Haven't written in a while...

I can't believe how long it has been since I've written a post! I really had wanted to write at least once a day when I first stareted this blog. But to tell you the truth, I don't have much to write about! Today is Wednesday and it is going wonderfully.

Today I am loving...

• The fact that I have wonderful friends who encourage me on! I have started my card business and already have 47 orders!! I am thrilled.
  
• My husband... we met for lunch at Arby's and had turkey bacon wraps and great conversation. Love that man! I am so incredibly blessed. Just thinking about him brings a smile to my face.
  
• Our Truck. It's so fun to drive, and today I am appreciating it very much
• Lists... I have this sudden urge to make lots of lists!
• My new heat embossing tool. I love what I can do with that thing!
• The light snow falling outside... not too cold but so peaceful
• The fact that I am moving into my new apartment NEXT WEEK and it has a fireplace!!! Yippee! So excited about that.
  

Well, it will be a pretty busy next few days. I am going to have to make a bunch of cards (which will be a fun thing to do), pack, and get a new haircut! On top of that I will be going to my very first scrapbooking club on Friday and then to my friend Amy's book club on Saturday! I love my life right now!

I have such wonderful friends!

14 series pendant lights by Omer Arbel
MUJI Puzzle Cookies

Both found on this new place that I discovered: http://www.betterlivingthroughdesign.com
It's incredible!! Anyway, I love that light fixture.... it's beautiful and the puzzle cookie cutters are ingenious!! I want to make everyone some puzzle cookies!

Okay... I have such wonderful friends at work. They encourage me so much. Yesterday my friend Amy straight out told me that my life needs to start NOW. She said that I can't wait to start living my dreams and start my little business until it's too late... so, I am starting it... kind of... giving it a trial run at least before I make any major commitments. I don't want to let out my idea until everything is all set it stone, but for now, I am starting it off with making cards. I don't mind telling other people that because a lot of people make cards :^) So, I am going to start with Valentines cards. I have already recieved an order of about 30. I don't want to overwhelm myself at first because it's still a trial run, but it's gonna be fun! Amy is spreading the word to help me out. Whenever someone has a birthday at work, I make the Birthday cards, so a lot of people already know my style. It makes me so excited. I'm still not very knowlegeable but I have SO many ideas! I guess that is why I am starting to take some classes so that I can learn new techniques and expand my possibilities. My mom and I actually attended a stamping class over the weekend and I learned a lot. I learned how to emboss using stamps, embossing powder and heat... which is so cool!! I wanted to try and save money by not buying a embossing heat tool, but figured out later that hairdryers don't work (although my class teacher told me they would). So, Adam said I can get one :^) I am SOOOOOOOOOO excited, and so grateful for my supportive friends.

I don't know how many people actually read this blog... I've started it more for my own good because I like to keep a journal and I find it easier to make time for typing rather than writing sometimes. Also, it's a place I can keep a record of all the cool websites/blogs that I find. Just an explanation for any stragglers who happen upon this blog... but you're certainly welcome to read.

BTW... jusut updated my links on the left... catagorized them a little better for my own sake. Some day (soon I hope) I will have a website for all this stuff.

Collage

I got bored last night and pulled out my flower punch and started punching all these different textures and patterns from magazines and catalogs and paper I just had laying around. It was fun! I actually gave me some other good ideas for collages and scrapbooking :^)

Feeling better than ever

I have felt SO GOOD the past few days. I have been eating pretty well and going to the gym religiously. I have always 'liked' going to the gym... never really felt like I hated it, but now I LOVE it and get all giddy about going. I don't know what it is! Even when I go to my kickboxing class in the mornings at church, I STILL want to go to the gym as well! And eating... I've started bringing my lunch to work and I pack it full of stuff. That has really helped me to eat better. Today I brought Healthy Choice soup, two Gala apples (my fave), Kashi granola bar, sliced cucumbers, rice cakes and a sweet potato. That should last me for my 8 hour day at work. Oh, and I brought some Lemon Zinger herbal tea. I really like sipping on herbal tea throughout the day because sometimes I think I eat out of boredom, and having something to sip on keeps me busy. I don't add any sugar to it, so it doesn't always taste the greatest, but it still manages to taste good enough for me to enjoy.

SO anyway, ever since I joined Gold's Gym I have been going to the same location... it started to get a little out of date but I still loved it. When that Gym first opened, there was a nice fountain in the entrance and the Cardio Theater was my favorite thing to do. Even when they opened a brand new high-tech gym across town, I preferred this location. First of all because it was familiar, second because the new gym was where all the college kids went to pick up the opposite sex and show off. Then they closed my gym :^( They built another new one to replace it. I was so sad... almost felt like I didn't even want to work out anymore. We went to the first new one a few times but it was always SO crowded... with good-looking, intimidating college kids. Then a friend at work told me to try the NEW new one. I was a little skeptical that it would be the same, but she said there weren't a lot of crowds and that it was just as nice but cozier. So Adam and I checked it out last night and my friend was right! I have found my new favorite place to go, and I love it. It is in an area where a lot of families live, so there aren't nearly as many young singles go there and there are open machines! Although it's a little bit farther, we are going to start going to it. I could spend all day there!!!

On top of finding my new favorite gym, there are some other good things that came out of going to the gym yesterday!!! I saw one of my good good friends there that I haven't seen or spoken with since the day I got married! (6 months). We talked for forever and it sure was nice. She invited me to come to Yoga with her from now on... I've always wanted to do that!! Just never by myself... and now I have a friend to go with! We got to catch up on a lot of things. It's just always so nice to run into an old friend... one you've had for a long time... one who even if you don't talk to each other for six months, you just pick up where you left off like there's never been any absence from each other. I love that.

I have been doing pretty well on my New Years resolutions so far. I have been trying really hard and it has all paid off. Things that used to take a lot of effort are becoming easy and natural. I am on the road to doing more things that I love... I have joined a book club, a scrapbooking club, a cooking club and sewing group. Haven't started any of them yet, but I am looking forward to it! I have learned to have more patience with the people I seem to spend the most time with... (people at work). I have developed my faith more and am starting to become closer to the person I want to be. It just feels great.

My Weekend

My weekend was wonderful! Can't say I got much accomplished except for a lot of rest and time with Adam. I definitely would not call it a waste of time though. Adam and I went shopping and bought ALL health food. It's wonderful. As long as there is no junk food around the house, I can usually go without it. But since I consider myself a sugar addict (although I love healthy food as well) being around sugar is not a good thing. Adam and I have discovered the most delicious and wonderful snack. Kashi Granola bars. All natural and delicious! We also love their Shredded Wheat Cereal with Rice Milk. I started looking at the ingredients on regular cereals and can't believe I don't know what half of that stuff is!! So I'm excited that I have found some delicious organic cereal that doesn't have all that hydrogenated stuff in it.

Working out has been going great. I am falling in love with going to the gym now that I have my MP3 player. It's just so handy, and I can even listen to my favorite music while I am lifting weights and doing abs. Love it. I went to Kickboxing class this morning but feel I could use another workout this evening. I am actually very excited about it. I want to run on the treadmill in the Cardio Theater as I listen to my favorite music. It is so relaxing for me. As part of my other goals, I have signed up for a scrapbooking group , a cooking group, a sewing group all of which meet once a month, and also a book club that my friend at work started. So I feel my life will start to be more enriched. Now if only I could accomplish some of my other wants... like getting a bike and going on lots of bike rides, getting a NICE digital camera and learn to take wonderful pictures, and start painting again. I'll eventually find time for all of that :^P

tons of cute stuff!!

I was just looking around during my lunch break and found all this cute stuff at The Buckle and Anthropologie!!! Too bad one of my New Years resolutions is not to spend as much money :^(. But I know that I will be better off for it. Today I have been keeping really busy at work. So, I'm off to work again. Break time is over!!!

Saying Goodbye to the tree....

I'm always so sad when the day comes to take down the Christmas tree. But then when it was down, I realized how muchspace we had been missing in our small apartment... which reminds me, we are moving into a larger apartment. Our goal was to be in a house by now, but we've relished our first 6 months together and our freedom a little too much to be ready to move into a new house. We decided to save a little more, become a little more responsible before taking on that big step. Good idea... but our apartment now was just WAY too small (even with the tree down), so we just switched to a larger one bedroom. The floorplan is great, and I will get my very own walk-in closet and my very own bathroom sink... and a FIREPLACE! I know it won't be cold too much longer (in fact it's been quite warm now... yesterday was in the 60's), but at least next year we will have a real place to hang our stockings!

Yesterday was a 'getting started' day. The first day of the year was our 'lazy' day. I had to work yesterday because we had to close all of the business for the year, but as soon as I was finished they let me leave a little early. Adam picked me up and took me home. When I came home, the WHOLE APARTMENT was spotless! Don't get me wrong... Adam helps out around the house, but I also know he loves to relax on his days off... not clean. I have a sweet husband. He even organized all the kitchen cabinets and took out the garbage! Our bed was made too, with two of my stuffed elephants sitting side by side. (this made me smile) The first thing I usually do when I get home is clean, and I had NOTHING to clean yesterday. After watching the Ms. Fitness competition on TV (if that doesn't motivate you to get in shape I don't know what will) we went to go see about moving into a larger apartment. We move into our new place on February 1st. I am really excited! I keep on looking at the floorplan to decide where everything is going to go. I guess the interior designer in me...

Then we took down the tree. Adam's guitar now fills the place where the tree once was. I got him a guitar stand for Christmas so he had a place to put it and display it. I hope it will encourage him to play it more... I love hearing him play the guitar and and I love it when he sings... especially the songs he has written for me. He is very talented. My parents were so sweet and bought him a guitar tuner as well... the exact one he wanted... and he was so excited about that.

Well, back to work today. I don't go in until 12:00 so I had time this morning to do some things. I got to read all my favorite blogs and discover some new ones I would like to start reading everyday. There are so many talented people, and I would love to get started on some things of my own soon.

My goals for this year:

1. Not that I am fat, but I certainly need to lean up. That I will do... and I will change my diet!! More vegetables, more fruit, less sugar... even on holidays... I will not let food run my life and I will have more self control!!
2. I will be more consistant in going to the gym and I will work hard!! May be I can get myself to go to the gym twice a day... I LOVE going to the gym, so it SHOULDN'T BE HARD!
3. Be more patient... with my sweet husband who puts up with me so much... with my coworkers, and with drivers on the road... I make mistakes driving too!!!
4. Do a daily act of kindness, big or small.
5. Be more dedicated to reading the scriptures and learning about Jesus Christ, because by learning about him I will better know what I need to become.
6. Pray more... a lot more!
7. Spend more time with my family... make sure they know I love them. Know what's going on in their lives... both my immediate and in-laws.
8. Be better with my money... don't be an impulsive buyer like I sometimes am... even though it DOES make me feel better. Actually balance my checkbooks! Maybe I could take a money-management course?
9. Take some time out of every week to do something I love... paint, scrapbook, watch a movie, go on a date with Adam, make things, go on a hike... whatever!
10. Keep a better journal