Throwback Thursday: Story time 1

You might not know that Travis and I have been friends since we were 15. We have a pretty complicated liking each other history that came along with being moody teenagers. honestly if you had told me at 16 that Travis and I would be married when we were 22, I probably would have gagged (That was during the I don’t like Travis phase), but at 15 I would have swooned at the thought. 

My favorite thing is that I was an AVID journal writer all throughout high school. I wrote down every single thought in my head (this isn’t always a good thing). I have my first impressions of Travis in print and our ups and downs. I want to start telling those stories on my blog every week so I can keep an extra record of them, its also fun to reminisce. 

I distinctly remember the first time I met Travis. We had just moved (again) to Utah this time and I was soooooo mad about it. It was our first week at our new church. I walked into the 14 year old class and saw Travis. Never had I seen a more “hott” (my exact words in my journal) boy in my life!! I got all flustered and was suddenly excited about the prospect of living in this new place. 

What a dream boat!

Listening to your body during training

Last weekend I ran hard and my ankle started hurting. I cut my run in half because i didn't want to hurt it. I then took the next week off from running. going for more walks and still doing yoga. I think I am going to have to take this week off too. I ran on saturday with my mom and my shins seemed to start hurting too... I don't know whats going on, but sometimes you need to listen to your body and take some time off.

Travis thinks it may be something to do with my shoes not supporting the arch in my foot, so I am going to look into that before the week is over. Hopefully thats the problem because I really want to be able to run my half.

Taylor Mania

1989 is finally here, I've only been waiting 2 years! 

I am a Taylor fanatic. Just ask my sophomore roommates after speak now came out, they banned it from our apartment. Or my husband who now has to suffer through at least 6 months of 1989 Taylor’s new album. 

She is just perfect, wholesome, and quite lovely. She can make no mistake in my eyes. I love that she has followed her passion and moved onto pop. 

And just in case you think I am a banwagoner, you would be wrong. I’ve loved Taylor since my dad showed me tim mcgraw on CMTs country countdown so many years ago. I have the album collection to prove it. I think Taylors album are the only physical CD’s Ive bought post iTunes. haha Not pictured about 1st CD “Taylor” and christmas CD. Also not quite sure where my RED CD cover went. 

Her new CD is awesome. Taylor is so good at finding trends, and coming up with that perfect line that everyone can relate to. 

My favorite songs on this new album include: Blank space, style, I wish you would, 

How you get the girl, You are in love (deluxe version only). 

But really i like them all. If she hits 1 Million in this week she will be the first person to ever do that with 3 albums. I am rooting for her, and so is the music industry in general, they need her. So go out and buy it. 

Here are some amazing articles you should read about her and this album: Slate, NY Times, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Buzzfeed. Can you tell i'm obsessed yet?

Not a huge Halloween fan

In case you didn't know, halloween is my least favorite holiday of the year. Its filled with creepy or "scary" things, the need to be creative in coming up with a costume, a lot of annoying parties when I was single etc.

I pretty much have only ever liked the candy and I can buy that myself. haha

We did this weekend do something very festive. We went to Nightmare on Thirteenth in Salt Lake with some of my best friends. It was a blast watching everyone else scream. Travis and I aren't super jumpy people, and haunted houses have never had anything that actually scares me. I am too much of a realist in my head I am like I know you can't hurt me for real so why would I be scared? But it was fun to be with friends and make fun of them and everyone else. haha

We also had dinner at Red Iguana in Salt Lake. I really wanted to try for Alamexo because I have heard so much about it, but we tried to make reservations too late. All that said, Red Iguana did not disappoint. My carne asada tacos with guacamole hit the spot. This was definitely one of the most successful married group dates Ive been on.

We are doing a lot this week to "celebrate" Halloween this week as well. Ward trunk or treat, its all for the kids. Qualtrics Halloween party, trick or treating with our nieces, and my grandpa's birthday party (he usually gets the shaft cuz his birthday is on a holiday). Now thanksgiving and Christmas, those are holidays I can get behind.

This weekend we also finally took my brother out for his birthday. We went to Provo Beach resort, played a ton of awesome arcade games (we won't talk about how bad he beat me at connect four), did the ropes course, and had some delicious blue bell ice cream to top it off. Then when we dropped him off back at my parents we had the lucky surprise of family we didn't realize would be in town!

Sunday was church and taking an accidental two hour nap that left us feeling like we had been hit by a truck. We've decided naps are never a good idea. haha Then we had delicious french dip sandwiches at my parents and tons of delectable cookies. YUM.

This week is going to be hectic at work and something is wrong with my running (taking an indefinite break right now), so hopefully I get to go to lots of yoga.

Miles this week: 10

Miles this year: 230.5

The best pinterest treats you can find

My favorite thing for pinterest is definitely recipes. We cook and bake a lot. It saves money and is delicious, plus it is something Travis and I can do together or do for each other.

We have discovered quite the plethora of delectable goodies on pinterest. These are our favorite treats we have tried so far. 

Slow cooker cinnamon almonds

These remind us of fall and football games. They are healthy... because they are almonds right?

Andes Mint Cookies

Ive been making these for over a year now and they never disappoint. I always get compliments on them when bringing to them to a party. 

Carmelitas

I am obsessed with carmel. These are the most delicious things I have ever made. I changed the recipe a bit, using milk chocolate chips and adding in some butterscotch chips. Oh my gosh. Heaven, straight from heaven. 

Why yoga is becoming so important to me

Does anyone else have a hard time making time to just relax? because I sure do.

I enjoy living my life one activity after the next. While my husband has helped me slow down a bit, I like that yoga forces me to relax while giving me a crazy good workout.

Yoga is a great stress reliever.
Yoga is great exercise.
Yoga turns your brain off to the outside world.
Yoga makes you sweat.
Yoga allows me to push myself.
Yoga makes me feel strong.
Yoga is a great girls night activity.
Yoga is a great place to make new friends.
Yoga is fun.
Yoga is the best.

Right now I attend 2 classes at 3B yoga (thank you job perks for giving me a half off membership). I go on wednesday nights with my mom and Friday afternoons with Travis' cousins wife (mouthful). I love having a buddy when I go.

Once I am finished running my half I am thinking I'll switch most of my exercise to yoga. I am thinking 3-4 times a week.

In case you need anymore proof that yoga is the best, check out this photo from a couple weeks ago. Thats me and my mom looking out the window. Breathtaking.

Long hair don't care

2 years ago my hair was dead and completely lifeless. I knew it was time to chop it to bring the life back into it. I had never had short hair before and thought it would be a fun change. At that point I realized I needed to start taking care of my hair.

Left: long damaged hair | Right: Short healthy hair

I get asked a lot how I keep my hair so healthy. In the last two years I chopped my hair to my shoulders and now its longer than its ever been in my life. Here are some of the things I have learned about my hair throughout this growing process.

For the first 6 months after I got my hair chopped I used heat on it maybe 2 or 3 times. My short hair dried incredibly fast and is stick straight so it wasn't a bid deal to air dry. About a week after I chopped it I also went to Europe for a month and didn't have room for any heat tools which helped me get into the habit of not using heat. I did lots of ponytails, braids and twists to keep it interesting.

My hair is incredibly dry on the ends, I have bad dandruff, and my hair is INCREDIBLY oily. Ive learned the best thing for my hair is to go 2-3 days without washing it. This was so hard to do at first because my hair literally looked wet after a day of not washing it. EW. but I trained it and now its easy to go that long.

I don't really have a go to shampoo, except that I use head and shoulders dandruff shampoo a couple of times a week. My biggest secret is the moisturizer I put on the ends after every shower. I really feel like this has helped my hair fight split ends in the dry climate of Utah. I use Ion moisturizer solutions intense hydration and get it at Sally's for like $10 every 6 months to a year. I only put it on my ends otherwise my head would be a greasball.

I still try to use heat on my hair once a week or less. This means I don't blow dry it ever and I curl it maybe once a week. I also get it cut every 4-6 months taking off about an inch to get rid of the dead ends.

These techniques made my hair grow fast and super strong. If your hair is dead I suggest cutting it all off and starting from scratch.

The best part about healthy hair is that I don't get sick of it and I don't have to do much to it. My typical hair styles are: straight, fun braids, bun or curls. I plan on keeping it long until i get sick of it, so who knows I could chop it tomorrow. 

Weekend recap.

This week was soooo busy at work. and next week is going to be crazier. I needed this weekend.

Friday after work I went to my usual yoga class, and it kicked my but. That night Travis had some friends in town so after we cooked some delicious dinner together we went our separate ways. I went shopping with my friend Megan and bought a beautiful fall grey pea coat at H&M. Im in love with it.

Afterwards we went back to my house and binge watched gilmore girls. It was a great idea.

Saturday we started out with our ward service project cleaning up yards and helping someone move. I then ran 7 miles. I was supposed to run 10 but my ankle started hurting. I am thinking I may need to take a couple of days off if the hurt doesn't go away.

Then we grabbed some gandolfos and hurried to get ready to meet my parents at the Timapnogos LDS temple.

My little brother just turned 12 so he got to go for the first time! It was so fun to watch him, he cried because he was so happy, and it was adorable. It was so fun to be in the temple with almost my whole family (Come-on jake why are you in Spain?). We got to do some family names that Travis' grandparents gave us. I loved the feeling of our families meshing.

I finally remembered to bring my fancy camera somewhere important :)

After the temple we headed to Fongs, our favorite chinese food place on the planet. We joke about how we don't want to tell people about it because we don't want it to get busier. If I could eat there everyday I probably would. Good thing its just a little too far away to do that.

Next we saw, "Meet the Mormons." I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the movie. They really did show a diverse group of members of the LDS church and did a great job explaining who we are and why we do what we do. My favorite story was of the couple in Costa Rica. The wife is a fighter and so hard core. They really seem to have a grasp on balancing responsibility and what they love to do.

Sunday we went to church and hung out with Travis' family. Still getting used to this whole 9 o'clock church thing....

Miles this week: 20

Miles this year: 220.5

My weekend Jam.

In case you didn't know,  I love Taylor. A lot. I'll be jamming to this all weekend

Delicious recipes I've tried recently

Follow the great recipes Ive tried board. These are tried and true, I don't post anything that I didn't love.

Creamy Zucchini rigatoni

Oh my gosh. This is probably the best pasta dish I have made from pinterest. You have to try it. Incredible. And it has veggies! 

White Chicken Chili

I love this recipe because it have 5-7 ingredients and took 10 minutes to whip up. I would probably lower the amount of chicken stock to 4 cups next time tho. I also used black beans, which I like the best. 

Zupas tomato basil soup w/orzo pasta

We've been experimenting with tomato basil soup recipes lately and this is the best one we have found so far. Add a little orzo pasta and it feels like you are right at Zupas! 

Baked chicken fajitas

Another recipe to rave about. So easy and delicious. We heated up some uncooked tortillas and filled them with this as well as some guacamole. Couldn't get any better. 

10 things to do after work to de-stress

Work is my life now if you couldn't tell. Something that Ive noticed in these last 4 months of working full-time is that I have to do something to de-stress from work or I let the stress of work take over and seep into my home life. Here are some of the things I do to de-stress from work:

1. Take a walk outside
2. Go for a run
3. Go to a yoga class or meditate for 15 minutes
4. Look up something funny online (Youtube/pinterest)
5. Spend 15 minutes reading a book
6. Take a long shower or bath
7. Do something nice for someone
8. Take a nap
9. Change into more comfy clothes and drink some hot cocoa
10. Blast your favorite song on your commute home and sing your heart out.

I do not think its a good idea to just veg looking at your phone/computer checking up on social media, after staring at my computer/phone all day I spend at least my first hour at home disconnected. I need a real transition in between home and work.

What tips do you have for de-stressing after a long day at work?

Our little weekend

A lot of things fell through this weekend. But there was a lot of good as well.

Failures:
1. forgot my sports bra for yoga class, used a regular bra, had to not participate in a lot because of this.
2. Travis pulled his hamstring so that cancelled out lunch hike plan
3. Real salt lake game was sold out so we drove up to Sandy for nothing

Successes:
1. Ran 10 miles with my mom! Fall Runs up the canyon are the ideal running environment.
2. Got to have basically 3 days of cuddling and taking care of my husband
3. Hung out with family and friends sunday and watched all of our wedding videos. I love mine so much.
4. Got to eat cubbys and shakes on the way home from Sandy cuz we deserved it.

This last week wasn't too bad actually I ran, did yoga, cooked some delicious meals, and got to meet my cousins new baby in the hospital. The weeks go by so fast, when it gets to the weekend I am like oh man I didn't write down anything about this week. Oh well. and it continues. haha

Miles this week: 20
Miles this year: 200.5

you've got mail!

When I was a little kid getting mail was basically the best thing on the planet. And you know whats crazy, my excitement for getting mail is basically unchanged from then to now.

Especially now that there is such a thing called, "online shopping"

I almost would rather buy things online instead of real shopping because it will come in the mail. Weird right?

When you get home from a long day at work and you see that package on your doorstep it just makes your eyes light up and you get a little hop in your step. Am I right?

At the moment I am waiting on two packages in the mail: some new fall boots and some new workout clothes. STOKED.

This makes me think I should do some kind of monthly box. Any suggestions? I also think it would be fun to start having a pen pal postcards letters whatever it sounds like a great idea.

Dreams.

Laughter is the best kind of exercise

Via Pinterest

You could say we like to laugh and do it often. We obviously have abs of steal because of it!

Got some pretty new photos

One of my friends and her husband just started a photography business. Its something fun they can do together, which I love. Check it out here.

They graciously took some lovely photos of as at the Riverwoods. It was such a beautiful fall day! Perfect for photos.

I've never taken photos with two photographers before, so it felt a little bit like we had the paparazzi after us. Everyone needs that feeling at least once. haha

Here are some of my favorites: