Interest in Pinterest

I have faithfully stayed off of the Pinterest ban wagon since the website's inception creating much self-adoration for being able to avoid the web based creativity boosting, recipe snatching, fashion alerting charm of Pinterest. My avoidance of the Pinterest party ended this weekend. I spent some time with my sister who has a Pinterest account. I found myself looking over her shoulder saying, "Oh, I love that. Ah, that is so cute. I need that in my life. That looks delicious.. etc. etc." After taking over my sister's seat and sending myself 20 something emails from the sight as reminders of things she talked me into creating an account.

 

Once I created my account I spent hours, I mean hours for the rest of the weekend pinning, diet plans and holiday decoration ideas and favorite quotes and motivational workouts.  Am I going to do or create all of the things I "pinned"?  Maybe, possible, hopefully most of them, we will see.  What my main point of this post is, is that I like Pinterest.  Resistance is futile.  I am a beliver.  My house, my hair, clothing, diet and nails will now likely all become products of Pinterest.  Thank you world for making me not need to use my own creativity, thank you for giving the recipes, ideas and inspirations I need.  Here is to the start of a very long, likely mostly one sided hopefully long and fruitful relationship!

Laurann and Pinterest Est. 10.6.2012

US Women's Soccer Game

Well, If you haven't guessed by now I love soccer.  You will probably (you will) see a lot of posts about soccer from me.  The U.S. Women's national soccer team played their last game before going to the Olympics in London in Salt Lake.  We, meaning the soccer crazies in my family, were all excited to go to the game.  Because we are REAL season ticket holders we were given the opportunity to buy tickets.  We had matching purple shirts made to support the team.  It was so fun to watch them play.  I felt like I knew the ladies even better as I watched them play and win the gold Medal in the Olympics.  Makes me even more proud to be an American!  Go team USA!

The Hogle Zoo

Colette and Monica and their families both came for a visit during the month of July.  When Monica's family got here one of the activities we did was go to the Hogle Zoo.  I haven't been to the Zoo since I was a kid, it was very fun and I loved being able to spend the day with the family.

Riding the Train

At the new Aquarium Exhibit

Taking a Break

Watching the Giraffes with Addi

 Measuring ourselves against the Gorillas.

Fantasy Soccer

Monica and the Little Family invited me to join their Fantasy Soccer League this year.  Ha!  I  am 100% addicted to it but absolutely horrible at the game.  My team is called "Paixao" which is Portuguese for the word Passion.  I have a lot of passion about the game but my fantasy team sure doesn't show.  Oh well, I have still totally loved being a part of it!

So many things, not many posts..

I have done so many things the last couple of months I don't know where to start to catch up with my blog posts.  I guess I will just start adding them one at a time.....

Lately....

In an attempt to catch up with what I have been doing, I thought I would write a summary post of highlights and then work on getting back on track to regular posting. Here's what I have been doing lately...

 growing strawberries...

 finished another semester of school... nine classes to go (Yay!)

making changes to the back yard....

participated in the Race for the Cure...

went to Portland for the REAL vs. Timbers game!

Best game Ever!

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love this series of books! I woke up at 4:00am to finish. One of the things that I like the most was that he completed the story. No loose ends. It makes me crazy when authors stop writing. Good book!



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This Means War

Maybe it is because I am a single lady but I LOVED this movie.  I would gladly date either of the men in the movie.  To be quite honest I wouldn't mind hanging out with Reese Witherspoon either.  I also think that Chelsea Lately could quite possibly be one of the funniest women alive.  I laughed and laughed at her crude boy drama humor.  Anyway I give this move an absolute thumbs up.  Funny and entertaining.  I'm not sure how married people will feel about it but as a single person I laughed my socks off!

Anonymous Valentine!

I actually really love Valentine's day!  I like to tell people that I love them so I like having an entire day to tell people how I feel.  I bought myself some flowers because I think they are nice and pretty.  I received several notes, cards and text from family and friends to tell me I was loved.  And I received this.......

.... an anonymous beautiful, inspiring, valentine. I have no idea who it is from. It came in the mail with no return address and no name is signed. It was a tender mercy in my life. Whoever sent it should be blessed.. they made my day one of the most special kind. Thank you and I love you my most amazing anonymous valentine!

Sick of being SICK!!

I have been sick for three weeks now.  The first week I was sick I went to Instacare and was diagnosed with an infection in my glands. 

I was given a couple of prescriptions for some meds. Some pain killers and some "Magic Swizzlsus" with liquid lidocaine to numb my throat.

When all of that went away I was left with a nasty cough.

I self medicated with Nite-time cough. I was so excited because I hadn't bought cough medicine as an adult. It really works. You take it and you stop coughing and you sleep through the night. It's brilliant.

This week along with having a lingering cough I woke up with a sore throat, headache, swollen eyes and feeling absolutely exhausted. I pulled out the big guns for treatment this time.

A prescription for antibiotics, cheez-its, cheese flavored popcorn, almond joys, and peanut butter m&m's. Seriously over being sick... I am feeling better already!!

Resolutions vs Goals

I've always wondered what the difference is between a resolution and a goal.  I went to the ever trusted Google to look them up.


Resolution: the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.

Goal:  the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve and that (when achieved) terminates behavior intended to achieve it.

So, is it more appropriate to set New Year's Resolutions or Goals?  I set New Year's Both!  I set some of both.  I didn't know that is what I did but after having read the definitions I do set both.  This year I want to do a couple of things.  I think that all of them can be defined as goals:

1. Watch all of the DVD's in my DVD library.  That was until I counted them and realized there are 92.  I would have to watch more than one a week which isn't an option because of time.  I will watch 32 instead, because that is my age.

2. I want to go on a vacation outside of the United States.  Possibly Chile or Australia.

3. I want to lose 32 pounds.  Again associated with my age.

4. I want to have a certain amount in my savings.  Which amount I am not going to disclose here to remain private but I do have a specific.  Hence the spending freeze in my life which you can read about in previous posts.

So, there it is folks my list of New Year's goals.  All very selfish and personally beneficial.

Happy New Year!  (A month late on my post! )

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book offers motivation and inspiration.  The stories of some of the runners seem unreal!  There were a couple of parts that bored me a tiny bit but overall it was a good book.  Amazing what our bodies can be trained to do and accomplish.  I think this book will help me to become a better runner.

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He Saved my Day!!

It snowed in Bountiful yesterday a tiny bit, maybe it was kind of a lot bit.  Maybe not a lot bit, I might be exaggerating, but it was very wet and very heavy.  I am trying to be a good neighbor by keeping my section of the sidewalk clear for walkers and such.  I was outside this morning sweating, shoveling, heaving the snow to clear the way and my neighbor came to save the day.

He came from across the street with his snow blower to save my day.  I don't even know his name.  Today he is my favorite neighborhood man.  Thank you very much favorite neighbor man for saving my day!

Spending Freeze... YIKES!

As part of the new year I made a goal to save more money and spend less.  During the weekend away at Solitude to start the new year my friend Aubrey suggested we participate in a spending freeze.  I was nervous at first but love doing it now.  It is so easy to know the limits and truly helps me avoid buying non-essential items.  In the first week I transferred a significant amount of money into savings, a true testament that this is good for me....

 

things i can't buy:

clothing

accessories

jewelry

shoes

purses

magazines

cds

dvds

craft supplies

fast food

home furnishings

"non-essential" fun beauty expenses

frou frou coffee shop coffee, which i'll equate to diet coke.

what i can buy:

a good haircut

makeup

a meal at a lovely restaurant with family and friends

frou frou coffee shop coffee with friends {meaning, no solo drink runs} which, still.... i'll equate to diet coke.

classes {enrichment classes offered at local craft emporiums or community colleges}

gym

gifts for family and friends

charitable contributions to organizations we {i} currently support

added rule- When you're tempted to buy something, go home and transfer equivalent amount of money to savings.

Happy New Year!

I had a really great New Years Weekend.  One of the reasons was an extra day off of work.  I spent the weekend with great friends and lots of good food.  I spent New Year's Eve with close friends playing cards and eating.  We rang in the new year with noise makers, party hats and glow in the dark jewelry.  It was a good time the very conservative Mormon way.  On January 1st some girl friends and I took advantage of the day off of work and went to Solitude to stay in my bosses condo.  It was nice to get out of town but only be 45 minutes away. 

We watched a couple of movies, played some more games, read horoscopes, listed our resolutions, painted our nails, watch more movies, ate good food, ate more good food and headed back home.  It was a great weekend and I am very very excited for a brand new year!

Sherlock Holmes Part II

I saw the second Sherlock Holmes movie with my mom and dad and brother and his family the day after Christmas.  I LOVED the first Sherlock Holmes movie.  I liked this one.  It was a little bit too long for me and the story line wasn't as exciting.  To be completely honest I even fell asleep for a hot second in the theater.  I would still recommend seeing the movie because it is creative and exciting but not something to lose sleep over or rust out and see again soon.

Christmas Time

I absolutely loved Christmas this year.  It was a tiny bit hectic because I didn't have as much time to prepare this year because of school.  It started out with a really great party for work.  We ate at the Market Street Grill and went bowling and had a competition.  It was very fun! 

Then I hosted my family Christmas party again.  We ate Lasagna, rode front runner to see the lights, exchanged gifts and beat a pinata.  Colette and Aaron surprised me with a Tebow Jersey as a gift.  I was so excited.  I felt like Christmas could have ended that minute and I would have been fine.

At the end of the night we read from the Bible the story of Christ's birth.  Then each of us in turn said one thing that makes us grateful.  Many of the kids and the adults said they were grateful for a good family.  I do honestly believe I have one of the best families on the earth.  All of us have flaws.  Some of us have many but I truly know they would do anything for me whenever I need.

The day after the family Christmas party I went to Morgan to stay at my parents.  We had nachos for dinner and watched a movie.  I ate breakfast on Christmas Eve morning and headed to Colette's to have dinner and watch their nativity.  We went up early so I could watch the Denver Broncos.  I wore my new jersey and thought it would be good luck. Tebow played the worst game of his life.  I truly hope the jersey is not to blame because I have no plans to stop wearing it.

I learned that day the importance of service.  My sister Colette was busily making and taking treats to her neighbor who had fallen on hard times, were sad, or alone.  It was amazing to see her follow the spirit and serve so many others. She spend a lot of time with some children of a family who lost their mother to Leukemia.  The five little children have been left to be raised by their grandmother.  I will never forget hearing the five year old boy talk about how he missed his mom.  It made me so so sad for the little boy.  I have so many blessings.  My life has been so easy.  I thank the Lord for all he has given.

Christmas morning was spent with my parents.  The opening of gifts and a yummy breakfast. We then went to Sacrament meeting and home to a yummy dinner.  I love the spirit of the Season.  For the time of giving. I love the happiness in the atmosphere.  I truly truly do love Christmas.