i heart colored jeans

I had the best weekend volunteering as an RN at General Conference, watching all the talks (President Uchtdorf! President Monson! President Eyring! Elder Oaks! Elder Holland! Elder Perry!). Okay, I'll stop there - they were all SO good. 

I spent Saturday evening at City Creek shopping by myself. It was actually so much fun to be down there in a sea of ladies and there were some awesome sales, too. My obsession this year has been with colored jeans. I can't get enough of them. And darn it, Gap & Target always have such fun colors! I got two new pairs last night to add to my collection. One of my friends told me that when she was dating and trying to meet her future husband, her wardrobe budget tripled for the year.

Pretty sure I will take that as a piece of advice and carry on!

playing catch up

Once again I have slacked off on this little blog! It wasn't intentional - I really do want to remember all of these things. Blogging just takes so much time, and there sure always seems to be a shortage of that. This post is a major picture overload in an effort to catch up on the last month or two.

I have been trying to get back in shape, which means I've been swimming 2 miles 3-4 times/week at Steiner. I swim laps outside in the 50-meter pool which is honestly heaven. I am excited for the fall, but I really wish we could re-start August so I could enjoy more weeks of swimming outside in the sunshine. The outdoor pool closes on October 8th and I will be taking advantage of as many days at the pool as I can until then! (Also - I love that the kick boards haven't changed in the last 15 years. Pretty sure they are the same ones I used for Swim to Win growing up!)

                                                

The U of U practices on Tuesdays/Thursdays. Even though I love the Utes, they have SO much stuff! Just look at the end of the pool with all of their gear. They completely take over 5 lanes, which is a little annoying. If I could only swim as fast as them!

I am all about color when it comes to anything in my life. I have always vowed that I will never have boring paper products. The one time I can stomach going to Wal-mart is so that I can buy colorful utensils and paper plates. They are my favorite find for $1!

 I have been on the FHE committee since my ward was formed in May 2011. It is lots of work, but so much fun. A few weeks ago we had our welcome back carnival. We went all out with a catered dinner, a dunk tank/cotton candy/snow cones/popcorn machine/carnival games/face painting/balloon animals/music. It was a total blast, and a huge success! We had it at Garden Park (we are so lucky our FHEs are at this beautiful building!)

Aren't the lights magical? I was dying.

Hannah and I were in charge of decorations - my dream come true!

My first time in a dunk tank. So hilarious! I wasn't expecting to get in, but I am so glad I did.

My dad and I went to the unbelievable BYU/Utah game. I got really good tickets off KSL and we had a great time. Thank heavens the Utes won. It was a total joy watching BYU blow it not one, but three times at the end. 

Of course I wore my signature Dorothy shoes. I bought these last fall at Target in the little girls section and want them to be my trademark (can you imagine being a cute pregnant lady and wearing these? or a grandma??). I may or may not have 6 pairs, but I have to ration them. Good thing I am only on my first pair!

I have continued to LOVE the dollar bins at Target. I scored the most adorable very hungry caterpillar items for my niece and nephew.

And more wrapping paper & some super fun stamps (thank you Jenny for getting me some of these and  for telling me about the stamps!)

Of course I have been eating yummy food.

(notice the Pyrex!)

delicious peaches!

a beautiful peach pie made my by sister.

One of my favorites, the Dodo (heart sandwich!)

Banbury Cross donuts - I die every time.

I bring Margaret a treat every Wednesday night. It's been our tradition for the past 5.5 years. There was a few months when Margaret was trying to lose weight and didn't want a treat (it nearly broke my heart), but we have been back to treats for a year and Margaret LOVES it! She always gets wide-eyed when I walk in the door to see what I've brought.

I cut my hair!

Lastly, I went to Bear Lake with some awesome friends I made in the ward. We had a blast. Our warm and perfect day included floating on the lake on inflatable lounge mats and a blow up kiddie pool, fun conversations on the rocks, and of course we got raspberry shakes from La Beau's at the end!

random round-up

This past week has been busy and interesting. I'll try to do a little round-up of the random things that have happened.

My Nurse Practitioner recommended that I take fish oil supplements, so off to Whole Foods I went. Holy cow! I had no idea there were so many options available. After pouring over all the choices, I settled on this brand and they were a pretty penny so hopefully it helps. They don't taste fishy, but my one complaint is the size. The capsules are gigantic. I wonder how many people choke on these every morning around the world??

I have also been house sitting for a friend at work. She has two cats and one very weird neighbor. He's probably in his mid 50s, loves her cats (they eat dinner with him and "hang out"), and wears short shorts and a fanny pack. For some reason he REALLY enjoys talking to me. Twice a day, he walks across the street to chat when I'm out watering/bringing the cats inside and the first thing that pops in my head is the song from the Nair hair wax commercials who wears short shorts...So funny. The second thing that comes to mind is "go away".Strange, strange conversations I tell you!

Also, I swam laps at Steiner this week. As a side note - those swimmers bodies, oh my heart. I love it. When I stopped at the end of my lane this 60ish year-old man with a white pony tail stopped me and said I was too fast (which is a lie, I'm slow as molasses) so he was going to go lay out for the both of us. Then he told me that I had a wonderful pink and red aura surrounding me (I was wearing a pink cap & pink goggles) and asked me what my "thoughts" were. I told him that I was just happy to have a day off of work and to be at the pool and he said, "well, it sure looks great on you". I said an awkward thanks and swam away. Again, so strange.

I always leave a treat for the homeowners when I house sit. (Frank & Mike are the two cats).

I kind of laughed the other day when I looked down at my cart and every item but one was either candy, chocolate, or full of sugar. But hey, at least I bought some shampoo!

The candy was for my nephew G baby (who is now 2!). He picks out a little treat each night before bed. It gets put in a baggie taped to the wall and if he doesn't get out of bed several times, the whole treat is his when he wakes up! I thought he could use a little variety and have some new things to choose from. If I don't have a bf, I might as well spoil the favorite little guy in my life!

I am quite convinced that the Park Cafe is one of the best, if not THE best, places to get breakfast in SLC. The food is so yummy, the service is quick, and boy do those employees know how to work. They all work hard, which I think is impressive. No one is ever standing around without a task in hand. I may or may not have eaten there twice this week.

My friend paid me back in coins today. I don't know why I got so excited about it, but for some reason getting a roll of quarters was the bee's knees. I loved it.

I think I must just like getting change that is not as common. I went to Harmons a few months ago and the cashier gave me a $2 bill for my change. I've carried it around ever since. And I have decided that I am going to get a pile of $2 bills to give as tips on my next vacation.

I spent the afternoon cutting out 3"x3" squares to turn into yo yos. My sister is starting a headband business (they are adorable!) and she will be putting these on headbands.

I also made some yummy cookies with a great friend for my little niece's baby blessing. So fun to chat and sneak bites of cookie dough this afternoon.

And the thing I am most proud of is that I got rid of this journal. I was actually really surprised when I stumbled across it this morning. I wrote in this religiously when I was last dating Roger (pretty much every day). I thought I had gotten rid of this long ago, but I hadn't. I read one entry today and cringed. Knowing what I know about him now just makes the whole thing repulsive. I am so glad for the experience but thankful that my whole future was essentially spared. This found a new home in a recycle bin in the Aves (didn't want it traced back to me!) - and I couldn't be happier to let it go. I can't believe it has already been five months since everything ended. Time kind of has a wonderful way of making life so much better. I am in a really good place. Though I would not complain if a new bf came out of the woodwork at any time!!

favorites

I was looking at my debit card history the other day - here is something kind of pathetic & awesome. Pretty much 1 in 4 of my purchases are from Target! I can't keep myself away from there! It's pretty much a pattern of go out to eat, go to Target, buy gas, go to Target, repeat, repeat, repeat. If I ever dreamed up an ideal store with the best products, good prices & most captivating commercials, it would most definitely be Target. Here are some of my favorite finds this summer:

Target sells 4-pack Mambas in the dollar bins (usually there are only 3 per pack)! Sorry this picture is flipped, but I was trying to show that for the first time in my entire life I got every single flavor in the same pack . I felt so lucky!

 Some of my most favorite wrapping paper is $1 a roll there. My mom was super jealous of these prints. I drove all over creation to four Target stores from Fort Union to Centerville one morning on a mission trying to find them for her as well. I was only able to secure two of the prints.

This is my go-to baby shower present. It's a "grass" drying rack. I think it looks so cool. Can't wait to have one of these for my own baby one day! I bought these for an upcoming shower.

I found these earlier this summer and about died - plastic fruit crates!

Here's another little gem - camera shaped appetizer plates. I fell in love with these immediately!

                                    

These fruit dish towels are another well-loved find. I bought a few to tuck away in case I need a cheer-me-up gift for someone in the future. The fruit prints make me so happy.

Other non-Target finds:

This bicycle shirt. I originally saw someone wearing this in a picture on fb. I googled for a solid hour trying to find where it came from with no success. Luckily my cousin is good friends with the girl wearing it so I texted her and she found out it was from Urban Outfitters. I drove down immediately to buy it...

and was over the moon when I found out it came in two colors. Pretty sure I will love wearing these with patterned skirts - love a little pattern on pattern.

Costco socks - who does not love these? I was really jazzed about this particular design. I always wear ankle socks to work because I get so hot running around all day. Pretty sure these make me 10x more excited to start my shifts!

Last, but certainly not least is this little gift. I worked at the hospital all day on Wednesday and then went straight to Margaret's. When I finally put her to sleep, I was beyond tired. I went to get my things ready to go to bed and this beauty fell out of my bag - yes, I have an awesome mom who snuck this into my bag!! I was drooling over how hot Ryan Lochte is! Best surprise ever.