Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Christmas At Temple Square

I have been looking forward to this for MONTHS. Ever since I moved here and saw pictures of the lights at Temple Square I've been dying for it to finally be here. 

When I got back into town on Sunday, Todd came to pick me up at the airport. We were planing on going to see the lights after it got dark. So after dinner, we climbed into the car and drove up there.

Learning experience number 1:
 I was thinking that it was going to be deserted up there because it was Sunday and around here, people generally stay at home on Sunday. Holy heavens I was dead wrong. We had so much trouble finding a place to park. I mean, we had an easier time parking for General Conference last month! THAT CROWDED. It had to have taken us like 20 minutes just to find parking. I finally found an empty parking lot a block away and went in the out and disobeyed the sings that clearly said 'do not enter'. Psh. I'm a Riegler, we don't follow rules. Right mom? ;) 

Learning experience number 2:
Just because it's quite warm at 50* during the day, as soon as the sun goes down it gets real cold. Going out in 39* weather with just a sweater was a dumb idea. And walking around in skinny jeans and flats with a whole lot of foot exposed makes for really cold feet. Next time, I'll bring my mittens. 

Learning experience number 3: 
When going to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights, it's a really dumb idea to leave your camera behind. As much as I love my iPhone's camera, it just didn't catch the beauty of the lights. 

Oh well. Lessons learned I guess. It was a fun night even though I was freezing my hands and feet off. 







So Good To Be Home

I was so blessed to be able to go home for Thanksgiving this year. As usual, there was a lot of laughing, food, naps, shopping, and just general being togetherness that defines being home for the holidays. The only thing that would have made it perfect would have been Todd being with me. :) 





Brining the turkey the night before! It makes it all sorts of yummy. 


Bacon wrapped water chestnuts. Yep, they're as good as they sounds. Delicious. 


We were super lucky to have 2 Thanksgivings this year! My grandma was unfortunately in the hospital when I flew in so we were planning on going to the hospital and sneaking her in some food. But, my dad called us on Thanksgiving afternoon and said she was being released Yippee! So after my mom's side of the family left, we piled in the car and went over to see my grandma and grandpa Riegler. My cousins stopped by so I got to see them too. And, even though my dad was working, he took a few minutes to come see me and have some food! 



We have another tradition in our house. After Thanksgiving the Christmas tree goes up! Since I was home this year (for some reason I wasn't around to put of the tree last year. We can't seem to remember why though.), we made sure that we put it up before I left. On Saturday, we pulled out all the boxes, moved a few chairs and tables, and put up our little tree. It was instant Christmas. 

My next challenge is turning my little apartment here into a Christmas wonderland. I'm on a way super tight budget this year (weddings are expensive man) but I'm determined to have a cute little Christmas and make it feel like home. 


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Thankful

By the time that you guys read this, I'm going to be up in the air on my way home for Thanksgiving! 

It's always nice to reflect on what you're thankful for this time of year. I try to remind myself to be thankful all year round, because I truly do have so much to be thankful for, but sometimes it takes a holiday to make you really think. 

I'm thankful for

My soon-to-be hubs that makes me laugh every single day


My wonderfully amazing mom and little sister 


Bugaboo 


hilarious photobooth sessions with my dog. 


My baby sister  
My heck of a woman mother 


Hockey. 



loving grandparents
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (image source)

Starbucks Salted Carmel Hot Chocolate (image source)
sushi <3
I really am truly blessed. I'm working on being thankful. I've started writing down three things I'm grateful for in my journal every single night. It's a work in progress, but it's getting there. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and doesn't get too full on turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. 

Me? I'll be hoping my Aunt won't spill any wine in the mashed potatoes this year. ;) 

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Three!

Three more days and I'm off! 

Off to spend Thanksgiving in Michigan with my wonderful family. And let me tell you, I am excited. 

Hopefully, mom won't try to pull a stunt like she did last year and tell us she wasn't cooking the turkey whole. She tried to tell my sister that she was going to cut it up before cooking it so it would be juicier and all that. Well..we weren't happy. 


That ^ conversation was from when I found out that my mom was going to do the unspeakable. Thankfully, after many protests, our turkey was cooked whole and we were able to save Thanksgiving! Crisis averted! 

:)

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Our Story :)

I was looking back at old blog posts from when I first moved here tonight (am I the only one that goes back through my blog every once in a while? yes. oooohkay.) and realized that I had said that I would write down T and I's story soon and I never did. I was waiting for the right time, and I think now is that time! 

Meet Todd! 

He's a pretty rad guy. (did I just seriously use the word rad in a sentence? yep. deal with it.) 

Wanna know why?

Well for starters he's one of the most honest, humble, caring and kind man I have ever met in my entire life. He brings me flowers for no reason, always texts me good morning, and always says he loves me before he goes to bed. 
He has such a strong testimony of the Gospel, Jesus Christ, and Heavenly Father. His testimony strengthens mine every single day. 
He makes me laugh. Seriously, we can't go 5 seconds without completely cracking up over something trivial and goofy. 
He's got the most gorgeous blue eyes (I've always been a sucker for blue eyes. They're divine) 

I could go on, but I'll spare you guys the mushy stuff. And I promised to tell you our story. 

It started around February. I had made the decision to move to Utah after graduation about a month earlier. One night I was talking to a friend and was worrying about moving across the country to a place where I knew no one. She suggested I try online dating. I balked at the idea. Only people who can't get a date use online dating sites, right? She convinced me that that was totally not the truth, telling me that her best friend had met her husband on a dating site. And, she said, what's it going to hurt? The worst thing that happens is that I meet a few people, have few disastrous dates, and then find someone in my singles ward. The best thing? I could meet some new friends, get some good dates out of it and not much more. I honestly didn't expect to meet my soulmate there. 

So, I bit the bullet and signed up. We started talking a few weeks after I signed up and I was starting to really like him. Then he disappeared on me. He stopped emailing me and I chalked it up to him not being attracted to me or whatever. Fine. But, a few weeks later I heard from him again! Yay! 

Then, my membership expired. I couldn't afford to renew but I was bummed that it was going to expire before I got the chance to get his email or something. As a last ditch effort, I sent him a quick message telling him to email me at my regular email address and that I wasn't going to be on the site anymore. Then, I hoped he got it/followed through. A few days later, he friend requested me on Facebook! I was SO surprised. And happy. 

We continued to talk over Facebook for a while. Then, he disappeared on me AGAIN!! The jerk! ;) But, I was happy when he messaged me again a month later. This was in March. In May, I visited Utah to find an apartment and we ended up going out to dinner to this cute little Mexican restaurant. We ended up talking for so long that we closed the place down! All of a sudden, a few hours had passed and the wait staff were shooting us dirty looks. :) I had never ever had such a good first date before! 

After that, I was smitten. :) I went back to Michigan and we kept in touch. It was hard, but we made it work. We texted and talked on the phone regularly. 

One day, he stopped returning my texts. I was so bummed. I was sad that he just ditched me and didn't give me an explanation or anything. Later that night, I hopped on Facebook and saw he was online and I messaged him asking what the deal was. He asked me the same thing! Turns out, his phone was acting up and he hadn't gotten any of my texts! (When the problem got fixed he got all of my texts from that entire day at once. Oopsie) That was the day I realized I really had feelings for him. The fact that he wasn't in my life anymore was really upsetting and I knew that I didn't want to go through that again. It was so not fun. 

Fast forward a few months, and I was moving out to Utah. On my first night, he drove all the way from Provo to Salt Lake City just to have dinner with me. What a sweetie! My mom watched the pup in the room, and we went out on our second date. After dinner, we decided to go over to Temple Square and walk around. That was where we had our first kiss (sickeningly cute right? haha) and I knew that he was the one. (Yep. After 2 dates. What can I say? Sometimes when you fall, you fall) 

The rest, as they say, is history. 

I am so unbelievably lucky to have found him. I'm so lucky that I was able to move to Utah when I did. It allowed us to get closer. When I sit down and think about all the things that had to align to allow us to meet, it boggles my mind. I really am the luckiest girl in the entire world and on March 9th 2012, we're going to be sealed for time and all eternity.


:) 



Favorite Secret Friday & Scenes From my iPhone














& a little taste of what I've been up to :)

Still can't believe that we got tickets!!! :)


They were less than $3. How could I NOT get them?!




Oh heavens. The daily UPS shipping begins. Oh holidays.


I always seem to wait until the last possible second to do the laundry. :-/

computer hog. 
It's almost Thanksgiving too! And thanks to my wonderful, amazing, awesome boss I get to go home for FIVE WHOLE DAYS! EEE! 

I hope everyone has a good weekend. I'm sure you'll hear from me before Thanksgiving, but if you don't I hope everyone has a wonderful turkey day as well. :)

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Wedding Inspiration: Glitter Shoes

After not being able to find sufficiently glittery pink high heels, I resorted to making my own. After a little googling and a lot of reading of different blogs I felt confident in making these. They turned out AH-MAY-ZING! So I wanted to share! 


Materials: 
- Shoes (I bought mine at Target for $29.99. What a steal!!!) 
- Glitter (I bought 2 giant things of glitter thinking I might run out. Uhm yeah, I barely used 1/4 of one) 
- Mod podge (Don't listen to crazy Michael's employees who tell you to use something else. Go with the Mod Podge. Even if it does earn you nasty stares by said employee while checking out. Meh)
- Sponge brush (This one worked really well. I didn't bother with the other brushes I bought. They were only 99 cents anyway) 
- Newspaper or shoe box top to ensure you don't get mod podged glitter on your table (even though I did that and still ended up with glitter glops on my table. Oops.) 
Paper bowl or another disposable container (I used a little plastic container with a top. I was able to screw the top back on to make sure the glue didn't dry out between coats. You can also cover whatever you use with paper towel too.)
- Optional: sand paper or nail file and painters tape or masking tape

Instructions:

1. If you're using patent leather like mine, take a nail file or sand paper and quickly buff the entire shoe. It helps the glitter adhere to the surface of the shoe a little better.


2. If you're using 2 colors of glitter (I added a little bit of silver to mine) mix the two colors together until you've got the color you like. 


3. Add the Mod Podge and mix until the consistency is thin enough that you can paint with it and there's enough glitter to your liking. 


4. This part is optional and is where the tape comes in. If you're patient and a little OCD, you can tape the soles and heels of the shoes to make sure the glitter doesn't get anywhere you want. I started to do this, got half way around the shoe and got impatient. There are a few spots of errant glitter, but it doesn't look awful. 

5. Take the sponge brush and start painting!!! Make sure you do this in thin coats. You're going to build the glitter layer by layer. I didn't do this and I have a few bumps on the toe of my shoe. It's not that noticeable, but it annoyed me. 



The glitter will appear patchy at first like above. Thats totally okay. It'll turn out perfectly. 

6. Let the first coat dry completely (about 15-20 minutes) and then do another coat. Remember to do thin layers. This is what they looked like after two layers:


7. Keep painting layers and letting them dry between coats until you get the desired amount of glitter. I did a total of 4 coats. 

8. Let it dry over night (or for a few hours. Just so they're totally dry.)

9. Do another coat of JUST Mod Podge to make sure the glitter won't fall of every time you walk. Although, leaving a trail of glitter wherever you go sounds kind of appealing. ;) 

The final product: 



They're TO DIE FOR. I can't wait to wear them when we get married! And all in all cost me about $45. Not too shabby. 

Friday, November 11, 2011

Favorite Secrets Friday

The iPhone app for PostSecret is probably the best app. I constantly save my favorites to my phone. I save them because maybe I can relate, maybe they're funny, and maybe they break my heart so much that I want to remember it. 

Here are some of my favorites from the past week: 




I mean, I'd be more annoyed at constantly having glitter in my hair but maybe thats me




:( 




aw <3




THIS is why I want to be a mom




Kelly & I are doing this when I'm home for Thanksgiving ;)