Brown Bag?

Only at a gas station in Provo, UT would someone make a joke about needing to brown bag Mountain Dew. Oh Utah, you and your love/hate relationship with caffeine.

Crafting With Paint Chips

I have been itching to do something crafty for a while now and decided to do one that wouldn't cost me a whole lot to do because I'm trying to save money right now. What's better than free? Nothing. I got some inspiration from Pinterest and decided to use paint chips. Some might consider it stealing, and I'll admit I felt guilty taking some, but I saw on a craft blog a comment from someone that said they called a customer line for Behr and they think its great because it gets them publicity. I justify taking them because while I don't have the need for that paint right now, one day I will have a home that I get to paint whatever colors I want.

I have made two things using paint chips. The first is a Peeps banner for Easter and Spring. 

The second was to show my love for home, Good Ol' Oregon. This one was done like a mosaic. It was harder than I thought it was going to be. It was time consuming to cut the paint chips to the right shapes and sizes. I'm happy with how it turned out.

The Latest C.U.T

If you didn't already know, C.U.T is when it's Catch Up Time and I have to make up for a long blogging absence. So here goes.

Let's see...it's been so long long I don't even remember what I've been up to, which is pretty sad because I really haven't done a whole lot. 

I went home for Christmas and that was really fun. I surprised my family. Only a few people knew I was coming to make sure it worked out. It was so great seeing everyone and spending time with them, though it was short because I was only able to get a week off of work. I had tried for while to get the time off and work was taking forever to let me know if I could have the time off or now. When I finally found out I could, I thought it would be fun to keep it a secret. It was hard not spilling it when I would talk to family on the phone because they were all so bummed, but it was so worth it!

New Years was pretty low key. At midnight, my roommate Amber and I drank Martinelli's and then ran outside barefoot in the snow. We also watched the movie New Year's Eve. The next day her brother came over and I finally saw Lord of the Rings for the first time. I know, gasp! Everyone said I wasn't American since I hadn't seen it yet. We had soda, sparkling cider and chocolate milk and played a drinking game. A few minutes in we realized we couldn't keep doing full shots because we couldn't keep up. We just took sips. Never again. There was so much drinking! My bladder was about to burst by the end of the movie. It was like almost four hours of constant drinking. We were playing to see who would be crowned Lord of the Ring so you couldn't go the bathroom or you would be disqualified. I barely made it. It was painful. But I won, well, tied with her brother. Over the next week, I watched the other two. The movies were pretty good, but I probably won't be watching them again anytime soon. I still have yet to see The Hobbit, but I'm not dying to see it so it may be a while.

I was asked on a group date where we went to Barnes & Noble and read some favorite books from our childhood and then found five books that represent us. It was surprisingly fun. I wasn't looking forward to it because my roommate liked the guy and my roommates and I were pretty sure he was interested in her so I had no idea why I was going on the date. My other roommate was supposed to go on the date with my date's roommate but he asked another girl. Since I wasn't that close with this group of guys, I didn't really want to go without her. So the day of we were scrambling trying to find her a date. I turned to my awesome coworkers. One of them asked his friend who just got back from his mission and he said he would go. So Renee had a blind date. He was really nice and such a great sport for agreeing to go on a date with a girl he's never met an hour before it started. After the bookstore we went to Subzero for ice cream. It was good. I had never been there before. They make it right in front of you with liquid nitrogen. So cool!

Amber's sister is serving her mission in Korea and she get's back in a few months. Amber thinks we will get along really well. I can't wait to meet her! Amber has started watching Kdramas with me :) We've also gone to a Korean restaurant a few times. The food is so good! I can't for her sister to come back and teach me the ways of my people haha! I really want to learn to cook and speak Korean. I can pick out words here and there but I'd love to be able to have a basic conversation. Amber has actually started dating a Korean guy in our ward and he has taught us to make one dish, ddeokbokki. We've tried recreating in on our own once and it was edible. It wasn't quite as good as when Peter made it, but it turned out well for having no directions (Koreans don't measure or follow recipes). 

I cut almost a foot of my hair off!

My life right now still basically just consists of working at Vivint. Some days are harder then others, but it's a great job and I'm grateful I have it. This month, Vivint won the 2013 People's Choice Stevie Award for favorite customer service in the "other industries" category, a Silver Stevie Award for Customer Service Department of the Year in "other industries" and was listed #46 on Forbes' annual ranking of most promising companies in February. Go Vivint!

On Friday, Amber and I (along with her brother and cousin) went to an Imagine Dragons concert. It was amazing! They are so talented! We have been waiting for this before Thanksgiving. Being as short as I am, I didn't get to see a whole lot. We stood right by a gate that surrounded the lighting technician right in the middle of the floor. It was really neat to watch him push buttons and see the light simultaneously change. It was a good spot because people weren't able to stand right in front of us, except for the occasional worker. At some points I was able to see more than just heads. It was the best concert I've ever been too, not that I've been to many. It was so great hearing my favorite songs live and I definitely want to see them again.

My ticket 

In the car on the way to get her brother and cousin.

Where we ate dinner before the show. It's above a tattoo parlor! Stoneground has some pretty
good pizza, but I wasn't impressed with the service. It took forever to get the food. People that came after us got their food first. We kept looking at our waitress and when she came over and asked if she could get us anything Amber's cousin said, "Our pizza." It was funny. She said it would be out soon but it was still awhile before we got it. Pizza does not take that long.

Only picture I have from the concert. I couldn't take a picture of anything since I  couldn't really see and the quality wouldn't have been that great. I'm a little sad, but  I was able to just live in the moment and enjoy the show.

 The past few months have consisted of late night burrito runs and eating at other places (I'm such a foodie!), dance parties, hip hop abs workouts (fun stuff), game nights, chick flicks, baking cupcakes (and getting paid by co-workers for them) and more that I can't think of. They have been enjoyable. I'll be sure to get better at documenting whatever I do next.