The New Place

I finally feel mostly settled (and I cleaned today) so I figured I'd take some pictures and share my cute new place with all of you!

This is the living room downstairs. I love those big bean bags and eventually this room will be the movie room. I decided against the curtains and I'm hoping to buy some movie posters from a friend that owns a dollar theater.

This is my little bathroom. I was super excited that I got to pick my shower curtain. I'm not sure why :) The only thing I really hate is that ugly pink counter top.

This is my bedroom. It was an adjustment for me to get used to how small it is but really I love it. It is my own little space that I can use to just get away. The girl that lives downstairs with me isn't ever home either so I pretty much have the basement to myself. It's been nice.

This is the upstairs living room as seen from the stairway. My roommate Ashley decorated it and I love the red and black. I was going to take a picture of our kitchen but that is yet to be checked off the cleaning list so that'll come later.

In other news, Ellen was amazing enough to take me to a sneak peak veiwing of Harry Potter yesterday and we had a lot of fun hanging out and watching the movie. I loved the movie and free concessions is always a plus. I have to credit Cameron for my going as well because he gave up his ticket and a night out with his wife so that I could go. Thank you Ellen and Cameron!

Things are going really well and I'm excited to see what adventures are coming with my new roommates and new ward. Just as an idea... here are some pictures of us trying to clean the windows and change a light bulb on the outside of the garage without the use of a ladder. It is also a good idea of the kind of trouble we get ourselves into.

I Love My Dad!

I know this post is a day late for Father's Day but the holiday isn't the only reason for this post so oh well.

I this weekend was a busy one. I was super excited to go to IKEA this past weekend with my sister and was not disappointed in the least (except for when I got home and realized the box supposedly containing my black shelves actually contained red shelves). I had a great time finding things that I need to feel really moved into my fun new place and I have to say, I got a great deal on all the things I got! Saturday my goal was to get things put together and in place. I also decided I was going to remedy my lame closet situation. I basically had two wire shelves one of which was crooked and the other was so high that I had to stand on my toes to hang anything from it. Lame! So I ventured into Home Depot all by myself. I knew exactly what I wanted and found it really quickly. Then I checked out and looked at the new shelve, rods, screw, tape measure, and other handy things and kind of paniced. So I called my dad. "Dad are you busy?" "Not really, why?" I explained my predicament and my awesome dad came to save the day. He and my mom came over and my dad spent a good chunk of his day doing me an amazing favor. I now have a WAY better closet system and it is all thanks to him! I really love my dad!

So my closet is fixed. I have a new privacy lock on my door (Installed by me. Ask me how proud I am of my doorknob installation abilities!) My shoes are organized for the first time in who knows how long. There are things hanging on my walls, and I am feeling settled!

Getting Settled

So I have to say the time went by really fast and I'm already moved into my new home! I'm adjusting fairly well but I have to admit, I do miss my family.

I'm working on getting settled and that of course includes a trip to IKEA sometime this week. I'm excited to work out some of my ideas for what I've decided to call my lounge area (instead of living room). The living room upstairs is really cute and nice (all thanks to my new roomie Ashley) and I thought it would be fun to have place to just relax. So, a few weeks ago I bought to big ModPods (LoveSac type bean bags) and just broke them out of the boxes today. Eventually I'll find a TV that works for my budget and set up the Nintendo and a DVD player . The room also has the interesting feature of a ledge about hip height and I had the idea today that I'd put some curtains up above there to make the room a little cozier and softer. Soothing deep colors and just a comfortable place. I'll put pictures up when it has more than two naked bean bags (you're supposed to wait 24 hrs before you put the covers on).

I was super excited today to figure out it only takes about 5 minutes (if that) to get to work and I'm stoked for the extra 1/2 hour or so I have to sleep in or do whatever in the mornings! I'm super excited and I promise to post pictures as soon as I'm really settled! <3

In the words of the great Billy Joel "I'M MOVIN OUT"

Yep, that right, I'm moving out! I found a cute and perfect townhouse in Bountiful! I went and saw it on Monday and literally did a happy dance on my way to the car (and haven't really stopped since). I'm kind of sad that the girls I met will be moving out but luckily one of them will still be in the ward that I'll be going to AND I totally trust them to find some other awesome roommates for me.

I'm hoping that Colbi will move up from Provo and live with me but she has a few options and hasn't decided what she is doing yet. If she does than I will move into the basement of this townhouse that has two private bedrooms, a shared living room and shared bathroom and then we'd share the upstairs kitchen and living room with the other two girls. It's a month to month lease (you just sell your room if you want to move out) which is comforting in case I decide I'm too much of a homebody and it feels good that I don't have to have my life planned for a whole year out to sign a long lease.

Another plus is that the house is only a few minutes from work and so my commute goes from 15 minutes (which admittedly isn't bad) to only about 3 minutes (which rocks). I'll be going to a University of Utah ward that meets in Salt Lake on Sundays and has activites in Bountiful. I've also signed up for an institute class in Salt Lake and hopefully Holly (my cousin) and her hubby will be in my class.

As of now I'm just waiting for plans to get cemented into place so I can really start planning things. I should know by the end of the week how things will work out. I AM SO SUPER EXCITED!

In other news, my little brother Tyler gradutes in a few weeks and I couldn't be more excited for him! I'm hoping that I can get him to come to the singles ward with me a few times before I move and get him settled there. I think it would be great for him to be around the awesome guys in the ward and get all pumped up for his mission in a year. (Wow, he grew up fast!)

Life is great, except now I have to go tell my bishop that I'm moving and he'll need to release me from my calling in the RS presidency... ;o)

Because I Forgot To...

...here are pictures of my car when it was "new". I don't consider it new anymore but apparently it still smells new. (Which I credit to my unfortunate habit of climbing in smelling like tires).

Have I mentioned that I love my car? I LOVE MY CAR! I'm finally feeling like its mine and its lost just enough of that "new car" title to have a little more fun with it and feel like it is really mine. At the same time I'm figuring out more and more things about it that I love. For example, the other day on my way to work my car starts yelling at me (actually it was three REALLY loud beeps) and a light goes on in my dash. It was my TMPS indicator and I was like, "WHAT?! My car tells me when my tire is low? Sweet!" So I took it to Bountiful Mazda and apparently it had a big fat nail in on the of tires. So all in the same day I had a "not so new" moment of the first flat tire and a "wow my car is awesome" moment of my car telling me it had a flat tire.

HAPPY SATURDAY!

Stuck

So I've had a lot to think about lately and in the past whenever I've had too many thoughts in my head I always feel better after I write it all out so here I go.

I feel like I'm stuck. Not in a bad way, just stuck. I get that way sometimes. I'm not talking about that place you're in because you choose not to make an obvious choice, I'm talking about that place where you sometimes have to look around and go "Okay, what now?" I haven't had too many times like this in my life and so I can't really say that I know how to handle it. And this stuck is a little different than the other times I've felt this way. In the past this feeling was usually accompanied by huge amounts of stubborn determination on my part and very little real confusion. For example, about six months ago I had just finished my Associates at Weber and was still working in a job I hated. I didn't really have any friends or social life and it was because I flat out refused to go to a Singles Ward. Don't ask me why, but going to a Singles Ward was a HUGE deal for me. Hannah finally twisted my arm enough and I had my records transferred. Then they put me in the Relief Society presidency. Obviously that was supposed to be my next step. I found a new job with better hours and better pay. I've gotten (slightly) more involved in my singles ward. Met new people, bought a new car, and grown quite a bit (if I do say so myself).
Now here I am with indecision again, but this time there isn't any stubbornness involved and I'm not sure which situation I prefer.
I've always been the type of person that visualizes life as a path and my biggest problem is that I want to know what is at the end of each road. Like those "you pick the ending" books that I was really into when I was younger. I never could just let my first choice be. I would pick, read on, decide I didn't like where the story was going, and go back to the point where I could change that. I always kept my finger in the crucial page.
Too bad life doesn't work that way.
Maybe instead of stubborn, I'm just scared. Life is so much harder to fix if you decide you don't like the way its going!
That's where I am right now, a crossroads, the bottom of a page telling me to pick what I would do. I'm just standing there staring down the road, staring at the line "turn to page 34 OR turn to page 109". I'm scared of that next step and staring around at people walking past and thinking "See, it can't be that hard." I'm really wanting someone to grab my hand, shoot me a knowing smile, and help me take that step forward.

Of course there's that part of me (however small) that is standing off to the side, head shaking, and trying not to yell "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! JUST MOVE ALREADY. Can't you see it's obvioius?"

I know I'll get there eventually, but for now, I just feel stuck.

Update

I promised myself that I'd update this so here it goes.

I am super excited for the new year for some reason. Maybe I've been really looking for an excuse to keep some goals... I'm not sure. There are some new things that I'm excited for.

First and probably the biggest is that I was called as first counselor in the Relief Society presidency in my YSA ward. I was seriously freaked out by this at first but I figure that I kind of asked for it when I told Heavenly Father that I needed help coming out of my comfort zone. So He pushed me. Not exactly what I had in mind but I've loved it so far. I am really happy that I'm getting to know the girls in my ward better because they are amazing (okay, okay. I've really loved getting to know the guys too (o: )

Work is going really great too. This week I finally caught up with my invoices and it's been really weird to not have that to do all day. I am getting REALLY good at freecell!

Other goals... I did decide on the obligatory "get in shape" goal for the new year. I'm really bad at that. I've only worked out once since I made that goal but I'm working really hard on eating better. Believe it or not I can feel the difference that little change has made. The biggest difference I've noticed, I sleep better. I really REALLY like that little bonus!

As an update on the car. I now consider myself a PRO at driving stick (*cough*cough*). Okay maybe not but I don't really think about it anymore so I think that's a good sign.