4/29/14

Today was exhausting for basically no reason.

I got up and headed to my beginning soccer class. I am stoked about this class. I am falling in love with soccer. Who ever saw that coming? definitely only my husband. My family has always been soccer haters. We didn't play today so we got out early.

I went to my lab and worked on my thesis draft.

Next I headed to my dentist appointment. I actually enjoyed chatting with my dental hygienist. Then she pretty much wouldn't let me leave without promising to floss everyday.... i hate flossing.

I came home and finished my draft! yay! I sent it out to 3 reviewers.

Then Travis and I ate delicious taco soup for dinner. One of my favorite recipes I have discovered. We make it every other week.

Then we took a trip to Barnes and noble to spend a gift card on some books we could take on our trip. Our purchases included the third book in the maze runner series, the fault in our stars, and the unabridged Les Miserables (Summer goal).

We also had some things to exchange at Sports Authority. We ended up with a pair of soccer shorts for me and Travis and some soccer socks. (don't worry I added all of these things to yesterdays purchase list)

Then I finished off the day with some Grey's Anatomy while travis watched basketball.

4/28/14

So it turns out we went a little crazy with the shopping in the last few weeks. To be fair I did get a lot of money for graduation, so thats a good excuse right? How long do you think I can stretch that excuse for? haha I am thinking till my birthday and then I'll have a new excuse to buy stuff.

Wow I sound materialistic.

Anyways. We have been going through our clothes and stuff the last couple weeks to get rid of the things we don't need and don't wear. Turns out we had 3 trash bags full of clothes to take to D.I. and 3 more bags of stuff to try and sell at plato's closet. So I felt somewhat justified in buying some new clothes. Also Travis needed some business casual stuff for his new internship.

Things bought

For him-
1 pair of new red shorts
1 grey swimsuit
5 amazing dress shirts
2 pairs of dress pants
1 pair of black sandals
Soccer Shorts
Soccer Socks

For her-
1 pair of red skinny jeans
5 fabulous shirts
1 floppy hat
1 pair of black sunglasses
1 white tulle skirt
1 teal swimsuit
1 striped graduation dress
1 pair of super cute black sandals
1 pair of pointy black flats
1 white and gold watch
2 down east undershirts
White swimsuit bottoms
Way too much jewelry from The Shine Project
Soccer shorts

For us-
4 mason jar mugs
cute pink and blue paper straws
2 beach towels
sunscreen
6 books

We also got like 70% off everything we bought at JC Penny yesterday because my brother-in-law was allowed to give a friends and family discount for working at corporate. It was awesome!

And just to be clear, we are not going into debt for these purchases!

Some of the recent purchases:

 

4/26/14

I blogged a little early last night and didn't get to talk about my new niece Ashlyn's Frozen birthday party!

It was a blast hanging out with Travis' family and getting to celebrate this sweet girls 4th birthday. She was so enthusiastic the entire night. And our gift of a furreal friends horse was a huge hit (it makes noises and walks all by itself). She even had her new frozen elsa and Auna dolls ridding it.

I love Ashlyn's happy enthusiasm. Especially since some of it is towards me. She always greets me with a huge smile and a running, "JESSSIIIICCCAAAAAA" its the best.

Today has been really crazy. I woke up at 8:30 and started doing some work that I had neglected due to graduation celebrations. I feel like I got a lot done. I left at 11:30 to grab a quick lunch and help my friends set up for Aimee's baby shower. We talked for hours about the horrors of pregnancy and birth. Lets just say it made me want to put off the baby thing even longer. haha

After catching up with wonderful friends I headed over to my house to meet my families new puppy (no name chosen at this time).

Afterwards I babysat some cute girls in Sandy. The younger one was being a little terrorist (Travis' word for any child that is rambunctious and wreaks havoc) and stayed up in bed for over 2 hours talking, screaming, and crying to herself.

It was a long day, but good :)

Graduation day

Well it happened, I walked across that stage when my name was read and shook a bunch of peoples hands and got my shiny new and empty diploma holder!

This weekend (Thursday/Friday) has been awesome. Thursday we had commencement! The highlight was walking with my fellow cohort ions to the Marriott center and having president Uchtdorf wave to me and Amanda. We were giddy about this. haha

The rest of commencement was pretty boring, and then there was the my phone deciding to not communicate with my husbands. GAh. we worked it out though and headed over to Tucanos to celebrate with my family. DELICIOUS. I love me some meat and grilled pineapple.

Afterwards travis and I cuddled up in our bed and read until it was time for bed (Travis is really getting into the Maze Runner, he even made me drive today cuz he was on the last few chapters and wanted to finish, so proud of his new found love :))I had to get up at 6am to get ready the next morning. EW.

This morning I got up and ready with little effort, which was amazing and we headed to the Marriott center. I was seated in the front row with my buddies. It was fun walking across the stage and cheering for them and my other friends also graduating!!

We took loads of pictures after with friends, cohort ions and family. Then Travis parents took us out to Zupas. When we got home we were exhausted and proceeded to take 2 hour naps. Whoops!

I loved celebrating the last two years in the MPH program with graduation with my fellow cohortions. I have grown so much in the past two years. I can't even believe it has only been two years. These people are some of the closest friends I have now. In the past 2 years I travelled to Washington D.C, Boston, San Diego, Idaho Falls, Las Vegas, Disneyland and Lake Tahoe (I think thats all but its possible I missed something big). 

I have also worked a bunch of amazing jobs: 3 different jobs for the department of health science, an internship with the state health department, and more recently jobs with Orca health and the Shine Project. 

I've learned so much about who I am and who I want to be. I also got to marry the man of my dreams :) He is the biggest supporter of everything I want to do, and I love it. its been an incredible journey these last two years. 

Things I want

I have gotten obsessed with fashion bloggers lately and shopping for spring/summer wardrobe in general lately. Here are some things at the top of my wants list right now. Unfortunately a lot of these are online so due to my fear of online shopping, most will not be purchased. Someone want to teach me how to effectively shop online to not have to send things back?

Downeast $16.49 with 40% off discount
I really should just buy thing one since I love it.

I never thought I was a kimono person but this is just CUTE

Tilly's $29.99, Unfortunately they don't have my size

Centsofstyle.com $32.95, I just don't feel like I can spend over 30 for a T-shirt, but I love!!!

poppyanddot.com $29.99, I love this but they are sold out!!!!

This necklace is on its way to me :)

Theshineproject.storeenvy.com, $26
I love the jewelry from the shine project. All my new jewelry will be coming from there!!

I have gone through all of my clothes in the last couple of weeks and have totally gotten rid of everything I do  not wear on a regular basis. My closet and drawers look a little empty, I am ready to fill it all up again :) I think I am off to a good start!

4/23/14

Today was a bid day, I picked up my graduation robes. They are so wizardy. Like seriously, I am going to be a wizard. haha but its pretty crazy, I can't believe its almost here! how did two years go so fast? Time does crazy things when you are having the best times of your life!!! 

On another exciting note, I found a mouse in our house today. It raced across the living room floor and I let out a scream. Later, Travis and I tried to trap it. It did not work, the mouse outsmarted our crafty blockades. 

I went shopping twice during the day. Hah. I bought two super cute patterned shirts, 2 white undershirts, a dress for graduation and a fun floppy sun hat! It was so fun. Now I just need unlimited money to update the rest of my wardrobe. 

Travis and I also attended the MPH closing social. So fun to see all all the first and second years as well as some professors. 

The best part? I barely worked at all. not the plan, but I had no motivation, good thing Mexico is almost here, I need a real break (no access to technology will do me some good)

Miles today:3
Miles this year:14

4/22/14

What an exciting day with no school for either of us!!! HAH! I worked on my MPH project report for five hours. BLEH. ready for that thing to just be done. Travis and I had a celebratory lunch at Lengends Grill. And headed back to work. We came home around 3 and basically read for a bit. I am reading a book called "Quiet" right now and I am in love with it.

At 4 we went to see captain America. We still have tons of movie gift cards! On our way home we stopped at the new Walmart market... my mind was blown. 

Also it was SUPER windy so this happened. Yeah there is supposed to be a mountain, but its hidden by dust. 

4/21/14

Today was so fun!

After work I read while Travis napped. He finished his finals today so he was obviously exhausted! Can't believe we are both done! 

It was such a nice day that I told him I wanted o go on a hike or something. He countered with Tennis against his parents. I accepted. Haha we beat them 6-4. Wapow! actually its not that exciting, we haven't lost to them yet. We ran some laps and they bought us smoothies. So nice. 

We came home, watched some house and then read for a while. I finished my book, finally, The Rational Optimist. SOOO GOOD. I love the last sentance of the book. 

This book discusses the inherent pessimism that manages to sweep through basically every century. He talks about how the pessimists predictions are rarely ever correct, and yet they are praised. He talks about how optimists tend to get made fun of, but how they are usually right, and obviously happier people. He shows why we should rationally be optimistic based on how prosperity has evolved all around the world. Loved it. 

Miles today:1
Miles this year:11

4/20/14

What an amazing Easter Sunday, the sun was shining and we got to take my siblings to our home ward cuz my mom was out of town and my dad is in a BYU bishopric. I love coming to the ward where I met my sweetie! Everyone came and asked us how married life was etc. etc.

After church we read for a while and then colored eggs until my mom got home so we could start the Easter hunt. 

His: The Maze Runner, Hers: The Rational Optimist

Travis and I got to hide the eggs for my siblings. Pretty sure there are a bunch still left out there.... haha we are such good hiders. Then we headed to my grandmas for a delicious dinner. Ham, potatoes, veggies, rolls, and strawberry shortcake, mmmmmm! 

I just want to say how amazing this day is. How important this holiday is. Easter is the celebration of Christ's resurrection. Because of him I can repent and life forever with God and my family. I don't think i will ever be able to live up to this amazing gift that Christ has given me, but I sure am going to try my best! 

Hope you had a great Easter Sunday too! 

4/19/14

What a fun saturday filled with Art City Donuts, Olive garden, swimsuit shopping, wellers book works, and family!

4/18/14

It was a lonnnnngggg day.

It started at 9am studying for my GIS final in the Lab with my BFF Amanda. she left at 10 for an appointment and I was left to study by myself for another hour, and what did I do? well I looked at some blogs, reviewed Facebook, took a walk around the track, basically everything except studying haha.

The good news is my final took me less than 15 minutes and I am pretty sure I aced it despite skipping 4 questions (there were two bonus questions so they even out right). I was the first one in the class done, a regular occurrence, I am a fast test taker, and I was out of there. FORVER. I NEVER HAVE TO USE GIS AGAIN UNLESS I WANT TO. What a relief. That was one of the most annoying classes I have ever taken. ugh. Its over. It was also the last final of my life :) such a happy day.

I came home and cooked myself a delicious 2 cheese quesadilla and made some guac. I love huac more than anything if you didn't already know that.

Next I headed over to the women's expo to meet my new co-worker and to work the booth for 7 hours, by myself. Pretty scary for a first day. I didn't expect what was going to happen. We had a booth in like the worst spot possible, in the walkway where everyone has blinders and is like "don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact." There were a lot of interested people who seemed to loe the cause and took a business card to look it up online, but no one bought anything. For the 9 hours we were at the expo no one bought a single thing. DEPRESSING.

I think the big thing is that most people who come to an expo aren't there to spend a lot of money, they are there to find good deals. The only good things that came out of my shift was meeting my lovely co-worker Janelle who I now want to be best friends with and this lady who owns a spa wanting to get the product for their spa! Hopefully that works out and brings in a lot of business!

Afterwords I grabbed som rumbi (they were out of vegetables which was disappointing but I was starving) and headed over to my brother and sister in laws house to play Risk. It was my first time playing risk and guess what, WORLD DOMINATION from this girl. Yeah I cleaned the floor with all those boys. Also, I love risk now.

4/18/14

Last night I had a nightmare, not about my final today, but about working at the women's expo for the shine project. Notice my priorities... haha In my dream I went to the conference and it was super tiny, and no one was there. My boss, who is in Arizona, showed up and was like super disappointed in my performance. It was sad to say the least.

Come see me at the women's expo (at UVU) from 1pm-8pm if you get the chance :)

Also, Enter promo code facebookfree and they will email you a free ticket :)

4/17/14

Today had some interesting moments.

• There was that moment when I drove over the concrete parking barrier because I didn't see it (nor did the parking spaces on the next row over have the barriers).
• Or the time I spilled a bunch of water all over my arm while eating lunch with my co-workers (hoping no one noticed)
• And there was that moment that I threw up in my mouth from driking too much water while running around playing soccer. ew.

by the way my car is fine, it just scared me to death!

Ain't that the truth

If I had always gotten what I wanted the last 5 years, I would not have what I have now! I can't imagine being as happy as I am with some of the things I have desperately wanted during these last 5 years of college. God knows what path is best for us. Even though this is often hard for me in the moment I always try to keep this perspective.

4/16/14

I am still a little high on our amazing day yesterday.

Even though it was pretty boring day filled with a conference, and review. It was GREAT!

We started off our first reading day by sleeping in (well sort of I keep waking up around 8am for no reason, but I did lay in bed late). Travis then made me a delicious breakfast.

I rode my bike all over Provo today, I can't wait to do this all the way until winter sets in again (not thinking about it, not thinking about it). I also went running with Megan which is always a good idea.

I also booked a work trip to Texas. Might as well do my grant writing training close to some family I have never gone to visit! I am so excited to go to Texas for the first time! Plus I don't even have to take work off. This summer is shaping out to be AWESOME!

May- St. George and Cancun
June- Real life graduation, no trips... YET!
July- Carrie Underwood at Stadium of fire, Idaho for a reunion, Texas, and Wicked
August- My birthday, Utah Family reunion
September- No school. I'm done with that...what??? Just Orca and the Shine Project for me! :)

Now its time to study since I have been putting it off all day. It's hard to be motivated when I could technically not even take the final and still pass the class.

Miles today:3
Miles this year:10

CRAZY AWESOME WONDERFUL DAY! 4/15/14

Oh. MY. GOSH!!!

Today was insane.

But amazing.

It started out with Travis getting a call at 8:45. When I heard him answering the phone I was like hmmm.... that's weird who calls this early in the morning. I had the faint hope it was Activis, but not much. Activis had told him they would let him know by the end of last week if he got it. Since we didn't hear anything we had our moment of sadness and that was it. So imagine our surprise when he was offered an internship!! HALELUJIAH!!! We are so excited! He will also be working with one of his best friends.

 

Next I headed to class and worked on my last paper of my graduate degree! Due at 5. Turned in a 4:55. Yeah grad school has just taught me how to be a better procrastinator.

I then went to the Utah Public Health Association Conference and worked on my paper until my own presentation. I was surprisingly extremely calm, maybe it was because I was more concerned about finishing my paper. WE also got to hear a lunch speech from a 3 time olympian freestyle skier. She was cool!

After I picked Travis up from school we started planning a vacation!!!!!!!! AH! I am so excited! we are going to cancun, and we are going to swim with Dolphins! How cool is that?? ah. so ready to relax on the beach. mmmm.

Its been quite the day!

4/14/14

Today was busy. I worked worked worked. From 8:30- 5:15 basically. I took one 10 minute bike ride and then my commute ended up being about an hour and half today because there were two really bad crashes on the way home.

I feel good today about how much work I got done. There were down times at my job today where I worked on my MPH project and my GIS paper that is due tomorrow. BLESSING! Tommorrow will be BUSY too.

But I got to come home, help my amazing husband cook a delicious dinner, get my butt kicked in Monopoly (he's winning 1:2) and watch like 4 episodes of House. And I didn't worry about working the whole time, that hasn't happened in a couple of weeks :)

Also, My husband is super hot.

A little encouragement to myself during a super CRAZY week

This week, I have a huge project due that I've barely started. I present at a conference on my project research that I haven't finished, I start my new calling in the Relief Society, I have my first and last final, I have tons of work, and I need to do things that keep me happy in between.

I will make mistakes this week. I will probably be a little mean, a little unproductive, and a little grumpy. But I am going to try to be courteous, kind and happy as I go through this crazy week.

I am not perfect, I do want to change the world, and I am willing to work hard.

4/13/14

Just when you think your plate will be a little lighter... you get called into the relief society presidency. Gah. When Travis got a text from the new second counselor we thought for sure he was getting a calling (cuz he doesn't have one) or we were getting a calling together. Nope, for the second time in this ward the calling was extended to me.

I am excited to be in a position where I will be out of my comfort zone and will be required to meet new people and make new friends, but I am also terrified. The next few months were going to be hard enough without having a calling that takes up a couple hours a week. Travis says the Lord knows how much work I can do, and so he is probably just trying to stretch me even further. Maybe.

I am nervous about the next two months. I am nervous that I can't handle as much as I have taken on. I wish my MPH project was just done, but it's not. I think I can handle everything, but I am gonna be more stressed than I would like.

On the other hand I have been feeling lately like I have been in a rut spiritually. I haven't felt close to the savior. I know this calling will bring me closer to him as I have to rely on him more and understand the love and compassion he has for the women in my ward.

4/12/14

Today was A WONDERFUL DAY!!!

I finished my systematic review. This means one of my 4 jobs is basically over. HALLELUJAH.

Another great thing is that I got to see lots of people I love. I had two bridal showers this afternoon.

The first was my amazing Friend Jaimie's shower. My friends Stacia and Marisa planned it brilliantly. It was the cutest shower i have ever been too, and with the best food. So much to choose from! I haven't laughed so much in a while.

Next I headed over to my cousin Bryce's fiancé Melissa's shower. Melissa and I are actually friends outside of that. We took ballet together about a year ago, and have been friends through the thick and thin of Bryce and her relationship. I got the happy surprise of seeing my Aunt Karen who I don't get to see very often. I also got to meet a bunch of Melissa's family and friends.

When Travis got home we headed to try Mountain West Burrito, people have been raving about it and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I don't know if we got the wrong things, but I did not think it was that great, especially for how expensive it was. Then we cleaned and watched house while I worked. Wonderful saturday night right?

4/11/14

Today was a BLAST! Well it didn't start out that way. I went into my lab at 9 am to work on a project for my last class!! My friend Amanda and I worked together and pretty much realized we had learned nothing in this class. We finally figured out with the help of two pros who had already taken the class (from a different teacher I may add) how to input simple data. Which means I'm probably gonna have to change my whole project because the data set I have is so complicated!

Anyways at noon we had a graduation banquet which was a lot of fun! Good food, good friends, and my husband came too! After that we ventured to the graduate studies office to get our sweet tooth fait cookie since it was National Graduate Student Appreciation Week (what?) went to the Bijou market. The bijou market is put on by a store on center street in orem and brings together around 50 vendors that all handmade their stuff. It was a lot of fun! I bought two bows for my hair and a fun little gift for my favorite baby :)

After the market Travis and I came home and I totally zonked out. I fell asleep for like an hour and a half and was SOOO grumpy when I woke up. Yikes. It took us like an hour to decide where to eat and what to do. We finally decided to head to Zupas, play some soccer, and watch House M.D. I worked whilst watching. I have SO MUCH DUE BEFORE GRADUATION. Why do I do this to myself? ugh.

To do in the next 2-3 weeks

Finish Systematic Review
Finish GIS Project
Take GIS Final
Present MPH Project findings at UPHA conference
Send first draft of MPH project paper to committee chair
Get trained as a Shine Rep
Submit two more grants for work
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

After that it'll be smooth sailing right?

The Shine Project, my new venture

It's not like I have enough jobs right? With school ending I wanted to find something fun to do on the side haha I am so excited! I am officially a Utah State Representative for The Shine Project.

This is an organization I was introduced to about a year ago when my awesome friend and amazing photographer Anna Gleave photographed Ashley LeMieux and her family for Ashley's Blog. 

I started reading her blog and really got emotionally invested in her project. I think you will too (read below or look around her blog)

Basically, it's a fun company that has a social venture side to it, a good percentage of the profits go towards scholarships for inner city youth to go to college. I am a HUGE advocate of Education, and education as the pathway out of the poverty cycle.  The Shine Project not only provides these kids with money but Ashley holds a weekly club meeting at their high school where they perform service throughout their community. She is very involved and invested in the success of these amazing kids who didn't get to choose their situation and are working hard to improve it.

I never thought I would ever want to do anything related to sales by choice. This cause has changed that. This is something I am doing for fun and believe in. Let me know if you are interested in buying jewelry, donating to the charity, or hosting a threads party!

Here's a look into some of the jewelry, cute right?? Great gifts. They also have some apparel as well!





This video does a great job explaining The Shine Project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbsHKqvfVRQ#aid=P9qdFvoIsmY

Here is a little background on The Shine Project from Ashley's blog:

The Shine Scholarship Project is a non-profit that was created to put our beliefs in action. Its mission is to improve the lives of at-risk teens through service, education, and family involvement. We do service projects with inner city students every other week to teach them the leadership skills that are necessary for them to succeed. The money we raise goes to sending these leaders to college, so they can give back to society.You can read more about how to get involved HERE.

Threads is a company Ashley founded to help finance The Shine Project and Shine Scholarships:

We just launched a new company, Threads. Your purchase helps give at risk youth a job and allows them to pay their way through college. You can shop here. 


I will be attending events and hosting parties and selling these wonderful goods to those who are interested :) Please let me know by texting me if you have my number or emailing me at jexii91@gmail.com if you would like to hold a private party in Utah or just want to buy some beautiful product from me, I will come to you if I can!