, I should take my camera and get a few shots. So I did! I FINALLY took my camera out on our weekly walk. It took longer, because I kept stopping to take pictures.


Anyone that's been to the building where I work knows that we have a fantastic view from our conference room windows; But it's still inside rather than outside, and being outside is always better! Memory Grove and City Creek are awesome escapes from the mundane office existence.

I am so spoiled.

Good-bye, Twenties

I love this picture... I look so evil! Hehehehe...

But check out my lei! Thanks Mar and Melissa!

As I say good-bye to my twenties, I look back and see that: I made some not-so-smart financial decisions, I didn't date much but watched most of my friends get married and start families, I happily watched my sister get married, I made several friends... some of whom I have since lost track and then re-connected with, I've switched jobs 5 times, switched companies 3 times, moved home twice - only for short periods of time, however; I battled depression - but not alone; I watched 5 siblings head to the MTC while I sat home with no desire to serve a mission and felt guilty about it; I moved apartments/condos just about every year, I've lost friends and family to death, I've travelled around the continental U.S. a little bit, been to Hawaii twice, been to Europe once, and started a road-trip tradition to Southern California with my sisters and cousin Em (who, let's be honest, is just like my sister), watched 'internet dating' develop a lot (and even particiapted some, but with no real spectacular results - just the desire to meet someone the 'old-fashined way'), had one or two heartbreaks, went to more weddings and wedding receptions than I can count, had more roommates than I can count, bought my own car (and paid it off!), laughed, fought, loved, mourned, hated, cried, raged and relaxed.
In my thirties, I'm going to get out of debt, make better financial decisions, travel a little more (if I can), finish school, get married and start a family (I hope), buy my own house, focus on being a better member missionary, watch my youngest sister go on a mission, watch my brothers and sisters get married (HOPEFULLY), lose more friends and family to death (I'm sure), beat depression, run a half-marathon, go to more weddings and wedding receptions than I can count, continue the road-trip tradition even when we're all married, play with nieces and nephews, have more heartbreaks, meet more new friends and probably lose track of some old ones, laugh, fight, love, mourn, hate, cry, rage and relax some more.
I have ten years of '30s' and I'm going to enjoy them ALL!

Happy birthday to me! :)

'Tis the Season: PMS

I've discovered something worse than dealing with Christmas stress: having PMS and dealing with Christmas stress. I ran up to the mall for part of my lunch break, thinking I'd get my nails done real quick since I have no other time this week, having too much to do and not enough time. When I walked into the salon, I was in luck! (Rather, I thought I was in luck.) There was no one there! I could get right in! One of the girls told me to have a seat for 10 minutes or so - they were just finishing lunch. Okay, that would set me back a few minutes - but no problem. I was first in line if anyone else came in. Right?
WRONG.
They kept me sitting there for 10-15 minutes waiting. Finally, they came out and sat me at one of the nail stations. Another lady came in - apparently they had told her to come back, which she did - so she was there before me, no problem - there were two nail techs, one for me and one for her. Pretty soon a second lady comes panting in, saying she had called and made an appointment that she was a few minutes late for. The two nail techs jabbered to each other for a minute (they speak Mandarin or some other form of Chinese), and one of them came over to me and asked if I could come back later, because they had forgotten to write the second lady's appointment down in their book. Now, at this point, it shouldn't be a big deal. It's a vain waste of time to have nails done, right? And so what if I had to go back later? Well, apparently it mattered to me a lot, because I stood up in a huff, told the girl who asked me to come back later a firm "NO. I don't have any other time." I got my coat on in a huff, amid the weak apologies from the nail techs, and freaked the second lady out in the process - she looked at me apologetically and said "Sorry." It wasn't her fault. And it wasn't the first lady's fault, either - they both had made appointments early. But I stormed out of that place, furious that they made me wait all that time for nothing, determined to never go back, and I was on the verge of tears.
TEARS.
I almost cried just because they asked me to come back later. How unreasonable is that? I asked myself why I would react like that and then realized what week it is. The week before Christmas and PMS time. So I stopped at the Mrs. Fields cookie place and got myself 6 little nibblers, and ate them ALL. Right after I'd participated in the office Christmas Potluck party and ate tons of salads and desserts, I got cookies to make myself feel better.
Wow. Stress + PMS= Possible Homicide / Increased Sugar Intake
On the upside (because there IS an upside, isn't there?), people at work are really generous with their gift giving! Thanks everyone!
Happy friggin' Holidays.

Diet Lite

I can't lie. I miss sugar.

Not that I don't have enough of it every day... I allow myself a little chocolate once a day, and I even eat pie and cake every now and then. So why do I miss sugar, you ask?
Well, I LOVE drinking. No, that sounds wrong, let me re-phrase... I love liquids. If I could just have juice, soda, slurpees, hot chocolate, milk, egg nog, Orange Bang... anything liquid, and just drink my calories, I would! If I could have my all-time favorite beverage -Coca-Cola- with every meal of every day, I would. Unfortunately, that's exactly what I've been doing most of my life... drinking my calories, on top of eating my (sometimes not-so-healthy) meals.
Alas, age and genetics are catching up with me. After years of eating what I want when I want and watching my weight fluctuate, I hit my heaviest (so far) this year. I've tried dieting with Mar and Mike and Melissa, but I always lost control and gained back any weight I'd lost. This year, I've made exercise a priority - ever since March, I've walked between 6 and 9 miles a week, and in the same month, I made myself start running. Mar is my running buddy, and though I have a long way to go before I can catch up to her level of endurance, I enjoy running- and even managed a 10k over the Summer.
But I was still drinking too many calories.
After seeing photos of myself in a trip to Hawaii in May and a California trip in August, I buckled down. I was determined - I allowed myself no more than 1500 calories a day, no less than 1200. That meant I had to give up drinking my calories. OOOHHHH... how could I give up Coca-Cola? I LOVE it! But I did it. I went from despising diet and lite drinks to tolerating them, and now to actually liking them. I don't drink sugared drinks much anymore. I drink water and light drinks... and I even like Diet Pepsi. So with the combination of exercise, guilt, and watching what I eat and drink (duh), I've managed to lose somewhere between 15 and 20 pounds. I have to buy smaller clothes now because everything I own is too big.
The payoff of dieting is fun, and though I cheat a little with an ounce or two of egg nog or a bit of juice every now and then... OH, I miss my Coca-Cola!

Farmer's Market

We had our family pictures taken this past weekend at Murray Park - it was really pretty! After we were done, I walked across the parking lot with my mom over to the Farmer's Market. I'd never been to one before - it was so cool! Fruit, veggies, bread, honey, snacks, pumpkins... I got some apples and pears, some orange-cranberry bread, and fresh honey. YUM!