Palm Trees

This is what I see when I leave work. I love these plam trees! They look so cool against a clear sky. I think I love them because even if it's freezing cold or blazing hot outside, my brain is tricked, for just a small little second, into thinking I'm in paradise! Just thought I'd share. :)

ENGAGED!!

The ring that Rich picked out on his own. It's not a very good picture... but he did a great job! I don't think I could've picked out a better one.



I'm a little late in writing this, but I've been kinda preoccupied with making (or attempting to make) some wedding plans. I'll give you the condensed version of how it happened.

I drove up to Utah on February 19 to go skiing with Rich and some friends. When I first got there, we went out to eat and then when we went back to his house, he said that a friend of his called and said he could take us up to the top of the Capital building to look at the city. The Salt Lake capital building has 3 levels that let you walk around the dome (as long as you have an employee with you). So we walked around the first level and it was BEAUTIFUL! I love that city! And then we went up to the next level and his friend stayed back to "make a phone call". When we got to the spot where you can see the temple and the downtown area, I saw that there were flowers laying on the ground. I said, "Rich, someone left flowers up here!" and he just picked them up and gave them to me. Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was very ROMANTIC! It was a perfect proposal! I don't think I've ever been happier. Then we went inside the dome where you can sign names. Rich brought up a Sharpie so we signed the wall and wrote the date and our wedding date (May 8 2010) for all to see. Then we went up to the very top level and were able to sign our names again up there and take some photos.

Now I'm just really excited to be married to him! I love him a lot and I feel so LUCKY that he wants to marry me. I also feel like I lucked out because he has an incredible family who has made me feel welcome from day 1. And I'm excited for when I can stop thinking about all these wedding plans... turns out I'm not much of a planner. :)

Mornings

For two weeks now, I have been doing a "trial run" of being a morning person. I have had morning person envy for a long time now, and I'm happy to report that IT IS POSSIBLE! I have been waking up at 5am and going to bed by 10. Now I can exercise in the morning, sit down and eat breakfast, do some reading, and get to work a little early. It's wonderful! The only set back I've had is that someone broke into my car, shattering my window, and rummaged through my stuff while I was at the gym. Luckily he left his cell phone in my back seat. HAHAHAHAHA! But other than that, mornings have been good to me.

The Year in Review

2009 was a really good year for me. It gave me some really great experiences and I think I've grown a little because of them. Here's a recap of '09:

My mom moved down to Vegas and I spent the beginning of the year hanging out a lot with her. This is us hiking at Red Rock. (This is why I love Vegas... hiking in January!)

I bought my road bike in preparation for my 1st sprint triathlon... and oh, how I love her!


I graduated from UNLV with my masters degree.

I participated in a couple sprint triathlons. I thought I would only do one, but I found out how fun and addicting they are! And training for them keeps me motivated to work out.


I made a few trips to Denver. One to see my sister and my cute niece and nephew. The other time was to see some good friends. I do enjoy Denver and I was glad to have some reasons to go visit.

I went camping for several days in Idaho.


I went backpacking in California.

The California Raisin made a comeback during Halloween.


And I was able to spend some quality time over Christmas with close friends and family.

I think I am learning to appreciate the ups and downs in life. There are lots of days that I wish I could just fast-forward through, but without them, I know I wouldn't appreciate the good days. This past year was filled with experiences that made me realize this and for that, I say, "Thank you 2009"!!

massive blog warning...

It's been a long time since I blogged so I'm doing a massive blog catch-up. Then I promise I'll have my life more organized and I'll make my blogs regular, short ones.

One of my favorite things was when my aunt, Annmarie, came to visit me and my mom. We had a lot of fun. I love how camera happy she is! This was taken at Olive Garden. Isn't she cute! I can't remember why, but we kept trying to get a picture of our waiter. All I remember is that he was weird.

My roommate's ward had a trunk or treating night, so we all went dressed up as 80's rock stars. Then we went to our friends house where we drank apple cider. (I'm still off hot chocolate, due to finding worms in the last cup I drank.) The black wig I wore was awesome, and it got me re-thinking going dark for the winter. I wouldn't color it black... but maybe the color of Annmarie's hair. What do you think?

We also had a little bonfire and I learned what "doughie's" are. It's dough you cook on a stick, over the fire and then fill it with delicousness... such as pie filling and whipcream. Peanut butter and chocolate or whatever you want. MMMMMM!! See how happy Shannon is with it!

I LOVE Halloween! And I especially love some of the traditions I've started here in Las Vegas. Like, dressing up and going down to the strip. I love doing that because you can see everyone's costumes and people want to take pictures with you if your costume is cool enough. I went as the California Raisin (retro costume from 1987!), my roommates went as Snagglepuss (female version) and Sydney Bristow (from Alias).

Another tradition is that I make dinner in a pumpkin and watch Troll 2. Troll 2 is by far my favorite Halloween movie and I usually force people to watch it with me. But it just makes me so happy!

Recenly, my roommate and I battled the teenage crowds and sat in line to watch New Moon. It was lots of fun and lots of craziness. We saw the midnight showing... on a school night, even. I liked this movie better than Twilight. It was so much better because it was mosly about JACOB! Ahhhh!!

I recently found a train that takes you on a little ride in Boulder City. Even though it goes at a painfully slow pace, it's still lots of fun because the people who run it are old volunteers and they dress up like the conductors did back in the day.

The other day, my mom moved out of state, and so my roommate and I went to clean out the rest of her apartment. She left a patio chair that I really wanted but it just wouldn't fit in my car... so, this is what we came up with... I don't know if you can see if very well, but Megan is sqished inbetween the legs of the chair, and because the door wouldn't close, she's holding it closed with her arm. Luckily I live close by!

Ok, I think I'm all caught up now. I'll stay on top of it from now on!

I want it that way!!

My roommate showed me this video tonight and it made me so happy!! And although I really was more an N'sync fan, it made me miss the Backstreet Boys. Are they still around?

Spektor Spectator

It's been so long since I've seen a really great concert. The last one I went to was Matt and Kim... who I love! They opened for a band called Cut Copy. It was such a fun show because everyone in the audience was dancing crazy. I'd never seen anything like it.

Before the Matt and Kim concert, I saw Snow Patrol. That was hands down the best show I've ever been to because...
a) it was free
b) I could see because I made my way up to the stage
c) Snow Patrol is my all time favorite band
d) we were surrounded by such fun strangers, who, during the concert, became our best friends and then became strangers again once the concert was over (one of these strangers/friends promised to email us some pictures of the show but as we left, we neglected to exchange email addresses. *sigh*)

And now guess who I get to see in a few weeks...



Regina! I just love this lady! (It's wierd, but her music will always and forever remind me of the Christmas season because when I first discovered her, it was Christmas time and I listened to her nonstop.)

On a completely unrelated topic... I am racing in a sprint triathlon this Satuday. This one is here in Vegas and I keep forgetting that it's coming up... oops! But wish me luck!!