Decompressing from work

Decompressing, letting go of the stress of the work day... I am so not good at it yet.

When come home from work I am often stressed. I either want to be alone and do my own thing or I snap at my husband for stupid reasons. Not the best.

Ive realized this week that I need to find a way to de-stress when I get home from work. I need something that takes 10-15 minutes and helps me let go and enjoy the time I have at home. I need to enjoy the rest of my life.

I am thinking I need to read, meditate, walk around the block, or do some yoga. I think I'll try them  all and see what happens.

Today was especially stressful day at work. Not a bad day, just some tight deadlines that I was concerned we wouldn't meet. They day went by SUPER FAST, and before I knew it it was 4pm and I hadn't eaten lunch. If you know me, that is strange. The good thing is that we had had a huge company breakfast when I got to work, but still not acceptable.

I am still getting the hang of this full-time job thing, I hope soon that it will seem more natural!

K seriously qualtrics is the best

Oh my gosh I love my job I love my job! We had our summer party last night and OH MY GOSH. SO MUCH fun!!!

It started out with getting a bunch of qualtrics swag (2 cute shirts, and sweater, a hat, and the coolest socks!!) Then getting a bunch of food truck dollars (there were like 10 to choose from, we even had a bunch left over than we gave to people). Then there were all kinds of carnival games, bounce houses, slides, pony rides, a petting zoo, an awesome DJ. Plus we ran into a bunch of people we knew and just had a blast!!!

I kind of took a gazillion pictures but I want to remember these parties :) Oh also I won $100 in a raffle. So you could say it was a good night!!!!

I started a little running group

Since I am training for a half marathon I have to be running 5 days a week, and its hard for me to run by myself. Especially when I need to run, which is in the morning.

I decided it would be fun to start a running group with some people in my ward because I have been wanting to make some new friends. We've done it twice this week and its been a blast!!! I love having a running buddy and getting to know some new girls in our ward.

One of the girls even introduced me to an awesome trail that is right by our houses that I hadn't noticed! way better than running in the streets or on the broken sidewalks!

I also feel great at work after I've run, since I sit at a computer all day. I really hope this continues, because it makes my day that much better.

No good deed goes unpunished

I am obviously still on my WICKED high. But I want to write my thoughts on this topic.

"Was I really seeking good, or just seeking attention"

I think this is a question I HAVE to ask myself.

To me serving others is a very important thing. Giving of yourself is important. But I think there can be very selfish reasons for serving people. I think I have had selfish reasons for helping out in the past. Whether that has been to make myself feel better or to get attention.

For example, sometimes when I serve others I notice I cannot stop bringing it up after the fact, which is definitely for attention. My goal is to serve more and talk about it less. To really do it for other people and not for myself.

I miss WICKED already!!! Here's to hoping it comes back soon :)

This weekend was so fun, I was sad when it ended. We spent sunday at Travis' parents house where we played with nieces and ate good food. I love that I inherited nieces when Travis and I got married, they are so adorable. And love me more than Travis :)

It was a Wicked day with my family

For Easter my mom got me and my little sis tickets to Wicked. We have been waiting for months!! I can't believe the day finally came! Katelyn had never seen Wicked so my mom and me were excited to experience it with her. We had kind of sucky seats, but it still did not disappoint. I didn't remember how funny the play was!

The rest of the day included shopping at the outlets, shopping at city creek, and lunch at blue lemon. I had the best time!!! Shopping was a lot of fun because I got to pick out some birthday presents (I turn 23 next Sunday!!! weird)

Runnin with my Boy!

We found this gem on our run tonight. Cute little bridge and a little house with the coolest eating area almost hanging over the river (not sure how safe it is).

I am loving my half training. I have 18 weeks to be in the best shape to beat my PR (which I need to look up). I even convinced my mom and sister to run it with us. So basically my evil plan of getting my whole family healthy is working! :) 

My husband has always insisted that he doesn't enjoy running with me (apparently I talk to much and take too many breaks) so we have only gone together twice in the last year. but we are going to change that attitude cuz last nights run was SO MUCH FUN!! I just love being around that guy, talking and laughing with him. The time also went by really fast because of this, and when you are just starting to get back into running you need that. 

At the end of our run Travis was like, "man you know your running shoes were dirty when they are cleaner at the end of your run than they were at the beginning." hahaha

Oh yeah, and this happened, its official!!

Miles this week: 8.5

Miles this Year: 56

Getting back to reading

Sometimes I need to take a break from reading. I needed to take a break during the last couple months of my master's program. I was reading so much for classes that I just couldn't imagine wanting to sit down with a book after. I wanted to either get out and do something active or watch tv and not think too much.

Now its time to get back. These are the next 5 books on my reading list. What are you reading? I love recommendations!

1.  Attached: The new science of adult attachment (I started this awhile ago and never finished, time to finish)

 2. The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life, This book got great reviews!

 3. The Screwtape Letters, I have had this book on my shelf for months CS Lewis is always a good read

 4. Here Comes Everybody

 5. The Great Influenza: another one I started awhile ago and want to finish

I have only read 9 books this year, witch a goal of reading 50, I need to get to it if I am going to make that! Any recommendations?

Redneck Air Conditioning

I got these cute photo decals from paperculture.com not only do they have cute stuff like this but they plant a tree for every order on their site! Cool Huh? I found them on Groupon and it was so fun to decide which 16 photos I wanted to document the last year of life. I decided not to include any wedding pictures since those are EVERYWHERE in our house already. 

After 3-4 years of service it is time to retire my running shoes. I bought these back when I had ZERO money but wanted to start running more. They are super cheap nike's, but they did the trick. I managed to train for and run 2 half marathons. Planning on getting some new ones on my shopping/wicked weekend with my mom and sister!

Also, we have officially gone hillbilly. This is our reaction to no air conditioning. Looking up crazy DIY solutions. haha but it works great.

Surprise dates may or may not be my favorite thing

Okay, they are my favorite thing. I love surprising travis with fun adventurous dates! It is SO MUCH FUN!!! Most of my awesome ideas come from groupon which is great because it means I am getting deals right? haha I plan a surprise date every 2-3 months depending on if I have a great idea or not. 

We zip lined down provo canyon with adventure zip-line. They have 5 zip-lines ranging from 500-1500 feet in length. Seriously so much fun!! Our guide also just happened to be one of my long lost freshman friends (we were in the same FHE group and did the same major!) it was fun to catch up with her. 

On Sunday I got to cook in parents finally finished newly remodeled kitchen. BEAUTIFUL right?? my mom isn't huge into cooking, which i think is a shame with such a beautiful place to do it so she asked me to cook for our bi-monthly dinner. I cooked Mongolian beef with rice and broccoli. SO YUMMY. It was weird having my mom ask for directions from me, but I enjoyed it all. She invited me to cook every sunday we are there, and I accepted. I mean how can I pass that up??

After dinner we headed to a Joshua Creek devotional concert. It totally just felt like summer. We lounged in lawn chairs and in the grass and listened to some good ole fashioned sunday tunes. I had a lot of fun!

Miles this weekend: 3
Miles this year: 47.5

On feeling single when you are married

It happened. Everyone said it would, and for some reason I didn't believe it.

My husband and I never see each other.

We were spoiled the first 6 months of our marriage. I had 3 jobs and school, but I worked from home for all of them so even though I was working a lot it could be with him. plus neither of us had to be up early so we could stay up till 11 or 12 every night and it was NBD.

Now we both have full-time jobs and with his commute, and both of our callings (relief society presidency, young mens presidency) + extra curricular activities (qualtrics soccer, Actavis softball, the bachellorette) we see each other 1-2 hours a day before we have to sleep to start the crazy days all over again.

I am not trying to complain, just documenting what our life is like right now.

We live for the weekends when we can spend tons of time together. We have a lot going on this weekend. BBQ in Lehi with my classmates with a wedding reception after. Running for me/basketball for him, tennis with friends, and a surprise date on saturday. Dinner at my parents sunday (i get to cook in my moms newly remodeled kitchen :D) and then a little devotional concert (Joshua Creek) with my family.

We also got our wedding photos that we printed today!!! LOVE THEM!!! It was fun to trade out some of our bridals we have up for some wedding day photos :)