This picture has nothing to do with this post.... but look what I did in my jeep! Terrifying

If any of you follow my other blog (of which you ALL should), you'd know that I've lately been obsessed with bikram yoga. What is bikram yoga? Visit my blog to find out. I've almost now been doing it for a month. I've gone 3-5 times a week for the past four weeks. I am addicted. I absolutely love the way it makes me feel. Wanna know another unplanned perk? I'm in my skinny jeans. Oh, and they look amazing on me. I weigh about 15 lbs more than I did when I was in them last, because I am getting pretty fit. I'm healthy. I'm not starving myself to get skinny. I'm living my life, devoting a lot to exercise and eating right so that my body will never hold me back from accomplishing things. This world really has far too much to offer for me to have my body be a limitation.



My life has been revolving around the bikram studio on the weekdays, and the mountain on the weekends. I try to get as much snowboarding as I possibly can in. I'm signing up for a year membership at bikram, and I'm stoked. I also have decided that I need to put more effort into training for rock climbing, can you imagine how many adventures I could have doing that? Take my mountain bike out, and my climbing gear, and just explore! Gosh, it gives me goosebumps thinking about everything I'm going to be able to do with myself!



Also, on a side note, I got to go to Las Vegas for my birthday and for my best friend's bachelorette party.... Uh-Maze-Balls.... that's all I have to say. My friends took me to an amazing Thai restaurant at the Venitian for my birthday. Then we went on a gondola ride, (hard to do in a dress) and then did the wax museum. We topped off the night at a silly night club and then wandering the strip, ending up eating yummy soup at 2 am. The next day was devoted to the beautiful bride. We explored the strip again, went shopping, went to dinner, went to my first male review (please please please no one ever take me to one for my bachelorette party!) and danced our booties off at club moon (the feeling of just dancing with my besties is hard to top). It was a fantastic trip, easily the best trip I've ever had to Vegas. I'm a really lucky girl to have these ladies in my life!

My big sis loves me.... she dedicated an entire post subject to yours truly. Who cares if she's making fun of me? I love any sort of attention I can get!

Soooo I'm stealing Nicole's blog, simply because I was there on so many adventures with her AAAAANNNNDDDD I'm too lazy to make my own ;) so go here to see the many different adventures I went on this year.

I've been deciding on a tattoo for quite a while, I have the one small "harmony" written in Elvish on my wrist (yeah I'm a nerd, embrace it) but I wanted to do something a little larger. Well I had dated a fella during the summer who just so happened to be an AMAZING tattoo artist, he has his own shop here in Layton, I HIGHLY recommend them. I've had this thought in my head for about a year now. It's gorgeous. It's something that symbolizes who I am, what I value, and how I see my life. I've always been into fantasy, yeah I'm a nerd. However I appreciate what it MEANS, and the beauty of a lot of the art. I decided the Evening Star (Star of Arwin) from Lord of the Rings would look amazing on my back.... So Jared got it done, and I'm in love with it :) It's sexy, and meaningful.

I just realized I forgot to write about an amazing little trip that I took about a month ago. On a Tuesday afternoon, I get a phone call from my bestie Gabby "whatcha doin this weekend, wanna go to Disneyland?"..... and that's what started it all. Gabby's mom found a super cheap flight, and with Gabby's military discount, we were able to do D-Land AND California Adventure for beyond cheap. All in all, the trip should have cost less than $400 total, but I kinda had to buy a lot of clothes and souveniers.... so it ended up costing a bit more, but that's fine :) I took an early flight outta Salt Lake Saturday morning, and went straight fromt he airport to Disneyland! Gabby and I spent our first day going on as many rides as we could. All of the lines were beyond crazy SHORT. I think the Star Tours was the longest, and that was only 20 minutes. We hit most of the rides we wanted to do that Saturday, and ended up calling her mom to come and get us so we could do dinner with Gab's family. Oh, I totally forgot to mention the highlight of Saturday: Lunch with the princesses! We were the only people there WITHOUT children, but that's perfectly fine. I got to meet my favorite princess, Belle. On Sunday some of Gabby's family came out to the park with us again. It was slightly more busy, but due to the fact that we hit all of the rides already, we were quite content to just take it at everyone elses pace. We did Magic Mountain.... HORRIBLE idea.... I was in the front of the boat, my Minnie-ears literally ended up drenched, yep, they were dripping by the time the ride was done. We also were able to see the color show at California adventure that night-- it was so neat! On Monday, it was just Gabby and I again before we had to make our flight. We had done everything we wanted to do, so we basically just walked around D-Land and California adventure, taking it all in, one last time. We flew back home that Monday night, and I had work bright and early the next day. It was a perfect little three day get-away. I'm so lucky to have a best friend that we can share adventures like that on... can't wait for where we go next :)

Lunch with the princesses (cocktails in D-Land?!)

BFF's, waiting to ride the matterhorn I think

Got my Minnie-Ears :)

The Little Mermaid ride

My Favorite Princess!

The boyfriend (it's just easier to call him that) has officially started his training for this:

Photo of Denali's Cassin Ridge in High Resolution

Denali's Cassin Ridge, a month long expedition to climb the hardest route of the highest peak in North America. Extremely dangerious, extremely beautiful, and extremely ambitious. No worries, Shad is a VERY experienced Alpine climber, and has devoted a few hours a DAY to make sure he is as ready as he can possibly be. Plus, Denali has some pretty top knotch rescue crews should anything happen (yeah, I've done my research) I can't wait to see what other expeditions he has planned for himself :) I admire his drive and passion, and am so proud to see him reach for these HUGE goals.

So I've decided that I'm not satisfied doing only one project/cause a year, I think I'm going to try to work on one a month. This month I've decided to collect clothing for two of Northern Utah's shelters- a homeless shelter, and a women's shelter. That being said, I'll be collecting gently used clothing. This project won't be possible without the help of my friends. So I'm sending a message to everyone I love to please go through their closets and find what isn't a necessity. The most useful things at these shelters are nice clothes because the people there are trying to get back on their feet, and we all know nice clothes are a necessity for a job interview- which is what they need. I'll be collecting from now until the end of next week (though really can always collect if that's easier for you). Please take the time to look at what you have, and don't need, because there are those of us out there who are in need. I love you all, I know you can help make this a successful goal!

So this post is mostly for me. So that I have a spot to post a journal I've been keeping of a guy I'm interested in. (in case my phone goes bezurk) This guy is different. He's completely different. I actually ENJOY dating, everything feels natural. I've known him for about two months, I met him at my gym where he owns the gear shop, we'd been flirting for about a solid month, and I finally did the mature thing-- I had his friend give him my phone number... since then things have just "clicked" So here it is, my "Shad journal" as it's known in my phone. Of course, I'll be adding to it, as I tend to update it once a day or so when I think about things, or after we go out. I'm really thinking this "guy I'm dating" could turn into "boyfriend"

Why I like him?
Watched Harry potter with me and liked it
Has same hobbies but more extreme
He's a goof ball
Very ambitious
He's an adventurer
My friends like him
He's a nerd, moreso than me
He's smarter than me
We have awkward moments
He's taller than me
I know I can learn a lot from him
Same religious point of views
He's a hippie
He's beyond sweet
He's not into me just for sex
He would flirt with me when I went to the gym
He thinks I'm cute
He's very handsome, I'm insanely attracted to him (especially when he climbs without a shirt on)We like a lot of the same shows/movies
He'll go snowboarding with me
A blast to hang out with (no matter what we're doing)
Everything feels natural with him
He doesn't let me down
He makes me feel like he likes me
He does like me
I actually like dating him
I have absolutely no desire to date anyone else
He pushes me to achieve more (snowboarding, yoga, climbing-- yep, some of my biggest passions in life)
Says I'm smarter than him-we discuss wormhole theories lol
Kisses me in public
He is full of passion
I'm myself around him
He gives me butterflies
He took me to yoga
Won't let me pay for dinner
How things have transpired:
First "official" date was nov. 9th to slackwater pizza (beers and hummus) he was so cute when he asked me, I was at the gym and he just came up to me to tell me about a snowboarding movie premier and after party- I didn't know he was asking me out. (he held my hand!!! Super awkward though, you know when you were in middle school and wanted to hold your crushes hand? It felt like that-- but I loved every second of it)
Second date was nov. 11th to a movie and then city club (held my hand again)
Third date Harry potter at my house (cuddles!)
Fourth date was nicoles birthday party. Nov. 19th He drove all the way down to salt lake to go to a bar with me- friends adore him, and our first kiss at huka bar
Fifth date, karaoke at brewskis
Sixth date, boarding/skiing at powder then dinner and back to my place- yeah, he kissed me again- lots, and he told me he liked me so he wanted sex to wait (he's pretty much amazing) Seventh date, dec. 5th bikram yoga and then dinner at slackwater pizza.
Eighth date (yet to happen- but he's going to sushi with my bestie and I in two days)

I haven't kept information like this in a long long long time. I honestly haven't ever dated anyone that it just feels this natural with. He's starting to talk to his friends about me too, and I'm starting to be known as "the girlfriend" at his work :) Yeah, I like this fella.