lots of things.

First of all, please enjoy this lovely instagram photo of my pretty friends at Cafe. It was oh so fun to be reunited with all of them! We just needed Jack Jack to be complete. It's okay, it'll happen eventually.
I guess I'm catching up on everything. Christmas was just lovely, it was great to have a complete Christmas morning breakfast again. I missed that last year. I got an ipad which has never left my side since. I'm literally obsessed! If I could buy everyone an iPad I truly truly would. And I've already gone overboard on buying cases for it. Whoops!
Probably the real best part of Christmas was on Christmas Ever when Kori and Stefan came over and surprised us with the news that they're engaged! We were all crying and hugging and just so excited. They are the best couple and so perfect. I've never seen Kori so genuinely happy in all the years I've known her! I could cry just thinking about how proud I am of her and how excited I am that she found Stefan. I could go on and on and on about this but... it was so perfect. I couldn't imagine my life without Kori. And now Stefan is officially part of the familia whether he likes it or not!
New Years Eve was the annual letdown that it always is. Seriously, why do people like NYE? I did get to spend it with some of my favorite boys though, which was fun. I suppose that's what happens when all your girl friends are married/moved to Arizona/getting engaged right at that very minute, which is what happened to Ally! I guess her NYE was much better than mine :))) So happy for her and Steve and excited for their wedding! Ally has dreamed about her wedding for so so so long... I can't even count the number of wedding mix cd's we've made over the years.
I made a pact with myself that I wouldn't shop until at least valentines day. Seriously, you know you have a problem when you have to make a pact with yourself not to shop! I've been holding out strong, except I did go and spend my Sephora gift card, but that doesn't really count, right?
Tim Tebow came into Nike and I wasn't there. I was so so crushed. My work BFF Meagan took lots of pictures and said he was just the sweetest thing so I guess I just have to live vicariously through her. UGHHHH this is the 2nd time I've missed him! WAIT FOR ME TEBOW!!!
Other work is just great too. We opened the new Mendenhall Center and it is SO gorgeous and the guys are so excited. And today, this sweet old man who always comes in and chats with me brought me a snuggie. How sweet is that?! Rebel fans are truly the best!
I discovered Netflix. It's the best/worst thing that's ever happened to me.
Today was the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen in my life. I'm surprised I didn't get in a car wreck because I just couldn't stop looking at it on my drive to school! How can you see those things and not believe that someone created that? These things don't just happen on accident. We are SO blessed.

love/hate relationships.

Sometimes I think I may have slightly bipolar tendencies. I've recently discovered that I have a love/hate relationship with many things: my car, the pantry and fridge, my coworkers, etc. Lately, since I got my ipad for christmas and am obsessed with it and can't put it down, I've found a few more love/hate relationships with some blogs/websites.

FASHION BLOGS
I love to look at these and see the outfits that people put together. I've always loved fashion and magazines and stuff like that so they're fun to look at. BUT I always end up feeling so terrible about myself after I look at these blogs! Does anyone else feel this way? I mean really... these girls are stunning and so skinny and portray themselves as having the most perfect, flawless lives. Is anyone's life really like that?! And I really wanna know who takes the pictures of these girls that they put on their blogs... do they have personal photographers on call? I'd feel like an idiot if I were prancing around in the middle of some random street with my husband snapping close ups of my outfit, sorry about it. And I get sad that I don't have the budget to keep up with these girls. See? Love/hate.

PINTEREST
Mostly I love pinterest. I get all kinds of fun ideas for the future that are never going to happen, but it's fun to think about. I like seeing people's outfits and cute hair and nails. I just get really annoyed with some of the stuff on there. Specific example: The sock bun. Everyone and their mother pins the sock bun and let me just tell you that it doesn't work (yep... tried it, only thing I've ever tried from pinterest)! And don't be fooled into thinking you're gonna put your hair in a wet sock bun and wake up with these fantastic curls... I have enough experience with falling asleep with wet hair to know that it doesn't happen! Pinterest is awesome though, I've come up with great ideas for my future wedding (cross your fingers people).

FACEBOOK
The most love/hate of all! Facebook is great for keeping up with old friends, even the ones you don't really care to keep up with. But hey! It's fun to look at where people are, what they're doing with their lives, etc. Okay, I'll say it: It's fun to stalk! We all know we do it, let's just come out with it! The hate part of facebook for me consists of two major categories: the "begging for attention" friend and the "overshare" friend. Begging for attention friend: they post about any/everything, at least 4 status updates a day, constantly brag about their lives, put up hundreds of pictures of their perfect children/vacations/families, just baiting people to comment on them. I'm so irritated by this. Obviously your life isn't that perfect when you constantly need attention from a social media network. The begging for attention friend is even better when the person is all over facebook, and yet they ignore you in person. Classic. The overshare friend is just that: they post uneccessary things that the average person doesn't need to know. I once had an FB friend that posted a status update basically announcing the end of his relationship and why it didn't work out. It sounded like a freaking press release! We don't need to know all these details! Especially the medical oversharers... NO ONE wants to hear the gory details about your child's birth or your kidney stones. Seriously, let's keep it classy.

Did this post sound bitter? I don't mean to be bitter. And this wasn't directed at anyone specifically, just people in general. I love you all!

chi-city!

Soooo I went to Chicago a couple weeks ago and it was so fun and beautiful and magical and COLD! But still such a great getaway. Sorry for all the pictures that will be in this post. We had so much fun! Our favorite Rebel family/adopted sisters Aubrey and Gentry joined us for the weekend. They moved to Nashville this summer so it was so great to be with them again! Here's what we did in the windy city...

SEARS TOWER (really called Willis Tower but who cares about that)
We had the most beautiful weather this day- cold but sunny and clear, which is more than we could've asked for! From the top of Sears Tower you can see 4 states and the whole city. They have these glass pods that you can go in and see underneath you... super creepy but so fun! Loved this place.






THE BEAN
There's this huge metallic bean in Millennium Park and I don't know why but I'm obsessed with it. I think it's the coolest thing ever. I flew in later than everyone else because I had a final, and my sweet cab driver took me on a little tour of the city on the way to the hotel and he made sure that I looked closely at the Bean and you can see the whole city reflected in it... it's awesome. Probs one of my favorite things about Chicago. And when you take a picture of your reflection, you look like a midget.





ICE SKATING @ MILLENNIUM PARK
Guess what? I'm the world's worst ice skater. The good news is, so are Aubrey and Gentry. We are AWFUL. I held Aubrey's hand the whole time and my dad had to drag us around but it was SO fun! Even though it was freezing outside and a little crowded we had a blast, although I probably won't be ice skating anytime soon, at least not in front of people. I probably need private lessons or something.







UNLV VS ILLINOIS @ THE UNITED CENTER
Obviously the reason we went to Chicago in the dead of winter was to see this game! And it was worth it. The boys played probably their best game all season and it's always fun to beat someone in front of all their fans! The United Center is awesome and huge. There's a big MJ statue at the entrance and I attempted to take a picture of his jersey in the rafters... so legendary. It was a really cool environment and thanks to my job/one of the wonderful staff members, we had the best seats in the house. I love my rebs!





Other things we did: Ate the best hot dogs and fries ever, did lots of shopping, met the love of my life Laurent at Niketown Chicago, ate the best pizza ever, spent lots of time in my favorite Topshop, ate the best breakfast ever, had great encounters with sketchy drivers, went to Navy Pier, drank lots of starbucks. Basically just shopping and food.

I need to go back to Chicago in the summer!

we're #1!!

Okay so I'm super late on this but it's okay. The Rebels beat #1 North Carolina! And it was the most exciting thing, like, ever! Over a month later and I still get super excited about it. Working at the basketball office has definitely shown me the other side of things, and I see every day how hard these guys work. I'm so so proud of them. I didn't know how to react at the end of the game... I just kept thinking that it was all a dream or something! I know people probably think it's dumb but it's a day I'll remember for the rest of my life. We're doing big things this year, people! Watch out!

We had amazing seats, like 3 rows up. I had to arm wrestle Jessica for the rights to the good seats, and I'm happy to report that I won. It was SO worth it! Seeing the boy's reactions was so fun!


Ignore how close this picture is and just look at the scoreboard! Crazy!

I've been thinking about writing this post for a few days now, but I was a little hesitant. It's one of those situations where you don't really know your particular place, but you want to do everything you can. So I figure that sharing my memories, regardless of how insignificant they may seem, might help me feel like I'm doing something.

I'm pretty sure I've known the Schlauders my whole life. My earliest memory with Ally is going over to her house to swim with my cousins, who are also her cousins, when I was about 5. I don't really know what happened on that day, but we've been best friends ever since. The Schlauders lost their beautiful, sweet daughter Leah this week. I always remember thinking that Leah was so gorgeous and glamorous and just everything you admire about an older girl when you're a little girl. I remember when me and Ally would sneak into her room to look at all her pictures and just imagine our lives as cool as Leah's. After she graduated from hair school, she became our family's beauty expert. I think Leah did my hair for every event in my adolescent life- middle school graduation, family pictures, and every dance I ever went to. Me and Ally would go over to her house on the day of the dance and she would do our hair and makeup and just laugh with us about how excited we were. She was so fun! I loved seeing her at the salon because I always knew that she would make me laugh and talk about any high school drama that was going on. She was the best. I haven't seen Leah in many years, but whenever I look at the family picture that hangs by our front door, I think of her because she did my hair in this crazy crisscross part that I loved. I feel so blessed to have known Leah and her wonderful smile and sense of humor. I'm so blessed to have had the Schlauder family in my life for all these years. They've been such a great example of what family should be- eternal, everlasting, unconditional. I hope they know of my love for them.

I have a hard time understanding why things like this happen. Life isn't fair, and we are reminded of that so often. But as I was sitting at her funeral today, listening to all the beautiful things that her friends and family had to say about her, I was reminded of how lucky I am to have the gospel in my life. I can't think of anything more depressing that thinking that you won't ever see the people that you love after they've left this life. I'm so grateful to know that families are forever! Isn't that what it's all about? Everything we try to do, everything we work for, comes down to that fact: we all want to be together in the end. I feel so blessed to know that.

Al Pal!!!

Ally is home!!!!
How exciting. I'm seriously so stoked. I love this girl to death! She's been there for me through everything... literally since birth. I can't think of anyone who better defines the word "friend". She's the most selfless person I know and she's wanted to serve a mission her whole life. And now she's done it and she's back! I've been so blessed to have the most incredible friends. Being with her and Courtney, 2 returned missionaries, all weekend has been so great for me. I feel so renewed! I don't know why these girls are friends with me, because I am so so SO far down from their level. I love them so much! And of course I haven't uploaded pictures from the airport yet sooo... I stole this one from Grama Linda. Of course I'm not looking at the camera, but enjoy all my pretty friends!

Oh and here's some oldies.

xoxo

smilebooth.

I believe a photo booth is completely necessary for a wedding. Personal opinion, I suppose. Behold: Smilebooth. Jake and Sarah had it at their reception and it was so fun and cute. You could take and many pics as you want and they show up online a few days later to download for free. Genius! Did I mention I loved this wedding?







If you know my family, you know the meaning of diva mom. She's adorable.

xoxo