Ouch!

I fell down the stairs on Friday night, while holding a baby. Bummer. Luckily the baby is fine, not a problem at all for him, I on the other hand, have had a harder time with it. Big bruises, swelling and burning pain plagued me today. I can't really get comfortable so I have been a little annoyed.

It did give me a chance to take a day to do little things. I watched some movies and went to work in the morning. It worked out great.

Sometimes I wonder about myself.

30 Degrees

I took a pictures on my way home from Work on Monday evening. One of the things that I love about the falls in Utah is that the mountains(said with the Utah accent of 'mounains') turn red, orange and yellow and look like they could be on fire! So beautiful. I love to see them in the fall. So I snapped a picture. Isn't it beautiful?

So on Tuesday afternoon this is what those same mountains looked like. Suddenly it was winter. I enjoyed the first snow fall of the year, it is the best kind, it is pretty and sticks for a few minutes but melts before it can really pile up and the roads stay nice and clear. More winter like that please.

I love the changing weather but a 30 degree drop and tee shirts and shorts to snow and boots was a little much for me.

Chilly with a Chance of Brr...

Well hello all. I am so happy to be back to blogging. Last week I got a very nasty cold that just knocked me out. I am still coughing but mostly on the mend. I hate to be sick.

I am also beginning to plan for the holiday season. When I get sick I watch QVC, I know, it makes no sense, I just do. Well last week while coughing up a lung I enjoyed a day on the couch with Kleenex and Christmas QVC. I laughed at half the stuff that I would never buy and things I wished I had the money for. Like a 12 foot lit tree that I have no where to put but would love to have. It kicked off the fall just perfectly for me. Got me into the mind frame of the season. I do all my Christmas shopping by the beginning of November so I have to be on the ball here, I am getting close to my deadline! haha.

There is already so much going on. It is my favorite time of year, the weather gets chilly and sweaters come out and I get to enjoy the wonderfulness of my beautiful and warm coat collection. Even though a trial try-on session revealed a few that can now only be warn with VERY heavy sweaters or lots of layers, I do not love them any less. I can hardly wait to bust them out. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 55 degrees, so I think I will have a start to the season.

I have started to rack leaves, made a few loaves of pumpkin bread, homemade apple cider, and soups. Lots of homemade soup.

I hope you are all having a wonderful fall and enjoying the sights, smells and sounds of it all. I know that I am.

Love It

The things I love:

* Rainy Days- I love the jolt of humidity (since we have so little) for just a day or two and then back to the blessed dryness.

* New challenges- I love when you first make a choice, decision or have a project given to you and you have to figure out how to get to your desired end result. I love that initial jumble of ideas and thoughts and making plans. I love making plans.

* E-books- I love them. I love having one at my fingertips at any moment without having to add the bulk of a sometimes un-needed book, since I only like to read long ones apparently. I love that I can whip out a favorite quickly and enjoy it.

* Un-expected Hugs- mostly from kids, because lets face it an unexpected hug from some random strange guy is not really as appealing as it is scary. But I love little arms that wrap around and the moments of happiness that come. There is nothing like it.

* Spoiling nieces and nephews- I freely admit I don't get to do it as much as I would like, since I don't have many close to me, but you just ask my sister Robin and she will tell you I have stuff for Caius every time I see him. In fact, I have a bag full of stuff for Caius and the new baby that is months away. It will be like Christmas morning the next time I see them. If I had more nieces and nephews around I would spoil them as much. I spoil the other kids in my life just as much.

* Personal Training with Zach- I wish you guys could spend one session with Zach. I wish you could see the things he has me do! I wish you could see what a change in my muscles has happened in the last few months with the guidance of Zach. He is big and scary looking but can't raise his voice to save his life! It is great to push to the point of dripping sweat and muscles giving out and him pushing just that much further and you realizing you just barely had it in you. And the next time, do almost twice as much as the time before, and smiling through the pain. Nothing better.

* New deodorant- Not something you think of, but I hate to buy I just complain to myself that if I didn't stink I wouldn't need it and what a load of pumpernickel it is to spend $7-$8 dollars on the stuff. So new means I don't have to buy it for a while and that makes me happy.

* Notes from Old Friends- there is nothing like notes from people you knew best when you weren't your best self, not always your worst, but not as refined as you like to think you are now. That they like you enough to keep in contact or recontact and have things to say makes me smile. Not to mention the little things about them you remember and the memories that we associate with them. Always the obscure, but fun nonetheless.

* Free Bagel Day- I love bagels, I do. I always have. I do not buy bagels. I do not need the temptation because I would make bagel pizzas, bagel bites, sandwiches and all sorts of other bagel concoctions with them around. So I look forward to the once a month free bagel day at work. I get to indulge in one of my favorite things (and I do love cream cheese too...all kinds!) for free without having to fight the urge to have buy them I just think to myself, "its almost free bagel day!"

* Freshly colored hair- it doesn't matter the color, the method, it just matters that for at least a week I can look in the mirror and not see grey.

* Fall- it is almost here. I already have the decorations ready to put up, the apple cider ordered, planning thanksgiving dinner, Halloween parties, corn mazes and a bon-fire or two. I am pouring over new sweater purchases and allowing myself the chance to glance at the new coat selections. I am excited to try a couple of new soup recipes I have found this summer in the most yummy bread bowls. There is nothing better.

* Lunch with my friends/family- my friends are my family. Since I have a lack of family around, my best friends are family. I am so lucky to get to share lunch with my dear friend Liz regularly and of course Logan. It makes me pretty happy to know that a chance to spend some great quality time with them for an hour or so comes so regularly. I get to enjoy lunch with Logan today and Liz on Friday (maybe Thursday). I am pretty stinkin' blessed.

Do You Ever?

Stay up too late reading? Cause I do. All the time. I can't wait to see how a book ends even if it means I have no sleep the next day. I read a great book last night...until very very late. I need to not do that no matter how good it is.

I spent my afternoon yesterday watching some HGTV (one of my favs!) and doing some painting. I really wanted to go to the gym, but I refrained. Instead I worked it out in paper. I am getting good at what I like. Maybe not good to anyone else, but I love it. I have a more impressionist/modern art feel to most of my paintings. Not so much people of things, but feelings and colors and shapes. I want to look at a piece of art and not think, wow, that looks like so and so (even though I totally admire people who can do that!) but I want to have people feel something. Just like with my writing. Which I cranked out this weekend too. I just felt the creativity this weekend apparently. Maybe I will post a teaser for my book and some pictures of art this week.

Oh and I finished my Christmas cards and my list of gifts for people this year. Yeah, I am aware it is August, but fall is nipping at my heals and I can hardly wait to decorate. I am making myself wait until the first of September, but I want to do stuff right now! And fall leads to winter which leads to...Christmas. It is soon. I am excited for fall.

Ok, Seriously?

What a day. First, we went up the canyon to find that fall has hit Utah. Oh what a piece of heaven it is. I adore the rich fall colors and in love with how good they make me feel. Not to mention they remind me that I can break out some amazing sweaters and coats, which are my passion.

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Then, some friends and I headed to the hockey game, which is always fun. I scream like a crazy person, but I fit right in. It is just so much fun to be screaming with your friends. We especially liked the many fights that broke out. Made the screaming more fun.

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Then comes the best part...I stop at home really quick to use the little girls room on my way to running Logan home, because I really had to go. So I jump out of the car and run inside and then run back out, only to find that yes, I have locked my keys in the car. Which wouldn't be so bad because it is in my own driveway, right? Wrong. We have lost the spare key. So at 11:30 at night I wake up my roommate and the four of us are out there trying to break into the car. Poor Logan had a meeting at 7am, and is teaching at church today and he is stuck in the driveway of my house trying to break into the car.

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Seriously, how klutzy can I feel? How many dumb moments can I have this weekend? And it isn't even over yet. Do you ever just want to crawl into bed and wait out a few days in hopes of feeling better soon? Cause that sounds good right about now.

My Color Changing World

Utah in the fall is absolutely Amazing. The trees turn all shades of orange, yellow, and red. The air is crisp and every where you walk you hear the crunching of leaves beneath your feet, how can you go wrong with that? I love it!
From my front yard to school and work, my world is an explosion of color right now. I love it! You can't go wrong in the fall. I am so grateful for my color changing world...it reminds me that change is a good thing, a beautiful thing. And spring will come again and I will be excited about the new colors filling my world then too.

New and Entertaining

Well since it is fall I have started decorating for that season that is my favorite of all. I can not get enough of the colors and the smells. I love the fall! So this year when I found this adorable scarecrow decked out in an orange jumper I just couldn't pass her by and the price was just right (a whole $4!). She stands about 5 feet tall and adds the perfect amount of me to the outside of the house. I love it. We named her Autumn. Fitting, don't you think?

The next new and entertaining thing in my life is this new pair of Steve Madden black spiked heals. You married women out there may drool over these second-look inducing heals. Let me tell you I have loved wearing them! I even had a guy come up to me and mention that I had some great legs. Now really ladies, who does not want to hear that? I know I do! I may not have great legs, but it was sure nice to hear it and let me tell you the first outfit I wore with these was hot enough that it deserved the compliments and the dates that came from them. These black shoes ooze whatever it is the makes the male species take a second look, and seeing as I am a single woman of 28, I find great joy in the second look.