One month at the new house

I wish I had pictures to share, and perhaps I'll add some later, but a month and a few days ago, I moved to a new home.

The reasons for my move were that my contract at my old place ended in August, and although my old place was large and lovely in many ways, it had been a rather hard year, and something new sounded kind of nice. My roommate and I had also learned that others living in our same type of place were paying much less than us. I also have been roommates with my friend Jordan for several years now, and I figured that it's nice having her around to hang out with, so I kind of wanted to be roommates with her. She's family.

So, when Jordan saw the ad for our new place across town, she wanted to check it out. It was the week of my birthday, and I was not thrilled to be house hunting. We came and checked it out, and it was this old house, but nothing was done on the inside. It had been all torn apart, and the owners would be renovating the house all summer. Somehow, Jordan decided she loved it. I wasn't so sure. I didn't know how it was going to turn out! And the room that I would be taking was much smaller than my last room, and it had a purposeful gap in the wall that connected to the next bedroom over. I was stressed about the decision, but I decided to proceed with signing the contract even though I had so many doubts and concerns. I prayed and felt neutral, and I figured that was better than feeling bad about it!

All summer as Jordan and I would drive by the house, it didn't look like a whole lot of progress was being made. This added to my stress about whether this was a good decision. Then our moving day was pushed back by four days, but moving day still came quickly, and off I went to my new, renovated home.

A couple things weren't 100% done, and as I started moving things into my new room, I had no clue where I'd fit my things, and I felt like I'd be so claustrophobic in the much smaller room. Panels had been put between my room and the next room over, so I didn't really have to worry about the wall gap. But I was still feeling like this place was too fancy for me, and maybe I wouldn't fit in with the roommates because it was so nice and fancy.

It took me a week or two, but I have come to really love this house. My new roommates are so lovely and cool and down to earth and talented. I like them a whole lot, and I'm so excited to get to know them better this year. We already talk more than I talked to most of my roommates who had been upstairs with me last year. I acclimated rather quickly to my room, and rather than feeling claustrophobic, I just feel so cozy and comfortable. I love the upstairs sitting area, with the comfortable chairs and the sun shining through the balcony door and the hummingbird picture. I love the sound of rain on our roof and all the character of the house with its squeaky floorboards and doors. I love our doors to get in the house. I love the old mixed with the new.

I'm embarrassed to say that I'm not completely settled in yet. I have a couple boxes in corners that I'm still trying to figure out where to put their contents. And I still worry a bit that things are too nice for me. But despite my wanting to be done with unpacking and my slight worries of fanciness, I am feeling so comfortable here. This house is beautiful, and I feel so fortunate and blessed to be here. Maybe some people will find this description weird, but this house has a better feel to it. It's more cheerful than my last place. I feel more content here. And I'm sure life will continue to bring its tests and hard times, but I feel so much more ready to face the challenges.

Favorite Food Sources

What? I'm writing two days in a row? This doesn't happen often, but you know how some activities don't necessarily always sound that cool, but then once you start doing them, you feel hooked? (But then sometimes other things get in the way and you stop doing them and forget again?) Well, that's how I get with reading and writing sometimes. And laser tag. Except laser tag always sounds cool.

So, I feel like for most of my life, I've been a pretty big fan of food. Food is so good! A few years ago, a dear friend and roommate of mine participated in a CSA program with me. CSA stands for community supported agriculture, and basically how it worked was I paid a whole bunch of money to this farm in Draper, and then every week for several weeks (I can't remember if it was 8 weeks or 12), I'd head over to the farm and pick up a bunch of vegetables and sometimes fruits that had been grown on this farm. This was a lot of fun and helped me be healthy and helped me learn about some new veggies! I love fruits and veggies! But getting food from a farm was a lot of fun. Everything tasted so good and fresh. I would love to do CSAs on a regular basis, but, they're kind of pricey, and as a single person, it's kind of hard for me to eat all the food in one week. I mean I am sure I could, and there is variety, but I like to eat some other things too. But I do try to get good produce when possible, which leads me to my list! I don't really have a significant reason for writing this list, but I just wanted to write about my favorite places to get food. Obviously, food from a garden is ideal. It's just so good! But these are other places that make me happy to buy food! I'm including several types of things because why not!?

1. The farmer's market!  I am a huge fan of farmer's markets! I love the atmosphere! I love the vendors! I love the food! I am so happy to be back in farmer's market season. November through May are tragic months. 
2. Sprout's  Sprout's is a grocery store that tries to sell healthier food. Some people I know don't like to shop there because they feel it's expensive, and some things really are, but they also have some of the best sales on delicious, high-quality produce out of any other grocery stores I've seen. I got a carton of blueberries the other day for something like 68 cents. And I believe I got a highly delicious mango for 50 cents. Sprout's is good.
3. Costco  I think Costco holds a nostalgia factor for me. I mean, I feel like I went there almost every week growing up. Some of their produce isn't always the best, but some of it is wonderful. I love brussels sprouts, and the kind that Costco has is usually the small kind, which is my preference, and the price is great! And sometimes raspberries get cheap, and it's awesome! Also, this isn't produce, but Costco sells brie cheese for the best price. Mmm, brie. 
4. Pizzeria Limone  This is my favorite restaurant. It is so good. I like pizza, but I wouldn't say it's my favorite food at all. However, this restaurant, man. It has pizza with blackberries on it! And a pizza with egg on it! It might all sounds weird, but it is tasty.
5. Yuki  I talked about Yuki in my last post. Go there! Just do it now! It's the best! 
6. The Orange Peel  Smoothies are like heaven. At least, to me. And Orange Peel has the best smoothies. 
7. Lots of other restaurants and places!  Ok, so, like I said, I really love food. There are probably about 15 more places I could put on here. Some I can thin of right now are Cupbop, Gourmandise, farm stands on the side of the road, and Cubby's. I also really highly enjoy cooking and baking. And to be honest, homemade food beats out restaurants in nearly all cases. 

FOOD!!

Recent happenings

I should be sleeping, but I feel this longing to read or write, and writing is going to win out since I'm not loving the book I'm reading.

Independence day this year was on a Saturday, which meant I had a long weekend because I got Friday off. It was an awesome weekend. I went to Freedom Festival, made smoothies with friends, went swimming at a reservoir, went to a movie, went to the parade, went to Colonial Days, and went to Stadium of Fire! And on Sunday, I went home and ate with my family and watched some hilarious old home videos. I spent time with a bunch of friends and ran into an unexpected friend at the parade. It was seriously one of the best weekends of my life. I loved it so much. I love my family and friends!

So, my friend told me that there was a podcast that went over every chapter of Harry Potter. This is totally up my alley. Harry Potter-related things make me happy. I didn't look into it for a long time, but I like to do things I enjoy on my lunch break, and one day this week, I decided to start listening to the podcast on my lunch break. It makes me laugh. I don't agree with everything the guys say, and sometimes it's weird, but, yeah, it makes me laugh! If anyone is interested, it's called The Chapter Titles Were So Good. Happy.

This week hasn't been too extremely eventful. But I did have a test on Tuesday, and today I figured it would be fully graded, and I checked, and I got 90 out of 90! What!? Sweet! And tonight was fun.

Jordan and I have been going to Yuki a lot. Yuki is the bomb. If people don't know what it is, it's a shaved ice place where the syrups are homemade, made out of real fruits and herbs and vegetables. Oh how I love it! Everyone should go! Do it now!

Hmm, other thoughts from recently . . . I feel like the summer is going by really quickly, but there are so many things I want to do! I really want to go to a baseball game. I also want to go camping.

Also, people are really cool. I was talking to an old friend the other day, and people are just really cool. And sometimes life is hard. So, kindness is the best thing.

Ok, I suppose I'll go to bed now. I do have work in the morning. So, that's all for tonight!

June Highlights

Oh, well, hello! I haven't written on here in a little while. I mean, I did start a few posts, but then I didn't get around to finishing and posting them.

So, as June is about to end, I wanted to write about some of my thoughts and events from this month!

June is one of my favorite months. My birthday is at the beginning of June, and I try my best to always make that a delightful day. This year was no different! This month has also been full of other fun and exciting summery things.

On my birthday, I went to brunch with Jordan at Bruges. I got a cinnamon waffle with raspberries and cream, and Jordan and I shared frites. The food was so good. I then went to go to the temple. It was an incredibly beautiful day, so I decided to sit outside the temple for a little bit to just enjoy the beauty of the day, and this sweet older woman came over and talked to me. She told me about some miracles that have taken place in her life, and she was so sweet and unique. I loved her. After the temple, I went to Costco. Now, that may seem like a boring thing to do for a birthday celebration, but I was there to buy something that I really love--flowers. Then I went to the BYU Museum of Art. I had been wanting to see the Japanese exhibits there for a while. It was lovely, as usual. I also gave flowers to people I saw, and that was a lot of fun. Some people were really weirded out, and it amused me. I went and read at the park for a little bit, and that was really fun and relaxing. Then, at 6 or so, my friend Taylor was picking me up to go get snow cones. We went, and then, she took me over to my friend's place, supposedly to just say hi, but really, there was a surprise party for me! I've always wanted a surprise party! Jordan was so wonderful to invite my friends, and I just feel so much love and gratitude for all my friends who took time out of their day for me! Man, I could go on for a long time about my birthday, but I'll conclude for now. I received presents and well wishes that made me feel loved, and I just loved it!

So, other things that have filled this month include Yuki shaved ice with Jordan a few times and also with Camilla. As Jordan said, you know it's a good life when the man who sells you snow cones knows who you are and chats with you whenever you come.

I saw Mary Poppins at the Scera, and it was incredible! I really loved the messages of the musical. I again heard a song from the musical this past weekend, and the line of the song has really stuck with me over the past few days--"Anything can happen if you let it." I can make things happen with my actions, and that is really empowering. Also at the Scera, Jordan, Renae, and I saw Sergio Mendes. He's a Brazilian musician. We didn't really know any of the songs, but it was still really fun.

I saw Diamond Rio with my mom. It was so great! I love them! It's like my childhood.

This past week/weekend, I went to St. George with my mom. It was crazy hot, like 115 degrees on Friday. However, we remedied the heat with Orange Peel smoothies and frozen custard and air conditioning and fun. We went to two different shows at the Tuacahn. I had never been there before. I seriously think that whoever envisioned the amphitheater was a genius. I love how the backdrop is the red rock. They didn't just build an amphitheater in the red rock area; they used the beautiful red rocks to be part of the amphitheater. We saw When You Wish and Beauty and the Beast. I honestly expected to like Beauty and the Beast better because it has a more structured story. However, When You Wish was one of the most fun things I've ever seen! It is a whole bunch of Disney songs all rolled up in one show. It made me so happy, and I'd probably feel open to seeing it 20 times. My mom is the best, and it was so fun hanging out with her there, and it was so kind of her to take me down there.

I also went to the pool a few times this month and went to the rodeo. I went to the SLC farmer's market and the Provo farmer's market. It's been a really fun month. I love summer!

Personality tests

Today at church I overheard some acquaintance friends talking about some personality test they had taken. I perked up at this conversation because I love personality tests. I could spend hours researching and learning about personalities from personality tests. I just think they're so fun and interesting. Some personality tests are more accurate than others. Some are better at describing personalities than others. The less good ones can still be fun, but the good ones are just amazing to me. 

And then I sometimes have this moral dilemma (that might actually be a dramatic thing to call it . . . ) about how I shouldn't think about it too much because I shouldn't limit myself to what personality tests say, and I also shouldn't stereotype people into classifications like that. However, I feel like personality tests can be taken and looked at with the realization that people have their own agency and experiences that can shape their actions and thoughts, but maybe some of the best personality tests can help us better understand, at least to some small extent, ourselves and others. I know that with some of the personality tests that I've taken, I'll read the description about myself, and think, "Yes! This is totally how I feel, but I just have never put it into words!" And I feel like that thought is one of my favorite things. Finding the right words feels like something powerful. 

So, yeah, personality tests are one thing on my long list of favorite things. I didn't have the chance to ask these friends what the test was, but I'll have to talk to them and take it!