4th of July Craft

Last weekend I had a fun time with a previous manager of mine making a festive 4th of July wreath. It was so fun and it turned out so cute. I forgot to take pictures before hand but here's the finished product:

Here's some more examples of some wreaths that Jenn has made and I thought they were so cute that I wanted to include them here:

It was so much fun and I love how the finished product turned out. I got a blister from a burn from the hot glue gun that hurt so bad but it was still worth it. I'm looking forward to making another one in the fall for Halloween. I'll post pictures so that you can see it :)

Spa Day

A while back when I was having a meeting with my boss he suggested that I take a personal day off and do something for me so that I can just get a break and be rejuvenated so that I can be at my best in my job & be 100% at it 100% of the time. So I did and I decided that I wanted to actually DO something on my day off other than bum around my apartment. So I made an appointment at a spa. A really nice spa too.

Amara Day Spa is AMAZING. And I loved it. I am now a firm believer in taking personal days and treating yourself every once in a while. I keep telling everyone that I know to visit a spa at least once so that you can feel pampered. I felt so pampered. Especially because I was doing it all for no particular reason other than for me and to feel good about myself. 


I put a spa package that I got included an Amara Signature Pedicure, Manicure, Pumpkin Peel Exfoliant Facial, Deep Condition with Style, and a Full Makeover. If I had just gotten the facial, manicure, and pedicure it would have been totally worth it. I felt so relaxed and pampered. I'm totally hooked on the pedicure that I got and I'll probably go back for another every few months. Love, love, loved it so much!! There are not words for how amazingly nice it was to just feel so taken care of. I loved the girl that did most of my stuff and if/when I do go back I'll only see her again :)


A quote by Oscar Wilde perfectly sums up my feelings on the whole "me" day:


"I think it's very healthy to spend time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not be defined by another person."  


I feel that I've mastered having alone time and learning to enjoy it. I don't need to be defined by another person. I'm just me & I'm okay with that :)

New Place

Moving is the pits and I hate it. So much. The packing, the cleaning, the ACTUAL moving, the unpacking, the organizing. It all stinks. On the bright side it's a good way to de-junk and get rid of un-needed stuff.

With that being said, I moved to a new apartment at the beginning of the month. It's a place called Banbridge Square on the corning of 600 N and 300 E in Provo. The whole moving thing was a pain! Down 2 flights of stairs with all of my stuff and then up 5!! Luckily I have my own personal super hero that came to my rescue and helped me move all my stuff :)

It's SO nice to have roommates again. Living along is nice but it starts getting a little lonely after a while so I'm glad that I have some now. Not just glad that I have roommates but that I'm living with some AMAZING girls that I've known for a few years. Love those girls!!

We'll only be together through the end of the summer and then I'll start another new adventure. I'm not sure if I'll stay here or try & sell my contract and move. I learned from a horrible experience last year that I don't like living with people that I don't know. In the past it worked out well for me but then last year was horrible so we'll see how I like it here and what happens.

Best Boss Ever

The last couple of weeks (well month, actually) I have been extremely stressed out at my job. Way more stressed out than I think I've ever been at my job whatsoever. Let's just say that I was hating my job & hating the things that were happening around me and I didn't have the best attitude. I was overly emotional and I don't think I was being the kind of leader that my team needed me to be. 

Wow...that's a little depressing. But the story gets a better. Promise. 

Thursday night I stopped by manager's office to tell him something and he asked me if I was alright. For those of you who know me, you probably know that my face is practically an open book and my emotions are always written on my face. Let's just say that when I told him I was fine he didn't believe me and told me to sit down so we could talk about what was bothering me. 

Almost immediately after sitting down I started balling for absolutely no reason other than I was super stressed out. The first thing he said was "man, I can't find my kleenix." We talked for at least a half hour about everything that had me stressed out. The conclusion that we came to was I was spreading myself too thing and trying to do things that I thought were my job when I should be focusing on the stuff that the managers and directors want me to focus on. 

I felt so dumb just sitting there crying like a little girl but I had been so emotional the last week because I felt like whenever I went to a meeting I was being told that I wasn't doing my job well enough or being good enough. I felt so much anxiety when I went to work everyday and I felt that at any given moment I was going to be shown the door. 

Luckily, all of those feelings are gone. I feel good about my job and I don't feel like I suck at my job anymore. I just had to let it all go. I realized that a lot of the stuff that I was stressed about were things that I didn't need to worry about. I also realized that even though I get so many emails every single day. I don't need to constantly be at my computer to look at them & I don't need to be constantly answering them either. It's okay if a little time goes by before they are taken care of. Ya know? Just with that knowledge I think my stress level went down.

After my little meeting, my boss had me just take a little break, get drink, and take a little walk outside before going back to work. Let's just say that after I've cried I have the reddest, puffiest eyes ever so I didn't exactly look like I was okay but it is what it is. One of the supervisors I work with took one look at me and asked me "okay, who do I need to beat up?" I love the guys that I work with. They always take care of me whether it's listening to me rant and rave about something that's bothering me or being the overprotective big brother type. 

My new quote to live by: "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." - Abraham Lincoln 

So I'll just decide to be happy and so I shall be. Happy & stress free. Thanks, Chuckles, you made my week & put everything in perspective for me. Thanks for being the best boss a girl could ask for. 

New Chapter...or...rereading an Old Chapter?

I wrote this on Saturday...not sure why I didn't it post it then...so here it is...

Today was a little bittersweet for me. Today was my last day working in my current position at my job. I love it and I'm said that I have to leave that job. I'm going back to my old job but it's gonna be a little different than it was before.

At work, we are in the process of merging 2 departments so everyone is going through training on the opposite departments job. Since I'm going back to my old job as a supervisor I have to go through training. Before starting my gig as supervisor again I'm going to do an 8 day training course which starts on Monday. I'm excited for it yet a little scared at the same time. In order to keep my job I have to not only go through the training but also pass a test... I haven't taken a test in about 2 years!!! Crazy, I know. I'm nervous yet excited at the same time.

March in Review

I really should blog more often... for some reason I just find other things that I would rather do, haha.

I went to my first professional soccer game (Real Salt Lake). It was tons of fun and I was definitely NOT in Provo anymore, haha. It was good to spend some time with my good friend, Jenny. Who I hadn't really seen in FOREVER. Hopefully we'll go to another game when she gets back from Africa :)

The Hunger Games came out in March too!!! Love that movie, haha. Sometimes I really don't like how movies that are made from books turn out but I LOVED how this one was done. I got tickets to the midnight showing and went to see it with my good friends Ashley and Jared. I miss having them around all the time. Why would they be so silly as to go and get married? Haha, just kidding. This movie will definitely be added to my movie collection once it comes out on DVD :) Installment number 2 (Catching Fire) is set to come out 11.22.13!!! So excited!!

Earlier in March, I registered for my third 5k! I'll be running Color Me Rad on April 28th. The cool thing about this 5k is that it is similar to the Festival of Colors. While you don't get chalk thrown at you the whole 3.2 miles, there are 4 different "Color Me" Stations along the course so by the end of it I'll be covered. So excited for it!! The best part is that I get to run it for free! I got a voucher for the race from work just for sharing it on Facebook. Love my job! I'm pretty sure quite a few people that I'm working with are running it too so it'll be nice to do a charity event with my co-workers. A portion of the race proceeds will go to Utah Valley University Scholarships. Check out the website and come run the race with me :)

Near the beginning of March I was able to talk to Elder Winegardner. My little brother was in the MTC until the end of February and got temporarily assigned to serve in Spokane, Washington while he waited for his visa to come through. It took him waiting in Washington for 10 days before he came through. The day that he was flying to Guadalajara, Mexico he called me from the airport. It was so nice getting to talk to him. Jimmy may be 5 years younger than me but ever since he started college we've turned into great friends. I miss having him around but he's doing what he should be doing at this stage in his life. I love getting to hear how things are going on his mission and getting to see pictures of the people he's teaching.

I also discovered that the Provo City Library does e-lending for eBook-readers. LOVE it!! I love that I can get library books to read on my Kindle. It's super convenient because I can just look for books from home rather than going to the library & I don't have to buy a book every time I want to read one. Love where technology is taking the world sometimes :)

Dentist

I've been paying for dental insurance for a while now and have never used it... So I finally found a dentist and made an appointment for a teeth cleaning last month. Before my appointment I hadn't been to the dentist in 3+ years..... I know I shouldn't have gone that long but time just seems to get away from you. I went in for my appointment and came out with no cavities. Pretty impressive after 3 years, don't ya think? My dentist kept telling my over and over again how beautiful my teeth and that I take really good care of them at home. They had better be beautiful since I had to have braces for over 2 years.