Image Map

Sunday, June 30, 2013

writing {blogger roundtable part 4}

I look forward to the Blogger Roundtable every month. Bonnie does such a great job hosting, and the time always passes way too quickly. I was extra excited this month because I got to meet may30x30/blogging the bach friend Kimberly in real life.
The topic this month was writing. I was a little surprised at the first roundtable when several people mentioned one of the main reasons they blog is to have a space to write. Even though that isn't one of the reasons I blog, the discussion was still very applicable. We talked a lot about blogging the tough stuff, quality writing, challenges in writing, and things that make us keep coming back to a blog. Spending an evening connecting with other bloggers chatting the night away is my favorite. Like a good teacher, Bonnie made us all share what we wanted to take away and implement. I want to try to care a little less what other people think of me and write more of the tough stuff. Feel free to check in with me to see if I really do it.

I nearly died of excitement meeting Kimberly IRL.
 Suzzie, Kimberly, Tayler, me, Bonnie

Although this roundtable was a little smaller than in the past, it was perfect. It allowed for some really great discussion. Blogging just keeps getting better and better! Thanks Bonnie for another fab night of blog talk.

Tomorrow is the big day when google reader goes buh bye. If you want to stick around (and I hope you do), click the + circle at the top to follow on bloglovin'
Photobucket

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

blogging the bach 9.5

after last week's boring episode of the bach, i was a little nervous for this week. boring episode=boring blog post. luckily things got a little less boring this week. kimberly and i are back giving you our 2 cents on the bach. sadly we didn't get to watch together this week.
photo credit huffington post

this week starts out with a 1 on 1 with chris. he seems like a great guy, but he definitely isn't my type. i heard the words
goofy
funny (I do really like funny, but it has to be the right funny) 
corny
some people really love that stuff. i am not one of those people.

chris says "i don't think anything could go wrong." dear chris (and anyone else on this show), do NOT under any circumstances say that. you are asking for trouble.

their attempts to speak german brought back memories of living in a foreign country. not knowing the language is tough. 

bryden comes to the date, and the awkwardness begins. not much to say about bryden other than buh bye bryden. chris says all the right things, and des is clearly falling for him. my guess is chris goes pretty far in this whole thing.

a few other things about this date...
more poetry...one of my top love language is words of affirmation so why do i find the poetry so cheesy???
the kissing sounds are terrible. can they please edit that?
this season is def the season of music. new artist each week.

the group date is the best date we have seen so far. everyone has fun, and there isn't any drama.
i wish i was more fun because sledding down a black diamond ski hill would scare the crap out of me.
des says "this is the happiest place on earth". i would argue that the middle of freezing cold is not the happiest place on earth. nor is disney for me, but that's a whole different topic of convo.
the individual times are just ok except...
brooks...they like to kiss...a lot
zak...he thought he was going to be a priest...what?!? never would have guessed

the 2 on 1 date is terrible and awkward no matter what, but this really was TERRIBLE. i could barely watch. i haven't been a fan of ben for a while, but michael was legit out of control. it seemed like he was cross examining the witness in court. i bet he leaves in the next 2 weeks.
i don't even know what to say about ben's exit interview except wow! and not the good kind of wow!

next up...Spain...can't wait.

word talley
amazing...6 (2 by bryden in one sentence)
journey...1
fairytale...2
connection...7 (lots of dudes think there is a connection)
lucky...0
right reasons...2
and new this week
chemistry...1

this week's bleachable moment goes to michael's behavior at dinner. how embarassing.

now head on over to kimberly's blog to see what she has to say.


Photobucket

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Virgin Islands {St. Thomas Magen's Beach}

After our day of fun in the major sun in St. John, we took a day to lay by the pool, relax, read, basically do whatever we wanted. I love those days just as much as the busier days. On our last full day on the island, we drove over to Magen's Beach. The pictures were amazing, and a lot of people suggested we go there. It was really pretty, but it was a cloudy day, and I guess the water was murkier than it usually is. 

There were a lot more people there than we saw basically anywhere else on the whole trip.

It was hard to get a decent picture with so many people there.

kari, laurann, cheryl, julie, me

laurann had the idea to come on this trip to celebrate her MBA completion. she missed graduation to fly to st. thomas so we did a quick photo shoot on the beach with her cap.

cheryl, kari, and julie did stand up paddle boards.

if you look closely, you can see all 3 of them standing up

all the cruisers left, and the beach got a lot quieter


It was pretty overcast that day which was probably good for all the sunburns. Even though it was a little crowded and overcast, I'm happy we decided to go to Magen's beach. It was a nice relaxing day on the beach.

We were all so sad this was the last full day. We spent the next morning packing up before heading to the pool. I left several hours before everyone else so I spent about an hour at the pool before going to the airport to leave. This vacation was exactly what I needed. Even though I had to leave the beautiful islands, my trip wasn't over yet. Next up...California.

Photobucket

Virgin Islands {St. John}

i've had really good intentions of finishing up my trip posts, but life/work has been kicking me in the booty lately. i still have a few posts to go before the trip posts are completely done.

everyone (like seriously everyone) said we had to go to trunk bay in st. john so we decided to take the ferry over. everyone was right. it was BEAUTIFUL! i've been pretty spoiled with my travels. i have been to some really pretty beaches. trunk bay is definitely on the list of prettiest places i have ever seen. if you are ever in the virgin islands, trunk bay on st. john is a must. now for the mega overload of pictures...

being on a docked boat makes me a little sicky so i took a bunch of pics while waiting to get on the ferry at the very last second


kari, julie, laurann, cheryl on the ferry

leaving st. thomas


kari, laurann, cheryl, me on the ferry

view of trunk bay from a lookout point



the clear water, the white sand...i can't get enough


leaving st. john after a gorgeous day on the beach, a pictureless lunch at a local spot, a little shopping


the sun hitting the water was amazing



i'm so happy we decided to go to st. john. it was a perfectly hot sunny day at the beach. the whole trip was great, but trunk bay was probably my favorite part of the trip. next up...our day at magen's beach.

PS. Kimberly is out of town so we'll be blogging the bach on Wednesday this week.

Photobucket

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

run 100 miles this summer

I've said it before, and I will continue to say it over and over again. One of my favorite things about blogging is connecting with other bloggers. I connected with A Mouse in my Kitchen through the Book of Mormon Bloggers project. The other night she tweeted something about a challenge to run 100 miles this summer. I am right in the middle of marathon training so I'm not too concerned with the amount of miles I will run before the end of summer. What I am concerned about is the fact that I rarely run during the week. That really doesn't cut it. If I want to run a decent marathon, I HAVE to run more during the week. So, I'm joining the challenge. Don't worry that we already started. I just got the info myself. My mileage won't be the same, but this is the chart some people are following. 


I need to be held accountable so in an effort to be more accountable I am linking up with some other bloggers to join the run 100 miles in ONE summer challenge. Head on over to A Mouse in my Kitchen for more details and then come join us.


Photobucket

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

blogging the bach 9.4

kimberly and i added a little excitement to blogging the bach this week by actually watching together. let's get real people, the bach is so much better when watched with friends. gracias to kimberly for having me over.
before we get started, i feel like it's a great time to remind everyone that spoilers are only fun if you like them. i don't so please leave the spoilers out of the comments. i love to hear what you have to say about the show or start a convo in the comments, but if you post spoilers i will be really sad and delete immediately.
now onto the show...
we can basically skip the recap/commentary this week because let's be honest, this was the most dramatic boring episode of in bachelorette history. i was seriously getting worried i wouldn't have anything to blog about. i mean really...
date #1...poor brad was clearly going home
group date #2...mr. america...yikes..i'll come back to that
date #3...there's really nothing i can say about this date without looking like a total beast
so i'm bringing back my friendly advice(there's kind of a lot) to the dudes(not just dudes on the bach) from week 1...
1. don't ever, i repeat ever call a girl a unicorn.ever (brooks i still really like you, but that was bad)
2. even if someone else signs you up for this show, watch before you go on. it's gotta be rough sharing the same girl with lots of other dudes, but that's how the who works.
3. man drama is super unattractive.always.
4. don't cheat.the end
5. pelvic thrusts are bad.very bad.always
6. it's creepy to spy on other dudes. girls can get away with this sometimes, but dudes definitely cannot. sorry dudes. i don't make the rules.
7. speedos are not acceptable.ever. if you are in a situation where your swimsuit is picked for you, say a big huge prayer that you get the trunk option. (sidenote...i once went on a singles cruise and a dude decided a speedo was a good idea for the hot legs or something contest. not a good idea.ever)
8. this motto really only works for girls...when all else fails, wear high heels (bless chris and his high heels)
9. when in doubt, make out (james has this down)
i most likely missed a few of the key words tonight, but here's the tally
amazing...9
journey...3 (2 of those by chris harrison)
fairytale...1 (manny and jan)
connection...8
lucky...1
right reasons...0
i think next week i should tally chemistry. anything else i am missing???
i'm starting to get a better feel for the guys, and i think i FINALLY know all of their names. after tonight, kimberly and i have hometown predictions. her picks are...
Zak W, his abs got him a rose, but his song will bring him home
Brooks, because of his hair (and I hope for a SLC hometown!!)
Kasey, #hometown
Michael G, because slim pickin's

head on over to kimberly's blog to see who i think will make it home.
who do you think is sticking around?

if you missed the first 3 weeks...
bach cap 9.3
bach cap 9.2
bach cap 9.1
fyi...we'll be posting on wednesday instead of tuesday next week.
Photobucket

Monday, June 17, 2013

Fashion Lovers Unite

A Complete Waste of Makeup, The Vintage Modern Wife, and friends are giving away $500 to Tory Burch! Fashion lovers unite because you won't want to miss out on this chance to win! Giveaway ends Friday, June 28!
If you're a fashion lover, get EXCITED because today 22 bloggers have joined together to giveaway $500 to TORY BURCH! We know fashion can get expensive, so we want to help you out! Tory Burch is one of our favorites, and we're sure that the winner will agree with us! Before (or after) you've entered the giveaway, please make sure you stop by the sponsor blogs. You'll love their blogs as much as we do, promise!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Virgin Islands {St. Thomas part 1}

After spending 4 amazing days in St. Kitts, I hopped a plane to St. Thomas via St. Martin. The stop in St. Martin was just that (a stop). We didn't even get off the plane, but I did experience practically landing on the beach (google it).
St. Thomas was equally amazing yet a totally different experience from St. Kitts. Besides going to see a few sites one day, we mostly stayed at the resort in St. Kitts. We rented a car in St. Thomas, and although we spent a good amount of time at the pool at the resort, we also left a lot too. I loved both, and I'm so glad I got to do both. 

the view from our balcony
standing on the beach looking out

5 of us went to St. Thomas (Laurann, Kari, Julie, Cheryl, and myself). Laurann, Julie, and I flew in around the same time on the same day, and Kari and Cheryl flew in the next day. We spent the first couple of days enjoying the sun and the pool at the resort.

we finally actually got dressed for dinner
julie, laurann, kari
 cheryl, me (my hair was a complete disaster there. if i embrace the curls, my hair is usually ok in humidity, but the product just didn't work 
 a different night after dinner in town
the sky was so gorg we had a little photoshoot
julie, cheryl, kari

 my uniform for this trip (swimsuit and a coverup). the other girls were still in swim suits too, but there cover ups look more like real clothes

 we went somewhere a little nicer for dinner our last night. we had the nicest server ever. i'm NOT a foodie and don't really appreciate fine dining, but it was fun

St. Thomas was seriously amazing! I really really loved it. Next up...our day trip to St. John and one of the pretties beaches ever.

Photobucket

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Virgin Islands {St. Kitts part 2}

There were far too many pictures for one post. We originally planned to take a taxi to the fortress, and that was all. Seeing more of the island costs less than $5 more so we opted for the half island tour. It was beautiful! The fortress sits up on the top of the hill. I am not very good at knowing or remembering history, but it was cool to see a big part of the history of the island.

carrie and brooke in front of the fortress



beautiful view

the fortress has been preserved pretty well, but this room was full of random garbage and seemed like a work in progress

seemed so real and really scared me. also i apparently wasn't supposed to take pictures...oops

the view was amazing

next up I leave St. Kitts and head to St. Thomas
Photobucket