2012

It's that time of year again people! Another year has come and gone! (HOLY CRAP) It has definitely been an eventful year and I love going back through my fun memories of the last year to welcome in the new one.

First trip to Moab
Having Call Me, Maybe stuck in my head for months...
Going to one of the most fun weddings I have ever been to (well done Max DeBenito)...
and vowing to show him up
Moving into my very own corner office (with windows!)
Hiking boots as a birthday present
Camping in the rain and playing cards in the tent
"Wait for iiiiiittttt...."
My dad telling me my lemon bars are better than my moms
Buying a crock pot
Moving away from the Rabbit Hole
Pinterest
Steve admitting he is more high maintenance than I am
"Did you hear about Pluto... that's messed up."
Adele (again)
Heroes
Pitch Perfect
Tracey Aviary
Power Grid
Yoga and ballet (and failing to be consistent with either)
First ever gym pass.... and actually using it
Being proposed to... and saying yes
The Melting Pot
Psych
"You mad bro?"
Cooper finally learning how to say my name
Photo shoots
Best race car cake EVER
Most epic pumpkin carving date ever
Girl time in St. George
New Girl
Urban Dictionary Names
Front row seats at the Jazz!
Wedding dress shopping
Giving blood... and passing out
This Means War
New grown up apartment
Game nights
New furniture
Teaching Steve about make up
Bright pink hair... oops
H&M
Expecting a new NIECE and NEPHEW!
Realizing that I totally lucked out in the in-law department
Laughing all the time
Skyfall
Crying a fair amount too
Realizing that my sister will always be right when it comes to shopping
Backwards kisses
Burlap and lace
Hitchcock
Getting a passport
Shellac nails and nail art
Bridal fair
Pearls
Girl talk with mom
Summer hikes
Comic book movies
Popping a tire
Mercury glass
Making a pirate costume
Charcoal, ivory, steel blue, and blush
Making new friends
Loving the old ones even more!

How did this even happen?!

I'm sitting here eating lunch, enjoying a piece of pie (compliments of a coworker's birthday), staring out the window, letting my thoughts wander and I'm completely dumbfounded. "Why?" You may ask... well let me tell you about my life right now...

I've been working at a new job for about 4 months. I work for a law firm in downtown Salt Lake City. Not just any law firm, a well respected, been around for years, treats their employees really well law firm. I took the job and got an INSANE (in my opinion) pay increase. I come to work every morning and walk into one of the coolest historic buildings in the city. I have my own office on the 5th floor. My office is actually in the corner and has HUGE amazing windows. While I sit here and eat my pie, I can watch bustling city traffic, see some beautiful urban buildings (including the Matheson Court House, which is really a great view). In the past week I've been constantly distracted by at least two different movies being made. They are probably extremely low budget, but its still a movie set outside my window. There are CONSTANT family portraits, bridals, engagements, etc being taken in the plaza. I've found some delicious little hole in the wall places to eat, and actually walk around downtown at lunch time. Needless to say, the city girl in me is absolutely thrilled to be here!

This job VERY much intimidate me when I accepted it. I applied on a whim and figured I wouldn't even get an interview. Steve and I worked for a few hours re-vamping my resume and SURPRISE! Not only did I get an interview, I got the job. I still feel like I don't really know what I'm doing sometimes, but I stay busy and actually have attorneys going behind their own paralegals' backs to ask me to help with cases. That's a great sign! I have a grown up job, and it kind of freaks me out.

In exactly 4 weeks I will be moving into my first legit apartment. It's going to be my home. I'll be on my own for awhile and then, come February, my only roommate will be my husband. Sure, I've lived away from mom and dad plenty, but in all honesty... they've all been dives. I've met amazing people and had some great memories, but this apartment is amazing. It is on the top floor and has amazing vaulted ceilings, and I CANNOT wait to move in.

I am engaged to my best friend. (See last post for details). We have an amazing relationship. He deals with all my oddities (and let's face it... I have more than a few), and makes me laugh, and holds me when I cry, and regularly kisses me on the forehead. I'm not sure why but a forehead kiss make me melt. Anyways, to avoid getting to mushy... I'll just get to my point.

HOW DID ALL OF THIS EVEN HAPPEN? Most of you reading this know me.... You all know my track record with men kinda sucks. Ok really sucks. I have a knack for picking out guys that are no good for me. Then BAM! Steve comes a long and I couldn't be happier... and I'm getting married. To prove my previous point, I resisted dating him at first. I should've seen that as a sign but he was persistent and I fell for him. HARD.

The job I guess is less surprising. I've always worked hard, have great reccommendations from past employers, and did by best to put myself through school. Its a blessing to have a job in this economy, but there are SO many things that make it amazing and perfect, and just for me. It's like I special ordered it and Heavenly Father said, "Ok, sure." I'm still not sure I quite deserve it.

I'm living in the CRAPPIEST place I have ever lived and will soon moving in to an apartment, and all my hostessing dreams can come true! I have been hoping for years that someday soon I would have my own home with my own furniture, and dishes, and messes. Now it is just weeks away.

I know this is a long post, but it really just hit me hard. All of this went through my head in a matter of seconds. It was like in the movies when the star had an epiphany and the screen flashes between all these little details.... okay I've been watching a lot of Psych....

I can't help but have a smile on my face. It is the perfect time of year to realized how BLESSED I really am.

Pumpkins and Chinese Food

I very often accuse my girl friends of dropping off of the face of the planet when they meet a boy... now I understand why. Life gets so busy with a man around. Mine is also a little high maintenance. This is by his own admission so this doesn't count as bad mouthing. I do love him... even if he is high maintenance.

So many of you know he has recently moved from boyfriend to fiance status, and I don't feel like I've gotten to tell the proposal story much. What better place to blab then on a blog right? (P.S. still weird to use fiance)

In order to really tell the story of the proposal, you have to know the story of our first date. Steven and I met in our singles ward, which I hate to admit but don't know why. He was a little bit of a jerk when I first met him, and it was mostly because he was busy flirting with other girls. I was a little bugged that I was the new girl in the ward and he was NOT offering any attention so I just shrugged him off. Then he gave a talk in church. It was funny and interesting and had a really good message. "This Steve guy is pretty dynamic... why is he such a jerk?" So I decided the next night at FHE that I would give him another chance and pay him a compliment. I told him I liked his talk, and we chatted for a bit. We talked again at stake volleyball that week, maybe flirted a little. He razzed me a little for leaving early, but when I told him I had to be up early for court he seemed impressed. Then next day was a text fest. He, very smoothly, wished me luck in court (as if I'm really important at court) and it was non-stop flirting via text message for the entire day. He even asked me out on a date VIA TEXT, which he claims he has never done before. I wiggled my way into a double, and convinced my friend Ashley to find a date. There were numbers exchanged, and we planned a date for the next night.

Steve's version of the story includes how awkward the other guy was while trying to set up the date. We believed at first that he was really young and SUPER excited to be dating (ie: fresh off the mish). The other guy wanted to carve pumpkins and eat dinner at his brother's house. He was house sitting and really wanted to show off this nice house up in Draper.

I'll admit that I spent longer than normal getting ready. The guy had been a jerk but it'd been awhile since I had a legitimate date. We met up with the other guy and my friend and picked out pumpkins and... went to Panda Express? When we got back to the brother's fancy house the other guy shooed us girls into the FORMAL DINING ROOM and soon the guys were serving us Panda Express on fine china... a la high school dance date. In the eyes of the other guy, Steve was a total failure. He put the wrong food on the wrong plate, didn't fill up my water glass, and was generally loud and contentious (a la Steve). Despite what sounds like a disaster of a date, Steve and I hit it off! We discovered that we had the same sense of humor when it came to the other guy, and joined in making things as awkward as possible. We ate Chinese and carved pumpkins, and ended up talking in Steve's truck for a few hours after the date. We joked that the other guy was probably proposing at the door step, and Steve let me down easy by telling me that he wasn't going to propose tonight (sorry). We laughed and talked and called it a night... not before he set up another date. We started dating more and more, things got serious, we started talking marriage, and I started waiting...

A few weekends ago Steve told me that his friends wanted to carve pumpkins at their house. I spent the day sewing a Halloween costume and being totally grumpy for lack of food. He told me to cheer up and we drove to Lehi. As is customary with Jesse and Kiersten, they were providing dinner. We got to their house and Kiersten explained that she'd been craving Chinese as they unloaded bags of Panda Express. I did some quick math and got excited that we were reliving our first date exactly one year later! Poor slow Jessica had no clue that it wasn't coincidence. Despite many clues and hints, I had no idea what was coming. I took my sweet time carving a pumpkin, and happily sat and chatted with Kiersten while the guys "got the pumpkins ready" for some pictures outside. Yay happy pictures, and there goes Steve wandering off into the dark backyard. I followed him a bit and asked where he was going as he slowly lead me backwards. It wasn't until I tripped and looked back and caught a glimpse...

I'm not going to lie.... I panicked. I was NOT prepared for this. For weeks Steve had claimed that he was still saving for a ring, and I just went on waiting. I hadn't planned how to react or what to say and all of the sudden it was happening. He reminded me that on out first date we ate Chinese food and carved pumpkins, and he told me not expect a proposal at the end of the night. He told me that we at Chinese food and carved  Pumpkins one year later, turned me around, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I said of course I would, and here were are happily engaged and waiting until later tonight to introduce our parents to each other!

I couldn't be happier and MAN AM I A LUCKY GAL!

When Things Don't Go As Planned... Whine

I feel like I've done REALLY well at not whining on my blog lately so please indulge me. This isn't even a whine its a "you know what I mean?"

The past few weeks/months/whatever have been full of little interesting choices and opportunities. Most of them come from being in a relationship that I'm hoping will last. Sometimes its hard to be an adult and "assess" your feelings before you cry, or yell, or laugh or whatever.

Some of the choices I'm making are "what's next?" type things. I know I ranted and raved about my awesome new job for weeks and weeks... but the exciting thing about it was that it was my first step into something new. It was never where I wanted to end up, and I (yet again) have found myself maxed out. I don't know how I get myself into positions where I move up and up and up and then "oh hey, there's the ceiling!"

So recently I was given a little more responsibility. My management changed and he told me that I'm "team lead." Part of me wants to be proud of that and the other, rather sarcastic, part of me is thinking "Team lead of two? Wow! I'm important!" And then there's this tiny part of me thinking, "I don't want to. Let me just sit back and do the interesting stuff instead of making me supervisor and sticking me with the boring crap." I just don't have time to do the fun stuff any more. I had to beg and plead for my manager to let me go to court and get out of the office tomorrow. I don't get to dig into cases any more and have to delegate the interesting stuff to my "assistant" (which I hate calling her because really, who wants to be my assistant?) The other day I was thinking that I'm stuck doing the tedious important stuff because I have seniority, but really, I don't want to do civil litigation anyways. I want to do criminal law... and lo and behold... I found a job posting with Davis County. I even got an interview. And today I found out that I didn't get the job.

Yes, I'm secure. I'm successful. I'm kind of a big deal at my office. (Kind of.) BUT....

REJECTION STINGS!

And chocolate only goes so far...

Add on Resolutions

So in the past I've kind of boycotted gyms. I didn't see the point of paying money to do things I can do on my own. Then I kind of realized that I DON'T do it on my own. So this wasn't really a new years resolution but I started looking into gyms.

I've gone with Ellen a few times to hers so I decided to try out their "week free trial". Monday we went to Zumba... I signed up that night. I got such a great work out... rather I got my butt kicked and was laying on the floor at the end of class. I've been sore for 3 days and decided to try out yoga to loosen up a bit. And let me just say, I AM EXCITED ABOUT THIS GYM THING!

I've had such a great time in three days (and slightly miserable... I am kind of starting over here). It feels so good to get active and have fun doing it.

Plus I get to hang out with my awesome sister more!

I'm adding "join a gym" and "get in shape" to my new years resolution list... and then I'll check one off!

<3

So I'm a Little Bit of a Tomboy

Steve and I have made a deal... now that we are seriously dating we take turns with date night. The idea is to give him a break from thinking of things to do on the weekend AND ease some strain on his wallet. This weekend was mine to plan and because I'm a little bit of a tom boy.....

...We went to the car show.

Audi R8 Convertable

Bumblebee!

Steve was super excited about the nice cars....

Especially when he got to sit in them

Cadillac CTS-V

Ferraris

I liked this one... and don't I just look cute in it!

We had so much fun! It was cool to get into cars you'd normally never even get to touch! It was a GREAT date... if I do say so myself :)