dec 31 2012 & we're still alive!!

JANUARY
-made several spontaneous trips to logan. regretted none.
-went on a lovely winter hike while on one of said random trips.
-started spring semester & took several great english & communication classes. also, le francais.

-celebrated one year together with my most favorite boy.

-started writing for indie ogden...had no idea it would turn into great friendships & opportunities!
-decided to cast my vote for jon huntsman jr. sad day when he dropped out of the race.
FEBRUARY
-learned about art house cinema, ogden's cute little theater that shows independent films.
-held a goodbye party for my best friend adam & his puppy kiara. they moved back to pennsylvania & it was very bittersweet.
-discovered nesta takes after her mother & has severe food allergies. she is now my pescatarian kitty..she only eats fish.
-discovered sunday brunch at slackwater.
-realized (again) what an amazing boyfriend i have after he surprised me with these presents for valentines day:

-my gift to him was the craft i made behind the sock monkey..i'm a cheeseball.

-oh, & he also made me chicken parmesan. <3>
-was featured in the salt lake tribune.
MARCH
-went to the festival of colors for the fourth year in a row.
-celebrated luke's 25th birthday.
-celebrated st patrick's day at a reggae festival & a friend's party, where we took several silly pictures, & i embraced my inner ginger.

-was in a photo shoot for urban chic, a vintage store up here in O-town.
-met robert downey jr. i peed my pants a little.
-celebrated international pancake day by having breakfast for dinner.
APRIL
-completed an item on my bucket list by road tripping to broomfield, colorado to see tom petty & regina spektor live in concert...words can't even express how amazing this was.

-became an aunt for the third time...to little preston james. i feel like we have a special bond because we share hair color..we'll see how he feels in a few years.
-shaved my cat like a lion & got ignored for a week.
-discovered utah's best pizza at lucky slice.
-luke's dad let us drive his 1972 mustang...by us i mean luke. & it was his first time..& someday this bad boy will be his (& his siblings...unless i refuse to share...)
-luke bought me a guitar.
-sad goodbye to my sweet nephew & niece, matthew & grace, as well as my brother & sister-in-law as they embarked for texas. saddest day of the year (tied with a day in october..see below.)
MAY 
-picked fresh strawberries for days & days.
-saw the civil wars perform live...great news since they announced they're breaking up just a month or so ago. it was SPECTACULAR.
-threw a benefit concert with the blog i write for. we raised over 2 grand for the TEARS foundation.

 
-celebrated our niece kaylee's birthday by going to lagoon & riding all her favorite rides.
-got a summer job at criddle's cafe...endless hash browns with SOS & scones. so. much. delicious.
-discovered a plethora of hiking trails near my house...fell in love with the 32nd street trail.

 

-celebrated mikki's & kristin's birthdays with an awesome photo booth & even more awesome ladies.

JUNE

-went to the arts festival with luke..picked up some gorgeous paintings for our house.

-picked apples from apple trees, squash from the garden, & zucchini...came up with several different recipes to make with them...i mean, to make luke make for me.

 

-started a hump day hiking tradition...fell in love with ogden even more.

-made homemade pizza & enjoyed a bottle of wine with my bff ally.

-my best friend emily moved closer to me!!! we enjoyed the sights of ogden & got the best pizza ever (lucky slice for the win!)

-our close friends chase & kaylee got married & we were lucky enough to attend the luncheon & beautiful reception.

-went to my adorable nephew's baby blessing.

-celebrated pride weekend with some of my favorite coworkers & lez bos.

-went to luke's little sister marti's high school graduation.

JULY

-took my dad & ray on the ogden valley garden tour for their birthdays.

-celebrated my favorite holiday, the fourth of july, with lots of food, swimming, & parades. sadly i had to sleep through the fireworks.

-quit starbucks after 2 long years!!!!! relief. so much relief.

-went on the BEST TRIP EVER to seattle! saw chelsea play the seattle sounders, visited the space needle, wandered downtown seattle, ate crab legs for the first time, & more! see the adventures here, here & here.

-was offered a full-time position at fox 13, working as a producer for good day utah!!!!!

AUGUST

-went to breakfast twice with my brother, sis-in-law, niece & nephew..mm scones.

-saw mumford & sons perform live...i've been wanting to see them for a few years now. it was amazing!

-my little sister married her BFF & they had the prettiest wedding ever.

-speaking of my sister's wedding, we had a lovely bridal shower for her..my mom embarrassed her lots & i quizzed her on how well she knows chris. turns out..really well.

-went to the worldwide on 25th festival. met people from all over the world & tried so much delicious food!

-i got to babysit my nephews & niece on more than one occasion... i was so happy about it! we also got to go to the zoo!

-saw horse feathers perform live at ogden nature center.

-survived triathlon 2012!

SEPTEMBER

-started yet another fall semester.

-was able to see brand new & manchester orchestra live for free.

-went on a double date with erick & emily before erick left on his mission. mmm nachos at slackwater pizzeria! yes please!

-went to emily's father's funeral... a very sad part of my year. RIP jeff davis. thank you for being a wonderful example, second father, & friend. & thank you for bringing my best friend emily into the world!

-celebrated luke's sister cassie's birthday at the dinosaur park!

-hosted a yard sale, where more people wanted to buy my cat than anything else.

-officially started my full-time schedule of 1am-9am monday through friday. brutal.

-celebrated labor day by working. ha! also, making baked zucchini. mmmm.

OCTOBER

-played in the leaves with my niece kaylee.

-ate copious amounts of ice cream (not ashamed by that either).

-went to a U of U game.. & got to see an at home win for the first time!

-was a featured guest at the local first monthly mixer at rainbow gardens!

-got a tattoo on my wrist. 

-went to see les miserables with my family.

-had to say goodbye to my family AGAIN!!!! this time my brother alex, sis in law susan & nephew preston. basically my heart broke a little.. i miss them.

-had sunday brunch with friends.

NOVEMBER

-turned 24!!! got old, basically.

-enjoyed two thanksgiving dinners.. had a food baby for a week straight.

-went out to sushi for my bday. thanks, darlin'.

-went to my first co-ed baby shower.

-saw milo greene live (again!)

-watched "my team" the seattle sounders beat RSL! don't tell my bf that's who i was rooting for (we are a house divided).

-worked the night of the election entering in numbers.. so fascinating & such a fun opportunity!! & romney said none of us were better off than we were four years ago.... :P

DECEMBER

-hosted the INDIE OGDEN AWARDS at union station.. highlight of my year.

-went to my aunt geneal's funeral. celebrated a life full of love.

-ate lots of food & had lots of family parties.

-celebrated christmas by working & feasting in the newsroom.

-got my favorite pair of christmas PJs ever that i wear....all the time.

boo hoo & more christmas pictures.

 

i have issues with ogden police.

ok, so most of you know police are attracted to pulling me over (i blame the liberal bumper stickers that i've been meaning to take off my car for a year now.) this was no exception.

i went & saw les mis with my family (SERIOUSLY AMAZING SO MANY TEARS) the day after christmas.

on the way home.. it was blizzarding. it was late, so the snow plows were gone for the evening, meaning gigi was having a hard time. i was sliding everywhere & went 20-25 mph the whole way home.

anyway, i get to a stoplight on harrison near WSU which is kind of on a hill.. the light turns yellow so i put my feet on the brake.. nothing happened.. i pushed the brake harder & could feel i was about to fishtail. so... i did what i thought the safe thing was & just went through the red light. duh. (remember how someone slammed on their brakes in the snow to make a light & hit my mom last year? yeah.)

anyways, a block later, some jerk face cop pulls me over.

i explain to him i tried to stop.. but obviously the conditions aren't the greatest for my little car. he says "i didn't see you stop at all." & i said, "well yeah, that's because i was sliding." i tried to be nice about it. i really did. he came back about 5 mins later, ticket in hand. i said, "are you serious?!" he said, "yeah, you didn't even try to stop" to which i replied, "Sir, have you seen the roads?? i slid several feet pulling over when your lights came on. " "well, you almost t boned a car that was going to turn on the green light." "i most definitely would have hit them if i had slammed on my brakes. whatever, just give me the ticket." 

he gives me the ticket & i sign it & tell him i can't wait to fight it (hehe), & i am on my way for maybe a block when this happens: 

 

i got STUCK. literally my car wouldn't move. the best part? the cop followed me a ways, & when i got out of my car to start pushing... he drove right by.

protect & serve... ha! i can't wait to get this ticket dropped & give you an obscene gesture, you stupid stupid officer.

seriously, i haven't been that angry in a long time.

eventually luke walked down to where i was (his car got stuck too so he didn't dare drive down) & it took us 45 minutes to get my car up the hill to my house.

so many curse words.

despite all this, the christmas break was lovely overall. seeing les mis was definitely the highlight.. i already have plans to see it again. other highlights: 

 

 the christmas feast at work! nineveh brought a ham (you can see her dishin' it out here), my executive producer made biscotti & green chili chicken spaghetti, & i brought some cookie bars & martinelli's. as you can see we were not short on sweets, which was awesome.

 

still obsessing over our christmas jammies. seriously, the most comfortable pair of pants ever. i want to wear them always.

 

pardon the crappy iPhone quality.

my family got a remote control helicopter for christmas, & after luke & i came over on christmas day my dad yelled "load em up!" we headed over to the church parking lot to try it out.. it was quite the successful christmas overall. 

christmas.

 

we spent christmas eve at luke's parent's house.. where we ate a delicious dinner, wore christmas crowns, read stories & opened PJs.

 

me & marti wore matching PJs.. leggings that are probably the most comfy EVER. i was sad i had to work the next day (christmas) & didn't get to hang out in my pajamas all day, so i wore them under my jeans. hehe.

 

 

luke with his sisters.. i love this pic!

 

me, luke, luke's mom teri, & our niece kaylee.

 

kaylee reading a story with some help from "pop."

 

kaylee told us to be "lions." luke gave up, as you can see.

 

& here's a fun one of yesterday when luke got his christmas package from our nephew preston! he loves his new chelsea FC hat!

i hope everyone's christmas was merry! i had to work but after work on xmas we went to my parent's house & flew their new helicopter, played just dance, & ray & ky showed us all their cute new clothes.

i love my family! even though most of them are in texas right now visiting my brothers without me.. lame! 

quote of the week.

i couldn't resist.

(help, i'm a crazy cat lady at 24.)

merry christmas!

 

at last weekend's "gardner game day," a favorite christmas tradition!

ps, this isn't even half of my family ^ we're humongous.

hope your holidays are merry & bright! 

quote of the week.

finals week is over//a final few photos.

probably the highlight of the entire indie ogden awards was the photo booth. it was by far the most popular place to be the whole night, including all the food tables.

& while i only got to sneak in there twice, it was pretty much awesome nonetheless. so many photos on facebook!! i didn't even realize how many people were there.

on an unrelated note, my last finals week of fall semester is OVER. the best news of this is that I PASSED MY FINAL SEMESTER OF MATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

which i did NOT think i was going to do.

my heavens.. i cried tears of joy! for those who know me, this is a very big deal 5 years in the making. i will be so happy to never set foot in the WSU/USU math buildings EVER. AGAIN.

& as i walk by them, i will make an obscene gesture every time.

oh & also.. i am officially graduating in the spring.

*happy dance*

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas.

most people who know me know i'm kind of a scrooge. i've never had a christmas tree outside of my parent's house, & i'm not one to decorate my home with lots of christmas cheer. but i must say these additions to the studio at my work have been quite lovely:

pretty aren't they?

so i decided to be just a little festive this year, & leave something for my "child" 

nesta doesn't even care one bit that it's put up by her... that i hung out, by the chimney, with care.

i think santa is bringing her a very large lump of coal, & cat perfume, since she loves being outside in the snow & comes in smelling horribly like wet yucky.

Geneal's funeral.

over the weekend i spent a lot of time with family for a very sad reason.. my Aunt Geneal's funeral/viewing.

however, it was also a blessing in disguise as i got to see the majority of my family (except my sis in law, niece & nephew who i missed VERY MUCH!). this little kid... i am so sad he is growing up so many miles away from me! he is at such a fun age.. & was perfectly content being passed around from aunt to aunt, grandma to grandpa.. 4 aunts is a lot of holding, kisses & cuddles but preston boy sure is ok with it! he's a peach.

here's a few photos from the weekend:

luke & preston unintentionally matched in their argyle sweaters. i couldn't handle the cuteness. CUTENESS OVERLOAD!

my studly papa saying goodbye in the snow.

another one of my dad, doing one of my favorite things about him: entertaining little ones & making them laugh.

if you haven't seen him with little kids before, it's the cutest. he is so good with them!

me with about 1/343829 of my cousins... girl power.

L2R: julianna, kathryn, me, liz, baily, taylor, norda & jessi.

baily's hair is amazing isn't it? i wish mine was that red sometimes.

all in all it was a good weekend with family, reminiscing over our favorite aunt. she truly was a beautiful soul.

be prepared for a million pictures part 2: the people.

introducing ben as our emcee!

(ps notice fancy fox on the powerpoint.. we named him Sir Howard, Lord of Foxington Place and the Fanciest Fox in Cheshirebirminghamston.)

l2r: jenny (social media liaison, ), me (media dealer-wither, campus liaison), kristin (creative director, events coordinator), our emcee ben winslow (a reporter at my work), mikki (founder, marketing manager), & john (business & technology director).

ben & the junction city roller dolls.. he announced the winners, they handed them out.

luke being.....luke (haha)

the owner of peery's egyptian theater raising the roof for winning "best local venue"

they are an amazing theater!

ben ROCKING IT! he was an amazing emcee!!!

sampling food & visiting vendors outside of the theater.

jenny, me, kristin, mikki, john! the event planners/indie ogden editors!

we look classy.

mikki & i announcing the community honored nominees.

the front climbing club shad.. the gym won THREE awards!

tona sushi took home 2 awards "best sushi" & "best date night restaurant."

so awesome because that's where luke & i have decided to go on our anniversary date every year.. he also took me there for my birthday.

they are DELICIOUS.