Seven-sixteen

      Maybe I am more like an Aries than I thought...always starting things but never finishing them. And because of this I feel I have to finish just because I didn't think I would..stubbornness..I am an Aries.

      It's probably a good thing that I missed so many days because the subjects I am supposed to blog about aren't really that inspiring or interesting. I don't have much to say about any of them.
Well..here it goes..

Seven: My favorite childhood toys. I really don't know the answer to this.  I have always been very creative and pretty much made anything into a toy. I remember watching Barney and learning how to make things out of boxes and rubber bands, so I would dig through garbages and find anything I could make something with. Milk cartons, egg cartons, tissue boxes, anything. Sometimes I would save trash if I had an idea that I could use it for something in the future. I never wanted my mom to see because she would throw it away, so I stashed it all under my bed. Once my mom found my stash of garbage under my bed she would get really mad and think she was raising a hoarder..no mom, you raised an extremely right brained artist, thats all. So I guess I do know the answer to this question.. My favorite childhood toy was garbage.

Eight: A moment I felt most satisfied with my life. This is a tough one as well. I feel satisfied with my life almost every day. I do have my moments but I'm happy where I am.

Nine: If I could have any job in the world what would it be? I'd like to be a lifestyle photographer for different companies around the world, traveling to photograph their products and campaign adds. To see my work on billboards and magazines would be a dream come true..One day..

Ten: My guilty pleasure. Thats easy, Pretty Little Liars. I'm hooked.

Eleven: I'm supposed to put my ipod on shuffle and write the first 10 songs that pop up. Okay.

1. Gimme Gimme Gunshots - P.O.S.
2. Science Vs. Romance - Rilo Kiley
3. Not the Sun - Brand New
4. Ce Jeu - Yelle
5. This Charming Man - Stars
6. Slowdance On the Inside - Taking Back Sunday
7. E and A Day - Eyedea & Abilities
8. Woman Tonight - Felt
9. The Artist In The Ambulance - Thrice
10. How I Won The War Ft. Molemen - Atmosphere

Twelve : Bullet my whole day. I will bullet the day that I was actually supposed to. Ahem..Lets see.

• Woke up earlier then I would of liked to after a long night of walking around downtown prior.
• Went tailgating up at the U of U. I had never been before and my friends Buddy and Dylan wanted to show me how much fun it is..and it was!
• Came home and watched a bit of the game on the TV. (Buddy's idea)
• Burt, Buddy and I went to Target to get our friends Chris and Cady a baby shower gift.
• Went to the baby shower. I had never been to a co-ed baby shower before. I find them a lot more enjoyable then the typical baby showers.
• Went home and got dressed up for a photo shoot. (I had to dress nice, it was for a fashion show.)
• Went and photographed a fashion show for a salon. Lots of fun and I got some great shots!
• Came home and was too exhausted to go out, but Burt went out with some of his friends. I stayed home and watched the show Friends. (My favorite.)
• Got a call from Burt to come pick him and his friend up, so I drove to Poplar to get them.
• Got to Poplar and ran into Burts good friend and X96 radio host Kerry Jackson. Really great guy! He happened to be hanging out with Zachary Quinto who played Spock on the new Star Trek. He must of been in town for comic-con. He wasn't dressed up or anything, he looked completely normal. I had no idea who he was and told him that he looks kind of like the guy who plays Spock..not finding out until after we left that it in fact was him..embarrassing!

Thirteen: Somewhere I'd like to move or visit..uhm..Hawaii? Or somewhere in Europe. Italy would be neat! (It is in my blood.) Honestly, somewhere warm and tropical. Hawaii would be great!

Fourteen: My earliest memory.. Some people don't believe that I can remember this far back, but I swear I do! I remember the first time I got stung by a bee. I was probably about one years old because I remember my mom walking me on the sidewalk while I was stumbling and holding onto her hands for support. Then She stopped and held me for a second and I noticed a bee flying near me. I put my hand up to it and it stung me right on my palm. I cried so my mom picked me up and took me in the house.

Fifteen: 15 interesting facts about me.

1. I'm vegan.
2. I danced for 8 years of my life. 
3. I played in a band for a minute. Sang and played bass.
4. I've participated in the Chalk Art Festival at Gateway every year for the past 4 years.
5. I am a medical assistant at a pediatricians office.
6. I absolutely hate wearing scrubs.
7. The majority of the summer you will find me in a sun dress.
8. I think I'm obsessed with pigs.
9. I love the feeling of falling. 
10. Any time I find a penny on the ground I pick it up and kiss it for good luck.
11. I love flossing my teeth a little too much.
12. But I have never had a cavity. :)
13. I love to cook.
14. I watch too much HGTV.
15. My favorite drink on this entire planet is water. I love water!

Sixteen: My views on mainstream music. It's not as genuine anymore. It's based way to much on image instead of talent.

Finally! I can't promise I will keep up on this every day from now on, but at least once a week until I have done all 30!

Four, Five, Six.

      Well, I new this would happen! I'd get behind on my posts at some point. I just didn't think I'd get this far behind! These past couple days have been so stressful with work that I really haven't had time to blog at all.  I work part time as a medical assistant at a pediatricians office so with flu season around the corner things are getting crazy!

      Day four I was supposed to blog about my views on religion. This topic would of made a very small blog post anyway because it is not something I like to talk, hear, or think about. I am a living being just like all other living beings, and wherever we all came from, we came from the same place. I just do the best I can to be a good person and respect all people, animals, and the earth because that's what I believe in. I feel like some people use religion as an excuse to judge others. Maybe some people need religion in their lives and I get that, having something to believe in, but thats not me. I am who I am, the best I can be, and when I die I guess I'll find out the truth. I don't live to stress over it, I just want to live a great life and have fun! Also, I could care less about what anyone else believes in, I'm not here to judge and I don't. I am me and you are you and that's how it should be. Just accept me for who I am and I will accept you as well. That's all.

      Day five...my comfort foods and why. First of all, I am a girl, and (most, not crazy) girls love chocolate! And boy, do I looooovvee chocolate!! If this were me 8 months ago I would have to say Reese's and Moose Tracks ice cream are my comfort foods to die for! However, being vegan, I had to find new favorite treats. I thought this would be difficult but I easily found things I love more. Now days I find most treats to be too sweet for me. I am surprised because I have always had a giant sweet tooth, but now I'll take one bite of a cake and can't eat any more. My new favorite comfort foods are now coconut or almond dairy free and soy free ice cream, (I prefer the coconut kind because it seems to always stay nice and soft. The almond ice cream is not as creamy, but still delicious!) vegan nachos, (made with Whole Foods home made tortilla chips! They never get soggy!) and choffy.
      Most people don't know what choffy is. I didn't even know what it was until a co-worker told me about it a few months ago and I fell in love!  Choffy is 100% premium cacao (cocoa beans). Cacao is referred to as a superfood for its fantastic health benefits. For those of you who know me, you know I love the word healthy! And if I can have 'healthy' and 'chocolate' in the same thing I'm in treat heaven! Choffy is a drink like tea, and if you like tea and chocolate I highly suggest you try it! 

      Day six. My zodiac sign and if I think it fits my personality. Honestly, I knew I was an Aries but had to look it up to find out what that meant.

An Aries in a nutshell:

Aries Strength Keywords:

- Independent
- Generous
- Optimistic
- Enthusiastic
- Courageous

Aries Weakness Keywords:

- Moody
- Short tempered
- Self-involved
- Impulsive
- Impatient

I guess it fits me in certain ways. Independent, definitely! Generous, I do try to be. Optimistic, I have been told I am quite often. Enthusiastic, maybe a little too much sometimes. Courageous, I think so and have been told that as well. Moody, yes. Not always but I can be just like anyone else. Short tempered, no. Self-involved, I don't think so. I care about others deeply. Impulsive, yes. Impatient, I can be. When it come to other people I am very patient. But if I want something, like a new tattoo or lens for my camera, I will do what I can to get it! But just like anyone else I have just as many good qualities as I do bad, I'm sure. 

Day Three: Pet Peeves

      Today I am supposed to blog about my top 5 pet peeves. Honestly, I don't know if I can think of that many, although I'm sure I have plenty. Hmm..

      First- When people chew with their mouths open. I don't care how old you are, 50 years or 5, it's gross. Don't do it and teach your children not to! 

      Second- When my dog licks my feet or legs. It tickles, and not in a good way. 

      Third- Oh! When people whip out their cell phones during a movie in the theatre. I hate when I have paid to see a movie and am totally into it then having a bright light catch my attention from the corner of my eye. It's very distracting. 

      Fourth- The sound of people biting their finger nails. I don't care if people bite their nails, but I just can't stand the sound. 

      Fith- This one may sound a bit odd but I do not like when I am sleeping and people whisper around me. The sound of a whisper wakes me up worse then the sound of someone just normally talking. I guess I just don't really like that 'whisper' sound. I know, it's weird. 

      That's all. I'm sure there are plenty more things I can think of if I keep trying. Sorry this is just a short, pointless blog post. 

Day Two: Future

     Day two..I'm surprised I have even lasted this long...
 Today I am supposed to write about where I would like to be in 10 years. This is a tough subject because I am a very 'live in the moment' type of person. I do think about my future and want certain things, but nothing is certain and people change all the time. I can say that I would like to be with my amazing man and my handsome dog. Maybe another dog would be in the picture by then as well. And hopefully we will be living in a house and not an apartment. I would like to have seen lots of the world by then. Traveling the world is number one on my list.
      Mostly, I just want to be happy, and that's not hard. I am a strong believer that if you decide to be happy you will be. So, I'm not concerned about where I will be in 10 years from now because I know I will be happy. I don't think my appearance would change much, I'd hope to be healthier and in great shape but I hope that for myself now. I will probably have more tattoos because that's just who I am.  I know I will still be doing photography. It is my dream to be able to travel and photograph.

      As for everything else, who knows. Ten years from now is so up in the air. So is only a few years from now.

That's all.

Day One: Relationship Status

      I have been wanting to blog more but can never think of a topic or put enough word together to be able to. So, I have decides to take a 30 day blogging challenge. I have a list I will be following of a certain topic I have to blog about every day for the next 30 days. I have decided to do this challenge because, to me, blogging is important. Not necessarily blogging, but just keeping a journal and writing down feelings and thoughts. I do have a journal I like to write in, but I only do so about once a year...maybe. I just find it so much more difficult to write in a journal then to type on a blog. It's still nice to be able to look back on those few journal entries of mine and remember where I was at that point in life and compare it to how far I have come and where I am now. This is why I want to blog. I don't care if anyone wants to read it or not because in the future I do, and I'd like for my future children (if that ever happens) to be able to look back and relate themselves to me when I was their age. Close friends of mine know some of my past so to them it's no surprise why preserving memories is so important to me.

      For my first post I am supposed to write about my current relationship. I like this topic. As most of you know, this would not of been my ideal topic only 10 months ago. Going through a divorce was one of the most difficult things I have ever dealt with. (As you can tell from my previous blog posts.) But I look at my life now from how it was then and the difference is like night and day. I can legitimately say..I am happy. I am. I normally am always a happy person, no matter what, but there is an insane difference between being happy on the outside and really being happy deep down. Don't get me wrong, I am an extremely independent person and don't need a man in my life to make me happy, lots of things make me happy. My friends and family have always been a big part of it. At the end of the day when you are able to come home to someone you care for so much and they care for you the same way it's just different. I can't explain it, but it's a great feeling!
      I have been dating my boyfriend, Burt, for about 7 months now. I have always known of him because he played in a band I really liked, but it wasn't until just the end of last year that I actually met him. We started spending a lot of time together and fell for each other quickly. We made things 'official' January 25th of this year. I will always remember that date because it was at the Macklemore concert in Park City. That was a wonderful weekend, we had tons of fun and really got to know each other. It wasn't much later we got serious and moved in together. We now live in an amazing apartment in Salt Lake City and have an adorable, big, fuzzy bear for a child. (Our dog.)
      I know it seems like our relationship has moved quickly, and it has, but we became best friends before anything. Because of this I think our relationship has been more then perfect. We have so much fun together and have so many things in common, it just makes things that much easier. He supports me and is always there for me. We also have the best conversations. I believe this to be very important. There are still times when we will get into conversation with each other then realize we had just been talking for hours. He makes me feel so good about myself, always telling me I'm pretty and calling me 'sweetie'. My favorite is when I say something about me looking gross or feeling ugly he will laugh and say to me "Quit being weird." I couldn't ask for a more perfect person to be in my life. I really am so unbelievably lucky!

I love you, Burt.

<3

This is at the Mackelmore concert in Park City

California 2013

Vater.

      Surprise!..I moved again! I wasn't planning on it but when I had half my stuff moved into the house I was moving into, it turned out that everyone had to be out by the end of the month..so there I was again, looking for somewhere else to live. Only this time I had some stuff in one place and more in another. It was a difficult move, but worth it! Burt and I found an amazing apartment and we love living here! It's called Citifront apartments, but its a new addition so we are the first to live in this section of the apartments. Everything is updated and brand new. And also on the plus side, a gym and pool I have been taking full advantage of!

      Since we moved into a little bigger of a place we decided to look around at some animal shelters with hopes of possibly finding a dog. We have talked about getting a dog for some time now but have never had the space until now. We spent a huge majority of our weekend visiting shelters and walking dogs to see which one we would like to take home with us. It breaks my heart to have to put the ones we did not choose back into their cages, they were all wonderful dogs! I wish we could of adopted them all!

      After checking lots of shelters we found that the shelter called 'Second Chance for Homeless Pets' was having an adoption day at Pets Mart so we decided to check that out. They had a few puppies and cute little dogs we could choose from, but one dog caught our eye. He wasn't a puppy, but still young. A 3 year old Akita/German Shepard mix, so they said. I believe him to be an Akita/lab mix due to his floppy ears and webbed feet. Either way he is handsome! We walked him around a bit and felt that this is the dog we need to get. We spoke to the lady and found out a little bit more about him. It turned out that he had been a stray and was taken to the Humane Society of Utah but was never adopted. He eventually was next in line to be killed until someone from Second Chance saw him and just could not leave him behind. They have had him there in their shelter for a few months now and he still just could not get adopted. After hearing this I was shocked..I really could not think of any reason not to adopt him, he seemed perfect! So, we did!

      Vater has now been in our home now for only a couple of days, but he fits in perfectly! He is a big dog but our apartment is a good size for him. We have a little bit of work to do with him, he is not potty trained. Luckily, we have stained concrete floors in our apartment so it hasn't been much of a problem and he seems to be learning quickly. He also has some scabs from being scraped up a bit and a very sore, scabbed up neck from what looks like him being chained up on a choke collar for too long. And he is VERY skinny! He is a fluffy dog and should be a lot huskier then he is, but instead you can see his spine and ribs really well, even through his fluffy fur. We have him on a healthy diet and hope to see some weight gain quickly. But he is so happy, you can tell! I got attached to him right away with is sweet, cuddly, loving personality. He is our new best friend already.

Vater.

     

I can.

      Well..life is still moving. Quickly. And in the right direction! Lately, I have been busier then ever, but with doing things I love. I spend a huge majority of my time photographing, volunteering, and spending time with my favorite person in the entire world! During the summer the clinic I work at slows down a lot. It seems that kids don't get sick very often during the summer, and the doctors I work for like to take time off to vacation and spend more time with their families during the warm summer months. Because of this I have been scheduled to work at my job 1 to 2 days a week, if even that. I was really worried at first because, like anyone else, I have bills to pay. But instead of stressing, I kept my chin up with a smile on my face and went on doing what I loved..photography. I have gotten so busy this summer with photoshoots that it has become a pain to go to work at the clinic only once a week. Of course I still love my job and will hold on to it for the winter months, but I am happy I am able to experience the life of a full time photographer for a while. Depending on how the winder months go, maybe I will be a full time photographer starting next year!
      I feel I have been branching out a little more with my photography. Normally, the majority of what I photograph are weddings, families, things like that. Lately I have been photographing a lot of fun events. I have even gotten a lot of amazing opprotunities to photograph for Ivory Homes. I absolutely love what I do, and can't wait to see what the future brings! And no matter what happens, or how hard things get, I know that if I keep being my happy little self good things will keep coming my way. I think the biggest lesson I have learned in this past year is that it really is up to you if you want to be happy or not. Once you just decide to be, you will be, and life is so much more awesome! It's just that easy.

      Because I have had a little more time on my hands recently, I decided to do something worth while. I started volunteering at the Ching Farm Rescue and Sanctuary a few weeks ago. It's a sanctuary farm where animals can live out their lives how they should, happy and well taken care of. All the animals there (and there are lots of them) have been rescued or abandoned. It's so sad to think about, especially once you get to know them because their personalities really start to show. They are all different from one another and it's very easy to fall in love with each animal there. It's also a lot of hard work. A lot of walking, climbing and lifting in the hot sun, but I have never gotten a better workout! I find it a lot of fun and plan to keep going back.
      I had never known there was such thing as an animal sanctuary farm until I watched a documentary called Vegucated. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out, it's on Netflix. I have always been into being healthy and everything, but after watching this documentary I changed my life drastically. It really makes you aware of not only the problems with the food industry, but with the earth as well. If you care at all about any of that, or yourself, please, just take a look. I was vegitarian for some time, then after seeing this documentary I went completely vegan. I have been vegan now for about a couple of months and it really isn't as hard as it seems. I'm not going to lie, in the beginning I did cheat a little bit. But to be honest, since I have been sticking to a strictly vegan diet I have felt so much better. I have also made new friends and have eaten some of the best food I have ever tasted in my entire life. I recently went to the Pride Festival in Salt Lake City and came across a PETA stand and spoke with them quite a bit. This is how I became aware of the Ching Farm Rescue and Sanctuary and found out that they really needed my help. If anyone out there is interested in volunteering you can read more about them on their website, www.chingsanctuary.org.
 
     ..I am in the process of moving..again. I know, I know, I just can't seem to stay in the same place for very long. This time I am downsizing even further, if that is even possible. I am moving from my cozy, little studio apartment to my boyfriends cozy, little room. I will be the only girl sharing a house with 4 boys. I have no problem getting rid of anything, except for my clothes, and sharing a little closet is not something I am used to. I can do this...I can. It will be a great thing and I am excited for this move! ..now how to girlify a guys room..hmmm.