I Am Blessed

My thanksgiving post is a little late, but better late than never! I have been so incredibly blessed that I can hardly even grasp my mind around all of it. Experiences have been given me to learn lessons and grow in many ways this last year. I finished up Cosmetology school on scholarship, passed the state boards, and am working as a licensed cosmetologist. Road blocks have been placed but I now look at them as blessings because they gave me experience and have opened my eyes to opposition and let me see how truly lucky I am! Friends and relationships have been made and are growing that I could never have imagined I would be a part of. I am so thankful to have the friends that I do in my life who influence me for the better, and teach me many lessons of life! And this is my "thankamony" as recent. ;) I encourage everyone to take a step back and think of how your life has been blessed. Don't worry we all have trials but they are more of "opportunities to progress". It could always be worse. Learn to dance in the rain, laugh through the tears, and put others first.

I Can Fly Again

I couldn't think of a title for this blog, but the song I'm listening to right now has really great lyrics. The artist is Hayley Anderson and she is one of my absolute favorite singers for lds music. Her voice is gorgeous and I feel like her music speaks right to me. If you would like to listen to her, this is one of her greatest songs! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQjSlmpBXH4

I'm so grateful to have music in my life. It has been a huge testimony buildser ofr me and has bought out some of my talents and interests in life as well. Music is the way that I cope with my feelings or sometimes even how I express them.

While living at home, playing the piano was always my favorite past time. If I wasn't at school or participating in sports, I was playing the piano. And I can promise that my mom can attest to that as well. I was required to attend piano lessons from the time I was 7 up until I became so busy with school activities and sports that I didn't find or make the time to practice, which was when I was about 13. Therefore lessons became pointless. Although I never did stop playing. If anything I played more, and gained a greater passion for it. Moving away from home I had access to a piano still but became even busier with school, work, and trying to make new friends. That caused the piano playing time to decrease unfortunately. After a full year of that I moved and finally have easy access to a piano again, and I finished school so I can make more time. I'm looking forward to brushing up my skills immensely and working hard to gain that talent back. Now you know my life with the piano, and you all can help monitor me in reaching my goal, going above and beyond. :D

My Cheeks Hurt From Smiling :D

Nothing wasout of theordinaryyesterday.My car is inthe shopgetting thedoor fixedFINALLY!Basically it'shaving an allover fix-upwhich it badly needs. I took Emily to school yesterday, thenwent to Walmart to buy the finishing touches to myroom...curtains! It was the perfect addition and now myroom is completely finished!

The rest of the day was very relaxing. Amanda and I made enchiladas for lunch then just sataround watched some TV and had

good laughs.

After time spent there, we went to Fatcats and bowled a couple of games. I beat Kolin by 2 points on the first game and he beat me by 7 on the second game. He thought I let him win because I was doing so well in the beginning of the first game! No, I was definitely trying. It was so much fun though! Amanda and Emily were also there with a big group from our ward, and Wednesday is karaoke night so Amanda and I sang Tim McGraw by Taylor Swift. I basically begged her to get up there with me. Kolin took pictures of us singing since it is a once in a life time experience for Amanda. Night came and with it came a handsome man at my door. ;) Kolin helped me wrap Lindsey and Moydie's present, and come up with a witty phrase for the homemade card that we made. Their combined birthday party was at Spark. Spark is pretty much a Mormon club. The style is just like any club you see in the movies, relaxing with a romantic setting, and drinks. These drinks however are non alcoholic which brings in the fun of the "Provo" setting. We all had drinks and enjoyed each other's company.

On our way back to my place, Kolin was asking me if I knew how to drive stick shift and if I wanted to learn. I had done it once, but that was like 2 years ago. So he drove to a neighborhood that had hardly any cars driving through. I got in the drivers seat and he told me what to do. It was a rough start but after a half hour of laughing, rolling down hill, stalling and honking the horn, I began to improve. Honking the horn came from every time I would try to turn left after stopping at a stop sign. I would let off the clutch and push down the gas but it would lurch forward as I was trying to turn so my arm would push against the horn. It was the funniest thing! Eventually we switched drivers again and as Kolin got into the car he accidentally hit the horn again and it just started a whole other series of laughter! He took me home after that with a hug and a thank you.

Needless to say I was home and my cheeks hurt from smiling, and I still couldn't shake that silly grin off of my face!

Go With the Flow

Well it's a dang good thing that I don't get too worked up over things. I thought I was headed out today ready to start my new job. It was a great morning and I was ready to get started. We started getting all of the details squared away. Driver's License, social security, Cosmo license... cosmo license. That was the problem. I didn't have it yet. I hadn't sent the application in the mail just yet, but i didn't think it was a problem. It turns out that I wasn't supposed to work at all without it. Which makes sense, but how was I supposed to know? So I went home and finished the paper work and drove down to Salt Lake to hand deliver it. I should have it within 2 to 3 weeks. And even if I don't get it in the mail as long as it's processed and I'm listed as "Active" on the website then I can start working. So until then, I'm just a "sitting duck". Not completely though. It's a good thing that I still have Fatcats under my belt. So who knows how long it will take but hopefully no longer then a week. Cross your fingers for me everybody!

A New Beginning

I start work at Smart Style Salon today! I'm so excited to be in a new environment where it will hopefully be busier then Sassy's salon. I'm taking a cut on commission pay, but if it's going to be busier then I'll end up making more money in the end. My ultimate goal is to make enough money that I will not have to rely on Fatcats anymore. That is IDEAL! I'm excited to find out what my new schedule will be like. They told me that I will be required to work two night shifts which is 1 to 10. I will also need to work every other Sunday. Which leaves room for only one or two more shifts! It sounds like a lot but I think I will have a lot more free time this way. :) I'm sooo excited for that especially! Tomorrow you will find out how day #1 went. 'Till then!

Life as we know it?

I was looking back the other day on this last month. From beginning of October to today. My life has changed sooooo drastically! Amanda and I were kicked out of our apartment by some city ordinance that is hardly ever enforced or even made known to tenants. Needless to say I was lucky enough to stay in the same ward boundaries, live with two super cute girls and we are already GREAT friends! Amanda decided to move back to Pittsburgh which is 2000 miles away! :( That is so far away for a best friend to live! So she is staying with me right now until she finishes up school. Life is always changing! But it is always for the better and everything always happens for a reason.

My Spring Break

Well this last week has been a much needed break for me. One of my best friends came into town to visit! Cody got baptized at the end of January and I was able to drop everything for a couple of days to be there for him! So this last week was full of adventure. Haha We climbed the "Y" with my sister Lindsey and my room mate Chelsea which was a blast! I feel like I should do that everyday because it was a lot harder then I thought it was going to be! Not working out for a couple of weeks because of my knee was probably the reason for that. This week I'm going to get back into working out though with Cristal, one of the girls I work with at Fat Cats. Anyways.... I'm getting off topic. After climbing the "Y" we went to a piano recital which was amazing! Driving down to Salt Lake City for the infamous Temple Square trip also took place. We went inside the North and South Visitor Centers, saw the Cristus and watched The Testaments. After the movie we walked around the grounds but unfortunately it was rainy and cold so we went inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to eat lunch. We took the elevator up to the top floors to take a look at The Roof Restaurant. I've always wanted to eat there ever since the movie "Charly". And now Cody and I have plans to eat there one night when he comes back for General Conference in a couple of weeks! I'm so excited! Oh and Cody also taught me how to skateboard after I told him that I knew how and let the thing slip right out from under me. Haha I haven't heard the end of that one. Cody loves to play chess and is extremely good at strategizing (and I'm not) so we played while he was here and he killed me each time! He thought it was going to be a good match because the first time we played was my first time ever and I just had beginners luck because it came really close! Before he left we drove to Utah Lake and took some amazing pictures. The view is beautiful out over the water and you can just look out over it and forget about everything. I loved that he came to visit me and we were able to spend quality time together. It was a blast to talk about the past and remember things that happened in High School and even earlier. Going back to school was pretty rough after having all of that time off. As well as was work. But I got through it and am having an amazing Sunday as always!