Hype

Can I be so blunt as to say, I am sick of the hype around Pippa Middleton! Seriously. She is boring and her style is very plain and uninteresting. Not to mention, the only reason she is ever mentioned is because of her sister.

One of my favorite fashion blogs, Look4Less, constantly has featured her outfits under the celebrity category and it drives me nuts!!! The only thing more lame than her outfits is her name!

http://www.thelook4less.net/2011/08/look-4-less-pippa-middleton.html

I won't even go into Kate... Is anyone else as sick of Pippa as I am?!

(P.s. I promise to be back to the "My kids are so cute, our lives are so interesting" posts soon)

Party Time

Girl's Night!! Dancing for the Kinnect game Dance Central....

My heroines- Jayna, Kelli, Courtney, and Jaime!!

P90X Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to me! I can't believe its been a whole year since P90X came into my life...

One year later I can happily say I feel great, healthy, and strong. I am not doing the program full-time but do about 2-4 workouts a week (depending on how much running I do).

I still love kenpo. It is my go-to workout when I am having a hard time staying motivated.

I love that I can workout for an hour and maintain my good results. I love that it gets easier as I go on, and that I can do more advanced moves.

What I don't love... are my "big guns". I am all for having toned arms but I do feel like the workouts built up my upper body a little more than I would like. I don't love that I still can't do some of the moves!

Conclusion: I am glad that I did it, for sure, and would recommend it 100% to anyone. It is an amazing program that works well, and anyone can do it if they stay dedicated!

Vices

Jared and I had an interesting discussion today about our vices. I feel like I try to do the things I know are good and right for me to do, but every once in a while there are those indulgences that add a little variety. It usually ends up that I need some sort of boost after a long couple of days (make that hours, sometimes!), or a reward for good behavior that I allow myself.

The big huge bummer (I use that word way too much) about vices is the inevitable downside.

I love shopping, but then comes the price tags; I love cooking and eating sweets, but that equals time working out and working harder at it; I love reading design blogs but then I feel bored with my house and lust for more... Is there anything out there that doesn't make me vain, fat, or jealous?!

Can't I just enjoy running or reading stories to my kids just as much? Isn't there something that can make me smarter, more fit, or a better person while simultaneously filling that need for a pick-me-up?

Are there any vices out there that don't have so many drawbacks?

Purchase

Sometimes I just like to treat myself...

Happy anniversary, mothers day, springtime to me :)

The Big Question

Lately I have had lots of people asking me the same question- "What are Jared's plans after graduation?"

Good question

As much as I love answering the same thing over and over I thought I would put it here in writing to clear the air.

We have no idea where we are going, all we know is we will be going somewhere! We are definitely here until July but after that is unclear. Most jobs in Jared's field (Hospital Admin.) have openings and fill them fairly soon after, so that means he really can't start doing too many interviews until he is closer to graduating.

As to the "where?" question, we are pretty open. Well, maybe I am pretty open. We have mental lists of approved states and cities we wouldn't mind living in, and I am a bit more willing to try something different. My thinking is, our boys are young enough and perhaps our years of picking up and moving (without much effort or opposition from kids) are winding down. We would love to live in AZ, FL, OH, TX among others, and we might make exceptions for certain fun cities like Portland, Seattle, Boise, Atlanta, or places near the beach.

In some ways I am very excited- I love change. As a result of moving so much I think I learned to enjoy trying new things and meeting new people. Its also fun to think we could be that much closer to settling somewhere and maybe someday getting a house. But also get stressed out thinking we will be moving and I have no idea where. Buying clothes for the boys I think, will I need more warm weather clothes or cold weather ones? The spontaenous side of me is loving it, the planning side is going nuts.

All I know for now is we are here for the next few months to really get to know this city. It wouldn't surprise me if we stuck around til August but then again, who knows!! We will keep you posted.

Grown-up Christmas List

Besides "no more lives torn apart", and all that other good stuff, I'd really love these for Christmas...

(J Crew Jammies)

And anyone who knows me knows I'd die for my initials monogrammed on the pocket!!

Goodbye to the Garden

I spent the last four months trying my hand at gardening. I had always wanted to try to grow my own vegetables and develop a bit of a green thumb. I had a small plot in our complex that allowed me to experiment with growing tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini.

I feel like I learned so much, especially by doing it the wrong way. I learned to plant earlier, prepare the soil weeks in advance, water less on the leaves, find a plot that doesn't have nasty soil, how to avoid blight and other fungi, and more importantly to not expect a big return on my hard work the first season!

All in all our garden yielded mostly tomatoes, many of which were eaten by bugs (slugs!), or knocked off the vine prematurely by helpful neighborhood kids, in addition to a lot of basil. Our peppers never quite germinated except for a few that got gobbled. Bummer. It wasn't cheap, but I am glad I got to have a trial run before we can have a garden at our own home someday.

Bacheloser!

I haven't been able to post recently because I was still reeling from the finale. I held out hope despite all spoilers until the end that Jake would choose Tenley. Was there really anything worse than when Tenley was practically begging him in tears, saying "You don't have to say goodbye"?

Of course his family loved her. Of course his dad was crying Jake-style while talking to her. Its like Jake knew it was too perfect and too easy. We don't want the peace a calm relationships, we want the drama, the rollercoaster.

When his fam asked Vienna what she liked about him, she said "nothing". How adorable. It was then he knew they would be together forever.

He is a liar! He said he had values, goals for marriage, yadda yadda. When it was right in front of him he said there was no "spark". Sparks mean fire, electrocution, DANGER. The fact that he picked her showed what Ali had said before: "If she's what he wants, then I'm not what he wants." Nothing was more telling of his character than who it came down to in the end. You can talk values and virtues til you're blue in the face but it wont mean anything.

Vienna wanted her prince, and I guess she got one, at least for now. Eventually he will get sick of spoiling her on his pilot's salary, begging her to make dinner and shower, and she will realize he regularly wears running shoes with jeans. Romance = dead.
The best thing that's come out of this? Jake is gone and we can move on to someone else!

Bachelor

picture via Ali's dresser- you're a pal, Al!

Best lines of the show:

• "[Gia] has $1000 shoes and still empathizes with the natives. Its endearing." Yes, its really charming isn't it
• "This whole things has been a lot of 1st times for Vienna." 1st time washing her hair, 1st time leaving her Dad (I won't even go into their creepy relationship), 1st time sporting a creep negligee in front of an audience (oh wait, unless she's done another calendar for horn-dog college guys we don't know about)
• Vienna: "I'm falling in love with you". Jake: "I'm glad that you told me that"
• On the way to the Fantasy Suite, Jake: "I absolutely cannot wait to... watch our first sunrise together."

Also, I'm starting to feel sorry for the staff. What was the poor helicopter pilot supposed to do while they were on their Plantation Picnic? And the Pirate ship crew? Why do all the girls say they feel like they're "the only ones on the island" with a camera guy 2 ft away? Buzz kill, big time.

Additionally, I am very grateful ABC sprung for a scuba-cam during the Pirate date. I so loved watching Vienna and Jake swimming from underneath them.

Please kill me the next time they play "On the Wings of Love" via synthesizer. At least get acoustic guitar, violin, harp, anything!

Can I just say the whole "Fantasy Suite" thing is a bad idea. Gross, weird, very redundant by the third time! Jake asked Vienna to read the card, I thought, "Don't you have this memorized yet?" Please tell me it was different rooms....

I thought Jake knew how to dance?! He looked so awkward! I can honestly say the #1 reason I broke up with my first BYU boyfriend was because he danced like a gorilla. If that had been me instead of Gia, it would've been a deal breaker. "Sorry Jake, I'd like to leave immediately, please."

So relieved he picked Tenley... It has to be her, right? Vienna is a child. Not to mention a hick, who's probably inbred. Such deep stupidity must be due to mutations.

Lastly.... So glad Gia is finally gone! In case you missed it, please check out the faces she made Jake at their date. Almost as bad as his manly necklace.

That is all. Can't WAIT to see Michelle at next week's recap episode!!

Junk Food

While the kids are snug and asleep I escape to the comfort of my couch, go to hulu.com, and enjoy a new guilty pleasure... The Bachelor.

Why can't I stop watching this garbage?

The drama between the girls... Oh Ali, lay off the Vienna thing already

The cheesy face-wide grins from Jake, especially when he does it to mask an awkward moment (a.k.a. all his interactions with Michelle)

The outifts the girls choose to wear... oh heck no, Vienna, you do not shop at Wet Seal! And let's just say the Honor Code would have a field day with Gia...

The sappy lines, especially anything with an aviation theme, "cloud nine", "head in the clouds", etc. Not to mention all the creepy, "I'm here for Jake" lines in the beginning. Come on people, falling in love in a week only happens at BYU.

The "oh-no-he-didn't!" moments when Jake chooses the dumbest girls

Seriously, Jake? Tenley is so fake and sweet she gives me cavities, Gia is a big-time skank (you'd never work with a New Yorker, Jake... just watch Jersey Shore and trust me), Ali is the only one who appears semi-normal but she was born with an extra gossip bone (and what normal person wants to go on reality Tv?), and then there's Vienna.... Don't get me started on her. I bet she doesn't even know where Vienna is. She looks like a drag queen, and her hair is so deep-fried it's a fire-hazard. She does the spoiled little girl routine, and apparently he goes for that? Oh man. It makes me wish I was single just so I could go on the show and be a normal person!!

Another thing that bothers me- all the kissing. He kisses everyone! Hello, mono anyone? And how have they all stayed away from the swine flu?

Last week's episode in San Francisco was interesting, to say the least. Trolley ride, Chinatown, Koit Tower? That's not the real SF. Give me the gay bars, smelly piers, bad traffic, and Alcatraz please! Or at least the sea lions, right? Everything looks better on Tv.

I should stop watching, right?