Launch of Bead Boulevard Creations

Today I officially launched my jewelry store online! I'm so excited for this venture. Please check out my store at:

www.beadblvdcreations.etsy.com

There are only a few things on there right now, but more is to come!

New Years Resolutions? Nah.

I don't like to make new years resolutions because 1) I never keep them and 2) they are overrated. No sense in getting my hopes up, right? However, I find that a change is coming on. Is it coincidently at the start of the new year? Maybe. I didn't intentionally make any resolutions or set any goals. It just appears that opportunities and plans have been presented and I've felt very inclined to do them! "Why not?" I tell myself. (It may have something to do with it being the beginning of the year, but humor me and we'll pretend that isn't a factor.) I have some things coming up this year that i'm excited about and I felt the need to share them so, here it goes!

Exciting Item 1: Guitar LessonsI was pondering what other kind of fun hobbies I could get in to that didn't cost as much as jewelry making and a sudden idea came to mind. Learning to play the guitar. I've always wanted to learn! I originally thought that maybe there was a class I could sign up for at SLCC. To my surprise, two days later, I get a catalog in my mailbox from Granite Peaks Lifelong Learning. They offer a number of continuing education classes that you can take including Beginning and Intermediate Guitar! Today I registered for their Beginning Guitar classes and I start on January 21st. I thought I was going to have to rent a guitar from a music store, but a co-worker of mine offered up her guitar for me to borrow. Score! I get 9 class sessions and it only cost me $40. Is that a deal or what?

Exciting Item 2: Sending Survivor an audition tapeYou may laugh at me, but I am a huge Survivor fan. I haven't watched every season that has ever aired, but pretty close. If you recall back to one of my earlier posts(back in April), I put up a little thing called My Bucket List. Item number 13 on that list is "Audition to be on a TV show". (In looking back to said list I realized that item number 8 is "Learn to play the guitar"! Haha. Must be a bucket list fulfillment year.) Anyway, I checked the CBS website and they are going to be accepting video submissions on January 18th and if you're one of the lucky ones that is picked you'll get to fly to L.A. for an audition. Now, some people that have made it on the show have said that they applied for it several times before making it on the show. I seriously doubt I'll make it, but at least I can say that I tried. Now I just have to ponder what my video will be like. Yikes.

Exciting Item 3: Europe, May 2010I will get to return to the UK! Howie has always wanted to visit Scotland and I've wanted to go back ever since I went in 2006. So, in May of this year we are going to spend 2 weeks traveling around the UK. We're going to do a whole week in London and visiting the surrounding areas of London and then another full week in Scotland. I would also like to stay in a Bed & Breakfast in York, England. We'll see. We've booked our airfare, but we've still got to iron out the details. After the week in Scotland we're going to spend two nights in...wait for it...I can't tell you how excited I truely am about this...this is a dream come true...Paris, France! We will only get to be there for two nights, but I'll take it. I've always wanted to go and if I'm able to go for two days, I will not complain. Who knows? Maybe I'll be totally unimpressed with it and never want to go back again. At least I can say I went.

Exciting Item 4: Baby maybe?Howie and I have always said that we wanted to wait at least two years before we started trying to have children. This June will mark our two year anniversary. If Survivor doesn't work out for me (haha) we may try to start a family. I have reservations. The more I try to imagine myself as a parent, the harder it is. I've always thought that I wanted to wait until I was absolutely sure I was ready. My Dad has said to me "If you wait until you're ready, you'll never have them". He's probably right. It's something that is in the back of my mind. It's something that will require some more thought and prayer. But I am excited about the idea of having children.

Exciting Item 5: Staying FitI plan to be more fit this year. For my sanity, I need it. I went to the gym last night and it felt SO good to do something good for my body. I really need to start going regularly. I have a membership at 24 Hour Fitness and I WILL be using it. I won't say how I'm so motivated(because I don't know), but I really think I mean it this time!

Exciting Item 6: Maui, Hawaii, September 2010We will also be traveling to Maui, Hawaii in September. Howie's parents have a timeshare and they are allowed a week of travel every year. Fortunately for us, they have an extra week! We were more than happy to take it off their hands! We will be spending a week on the west shore of Maui. I can't believe we're going. This is another place that i've been dying to visit and I can't wait! We're going to save any funds we have left over from Europe to use in Hawaii. The only reason why we're able to go is because of my in-laws and frequent flier miles. Otherwise, two big trips in one year probably wouldn't happen. We like to try to do one per year.

Anyway, thanks for letting me share my new years resol..wait, not resolutions, just plans. They are my plans for 2010.

Graceling - by Kristin Cashore

I had Howie buy me this book for Christmas and I finished all 471 pages of it in four days! This book was really good and reminded me a bit of The Hunger Games. Mostly because it's another book that centers on a strong, independent girl that is very strong willed. Her name is Katsa and she is a Graceling. A Graceling is a person with two different colored eyes and they each have their own "Grace". Some can have a mind reading grace, a running fast grace, etc. It just depends on what you're graced with. Katsa happens to be graced with a strong ability to survive. Her grace comes in handy when she takes on the task of rescuing a young Princess that is being hunted by her evil father, Leck, the Kind of Monsea. I simply couldn't put this one down. Ever read a book that is so descriptive that it almost feels like you've been watching a really cool, action packed movie? I love it when a book makes me feel that way. This is definitely one of those books! I just started on Kristin Cashore's second book entitled Fire. So far, so good. I'll let you know what I think of that one when I'm all finished.

Merry Christmas!

Today was an awesome Christmas and I'm so glad to have spent it with friends and family. We spent the night at my parents house last night. Christmas doesn't seem to be the same if you aren't able to wake up and see the excitement on childrens faces. I guess that's why I can't let go of the tradition of sleeping over at my parents house. I just don't think we can get that same feeling by waking up alone in our condo. We took our queen size air matress and put it in my parents spare bedroom. We spent most of Christmas Eve eating a delicious honey-baked ham and watching The Nativity Story. It's one of my favorite Christmas movies. We woke early this morning to the sounds of children running up and down the hallways talking about their new toys. My nephews got a few Nerf guns so, we had to keep running from them to keep from getting shot at! Crazy kids.

Howie got me a few gifts including a gift card to Massage Envy. I am thrilled about that because I absolutely love to get professional massages! I can't wait to use it! I got more gifts from friends and family. I'm so spoiled!

I got Howie a highly anticipated case for his iPhone that increases the life of his battery. He's been wanting one for quite some time. He's hard to shop for because he's one of those guys that is content with what he has. I also got him a passport cover because we recently got him a passport (his first ever!).

Anyway, we ate a ton of good food over the past two days and I don't think my tummy will ever be hungry again! I'm so thankful for my family and for holidays like Christmas that bring us closer together. I'm thankful that my Grandma was able to recover from her blood-clot episode and be here for Christmas. She'd been in a care center for the last 20 days so, it was really nice to have her back. I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas's!

The Forgotten Carols

Monday night we went to see The Forgotten Carols with our friends Eric and Alyssa. I've had the soundtrack for quite some time and know all of the songs, but I have never seen the actual play. We liked it a lot. It had a lot more humor in it than I expected so, that was a pleasant surprise! I'm hoping to make this a yearly tradition. I think my parents would really like it, too. We'll have to take them next year. I know the following picture is reminiscent of my pictures I shared of the Kurt Bestor Concert, but again, I only had my iPhone on hand. Here is a picture I took during one of the songs. The guy they had singing the lead was Jordan Bluth. He had a pretty neat voice.

Before the concert we all went to eat at Famous Dave's. I love that place and it had been forever since I'd been so, I was loving every bite. Yummy. I should've taken a picture of me stuffing my face. Wouldn't that be fun to see? It was a great night out. This was actually the last festivity we planned for the holidays. Guess we'll see if anything else pops up!

A Kurt Bestor Christmas

Yesterday afternoon Howie and I attended A Kurt Bestor Christmas Concert at Abravanel Hall. Kurt Bestor is a well known Utah-based composer and performer. He is very talented. We enjoyed his show very much! I ended up buying a CD of his. It's The Best of A Kurt Bestor Christmas. They gave me an additional free CD just for buying one, so...score!Here is Abravanel Hall before the concert started. (I only had my iPhone on hand)Here it is during the concert. You can see Kurt there on the massive TV screens. Very cool concert. Kurt usually has a guest artist for each of his shows. His guest artist for this show was a guy named Jonathan Butler. His voice was amazing. He sang a version of O Holy Night that nearly brought me to tears! He received a standing ovation from the crowd! He's from South Africa and has been performing since he was very young. Here he is:If you want to hear his amazing voice, you'll have to visit www.jonathanbutler.com . I tried to find a YouTube clip to share, but I can't seem to embed them on my blog. :( Anyway, we enjoyed the concert and hopefully I can talk Howie into going again next year!

It's patched!

Just a little update on our massive hole in our wall. My in-laws were nice enough to come over and patch our drywall. Hooray! We repayed them with pizza. They still have to come back and mud some more and then sand it down, but then I can paint over it and pretend like it never happened. I love having family that can do stuff like this.

Festival of Trees

Last Saturday we went to The Festival of Trees. This is a fun tradition that my family has done for years. Two years ago I volunteered to work for the festival. It was so much fun! My best friend and I were assigned to work in the gift boutique. We were honored to do it. They offer all of the volunteers an opportunity to take a tour of Primary Children's Medical Center and see what they're all about. That experience made me cry! Did you know that they have a special gathering every year for families that have lost a child at PCMC? They get to watch them release one butterfly per child that has lost their life. What could be more fitting than a butterfly? The symbol of hope and freedom. Howie and I have decided to make it one of our traditions to attend, too. We love getting a special treat when we go. This year we got the same things we got last year. Some Oreo's dipped in chocolate and a green apple smothered in hot carmel. Yummy. Howie's favorite part is the gingerbread houses. They had some pretty impressive ones this year!

We had a lot of fun even though it dumped snow on us on the way back to our car. We love The Festival of Trees.

Temple and Trolley Square

Tonight we went with our good friends, Steve and Genelle, and hit the town. First we went to dinner at The Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square. Then we headed over to Temple Square to see the beautiful lights! We had so much fun. I absolutely love downtown at Christmas time. The only thing thats missing is the candy decorated windows at ZCMI. We absolutely LOVED going to see those when we were young. Ah, memories. Lucky for us the boys didn't whine too much. They were afraid it was going to be too cold. What a couple of sissies. This evening was absolutely perfect for walking through Temple Square.

Favorite Childhood Christmas Gifts

I read a recent blog post from a friend of mine (Julia!) and decided to share some of my favorite childhood Christmas gifts, as well. There are so many, but these are the ones that stick-out to me the most. The first would have to be our McDonald's Drive-Thru. Yes, one year Santa brought us a McDonald's Drive-Thru to share.It had a cash register, fake food, an opening drive-thru window and even a patty "burner" that made sizzling sounds. We all loved our McDonald's Drive-Thru. I found these pictures on Ebay. They are advertising this as a "Vintage McDonald's Drive-Thru Set". Hahaha.

Vintage indeed.

Next on my list would have to be our Barbie Camping Tent sets. They came with sleeping bags and pillows, too. You can kind of see the tip of mine in this picture:Don't I look so excited? :) I believe Santa had my Grandpa help him with these. My Grandpa used to reupholster furniture for a living so, he was pretty handy when it came to stuff like this. We used to take our Barbie tents with us every time we went camping. We loved them!

And last, but certainly not least, my She-Ra get-up! I was so excited to get this!

My brother had a thing for He-man so, naturally, I had to love She-Ra! Dang, look at all those Christmas presents! I was so spoiled. What can I say, Santa loved me. This was a fun trip down memory lane. I encourage everyone else to post what some of their favorite Christmas gifts were!