Time to Move On

Well, a lot’s happened since my last post. Probably because my last posts had to do with an engagement that was called off. Wah wah wah. For a while there, my life felt like a bad country song. He left me, and he took my dog. FML

But… happy to report. All is well. Everything happens for a reason.

It happened March 10th. Once I make it past April 20th (our would’ve been 6 year anniversary) and May 15th (our would’ve been wedding date) I think I’ll be juuuust fine. :)

In the meantime, I’m just keeping busy with friends. Last weekend I went to Vegas with my Mom and my good friend Rachael. It was so much fun and a seriously needed escape from Idaho Falls. We went to two concerts (30 Seconds to Mars and Muse), ate a ton, drank a ton, danced some, shopped some, laid out by the pool. Life was good.

Luckily I will be back there again in 1 month. I’ve gathered all of my girlfriends for a un/re-bachelorette party weekend. We shall celebrate my recent re-introduction into freedom, in style. So far there are 8 of us going. It’s going to be EPIC. Stay tuned. What happens in Vegas may or may not stay there. TBD

I’d say, for having gone through a not-so-welcome break up a month ish ago, I’m doing pretty damn good. I owe it all to my friends – some old, some new, but all favorites. If it weren’t for them and our dance parties, jello shot nights, sleepovers, day long IM-conversations and Vegas trips. I don’t know what I’d be doing with myself. I love them dearly.

Side note – I’ve decided that several cliche things they say about breakups is true. Off the top of my head:

• I lost 6 lbs in the first week because I was so devastated I didn’t have an appetite.
• I instantly wanted to move out, leave town. Anything. GMTFO!
• I wanted to chop off all my hair and dye it.

Well I didn’t move out and leave town – but I did chop off all my hair and dye it! :D

I’m quite happy with how it turned out. Feeling light and free. As my friend Brian has declared – April is liberation month! And I believe there is much more liberation to come. :)

Western Adventures

Apparently summer isn’t quite over. I jumped the gun on my last post. I guess since school is back in session, (note: I don’t even go to school) I just felt like the summer was over. Turns out, I had at least one last adventure in me. One of my dearest friends Carina came to the area for a visit. I met Carina in Portland. We were studying the same major at the Art Institute. She now lives in Seattle, so I was excited for her to come visit again (she came last fall as well).

This time we planned her trip in a time when we could do touristy fun things. And boyyyy did we. She arrived Thursday to Idaho Falls. We spent the day in town, did a little shopping, got a pedicure, made dinner for my family, then we headed to Jackson Hole, WY (about a 2 hr drive from IF). My Grandma has a condo that she so generously let us stay in for a couple nights. Friday we went on a 21 mile rafting excursion.

The morning was a scenic route where we just got to float and witness the beauty of the Snake River Valley. However, it was 32 degrees when we got up. And we were wearing shorts… soooo… there was more shivering than witnessing. But it was still pretty cool. We had a provided lunch and then headed out for the whitewater portion.

Luckily, it had warmed up by early afternoon and we hit the hoeback junction for some real rafting. Now, the last time I went rafting was when I was about 13 years old. I believe it was in June, so the rapids were a lot more active than late summer, and I ended up getting bucked out of the boat, not-so gracefully. I was traumatized… haha. So, this was the first time I’d been since (10 years later… woah), and I’m proud to report I did NOT fall out of the raft. Wooo! It was the first time Carina had been whitewater rafting, so I was pretty excited to share the experience with her.

Side Story: So, there’s nowhere in the Idaho Falls area that recycles glass. And like a good little Portland girl, I’ve been saving my glass… for about 11 months now. As you can imagine, I had quite the stock going. I’d found out a few weeks prior to our trip that Wyoming DOES recycle glass, so we took a trunk full of glass bottles (literally) and were able to recycle them in Jackson. I was pretty excited about it. But the guy said that they may stop recycling glass soon too. Sadsies.

So, after our rafting and after we had some dinner, we headed back to Teton Village, where my Grandma’s condo is and noticed that there is a restauarant in the middle of the resort’s mountain AND that there was a free gondola ride up it. So we definitely had to partake.

On Our Way Up!

View from the Top

The next day, we decided to take the tram up the mountain to see even higher views of the valley.

Atop the Mountain

They also have a waffle hut there. Turns out, these waffles are a miracle cure for hangovers. Whew!

On Our Way Back Down

THEN, we decided to drive up to Yellowstone through Grand Teton National Park. Man, what a beautiful drive. I’m sure I’ve made the drive before, but it had to have been almost 15 years ago on a school trip, so I was quite amazed at the views of the Tetons. This side of it is way prettier than the Idaho side of it.

Then we made it to Yellowstone. :)

We came in through the south entrance, gandered up to the West Thumb Geyser Basin, and headed over to Old Faithful, then out the west entrance. We only saw ONE bison, which is absurd for Yellowstone but we were still excited about it anyway. And we also saw a few elk on our way out too.

The rest of the weekend, we hung around Idaho Falls, rode bikes around the green belt, played with the puppy, and ate a lot. Haha. It was a glorious four and a half day weekend, indeed. Thanks for coming to wisit C-Rizzle!

So Long, Summer…

Sadly enough, summer is almost over. And I have to say, it was a very good one this year. I was busier and more active than ever, which isn’t hard to beat considering how old me liked to have fun – with primarily TV, Movies, Video Games and Food. Granted, I still love all of those things, but I like to believe I have added a few other things to what I will refer to as my “fun arsenal”.

And now I give you a list of reasons why my summer was good times:

1. I made new friends
2. I traveled with them and with (soon-to-be) family
3. I found a wedding dress
4. I learned to rock climb
5. I learned to wakeboard
6. I added a new family member to my household
7. I settled into our house more with new (to me) furniture
8. And I had one of the best birthdays I’ve had in a long time with friends and family

And through all of it, I find constant reminders of how glad I am that I moved home when I did. I love being around for the little things like impromptu gatherings, sleepovers with my neices and nephew, and their birthday parties I used to always miss out on. It makes me happier than I think anyone realizes. It’s all still very bittersweet because I miss my pac-nw friends dearly. But I’m hoping they will soon come to visit me, and that perhaps I can make it up and over to see them again soon, as well.

Now, with all that said… there is one thing I didn’t do this summer and probably should have done a lot more of. And that’s plan my wedding. Whoops? Apparently long term planning is not my forte. Besides, the more I think about stuff, the more I just want to elope. So, I’m trying to take it in baby-steps as to not get overwhelmed (note: it’s not working). So.. here’s hoping that starts to come together soon… we shall see. Stay tuned.

“Life comes at you pretty fast…”

“… If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.”
~Ferris Beuller

Dear Blog,

I’m writing to tell you how sorry I am that I’ve been neglecting you. It’s been almost 3 months since we’ve seen each other, and I regret my absence deeply. So you know, I did mean to visit and maintain our relationship, but I just got caught up in the whirlwind of life. I know, I know. It’s all just an excuse to you. But so  you know, these are the things I meant to blog about:

1. A guy named Wayne Richards. He was a radio DJ here in Idaho Falls. And his death seemed to really affect the town. For weeks businesses displayed “Drive Safely Wayne” on their marquees, (Wayne used to leave his listeners with the parting words of “Drive Safely East Idaho” as he was signing off of his radiocasts)  and you could even get window tags that displayed the same words. And you still see them all over the place. I was amazed at how much it affected everyone. While bitter sweet, it was a nice reminder of the kind community I returned to by moving home. For this blog, I planned to drive around the city taking pictures of all the signs and post them – but obvs didn’t, so… here’s one from KIDK – Channel 3:

   

2. My Grandpa passed away at 82 just before Halloween of liver cancer. I wanted to tell people how lucky I felt that I moved home when I did so that I could spend time with him before he went. It helped me believe even more in fate. And how on the day of his death my brother and I decided it was time for us to take the family traditions into our hands and make sure they live on. My brother decided he would master the Dutch Babies – German Pancakes. And so I was left with Scrablle, our family’s rendition of chex mix that we always have around during holidays or celebratory gatherings. The next day, I took off work, because, let’s face it – I wasn’t focused anyway – and made Scrabble. The day after that was the funeral. After the service we went to my Grandma’s and played games in tribute to Pop whilst enjoying my delish Scrabble. It was a good day.
   

   The fixin's...

   

   Derwishous.

3. The Christmas Light displays of Idaho Falls. I was amazed by a few this year. And I really wanted to go and take video of them all but by the time I had the time/energy to, it was January 5th. So… there went that idea. I did get one video on my phone though. It was especially entertaining, not only because it had it’s own radio station (HA!) but also because this used to be my childhood best friend’s house.
4. And last of all, I wanted to give everyone an update on my diet progress. All is still well. I stopped taking Alli in the beginning of October because I reached the cut off weight for my height. But, even after I stopped taking it, I’ve lost a total of 50 lbs now. WOAH. And you can see it. I’m so proud of myself. I’m still dieting, and exercising regularly. It’s like a whole new world. The holidays were tough, but I stood strong, no thanks to you, Peanut Brittle! But all in all, I am a very happy camper. I have a New Years Resolution to lose 15 more by spring and after that I’ll just work on maintaining.

Well, I think that’s it, Blog. Again, I’m sorry. And while I know better than to promise I will do better, I just wanted to let you know I have been thinking of you.

Love always,
lazypants

Updates: Part 4

Jeff’s moving in next week so we’re starting to get ready for that. Yesterday he was brainstorming things he could start bringing over, so he thought of his turtle, Sherman, since that’s the only thing he doesn’t need/use everyday. I got him Sherman for our anniversary in April, so I’m pretty excited he gets to come be my pet too. Jeff brought him over last night, so we’re all getting used to the new addition, especially Tucker and Sonny.

Tucker, Sherman, and Sonny.

Tucker just sits there and watches him all the time. Sonny kind of acts like he’s scared of him. Whenever Sherman moves (which is rarely) and Sonny notices, he’ll run into another room as fast as possible. It’s kind of really hilarious. I’ve already caught Tucker up on top of Sherman’s tank once… so here’s hoping a) Tucker doesn’t figure out how to get the lid off and b) that Sonny doesn’t follow Tucker’s lead and also gets on top of the tank… because it would probably break through since Sonny’s so tubby.

A strawberry snack for Sherman.

Also on the pet updates note, Tucker and Sonny have begun to regularly have lick-attacking fights. They’ll wrestle each other until one pins the other and starts licking their face as vigorously as possible. Then whoever is being licked will bat their paw at the other one and the fighting will begin all over again. The best is when they do it at the top of the kitty condo. But mostly, it’s just all together adorable.