Oh, the places you'll go

Life has been a little nuts around here lately. I start work next week so I've had quite a break (which I've kind of loved) while Tay works his bum off at school, work, and now getting ready for our next adventure...optometry school! I've mentioned it in several posts, but now things are gettin' REAL up here. So far Taylor has been invited to interviews (remember how you can't get accepted without going to an interview first?) at 3 out of the 5 schools he applied to. I'm pretty dang proud of him! What that means is that he meets their academic requirements and now they just want to get to know him and see if he's a good fit for their school. Unfortunately we have to take the bill on all of his interviews, so let's just say we've been cutting down on our extracurricular activities and going out. But it will all be worth it! I'm excited but nervous to find out where we'll be moving! We've been looking up the housing that they suggest at each school and looking into the areas we might be living in. We thought we had a top choice of school but after looking into the ones he's been invited to, we just don't know! If any of you know anything about or have lived in these places, fill me in! So the only places he hasn't heard back from yet are Pacific University in Oregon and Ohio State (in Ohio :)), but I put them on the map just for fun to look at where we might go!

In other news I've just been working on my shops and sewing my little heart out! Here's some fun things I've been up to:

I made this skirt for my little sister and I kind of love it because it has a bow AND pockets. So I may or may not have made myself one....ok fine two.

I have been having so much fun designing for my INKH Designs shop. Here are some fun new things I've created that I'm planning to print for myself as well!

Why I Went to College

After attending my last class ever!!! 

Since graduating a week ago, this is how my conversations have gone with people:

Them: What did you get your degree in? 

Me: English language

Them: oh, cool. so do you want to like teach or something?

Me: no, not really. I don't have a lot of exposure to teaching, but from the little I've had, I'm not super interested in it. 

Them: oh, ok. So are you going to grad school? 

Me: no, I've never felt like that is something that I should or need to do. And I have no desire, so I don't think I would be going for the right reason.

Them: well you never know, maybe you'll change your mind. 

...no, I probably won't. But no, I don't think I wasted my degree either.

(OR, one time I got: soo, why did you go to college?)

       Don't worry, if you're one of the people whom I've had this conversation with, I'm not offended! It's just true--I don't know what I'm doing with my future. But I do have long term goals with Taylor, and I know I'm on the right track for them. 

      If you know me you know I'm a "well-rounded" person. No, I'm not trying to sound stuck-up, I just don't know how else to word that I just kind of have a lot of random interests, hobbies, random work experience (let's just say the Missionary Training Center and Shabby Apple both reside on my resume, and I have a minor in dance--which has nothing to do with my major), etc. That being said, I really don't have an exact "next step" because I don't know.

      Again, if you know me, you know that I am probably the farthest from being a feminist that you can get (you can start throwing stones now, but I would gladly accept the stones while wearing an apron and cleaning my house). My whole life I have loved anything domestic: cooking, cleaning (really, I really love cleaning. It's weird), baking, sewing (loooove sewing), crafting, etc. I personally have no issues with "traditional" gender roles in the home because that' personally what I wanted to be. My whole life I've known that I want to be a mother and a wife above all things. Now, before you start gagging thinking I'm a typical Provo Mormon girl, let me explain.

       I 100% value the idea of having a mom be in the home. I place a high value on being a stay-at-home mom because of personal experience. However, I also 100% value education and being prepared educationally and financially for the future. 

      It has always been my plan to get a degree. I have never known what exactly I wanted to "be" when I grew up, but I knew I should get an education after high school. To be honest for half of my college career I thought I wanted to be an editor. I love grammar, I love knowing all the "rules" of language, and I love words. However, the more I learned about editing, the more I learned I didn't want to be an editor. So I wasted all my time, right? Because what else does someone who spent 3.5 years studying language do for a living? Good question! 

     I'm honestly really happy and proud that I have a degree. I have no idea what I want to do with it yet, or if I will ever work with it. I'm actually really interested in using my minor and starting a little kid dance program. We'll see if that happens. But again, I don't know right now. 

    I've decided that I want to be more concerned with who I want to be than what I want to be. I thoroughly enjoyed studying my major and my minor at BYU. I met awesome people, I learned so much, and I completed (what was for me) a very hard task of getting a degree. So while I don't know what exactly I want to do next in the job-field, I know that I have gained a lot of experience the past four years that will help me in my long-term goal of being a mother, and it will also help me to continue to try to be a loving and supportive wife to my sweet Taylor. 

     In the end, I want to be a good person. I want to continue striving to be a faithful member of my church. I want to be a good wife. And eventually I want to be the best mom I can be to my kids when I have them. I don't feel like I wasted my time or money at BYU just because I'm not necessarily continuing on exactly where I left off. I know that everyone has a different path to take in life. I think it's wonderful that so many people, particularly women, have a set plan educationally and career-wise from the get-go. But I've learned that's not how things are going to play out for me. And that's ok! 

     So, that is why I went to college. Because education is important. Because you never know what will happen in life so you should always be prepared for the unexpected. Because I enjoyed college, and I was able to meet my husband during college. Because "Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection."

So that's why I went to college and got my degree! And that's all :) 

Enjoy the rest of your holiday!!! 

T.G.I.F.

Lots has been going on around our house lately! Here's a re-cap through photos (that are not all good quality, sorry! Anyone wanna buy me an awesome camera??).

Baby Shower:
My cousin Jillian was in town and her mom and sister threw a surprise baby shower! It was a lot of fun, and we had yummy authentic Spanish food (my aunt is from Spain). So fun! Makes me excited to have my own babies one day.

me and my adorable grandma (sorry for the horrible photo quality. I'm holding out until the day we can afford/are given an awesome new one haha) 

It was my cousin's son's (how do I say that) birthday that day. This .gif was basically all my attempts to get a pic of him with the balloon. Love this boy! 

My cousin Eileen had us all write fun/funny things on diapers for those late night diaper changes that will happen often .

Happy Birthday! 

My cousin got him an Ironman suit. He calls it his "fireman" suit :) 

15 Minutes of fame: 

Last week Tay picked me up from school and I just thought his outfit was so cute. Those are his classic white chucks that he works to keep in pristine condition. I kept trying to get just a cute, normal photo of him, but he resisted. (note: he likes to wear things on his head like that a lot, not sure why...:) 

Me straight up feeling like the paparazzi following him just trying to get a quick cute photo of him. 

Finally after getting the mail he got really into the photo shoot mode and started to give me his best "fashion blogger" poses (no hating on anyone or any blog, it was just so funny to see his perception of fashion blog poses). 

Partners in Crime: 

Ok this isn't what it looks like. Ok, yes it is exactly what it looks like. I mentioned in this post that my dad liked to teach his girls about cars. One thing my dad loved to do (and always did) was have me or one of my siblings time him while he would lock a car door, narrate a scene where he's a bad guy and the cops are coming so he has to hurry and "break in" to the car by unlocking it from the outside. If he didn't like his time he was able to unlock it in, he'd do it all over again. I'll be honest, I knew what a Slim Jim was, I understood the concept (sort of) but I never paid a ton of attention of how to "break in" to cars because I figured my dad would just always be there to do it. I remember it wasn't long after he passed away that I locked my keys in my car at school and needed to unlock it. I walked into the all boy auto shop class and asked the auto mechanic teacher at my school for a Slim Jim and any tools he had to break in. He asked if I needed help, and being a little prideful and feeling all "girl power" I told him I could do it. Let's just say there was no way I was going back in that classroom and saying I couldn't do it. It was like a test; I had to think back and try to remember what I had seen and learned when my dad did it. Anyway, long story short, I now carry a tool in my car (hoping I don't lock the keys in my car ever or else I'm in trouble) and I unlock cars for people quite frequently. Tay has now mastered the skill so we do it together :) Things like this, though simple, remind me of my dad and make me smile. Go here to learn a little more about my dad :). 

My dad would be so proud I have a man who has the "skill" as well :) 

Rivalry Game: 

Since we'll be moving in about a year for grad school (hopefully) I've been feeling all sentimental lately as I keep thinking "on this day next year I won't be in Provo anymore!". It actually makes me really sad. So this year since the BYU/Utah game was here in Provo, I tried to convince Taylor that we should spend the $80+ each to attend the game since we didn't buy season passes. He thought about it, and was responsible enough to tell me that we didn't need to spend that money. Instead, we decided to invite some friends over and have a little game-watching party at our house. 

I worked the day of the game and of course had to don my cougar blue. Then I ran into sweet Jenny who worked with me at Allyse's Bridal. She happened to be wearing red so it was a perfectly fitting photo for the day! 

THE CONTRACT:

Ok, remember my "shopping fast until Christmas" I was on? Ok, well, I sort of broke it. Twice. Ok, let me explain. First of all, I really was in need of new jeans and didn't realize it until after I started my little fast, so Tay & I (ok really just I, Tay just kind of rolls his eyes and laughs) made an exception because it really was a need and they were really cheap. I bought these cute Edyson jeans from Nordstrom that were on sale. But don't worry guys, the shopping gods were watching. The UPS guy came on Monday. Tay didn't remember I was expecting a package and he was still sleeping because he worked a graveyard so he heard a knock but didn't get it in time. So the UPS guy came the next day when I was at work. So then he came again, and I was at school. Long story short, my pants are ON THEIR WAY BACK TO IOWA. Whaaaat? Yeah, lame. But Nordstrom said they'll send them back when they receive them. Waste of postage if you ask me. 

SO THEN....Ok, so I've been wanting those Steve Madden 'Intyce' boots forever and ever. I'm embarrassed at the price because I neverrrr spend that much on really anything. However, my handy dandy Facebook ads creepily knew I had been eyeing them online so one day I was just innocently on Facebook when I saw a promo code for Steve Madden on my side bar. The promo code (I think) still works (SMSEP5) and it gave me 15% off AND free shipping. WHAAA? I had to get them, right? But wait. THEN I go looking online for other promo codes, and I found ANOTHER, BETTER promo code since the boots were more expensive and it was 20% off AND free shipping. Oh gosh. So literally for DAYS I had been contemplating because I didn't want to splurge but I was never going to feel good paying full price for them another time. So I asked around to people who bought Steve Madden a lot and the consensus was that it was a good idea. So I talked to Tay and he just told me to decide. Then after I made dinner last night (guys, I cooked a really good meal. It's been a while) I come out and see this "contract" that had just printed out. Pretty much it is a written form of what I had already said: I'm not shopping until Christmas for any clothes, with the exception of fabric for my sewing class where we make clothes (score!), including black friday. Tay had me sign my name and stuff. It was so funny and quite cute on his part. But I am excited to re-start my challenge. I've been really trying to look at what's in my closet with new eyes. I also found this challenge I am going to do from Plane Pretty. It's going to be so fun. I'm sad I have to start over on my little fast, but let's be honest, these boots were worth it. Also, I'm going to re-fashion a few things I own. I will post about it. 

I'll post a close-up of the contract later. I'm not sure how my phone came up with this little collage, but it's cool I guess. 

 Well, that's all folks! Sorry for such a long post. I need to find the balance between posting too much and getting behind on stuff. Things have been fun around here lately. Tay was recently contacted by one of the admissions people at Pacific University in Oregon who saw that he had started his application. It just made things super real! He's shadowing an optometrist today. He looked so cute in his "optometry office" clothes he picked out (he's wearing a blue & white pinstriped shirt and some nice slacks and a navy tie). So cute. I love that guy lots. Guys. Dr. Hibbs. Doesn't that sound so cute?? Ahh! Well hope you all have a great Friday!

Back to School 2013 and New Goals

 

Well it's that time of year again. Tay started school on Tuesday, and I started yesterday. I feel like it all came up on my so fast! I wanted to have our house perfectly clean when school started (I usually get it all nice and perfect before we go out of town because I love coming home to a clean house but that didn't happen this time. Sad face). I'm still cleaning the house...it's so small...it really shouldn't even have room to get messy...right? I also have made a goal to cook. In general. It's really hard because Taylor is a good cook and I just don't even know how to plan meals ahead of time, grocery shop etc. so it's easy to just let him do it. He's knee-deep in crazy science classes and I'm just chillin' at school one more semester taking sewing, interior design, and two English classes so I really want him to just focus on school since he's the one going to grad school. I'm so grateful for Taylor and his hard work so I'm always trying to be a supportive wife...but I'm just still getting the hang of keeping things organized in life in general. Anyway, we did get a few things done around the house that made me happy:

Our sealer gave us all three of these and told us to get frames and hang them in our room. Almost a year and a half later, it's finally done! We just never knew the size of each document when we would find ourselves at stores to buy frames. But they're finally up and I'm happy about that!

I told Tay I wanted photos of us actually in front of the temple. We have lots of wedding photos but not all including the temple. I loved this frame so this was a good buy for me! 

Tay picked out this frame. So cute :) 

Another one in our room that actually looks good now that we have our other three photos on the wall. 

Oh, also. I made a promise I shouldn't have made. Taylor and I were talking about ways to save money as we're really starting to head into our big future with going to grad school and such. I realized that I spend way too much money on clothes, accessories, etc. So I made a goal that I wouldn't buy any clothes or accessories until Christmas. I was so confident with that goal that I told Taylor...he thought it was a great idea so I promised him I'd keep that goal. What did I get myself into!??! For some of you that's no big deal. But whenever I come across a good deal I have a hard time saying no! But I've been looking at some blogs that feature fashion posts (normally I hate those because I find the typical fashion post poses really awkward to look at) and I realized I can style the clothes I own in many different ways to create new outfits. Taylor is always complaining that my clothes are kind of taking over our closet (this is true) so this will help with that as well. I'll let you know how this goal goes!

Our first week of our senior year!

Well, it's that time again. Provo is FULL of crazy drivers, every slot in apartments is taken, and football is all most people talk about for a few months. It's crazy that I could be graduating in April (it could also be August)! Taylor is technically a senior...but you see he spent two years in Guatemala serving the Lord so he has a good excuse to be behind :)

 I heard many people say how long and hard their first week of school was. Now, I'm not always a Positive Polly, but I have to say I completely disagree with those who didn't like their first week.

You see, last time I was in school I was planning a wedding, then I got married, then got injured at dance. I honestly forgot how fun being in school can be. 

Basically this is our first week in a nutshell: 

• Got called to teach primary the day before school started...which we really are sooooo excited about! 

• Took a "first day of school" photo of both of us, against Taylor's will.

• Realized that I'm one of maybe ten upperclassmen in my physical science class #procrastination
• Helped surprise one of my best friends Holly with a surprise party. It was SO great. We totally got her! 

• Learned that Batman is the favorite superhero of almost every person in my physical science lab (don't you love "getting to know you" games??...)
• Discovered these babies:

• Attended BYU's first game of the season. 

• Watched our friend Kaneakua (#82) score not one, but TWO touchdowns in that game! 
• Discovered that we have AWESOME non-rotated seats for the game. 
• Discovered that we also sit by the (I don't know how to be nice about this...they really pushed my limits!) most annoying people ever at the games. (I'm not being dramatic I promise! I went to a high school that practically worshipped football so I know how crazy people can be at games...but these guys were just not very considerate to others. And for sure not respectful) So we'll see what happens at the next game :/ 
• Enjoyed a cookout with my family and grandparents for Labor Day 
• Spent a few lazy hours with each other watching movies and enjoying each others company. 

Welp guys, here's to another great school year that's starting. Enjoy your classes and schedules, cuz I sure enjoy mine! And that's all. 

*happy that I still get a few late-rise mornings with this semester's schedule. thank goodness! (i heart comfy comfys).