Florida and the Bahamas

YOLO.

I hate the term, but I love the sentiment.

You only live once, so why not spend all your money to hang out on pristine Florida beaches and cruise to the Bahamas with your friends?

YOLO, guys. YOLO.

Ok I'll stop using that dirty word now.

But for reals, we were in heaven for like 10 days in August. We rented a house through airBNB from this Russian lady. It had a pool and a little eating area where we had dinner every night. We went to the beach almost every day and soaked up the sun. And Matt surprised me for my birthday with tickets to the Killers concert in Miami! Oh man, I am hard to get excited, but I think I jumped up and down in sheer joy when all my favorite songs came on.

On our cruise we also went to the beach every day. I wish we would have gotten to see a little more of the Bahamas, but we didn't want to go on any of the excursions. Matt, Cari and Johnson all served in the Philippines, and there were so many Filipinos working on the ship. We made friends with one of them, who became our waiter every night. He told his friends about the 3 tall white Americans who knew Visaya, and they told there friends, and pretty soon they had talked to almost ever Filipino on the ship. It was pretty cool to see them speaking a crazy language that almost no one in America knows.

At our first stop, we found our way to the beach and listened to island music on the beach for hours. In Nassau we went to this amazing pristine beach with beautiful waves and lots of men shouting to us about renting wave runners. On the private Norwegian island, we rented snorkels and snorkeled around a bay with artifacts from an old ship wreck.

At night on the ships we would swim, go to fancy dinner with the Filipinos, watch amazingly cheesy cruise shows with dancers and hosts and lame jokes and awesomeness. And we may have gotten WAY into playing BINGO. YOLO.

The best part about vacation is that you get to forget about the duties and worries of normal life for a few days, which I'm grateful for. And I got to spend some quality time with my busy husband. Plus, it's always great to go to a new part of the world and find out how other people live. That part of traveling is invaluable to me.

Now we're back and working hard. I'm starting to like my new writing job a lot more, and Matt is focusing on his fishing business. He even has Groupons and AmazonLocal and CityDeals accounts where a lot of his business has come from! We help out Matt's sister and brother-in-law at their new old house at night. They bought a 100 year old house and are fixing it up! It's pretty fun.

2013 Bucket List Challenge: Get Something Published

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

If you lived in Provo, and were looking for some sort of Provo-related news and entertainment, you could go to provobuzz.com and most likely see an article written by me.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen! My semi-life-long dream of being published somewhere has finally come true. I realize that I write for this blog all the time, but there's something so validating about having an actual website tell you you're allowed to contribute. It's a great feeling. 

Just in case my mother is worrying at this point about my ability to make a living like a real adult, I'm not quitting my day job for this. I'll be contributing one article a week. But hey, it's something. And I get to write about the town I have lived in for seven years. I know this place like the back of my hand...literally. One time Matt blindfolded me and drove me around the city so I wouldn't catch on to his romantic anniversary plans, and I could tell where we were at every turn. 

Anyway...

Writing content for a website that people actually read is a little daunting. I feel like I can write almost whatever I want on here because the readers are mostly people I know and love. This is not the case for Provo Buzz, and I'm worried that I'll get some hate mail at some point. Until then, I'm loving this image:

My year of the Bucket List Challenge is shaping up to be pretty awesome. 

The Most Epic Road Trip

 

One of my favorite things about Matt is that he loves to cook as much as I do. He also loves watching food shows with me. We're all about Chopped, Iron Chef America, No Reservations, Worst Cooks in America, and DD+D. If we're scanning, and one of those is on, it's game over. (A way better compromise to my HGTV or his fishing shows). 

I found this website that tells you every restaurant featured on said cooking shows, categorized by state, show, and even city. 

And now my dream is to plan a crazy road trip and eat at some amazing dives on the way. 

Or wouldn't it just be fun to explore the restaurants in the state you live in? 

...JUSTKIDDING they already have a road trip planner. Dream. Come. True.

6 Things To Get You Excited For Summer

Well, we made it to Texas. We've been to a few museums, ate some authentic Texas BBQ, and are about to go see the world's only twice-daily cattle drive. Tourists.

Being in Texas and feeling the sun again has made me so excited for summertime. This summer should be pretty great, because we are planning some fun trips; like our Floride roadtrip, Bahamas cruise, and maybe even a move to New Zealand when their summer comes around??? Who knows. All I know is that I need a beach and I need it now. So here's a quick list of my 6 favorite things about summer:

the beach
fresh fruit

hanging out in your swimsuit

drinks on drinks

the sun returns

But my absolute favorite thing about summer is the feeling in the air that life is a party... What do you love most about summer?

2013 Bucket List: Cruise Savings Update

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

Save enough money for a summer cruise

To see the first cruise update post, go here. 

We have paid off the last of our debt (YES!) and bought the cruise already. Now we're saving up for our flight there and a hotel. A few weeks ago we thought we were going to tack on going to Costa Rica to see our brother and his family while they live there, but we just don't have the money for that. Not fun news, but I'm ok with it because we still get to go on an awesome cruise.

One of my gifts for Christmas was a subscription to Oprah Magazine. I guess Matt got the hint when I posted it on one of my gift guides haha. It finally came, and I immediately ran to snuggle in bed and read the whole thing from cover to cover in one sitting. Something about reading O makes me feel better about life...that B just gets me. Anyway, I read in O that the excitement of planning a trip really early can last for months. And boy, am I feeling that right now. We've been planning this for so long, and every time I sit down and look at pictures I feel a lot better about living in tundra.

So, planning a trip far in advance can help you get through the winter! Try it!

Friday Favorites

It's finally Friday! Raise your hand if you're having a hard time transitioning from vacation to the real world! I know I am... Time for Friday Favorites!

This picture of Woody and Tom Hanks melts my heart, y'all.

If you're a die-hard Parks and Recreation fan (AND a Pinterest fan) like me, you're going to love Tom's Rent-A-Swag board.

An old art school friend of mine is now a fancy dancy graphic designer in New York. She just helped design this site, Live in the Grey, a website dedicated to helping people do what they love and love what they do.

Another art school friend (who is also, coincidentally, a graphic designer) posted this article she wrote on how to find your creative muse. Not just for graphic designers, my friends. 

I like the idea of having a travel wall where you can see all the places you've been. I've been to the Bahamas, Mexico, Italy, France, Canada and a few states in the US. Where have you been? This would probably inspire me to travel more so I could fill up my wall!

Speaking of travel, here's a free printable of a map of the USA.

Man I am already counting down the days to summer since the weather in Provo has been in the NEGATIVES. Who even does that? Come on, weather. You are drunk. Get it together. This pool disguised as a pond, with a TRAMPOLINE for a diving board sounds like my idea of a good time!

I am loving this wedding, especially the cake.

Have a great weekend!

My 2012 in Review

What's that? You want a re-cap of everything that happened to me this year? Okay!!

Check out highlights of this year after the jump...

What We Did This Summer

This summer was full of activities. Here's an update of some of the things we did:

I went on a business trip to New York. That was my first time in the city! We got to stay at a fancy dancy hotel in Manhattan and had a great time! 

I was a bridesmaid in Moe's wedding.

Matt and I got engaged! (See previous posts)

I went through the temple! 

My aunt and uncle came up for our wedding and got to see me get endowed.

Momma and Dad

We got married! 

Bridesmaids! 

May 26, 2012

We went on our honeymoon to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. This is a picture of us in an old church. 

The view from our hotel room.

The resort! 

The beach at our resort.

The same church.

Haha.

We went to the Springville Art City Days carnival and watched the Battle of the Bands

Cousins

I got addicted to Draw Something for .5 seconds.

I taught Summer Art Classes in the month of June

Jeannette and Meggie came down to celebrate 4th of July. We went on the Alpine Slide and saw fireworks outside the Stadium of Fire

  

We hung out with Cari and Johnson a lot! This is us walking to the Manti Pageant. 

Matt planned a big roadtrip down to Lake Powell with all his mission people. This is us on the lake.

Waiting to pick up the boat.

We moved to a new apartment complex and quickly found out the neighbors next door were not awesome. This guy kept parking wonky on pupose to piss us off. I hurt my back during moving and had to climb in and out of the car once because of this guy.

 

I wrote and contemplated delivering this note, then chickened out. 

I discovered that Matt really hates when I have the mechanic change my oil (or do anything, for that matter).

I went hypothetical home shopping, then realized I had no money for fancy couches like this one just yet.

We went to see The Dark Knight Rises with Treadway. Epic.

They're so cute.

Matt and I went on a lot of dates. I think this is on our way to Salt Lake. It was just a pretty sunset.

I spent my fair share of time on the Internet finding dumb pictures like this one that make me laugh way too hard.

I turned 24. 

Rachel and Jessica decorated my office on my birthday and took me out to lunch! This is the fixings for mocktails.

We kept this up for about a month after my birthday! 

We had a dance party and ate cupcakes.

Matt threw me a party at our apartment.

I found out that this old church is being renovated into apartments. Someone I know, please move there so I can visit you.

Cool, huh?

During the summer, Rachel and I work at the museum. This is where we got to eat lunch every day.

Jeannette and I went shopping in SLC and found a vintage-inspired dress store. The guy who worked there almost convinced me to get this dress, but I felt like Shirley Temple. It was fun to play dress up for a bit, though.

A love note from Matt! We both work full time, and he leaves the house before I wake up. It's nice to be surprised by these every once in a while! 

We drove to California and my grandma hosted a party so we could see all our family in one day! This is my brother and his wife and baby.

We drove home in some cray weather! 

Right after we got home, we went to the Hardin family reunion. This is my niece, Claire.

I gave my boss a henna tattoo during a meeting at work.

We started going back to schools on a regular basis. This is Rachel talking to some middle school kids about SMA art.

We drive a LOT now. This is a picture of the valley in Weber. 

We went to a school that was entirely Spartan theme. The kids knew SO much about Greek mythology, and there were paintings like this everywhere! 

Now that the summer is over, I wish I had taken more pictures of other things we've done! It was a perfect mix of fun activities and relaxing at home. We also spent a lot of time apartment shopping and getting our new apartment settled. I hurt my back moving, so I spent about two weeks in bed recovering from that. We went to the Utah State Fair, took our nephew Charlie to the zoo, saw Arsenic and Old Lace with Matt's family, laid out at Seven Peaks a few times, and got addicted to shows like Breaking Bad and The Voice!