In Memoriam

It all began February 2006. I bought a Silver 1998 Honda Civic from my cousin. I was a senior in high school and ready to become an independent adult, I know, I was young and naive.
This lovely lady helped me get through the rest of high school, three years at Dixie State, three years at Southern Utah University, and a year in the city.
Sadly a few weeks ago my dear, sweet Amelia was stolen for the second time.
First let me go back to May. I woke up one day in May to find my car missing. Luckily my car was found a few hours later a few blocks away from my condo. That time around a few things were stolen, thank goodness I didn't have anything really valuable in my car, except for my voice recorder.
After that experience I should have learned and bought a steering wheel club, but alas I thought I would be safe.
In the middle of July I took a trip to Chicago to visit my sister. I was gone for four days and when I came back I noticed that my car was missing. I was much calmer about it this time around, but I was also resigned this time. The longer the car is missing the less chance of getting it back in one piece. Well a week after I had reported my car stolen, I was actually taking a nap when my phone woke me up and it was the police calling to say that they found my car. They said that it wasn't driveable, which led me to automatically assume that my dear Amelia was dead. My awesome roommate Allison drove me to my car.
Amelia's windshield was shattered and everything loose was stolen from inside, as well as my license plates. The only things left were a pair of snow gloves and my ice scraper. I had her towed, and after my insurance looked at it they said she was still running just fine. At which point I got the windshield fixed and had decided that I was going to keep Amelia, at least until I could afford to get a new car. The next day my brother Flint called me and asked me if he could buy my car. After some discussion with a few different people and a night of thinking, I decided to sale her to my brother.
This weekend I drove Amelia for the last time. I drove her and we had our last road trip together.
My dearest Amelia, I will miss all of our time together, and all of our deep conversations. I came up with a lot of story ideas on our drives together, and we cried a lot together. The last seven and a half years were amazing and difficult, but you helped me get through.

This last weekend after I dropped off my car, I went and bought me a new car. I got me a 2011 silver Nissan Versa hatchback. She is so cute!!! My sister Libby calls it a Hobbit Mobile, which is why I have named her Elanor. Because I'm a nerd, I named her after Samwise Gamgee and Rosie Cotton's daughter Elanor from Lord of the Rings.
Everyone meet my new friend Elanor.

Farewell Amelia, I hope Flint treats you well. I will never forget you!!!

2012 in Review

So this year has been a very exciting year for me. So lets cover it by month.
January:

I started my year off right by slicing my finger with a rotary blade causing me to spend New Years Day in instacare. Don't worry all I got was a pretty big bandage and a tetanus shot.
I went on my one and only date of the year in January, which of course went well as I'm still single ;)
I began my final semester of school.
February:
I bought my plane ticket to go to London, and made all my final arraingments for London.
March and April:
Nothing much happened except work and school. I decided that I was going to move to Salt Lake in August with my friend Allison
May:
I turned 24 and graduated from SUU with a Bachelor of Arts in English: Creative Writing emphasis.

Because my birthday and graduation were so close we had a party and several of my friends came up to Kanarraville and we had a BBQ.
May was a very exciting month because I went to London!!! London was the best trip I've ever taken, and the most memorable for sure. Hopefully there will be many more trips to England.

Right after London my friend Kymn got married.
Memorial Day weekend I moved in with my friend Erika.
June:
I started working at Tuacahn and the Chocolate Factory again. Discovered that the Chocolate Factory was merging with Utah Truffles and would be moving to Salt Lake City. I of course went and saw the plays at Tuacahn. Loved Hairspray, Aladdin was okay. I absolutely loved The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
July:
I spent the 4th of July in K-town with my family

I continued working. At the end of July my family went to Idaho and Wyoming for a weeklong trip.

I had to leave early from Idaho for my friend Erika's wedding. I was her Maid of Honor, plus we've been friends forever, so I had to make sure to be there.

August:
I moved up to Salt Lake City.

Allison and I went to the Brigham City Temple open house.

September:
My friend Camilla came down from Alaska for a wedding, and stayed the weekend with me.

October:
Allison and I drove up through one of the many canyons up here and enjoyed the Autumn leaves.

Then of course there was Halloween.

November:
There was Thanksgiving with the family in K-town.
I saw Breaking Dawn Part 2, and yes I did enjoy it. Now I get to look forward to The Host.
December:
Went and saw The Hobbit and loved it!
Walked around Temple Square and enjoyed the beautiful lights.

Allsion and I went to the zoolights at the Hogle Zoo.

Made Gingerbread houses

Then spent Christmas with lots and lots of family.

Sorry Libby, stole your picture :D

All in all a very busy, very exciting year for me. Hopefully this next year will be just as eventful and exciting!

From Halloween to the Christmas Season

So for about the last month my computer has not been working, so my totally awesome roommate, Allison, is letting me borrow her computer for a minute so that I can update my blog. So let's begin with Halloween. The Monday before Halloween Allison, me, and my friend Benit (it's pronounced Benny) from work carved pumpkins while watching Dial M for Murder.

It was Benit's first time carving pumpkins and he got very into it and made Jack the Pumpkin King from Nightmare Before Christmas. Sadly that night I got sick with the 24 hour flu, and I didn't think that I would be able to actually dress up for Halloween, which was the day after I was sick. Luckily I was able to dress up but I felt very much like I looked in my usual costume. I know very flattering as always.

November was pretty low key for me. I went and saw a couple of movies: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which I really enjoyed, it made my laugh and cry. I kind of want to read the book now. I also saw Skyfall which is the new James Bond movie, and it was amazing!!! I liked it almost as much as Casino Royale if not better. Then of course we had Thanksgiving in Kanarraville with the family, which was lots of fun, and I helped my sister make eight pies plus I had to make my yummy creamed corn for dinner. After dinner I did do a little Black Friday shopping and bought a ton of movies that I really shouldn't have. I also went and saw Breaking Dawn Part 2 the day after Thanksgiving with my friend Kymn. I absolutely loved it, and yes I know it's silly that I enjoy the Twilight movies as much as I do, but they're a guilty pleasure that I don't feel so guilty about. Speaking of guilty pleasures, I recently discovered the movie Xanadu with Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly. Seriously it is amazing and super cheesy, but I think I could watch it over and over again!
So far December has been busy. I've been to Temple Square twice to see the Christmas lights, word of advice, I would go on a Thursday, that seems like it would be the least busiest day to go. I went to a live Nativity with Allison as well as the Zoolights at the Hogle Zoo, which was actually really cool. I did also make a gingerbread house for FHE.

Other than that I am adjusting to City life and trying to be more sociable. I am on the Publicity committee in my singles ward. I'm looking forward to Christmas in Kanarraville with lots of family and lots of food. I'm looking forward to seeing The Hobbit this weekend, and I may be dressing up. We'll see. That's it for now. Until nexttime.

The Soup Kitchen

This is for my sister, so Libby you better be happy. Friday, Allison and I went to a little restaurant just down the road from our house. The restaurant is called the Soup Kitchen and they have a variety of soups and sandwiches.

Chicken breast sandwich with lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, and onions (the last two I picked off of course).

A cup of Chili, yes I know, but I've been craving chili all week.

Onion rings that Allison bought and we shared.

Here's the Soup Kitchen.

I also discovered a cool, used bookstore across the street from the restaurant. Another discovery that I've made, or better yet that Allison showed to me, is this cool new age store and cafe that is a couple of miles from our house. I can't remember what it's called but they have these delicious smoothies. They have a Mango basil smoothie and a Peach Lavender smoothie, both of which I tried, and both were amazing!
I need to go exploring more of the city and find a lot more of these hidden treasures. I am beginning to like it up here more, I haven't really made anymore friends up here, other than the people I work with, but I'm trying to enjoy my new life up here.

Enjoying the Beautiful Autumn colors

My roommate Allison and I decided to drive through one of the many canyons up here to enjoy the beautiful autumn colors.

We decided to head up towards Park City, we ended up going through Emigration Canyon, but didn't quite end up in Park City.

Allison and me.

Aren't the colors absolutely beautiful.

Allison goofing off.

And me acting silly as always.

This is for my sister Libby.

One thing that I have to give northern Utah is that it has wonderful, beautiful autumn weather. Plus the colors are absolutely gorgeous.
As for me, I'm getting out, trying to meet new people, and just living life.

For other news, I have recently discovered Pinterest, thanks to my sister, and I am now addicted to the awesome show Doctor Who, and I am in love with David Tennant!

You are now talking to the Big City Girl

Yes it is official, that I am now living in the big city of Salt Lake. I moved in with my friend Allison, we were roommates at SUU. Anyway I moved up at the end of last month and am now finally settled in.

My dad helped me move up my big stuff a few weeks before I officially moved in. If this doesn't make my family a bunch of red necks I don't know what does ;)

Here's my bedroom set. My room still needs some work, but that's going to be a gradual process.

This bookcase is built in. Isn't it beautiful, and this isn't even all of my books, I still have quite a few at my parents.

My dresser, as you can see it still needs some hardware, but it's getting there.

I haven't been able to do a whole lot since I've been up here because I've been working lots. The Chocolate Factory that I worked at in St. George actually moved up to Salt Lake and they pretty much begged me to come work there. It's only temporary until I find me a library job. My mom has also been up here working at the factory until we get some new workers, so a few weeks ago she took me and my cousin Sally and her kids Serena and Samantha to the zoo. Yesterday, however, Allison and I drove up to Brigham City and went to the open house for the new temple.

Me and Allison.

Allison and me.

This was the second open house I've been to for a temple, the first was for the Oquirrh Mountain Temple a few years ago. It's a beautiful temple, and it reminds me of the St. George temple.
That's about all for my current adventures, hopefully I'll have lots more stories to tell as I get more settled in the big city.

A weekend in Salt Lake

So a couple of weeks ago I went to Salt Lake City with my sister. She was running the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay, I mainly went up to drop Libby and Shellie off in Ogden. After I dropped them off I stopped by a few of the Utah temples that I had never seen up close.

First I saw the Ogden Temple.

Then I saw the Bountiful Temple. I loved the location of this temple, and the view was so gorgeous.

I also went and drove past the Jordan River Temple.
Then I went back to my cousin Anisa's house and got to play with her three boys and Shellie's cute little girl.

Then on Saturday Anisa, Legacy, Joren, and I drove up to Park City and picked up Libby and Shellie at the end of their race.

The next morning Joren and Legacy decided to join me on the air mattress that I was on. It was a fun weekend hanging with my cousin and playing with four adorable kids.