my bags are packed

My bags are packed. I'm ready to go baby!

This week has been CRAZY to say the least. 

R and I managed to get away for the long weekend to Bear Lake.

{umm.... yup it snowed. Awesome}

We packed up an entire house. A house where we have officially stayed the longest since we've been married for almost 3 years. We managed to stay in one place for 9 months. Wow right. 

We are now settled into a beautiful and spacious storage unit where we will be until August.

Until then we will be homeless. Wanderers. Travelers. Bums.

I have all my bags packed.

Bags for Florida, where I will be in the morning celebrating with my college favs Becky and Rachel.

I am seriously so excited I could cry.... or probably more realistically pee my pants.

Then next Tuesday I fly home at midnight only to get back on a plane 6 hours later for New Zealand with my most favorite college man, Ryley.

We are so excited/nervous/wondering what the heck is gonna happen

that I can barely stand it.

We will be there for most of June which means I will be gone for a bit.

But when I come back I'm sure I'll have millions of pictures and good times to share.

neon clutch

I've been working on this DIY project for over a year now. 

I know. Sad. 

Basically I've had it in my mind since last April to make my own clutch that was so in style last year...

One year later and I finally finished, just in time for something else to come in style. 

I found my last years inspiration over here. Check it out. Beautiful person and blog.

And check out that clutch. Don't you just have to have one after seeing it?

So last summer I went to a leather store in Idaho Falls and picked up some scrap leather to make my own clutch. Then 6 months later I finally busted out the sewing machine and got it done. If you want to make your own jump over here for a tutorial on just how to do that. 

When it was just brown I was told a few times that it looked like one of those old chalk bags that you used in Elementary school or at church. Then my dear grandma at dinner last night told me it looked like a money bag they used at their grocery store. I decided it was time for a little make-over.

First off, sorry for the not-so-good photos. I took the pictures with my phone because 

R had the camera on a job. Hopefully you get the point. 

Here are a few tips if you want to snazzy up one of your own bags or clutches.

1.  Use good tape to create a straight line to paint with. Make sure to get all sides taped. I used Frog tape from the Home Depot but masking tape would probably work as well as long as you have it on tight.

2. If you don't already have paint lying around to use {I did from my dresser so I made good use out of it} I would suggest going to a craft store and buying nicer acrylic paint. The nicer the paint you use the less coats you will have to put on. I just used a gloss wall paint. I personally think that using a gloss instead of a matt paint would be better, but it's up to you. 

3. Once you have everything taped off the go for it! I had to do about 5-7 coats of paint this my clutch. I got sick of waiting for each layer to dry so I busted out my hair dryer and sped up the process. 

And it's just that easy. I love how mine looks with the bright neon yellow that looks slightly green and lame in my photos. I promise, it's way better in real life. 

viral vomit

I know this video came out forever ago, but it's freaken awesome.

I will say I've never had the balls to do this while hiking in Southern Utah,

Maybe some day. Maybe some day...

happy birthday love

It's R's birthday today and I figured he needed a little shout out.
I love to celebrate people's birthday's, especially Ryley's. 1. because I love him most and
2. he loves his birthday and I think it's so cute.
I love having a reason to decorate and buy presents and plan parties. love it.
I also love husbands and marriage and best friends so it just makes for a great day.
{but all of that will come on later posts, after all the fun has been had}

Today I wanted to talk about Ryley.
I am truly a luck person to have this man in my life.
Here are a few personals about my man that you may like to know...

When Ryley was little his nick name was Dennis the Menace because he was everywhere. My favorite story is when he was being baby sat. Ryley was being naughty and so the baby sitter sent him to his room. Ryley, I think being around 3 or 4 wanted to get back at her. So he opened his window to make it look like he had escaped and then he emptied his toy box, crawled in with his favorite blanket, put toys on top of him, and closed the lid. A few minutes later the baby sitter came in to find little Ryley only to discover that he was gone. She freaked out and searched everywhere. Finally she had to call his parents. This whole time Ryley stayed in his toy box. He had fallen asleep and his mom came home and found him passed out under all of his toys. Seriously, who does that? So cute, and yet I'm a little scared to have our own little Ryley's.

Favorite food  is Chinese. We drive 20 minutes at least once a week to get our favorite Golden Jade melt-it-your-mouth Schezwan chicken. Ahhh so amazing.

R's job or future job is going to be in graphic design and photography. R just finished college and is looking for a solid job. He is incredibly talented. I love watching him work [I admit, it some times stresses me out too] because his thought process and ideas are completely different than mine. I never know what he's thinking or how he's going to solve the problem, but he always does. [if you need a logo or any graphic design work done let me know. He's your man]

Ryley hates pasta because it's mushy, or so he says. [he's hated it ever since he was little when forced to eat it, no fault of his parents, he's just that stubborn to hate it forever after being forced] But he LOVES to mush up grahm crackers with milk, loves cake with milk, loves oatmeal. All mushy foods. Do I understand this? No. Do I tease him about it? Of course.

Ryley's hair has been getting longer and longer as you have seen if you've kept up on my spastic blogging. His newest goal is to not cut it until Hayden, his little bro, comes home from Chili next year. Ha. I'll love it/laugh if he does. Secretly I know he wants to keep it long for our trips this summer so the sun will bleach out his golden locks and he'll become even more sexy than he already is.

One last fact. R loves sci-fi movies. Loves them.  Any movie that has crazy creatures, or space, or time travel, or anything just plain weird he loves. I'm still trying to cope with this one, but I definitely get a new flavor of films now that I'm married!

Seriously I am such a happy and lucky person. I am truly blessed to have this man in my life. He is my home. I hope you have a wonderful day! I love you      

It's a race

Today was a good day. Not much new. Nothing amazing. Just a warm day spent with R.
We wanted to be outside, but since we don't have a yard of our own we made our way to Ryley's grandpa's barn. [ps can I just say that I am dying for a yard of our own. Even more than wanting our own house I want a yard, with a hammock and a garden and pretty flowers and a place to just relax] Barn meaning beautiful yard and garden of veggies and flowers with horses and trees and lounging chairs. Yes please. Of course R found some little 90 cc's that he challenged me to race. Obviously I couldn't turn him down. We made the course. It looped around trees and through fields and around the barn. I had to ride standing up to throw my weight into the turns so I could keep up my speed. I had to beat Ryley. He always beats me. Always. In everything. It gets annoying, but I guess today was my day because I won. 46 seconds to 48. Best. Day. Ever.

{ R and I found an old school photo booth on our Saturday night day. Yea}

The school year is almost over. I'm 6 days aways from completing my first year as a teacher. It feels sooooo good. This has been one challenging year. New state. New city. New school. New subject. New dance coach. New life. I have worked my booty off. I have stressed my booty off. But I am in a happy place. I feel confident and good about where I'm at this day, this hour. {who knows where I'll be tomorrow}

The past few days I have been correcting my student's photography finals. They had to write a paper with their project and reflect on how their images represented them. Now usually when I assign writing assignments I get a lot of blah blah blah I'm trying to fill the page. And I did get some of that, but I also got some great stuff. I was inspired. So many of these high schoolers wrote about life and it's meaning to them personally. Their messages were about living life and not watching it go bye. Not getting caught up in things that don't matter and focus on family and friends and fullilling your dreams instead of watching your life go by. They wrote about having no regrets and making your dreams happen.

One student wrote on faith. She said, " Without faith what do we have to live for? Not just faith in a God, but faith in what the next day will bring. Faith that you will e able tolive another day. Faith that when someone you love is hurt that they will be ok. Faith that when a loved one dies that you might just be able to see them again. Faith, live with it." 

I was able to read these thoughts all day and it was awesome. I feel like it renewed my life goals and priorities. It made me realize that it's worth it to stress over what time dance practice starts and if R didn't wash any of his dishes. I have life. I have a love that makes my life worth living every day. I have so many great things and I choose to live my life dwelling on all that I have and love instead of what slipped away or will never be. I am so greatful to be plain, mediocre me.

Hello everyone. I'm excited to tell you that Ryley's amazing sister Ashley is highlighting us over on her blog today. Ashley has started an awesome post called wear//there where she picks a beautiful place around there world and composes a super fashionable outfit to wear so you are always traveling in style. This week she asked me to pick out my dream wear for our upcoming trip. I loved searching out my wish list of clothes. I just wish I could actually buy some of them... Come check them out over here!

Viral Vomit

Ok this is going to be a new and exciting addition to my blog. Viral Vomit. This is a bit like verbal vomit, ya know, when words just keep pouring out of your mouth and you can't stop them and you definitely can't take them back. Yup, verbal vomit. [just ask R about his first veral "I love you" vomit with me. Very romantic]  Well, viral vomit is about the same thing. We all know every person is guilty for spending secret hours wasting our time watching people do stupid/awesome things on YouTube and then you finally look down at the clock and realize that 2 hours went by without even noticing. Well, we do that at lease once a day, probably by ourselves and then when we get together at night.

When we lived in Idaho and all our family would get together for Sunday dinner we would sit at the computer for at least an hour after dinner and watch video after video. Totally awesome. Since we don't get together with anyone to show off our great finds I have decided to make a verbal vomit section on my blog. Now here's the great thing. If you watch these and think, "I have something that is equally as awesome, or maybe even more awesome," send me a link and then I'll get to laugh and perhaps everyone else will too. Hope you enjoy the videos today.

This little baby is great. Noah rocks the song and I may like it better than the origional.

Now this is for teachers, and if you have a sense of humor. It was teachers appreciation week last week and this came out on Jimmy Kimmel. Now I dont usually feel this way, so please dont take offense and laugh.

Now that it's finally warm I am getting the energy to actaully work on all the projects I've been putting off all winter. We have about a room full of thrift furniture that I've been "planning" on fixing up since November. I finally finished #1 on my list. As soon as I saw this beauty I was in love. R wasn't too sure. {which would make sence if I actually took a before photo like I should have but never do} But I told him to trust me on this one. And he did. I decided to go with a neutral grey that we alrady had from painting our dresser, but I felt like it needed a little something extra. Yellow. It's a little surprise when you open the drawer. It makes me smile every time I open up for my notebook.
ps. If anyone is interested on getting a little thrift furniture 101 let me know. I've been thinking about doing thrift posting....

R and I took a little weekend getaway to Bear Lake. 
I love driving through the canyon and coming around the corner
to see the lake in full view. It calms my crazy head.
We drove up for a goodbye party for one of my close high school friends. 
They're moving away to dental school far far away. 
Kaydi threw a big Cinco De Mayo party for them. 
I love the fact that even though it's been years
and we have completely changed [hopefully]
that we are all still friends. Even if we don't chat on the phone every week
or get together once a month, we are still happy and pick up where we left off. 
We understand each other. We know each other. I mean we grew up toilet papering houses and giggling at all night slumber parties.
We know each others families and they know my story. 
They know my dad. They went through my hardest years and stood by my side. 
Even if we don't talk for another 20 years it won't be awkward. 
They're my friends. And good friends never leave. 


ps. We are going to be spending a lot of time in Bear Lake this summer. 
Can't wait! 

I'm pretty much in love with neon this spring.

How about you?

Doesn't just looking at these images make your entire being feel peace? I can't get enough. For the past month my nose has been in every book, website, and photo about New Zealand. I know there is so much more than beaches, but honestly I'm not sure I care about much else. There's something about the ocean that energizes me. Somehow the waves crashing down and the smell of the warm breeze melts every stress away. I have no worries. I am rejuvenated.  One day I will live by my energy source, but for now I will have to settle for soaking in as much ocean as possible whenever and wherever I can get it. This time I'm so lucky to have it be NZ.

We have some news

Ok folks. We have some lovely news, and no, it's not a baby bump. We are going on a trip, across the sea, landing us straight in New Zealand! That's right. It's happening and we are thrilled! This has been a long time coming. Saving and planning for over a year, and I can hardly believe that the time is finally here! Woooo Whooo


For those of you who know me understand that I am an unsettled person of sorts. I move around. I always have big plans. I'm never content. [content with R and I but never ready to stay still] Ever since R and I were married I have been plotting our get-a-way. It's been moving to Hawaii or California. It's been going on a trip to almost every country in the world. Always something and somewhere. But when husband + wife are schooling it up with no monies it takes a while. Now are both done with school and ready to party. We are so incredibly excited/nervous/can't believe it's actually happening that we are leaving the country together in a month. Oh summer is going to be so good to us! We leave the first of June so if any of you have been to the lovely NZ give me a shout out and let me know you do's and don'ts list.