california

NEWPORT!

It’s that time of the year again…

NEWPORT TIME!

I couldn’t go last year because I had just gotten a new job so I have been EXTRA excited for this year.

And Will has never been on this trip with my family and I!

We have been driving down to California every summer for a family trip for almost 10 years now.. (I feel so old when I say that haha)

We have our same spots we LOVE to go to + we love trying new things every time!

I had always wanted to try one of these Hippo cookies on Balboa Island and they DID NOT disappoint.

Promise they were soo good!

And I hardly ever find classic sugar cookies realllly… I’d prefer chocolate chip any day.

Balboa Island is also famous for their BALBOA BARS!

I had mine dipped in some cinnamon sugar and it was delicious.

I don’t even want to think about the grams of sugar we have all consumed this week…. we are starting to have headaches if we go more than an hour without any sugar. It’s getting dangerous… but since we are on vacation we aren’t planning on slowin down anytime soon lol.

Their donut holes are a MUST!

.10 cents each YEPPPP. I’m there.

On Sunday we went on a nice long walk on the beach with Lu. She LOVES the beach and the water!

And this will definitely be framed for Father’s Day..

My dad is on CLOUD NINE being a grandpa for the first time.

Besides the sugar… we have also consumed a lot of the regular good stuff.

Do any of you go out to Southern California from time to time?

If so I need to do a post of all of our favorite foods!

There are some MUST HAVES out here.

One of my favorite things about this trip are our runs on the beach in the morning.

My Dad, Eliza and I have a 4 mile loop we LOVE. And yes, it probably ends at my all-time favorite breakfast restaurant where we call the rest of our family that doesn’t exercise to come pick us up when we get there hahaha.

We went out to the RVCA headquarters which was pretty neat.

Here’s to a couple more days of sugar, sand and sunshine!!

–liv

outfit details:

my tevas are from urban outfitters

my necklace is from j.crew factory

white pants are from gap

hat is from urban outfitters

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friends

TWO KINDS OF SHOWERS

If you live in Utah right now you know two things are currently trending…

RAIN SHOWERS AND BRIDAL SHOWERS!

After Utah colleges let out of school there are literally weddings every single weekend the ENTIRE summer haha. Luckily for me I LOVE weddings and luckily for Will he has studying as his excuse so he doesn’t have to get dragged to every single one.

#15MoreDaysUntilIGetMyHusbandBack

There is realness in my voice when I tell you that I seriously HARDLY see Will. I am so proud of him and how hard he studies but I also can’t wait to see him relax at least for a little bit!

Yesterday I asked him what he wants to do once the MCAT is finally over and he replied,

“Finally see the movie Interstellar. The subject of physics in that movie seems so cool.”

My answer would’ve been more along the lines of “full spa day” but it’s whatever.

Luckily I have my “boyfriend” and girlfriends to keep me busy while Will studies his huge heart out.

EVERY single day I get a call from Craig at 5:01 pm. If I don’t answer I get (on average) eight calls from him so I always have to make sure I’m by my phone at 5!

Granted our chats are never too long but I always love hearing his happy voice.

Some Sundays we finally actually get together and he is seriously theeeee sweetest.

If that doesn’t melt your heart let’s chat about what does.

He told Will to take a pic to make sure we remembered it forever lol.

He knows what’s up.

Temple Square is in full bloom which is so pretty this time of year!

My sister Isabelle threw our friend Tessa the most BEAUTIFUL shower at my parents house on such a beautiful, rainy night a couple weeks ago.

She’s the literal dream^

Now that a best bud of mine works with me we have been quite the foodies around Provo. I have been showin her all of my favorite places and now I also have someone to try new restaurants with too!

This is Joe’s in Orem.

The Silver Dollar Pancakes were the way to go.

Yeah so I still can’t walk since this day.

Last Saturday Will was at a practice test from 7-4 so I had some fun on my own.

Is it weird that I find seeing how far I can run fun?

And another shower was for my girl Karli!

After 4 years of dating Johnny boy they’re finally getting married this summma!!

So excited for them.

Does anyone care that in college Karli & I lived together AND were on Cougarettes together AND had the exact same major AND one semester had every single class together…

I guess if that didn’t drive us crazy nothing will, right?!

We were together literally 24 hours of every day and only got in one fight that lasted two hours… over a stupid boy hahaha.

As you can tell, I’ve had a LOT of girl time!

On Saturday night we went to see Age of Adaline and then on Monday we went to the Bees Game!

There’s something about the atmosphere of a baseball game that is just so dang fun.

To be DEAD honest, maybe it’s the treats.

We honestly had churros, pretzels, cotton candy.. the whole shebang.

People we’re looking at us like we were nuts.

But we are soooo…

And that’s life lately over here!

Also, my little brother is killin it in Peru!

10 months down.. 14 to go!

Miss him so much my heart hurts.

We get to talk to him on the phone tonight and I can HARDLY wait!!!

He only gets to call two times a year so this is literally Christmas day for me!

Outfit details–

Polka dot dress: ASOS

(I altered the length. Usually do that with ASOS dresses if they are at an awkward length!)

Red sandals are Birkenstocks

Yellow Skirt is from Primark in Berlin

Gray sweater is from GAP

White jeans from GAP

Clogs are Urban Outfitters

J.Crew sandals by doormat

Gray dress is Soel Boutique in Provo

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financial

SAVIN’ UP

After talking to my friend who is getting married this Spring about what Will and I do to save money I decided I might as well write them all up! I would love to hear what you guys do to save here & there as well.

1. USE MINT

Will and I set up Mint a couple months before we got married and it’s been great for us. We are able to set up goals of how much we want to save and set limits on how much we can spend. It’s great to see visually where all of your money is going and how much those little soda stops add up! We also love having a travel section where we put a little money here & there so we can save up for what we really love to do.. travel!

2. ONE WORD; UNSUBSCRIBE

A lot of the time, clothes will not be on my mind whatsoever. And then I will receive an e-mail in my inbox that “shipping is free”, or “all sweaters are 40% off“, and then all the sudden I feel like I need that sweater or need that free shipping. When in reality, I really don’t. A couple months ago I went through and unsubscribed from EVERY SINGLE E-MAIL I received from clothing stores or even restaurants! If you don’t know about the deals, you don’t justify going to buy something just because it’s a deal.

3. BUY DECORATIONS AFTER HOLIDAYS

Honestly I hardly ever buy decorations before the actual Holiday. For example, with Easter right now, all of my home decorations were not bought this year. I am pretty set with my decor HOWEVER I did have my eye on an Easter wreath at Target but $20 was too expensive for me. However, I went back on Monday at 8 a.m. the day after Easter and BAM! It was not only 30% off.. but 50% off at the register! I always go the day after a Holiday and stock up any decor I want for next year.

Everything was 50% off the day after Easter.

4. FIND A GREAT CREDIT CARD

My entire life I have been a Debit Card girl. I never liked the idea of having “debts” to pay off or not visually being able to see how much money we actually have at all times. However, once I realized how many “points” we could get to go towards food/travel I realized it was time I get one. After a lot of research we decided to go with the Capital One Venture Card. (p.s. Jet Blue & Costco will no longer be with American Express starting 2016). With the Venture card we can use it and actually get rewards which is always a bonus! However, I pay it off weekly to ensure I can always see how much we have/don’t 🙂
(Do you guys have a credit card you absolutely LOVE?)

5. WHEN IN DOUBT, AMAZON IT

Promise Amazon is one of the best things to happen to us. We hardly ever settle for buying anything full price. For example, my hair dresser really recommends this oil for my hair but I could never justify paying $25 for a hair oil so I when home and found it on Amazon for $9. There are numerous occasions when this is the case. Always look at Amazon and see if you can find it for cheaper from a different retailer.

6. GROCERY SHOP WHEN FULL

In one of my college classes I learned this tip and thought it was only for nutrition reasons. When I go grocery shopping while hungry I come home with a half eaten bag of chips, candy from the check out counter, and generic oreos that don’t even taste good. However when I am full and have more time I make more thoughtful and reasonable decisions. I am able to compare prices better, make sure I find the best deal, and do research on my phone to see if somewhere else has a better deal. Walmart always matches my price if I tell them another store has a deal that they don’t!

7. GO TO DIFFERENT STORES

This to me is a huge pain but SO worth it. For example, on Monday after work I had to go to Costco to get certain things, Walmart AND Trader Joe’s. Costco has incredible deals on bulk frozen fruit/meats, chips for Will’s sack lunches everyday, water bottles, and paper products. But then all of our grocery foods for breakfast/lunches go take to work are from Walmart. And then Trader Joe’s is most reasonable for produce. Seriously it takes me 2 hours to go all of these places while I really could just go to one but I save around $50 so in the end that is definitely worth it to me.

8. MAKE DAVE RAMSEY YOUR BEST FRIEND

For our wedding, we received a Dave Ramsey book from someone in Will’s ward. At the beginning I found this an odd wedding present because it wasn’t the original set of measuring cups or strainers that you would usually get but we have really loved learning from him! Or even listening to him on the radio. He has great advice, tips, and help encourage us to save where we can.9. COUPON CODES
Before we purchase anything online we type in Google and put “_________coupon code” i.e. ASOS coupon code or Stance socks coupon code etc. You would be surprised how many coupons come up! We get free shipping on nearly everything. Honestly! We find a way. I refuse to pay full price for anything anymore. There’s always a way to get at LEAST 5% off. Put in the codes and voila! See the discount appear before your eyes.

10. WANT? OR NEED?
I love playing this game.. ESPECIALLY in Target. Every time I see something at the mall or shopping I look at the item and think

“Is this a want? Or a need?”.

There is a HUGE difference. I mean of course I want a cute laptop sleeve since I have used mine for 2 years now but do I need it? Nope. My laptop is protected just fine with the one I have right now. Easy! Promise I have passed up SO many purchases while using this method.

We would love to hear what other people do! I mean you can never save too much money right? 😉

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decoration

EASTER PARTY OF ONE

This morning I dropped off Will, his brothers, and his Dad off at the airport as they went off to Indianapolis! Will’s Dad has a part-time job with CBS just during the Final Four so they get to go every year! It’s always their Christmas present haha. At least you know what you’re going to get every year right?! No disappointments there. It’s the highlight of their ENTIRE year… aaand it also helps the fact that Duke is in it this year. They are all the biggest Duke fans around. Hence why their dogs name is Duke ha! As I was driving them out to the airport today they were were like little kids in a candy shop. Just giddy as can be. I am dying to go one year but they only get 4 tickets and I need to get my butt into gear after being home from vacation!

Vacation is always nice but reality is good too. I love taking a quick break but I also love coming back and working and have a structured schedule. It honestly makes me work harder! This weekend I have SO much work to do and commitments on Saturday with work so I am staying home and spending the entire weekend by myself haha. My family went to St. George and Will’s mom and sister took a road trip so I am at the beginning of a weekend with me, myself and I.

Since I still wanted to celebrate Easter with Will, I surprised him Friday morning with Easter. He had 49 Easter eggs that each had an MCAT question inside of them. He had to answer them in order to get to his Easter basket… full of face lotion and Easter candy. Super glamorous right? We always got toiletries for Easter growing up. Is that weird? I really do love getting new toothpaste & shampoo haha.. it’s the little things right?!

49 eggs because he has 49 days left!

And don’t you love that pink basket? Cheapest one at Target… haha sorry Will. Sad thing is that he didn’t even notice. He saw those Reese’s eggs and was STOKED!

Heres to a weekend full of work, documentaries, top ramen, and learning how to replace my car’s air filter because I didn’t want to pay $50 at Jiffy Lube. You Tube here I come!

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california

LA FOOD!

Before we left on the trip, I glanced at my e-mail inbox and found an e-mail from Sarah attached with an itinerary FULL of our food stops we wanted to try in LA.

To help us feel better we also added in runs/walks to these restaurants/shops to help us completely justify ourselves HAHA.

Here are some of our favorite places we tried–

1. Churro Burough

Literally an ice cream sandwich but within a churro instead of a cookie… can you ask for much more?!

I had the chocolate cookie ice cream in the middle and it was scrumptious.

2. La Otra Tqueria Escuela

This was some of the best Mexican I’ve EVER had. We ordered a chicken tostada, shrimp taco, queso taco, the chips & guac and the corn. Every bit of it was SO good. This is a hole-in-the-wall type restaurant but you will leave 100% satisfied I promise. It’s over by The Grove.

3. The Griddle

This place is famous for THEIR PANCAKES! Right in West Hollywood. And YES. That is a frosted flake waffle. The pancake on the left is a honey oat pancake. YUM. I am not even a pancake fan and loved these! I ordered the eggs and didn’t love like them too much. Definitely get pancakes if you go here!

4. McConnell’s Ice Cream

I mentioned this in my last post, but McConnell’s might be the BEST ice cream I’ve ever had!! I am screaming, sorry.

If you are ever in Santa Barbara or Grand Central Market in LA you HAVE to go. Their churro ice cream.. I have zero words.

5. Pono Burger

Pono Burger is near 3rd Street and the dining area is within an old storage unit from the war which is AWESOME. All the food was all organic & fresh and Hawaiian inspired. I loved how tiny the sweet potato fries were! We also all shared the oatmeal shake which was DELICIOUS as well. We told the waitress we didn’t want the 1/8 cup of beer added to the milkshake and she was SO confused haha. Three girls not drinking on a Friday night? Whaaa?

6. Beverly Hills Coffee Room

All of the restaurants in the Beverly Hills hotel are pretty expensive but we all went and shared breakfast at the Fountain Coffee Room and loved it. You go downstairs in the hotel and you watch them prepare all the food in the teeny restaurant! Some people don’t love watching their food get cooked but I actually love it.

7. Diddy Riese

This place is near UCLA campus and they have hardly changed their prices since they opened up shop in 1983! This entire ice cream sandwich was only $1.75!!! The line was about 30 minutes long but that didn’t stop us from indulging.

9. Nekter

Obviously Acai bowls are currently #trending so we went to Nekter one morning and shared two acai bowls. As a first timer at Nekter I really did like it! I say like because I think I like Ivie’s better in Provo. But for a fresh, healthy breakfast it was a good choice!

10. Malibu Cafe

Last but not least we absolutely LOVED Malibu Farm!!!

I’m screaming again… sorry.

This is a restaurant absolutely like NO OTHER. You drive up to Malibu and go inland a little bit and all of the sudden you feel like you’re in the South. It’s not just a restaurant. It’s an entire EXPERIENCE. You can go play life size jenga, ping pong, chess, corn hole, use paddle boats etc.while waiting or even eating your food. Besides the incredible atmosphere of the restaurant the food was great too! We had the pretzels, salads, and s’mores. Definitely a must see if you are ever in the area!

Eat up!

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diederich

COSTA RICA VIDEO

Costa Rica 2015 from Olivia Gochnour on Vimeo.

A couple weeks ago my Dad bought a GoPro for skiing but it was fun for us to take to the beach too!

As much as I love pictures it’s always fun to reflect on video footage too after trips. I made this little video last night and it is by no means professional. We just all had fun playing around with it!

We have never had one before so we loved figuring out how it worked..

however I accidentally took WAY too many pictures of myself that turned out so…

HAHAHAHAHA so there’s that.

Enjoy the vid.. and bless my heart.

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Beauty

SIMPLY HUED MAKEUP TUTORIAL

Oh hey guys. It’s me again.

I wish I had a really compelling story to tell you about why I haven’t been blogging as much anymore but it would either put you to tears with boredom or put you to tears from an antithetical reaction. So let’s just ignore that and show you guys this amazing simple make-up tutorial from Simply Hued!!

YAY FOR MAKEUP!

Sara, the blogger behind Simply Hued, put my face to the test on her amazing makeup routine a couple weeks ago. Everyday I usually wear just a little bit of eyeliner so I felt like a whole new (better) person after our shoot. I also learned a lot too about makeup which I am happy about. Aaaand I learned after she sent me these pictures that my hair cowlick is really getting out of hand hahaha. Should’ve hair sprayed that baby whooooops.

^^ that stuff is straight from heaven

If you want to see the full tutorial head on over to Simply Hued!

Thanks Sara for thinking of me.

I already bought some of the makeup to help me step up my game!

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flowers

PLETHORA OF PICS

When I think back on this past month of February truly the only thing I can think about is how insane Utah’s weather has been! It has been hitting record highs everyday for the last 2 weeks.. Although I can’t complain about great running weather.. the poor ski season is leaving me begging for some snow!

I am also worried about our water supply this summer… but hopefully we can borrow some from Boston haha.

The above picture is one of my favorite pictures on my phone right now. I drove home to SLC from work early one day to visit my Grandpa in the hospital. He isn’t doing too great which is sad but it is a great reminder to hold those loved ones closer than ever. My mom had been at the hospital all day when I took that pic and Lu helped cheer up all of our hearts!

If you follow our food Instagram (which is definitely more me posting since Will has deleted Instagram off his phone until after he takes the MCAT hahaha) you will see that we have been basically eating our way through this fake winter here in UT.

After we started the Instagram account we realized it was kind of embarrassing how much we eat out/love some good food but our families are the same way & our jobs both eat out a lot so we figured.. hey! why not post the food we love to eat?!

For Super Bowl Sunday we combined both of our families for a big party and Will’s mom is the cutest artist and made this ” football field” for the eating table. I love it every year!

I love those every year too^

Packages for Elder Diederich!

I really hope it makes it to Peru… Mitchell is in a tiny village right now up in the mountains. It takes him only 15 minutes to walk across the entire village. He loves it!

Will and I both had a Friday off a couple weeks ago and we spent it our favorite way we could imagine.. skiing! Spring skiing in February never felt so right/wrong.

Happy about skiing down a giant Piña Colada slurpee.

That night I dressed up REEEEEAL nice when we went to make a return at the mall.

Sometimes I think Will can be secretly embarrassed of me ha!

I had to work in Provo on a Saturday from 7:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. so I broke my 1.5 month streak of no Diet Coke. I surprisingly didn’t love it as much as I thought I would.. but it still gave me the caffeine boost I needed to go throughout the day! Back to my ICE drinks I go 🙂

We celebrated Craig at a family dinner last Sunday and he was on CLOUD NINE the entire time. I love this boy so much.

For a little background on Craig..

He has Williams Syndrome which is a genetic condition that involves several abnormalities. He attended Olympus High, graduated in 2006 and still attends every single basketball & football game as the ball boy. Everyone in Holladay knows & LOVES Craig. He works at Walmart as the cart gatherer and couldn’t be HAPPIER. He calls me ~5-10 times a day, refers to me as his girlfriend, and gets mad at Will if he kisses me haha. He is seriously one of the biggest angels in my life.

I mean HOW can you not love that smile?

Luella also stole the show the day.

THOSE CHEEKS.

Will & I celebrated Valentine’s early since we were going to be in St. George with our family that weekend. We went to Copper Onion downtown, Yogurtland (given), and then dragged our mattress into the living room and watched a Netflix movie.

I’m convinced there are few things better than a long weekend with family or friends in sunny St. Geroge. I was thrilled to go try Swig’s newest cookie the Dirt Ball but but Oatmeal + Chocolate chip w/pink frosting will forever be my #1. I even got my entire family hooked on it!

One of my favorite places in St. George is Urban Renewal. It is an antique/second hand store that I love to buy clothes/home trinkets at. We had to go back a couple times because we all love it so much.

We didn’t do the Parade of Homes but it’s one of my Dad’s FAVORITE things to just go LOOK at homes. So we drove around on Sunday for 2+ hours seeing different houses all around the valley. We came across this $4,000,000 (yes, 4 million dollar) home that was having an open house! It was incredible. Kinda sickening/amazing to think how much money people have! I mean imagine that view every morning?!

Sunday walks with my numba 1.

Fractured Prune in St. George is a must!

We were all sad when Lu girl left to go home. What was our life like before a grand baby in the family?! We are all a little overly obsessed with her.

And that’s a wrap.

Talk about a picture overload!

MYYYY BAD.

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recipes

A POST FROM MY MOM

(my mom brought this Brie Pesto Appetizer to our Super Bowl Party Sunday and it’s too great to go un-posted! so here is mama everyone!)

It’s always fun to hang with friends that enjoy food. It’s even better when they share recipes that become your favorite. My friend Rebecca brought this recipe to a girls lunch and I don’t remember anything that happened after I laid eyes on this.

I quickly learned that all 5 ingredients could be found at Costco. I attempted to do a quick pick-up of these 5 items and didn’t even grab a cart. You all know how this story ended…. Upon grabbing the 5 ingredients and sampling at each pit stop I went back to the entrance to get a cart to load up on all the things I didn’t need or come for.

Back to this recipe: here are the 5 things to go grab from Costco. If you can get in and get out with just the 5 items your my hero.

1. Jar of pesto
2. Cherry tomatoes
3. Round wedge of Brie
4. Bag of pine nuts
5- baguette loaf of crusty bread

To assemble:

Take Brie out of the paper wrap and cut in to small wedges similar to pizza.
Set each wedge around the edges of a round ceramic oven-proof dish in a complete circle.

Spoon pesto over the top of each wedge of Brie.

Slice the tomatoes in half and lay a slice of tomato on each cheese wedge. (Be creative on this assembling there are no rules)

Finally, toast the pine-nuts (about 3/4 cup) on the stove with a little olive oil or butter. Don’t walk away from this process. Continually stir until the pine-nuts are toasted and brown in color.

Bake in oven at 300 degrees. I like to have the light on and watch closely it will only take 10 minutes to get the cheese soft. You don’t want it to melt to the point the cheese flattens out.

While the cheese is softening in the oven cut up a loaf of the crusty bread into chunks.

You can figure out the next steps. It’s time to hum and eat ( am I the only one that does that?!)

I could eat this as an appetizer, entree or midnight snack.

So plan a girls night and maybe even have friends come over and watch The Bachelor or whatever else you don’t admit you watch and place this in the middle of the room and let the humming begin.

(THANK YOU Mom!! I can’t wait to have this recipe forever!)

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quote

JOURNEY

While on a walk with my friend Taylor tonight we discussed how scary it is that life is seeming to move at the speed of light. Somehow we are already in February while I am sitting here feeling like Christmas was two weeks ago (anyone else?!) I mean I swear I was just driving home from work on Friday in anticipation for the weekend and suddenly it’s Tuesday night and the upcoming weekend is fast approaching once again! I tend to always look forward to certain events and before I know it they are in the past.

We talked about how badly we wish we could slow down time but we simply cannot. Although some days I wish were over quicker than others I am trying harder to embrace each moment and encounter I have during the day.

This morning I saw a friend of mine post this quote from Thomas S. Monson on her Facebook wall and it truly stuck with me throughout the entire day. I LOVE that it referred to all of us as “fellow travelers in this journey through life”. It deeply resonated in me that, as hard as it is to see at times, life seriously IS a journey. We have ups & downs + dead ends & twists + turns but at the end of the day we are all just traveling TOGETHER in this journey we call life.

I know I make mistakes but at least I know that I am definitely not alone. I am surrounded by plenty of other people that do too and I feel incredibly lucky that we get to work through them TOGETHER.

I hope I can encourage others more, inspire people, find things that inspire me, find the true goodness in others, accept help from other people, and realize more fully that I can’t criticize other peoples lives when I am far from perfect myself. Although, in the end, it may not slow down time but at least I can assure myself I am making the most out of the time I have been given here on this earth.

Excuse me for the ramblings. Just saw this quote and had to write some thoughts!

(floral background on image from Design Love Fest)

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collaboration

SMOOTHIES & SHIRTS

A couple weeks ago Will called me and said he really wanted to try starting to eat healthier and suggested we purchase a Blendtec.

I just about fell over in my tracks because of how expensive they are but after selling a couple things on KSL (our newest hobby) we bought a used/refurbished one and we LOVE it!

I posted this on my Instagram tonight but we want your favorite Blendtec recipes! Whether that be a smoothie (neither have us have EVER had a green smoothie in our life.. can you believe that?!), soup, juices, or anything! We want to hear it 🙂

So either e-mail me or comment your favorite por favor.

The first thing Will suggested I make is his favorite Caribbean Passion from Jamba Juice.

I bought Welch’s Pashion Fruit fruit mix and added 1.5 cup strawberries, 1 cup peaches, 1 cup orange juice, 1 cup ice and voila!

You have a Caribbean Passion Jamba!

(now if I could only make the REAL healthy stuff taste this good…….)

OH….

and Will thinks this was the COOLEST mural he’s ever seen. He was mesmerized for the longest time. Like just standing there and saying “Screw the pink! This dog is PIMPIN!”

HAHAHAHA.

And yes I know I am incredibly awkward.

++++

ALSO!

A fellow lady from Holladay (hometown.. woot woot) Chelsey Hale is launching a new clothing line of hers tomorrow! (1/30/15)

These shirts are the comfiest and come in the cutest patterns. Be sure to check out London Gray on Instagram and stay tuned for a giveaway she is doing tomorrow for a darling tulle skirt!(@shoplondongray)

Now comment/e-mail me your favorite recipeeees 🙂 🙂

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date night

(SEMI) FAN OF JAN

This 2015 has already been full of plenty ups and downs.

There are high points and there are low points but lately the low points keep rollin it like it’s their job.

I find that lately I am relying on other people more than ever to help fight my battles with me. And surprisingly, it truly has helped a lot! I rely on Will for advice, the Lord for comfort, friends to take my mind off of everything, and family to realize what is most important. Sometimes I feel like I can do everything on my own but I have learned this month I simply cannot. I can do certain things to help the situation but having a great support group is vital.

During church last week I found this quote and couldn’t get it out of my head–

It was exactly what I needed to read and develop in my daily life.

It is something I can do on my own too!

If I simply respond with more love and kindness in a genuine way to whatever comes my way I will be happy. And personal happiness is extremely important to anyones personal well-being.

So that’s my new goal..

Okay on to other things that have happened lately…

Will and I had a LONG delayed temple date last week! We went up to Draper and it was beeeeautiful.

It’s insane to me how fast nights book up with so many other things! But going into the temple on a Friday night and escaping the world was one of the happiest nights I have had in a long time.

Afterwards we ran to Crate & Barrel to find a wedding gift for someone there (thank goodness for those wedding gift cards still!) and for a second I couldn’t find Will and then found him here.

HAHAHA.

He is the best human I swear.

My little brother received his Eagle Scout Award last week and these cookies were incredible.

Both in looks and taste…

Life lately at our place consists of Will studying, me watching Friends, Will studying, me decorating the cottage because I have a slight obsession with it, Will studying, and me reading a book in my bed every night.

So far I have read Sarah’s Key, Glass Castle, & Yes Please.

All sooo good!

I’m currently reading Where’d Ya Go Bernadette and CAN’T STOP LAUGHING.

Will’s aunt made this stitching above… I married into the craftiest family ever and yet I can bring NOTHING to the table. I show up with the food HA.

Are you sick of my mantle yet?

I swear it’s my favorite thing to decorate.

The fireplace doesn’t even work anymore but at least I can make it look cute!

I know it is Monday which means sometimes I have a Motivational Monday post but while in the temple on Saturday night with my girlfriends I realized that I am probably the last person on earth that should be offering up advice to other people. From time to time I will probably post a quote I love or something but I am no professional when it comes to succeeding in life. If you know me well, you know I am pretty much a big ol’ mess. I’m sensitive, all over the place, and busy as a bee. My blog is a place to simply pour out my thoughts, record my life with Will, and share pictures that I love to take. I LOVE to take pictures AND post them.. sue me! I know I probably drive some people nuts and some people probably leave my little space on the internet not benefitting whatsoever/find it pointless but that’s okay with me. I fell in love with blogging a couple years ago because it was a great creative outlet for me. I used to dance and do other artistic things but since I don’t anymore this where I love to be creative! I don’t have my life figured out whatsoever and wish I knew the answer to everything but I simply do not. I am imperfect in plenty of ways and have as many issues as the next person but I am trying my hardest to live each day better than the last. I am sure everyone out there reading this (if you made it this far, claps for you!) is trying their hardest to live their best life possible. We all are! So keep on doin what you’re doin. I will try to as well.

Happy Monday peeps.

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