Fake N Bake -- Minus the Bake :)

So we have the no bake cheesecake and (my favorite) the no bake cookie, but I've found the no bake tan! On Monday I went and got a spray tan. I am a big fan of being tan, especially in the summer and when I'm trying to attract the attention of a certain boy, but I'm also a big fan of not getting cancer. I have one grandparent who died of cancer and another who is now in remission (way to go Grandma!) but literally cancer scares the begesus outta me. So as I was considering it, weighing the pros and cons I came across the spray tan. I immediately thought of celebs like Jennifer Aniston but then I thought of Paris Hilton and that sometimes orangey glow she has..not so cool. But I decided I would try it anyway, if the worst thing about it is having a Paris Hilton orangey glow then I'm down with at least trying it. So I read about it a little online. I'm always a little cautious about reading about things online because you never know what kind of information you are getting, but I found some good tips: hydrate well a week (..or a weekend...) before getting the tan and exfoliate the day before. This worked well because I researched on Friday and had planned on getting the tan that Monday. So all weekend I lathered up with lotion and made sure to drink lots of water and then Sunday night I exfoliated well. Monday I got to the tanning salon and the attendant was super nice and explained to me what to do. It was a little weird though. So it's just a big booth and you first get undressed, cover your hair with a cap and apply the base cream to your fingernails, toenails and drier spots just for coverage. Then I walked up to the door and swiped my hand across to open the door (it's all motion sensored- how cool!) and got in. The door closed and then started the semi creepy computer generated female voice.... "Door closing" "Please face forward your tan will start shortly" "In 5...4...3...2...1.." (Yes, it really counted down like that, I was like.. Um am I in a tanning booth or a spaceship...??) And then the spray started from bottom to top. There are marks where you should stand so you aren't too close, but it sprays for 15 seconds and I'm a breathing kind of girl so I sucked in a breath....and some tanning spray :( . So then Ms. Creepy Voice says to turn and the spray will start again. For all those who have seen the Friends episode where Ross gets a spray tan (lol-i love it!) I made sure to learn from his mistake and turn around. :) So after I was sprayed down again it was done. I stepped out of the booth and started to dry off. When I stepped out I wasn't totally convinced of the spray tan. I looked down and couldn't see any noticeable difference except that I was wetter oh and I smelled like tanning lotion. So I patted myself dry and proceeded to dress. They say that it takes 12 to 24 hours for the tan to set in but I saw results throughout the day. The only bad thing was my hands. I thought I had generously applied the base cream but apparently I didn't do such a good job because my hands were pretty orange. Not like embarrassingly orange but a darker shade than the rest of me. And that was it, I was done. Not bad. In all I think it's a pretty good trade off for looking tan and not risking cancer. The other pros I saw were how quickly you tan-mine was noticeable after a few hours and how easy it is to do. Some cons though, splotchy spots-not really too obvious, except for the hands, getting the spray in my nose and the price. My tan was 24 but it was buy one get one, so I still have another one to use, but if I were to keep it up, it might be a little pricey. Also, the attendant said it would only last about a week or so, so we'll see. I used the Mystic Tan but I've heard there are others out there too. Hm...not bad :)

ps. In my week of trying new things, I also got a manicure and my color? "Explosive!" But I like to call it, Summer Construction Orange ;)

My Life Would Suck Without You

Yep, that's right, I went to the Kelly Clarkson concert last week! Woo-hoo it was fun times. I wasn't planning on going until the day before the concert when my BFF ever, Mellen, texted me and said that a mutual friend had given her tickets. Yay! I was stoked. I won't claim to be the biggest Kelly Clarkson fan or anything but I do like her music. I especially love to rock out to her newest song "I Do Not Hook Up" (Just ask those troopers I work with, they watch me sing it all day :-]) So fun times! The day of the concert, though, it rained all day and I've heard that that is not usual in Utah. So we were a little worried but it stopped in time for the concert. Unfortunately the concert was outside and our only seating was on blankets on the ground. This would have been perfect for any other day but our poor butts were soaked and cold. :( The wet soggy ground did provide one joy....err...hilarity. As we sat on the hill on our wet blankets we watched others walk down the hill to get closer seats. Well...some people walked down the hill...others slid down it :) It was sooo funny to just sit there and watch crowds of people try walking down the slippery slope and then all of a sudden you see arms go up and booties hit the ground. I felt really guilty for laughing but it just couldn't be helped. I also learned a valuable lesson....Laugh at yourself! It was sad to see those who quickly got up and just acted like nothing had happened. Those that got up and just laughed were so much funner and those who got up and posed like they had just landed a vault jump were the best of all! :) haha Fun times! So after the opening act of "Utah's Got Talent"-it was time for Kelly to hit the stage. She was awesome, such a rocker chick! Uber thanks to Michelle and Mellen for the tickets, it was a rockin good time. Oh and thanks Mellen to for the pics I just stole.... ;)

The infamous hill

I'm in awe :)

Home Is Where The Heart Is...

Warning: Long post to be expected....

So home was GREAT! Here's the recap of highlights...

The "Storm"-I am calling it a storm because I simply don't know what else to call it, but the day before I flew home (Friday, May 8) a big storm hit Southern Illinois. At first they classified it as a tornado, but then as I got home and learned more, they were calling it an in land hurricane and a cycloburst something. I still don't know if they've officially classified it as anything yet, but it was a pretty bad storm. Luckily, there weren't too many injuries and I was still able to fly into St. Louis with no trouble. I spent the first few days of my trip with my dad and his family with no power. There were trees and power lines down everywhere-in some cases, the trees were down on top of the power lines-and so there were about a dozen towns with no power. At first it sounded like bad news, but it really wasn't that bad. The first night my dad just grilled outside, which was ingenius because we couldn't cook inside, the weather was perfect for grilling, and what better way to salvage all the food that would soon be rotten! It was great. And with no tv or computer we just sat around talking all night until it got so dark that we couldn't see each other and then we went inside to candles. It was nice. That lasted a few days, we grilled or ordered out for meals and spent most of the day talking or driving around and I got to use a chainsaw when we were cleaning up some of our fallen trees. Okay, so I only used the chainsaw for about 3 seconds, but it was fun! :) The fun started winding down when I realized just how many things you can't do without power. I was okay with the no microwave and no television but then I was ready for a hot shower and to use my flat iron and the fun ended pretty quickly. :) Good thing we had relatives close by! We spent Mother's Day with my aunt and stole a lot of her power (Thanks Laurie!)

My Dad and I after grilling

The Fam-Speaking of Mother's Day, one of the biggest highlights of the whole trip, of course, was seeing family. It was sooooo nice to see everyone and how they've all grown. Seriously, I almost didn't even recognize my youngest brother Austin who is 14 and must have hit puberty and a growth spurt while I've been away! And there's nothing like being with sisters! ♥ On Tuesday night my sister Ali had a softball game so we went to watch her play and then we all went out to eat as a family. And it was the whole family! That never happens. My oldest brother Michael drove down and we all had dinner together. It was fun and such a great (although a bit belated) Mother's Day present for my mom. On Saturday we had one of my cousin's weddings to go to and it was nice there too to see so many family members I hadn't seen in a long time. There were some of my cousins children I had never even seen! They were all so cute! And the aunts. Oh the crazy aunts! They're Italian and I love them, that's all I can say :) I spent one day with my mom and one of my aunts just going to eat and getting pedicures. Fun stuff! And I was way excited to be home when my sister Michelle got her ACT scores back, she got a 33 that little genius! I'm so proud of her!

Me and the Smarty Pants Michelle

Ali and I after her ballgame
The Girls-They got me flowers! Aw!

Me with Baby Tristan-she's 1 and I just met her!

At the Wedding... "We Are Family..."

The Cardinals Game!-That was a big highlight of my trip! I love the Cardinals, but unfortunately never get to see them play. Even though I didn't have tickets and I knew it would be a long shot, I had even checked their schedule to see if they were playing at home the week I would be there. Sure enough they were, but the only game I saw as even a possibility to make was a Sunday game and that just wouldn't work out. Well, then my dad asked me about my plans on Friday and said that he had tickets to the game. AHH!! Yay! So we went with my dad's boss and his wife and it was great! We got there early, even got a free t-shirt and went to eat in downtown St. Louis and then got to our amazing seats. It all started off great, I was busy snapping pics of Albert Pujols (see below), we almost caught a foul ball and Colby Rasmus hit a home run, but then.....then the rain came. It started pouring! Luckily, we stayed dry and waited it out in hopes that they would continue the game, but when it finally stopped they said that the game had been cancelled. Bummer! It was still such a fun time and I was happy just to get to go for those two innings :)

Pujols at first base...YUM!

Rain, Rain Rain...Go Away!

Sad!

I think that's most of the highlights for me. It was a fun trip. I want to send apologies to everyone that I didn't get to see though. It's sad but there are soo many people in Southern Illinois that I love and would love to catch up with but there was only so much time and it was already split between all the sides of family. So hopefully to all those people, we will get to catch up soon! Also, I feel like I learned a lot on this trip. First off, I don't miss humidity at all! ;) It's sticky and it makes my hair expand by tenfold. But I also realized how much I love my life in Utah. I started to miss it after just a few days at home, and I realized I'm so grateful for the life I have. I realized so many blessings, I am so lucky to have such an amazing and supportive family and friends and two "homes"! Another thing I learned is that I'm not a vacation type of person. I was looking forward to not having to work for a whole week, but after a couple days I was bored! I played solataire, caught up on my facebooking and watched an entire season of Grey's Anatomy in two days and then I was ready to get to work :) So I think vacations are nice but maybe a shorter one next time ;)

May Day!

Oh Hapy Day! May is here! I looove May! Here are some reasons....

*I get to go home! 8 days and counting....
*Cinco de Mayo-One of the coolest days to celebrate and party
*Barbecues Galore and it's the month of summer kickoff's!
*If you re-arrange the letters in MAY...it spells...AMY ;-)

And some fun facts about May-thanks to the ever so scholarly Wikipedia:
::May is Older Americans Month as established by John F. Kennedy
::It is also Mental Health Awareness Month (this in no way related to my trip home; hehe)
::Both the Kentucky Derby and the Indiannopolis 500 are held in May
::May Day is celebrated on the Roman calendar, in the United Kingdom and in Ireland, but the reserved holiday is actually the first Monday in May.
::In Germany, it is an old custom to plant a "tree of May" to honor someone. Often young men set up an adorned birch in front of their girlfriends house the night before May 01. Aww...

Who knew!?
Happy May! :)

Put The Wand Down!

Ok, I'm finally all moved in now (*sigh of relief*) and so this has been my first week of the 40 minute commute to work each day. Not only is taking the freeway to work exciting but there's construction between where I live and the freeway so it's especially a treat (please note my sarcasm...) This morning was especially eventful.

In the midst of construction, granted it was stop and go traffic, the lady in the car behind me proceeds to "put on her face for the day" i.e. do her makeup in her car. Now, I love makeup as much as the next girl, I'm quite the fan, but I'm also one of those people who believe that getting ready in the mornings should take place at home-not in the car. I gave this lady the benefit of the doubt at first thinking 'Oh I'm sure she just forgot her eyeliner..' But then I noticed how she was clearly not paying attention to driving, and putting her full face on. Yes, all of it. The eyeliner was followed by mascara (which I noticed was the same I use; Maybelline's Great Lash-how could I not recognize that pink and green bestseller!?) then the eyelash curler and the brow shaper and so on. Good thing we were in stop and go traffic because I'm sure if it had been anything else she would have rear ended me. I kept watching her half in disbelief and half in fear that she in fact would hit me. Then as traffic began to pick up I glanced back and she was on her cell phone! I was pretty frustrated but felt relieved when she soon turned. I probably should have prayed for her and the next poor fellow she followed but obviously that wasn't at the forefront of my mind.

Grrr.....

Get Your Motor Runnin....

Okay, so maybe that song is irrevelant but it was stuck in my head :-)



ITS MOVING WEEK! Whew! Boy is it stressful stuff! I heard somewhere that moving is rated in the top three on the list of "most stressful life events" and I definitely believe that. Luckily unlike my other Provo cohorts, I do not have to try to move during finals....just during a busy work week :) I feel like I've learned a lot through packing and moving though. Here's a few of the highlights. First, I need to de-junk constantly so as to not have to do it all in the middle of moving week. From talks that "I'm going to read....someday" to old clothes I haven't worn since I moved to Utah, it was nice to get rid of stuff I don't need but I wish I would have done it before now. Second, I hate goodbyes! In the midst of the excitement over a new apartment and all I kind of forgot about the people I am leaving behind. I know, I know, true friendships stand the test of time, distance, etc, yeah yeah, but it's hard enough living in Provo and making the time to see friends, now I'll be even farther away. Also, my dear ward friends! Ah, I will miss them so! But I also know the timing is right for me and hopefully we'll all be able to keep in touch. Ok, third, change can be good. As stressful as it has been packing and cleaning and de-junking for the big move, I am sooooooooo excited to be living in Eagle Mountain and living with Heather. Heather is amazing! Over this past weekend and through last night I have been busy getting my room ready for me to move in, which includes not only arranging dressers and bookcases but assemblying them too. I am so lucky that Heather was there-she majored in Interior Design-Yay for me! She was like a pro and without her help, I would probably still be in that room trying to figure out the dresser. IKEA is a great place in every way, except their directions- horrid! Also, we are way excited to paint this weekend. We are doing a red kitchen and have picked a 'Golden Desert' for the living room! Now I just need to settle on a color for my room, but one thing at a time, eh. Okay, I think that's all for now. My official move in date is this Friday. And Saturday starts the paint fest ;) Then we are having a sort of house warming party on the 25th-if you didn't get an evite and wanna come, lemme know! :)

Count Your Blessings...Name Them One By One

I've been feeling very lucky and fortunate lately. So from the oh-so-trivial to the serious stuff of life, I just wanted to quickly re-cap my blessings!

*Family-My family is am-a-zing! I recently elected my mom as the funniest person I know and I'm so lucky and blessed to be able to talk to her often :)

*Spirituality-General Conference was this past weekend and it was soo refreshing! I am so thankful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and know what I know.

*Friends-AH, what would I do without them! They sustain me day to day, even if I don't see them very often. I am so grateful to have so many friends who are so supportive of me. And to have friends all over is pretty cool too. I was recently asked "What is the first quality you look for in a friend?" I honestly answered 'humor' Thanks for cracking me up guys!!

*My hair-Ha ha, trivial and vain, I know but it's getting so long now and I love playing with it!

*Jobs-I feel sooo lucky to have two jobs that I love going to each day. Some days I am tempted to sing "I ....don't want to work....I want to bang on the drum all day...." but then I realize that I am grateful just to have a place to go every day and earn a living at it :)

*Sports and Sunshine :)-Speaking of jobs, one of my jobs allows me to be outside and bask in the light of the sun and it involves sports, I absolutely love it!!

*Skillz- :-) I have been trying to cut back in different ways, a big one being eating out. This has allowed me to cook at home more and I recently learned that YOU CAN FREEZE FOOD! haha, probably pretty basic, but now I freeze everything.

*Boys- Ok, so they make me crazy, but they provide a completely different point of view. I mean, how boring (and dramatic!) would a world full of just girls be..? So, from my dad to my home teachers to the boys I work with and those that I flirt with....I'm grateful for them ;)

*The Web- By this I mean, Blogs and Facebook. It's kind of silly to be thankful for things such as these but they are one of my major means of communication. I love reading everyone's blogs and seeing what they've been up to. And a number of my extended family members have recently joined Facebook. I'll admit, it was a little weird at first to have my aunts and uncles and cousins that I rarely talk to commenting on my status updates but it's nice and all our family, regardless of distance, can communicate on there. Yay!

Our Current Economic Status: I hate to use the 'r' word, but the recession has turned me into a Recessionista :) I've been panicked enough to try to cut back and save more, both things I should've been doing all along. Also, since I now loathe spending money, I needed work pants and decided to go to our local thrift store, DI. I usually hate thrift stores because just thinking about someone else wearing what I'm wearing kind of grosses me out, but I found two amazing pairs of pants and spent a total of $12 bucks! Woo Hoo! And I believe that hard times bring us all closer, so yay!

So there ya go, a short list from me. I know that so many of these things come and go and most of them could be gone tomorrow. But for now, I am SO thankful for these and ALL the blessings I have been given. :)