Moms, Crafts, and Mongolian

Last Saturday my wonderful mom decided that she wanted to come to Springville and spend the day with us.  I am so glad that she did.  We had a wonderful time together.  We chose to do some crafting as our activity.  Before hand my mom had me look up some ideas on (you guessed it) Pinterest, and then we would chose once she got to my house.  She doesn't get the opportunity to spend money on herself very often, so this was the perfect activity for her to give herself some much needed attention.  We went to Hobby Lobby to take care of all of our crafting needs, and came out an hour and a half later.  We spent a lot of time in the store going back and forth on ideas, materials, and price.  But everything festive and Christmasy was half off, so the price wasn't actually that bad.  Once we got back to my house the crafting began.  Here is what we came up with;

Drum basket and Peppermints

I did a very quick craft which consisted of a basket, peppermints that you would stick on your Christmas tree, and tissue paper.  It was very easy.

Thank you Pinterest!

This was my favorite craft that we have done.  My mom's is JOY and mine is NOEL.  We got wooden craft letters, scrap paper, and things to cover our wreaths.  It was a really fun project.  I can't wait to hang it on our walls and start being festive.

After we were done crafting my mom wanted to take Chris out for his birthday dinner.  His birthday was on October 28 (He turned 28 on 28.  It was his Golden Birthday.), but my mom still wanted to celebrate it with us.  We decided to try a new place.  It's a little place here in Springville called the Mongolian Grill.  It was actually quite good.  And a killer price.  You get all you can eat Mongolian, rice, an appetizer, and soup for $9.95.  So we will definitely be going back.  Once dinner was over, we got distracted my the bread place and another little shop called Rod Works in the complex.  We headed into Rod Works just to see what kind of things they had.  If I had a lot of money, it would have been spent in there.  It was really cute.  I didn't get anything, but my mom did.

They are great!

My mom likes to decorate her house for the winter in snowmen.  She tried to get a new one every year, and this year she got 2.  Both while she was with me.  She got the snowman with the cardinal from Hobby Lobby.  And the snowman countdown from Rod Works.  She tried to convince herself that she didn't want or need it.  But as you can she, she didn't do a good job of that because it ended up going home with her.

It was great being able to see my mom.  It means a lot to me that she would take the time to come visit us.  I love her dearly and can't wait for the holiday season when I get to see her even more.

15 Days Is Nothing

I just realized that I forgot to post an update on my 30 Day Cross Fit Challenge.  I finished it on October 3.  It was tough.  I lost 4 pounds and about 3 inches total off of my whole body.  The biggest change was just in body shape though.  I like to lose weight in a weird way.  Sometimes I can work really really hard, but not weight comes off.  Instead my body just changes its shape and the way it looks.  For the better of course, but it's still frustrating sometimes to not see results on the scale.  Even thought I had a lot of progress with the 30 Day Challenge I am still not at a comfortable place to post the pictures online for all to see.

Starting today I am doing a new thing that I, of course, found on Pinterest.  It's a 15 day exercise and meal plan.  The girl who wrote it wrote down everything that she ate, the workout she did, and her progress along the way.  The food is pretty straight forward.  I will eat a lot of protein and veggies.  There's no salt, no sugar, essentially no flavor involved.  But the nice thing is that there is just no way to fail because she gives you everything you need to succeed.  So, I am going to try it.  It's only 15 days.  Anyone can do anything for 15 days.  And with the results that she saw with it, I have to give it a try.  I am also going to include the link to her journal.  Click HERE to see it.

Wish me luck.  It's going to be tough, but it's only 15 days.  I can do it.

Keeping Busy

Since I don't have a job I have had to find things to keep myself busy so I don't go crazy.  I have turned to crafting as a source of my entertainment.  The first thing that I did (with the help of my wonderful mother-in-law) was make a curtain to go in our bathroom window.

I am pretty proud of myself.

I am pretty impressed with the work that I did.  For not having touched a sewing machine since Home Ec in Jr. High, I think I did pretty good.

I finished my second project yesterday.  It is a fall burlap wreath.  (Once again, thank you Pinterest.) I love that one as well.  I was a little worried that Chris wasn't going to, but he thought it was cool.  His choice of words.  Now I just need to figure out how to hang it on our front door.

I think it's pretty amazing.

I am trying to figure out my next project now.  We'll see what I can find on Pinterest.  Since that's where I get all of my crafting ideas.

Bittersweet

Well, today is my last day of my job.  I am kind of sad about it.  If I had another job to go to I don't think that it would be as bad, but I am moving forward to unemployment.  I check Craigslist and KSL every day to make sure that I don't miss out on something.  It is a little defeating sometimes not to find anything though.  If there are any other job search options out there that I don't know of, please let me know.  I don't really want to stay unemployed.  I am hoping to find something before Christmas.  I know that there are not a ton of options out there, but I do need to be a little picky about what I find.  I don't want to get a job that I am going to hate after 3 weeks.  I need a job that will be a good thing long term.  I know that the right job is out there for me.  It just hasn't turned up yet.  I need to stay positive and I need to be patient.  And for those of you that know me, patience is not something I am very good at.  Maybe this is a good learning opportunity for me.

What I need to do is find things to fill my day.  I can't sit around the house bored for the foreseeable future.  New hobbies?  Or maybe mastering old ones?

• Our house is going to be super duper clean while I am not working.  Cleaning always keeps me pretty busy.  
• I can work on my personal weight loss goals.  I now have 24 a day to kill, I might as well get in shape. 
•  I am still teaching myself how to crochet, so I can learn a few new things there.  Maybe actually make something?  
• I also can do a little bit of crafting.   I want to make a fall burlap wreath for our front door.  That could be a fun project.  
• I can get caught up on my reading.  I have 3 books that I am working on.  I could get those read pretty quickly now with all of my free time.  

Wow, maybe I won't be that bored.  There are quite a few things on that list.  I guess writing down my thoughts and options helped out a lot.  Thanks blog!  As for the job hunt, I will keep you posted.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will find something before Christmas.  With a positive outlook, and now a lot of hobbies, I know that time will pass quickly and I will find something soon.  Goodbye Eye Physicians of Utah.  Time for you to make room for the unknown.

Now What?

Last week, the doctor I work for came into the office and informed me that he was going to close the practice.  I am not sure when my last day will actually be, but I am thinking roughly about 2 weeks from now.  Which means, I am out of a job.  I knew that it was coming, I just didn't think that it would happen so soon.  He has a lot of overhead and not enough income coming in.  So it was just a matter of time before he had to make that very hard decision.  I was pretty sad about it last week since I have to hunt for a new job. I hate job hunting.  It's not fun to send out resumes, not here back from some places, go to interviews, be turned down, and learn the ins and outs of a new job.  Job hunting is the worst!  But it needs to be done.  So if you know of anywhere that is hiring, let me know.

I am still a little sad, and a little worried about what I am going to do next, but I know that there is something out there that is new and better for me.  Even if the next job I am meant to find isn't necessarily better than the job I have now, it will be better for me at this time in my life.  As I have said before, I am a firm believer in everything happens for a reason.  This has happened for a reason.  This door in my life needs to close so that the next one will open.  It still doesn't make losing my job any easier.  But if I stay optimistic things will work out the way that they are supposed to.

Hey. . . Remember Me?

It has been a really long time since I have done a blog/life update.  We haven't done anything super interesting or exciting, but I decided that I should share something.  It will be a little bit of a mash-up.  "Our life over the last 30 days done with 4 pictures."Hey,

September 19, Chris and I celebrated our first date/first time meeting anniversary.  We have been together for 5 years now.  I know that celebrating something like that may sound strange to some of you out there, but it is a pretty big milestone in our relationship.  Since that's when the relationship started and without that day we wouldn't be married.  Plus I am a huge romantic sap for that kind of stuff.

One of the first pictures we ever took together

We celebrated low key by spending the day together.  Which was easy to do since I didn't have to work. We did decide to go to dinner.  So, I dressed up in my first date outfit, (Yes, I still remember what I wore that night.) and we went to Bombay House. That is where we went on our first date in Provo.  I would have like to go to where we had our first date, Roosters, but that is in Ogden we did the next best thing.  Again, I am a really big sap.

Also during my blog hiatus, I went to Moab.  The clinic I work for, Eye Physicians of Utah, has opened a satellite clinic there.  So I went down to help train new people so they know what they are doing.  I left about 8:30 on the morning of September 27.  The drive was okay, but lonesome since I went by myself.  I got to the clinic around 11:30, and to my surprise, there was no one else was there.  There were 2 girls that I was supposed to train and they decided not to show up that day.  That was a really big disappointment. I still needed to be there though since the doctor couldn't have handled doing the eye exams and selling glasses alone.  I worked for about 6 hours, and then drove back home.  I reached my final home destination around 9:30.  Needless to say, it was a long day.  I worked as much as I drove.  But that's okay.  The doctor needed help, so I was happy to do my part.  I have only been to Moab one other time, so I forgot how beautiful it is there.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

There is not really a story for this next picture. . .  I am just in love with it because it is so adorable.  Chris was really nice and decided to share his fruit drink with our nephew Jack.  And I just happened to snap a picture at the perfect time.

It's perfect!

This is such a fun time of year for Chris and I.  We have Halloween and Chris' birthday all within a few days of each other.  So October is a fun celebrating month for us.  Well, mostly for me because Chris doesn't do much festive celebrating.  But he was really nice and helped with my latest crafting endeavor.

The Monster on our door.

It was a super easy project, and yes, I did get the idea on Pinterest.  I would be a really boring person if Pinterest weren't in my life.  I can't think of these things on my own.

So there you have it.  Our life over the last 30 days in a quick blog post.  Like I said, we haven't really done anything too exciting.  I still thought that I should share though. . .  At least the highlights.

A New Found Love

Crafting!  I know that isn't what you expected, right?  Thanks to Pinterest I have had this weird desire to start making my own holiday decorations for our house.  Maybe it's because we're now homeowners and poor, so we can't afford to just buy decorations.  But who's to say that if we were filthy rich I wouldn't still want to make my own things.  My wonderful mom and brother Zach came down to Springville to play with us yesterday.  I was pretty stressed out because I hadn't thought of any super fun plans for us to do on the Labor Day holiday.  Once they got here we chatted a few minutes and then decided that we were hungry.  Off to Glades.  For those of you who have been to Spanish Fork, or surrounding areas, and haven't been to Glades. . .  Shame on you.  But next time you're in the area, you MUST go.  It's not incredible food I have ever eaten, but the experience (and the sauce for fries) is reason enough to go.  After lunch, we tried to figure out something fun.  I showed my mom a few things on Pinterest that I had wanted to try, and she was game.  Off to Michaels we went.  It was there that I realized how cheap I truly am.  Some things for crafting are expensive.  Who knew?  But not to fear. . .  Well, maybe a little bit of fear. . .  We ended up going to Wal-Mart for some things at a cheaper rate.  Since Halloween is the next holiday coming up, we decided that that is what we were going to do.  Once the holiday gets closer, we have pumpkin ideas on our mind as well.  We have both thought of some pretty great ideas.  That is a post for a future date.  Next month I'll do Thanksgiving/Fall decorations, and in November I'll do Christmas decorations.  I am pretty stoked.  I want to keep it up because I loved it yesterday.  Even Chris got in on the action.  Where's Zach you may ask?  Don't worry he was taking care of the Wii.

Crafting it up in the basement.

Chris painted the faces.

Candy corn and yarn.

Both of the crafts were really easy.  A little time consuming (only a baby bit). . .  But pretty easy to do.  I'm excited to see what DIY Crafty Craft I'll do next.