2011

So 2011 flew by... so many things happened this year, so I wanted to have a 2011 recap post before ushering a new year...

 This year had a lot of firsts baking wise - here we made a killer cheesecake - other firsts included monkey bread, pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, and Red velvet chocolate chip cookies, and red velvet baked donuts - it was a good food year ;)

 For my 24th birthday I went to Texas Roadhouse with my roommates - this is me riding the saddle - it was awesome

 I was able to see lots of missionaries from my mission every couple of months. Here we are eating at the Indian Restaurant on Center in Provo.. Yum!

 It was a pretty good year for Country Swing dancing! J. was my partner in crime when it came to dancing.

 We saw the 'Date Doctor' when he came to USU

 Sean Kingston also came to Logan

 Internship at Rice & Strand Interiors in North Salt Lake

 Of course we went to see Pirates: On Stranger Tides - other awesome movies from this year were: Captain America, Thor, and we got a good laugh from Fast Five

 After many years, we went to the Air Force museum in Layton - this is a picture of our cute Grandpa by the plane with his name on it. He was a navigator in the Air Force. Pretty darn awesome!

 We successfully jump started the Blazer! 'I'm a big girl, I can tie my own sandals and everything'

It was a year for weddings: This pic is at Rob and Ali's wedding reception in Provo

This one is at Erin and Joe's wedding reception in South Jordan

My Step Brother Cpl. Raphael Arruda was killed in action while serving in the Army in Afghanistan... right before he was to come home. This is a picture of the Patriot Riders(holding the flags) and others gathered for the arrival of his body back to Utah. I blogged about it back in July, you can read all about it Here and Here.

My cousin and I went back to Virginia for about 2 weeks before school started. This is a picture of us up in Colonial Williamsburg. It was such a fun trip - we went to Water Country USA a bunch of times, and got up to all sorts of things... also we discovered Disney Apples to Apples - fabulous game!

Back at USU for my last semester! I made it to a few Football games and Basketball games. GO AGGIES!

Another Missionary get together - we even skyped with our mission President and wife. I love this group of people! - This gathering was right before General Conference so I spent that with my cousin in Payson. We got to meet her brother's girlfriend (now fiance!)

Halloween! I love carving pumpkins, this year I went with a Superhero Theme :)

 

We went a little crazy with my hair for Halloween - and had an epic party at our apt.

 Thanksgiving - my brother and I drove to Phoenix, AZ. Thanks to my crazy driving skills, we made it down there in 12 hours. The break was wonderful - we had 70-80 degree weather. Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful (my pie turned out great!).. and of course cooking Thai food with my stepMom is always an adventure! ... The only downside was our tire exploding outside of ST. George on the way back... it was an ordeal but we made it home alright.

 For the first time in years I made it down to Temple Square for the lights. It was a crazy night, but so glad we went down! The lights were so beautiful!

Christmas, my Dad and Stepbrother drove up from AZ. We walked around the Christmas village in Ogden, and even took a stroll down 25th Street - new favorite store is Artists&Antiques!

 Christmas day family picture :) Brother, Dad, Grandma, Stepbrother, and Grandpa ^_^

Christmas Break (can I still call it a break when I am done with school??) was filled with work, family time and weddings! This picture is of Jen and Orie's Reception.


Other things that happened this year that are worth mentioning: I passed the LEED GA Exam, started my own business and Graduated from USU! WOOHOO!! It has been a pretty crazy year... it will be interesting to see what 2012 brings!

Musings of a single girl

So here we are at the end of my last week of school. (for a while- I still would love to get a master's down the road a piece) Of course I've had some great conversations with friends and roommates on a variety of subjects... okay boys mainly. Most of those conversations were started by some things that I found this week:

 We often joke about becoming cat ladies ;) haha yay for being single!

I saw this video on FB:

I know about half the people being interviewed. I don't agree with this video 100% but I thought it was cute

I liked this quote, found it on Pinterest.com

This one made me think a bit when I found it.

And this last one pretty much sums up how I feel, I am willing to put forth effort but I like men to stand up and be men. If you like me, stand up and let me know. Confidence is very attractive. I will usually give guys a chance, and I always try to be straight up so you know where you stand with me.

I don't chase boys. I am pretty shy that way.

A guy who served in my mission posed this on his FaceBook page and I was pretty impressed so I decided to re-post it here:

Girls Need To Realize: WRITTEN BY A GUY

We guys don't care if you talk to other guys. We don't care if you're friends with other guys. But when you're sitting next to us, and some random guy walks into the room and you jump up and tackle him, without even introducing us, yeah, it pisses us off. It doesn't help if you sit there and talk to him for ten minutes without even acknowledging the fact that we're still there. We don't care if a guy calls>OR TEXTS< you, but at 2 in the morning we do get a little concerned. Nothing is that important at 2 a.m. That it can't wait till the morning. Also, when we tell you you're pretty/beautiful/ gorgeous/cute/ stunning, we freaking mean it. Don't tell us we're wrong. We'll stop trying to convince you. The sexiest thing about a girl is confidence. Yeah, you can quote me. Don't be mad when we hold the door open. Take Advantage of the mood im in. Let us pay for you! dont 'feel bad' We enjoy doing it. It's expected. Smile and say 'thank you. Kiss us when no one's watching. If you kiss us when you know somebody's looking, we'll be more impressed. You don't have to get dressed up for us. If we're going out with you in the first place, you don't have to feel the need to wear the shortest skirt you have or put on every kind of makeup you own. We like you for who you are and not what you are. Honestly, i think a girl looks more beautiful when she's just in her pj's. or my tshirt and boxers, not all dolled up. Don't take everything we say seriously. Sarcasm is a beautiful thing. See the beauty in it. Don't get angry easily. Stop using magazines/media as your bible. Don't talk about how hott Chris Brown, Brad Pitt, or Jesse McCartney is in front of us. It's boring, and we don't care. You have girlfriends for that. Whatever happened to the word 'handsome'/'beautiful' i'd be utterly stunned by a girl who greeted me with 'Hey handsome!' instead of 'Hey baby/ stud/cutie/ sexy' or whatever else you can think of. On the other hand im not sayin i woulndnt like it ether ; ) Girls, I cannot stress this enough: if you aren't being treated right by a guy, dont wait for him to change!!!!! Ditch his sorry butt, disgrace to the male population and find someone who will treat you with utter respect Someone who will honor your morals. Someone who will make you smile when you're at your lowest. Someone who will care for you even when you make mistakes. Someone who will love you, no matter how bad you make them feel. Someone who will stop what they're doing just to look you in the eyes....and say 'i love you' ..and actually mean it. Give the nice guys a chance. Guys repost this if you agree. Girls repost this if you think it's cute.. Every Guy who isn't a jerk will agree with this, so we hope that all the girls that read this will repost this.

Life is too short to complain about everything that comes your way so stop and smell the roses in life because you might never have another time to take it, so take your time because they are all different in every way, so take chances in life, if it doesn't work out then fine, there are always more roses to smell.


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So there you have it. Musing on love and life. Just in case you couldn't tell, yes I am still quite single. I don't mind being single, it is kind of nice to be able to do exactly what I want, when I want - but I am not opposed to getting attached. I am just moving right along with my life and waiting for someone to step  up I suppose.

One last picture (click on it to go to my 'Quotes' board on pinterest)