OUT OF A BAG

I decided to work from home today after the long week I've had. I slept in a tad bit to catch up on some much needed shut eye and then turned on my lappy. I had plans to do laundry, unpack and just sit and catch my breath. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a missed call from work saying there was a project that needed me ASAP. After hearing it I knew that there would be no way I could work from home AND give this project my full attention. So grudgingly I went into work, cranky, tired and longing for the weekend. Until tomorrow dear duffle, until tomorrow.

CALIFORNIA DAY 3

Today was basically a repeat of yesterday, only change out one model for the other and replace one location of shooting for three. We first shot at the canals, then we moved to a fisherman's dock off of Fisherman's Village and then ended the day at Fisherman's Village. By the end I was pooped, a tad grumpy and very ready to go home. We made our way back to the eclectic-confused house we stayed in, packed up our gear and headed to the airport. Caroline and I were in the same van and decided to make one more final stop before heading back to the ol' U T: Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles. You may snark and turn up your nose, but son you are missing out. We also had a drink called 'the sunrise' that was basically the most amazing thing ever: fresh squeezed orange juice with fresh squeezed lemonade; for. reals. After the scrumptiously late dinner we found ourselves back on a flight to Salt Lake and landed just before midnight. Tyler picked me up and even had the house cleaned for my arrival. Poor guy was still recovering from my early morning take off and had to come pick me up from my late night landing. He's the best!

CALIFORNIA DAY 2

This day got off to quite the early start: breakfast, getting models into hair and make-up, prepping bags, going over shot lists not to mention keeping everyone on schedule. The morning went fairly smooth; we shot the entire day at Venice Beach. Some shots on the boardwalk, some on the beach and some in between. My job was to walk each model to the spot where Matt, our photographer, and Caroline, our art director, were setting up the shot from the van where Ashley, our stylist, dressed and accessorized the model. Tough job, I know. I sure got my walking in; this place is massive. We wrapped right on time and made it home before the sun set. After we went over all of the shots of the day on Matt's computer and made a plan for tomorrow, we made our way to a wonderful little Cuban place around the corner for dinner. How amazing was that food? Do the words 'plantain chips' for appetizers and 'sweet and spicy mango stir fry' for my entree ring a bell? Boy howdy, they rang my bell—I'm going to be full for days.

WEIGH-IN RESULTS: None, for obvious out-of-state reasons. Although, I am sure all of these exotic places my palate has been tasting aren't helping my waist-line. Until next week…

CALIFORNIA DAY 1

Last night I packed late into the night and woke up extremely early this morning to catch a plane to the Sunshine State. We got in to LAX in the late morning, got a rental car and went to the house we'd be staying in to unload all of our gear. The rest of the day was spent scouting out all of our potential locations for the next two days of shooting. One location was the Venice Canals; to. die. for. We met this cute little old lady who volunteers to take care of the canals. She explained to us the history of the canals, what they were used for and how popular they are for filming and photo shoots these days. I had no idea they even existed; they're quite breathtaking. That night I worked on those projects I had left at work over the weekend thanks to Sydney emailing me photos of the edits. Then Ashley, our stylist, and Matt, our photographer, walked with me to an amazing authentic Italian restaurant where they served little bread stick balls, gigantic pasta platters and had the entire restaurant sing 'That's Amore' at 8:00 P.M. Terrific day one; tomorrow we shoot!

PLACING PINS

Tyler's family has a pretty sweet tradition for the way they guess where everyone is going on their mission. The future missionary gets a color; everyone has a corresponding color of pin and we go in order—except the future missionary—pinning where we think they are going to serve. The giant map with all of the pins hangs in their kitchen. I have adored this tradition every since it was explained. I, as odd as I am, have been so excited to be a part of this tradition and finally have my name up there. Tonight, after Jason's birthday dinner of sloppy joes, we pinned our guesses as to where Kevin will be serving; I chose Rome, Italy for my guess. We shall see in a couple of weeks where the final yellow pin will go.

A TWO TWO BIRTHDAY

Tonight we celebrated Jason's birthday. He turned two two on two two (yesterday); GOLDEN BIRTHDAY! We started off the day going to the Jordan River Temple with Nikki and Spencer. After the session we went to an Indian place right down the road called Saffron Valley; they do a lunch buffet there and it is the perfect way to taste all the Indian things you'd never be daring enough to try. After that, Tyler went into work to get a few things done before we went to another buffet in honor of Jason's golden celebration. We had plate after plate at Chuck-A-Rama and then ended the night at Desert Star to see a hilarious spoof on The Lord of the Rings (not The Lone Stranger—I just wanted a fun photo of the two of them for Jason's birthday photo).

PACKING

Today was a bit of a mad dash at work to get everything in order for our shoot next week. They are flying a handful of us out to California to shoot the rest of our catalogue, and boy am I stoked. I brought home this huge and awkward suitcase and realized later tonight that in an effort to remember everything I left a couple of projects I was going to get done this weekend on my desk. So now I guess I will be doing double work in California: shooting by day and projects by night.

SHOOTING SUMMER

Today was our first photo shoot for the summer catalogue. It was long, stressful and a bit of a time crunch. We had one model that was super rough; it was like pulling teeth to get a good shot. Finally, it was over; we went over a half hour and pushed three shots to our photo shoot in California next week. So here is a sneak peek into what summer shall bring: bright blues and bold corals with some major color blocking.

NO MORE

In an effort to not cheat anymore—let's be honest, I haven't been super strict since Christmas—I have decided to be a little more accountable for my 'off the diet' eating. We have a calendar from the city of Murray that they send out every year filled with coupons and pre-filled events on each day. It's free and a great reference when we are trying to keep our schedules from double booking. I have started using it to track which days I cheat and which days I stay on track, as well as an added symbol for the days I work out. I have been stuck in the 180-190 range for the past three months and need to get my butt into gear. I am so determined, more than ever, to get off this diet before Tyler's birthday (May 1). Let's do this thing!

SIDE BAR: check out the city event for Valentine's Day… Toe Nail Clippings at the Heritage Center?

A VALENTINE DRAGON

Today we got the coolest valentine from one of our very favorite pen pals: Mr. Cody Cramer. You see, for Christmas we got all of our nieces and nephews a pen pal kit, with the exception of the one niece and one nephew that are too young; they got some stuffed animals. Anyways, we secretly hoped that we would get more letters from them and it worked. Our hilarious nephew, Cody, sent us this valentine/thank you card. The envelope was decorated with hidden hearts and we had to find all ten before we opened it. I love that the dragon is holding the red folder 'pen pal' kit we gave him. I love getting snail mail, ESPECIALLY from a cool kid.

WEIGH-IN UPDATE: +9 lbs. Let's just say Valentine's Day did a number on my weight loss. I am now back up to 190 lbs, but you know what… it was worth it to have a reckless night with my husbandry.

PRESIDENTIAL FITNESS

My mom gave my little sister some sweet running pants for Christmas that I have been coveting ever since. She told me that there was a huge athletic clothing sale going on at Kohl's and it would be even cheaper for President's Day. So we went and scoured the racks; I took a bunch of different shirts into the dressing room to narrow them down (I took this picture because I couldn't decide between a couple and needed Tyler's opinion). My mom even offered to buy them with her Kohl's card for my birthday (she gets the points and I get the presents; win-win). I ended up with a pair of running pants, two long sleeve yellow shirts, two short sleeve shirts—one yellow and one purple—and a yellow running sweatshirt. All of the above for only $40.00; what a steal. Now, it's time to get my running on…

A LOVELY BRAINSTORM

Tyler and I got home from a very rough day in nursery; all we wanted to do when we walked in the door was plop down and take a load off for the rest of the evening. Lo and behold we received a phone call from Aubrey asking how close we were. Apparently, we both had spaced it that a couple of weeks prior my mom told us she was inviting over Jordan, Aubrey's fiance, and his whole family over for dinner. We threw on some clothes and made our way over for the party. After meeting everyone, eating a scrumptious meal and having a good visit I finally had a chance to talk over how they would like their announcement to look. I can't wait to get designing this thing; it's going to be LEGENDARY!

OH BROTHER

Our second bedroom has been a little out of control since Christmas happened and has now passed. Presents big and small were shoved in there until they found a home and things have become quite jumbled that were once organized perfectly. So, on this fine Saturday, I decided to take it on; Tyler had to go to work so I was flyin' solo. I finally got all of our books put away, reorganized all of my work print samples and found a place for this lovely man. Isn't it handsome? A very special thanks to Santa Lynch for this amazing—very unexpected—gift. It has so many buttons and gadgets, I feel so entrusted to become this master seamstress now. I better go rent some books and watch some youtubes—okayseeyabye.

LEFTOVER LOVE

Tonight we just ate leftovers of everything from yesterday and also managed to fit in the dessert we didn't even get to last night. This is an Australian thing; I had never heard of it until I met Tyler. In fact, I had never heard of it until this year: fairy bread. Mmm, it is possibly the greatest little kid treat. I love the crunch of the sprinkles and how fun it looks. EVERYONE GO TRY IT!

HE KNOWS ME SO WELL

I have been waiting ever so patiently for my computer to arrive. I even received an email today with the tracking number and such notifying me that it was scheduled to arrive on President's Day. I have also been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Tyler's Valentine's Day card to arrive by post (I secretly had it sent to my parents' house) and was afraid it wouldn't be here in time. After work I rushed to my parents' house to see my parcel waiting on the porch. I didn't even go inside; I dashed to my car and made my way home. All the while Tyler had come home and found a little note on our door from the postman saying that there was a package waiting for us from California. Tyler knew right what it was and dashed to West Valley to surprise me—and that he did. Once he came home, he finished his homework while I wrote up his annual 'message in a bottle'. Soon it was time to make the rounds and gather our food for a night in of Hulu vegging on the couch with a candlelit someone-else-made-this-goodness dinner. On our way out, Tyler rushed to the car and backed out for me to get in, I opened the passenger door and this lovely package was waiting for me to gawk over for the remainder of the drive. We bought a 40-piece chicken nugget meal at McDonald's, 4 Beef and Cheddars from Arby's and a BBQ chicken pizza from Papa John's with breadsticks—don't judge. We didn't eat it all, of course, but we watched television, played Kirby's Return to Dreamland and exchanged cards. Funny thing about that: Tyler and I ordered the exact same card for each other. Aren't we just the cutest made-for-each-other couple you've ever seen?

MENDING

Remember that one time that we wore our Valentine's Day attire? Well about half way through nursery I noticed that the cuff was coming unraveled on my left sleeve (cheap sweater; that was its first outing). I tried and tried my hand at mending it so that I could wear it to work tomorrow for the spirit of St. Valentine, but I have come to realize I am not as good at mending as I thought I was. Luckily I have a savvy husband that mended many a button and seam during the years he served in Australia. Can you believe he stayed up late tonight to mend this pink fuzzy sleeve? And he did an immaculate job at that; you can't even tell.

UPDATE: All the ladies were swooning when I told that story the next day at work; what a catch!

I HAVE RETURNED

Look what came in the mail today! Tyler and I decided that this year for Valentine's Day we would get something that we could do together. Last March we beat Kirby's Epic Yarn together and can I just say how much I love that game? I've been wanting to get another game that we could play co-op and then Tyler told me about this game. This way we spent the same amount of money on each other's presents and it's something that we can do together. V-day can't come quick enough; for now it sits on our table while Tyler, Stephanie and I get our weekly The Taste fill.

WEIGH-IN RESULTS: -1.25 pounds meaning I am officially at my lowest of 181 and have finally worked off all of my Christmas gain.

THREE GREAT FACES

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I said that I might be working with a dear friend in the near future? Well today is the day! My dear friend Sydney moved back from Seattle for family reasons and needed to find a job. She saw that my work was hiring and pounced on the opportunity and now I can't believe my eyes, for I get to sit across from her every day. We went to Kneader's up the road to celebrate and finally catch up after a year or more. While in line I noticed another great face I had not seen for ages: Kyle Humphrey (apparently he is this awesome bigwig owner there; how cool is he?). We went to high school together and haven't seen each other since Ian's wedding, but that was a quick 'hello' and 'good-bye' as he was leaving and we were arriving. He gave me lunch on the house and I briefly caught up with him while I waited for my food. Later in the evening I drove to the point of the mountain to give some Miche merchandise to my cousin Kenny to give to his wife for Valentine's Day. I have not seen this guy in who knows how long. What a terrific day.

LOVING ATTIRE

I swoon at this picture every time I see it. Tyler always looks so handsome in his Sunday attire and we both agree that my hair turned out quite well. We opted to match today, wearing the pinks, purples and reds, in honor of St. Valentine. It was nice to feel the sunshine for a bit and use its light for our wardrobe snapshot. Tyler was so nervous taking my picture; he was trying so hard to get the lighting to match the photo I took of him as the sun weaved in and out of the clouds. I could only see how adorable this was, as I too try my hardest to get everything perfect for him. It only reaffirms the fact that we fit perfectly together.

SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS

Remember these shows? Weren't they the greatest? They bring back such memories. My mom and dad gave us a Valentine's Day gift last night while we were visiting with them about the upcoming wedding and such (I also gave my dad a bit of a social media crash course; yeah, he's hip). Tonight we opened the gift sack to find these valentines, our favorite colored water bottles and some car air fresheners that coordinated so nicely with our water bottles.

MAGIC

When we ordered my computer, we also ordered a wireless mouse for me—a magic mouse to be precise. It came in such a handsome box today; I jumped for joy when I noticed it in our mailbox. Now if only I had a computer to go with it (the computer should have come today, but since it is out of stock it wont be here for another week. boo). Can't. Wait.

FAUX

Recently I have seen more and more faux bangs happening around town. It's where you don't really have swoopy bangs, but you clip your hair with a giant barrette in a way that makes it look as if you have swoopy bangs (thanks internet). After a day at work—sporting the faux swoop—Stephanie came over for a visit. We ended up telling her all about a show we had recently gotten hooked on: The Taste. There have only been a couple episodes of the auditions; we ended up re-watching them with her to get her into the show too. Now we've decided to have her over every Tuesday to watch the most recent episode… we're hooked.

SINGLE FILE

After cleaning off my dresser yesterday I now have room for my glasses. Somehow I always lose my glasses—whether they're in the bathroom, on the coffee table, on top of the entertainment center or have fallen between the bed and night table. Now that I have so many to choose from, the odds of losing/breaking them are greater. Since they have their own little space, I'll be better about keeping them in their place, I promise.

DAINTILY FACIAL

This past year I have acquired so many dainty little necklaces that my dresser has not known what to do with them. I have a dress from on our dresser that holds all my super chunky necklaces, but these would get so tangled up in all that bulky mess that I have just laid them out flat on the dresser for ease. Lately they have been falling off and still managing to tangle with one another, so I decided to get creative tonight. For Christmas my mom gave us these cork mustache coasters; aren't they hilarious? So here are the DIY directions (like it's that difficult): command poster hangers on the back of the coasters, some sewing pins and a blank wall… ta-da!

WEIGH-IN RESULTS: -3.75 lbs. I am so close to being where I was before I started cheating hardcore in December. C'mon!

THE TIME HAS COME

I got the most wonderful envelope in the mail today all the way from Duncan, South Carolina (how quaint). It was the loveliest paper and all of its contents made me giddy for pie: an Apple gift card loaded with my first payment towards my new laptop. As soon as Tyler got home we purchased my brand new Macbook Pro that shall arrive on President's Day. Can't. Wait.

NO STOCKINGS

Today was a very chill day; a day for us to both relax and enjoy each other for the first time in what has seemed like forever. I was actually able to go stocking-less to church today; the sun finally came out. First Sunday in a while that I haven't worn boots so I broke out my non-winter shoes—aren't these t-straps just lovely? Thanks D.I. from my college days.

GOING AWAY

This is my dear friend Oliver from our college days. Tonight a few of us got together to bask in his presence before he leaves next week for the Philippines. I had no idea he was even going until I got the invite. He's going for humanitarian purposes and should be back this summer. Before attending the party, Tyler and I stopped at my aunt and uncle's house to deliver a Miche Shell to my cousin who was in town from Logan. We made it very late to the going away party, but it was super worth it to sign his collaged goodbye poster and watch Arrested Development with the gang.

FINALLY

Finally, I'm feeling better and I actually went into work today. Thank goodness; I was getting quite the cabin fever never leaving the house and living on our couch. Another terrific treat on this lovely looking-up Friday: I got to go to one of my little sister's dress fittings. SUCH a princess-y dress, no? I  must say, I never pictured her the princess type, but she radiates in this dress (they will be building up the bodice; this was just a hem fitting). I can't wait to help out with all of her wedding ideas. June is so far away, but I know it will be here in a flash.