Girls Night Out

several weeks ago aly started a group text about getting together for a girls night. we picked a day and time, and it felt like it was so far away. time goes by so so so fast. before we knew it, it was here. we all met at sawadee for dinner. the poor little babes didn't love dinner as much as we did, but we still had so much fun. we really missed those who couldn't come.

last time we all got together over spring break there was some crazy talk about the cuteness of this group hence the heels

charity had to leave after dinner because her baby just wasn't having it, but the rest of us weren't ready to call it a night. we ended up at lunaberry for the next several hours.we could talk and talk for hours, and the weather was so nice so we really did talk and talk for hours. i love these girls so much and miss them at work every single day. can't wait for our next girls night/craft night/whatever night.

blog design {blogger roundtable part 3}

i love love love the blogger roundtables and look forward to them so much. diedre was so nice and spent the evening teaching us all things design. the past few weeks have been super crazy trying to get ready to leave this place for a couple of weeks. last week was no exception. i planned to leave work in plenty of time to get to the awful waffle in provo in plenty of time, but i got stuck trying to finish something up. i also couldn't figure out exactly where i was going/find parking so i was a couple of minutes late. my computer took forever to start up and then wouldn't connect to the internet for another forever. i was way behind the group. i finally caught up and had a great time. after we were officially done many of us sat around talking blog talk much longer. i need to learn to use photoshop much better so i can actually apply some of the things we learned.

Kelli, April, Aubrey, Jessica, Rachel Jen, Bonnie, Tayler, Deidre

tomato basil quinoa with turkey

do you like quinoa? basil? ground turkey? i love love love all of those things so when i saw this recipe from danielle i HAD to make it. it was seriously so good. i highly recommend it. i did add some garlic powder and chicken broth to my quinoa to give it a little more flavor. it is a super delicious very healthy meal. go try it...

have you tried this stuff yet? try it! it's the best. i get frustrated with buying basil and using half and wasting half. this stuff lasts forever and tastes so good.

may30x30 week 2 {days 7-12}

if you're new around here, welcome! so happy to have you. i hopped a plane to the virgin islands last night. i'll be gone for 2 weeks. i have some scheduled posts to keep you entertained while i'm gone, but things might be a little more quiet than usual. i'll be back just in time for memorial day and all things summer (my fave). i was really apprehensive about signing up for the may30x30 challenge, but so far i completely love it. my favorite thing is my new blog friends, and my least favorite thing is definitely the picture taking. i feel like such a dork getting pictures of myself taken. because i hate the pictures so much i started getting a little silly. i also took a few this week at work.
day 7. neon cardi, coral striped v, navy skirt...on the playground at my work

 day 8. teal cardi, black maxi that will be a skirt after i cut it short enough (wore as a dress)...inside my office. this elevator is so scary and people get stuck=firemen come so i'm not usually mad about that

 day 9. red cardi, navy stripe, big star long jeans...after the blogger roundtable at the end of the day in bad lighting.

 day 10. target stripe v, cream cardi, melon jeans...inside my office

 day 11. neon cardi (i never ever ever wear the same cardi 2x in a week so this challenge is really pushing me), melon stripe, black skinnies...before lunch with friends. kind of loving this brick wall.

day 11. blue stripe, gray cardi, black skinnies(again 2 days in a row is a bit of a killer, but they were washed in between)...girls night. if you follow on instagram or twitter you saw my post. last time i was with these girls there was a little crazy talk about cuteness. we're pretty casual, but after that convo i had to up my game=heels and lipstick

day 12. cream cardi(more repeating), navy/white tank, army skirt...picture taking after church was a complete DISASTER! my camera wigged out big time. it wouldn't take pictures of anything but the concrete. i just had to put some of these in because they are just funny. i was getting so fed up with the whole thing.

thank you fave friend celsey for sticking with it until the camera finally worked

next week's post will likely be from my phone if i even have internet to get it up. i'm not taking a computer so i won't be able to load my camera pics until later. i'm sure you understand:)

running for Boston

the boston marathon bombing hit me hard. i talked about some of my feelings right after it happened. one good thing that came out of it is runners everyone united to show support and also to say we aren't going to let a tragedy like this keep us from running. within 3 days, several of the local running stores organized 5k events to raise money and show support for boston. it was so cool to see a couple thousand people come together. the running community is amazing, and i am so lucky to be part of such a strong supportive community.

somehow i convinced carrie to come run with me

the amount of people all running for the same cause makes me emotional

month of blue

i swear i'm not a fashion blogger. i'm really really not. apparently i think i am though. i keep doing clothes things for my monthly goals which means i totally look like a wannabe fashion blogger.

my goal for april was to wear blue everyday in support of and to raise awareness about autism. like i mentioned before, i did it last year so i wasn't super worried. i started out thinking i would definitely have repeat outfits, but somehow i managed to do different combinations for the whole month. i wasn't dying, but i was definitely looking forward to being done...until i decided to do may30x30.

here you have it, lovely iphone mirror pics of all my BLUE outfits for april.

may30x30 week 1

edit...i wrote this post super late last night. i am running my crazy busy head off and am completely exhausted. i thought about coming back to edit the post to make it a little better, but i decided to keep it real. so here you have it...a very exhausted blogger attempting to document what i'm wearing this month. may30x30 is well underway.  so far it's going pretty well. the weather played a little trick when it snowed the first day, but other than that, it's pretty fun. i am loving my new bloggy friends. i am definitely no fashion blogger, and i don't love pictures of myself, but here we go with the first 6 days.

day 1...it snowed. still trying to figure out what to do about pictures. teal tank, red cardi, black jeans

day 2...target stripe V, gray cardi, big star jeans

day 3...struggling with the pics today. melon stripe, teal cardi, melon skinnies

day 4...spent most of the day in workout clothes. finally got ready for the day around 4:30. old navy stripe, big star long rolled up to make long capris. got chilly during the soccer game so the pants came unrolled

day 5...sinking into the ground while taking pics. cream tank, mint cardi, denim skirt

i'm excited to see what all the other girls have been wearing.

why i started blogging

there's been a lot of talk in blog land lately about why people blog and/or why people started blogging. for me, those are 2 very different questions and 2 very different answers. i'm linking up with neely and samantha to discuss why i started blogging and a little of why i blog now.

it seems like a lot of people are newer to the blogging scene. i started blogging clear back in 2008. you can see my first post here. i live far away from all family and some friends. back in the day lots of my friends and family blogged. i loved keeping up with what everyone else was doing through their blogs so FINALLY one day i decided to start a blog. many of my good friends got married, and we thought it would be a great way to keep track of each other.

that's basically how blogging went for the first couple of years. i thought it was a little weird to read blogs of people i didn't know so i didn't do it. i only read friends and family. from the start i really loved blogging and blogged at least a couple of times a month at least. gradually a lot of my friends stopped blogging. it got to the point that i really didn't have many blogs to read. i didn't want to give up blogging just because my friends did. i actually first started reading "random" blogs when i was training for the new york marathon. i got connected with a nyc blogger who was also running the marathon. from there i really gave in and started reading more and more "random" blogs. it's funny to me how well you can get to know someone you don't know in real life through reading their blog.

even though a lot of friends and family have jumped off the blogging bandwagon, i am here to stay. i blog now for a few reasons.
1. i still want friends and family to know what i'm doing
2. i still want to document my life (especially since i no longer scrapbook)
3. i love love love the connections i have made and continue to make through blogging.

i was always a little jealous of people who have blog friends, but once i realized most bloggers are super nice and love the connection part of blogging as much as i do, making blog friends seems natural. i love love love all my blog friends and always look forward to making more.

what about you? why did you start blogging?

happy birthday {hairspray and high heels}

if you're like me, you love new makeup but don't necessarily love spending  money on it or you have to spend money because you ran out of the basics (foundation, powder, primer, etc.). to solve that problem and to celebrate her bloggy birthday, angela and a few other bloggers got together to bring you a super sweet giveaway...$250 to sephora. do you even know how much cool stuff you could buy with that??? enter below to win. good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

churchy things {the basics}

ever since i talked about faith last month, it has really been on my mind. i have been devoting a lot of my study time to faith. i am starting to have a very small understanding of faith, but that makes me thing faith in what?!? the simple answer if faith in a lot of things including the basic principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  have you ever wondered what those basic principles are? have you ever wondered what exactly it means to be a mormon? rather than reinvent the wheel, i want to send you over to bonnie's blog to get the 411 on the mormons. her post is written so well. she is a great writer. do yourself a favor and go check it out...now. if you still have more questions or want a copy of the Book of Mormon, please email me.
for more churchy things check out...or so she says, a mouse in my kitchen, girl loves glam, and musings miracles and mayhem

unblogged baby gift {painted and mod podged frames and print}

in case you were wondering where i was yesterday...i was over here blogging about summer reading (a little funny I know). go check it out.

remember a couple of months ago when i posted about the framed let them be little print for baby henry's room?!? well, loved it so much i decided to do another one for co-worker alyssa's new babe norah. i really really love how this turned out.

follow this tutorial for the framed print. the striped frames are super easy too.

cut fabric an inch or two bigger all the way around than the cardboard in the frame

scotch tape (or something stronger if you want) fabric around cardboard like you are wrapping a present

put in frame...super easy, cute, and a great way to tie in the fabric from the framed print

i bought the cheap frames from the craft store so i decided to paint them cream and gray stripes. i painted the whole thing cream first. i measured the width of the stripes, but it still ended up off a little. tape off sections to be painted gray. paint a coat or two and let dry before removing the tape. you may need to touch up with a thin brush just a little.

i was even happier when alyssa sent me pictures of the nursery. are you a make it or a buy it kind of gift giver?