running for Boston

the boston marathon bombing hit me hard. i talked about some of my feelings right after it happened. one good thing that came out of it is runners everyone united to show support and also to say we aren't going to let a tragedy like this keep us from running. within 3 days, several of the local running stores organized 5k events to raise money and show support for boston. it was so cool to see a couple thousand people come together. the running community is amazing, and i am so lucky to be part of such a strong supportive community.

somehow i convinced carrie to come run with me

the amount of people all running for the same cause makes me emotional

month of blue

i swear i'm not a fashion blogger. i'm really really not. apparently i think i am though. i keep doing clothes things for my monthly goals which means i totally look like a wannabe fashion blogger.

my goal for april was to wear blue everyday in support of and to raise awareness about autism. like i mentioned before, i did it last year so i wasn't super worried. i started out thinking i would definitely have repeat outfits, but somehow i managed to do different combinations for the whole month. i wasn't dying, but i was definitely looking forward to being done...until i decided to do may30x30.

here you have it, lovely iphone mirror pics of all my BLUE outfits for april.

may30x30 week 1

edit...i wrote this post super late last night. i am running my crazy busy head off and am completely exhausted. i thought about coming back to edit the post to make it a little better, but i decided to keep it real. so here you have it...a very exhausted blogger attempting to document what i'm wearing this month. may30x30 is well underway.  so far it's going pretty well. the weather played a little trick when it snowed the first day, but other than that, it's pretty fun. i am loving my new bloggy friends. i am definitely no fashion blogger, and i don't love pictures of myself, but here we go with the first 6 days.

day 1...it snowed. still trying to figure out what to do about pictures. teal tank, red cardi, black jeans

day 2...target stripe V, gray cardi, big star jeans

day 3...struggling with the pics today. melon stripe, teal cardi, melon skinnies

day 4...spent most of the day in workout clothes. finally got ready for the day around 4:30. old navy stripe, big star long rolled up to make long capris. got chilly during the soccer game so the pants came unrolled

day 5...sinking into the ground while taking pics. cream tank, mint cardi, denim skirt

i'm excited to see what all the other girls have been wearing.

why i started blogging

there's been a lot of talk in blog land lately about why people blog and/or why people started blogging. for me, those are 2 very different questions and 2 very different answers. i'm linking up with neely and samantha to discuss why i started blogging and a little of why i blog now.

it seems like a lot of people are newer to the blogging scene. i started blogging clear back in 2008. you can see my first post here. i live far away from all family and some friends. back in the day lots of my friends and family blogged. i loved keeping up with what everyone else was doing through their blogs so FINALLY one day i decided to start a blog. many of my good friends got married, and we thought it would be a great way to keep track of each other.

that's basically how blogging went for the first couple of years. i thought it was a little weird to read blogs of people i didn't know so i didn't do it. i only read friends and family. from the start i really loved blogging and blogged at least a couple of times a month at least. gradually a lot of my friends stopped blogging. it got to the point that i really didn't have many blogs to read. i didn't want to give up blogging just because my friends did. i actually first started reading "random" blogs when i was training for the new york marathon. i got connected with a nyc blogger who was also running the marathon. from there i really gave in and started reading more and more "random" blogs. it's funny to me how well you can get to know someone you don't know in real life through reading their blog.

even though a lot of friends and family have jumped off the blogging bandwagon, i am here to stay. i blog now for a few reasons.
1. i still want friends and family to know what i'm doing
2. i still want to document my life (especially since i no longer scrapbook)
3. i love love love the connections i have made and continue to make through blogging.

i was always a little jealous of people who have blog friends, but once i realized most bloggers are super nice and love the connection part of blogging as much as i do, making blog friends seems natural. i love love love all my blog friends and always look forward to making more.

what about you? why did you start blogging?

ps there are some great blogging resources out there to help you get started and keep going

happy birthday {hairspray and high heels}

if you're like me, you love new makeup but don't necessarily love spending  money on it or you have to spend money because you ran out of the basics (foundation, powder, primer, etc.). to solve that problem and to celebrate her bloggy birthday, angela and a few other bloggers got together to bring you a super sweet giveaway...$250 to sephora. do you even know how much cool stuff you could buy with that??? enter below to win. good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

churchy things {the basics}

ever since i talked about faith last month, it has really been on my mind. i have been devoting a lot of my study time to faith. i am starting to have a very small understanding of faith, but that makes me thing faith in what?!? the simple answer if faith in a lot of things including the basic principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  have you ever wondered what those basic principles are? have you ever wondered what exactly it means to be a mormon? rather than reinvent the wheel, i want to send you over to bonnie's blog to get the 411 on the mormons. her post is written so well. she is a great writer. do yourself a favor and go check it out...now. if you still have more questions or want a copy of the Book of Mormon, please email me.
for more churchy things check out...or so she says, a mouse in my kitchen, girl loves glam, and musings miracles and mayhem

unblogged baby gift {painted and mod podged frames and print}

in case you were wondering where i was yesterday...i was over here blogging about summer reading (a little funny I know). go check it out.

remember a couple of months ago when i posted about the framed let them be little print for baby henry's room?!? well, loved it so much i decided to do another one for co-worker alyssa's new babe norah. i really really love how this turned out.

follow this tutorial for the framed print. the striped frames are super easy too.

cut fabric an inch or two bigger all the way around than the cardboard in the frame

scotch tape (or something stronger if you want) fabric around cardboard like you are wrapping a present

put in frame...super easy, cute, and a great way to tie in the fabric from the framed print

i bought the cheap frames from the craft store so i decided to paint them cream and gray stripes. i painted the whole thing cream first. i measured the width of the stripes, but it still ended up off a little. tape off sections to be painted gray. paint a coat or two and let dry before removing the tape. you may need to touch up with a thin brush just a little.

i was even happier when alyssa sent me pictures of the nursery. are you a make it or a buy it kind of gift giver?

spring 30x30

over the past year or so i have seen the 30x30 clothes challenge all over blogland. i have thought about doing it a few times but always had enough excuses to talk me out of it.  when kelly posted a spring challenge that included linking up with other bloggers, i thought more about it. after wearing blue everyday in april (more to come on that very soon), i was really nervous about taking on another clothes goal. i'm a sucker for a challenge and also meeting other bloggers. kelly is seriously the nicest and set up the whole thing to convince encourage us. basically you pick 30 pieces of clothing...tops, bottoms, dresses, etc. (i'm not counting shoes or accessories but some do) and mix and match pieces for 30 days. some people also choose not to shop as part of the challenge. unless i really NEED something for my trip, i'm not shopping this month. i have already picked up a few new things for spring so it will be good for me to have a shopping freeze. i really hope to follow kelly's posting schedule, but i am nervous how that's going to work out with being gone for 2 weeks. here's the plan...

• Wednesday, May 1st:  My 30 selected items 
• Wednesday, May 8th:  Days 1-6
• Tuesday, May 14th:  Days 7-12
• Monday, May 20th:  Days 13-18
• Monday, May 27th:  Days 19-24
• Monday, June 3rd:  Days 25-30

picking out my 30 pieces was so STRESSFUL! the weather here is bi-polar as evidenced by the snow we had today, and i will be spending 2 weeks at the beach. i hope i didn't make any mistakes.

cardis...1. red target 2. neon gap 3. mint gap 4. teal nordstrom bp 5. olive target 6. gray h&m 7. cream shade 8. charcoal hoodie old navy

 tops...9. blue/white tank old navy 10. teal tank wal mart 11. cream tank from who knows 12. royal blue old navy 13. stripe bella bird walmart 14. baseball tee old navy 15. melon stripe gap 16. navy stripe gap 17. purple/teal v target 18. yellow stripe v target 19. coral stripe v old navy

 bottoms...shorts and pants...20. white shorts banana republic 21. big star cut offs 22. big star cuffed jeans 23. melon skinnies gap 24. black skinnies kohls

skirts...25. denim bella bird walmart 26. army bella bird walmart 27. navy skirt/shirt modbe 28. yellow dress/skirt bella bird walmart 29. black maxi skirt that better get sewn pronto 30. undecided..saving for an emergency
and because it's funny...here is a little sneak peek at my attempts to photograph day #1

never ever ever

even though my mom always told me to never say never, i'm linking up with neely to bring you ...
NEVER EVER EVER will you EVER hear me say.. 1. pizza sounds really good right now 2. i really want to go camping 3. i'm such a daredevil 4. let's watch all the lord of the rings movies (or any of them for that matter) 5. some people look just as good with no makeup 6. i feel weird with painted nails 7. that's too much sparkle 8. i didn't make my bed today 9. holiday birthdays are fun 10. even though i can make it, i'm definitely buying it (although sometimes i should just buy it)
what are some things you would never ever ever say ever? link up your post or respond in the comments. can't wait to see what everyone has to say.

the sponsor part of blogging {blogger roundtable part 2}

one of the highlights of spring break (yes i know that was a month ago) was part 2 of the blogger roundtable.  part 1 was so so so much fun so even though it meant driving to utah county on a day off, it was well worth it. the topic this time was sponsorships...when to start, how much to pay, how much to charge, what to expect, etc. the topic generated a lot of great conversation. i am not at the point where i feel like i can devote the time required to accept paid sponsors, but i will happily button swap or product review. 
the night was lots of fun. i met more fun bloggers and got some really great information. i am so happy bonny and elizabeth put this thing together.

the lovely hosts

we really do sit around a table and talk blogging all the night long

hanna, annelise, aubrey, elizabeth

anne, jessica, bonny, michelle

thank you bella the blog for the non iphone pics which i actually got from bonnie's blog
if you want to swap buttons or have me review your product, let me know

monday memories

jess is starting a new serious...monday memories. i think it's a great idea and will probably join her from time to time. so...it's not monday, and this was last week, but i'm posting anyway. we got together to plan our st. thomas trip. mostly we all pulled out our computers. they all looked up stuff, and i looked at twitter. also, nothing really got planned. everyone started playing some dice game, and i continued looking at twitter and documenting the whole thing on instagram. meet kari, cheryl, julie, and laurann. they will make more appearances on the blog especially the st thomas posts

niki was in town from texas for the weekend, and i was lucky enough to see her. we took this picture in the worst lighting possible...who knew. 

i went to dinner with one of my fave bloggers bonnie. i seriously about died when she suggested we hang out. although i do know her in real life now, i was still straight up dying. we could have stayed at dinner for hours and hours more than we did chatting it up about life and of course blogging. in an epic case of blogger fail, we did not take a picture. i'm still mad about it.

i got an impromptu text to meet up for lunch with in and out of town friends today. it was fab even if i was in my biking clothes.

speaking of biking, remember how i switched my bike pedals to clips last year and never rode again?!? unfortunately i have a 30 mile charity ride next week. i had big plans to bike today until my bike had a flat tire...again. please bless i don't die next week.

i'll be back pretty pronto with more memories...maybe even on monday next time.