Thank You Sara Bareilles

Best Show.
#1. She is adorable
#2. She sounds better LIVE
#3. I wish I could play the piano like her
#4. Rachel Yamagata opened for her....I also love her
#5. It was a sold out show. Can't complain to be apart of the only 500 tickets sold.

One Year Ago

This day last year, April 29, 2007, I flew to London to start a month of traveling Europe. The group tour was with the Humanities Dept. of BYU-Idaho. My best friends Jane Metcalf and Katie Denkers and I applied together.

It was so great to travel Europe for the first time with my 2 best friends and make memories together. I think about my trip frequently and day dream about the day I will return. We were able to see SO much! The main cities we visited were London, Paris, Munich, Vienna, Florence, and Madrid.

I loved it all and would encourage everyone to make a goal to visit sometime in their life!

For my Dear Sydney

My good friend Sydney and her new Husband had their reception in Charlotte this last Saturday...I had to post these cute pictures for them.


and yes...Ryan and I are matching.

U.S. National Whitewater Center

This past weekend was the Olympic Trials for the male/female single Kayak. The announcer kept on saying, "To get to Beijing, you must pass through Charlotte...."

Jared, Ryan and I went on Saturday morning to see Day 2 of the trials. This Whitewater Center is nothing what I pictured it to be. It is the largest man-made whitewater river and it has up to class IV rapids (the highest class is V). 13 countries were represented.


It was awesome! It was a beautiful 80 degree day so I couldn't complain! Ryan and Jared kept talking about their crazy adventures with outdoor sports, and all I could think of was jumping off Monkey Rock in Rexburg, Idaho....ya, I got my tan on while I watched.


This Center has a rock climbing wall, a Zip line that goes over top the while park, hiking trails, mountain biking, whitewater rafting and kayaking. Ryan and I are going to go back to rock climb. This is such a beautiful Center and it is only 15 minutes away from my house. We need to use it! I think we all felt pretty cool to be like,...these guys are going to the Olympics and they came to Charlotte to get there...(!)

Our New Baby

Her name is Sophie. And I love her. After losing Apache, we have all been struggling with how quiet the house has been. We knew that we needed to get a dog right away because we would cry and just talk about how much we missed Apache.

We did some research around Charlotte to find the right breeder. While I was at work (thanks family), my parents and Jared drove down to Chester, South Carolina (super redneck) and picked up Sophie. Sophie is a 6 week old miniature schnauzer. She is all black with a thin line of white hair down her ribcage. I was definitely unsure about getting a new dog after losing Apache because he was in our family for 13 years, but after meeting Sophie, I know she is the right fit for our family.

I have already taken about 40 pictures of her and trust me, more will come. We haven't heard her make a noise yet...no whining or barking...so maybe that's a good sign. Jared got her running up and down the hallway and she can run pretty fast! I'm going to film her running so you can see this cute girl.

(while typing this blog, Ryan has been hand feeding me salt and vinegar chips because I wanted to post ASAP!)

The Gap was good to Ryan!

I got this jacket for $11.80. He looks so cute in it!

Jared came to visit!

My awesome brother Jared is in town for 2 weeks. I was so happy to see him! What a treat!

FHE done right!

I love my friends!
We started out with a lesson, played some guitar hero, and ended with playing Scrabble. Ryan and I won Scrabble by 40 points but I'm giving the win to Lindsey and Clark by default because they put down a profanity and booty. Good times.

This is my friend Lindsey. She is wild!

This is Jeremy. He's looking for a wife.

This is Clark. He has the best laugh and he's a brilliant guitar player!
And the happy couple.

I am whole again!

Finally, my adorable fiance Ryan is home from school. As many of you know, he was away at Brigham Young Unversity-Idaho for the winter semester. I was lucky enough to go out to Rexburg to visit for a weekend in the middle of March. It was a perfect weekend and I hated saying goodbye to him at the airport.

Since then, it's been 3 weeks and we are such babies. We can't handle being away from each other. That is why we want to get married! To spend every second together! Duh! Now as we await 118 more days until we are sealed in the Columbia South Carolina Temple for Time and All Eternity, we have many fun things planned.

Summer Plans:
-go to the zoo
-kayak
-run a 5K or 10K
-play lots and lots of tennis
-visit my brother and his family in Jacksonville, FL
-waterski/wakeboard on our lake
-get tan...naturally
-look for apartments
-save money
-buy a car
-road trip to Wilmington to go to the beach!
and I really want to learn how to do something new...ie. sew something, paint something...you get the idea.

What are your summer plans? Does it involve flying to North Carolina to visit?

Loyalty

As a well respected and worshipped Gap Sales Associate, I feel like it is my duty to inform you of all the SUPER FIERCE CLOTHES for summer. Bright and flirty is what we're going for.

The Mini-Pocket V-Neck T (I already own 4)

The Reversible T. Not inside or outside reversible. But...Front or Back reversible. Pretty neat.

Straight Flap-Pocket Jean (I have the blue denim. Best jean of my life. Does wonders for those of us who have a non-existent booty)

Striped Sailor Bermuda Shorts (most comfy pair of shorts I promise)

The Shawl Hoodie (absolutely beauuuutiful)

Solid open-weave scarf (colors: fresh mint and deep guava)(shout out to LIVI)

Thursday nights are good again

Pam is my favorite. Once again, The Office has taken over my Thursday nights. Excited to have a friend to watch it with next week ;-) Thanks Ryan.

Annnnnnnd....Grey's is back! yay! April 24th. Can't wait!

swim suit season is approaching

I've been on the hunt for a new suit after my bff Kristine posted a new blog about swimsuits. I decided, might as well take advantage of my employee discount at the Gap. I found an adorable tankini on gap.com and ordered it last week. I got it today. And here is where my story begins. The top doesn't fit. Grrrrrrreat. My favorite body part to fight with. The blessing of working retail, is I'm at the Gap nearly everyday so returning is no problem. I fight this "perfect fit" problem EVERY year. You might be thinking, that's over exaggerating. Friend, would I lie to you? No I would not. But, if you are facing the same problem as me, lets talk. I need to either find a better place to look or just know that it takes a few tries before finding the perfect suit.

Proud of My Membership

This was a fantastic General Conference weekend. I unfortunately had to work on Saturday but I was able to catch the first 30 minutes of the opening session. I can't remember the Solumn Assembly when President Hinckley was sustained, but I will forever remember this one. It was such a powerful meeting. I love President Monson. This General Conference I felt a very overwhelming feeling of missionary work. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Twelve Apostles spoke of a few arguments people fight when learning about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am so grateful for modern day revelation. Elder Bednar was saying how the members of the Church are full-time missionaries and we must pray for our own experiences. I have been lacking greatly in missionary experiences. Hard to believe when almost 6 months I received my own mission call to serve full-time. We must pray and be faithful of saying the right thing when those opportunities arise. We can all do better.

Msnbc.com had an article proclaiming our new Prophet world wide after President Monson was sustained.

"SALT LAKE CITY - Mormons who have strayed from their faith were invited to return to the fold Sunday by the church's new president. "Come back," President Thomas S. Monson said in his first address since taking over The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in February. Members are ready to welcome "the less active, the offended, the critical, the transgressor" into fellowship, he said. Monson opened his remarks by noting the passing of his predecessor, Gordon B. Hinckley, calling the late president "an outstanding ambassador of truth to the entire world and beloved by all." Hinckley died Jan. 27 at age 97 after nearly 13 years leading the church. Mormons follow a pattern of apostolic succession to select a new president, with the job passing to next most-senior church leader upon the death of the previous leader. Monson has been a senior church leader since 1963 and was one of Hinckley's closest advisers. Monson said Sunday he possesses a deep understanding of the responsibilities of his office and an appreciation for the work of the 15 men previously in the job. "My earnest prayer is that I might continue to be a worthy instrument in (God's) hands to carry on this great work," he said.

breathing in and out...harder than it sounds!

I took an unfortuately long break from running. I had been training for a half marathon in mid-April, but decided to wait until a later race. I didn't feel at all prepared to run 13.1 miles. It was hard to stay motivated when wearing 3 layers of clothing because of the cold. But today I got outside for the first time in 3 weeks to run. It had rained the night before and so this morning it was humid and warm. I love that. Perfect running weather in the spring time.