30 Reasons Why I'm Proud To Be Me-#8

I haven't done one of these for a while, and I have to get 30 in before February 18th!  So reason number 8 of why I think being me is so fantastic- How much fun I love to have.  I'm all about trying new things and experiences and they always turn out to be so fun!  My fun for tonight?  Watching Neal Diamond in concert.  Yeah, buddy!

New...

I've had a busy few weeks with getting some new things in my life that I absolutely love!  My MacBook that I have had for over 3 years had an issue with the video card.  I took it in to the Apple store and decided that I should just get a new MacBook Air because who knows if putting the money into fixing it will benefit if something else would happen.  I use my laptop for EVERYTHING!  It goes with me pretty much anywhere:  school, campus, Salt Lake.  I do so much work on my computer that I felt like I definitely got my money worth with all the school activities I created, with how many papers I typed, etc.  I am in LOVE with my MacBook Air.  It is thin and weighs like two pounds. 

I have also been looking for a cute cruiser bike to stroll around Logan in, but haven't been able to find one for cheap.  My good friend told me about one sold at a yard sale for cheap...and it's purple, the best color ever!  I picked it up today and I LOVE it!!  It's so cute!

And last, but by far not least, I got a brand spankin' new car!  I've been researching cars for the last month or so, and knew I wanted a Mazda 3 because it's a very cute car and fits my needs.  I was planning on buying one in October because that's when my credit card would be paid off, so I could afford car payments, something I haven't had in about 4 years!  Bryce suggested going to a dealer to research new and used cars, get my questions answered and get a feel for the car, so I agreed.  I wasn't expecting to walk out with a new car yet!  But the deal was too good to pass off.  I had to say goodbye to my Cord, the car that I have had over the past 8 years of my life.  We got through a lot together-starting my teaching career and taking me back and forth from Logan to Tremonton for my job, moving to Denver and driving back and forth from Colorado to Utah a few times, road trips to San Diego, Spokane, Las Vegas, and all over Utah.  I basically live in Salt Lake on weekends now and it got me through lots of weekend trips back and forth from Salt Lake to Logan.  I put over 150,000 miles on that car and it worked like a charm.  But it was time for an upgrade.  They let me trade in my car for a good deal as a down payment, and they were also doing a deal that I could wait 90 days to make my first payment, which fit perfectly into October being the time to first pay. It had 8 miles on it, has power locks and windows (something I have never had!), and key less entry.  It's black, shiny and SOO cute!  I will post an actual picture of it when I quit being lazy and send it from my phone to my computer.  I'm excited to see what adventures I have in my new car!  I'm also on the hunt for a good name for my car.  Any suggestions?

To Portland, St. George, and Back!

This past weekend, I took a quick trip to Portland, a city I have never been to before.  I'm always a huge fan of going to new places and seeing and experiencing new things, especially food!  My dear friend Ellen recently received her Master's Degree from the University of Oregon (Yay Ellen!) and asked me to come up and drive back to St. George with her.  I've always wanted to see Portland, and summer is the perfect time to travel, so I agreed.  We spent a few hours in Portland-beautiful and green!  We ate at Old Town Pizza-yummy, but super creepy bathroom; walked on the river walk and saw some interesting people, and Ellen drove me by the Portland temple-stunning.  Then we headed to Eugene, where she lived.  She took me up to the University of Oregon, I instantly fell in love with the education building.  If I were to ever be crazy enough to get my PhD, I would want to get it there just for the sheer fact that the building is adorable!  The Olympic track and field tryouts were going on in the stadium, how awesome is that?!  I then helped her clean and pack her car, ate some VooDoo doughnuts (LOVED IT!) and we headed out the next morning at 6:30 AM.  We drove for about 17 hours-eating, sleeping, talking, laughing, eating and finally made it to St. George.  The next day, let's just say I slept for most of the day, and it felt fantastic!

On Monday, we drove from St. George to Salt Lake, where I stayed for a fun fourth of July celebration with my favorite person.  So in 3 days time I went from Portland, to Eugene, to St. George to Salt Lake.  Not too shabby!  I loved catching up with Ellen and seeing a part of the world I haven't seen before.  I look forward to going back to Portland someday and spending lots of time exploring the city even more!