my life lately....

December is always busy. I always think that somehow I am going to have some kind of handle on things and be able to handle multiple projects and what not. I need to stop kidding myself.

For the most part I am done with Christmas gifts. AND they are almost all wrapped. The only one that is NO WHERE NEAR being done is Lindy's quiet book. In my head it's all easy and stuff. In reality? This project is HARD. Nevertheless, I will finish it. Now, it might not be done on Christmas, but since we don't see her until the day after it doesn't really matter. ;)  I'm hoping to get it done during the weekend while in Logan with Allan and his family. :o) I think that should be manageable. Hopefully. :P

Anyways, Allan and I have also had other fun things happening - we went to my work Christmas party which is always SO FUN. This year they had one of the newer employees here take pictures of all the couples and such. This one is my favorite:

In other news my photographer that I wanted to use for my wedding is no longer available. :( I am still looking for a replacement. sigh.

It's weird having to send Christmas in a box to my family. I've never NOT been with my family during Christmas. Not that I don't love Allan's family...but things are just going to feel different. I guess in the long run that's okay - different is good. It helps us learn and grow and stuff. Anyways, I'm sure there will be a blog post Christmas at some point with all of my adventures and such from that day. :o)

In other news Allan and I have officially been engaged for a month now and in some ways I can't believe it's been that long and at the same time I look back and wonder where in the world the month has gone! I love being called his fiance/calling him mine. Granted, I will be happy when I call him my husband instead....but being engaged is awesome. :o)

Anywho. That's about it from me for now. Merry Christmas!

November Goal Recap

note from the author: ya know, I meant to post this 20 days ago. :P sorry y'all! I kept waiting to get some pictures of some things....and well.....yeah, that's not happening. so just use your imagination. or something.

Remember that one time that I made a goal to try and do eight things that I've wanted to try for a really long time? Yeah...me too.

Remember that one time that I got really sick for like a week and couldn't do some of my goals? Yeah...me too.

Regardless, here is a little recap of all the things I wanted to do and how I fared with them. Don't laugh, this was a first time experiment that will probably be repeated in the future....maybe. Perhaps after a wedding happens? ;)

Anywho....here you go! (also, please disregard that this is coming so many days after the month started...December is busy yo!)


1.  Fix my Kitchen-Aid Mixer. - using this tutorial. 
Result: DID IT! Finally! I was so proud of myself. This was fairly easy (but not easy waiting for it to dry! gah!) The "tattoo" or pattern I put on my mixer didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but oh well. C'est La Vie. Regardless, I now have a much better looking mixer and it makes me happy to have it black and not....yellow. :o)

2.  Make an advent calendar for December. - I want one that isn't just a fun activity but includes service activities, stories to read, etc.
Result: DID IT! With some help from Allan (it was something we worked on together....) we got this done. It  might not have "officially" been done until December 2nd....but it was mostly done. :o) And now I have an advent calendar with activities and a scripture to read each night leading up to Christmas. :o)

3.  Make Lindy dress-up princess skirt. - I bought some cute sheer fabric from the remnants bin at JoAnn's and now I need to make good on using it. :) 
Result: ALMOST finished it! The skirt itself is mostly done, but I decided to add a trim to it and I have that pinned on, I just need to pull out the sewing machine and finish it. Which I will do....one of these days before Christmas. :o)

4. Make Betty Crocker Mixes - using these websites:
 http://fakeitfrugal.blogspot.com/2012/02/fake-betty-crocker-cookie-mixes.html
http://fakeitfrugal.blogspot.com/2012/04/fake-betty-crocker-brownie-mix.html
Result: I got sick. So this didn't happen partly because of that, and also because I just decided I didn't really care about doing this. Great idea? Of course. But really I like to make my cookies from scratch in the moment, so I decided this one is getting crossed off the list. :o)

5. Do a detox drink for a week: http://mom2mycrazy2.blogspot.com/2012/06/detox-apple-cinnamon-water-pinned-it.html  I think this is a really good idea to do right before Thanksgiving - then maybe I won't feel so bad eating all that pie. ;)
Result: Sort of did it. I did it for like two days and decided I really don't care for the taste of this detox drink. Plus....It's a pain to cut the apples.

6. Make Lindy a quiet book. - I grew up having one of these for Church and I know it was beneficial for my mother. I want Lindy to have one too - I will probably enlist a little bit of Mom's help for this. :)
Result: Started it. Brainstormed for this project, got the "sketch" drawn up and got all the materials. (or most of them anyways...) Now I just need to prewash the fabric and get going! :o)

7. Make other Christmas gifts. - Several of the gifts I am giving people are going to be handmade and I don't want a stressful December. :o)
Result: The people on my list for this are no longer on my list (we decided to do something else for Christmas.) So...this one gets knocked off by default. Or something.

8.  Start wedding bouquet. - I have this vision in my head that my bouquet will look something like this one. So I want to start working on it. There's still no wedding date...but I want to be prepared. ;)
Result: Well....I bought the fabric. Honestly, this probably won't really get started until I get Christmas gifts done for peeps, but the hard part is done. I think. :P


So there you go! I'm really happy with how well I did...this was a good project for me and I'm excited to do it again in the future. I know I'll for sure be working on Pinterest things anytime Allan is at drill - especially his 2-week training in the middle of the summer. :P Anywho....now to get Christmas gifts done. :P Until next time! Ciao!

Time

I have been thinking a lot about time as of late. It's interesting to me how at times time seems to fly by and yet at the same exact time it seems to crawl. Someone commented on my Facebook post about this that I notice this phenomenon because of an upcoming wedding....and they're probably right.

However, I have noticed it at other times in my life. I think it comes from being fairly busy day to day with all the different things going on and on in life. Pair that with the excitement of something big (or even little) coming up, some event that I'm looking forward to and thus you have the fast/slow conundrum of time.

You know what I just though? "Sheldon Cooper would get a kick out of my philosophical thinkings right now. I bet he would have some scientific explanation...." ha ha ha ha. I love the Big Bang Theory.

Anyways. That's all. Life is good. Sometimes it seems to be going by fast and at other times it seems to be crawling by (like right now! Took my ring in to get it re-sized so I'm not afraid of it falling off and I have to wait until SATURDAY to get it back. I want it to be Saturday NOW.)

Hope y'all have a great day!

P.S. Look for the upcoming goal re-cap post (with pictures? perhaps!) and a few other fun things that I have up my sleeve. :o) Ciao!

Once Upon A Time....

I got engaged!!!!!

That's right! It's officially official! I'm getting MARRIED!!!! I am so excited and stoked to get to marry my best friend. Last night was AMAZING.

It all started shortly after we both got home from work, Allan suggested that we go to the Blue Iguana for  dinner. This restaurant holds a lot of memories for us as it is one of the places we went near the very beginning of our relationship (before we were officially dating, in fact). The food was delicious as always.

After dinner Allan suggested that we go to the Gallivan Center Outdoor Ice Skating Rink. This was something we had seen as an idea to do this weekend, and I was so excited to get to do that with him. :o)

At one point I gave Allan a really hard time about not having a ring yet...and he teased me by suggesting that it would happen up in his hometown because he knows the area better over there. Not five minutes later we were on the ice again "dancing" in the middle and he looked at me, told me he loved me and I said, "I love you too!" and he then said "really? well then...." and he got down on one knee pulled out my ring and asked me to marry him.

my ring. this picture doesn't do it justice. It is gorgeous!!

:) :) :) :) :) 

I said yes and that folks, is how I got engaged to my best friend last night! I'm so excited to start the process of planning this wedding and start our life together. :)

Adventures of the Past Week

I was supposed to have this really busy week last week filled with all sorts of social engagements....and then I got sick. :( However, I still had loads of adventures. Let me tell you all about them.

• Like I stated above - I got sick. Like, not flu sick, but food poisoning sick. Diarrhea. Not fun y'all. Not fun.
• Just when I thought I was on the end I experienced a ton of pain in the lower right side of my abdomen. 
• I went to an InstaCare and they couldn't do anything for me.....
• So I spent five hours in the E.R. last week. That was a fun experience that I would rather never repeat again. :o) 



All the fun things on me in the E.R    

• The good news is that it wasn't anything serious...and I am all better now. :)

Other adventurous things done this week:.

• I have really drafty windows in my bedroom (HUGE main window with a giant half moon window above that.) I wanted to be warmer at night, so I bought and installed (with help from Allan of course) a window treatment to add a layer of insulation. It has helped SO MUCH!
• Allan changed the oil in my car. This was much needed and he was so awesome to do it for me. :o)
• We fed the missionaries! I love the missionaries, so getting to have them over and feed them dinner was fun times for us.
• We went ice skating Saturday night. I love ice skating. :o)
• My bathroom got a much needed cleaning AND my house got vacuumed. :o)
• and last, but not least, I made Lindy part of her Christmas presents last night. :o) Behold: 

Lindy doesn't have her own pillow when she's with Allan - so I made her a pillowcase. Then while looking at all the leftover fabrics, I decided that I could make a couple of decorative pillows for her as well. The best thing about this project is that minus a pillow form for the main pillowcase, I had everything on hand. So this project didn't cost me anything extra! Now, once Allan and I are married and Lindy has a bed at our place, she'll have the start to her own bedroom set. :o) I feel pretty awesome!

And that's about it. I'm getting excited for the holidays to begin with Thanksgiving later this week. December is going to be a fun month and I am SO EXCITED to start traditions with Allan and Lindy. :o) Until next time....Ciao!

realizations

I learned a lesson this week. Well, more like I re-learned a lesson this week. See, in the back of my head I already knew what I learned, but I needed the experience this week to reinforce the lesson.

The last month or so have been fairly stressful for me and when that happens I sort of abandon some tasks that should be done on a regular basis. Tasks like cleaning my room, keeping my bathroom together, etc. I do laundry...but only because I need clothes to wear.  :o) 

ANYWAYS. My nightstand had become a horrid mess and I seriously couldn't find anything on it. My lamp was in danger of having its on/off switch covered up with papers and hair things. I finally put my foot down and cleaned it on Wednesday night instead of doing any other fun thing that Allan and I might have done.

It only took about an hour, but by the time I was done I could feel the weight on my shoulders had lifted, my room was picked up and looked half decent. Granted, it still needs a vacuum and there are a few things on top of my filing box instead of inside my filing box, but you can see what my nightstand looks like. I can put things on said nightstand and then find them the next day without moving everything around. It's a marvelous feeling! 

So. Lesson learned. Keeping my room clean keeps me semi-stress free. I need to be better about actually cleaning my room instead of just saying I'll clean it. I'm going to walk the talk so to speak. :o) 

Anywho. That's about it. This weekend should be fun times, my goals are coming along and it makes me happy. The end. :o)

Weekend Adventures

Hey all! I hope you had a splendid weekend, I know I did. :o) It all started with my day off on Friday. I love my days off. They are always fantastic. I get to sleep in and do whatever I want....except when I make doctor appointments for that day. :P Luckily for me I have a sweet boyfriend who agreed to go with me, hold my hand in the waiting room (I was not excited about this appointment) and then he took me out for an Einstein bagel afterwards. He truly does love me. :o)

After my doctor's appointment we went to City Creek in Downtown Salt Lake City. Oh my goodness, that place was FANTASTIC! I loved it! Plus it was an absolutely gorgeous day and perfect for walking around an outdoor mall (which, in my opinion is way better than the Gateway Mall).

The rest of Friday was spent doing laundry and sewing stuff onto Allan's Class A uniform. That was not so much  fun - but it's done and should pass the official inspection next month (as long as the other pins come in he needs....).

Saturday was a great day! It was beautiful outside and I spent the day cleaning my house, folding laundry and painting my Kitchen Aid mixer. I finally did it! It's mostly done....but not quite and I don't have a finished product picture yet (since it's not finished. :P) But here's a picture of it half way done:

It is now ALL black (minus two little spots in the back that got missed) and all it needs now is the white stencil I'm planning on putting on it. I'm hoping to do that part sometime this week. Hopefully.

Also on Saturday was my date with Allan to Ballet West. This show featuring But Never Doubt I Love, The Lottery, and Bolero was INCREDIBLE. Seriously one of the best shows Ballet West has put together. It had everything and was absolutely stunning. The Lottery was a World Premiere piece and I loved it. I thought it was incredibly moving. :o) I ended up wearing my Chinese outfit and I did my hair super cute like - all curly and pulled to the side.

you can sort of tell.....but not really. :o)

Oh....and the best part about the ballet? Allan surprised me with Orchestra seats....10 rows from the front and dead center. Oh my gosh I was so happy. They were the most amazing seats and I was one happy little girl. :o) Afterwards I took him out for dessert - the Cheesecake Factory. Overall it was a grand day and super happy.

the most amazing seats! :o)

Finally, the last part of my weekend was getting to drive down to Provo and be there for my nephew's baby blessing. BreeAnn and Tyler decided to do it in their home so that we could Skype the fam in Virginia. It was awesome. Afterwards I went to Church with them and got to hold baby Sammy the entire time. :o) He's super cute and getting chunky. Love that kid.

Overall, it was a great weekend. Hopefully this week goes well....oh, and go vote tomorrow! Voting Rocks! :)

Ciao!

goals and things

I was sitting at my desk at work today and realized that I'm addicted to wanting to do things. Let me explain.

Like most females my age (and older/younger) and probably a lot of males as well....I am in love with Pinterest. No longer do I need to save links, recipes, activies in my email drafts, but can instead post these to a specific board and keep track of everything. However, I have the problem of actually DOING anything from my boards. Add to that the fact there seems to always be the things outside of Pinterest that I want to do (these are often holiday related) and you have one overwhelmed Alicia.

I'm trying to destress my life, but still enjoy and LIVE my life to the fullest. I get a lot of joy out of creating and doing all sorts of things so I don't want to just ex-nay those things out of my life. I have come up with a solution that I think will work for me.

I have picked eight things to do in the month of November. This doesn't include any activities or date night ideas that I have currently floating around, but these are ideas and suggestions that I have pinned to different boards on Pinterest. The goal is to do two of these things each week. 

I'm hoping this works well for me...and if it does then this will be a monthly post that you will see! :) 

Here are this months "things" that I want to accomplish:

1.  Fix my Kitchen-Aid Mixer. - using this tutorial.

2.  Make an advent calendar for December. - I want one that isn't just a fun activity but includes service activities, stories to read, etc.

3.  Make Lindy dress-up princess skirt. - I bought some cute sheer fabric from the remnants bin at JoAnn's and now I need to make good on using it. :) 

4. Make Betty Crocker Mixes - using these websites:
 http://fakeitfrugal.blogspot.com/2012/02/fake-betty-crocker-cookie-mixes.html
http://fakeitfrugal.blogspot.com/2012/04/fake-betty-crocker-brownie-mix.html
5. Do a detox drink for a week: http://mom2mycrazy2.blogspot.com/2012/06/detox-apple-cinnamon-water-pinned-it.html  I think this is a really good idea to do right before Thanksgiving - then maybe I won't feel so bad eating all that pie. ;)

6. Make Lindy a quiet book. - I grew up having one of these for Church and I know it was beneficial for my mother. I want Lindy to have one too - I will probably enlist a little bit of Mom's help for this. :)

7. Make other Christmas gifts. - Several of the gifts I am giving people are going to be handmade and I don't want a stressful December. :o)

8.  Start wedding bouquet. - I have this vision in my head that my bouquet will look something like this one. So I want to start working on it. There's still no wedding date...but I want to be prepared. ;)

So there you go. My list of things to do this month. I'm really excited about this, and maybe I'll do a weekly update or something letting you know how things are going. Hopefully I can at least give a monthly recap. This is something that I haven't done before and I'm not sure how it's all going to go down. :) So no expectations k? okay. And if you want....you could join in whatever capacity works for you. Let me know if you do and maybe we can have a support group or something. lol.

Have a beautiful day!

date night....

Hello dear internet friends! this morning I'm enjoying the awesomeness of getting to dress up at my job. :o) Sometimes my work is AWESOME. :o)

ANYWHO.....I need some help from y'all.

My sweet, amazing boyfriend Allan is taking me to Ballet West's The Lottery this weekend. :) I didn't buy season tickets because of the cost this year and because this fall show was the ONLY one I really wanted to go to - the other performances will be good, but this is the one show I didn't want to miss. So Allan is being awesome and is taking me to the ballet.

So what's the problem you ask? Well.....I don't know what to wear. I have a couple of formal outfits that I can wear....but I'm not sure which one to wear this time. so, let me present my cases and then you can help me out. ;)

Option 1: the Chinese outfit

This outfit is the one I made two years ago (with lots of help from mom....) I've worn the top and skirt several times since then - not always together - and I do like it....















Option 2: the Polka Dot Dress

This outfit is one that I purchased (with help from Allan) to take to my Josh's Fashion Show in March...I also wore it on a date w/him to the ballet when we first started dating.














Option 3: Brown and Teal

I don't have a picture of this outfit, but I have worn it to the ballet once before (with a boy I dated last year) It's the brown skirt from above and then a teal blouse that I purchased. I look really good in this outfit and I do love it. :o)

So there you go....my three options. I'm leaning towards Option #1....but we'll see what y'all think/how I feel Saturday morning.

:o)

Disneyland Recap

Allan and I had THE BEST time in Disneyland/California Adventure. Seriously, it was wonderfully whimsical and that makes it happy in my book. :o)

Last time I went to Disneyland (which was also the first time EVER) earlier this year, the group I went with didn't care all too much for stopping and meeting all the many characters. Allan on the other hand, actively LOOKED for opportunities and we found them! We were able to do SO MUCH in 3-days, it was grand. :o)

Here are just a few pics of the fun times we had:

We made those awesome t-shirts!

My very first character meeting EVER!

"Flight Attendant Minnie is hottest." - Allan

"Oh my gosh! It's Tinkerbell!!"

a cute pic in front of the castle. :o)

why yes, i point my toes in my tennis shoes....

Jack Skellington!

MICKEY MOUSE!!! :o)

Needless to say it was a wonderful vacation and I keep wishing that we could just live in Disneyland because that sounds like an AMAZING adventure. :o) Until next time.... ciao!

Disneyland October 2012: the Preview

This is one of those adventures that has happened on a whim. :o)


It all started with me realizing I had a floating holiday that I needed to use before the end of the year. I'm not going to VA for Christmas this year and that's when I usually use my floating holiday. So in talking with my awesome boyfriend he suggested that I take it on a Thursday before one of my normal 3-day weekends. I thought this was a brilliant idea and we took a look at the calendar and decided that taking it next weekend would be perfect. Allan is currently unemployed, so we decided we would go somewhere fun. We talked about a lot of different ideas from going to St. George, to Denver, to Park City. We then turned our minds to go going to Disneyland. Well...we put a post up on a facebook to see if we could fill the car with others and we did! So....now we're going to Disneyland next weekend - during Halloween time! I'm so excited about this! I've heard Disneyland at Halloween time is the best thing ever, so I'm very much looking forward to going out of town with some friends and my awesome boyfriend. :o)

See ya when I get back! :-)

Cast of Characters

Well....here I am blog world. I've been blogging for years....anonymously. When I started blogging the blog world was full of people posting under pseudonyms and such. I was one of them. I have recently decided that it is time for me to be blogging in real life. Some of you might be coming from my former blog, and some of you might be new to my blogging adventures. :o) I hope you enjoy my writings and musings, just remember to take everything with a grain of salt. ;) That being said, here are few of the people in my life that will be making appearances throughout my blogging adventures.

Allan - You'll probably see the most of Allan. :o) Allan is my boyfriend/future fiance/future husband. Allan is in the Army Reserves and is a stud in uniform. (it's true what they say about a man in uniform. It makes a guy so much sexier. ;) ) We're not officially engaged yet, but we're hoping to get married sometime early next year. :o)

Lindy - Lindy is Allan's daughter. She's currently 2.5 years old and is the most adorable little girl that I have ever met. :o)

My parents - Mom and Dad. They are awesome. I love my parents. :o)

Siblings - BreeAnn (and her husband Tyler and newest baby Sammy), Caleb, and Daelynn. I'm the oldest of four children and I have two younger sisters and a younger brother. They are all wonderful people and I am so grateful that we are a family together. :o)

I am sure there are a lot of other people that will make an appearance - but we'll leave the introductions there for now. :o)

until next time! hugs!

on a whim...and otherwise

Hello there world! ( I feel just a little odd saying that, but oh well. it's there, and I'm not changing it.) I'm here....to tell you all of the wonderful adventures of my life. :o) Thus the title Adventures: On A Whim and Otherwise. I like to be spontaneous, and yet I'm a planner as well. :o) This leads to all sorts of fun adventures. :o)

I've been blogging for a long time...elsewhere (I'll talk about this later, I'm sure.) but I've felt that it is time to bring my real life and blogging worlds together. :o)

Anyways, first posts are always weird and awkward (at least, I think so) but I hope that this can turn in to something wonderful. Stay tuned for many more wonderful adventures....on a whim and otherwise. ;)