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Sunday, December 31, 2017

Wear it Wednesday-Sweater Dress

My mom always wants us to have a new dress for holidays-Christmas, Easter, etc. I looked and looked for Christmas and couldn’t find anything I liked. I was about to give up when I heard The Loft was having a sale. I went and found this sweater dress and another skirt. It’s soft and comfortable and can be styled so many different way. I chose to style it with tights and heels and a red necklace for Christmas. It would also look great with black or gray booties. The accessory options are pretty endless. It’s the perfect winter dress. 

Dress-The Loft

Shoes-Jessica Simpson from Marshall’s 

Tights-Target (tip-buy a bigger than normal size so they don’t fall/roll down)

Another Year Older-Birthday Celebrations

I haven’t exactly been looking forward to this birthday-not the day itself but turning another year older. There’s obviously nothing I can do about it so I might as well embrace it. 

I was lucky to have a couple of birthday celebrations this year. I celebrated with Tiffany, Sage, and Michelle before they left for the holidays and again with my family on my actual birthday. 

We met for dinner at Tsunami. Dinner was delicious and we had a lot of fun chatting. Tiffany brought yummy cupcakes for dessert. 

After dinner, dessert, and a quick stop at the gas station for drinks we went to Christmas in Color. I knew driving through a field of lights would be cool. It really was incredible. I love light of any kind so it was the perfect birthday celebration. It meant a lot to me that they made sure to celebrate before they left. 


I went to California the day before my birthday so I got to celebrate there too. That celebration was very similar-dinner, dessert, and Christmas lights. It was fun to be with family and celebrate with them. 

This house is amazing. The house was covered in lights and the whole presentation blew me away. 


We ended the night with a birthday treat. It was so great hearing from so many friends and family throughout the day. My heart was filled with so much love and joy. 

Friday, December 15, 2017

Foodie Friday-gluten free sundried tomato pesto pizza 

I’ve been eating gluten free for the past few weeks to help/support a friend in her transition to eating gluten free. For the most part I just avoid foods that contain gluten rather than looking for substitutes. I’ve been wanting to try cauliflower crust pizza for a while, and this was the perfect time to do it. I was pleasantly surprised with how good it was. I cheated a little and bought the crust and chicken already made. 

Trader Joe’s cauliflower pizza crust (frozen section)

Trader Joe’s pesto with quinoa “sauce”-much thicker than traditional pizza sauce but so delicious 

Trader Joe’s grilled chicken

Sun dried tomatoes 

Cheese of your choice 

Bake the crust per directions on the package. Layer ingredients. Broil to melt cheese. 


Sunday, December 10, 2017

Wear it Wednesday-Cozy Sweaters

Winter is here! There is no snow (and I’m not complaining), but the temperatures definitely say winter. Big bulky warm cozy sweaters are my new favorite. I kind of want to live in them all the time. 

My current uniform is big cozy sweater, t shirt, skinny jeans, booties. Wearing a coat is a little tricky, but I’ve had to do it a few times. 

Sweater-Lucky

T shirt-H&M

Jeans-Joe’s jeans

Booties-Toms 


Beauty Time Tuesday-New Products 

I’m really trying to use the products I have rather than buying a lot more things. However, I do love trying new products. 

Beaugenix mask-I ordered this from Groupon and still haven’t tried it. It’s a peel off mask and seems more fun to use with a friend rather than on my own. I brought it to Mandi’s house one night and also to Boise, but we were having too much fun to use it. Maybe I will try it over the holidays. 

Immuno Gum-I don’t usually post about vitamins and medicines, but this is good enough to post. I typically have a really good immune system, but I have been really sick the past month. I had a sinus infection and who even knows what else. I went to the pharmacy several times and brought every single thing I could see. This gum supposedly helps the immune system after chewing for 5 minutes. Who knows if it really works or not, but I am going to believe it does (winky face). 

Urban Decay nocturnal pallet-This pallet was a great Black Friday deal. It’s a great small pallet, and I really like it. 

Have you tried anything new lately?

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Generation Gap holiday party 2017

We planned the running group holiday party at Sharon’s house right after the Saturday morning run to keep things simple and save time. Sharon and Greg made a yummy breakfast and it was fun to visit with each other especially those we don’t see as often. The party ended with a white elephant gift exchange and donations to the local homeless shelter. 


Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Beauty Time Tuesday-November Empties 

Most of my empties this time were Bath and Body Works, Big Sexy Hair, and Clinique. 

Clinique clarifying lotion/toner-love

Bath and Body Works body cream-love. use daily. 

Big Sexy Hair Spray and stay-a little too firm hold. 

Bath and Body Works shower gel-always have in the shower-often use to shave

Bath and Body Works foaming hand soap-love 

Intuition razor refill-love

Big Sexy Hair dry shampoo-love. gives great texture. 

Clinique concealer-used forever and loved. switched to another brand. 

Clinique mascara-love

Anastasia Beverlyhills brow duo-love

Monday, December 4, 2017

One Little Word-December

2018 is right around the corner. 2017 has been a good year, but in a lot of ways I feel like it has flown by without me even noticing. I’ll do a full recap on my word EMBRACE at the end of the year. As we approach the end of the year, it is something I have been thinking about a lot.

via she's just smitten

my overall goal and theme for the year is EMBRACE even though my monthly goals don't always match that theme.

YEARLY GOALS
*nightly gratitude journal-better-i'm still using my commit 30 planner. i am either really good or really not good. i had good intentions especially with the month of Thanksgiving, but I did not do so well   
*do something that scares me/pushes me out of my comfort zone-✓
*attend temple 12 times-i visited the Meridian, ID temple open house. i need to go one more time this month.
*monthly journal-just caught up
*csatt/fitness goals-i signed up for csatt again. i really love the accountability of the group, and it's nice to have a set plan each day. so far i'm really liking it and doing well with my goals. 

NOVEMBER GOALS
I am keeping things pretty simple this month.
*NO SUGAR NOVEMBER-no treats/avoid added sugar. Thanksgiving is an exception. I did really well before Thanksgiving and things haven't been great since.
*50 burpees daily (except Sunday)-I ended up deciding to do Monday-Friday with running on Saturdays. I did the burpees everyday except one when I totally forgot.

DECEMBER GOALS
*finish all Christmas(cards, gifts, mail, etc. by Dec 15)
*read daily Christmas scriptures
*100 daily abs
*gluten free for 21 days to support a friend recently diagnosed with celiac
*follow #lighttheworld campaign

It's the very end of the year. Are you still working on goals? How are they going? 

 photo aubrey-sig_zps0ck6qpqn.png

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Weekend in Boise 

Ever since Jen told us they might be moving to Boise, Mandi and I have been so excited to visit. We took a quick weekend trip a few weekends ago. We had the best time catching up with Jen and seeing her new home. 

We took a spin class. I forgot how much I love spin. It was a great workout and so much fun. 

Jen made her famous meatloaf. I have never tasted such delicious meatloaf in my life. It was amazing. My favorite part of the meal was Henry asking if he could have a banana instead of brussel sprouts. 

Our trip was the same weekend as the Meridian temple open house. It was beautiful to see and such a great opportunity. I loved the chance to share something with Jen that’s so important to me. 

We took a drive and saw the beautiful sunset and the city below. 

We went downtown for dinner to celebrate Jen’s birthday. We had a delicious dinner and a fun evening and didn’t take any pictures. 


We went on a hike before we left town. Jen has beautiful trails in her neighborhood. The top overlooks the city and it was beautiful. I was sucking wind the whole time and was a little discouraged at how difficult it was for me. I hung back and had time for a lot of reflection. I ended up getting sick a few days later so maybe that was part of it and/or hiking is one of the hardest exercises for me. I enjoy it, but it’s hard for me even when it’s not hard for others. 

The weekend was so much fun. Jen and her family were gracious hosts. It was fun to visit Boise-a place very similar to SLC. The drive wasn’t bad at all and gave Mandi and me a great chance to catch up. It was the perfect weekend getaway.