Out of the rut.

I don't know what it has been but the last few months I have just been in a rut. Not a big one, like not even big enough for me to realize that I was in a rut. Just big enough for me to be able to get down on myself for little things and not really focus on making myself better. I don't know if it's the stress of getting a job or the quick change from professional student to professional job seeker but something was getting me down. I don't know, it could have been the weather. Whatever it was though it's gone. 

I'm finally motivated to do things again. I went to the gym twice this week. TWICE! I know big whoop but in the last 6 months I think I've gone to the gym like 4 or 5 times. Pathetic. So two times in one week is pretty awesome. I started a craft project that I have been meaning to do for probably a year now. I folded laundry from the last two loads we did. (at least we've had clean clothes) I'm starting to enjoy my internship more. I'm being more social with the wonderful people around me. I'm starting to make more friends. I'm starting to cook more, which I love. I have even been trying new recipes and adding heaven forbid vegetables (note cooking with and eating are not always the same thing).  Everything is kind of turning out pretty good. Nothing is perfect. I still haven't finished my craft project or put away all of the laundry. I still don't have a job and I'm still not super social. But I'm happier. I'm motivated. I feel good about myself and those around me. 

So I realize I just let you all know how much of a slob and lazy person I have been the last few months. Feel free to forget all of that. Especially the laundry part. But the point is that life is good. People go through hard times. Depression, anxiety, ruts. They are all real and they happen to everyone and more importantly they are different for everyone. My rut ended randomly, maybe due to some unseasonal sun, or socializing, or eating a bit healthier. But you or someone you know might have an entirely different situation. All I can say is that life is really good and it's worth fighting to make the best of it. I know it isn't easy for everyone, but I know that one day everything will actually be okay. It will never be perfect but it will be okay and it will be good. 

This kind of took a turn for the random but I just want to thank everyone who has been so supportive of me. Even if it is just a smile or words of advice or just being a wonderful person to be around it has made a difference in my life. So thank you. 

For more inspiring and well-put words on depression or anxiety check out this amazing talk that we should all probably listen to at least once a month. 

Spring Calling

I realize that pretty much the entire country has had a pretty awful winter. East coast got it pretty bad this week. There was that one "national hate Florida day" where the entire US was freezing while it was like 75 degrees in Florida. Yeah, my mom was there that week. Rude. But this winter for me at least was like 30 times better than last year. Not only has it been warmer and less snowy but my apartment isn't 50 degrees. Instead it's probably about 78 which is too hot but I'll survive. Regardless of how much better this winter is I'm still dying for spring. Spring is easily my favorite season. The sun/warmth, the flowers and new trees, and everyone is just happier. My green thumbs are starting to itch, which is strange because I have never really enjoyed gardening. 

Dan is in the same boat with me. We want a garden! Luckily for us we are moving into my grandparents house while they're on their mission and they have a beautiful back yard so we get to have a garden!!!! 

Every time we go over to their house (at least once a week) Dan and I start talking about how excited we are to live there and all the things we might be able to do with their garden. It's pretty awesome.

To tie us over until May we're just fiddling around with fake flowers and store bought bouquets. Also my Pinterest might get a little garden crazy. We don't even have enough windows to give a potted plant proper sunlight so that will have to do for now. My current obsession right now is our front door decoration that I made (with lots and lots of help) at our relief society craft night. Inspiration from here.

Attempts at Being a Domestic Goddess: Roasted Po.Tay.Toes.

Some of you know that I am an awful eater. My family here in Utah gets together most Sundays and I have a few key cousins that will always offer me vegetables or mashed potatoes as a joke, knowing I won't accept. Yes you heard my right, I don't like mashed potatoes. That's a weird one, I know. Don't ask.

Anyway one Sunday my Grandma Westover made these amazing roasted potatoes and just asked me to  try one. Anyway I looked at them and I was like I'll take an entire plate thank you. I like potatoes when they don't taste like dirt aka fried and crispy. Up until then the only way I was getting potatoes were from potato chips or fries. These roasted potatoes are amazing- they're basically fries but  healthier? Hopefully healthier. 

Here's what you do (recipe courtesy of Gma Westover)

1 potato per person

Olive oil

Garlic salt

Pepper

Cooking spray

Bowl

Knife

Glass casserole dish

Heat oven to 400 Degrees

Cut up potato into bit sized chunks (the smaller the crispier)

Put in bowl

Drizzle olive oil. You don't need a ton, just enough to cover the potato bits

Add garlic salt and pepper. It's hard to tell with the salt so don't over do it but you can see the pepper better.

Stir it up

SPRAY CASSEROLE DISH- I have forgotten to do this EVERY time I make these. It is awful. #firstworldproblems

Put in glass casserole dish. With fewer potatoes use a smaller dish if you have one 

Put in oven once heated to desired temperature

Leave in oven for 30 minutes. Check and stir. Put back in oven.

(If you have forgotten to spray your casserole dish you'll find out now. The potato will stick to the
bottom and it's just annoying. You can repent now and move the potatoes over to one side, spray, move them to the other side, spray, and then evenly redistribute before putting them back in the oven)

Check again in 15 minutes.

Check again in 15 minutes.

It takes a total of 1 hour to cook but if you want your potatoes a little less crispy don't feel like you have to use the full hour. Also, if you're using fewer potatoes (1-2) check it about 5 minutes early on the last 15 minutes. That's when they're about perfect.



























Enjoy!

Birchbox: It's like having a mini-birthday each month

So a few months back I saw an ad for Birchbox, this cute little company that offers monthly samples of cute little cosmetics or gadgets or food. I immediately looked into it because as a poor college grad I didn't/don't really have the budget to just go out and buy makeup or treat myself to cool little things. The sample boxes are $10 each and include about 5 samples of some pretty quality stuff personalized for your needs and desires. Honestly, it's a pretty great idea. So of course when my mom was asking what I wanted for Christmas I was like, "hey! there's this awesome thing called Brichbox you should check it out". So my mom got me a 6 month subscription (she got one for herself too because, why not?).

So now that it's February I have received 2 boxes and it is SO much fun. You just come home one day and you have a cute little box on your steps and you open it and there's all this cute little stuff like sample perfumes, mini-shampoos and conditioners, lipstick, nail polish, Chocolate. I kid you not my first box had a full Ghirardelli chocolate bar in it.

Another great thing about Birchbox is that after you get the samples you can go on their website and buy the full sized thing if you end up loving it (and can afford it). I seriously see no down-side to this service. They also have a Men's Birchbox with great shaving creams, colognes, man-cessories (hats, techy gadgets). They're $20/mo so a little more pricy but if your or a special guy in your life is into fancy creams and gizmos then it might be a good little gift.

I'll be doing some product reviews on the stuff I get in my Birchboxes for the next few months, but really you should probably just check it out for yourself!

*Birchbox did not sponsor this post but they're welcome to at any time ;) #freesamplesforlife?

Back to Happy and SUNSHINE!

Sorry about the last post guys, that was a bummer. Unfortunately I still don't have a job but I am working with another awesome start up and doing HR and some marketing for them too which is pretty cool. I guess I just have to get my experience the hard way. 

Anyway, one benefit of not having a job or school is I can pretty much take off whenever I want! Last year Dan and I went to Las Vegas with our dear friends Jake and Cassandra. (You can see the info from that trip in the archives) This year we decided to do the same thing (unfortunately Jake and Cassandra couldn't come with us this time :( ) and it was absolutely perfect! We left on Friday afternoon (Valentines Day- romantic I know) and got back last night (Monday- President's Day). 

Friday we had a delicious dinner courtesy of my Aunt and Uncle who also hate buying into Valentines Day gimmicks and just spent time with our crazy, cute cousins. We really enjoyed the food and the kids really enjoyed jumping all over us. The three youngest all especially like Dan and he was so wonderful and patient and *played with them (*read: took a beating). I married a pretty awesome guy. 

Saturday we did the most amazing hike followed by spending time with Dan's sister and got totally ripped off by Treasure Island that night. We had been planning on going to Cirque de Soleil's Mystere. We were supper lucky and were able to get 3 tickets for the show we wanted with all 3 seats together the day of the show for a too-good-to-believe price. Well we show up to Treasure Island and get our tickets from will call and there are only 2 tickets. So the person selling tickets to Mystere that night thought it would be a really good idea to lie to us and tell us we were getting 3 tickets and then only reserved 2 seats for us and charged us way more than we would have paid for 2 tickets normally. So we got a refund and peaced out of that place. I'm not sure if I'm more annoyed with the fact that they lied to us or with how stupid of a business decision it was to only reserve 2 seats for 3 people.  So instead of spending $120 we went and saw Robocop and got dinner, so I think we got the better end of that deal. Take that Treasure Island!

Sunday was such a relaxing day, we just spent time with cousins and played games and watched TV and ate more delicious food. 

Monday was also wonderful. Dan and I went out and met up with his sister, Emily, and went to the Hoover Dam (insert every dam joke here). I had never been and it was pretty neat. Very interesting art deco inspired architecture and mythological/astrological influences in their decor. Afterward we went to lunch and played with Emily's roommates dog for a bit before we sadly had to come back to Utah. 


It was such a wonderful weekend and we are so grateful to our amazing family members who made our trip so amazing! Love you!!

Life of an Unemployed College Grad

I graduated from college about a month and a half ago. Up until that point I had been a student for nearly 17 years of my life and then one day it just stopped. I took my last final exam and walked away. I didn't have a job, an internship, anything. I graduated unprepared to face the real world.

I still don't have a job but thank the heavens I have an internship so I don't just waste away. Do you know how awful it is to go from writing papers nearly every week to doing absolutely nothing? For the first two weeks I spent my days looking for jobs and because we didn't have a couch I looked for jobs on my bed. Dan would wake up and go to school and I'd wake up, force myself to shower and get dressed and then look for jobs. You guys, you can only look/apply for jobs for so long because there are only so many people looking to hire a recent graduate with a degree in Sociology trying to enter the world of Human Resources with little to no experience.

In the last month that I have been back in Utah and looking for a job I have had 2 interviews and I have another one next week (pray for me). One with Sprout-Kids where I now work as a Human Resources/Social Media Marketing Intern about 15 hours a week for no pay and one with an HR firm that didn't hire me. So, for the... 15-20 jobs I have applied to in the last 4 weeks only 3 people have contacted me. This is worse than dating!

I am so grateful for my internship and for the opportunities it has given me to expand and create new skills and develop more expertise in the fields that I am interested in. And even though they didn't hire me, I'm really grateful to the company that I had an interview with. I'm so grateful to the companies that give me the chance to become something great.  It feels good to know people think your skills are valuable and that they find you employable. It feels awful to be ignored by companies who only require a high school degree or equivalent but want 5 years of HR experience for their HR assistant position.

I know this is no fun to read but this is who I have been the last few weeks and I feel it has changed me a little. I wish I could go back 3 years and tell my college sophomore self to do things differently, but I can't. I do want to change how I act in the future though and I think this experience has helped me to kind of reevaluate myself and what/who I want to be. 

Ode to Hannah

My little sister Hannah turns 16 on Friday and I am entirely NOT okay with it. Hannah and I are about 7 years apart so I'm only really used to her being a child and 16 is officially no longer a child. Hannah will be dating and driving and who knows what else. So here, on this blog, are my thoughts on Hannah. 

We'll start from the beginning.

About 17.5 years ago I was an only child. I remember specifically all my friends had siblings and I was just lonely. I wanted someone to sit in the back seat of the car with and I wanted a friend. I wanted a sister/brother. I had been taught from a young(er) age that God heard my prayers and that they would be answered so I went into my room and knelt down and prayed for a little sister/brother. I didn't know until much later that my parents had been trying to have another baby and that my mom was having a hard time getting pregnant but about a year later my mom told me she was going to have a baby. I was so excited to have a little sister. I don't remember much about my mom's pregnancy but I remember when Hannah was born and going to my babysitter's house and watching Hercules and eating Mac & Cheese and then my dad came and picked me up to go see my new little sister. I remember holding her and I remember playing with her as a baby. I remember I got really mad at my parents because they told me I could help give her a bath and then they didn't come get me so I didn't get to help. I just wanted to spend all my time with her and take care of her. She wasn't their baby, she was my sister. 

Now this sounds like I was a wonderful big sister but about the time Hannah started voicing her opinion and acting for herself I stopped being a good big sister. I think it started when Hannah was beating my head against the floor with my ponytail- so about a year old I think... I don't remember that incident but I think we can blame that on Hannah. Hannah and I would butt heads (less literally) for the greater part of our childhood, not horribly, but we were never super close. It's hard to be close when you're 10 and 3 or 16 and 9. 

Hannah grew up spunky and fearless and full of energy. She would run in circles around our house and until you found her asleep on the floor. She would try anything and generally she would be great at it. She was smart and funny and could do pretty much anything she set her mind to. She is still that way, she's one of "those" people. Jerk. 

Hannah was just becoming fun when I moved to college. She was 11 and I was 18. By the time she was 13 she was much more fun and we started to get along really well. She was/is very grown up. We liked the same TV shows, music, movies. We finally had things to do together and talk about. It took about 12 years but we were finally friends. 

Today I consider Hannah one of my best friends and a wonderful role model. She has grown into a wonderful teenager. She is kind and a good friend. She is intelligent and funny and strives to do her best. She is everything I wanted to be in high school and what I want to be now. I am so lucky that my prayers were answered with my wonderful sister Hannah, I couldn't ask for a better little sister. Even though I hate that she's growing up, I'm really excited for Hannah and I to grow closer as she becomes more of an adult. I'm excited for her to start dating and I'm going to start saving money to make sure I can fly up to Washington to beat up any boys that break her heart. I'm excited for her to become more independent, if that's even possible, and for her to really grow into herself and become the amazing woman I know she will be. 

Hannah, I love you so much and even though I was a pretty crappy sister growing up I have always loved being your older sister. I wish you the happiest birthday and I wish I could be there to celebrate it with you. I hope only good things ever happen to you in life but know that I (and Dan) will be there for you no matter what happens. Love you and happy birthday from your favorite big sister!

Love you HanBanan!

New Years in Seattle

We were fortunate enough to be able to see both of our families over winter vacation. Christmas in California and New Years in Seattle. We got there EARLY Monday morning and left that Saturday. It was such a quick trip that we didn't do a ton. When we got there we were pretty exhausted so all we did that day was go to 5 Guys, which is Dan's favorite place in the world, and go to the amazing Sound of Music Sing-A-Long that our family friends put on every year. This is seriously one of my favorite things. No pun intended. Our friends rent out an old, crappy theater to play the movie and sell tickets to cover the cost of renting, unlimited small popcorn and sodas, and prop bags. There are rules to this sing-a-long. Of course you must sing, but during certain songs you use your props like, wave your white flowers during Edlewisse, bark like a dog when you see Rolf, hiss when you see the Baroness, boo when you see nazis, pop your poppers when Maria and Captain Von Trapp kiss for the first time. It's really pretty great. We aren't usually a musical watching family but when we go to the Sound of Music Sing-A-Long we get pretty obnoxious. Yelling at the movie, over-participation if there is such a thing, operatic singing, we don't hold back. 

Unfortunately, that night and the next day (New Years Eve) Dan and I got food poisoning which pretty much ruined us for having much fun. I was 95% after like 2 days but Dan stayed pretty ill for the whole time. That didn't stop us from going to the city, or meeting up with friends, playing mexican train, hiking, duthie-ing, shopping, or going to Alki beach. All it stopped us from was eating too too much (except when we went to Indian lunch buffet) and overall that's probably good. 

It was a fabulous trip, too short but Dan had to get back for school and I had to come back and be unemployed. 

Just a few pictures:

We went to the Seattle Aquarium and this beautiful Pacific Giant Octopus was giving us a show. Loved it

Maybe I should consider being an aquarium janitor like this guy... just SNUBA and vacuum gravel. Sounds alright 

Skip to our last day, about an hour before the airport when we went to Alki. Love this place so much!

Some days I really kick myself for leaving this beautiful place but then I never would have met the love of my life. 

Welcome 2014, these Waltons are ready for it!

Christmas in California

Definitely one of the hardest part about being newlyweds is family time. My family is very local to Provo- I have grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles all within like 30 minutes of where we live. On top of that my mom came down at least once a month last semester for recruiting at BYU so we definitely spend more time with my family- not because we like them more or anything, but because it's just easy. 

This year was our first Holiday season being married so we had to divvy up time between the two families. We decided Thanksgiving in Washington, Christmas in California, and New Years in Washington since Thanksgiving is so short. 

Thanksgiving was great and we're still married so I think we'll call that one a success. Dan is a good sport and puts up with my crazy family and I think he even likes it most of the time. That or he just does it for the mountain biking. 

We spent Christmas in California with Dan's family. It was my first Christmas away from my family and that was definitely a little sad but it was so great spending time with my new family and getting to know them better. Also it was California so it was warm and that was a pleasant change from Provo's 10 degree weather we'd been having. 

It was so relaxing, we went to San Francisco one day and just walked around and got some Vietnamese food. We usually slept in until 10 and just lazed about and made Christmas treats and then ate too many of them. We read books and watched movies and just sat outside. It was fabulous. I'm definitely missing that California sunshine right now. 

I'm excited to go back and spend more time and holidays with the in-laws but I'm also really happy that this Christmas we'll be with my family. 

Pictures:

Beautiful San Francisco day and a crappy camera

The view from dad Walton's office is pretty great

Oh Christmas tree

And a Christmas pup!

If we had sent out a Christmas card it might have looked like this...

We went to the Hunger Games. UW vs BYU... it's embarrassing how bad BYU is sometimes

Happy Hunger Games and belated Christmas from the Waltons!

Our Apartment: Living Room

Finding housing in Provo is not always easy, especially when you have to find "married" housing. I realize this is really only a thing in Provo but it really restricts things. Also, because every day it seems like someone new is getting married or engaged it's like a battle to the death to get a good apartment. THIS is why Dan and I settled on our cute and very little basement apartment. To give some perspective on how small it really is our entire apartment could fit into the living room/kitchen area of my parents house. We think it might be 700-800 sq feet but we're really not sure. Good news though: we pay like $500 a month + utilities.

Anyway, this place is old. Faux wood paneling and disgustingly awful couch in the living room, awful wallpaper in the kitchen, it definitely needed some fixing. Unfortunately because we're renting and only going to be here for 5 more months we never really cared about making any dramatic changes. But because we do have a lot of stuff and also we like things to look nice we have redecorated some to make things look... presentable. 

Here is what we did to our living room.

So ignore all the crap we have and notice faux wood paneling and the awful plaid couch bottom left. Oh and the curtains on the window left and door.

From the other direction. 

Here's what it looks like now:

New couch, rugs, desk, wall art, table clothe on coffee table, and mini bookshelf 

From the other way: couch and other big bookshelf 

You guys, I love this couch. Yes it's inflatable but it is also suede and has cup-holder armrests. We haven't had a couch for like... 6 weeks and I was looking for jobs in bed for two weeks and it was AWFUL.

Black and white pillows from Ikea and heart pillows from Target dollar section over the years. 

Book case with so so many books and things. Russian banners courtesy of Dan's mission

My favorite wall: art by friend Lyse, venn diagram print from Etsy for our wedding,

scarf hanging- Target, and wedding pictures. 

Desk, wall art, etc.

Over all I'm really happy with how the apartment looks and the living room is definitely my favorite room especially now that we have a couch. The only thing I plan on maybe doing before we move out is fixing the curtains because they're awful. You may have noticed that I did change one of the curtains and that it looks really awkward. Well that's because it used to be a pillowcase and I made it a curtain using my very rudimentary sewing skills. 

Extra since you read the whole blog!

This really doesn't show much of anything except

 those are all boxes from moving and gifts. Piled above

 my head. It was ridiculous and moving is the worst.