Gratitude Project: DAY 1

Two days in a row of blogging? Yippee! I've accomplished on of my hardest goals in life and can now say that I truly lived life to the fullest. Juuust kiddding. But seriously, blogging consistently is a big deal for this chick right here cause it's never happened before. So lets all have a mini celebration by ourselves at our own computers... go ahead and hit play on your itunes and have a 30 second private dance party because this is indeed something to celebrate!

K. Moving on.

I wanted to do a 30 days of Gratitude project for the entire month of November since I have a LOT to be grateful for (surely more than 30 things) and its November which means it is Thanksgiving where we give thanks for our blessings (duh.) But of course I am behind as with everything else in life (which is a true story, not an exaggeration) so lets make this the 24 days of Gratitude project. How's that for unique?

DAY ONE: ARIZONA

Arizona aka the Grand Canyon State aka 'Zona aka the most glorious place in the whole world aka heaven. All of those are acceptable names for my most favorite state ever. My love for Arizona grows greater and greater each time I leave and realize how truly beautiful it is. It's true, you don't really appreciate things until they are gone. Moving to Utah has made me realize how great Arizona is.

People always try and convince my AZ heart that there are so many negatives about living in the valley (no change in seasons, its too hott, its all cactus and no pretty green lush trees, blah blah blahhhh) and that I'm weird for loving it so much. And i say, THEN BRING ON THE WEIRDNESS! Cause all this AZ love isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Five perks of Arizona life are as follows:

1) Circle K's on nearly every corner = 79 cent 44 oz beverages = 44 ounces of coke slurpees = the fulfillment of all your dreams. Whenever I return to the valley of the sun, my first stop is always Circle K.

2) THE PEOPLE! oh my gosh gosh gosh. Most of the greatest people I know live in//are from Arizona. I'll always love this place for bringing me to some of the most influential people i know. It's funny because even though I currently live in Utah, I still mostly associate with Arizonians. We all bond over our love for Arizona and like to constantly remind others of where we are from. ARIZONIANS UNITE.

3) Real authentic Mexican food. K once I moved to Utah i realized how great the Mexican food in Arizona is. The hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants in phoenix? DIVINE. Also, the Arizona burrito from Filiburtos is among my favorite foods.

4)  The sunsets. Honestly, of all the places I've visited, never have I ever seen a prettier sunset than those Arizona ones. They're seriously breathtaking. I can't even do it justice.

5) The outdoors! K Arizona is a superb place for hiking, lake-ing it up, running, exploring, etc, etc etc. Seriously, hiking in AZ is one of my favorite activities, along with canoeing on Tempe Town Lakes and running in the Riparian Preserve behind my house. I LOVE IT I TELL YOU!

5b) Gilbert. Gilbert deserves its own sub category cause truly it rules. So much character and greatness. Its a town that has both farm life/big open green acres and shopping malls and normal life stuff. Its the perfect balance of a slow and fast paced lifestyle and I think its the greatest town ever. It has the cutest main street, best food, best wildlife, best people, prettiest homes, AND we are even getting our very own temple soon!

Obviously, five is a VERY select few of the reasons why Arizona is the greatest. I could go on all day and write a 575784395610 page essay on the greatness of AZ but I'll stop here because I don't want to scare anyone with my obsessive personality.

Arizona, thanks for never turning your back on me and for being one of my truest friends. I love you long time.

Farewell October!

First, can i just say UHHH WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!? I feel like it was literally October 1st barely a second ago. Time.. such a tricky little guy. Lets do a quick wrap up on October because I think it was seriously my favorite month of the year thus far! Also, lets blame my non existent October blogging on all the fun I was having during the most glorious month of the year!

Let's see...

October 1-3: took lots of midterms, attended advisement meetings, had a visit from Lacey to her old summer stomping grounds, got my car back (Hooray! A word of advice, don't rear end anyone. Ever. You'll have to pay hundreds of dollars to fix your car, talk to insurance companies more than you'd ever wish upon your worst enemy, have no car for a while, pay a ticket, and do driving school. Just trust me on this one. Don't do it.)

October 4: I work at this cool place where they throw cool end of the year parties. This year they booked a private Imagine Dragons Concert and I took my dear roommate//best friend Jess. IT WAS A PARTAYYYY!

October 5-6: CONFERENCE WEEKEND. Eek! Greatest conference ever. Seriously. So inspiring. Plus, I got to go to the conference center and watch it live with one of my favorite people.

October 7-10: May or may not have hit rock bottom with the stresses of school/work/boy life and may or may not have eaten out almost every meal. Hey, you only do college once.

October 11: My baby Brittlyn came back to Provo from her three month adventure in Ecuador! Provo has never been better I tell ya!

October 12-13: Weekends are my favorite days. For obvious reasons, duh...they are always full of fun, non stressful situations! For example, I went to the BYU football game, took a three hour nap with my roommates in one bed, ate ice cream, ya know all that weekend shenanigans us collegers do.

October 14-18: The usual school/work week. With a few fun surprises along the way: I got to go to lunch in salt lake with one of my favorite girlfriends, got some fun birthday packages, got the internet in our apartment fixed aka best day ever (it had been broken for over a week. Do you know what that means? No Netflix, no Apple TV. Heartbreaking)

October 19: I TURNED 21! Holy smokes, i'm basically a grandma now. It was a super fun day despite the stresses of being an actual adult! :) just kiddinggg it's already become one of my favorite years! Plus, Legal Vegas trips are coming at you in the near future. Prepare yourself.

October 24: I went to an advisement meeting with the biggest smile ever cause I was planning my future and so stoked on life and left with tears in my eyes and the biggest lump in my throat. Yup... I have FOUR more years til I can graduate. Yup...I've been in school for 2 & 1/2 already. Yup... I am changing majors. Yup... I will keep you posted.

October 31: Ended the month with a trip to my favorite state in the world for my best friend's wedding! Such a happy ending to such a glorious month!

Various October Days: There were tons of the typical provo Halloween dance parties going on that of course we all had to participate in!

**Other noteworthy things about October: 1) My love for bowling grew and grew.. I think my roommates and I went at least four times. Which is a lot considering I haven't gone at all this year until October hit. 2) I doubled (plus some) my kiss count and while it is a little tiny bit shameful, my obsession with boys is going strong and I ain't even mad about it. 3) October in Utah is absolutely STUNNING and the weather is spot on.

Until next year October!