(Almost) April Showers

Wow, it has been over three weeks since I have written anything! I didn't even realize it because life has been so crazy lately. LOTS has happened since my last post... but I doubt I can even remember it all. So I will leave you all in suspense of what we have been up to for three long weeks.

Just kidding. Updates will come. Eventually. I have some recent adventures to tell you all about.

And, by the time I get around to updating on those, I'll probably have many more stories to tell. This weekend promises to have lots going on. It's Easter, General Conference, and my birthday... all on the same day! Whew! I'm tired already.


* * *


Today, you do not get the updates. Seth and I will be spending the rest of the evening starting our spring cleaning while watching a movie. I'm actually really excited... for deep cleaning??! Sh... don't tell Seth. He might start getting ideas ;)

Yay for Spring. That beautiful time when the world freshens up after a long stuffy Winter, and we can too.


* * *


Lately, the weather here in Utah has been beautiful. Lots of sunshine has been peeking its way into our little town. (And the weekend when it wasn't, we conveniently were in St. George! Haha!)

Today however was cold and grey. (ps, how do you spell grey? I think it's lame that some words have two different spellings. I personally prefer the e.) After all the sunshine and temperatures in the 70s, people were getting upset with Mother Nature today. But I loved it...

As I was walking to my Italian class, I noticed all the miserable, cold-looking faces. What a stark contrast to the faces I saw a couple days ago! Then, their faces were shining as bright as the sun! So I'm walking to class and I think to myself "This is a bummer day," and then I realize, "Wait, I'm actually in a really good mood. The weather isn't getting me down."

And thus, I had an epiphany. I don't hate the rain. I actually really love it. Besides the fact that it makes my (naturally curly) hair go crazy, and makes me cold, there is something really appealing to me about drizzly grey skies. Is that weird?

I find a rainy day really charming actually. Sun is great and beautiful, but a nice brisk day can be so refreshing. I think it's because all of the happy and bright things stand out more on a grey day.

I will demonstrate with a picture:

(Of course, I picked a photo of Zooey Deschanel. What can I say? I'm slightly obsessed with her as an actress.)

Now look at this picture. What is so appealing about it? Yes, she is dressed cute, but that's not the point. It's really her inner confidence and happiness shining through. She's not beaming at the camera, but her posture and the look in her eyes tell us that the drizzly day isn't getting her down. She's happy with who she is and it is able to shine through.

Rainy days make the warm warmer, a hug more comforting, and home cozier and more inviting.

Am I crazy? Probably. But hey, we already knew that right?

I do not, however, like the smell of rainy days. That is one thing I have never gotten about people. The rain (at least in Utah) smells like worms. Yuck!

*amber*

I have nothing to say...

In the meantime,
feel free to listen to this lovely song. Over and over. And over. That's what I've been doing for the past few months. It's the song I'm choreographing the group lyrical dance to and I still cant get enough of it.

We also went to Idaho this past weekend to see our new niece, Hailey Darlene and hang out with our other neices, brother and sister-in-law, and mother in law. We had so much fun and it was a much needed break. 

More on that later however. I took my camera but I'm getting into a bad habit of remembering to take my camera places but forgetting to take pictures. I'll post later when I get pictures from my mother-in-law.

And now, just relax and enjoy the song again. Really. Play it over and over. You will be soothed and rejuvenated.

*amber*

Inspiration- Dining Room

Dedicated to my sister-in-law Megan :) love you Megs.

I put this Inspiration Board together on Polyvore.com. Just so you all know, this is the (very rough draft) inspiration for our future dining room. Someday. When we have a dining room :)

 If you are like me and are slightly obsessed with decorating but don't have an outlet, I would suggest Polyvore. You can use it to put together inspiration boards for anything really. 

I used to want a yellow living room with a similar vibe to the dining room above. However, I realized I'd rather have a calmer color like blue for a living room. I then came to the ultimate conclusion that the perfect color for a dining room is yellow. At least for my dining room.   

I am the kind of person that loves to plan for things like this long in advance. I have had every room in my future house (including possible rooms that a house may randomly have... you never know) planned out for as long as I can remember. And though I tweak my ideas every once in awhile, I figure if I like them for that long, they'll hopefully stand the test of time. I also had my wedding basically planned out at 12 years old. 

Also, I'm calling dibbs on this inspiration. Seriously, if I come to your house and your dining room has yellow striped and damask walls, dark wood floors, a big black table with mismatched black chairs, big antique white buffet, vintage silver tea sets, rustic not-too-formal chandelier, and a vase of ivory roses on the table... I may be upset. But then, yellow is a happy color and I may just love it so much that I cant help but forgive you. Curse you.

:)

What colors/elements inspire you? What about colors that you would love in specific rooms in your house? Or am I just weird about stuff like this and normal people don't think like this... haha let me know what you think.

Now, I am excited to leave for Idaho in a few minutes. I hope I'm not still nauseous and dizzy when I meet baby Hailey... dumb antibiotics.

*amber*

This is Tight

Pun intended. I usually don't post about stuff like this but here's the deal.

Elaine from the blog Clothed Much is hosting a giveaway for a free pair of tights from We Love Colors. I usually don't enter giveaways either, but I really want to win this one. I was looking on the internet for some teal-ish green-ish tights to wear under black and white dresses and I happened to stumble across the We Love Colors sight. They have tons of colored tights options and I was tempted to order some. Then today, I found this giveaway on Elaine' blog. Convenient, no? :)

Now if I can win... oh yeah. 

So if any of you are on the lookout for new tights (or other things like socks, gloves, dancewear, etc.) I would recommend checking out We Love Colors. Truthfully, not my favorite place for tights, but they do have tons of colors to choose from which is nice.

So head over to Elaine's blog to enter this sweet giveaway for the pair of your choice. (I chose basic opaque tights in spruce green.)

Pretty, no? Yes, I'm obsessed with the color green.

So basically, this post is an entry in the contest. So if you're not interested in this, please ignore. I just want to win free tights :)

*amber*

Chipmunk Cheeks...

So I got my wisdom teeth out yesterday... and let me tell you, it was a party. 

Actually, everything went really well. Everything has gone smoothly so far and I woke up this morning with not much pain (there was pain, but not as bad as I expected.) I didn't swell yesterday but I woke up this morning  with puffier cheeks. Then Seth accidentally hit my cheek with his arm and now I have this...

Before:

After:

 

Lovely. And might I say that is a fantastic picture of me..... um...

no.

But really, the swelling isn't that bad. It just makes my face square shaped.

Now body, work your magic. And liquid diet, continue to be delicious. At least until I can eat real food again.

*amber*

Free Free Free!

So... I love free stuff. Doesn't everyone? Yes, I know there are times when there is a reason something is free... but usually I won't object. Free is free, cheap or not :)

Now I'll let you in on a little hint. Amazon has a page where you can download TONS of albums... for free! Yes, you heard (or rather, read) me correctly. Whole albums. And some random singles.

True, some of them are those "Greatest Hits of the 80s" and "Peaceful Sounds from the Ocean" type CD's that you can listen to by pushing the buttons on those boards at Target... but who doesn't love some good ocean sounds every once in awhile? Come on... it's free! And I think there are a few legitimate artists on there. Sorry, no Miley Cyrus or Jo Bros if that's what you're into... but a few of the artists are ones that Seth has heard of and likes.

I also think they may update it periodically and put new albums up. So I may have to start watching it every once in awhile. Let's face it, once I discovered Pandora, I'm too cheap to pay for new music. So this is the perfect option for me! 

Anyway, if you're interested and get all psyched about this stuff like I do... go here.

Go ahead, tell me you don't want to blast this and dance around your house. That's what I thought.

*amber*

February Flavorites!

February has been a marathon month for me. School has been so crazy and I feel like I never have a minute to stop and breathe. I don't even have time to be stressed :) but really, I really hope things lighten up soon. 

Usually February is a depressing month. I can't stand the lingering cold, the nasty dirty snow on the sides of the road that has crusted over because it's so old, and the pollution that just hangs over the valleys as thick as smoke... gross. BUT, this February has been different for some reason. Yes, I am so ready for Spring to come. But there have been a few little things this month that have kept my spirits up and my sanity intact. 

So I now introduce my February Flavorites! Yes I know I spelled favorite wrong. A lot of the things that kept me happy are food related :) so they are my flavorites. 

10.The fact that Seth hasn't been called into work to do snow removal at three in the morning very much this month. That only happened once. Of course it was the night we went to bed at two thirty...

9. Shopping at the DI. But what else is new. I'll have to do a tribute to thrift shopping post one of these days. Seriously, I made a killing the last few trips.

8. Cooking. Sometimes it's hard to plan and have time to cook real meals with such a crazy schedule. Sometimes it's just easier to make spaghetti or something. But I really do enjoy making good dinners when I can. Especially Sunday dinners. Tonight we had teriyaki salmon and pears and cottage cheese with sparkling limeade. Not the greatest meal ever, but it was yummy and fun to make.

7. Choreographing dances. This year, I am choreographing my sister's solo again, as well as a group lyrical dance. Practices are usually early Saturday morning, but I miss dance so much that rehearsals are great  because I can immerse myself in that world again. Plus I need as many creative outlets as I can get.

6. Finding out that I qualify for a clinical research study to get my wisdom teeth out. I'm going in Wednesday to get them out and, although I'm nervous because I've never had a medical procedure or surgery of any kind, I'm getting three hundred dollars for it. I figure that's better than paying fifteen hundred dollars to get them out. And I'm getting all four out which is more than some of the other patients can say.

5. Lemon and Ginger Herbal Tea with honey. I spent most of the month sick and this stuff got me through most of my miserably cold and stuffy mornings. It's pretty strong but once I got used to the flavor, I couldn't stop drinking it. And it smells really good. REALLY good. I'm tempted to put the tea bags around my house as potpourri. 

4. Cutting hair. I learned how to cut Seth's hair so now I can do it for free! Then, Friday I decided I was sick of my bangs. So I cut them. Now you might say, "Amber, you only get like one real haircut a year. Don't you cut your bangs all the time?" Yes, you would be right about that. I am way too cheap to pay for a trim for my bangs. However, I got home from school and said, "I think I want to try straight bangs." So I went into the bathroom and cut them. Yes, it was impulsive and yes, Seth thought I was crazy. But I actually kind of like them. I'll have to go to a professional and get them done for real one of these days but for now, I'm enjoying it.

3. My job. I work for BYU Broadcasting and I like it way better than my last job. Everyone there is great and even though work should probably stress me out more because I'm already so busy from school, it actually helps me relax and take it easy for a few hours every day. I mean, we do do work, but it's not just tedious work and the atmosphere is so much fun.

2. The cupcakes I made for Valentines Day. These made the number 2 spot because they were definitely one of the very best things this month. No joke. They were so delicious, I might end up making them for every holiday or something. We went to a cupcake cafe for fhe last week and although the gourmet cupcakes were good, I honestly would have rather had one of the ones I made. I'm addicted.

1. The excuse to spend more time with my dear husband. Aside from all the craziness of school, February gave us a few oportunities to have fun together. Valentines Day, recreating our first date, and our six month anniversary were the three things that made February the very best. 

 We also had some good game nights. I like to make things out of the Settlers pieces...

So February, it seems you've redeemed yourself. Hopefully you'll rise up to the occasion again next year. 

* * *

Now March, you've got a lot to live up to.

Things I'm looking forward to in March:

• Getting these random teeth taken out of my face.

• Going to Idaho this weekend to see my sister-in-law's new baby, Hailey Darlene Leavitt. 

awww...

• Competition season starting for my dancers.

• Going to St. George for a weekend of competitions and relaxation in the sun (or at least a warmer climate than here).

• Being almost done with this crazy semester.

• Saint Patrick's Day! Best day ever when everyone wears green... ah. Such a good color.

* * *

After further evaluation, it looks like March will be even more hectic than February. Bring it on March... I'm ready for you.


(I hope...)

*amber*