swagnar.

Two posts in one day? Who am I? 

So yesterday I signed up to run the Ragnar Relay in Las Vegas in two months with some friends. Seriously, who am I. We know I'm not a runner. I've tried. But I promised myself earlier this year that I'd do a half marathon before I turn 25 {25!}, and while this isn't necessarily that, all my legs combined will be a little more than 13 miles. So I'll count it. Plus we know I'm all about the free t-shirts, and Ragnar comes with those and a MEDAL.

So as I've said quite a few times before, I never thought my body was made to do long distances. As a tennis player and dancer all growing up, I was used to shorter spurts of energy. So this is a little scary terrifying. But I'm also really excited to push myself. I went for a run today, and while it wasn't very long at all, it was a little tough. But I pushed through and as I ran up the steps to my apartment with the Rocky theme song playing {you know you do it too}, it felt awesome! 

So here's my question to anyone who might read this who runs {I'm still convinced the only people who read are my mom and dad}. How do you train for a 5K/10K/half marathon/marathon? I'd love the advice, and I'll love you forever. I feel like running is one of those things where everyone has their own opinion, so I'm trying to hear as many as I can. Please and thank you. Now I'm off to stretch my achey legs. 

number 21.

Last night at 2:30am, in between wanting to go to bed and procrastinating it, I applied for a job in this city. Just for fun, although it would be a dream job. Feeling a little over-confident {as one does at 2:30am}, I thought that my resume rocked, my cover letter was impeccable, and my writing samples were the perfect mix of snarky and informational, just like the application asked for. 

Will I get the job? Eh, I doubt it. But it sure would be a dream come true for me. You all know how I feel about London {and here and here}. It was fun just doing something a little bit adventurous and a little out of my comfort zone. And it was nice to be able to check something off my 24 things list. 

But, you know, in the off chance that I do get the job, anyone want to move across the pond and be my roommate?

a little birthday weekend.

Well, I hit it. The milestone 24. I'm not quite sure that it's sunk in yet. I'm not in my early 20s anymore, I'm in my mid 20s. And somehow that age seems to come with responsibility. I'm excited for it — it's mature, experienced, but still young enough to not know anything. I'm not quite sure how to define it just yet.

But it was a great weekend. I spent it with the two boys above, friends, more family, and lots of sweets. My close friends threw me a birthday dinner on Saturday night {I'm a firm believer that if your birthday falls on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, you must celebrate the whole weekend}, and we enjoyed free appetizers from Patrick our waiter and some March madness upsets. Somehow sickness seems to find me whenever it's the least convenient, so I spent the weekend with a not-so-attractive cough and the voice of a prepubescent 12 year old boy.

On Sunday I sent my poor roommate to the ER after she injured herself cutting up onions for salsa for my birthday party. I'm the worst, right? And after she made me breakfast and decorated the apartment with love notes and everything. While she was getting stitched up, I had a gold-themed party and caught up with friends. The infamous Zack Oates gifted me with a 20 second birthday kiss {and of course there were no cameras around so I can't prove that it actually happened}, and we snacked on cake and brownie bites.

A few memories from the weekend:

Thank you to everyone who made that day so special. Thank you for the gifts and notes and calls and hugs. It really was a great weekend, and I can't wait to put a definition on what this year is going to be. But so far, 24 is lookin' mighty fine.

P.S. Congratulations to my roommate Brooke and her fiancé Quinn for getting engaged over the weekend!!

a little tutorial.

I am the anti-crafter. I'm just going to come out and say it. I'm not talented with a glue gun, I can't sew a straight line, Michael's and other craft stores stress me out. But I can appreciate a good craft, and one of my goals during my 24th year was to create more things. Can't be too hard, right? That's what Pinterest tells me, anyway.

I've really liked those garland/banner things that have been pretty trendy lately, and I've tried my hand at creating a few. But I've had my eye on those tissue paper garlands, and this Sunday I'm having a golden-themed birthday party, and I decided one of those might look nice with all the other gold decorations I have.

So I found this really pretty gold and white tissue paper {at a dollar store, no less}, found a few tutorials online, and got to work. And guys, it wasn't too hard! It's by no means perfect, but I really like that organic, homemade look. So it works for me. In case you're interested, here are the instructions!

^^ Take one piece of tissue paper, and fold lengthwise {hotdog style for us still in 2nd grade}.

^^ Then fold it widthwise {hamburger style}.

^^ Then fold it widthwise again, making sure the seams all meet together.

^^ Then snip strips, about a half inch to an inch wide, about 3/4 of the way up the paper, leaving about two inches uncut. DO NOT cut all the way through.

^^ Unfold the paper once and cut in half, so you're left with two snipped pieces, the seams still intact at the top.

^^ Open the fold up, and you should have three pieces, one big and two small. Cut the big piece in half lengthwise, from one end of the strip to the other. Again, DO NOT cut the seam. After, you should have four pieces.

^^ Roll each piece up tightly.

^^ Now twist each piece in the middle, looping it over. Be careful not to twist so tight that the paper tears. Once you loop it, you can add a drop of hot glue to make sure the loop stays.

And that's it! Now grab a piece of twine or string and slide the pieces on.

Sorry the lighting isn't the best, I promise it looks better during the day. :) It's a little homemade-looking, but I love that. The bits of the gold on the paper will go really nicely with the jars and vases I spray painted for my party. Pictures will follow!

And with that, birthday weekend begins.

P.S. If the instructions aren't clear, let me know! It's tricky to explain in pictures. Luckily if you mess up, the whole thing only costs about $3. My kind of craft!

colorado and how i'm going to live there someday.

For the long weekend, my roommate Rachel and I decided we wanted to get out of cold, chilly, icy Provo. She's from Colorado, so we got a group together to visit Breckenridge and Denver. I was excited to get out of here, but I was also a little skeptical. Leaving one icy tundra for another? No thanks.

But let me just eat my words here, because once we got into Denver, the temperature spiked to 60 degrees, and I forgot what snow looked like. And I saw myself really being able to live there.

Our first stop was Breckenridge, which reminded me a lot of Park City, but bigger. The stores {THE STORES!} were each so fun. So many things to look at!

For some reason I really connected with Denver and Boulder. There was something about the feel of those two cities that I fell in love with. It fit my laid-back nature perfectly. I don't quite know how to put it into words, but it felt like I was meant to be there. And that doesn't happen for me in a lot of places. 

I think sometimes I get so caught up in living where I am that I forget other places exist, other places with incredible people and things to see and learn. Places that fit me better. I'm just not cut out for where I am right now. Which is why I'm making steps to change it.

Here's to a great, too-short weekend in Colorado. I can't wait to go back.

24 things for my 24th year, 17-24.

17. Simplify. At some point this year I want to gather all my crap, and just purge wherever I can. Clothes, papers, everything. I want to be a minimalist.

18. Visit Colorado. Fun fact: half my friends are from Colorado, all by coincidence. So this has taught me that Colorado must be pretty rad. Therefore, I need to visit. My friend Rachel wants to see a concert at Red Rocks, which I'm dying to do, maybe this summer.

19. Minimize the social media. Guys, I love Instagram. I do. I love Twitter and Facebook and all those other things, but sometimes I wonder if I let them get in the way of my life. So I'm going to cut back a little bit and focus on having real, meaningful conversations with people, face-to-face.

20. Reread my mom's old journals. Before I went to college my mom let me read a few of her journals that she kept while she was at BYU, and I'd love to read them again and see how alike we really are. Because sometimes I feel like I'm mini-her.

21. Apply for a job in London, just for kicks. And if I get it? Then maybe I'll move to London. :)

22. Throw a big, bad, golden birthday party. I turn 24 on the 24th, which means this birthday is extra special. I'd also like to wear a tiara. I imagine I'd react something like this:

23. Find a place where I can have a "regular." You know in TV shows and movies where the characters are so well-known at the place they eat at that the waiters know exactly what they want already? Like that.

24. Be a better photographer. I haven't been the best at taking pictures of different events in my life, and someday I know I'll regret that. So here's to saving up for a newer, better camera, and making sure important memories get documented. 

So there it is. This is a big ol' list, and who knows if I'll be able to do all of it, but a girl can dream, right? Here's to 24, and the bangin' year it's shaping up to be.

To read 1-16, click here and here. And thanks for hanging in there with me!

24 things for my 24th year, 9-16.

9. Go on a roadtrip by myself. For some reason I've always thought it would be fun to drive back to California or somewhere else alone, with just myself, some peace and quiet, and a few books on CD.

10. Finish journal #8. I've been consistently keeping a journal since I was 11, and I've been writing in my current one for over two years. It's time to finish it.

11. Start having my journals made into books. Cool right? I figure my progeny would appreciate it {what a cool word, progeny}.

12. Buy a sewing machine. My mom made things all the time for me when I was little, including dress up clothes, Halloween costumes, and oh-so-fashionable church dresses, and that's a talent I'd like to master.

13. Master a difficult recipe. I've always loved cooking and I've collected some pretty impressive cookbooks over the years. There are a couple recipes in these books that I'm a little too terrified to try out because of the level of difficulty, but I'm going to do it.

14. Be more artsy-craftsy. This kind of goes with idea #12, but I've never been into crafting. I can appreciate a good craft, but the patience and talent to make something, I don't have. But how neat would it be to have some bangin' curtains or a bedspread or something and say, "Yeah, I made that."?

15. Watch "Star Wars" and "LOTR" all the way through. I've never been a science fiction/fantasy person {other than Harry Potter, of course}. Indiana Jones? You bet. Han Solo? Not so much. I've been told countless times I need to watch these trilogies all the way through without falling asleep. So at some point this year, I'm going to pick a Saturday, plant my flag on a couch, maybe wear a Snuggie, and watch. Want to join?

16. Get regular dental/medical/skin check-ups. Maybe this is TMI, but there are a few illnesses floating around in my extended family that I don't want. So this is going to be a priority.

The final list, 17-24, tomorrow! To see 1-8, click here.

24 things for my 24th year, 1-8.

This year I turn the big ol' 2-4. I'll be honest, I'm excited for it, but a little terrified. My mid-twenties, y'all. That's exciting and scary and amazing and incredible all at the same time. While I like where I'm at with my life, I'm not where I thought I'd be at 24. Which is okay. If I've learned anything in the last 4 or 5 years, it's that I have to trust Heavenly Father and believe that He's got a bigger plan for me. Because He does.

I'm an avid reader of C.Jane's blog, and she's doing a series of posts about the 36 things she wants to do the year she turns 36. Something about that really inspired me, so I'm jumping on that bandwagon. This took a lot of thought, because I've got so many things I want to do and it's a little overwhelming to narrow them down. But I'm going to try my darndest.

1. Read a book a month. In high school I was the girl who picked a good book over a lot of other things, and once I got to college I lost that drive because reading for fun made me feel guilty when I had homework to do. But as a post-grad, we know I've got time. On my list for this year: "Les Miserables" again, all of Malcom Gladwell's books, and most of the books on this list that I haven't read yet.

2. Spend a week in a big city. New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Seattle are a few cities on my list that I'd like to explore.

3. Learn to play the ukulele. This one is a little silly, but I have a friend who plays it when she sings to her little kids, and I love that. Plus there's something about listening to it that throws me onto a beach in Hawaii, and you can't beat that.

4. Watch more foreign films and documentaries. I want to come away from movies feeling more educated and cultured. The International Cinema was one of my favorite things about BYU, and I miss it a little bit. And Netflix is full of some interesting documentaries that I'm dying to see.

5. Get my French back. Studying that language was one of my favorite things in high school and college, and I want to be fluent. And maybe for my 25th year I'll take a trip to Paris or Nice and use it. ;)

6. Run a half marathon. I'm not a runner. I wish I was, but I've just never latched onto it. I've made the goal to do a half-marathon almost every year for a long time, but I've always given up. Not this time!

7. Go to more concerts. Seeing Coldplay last year was one of the most amazing experiences EVER {sounds cliché, I know}, but there's something about seeing and hearing the music you love up close and personal.

8. Mentor someone. I have a list of people in my life who I would consider mentors, whether they know it or not. I know how much their examples have helped me, and I'd give anything to do that for someone else.

9-16 coming tomorrow!