Sunshine Award

Danica (but for real, click that link, because her new site is amazing) seems to keep these blogger awards in constant rotation, and I've been victimized again! I'm pretty flattered to be thought of as someone who spreads sunshine around the internet, though! Sort of goes back to my post about social media here. Anyway... I'm going to be a little anti-sunshine this time. I love Danica's questions, and I want to answer them, but I'm not going to pass it along! This week is INSANE for us - the boutique is coming up on Saturday, and we leave Sunday morning (like, still dark outside, early) for PHOENIX! Did I tell you we're road tripping with Brandon to a Pearl Jam concert? I have been so excited ever since we bought tickets several months ago, and now it's finally here! But it's making our week crazy.

Anyway. I've got a little down time now, so I thought i'd answer D's hilarious questions. She's the greatest. That's why we're friends. You should play along, too. 

1. If you could only listen to one band/musical artist for the rest of your life, who would it be?

Way to start out with the hardest question ever, Danica! I have never ever created a list of favorite bands/musicians because it's just impossible to narrow it down. I'm going to answer all these questions very in-the-moment, though, so answering based off of right this moment? Augh. It's still hard. I'd say Pearl Jam, because duh. I'm on a huge PJ pre-concert kick. I'd also say The Beatles because they have enough stuff that i'd never get bored, and I'm a huge sucker for them. I'd say Sara Bareilles because I want her voice. Or I'd say Greg Laswell because I think he's genius, and super talented. We'll go with that.

2. Which Harry Potter character are you and why?

I'm really behind on my HP. I haven't read the books in a long time, and I haven't watched any of the movies for awhile, but I really think I'm Ron. He's not an idiot (most of the time), but he's also a little spacey and spastic. That's me. He's also the really loyal sidekick. I've never been the girl in a group of friends, or even a friendship, to take that "alpha" role. You know what I mean? There's always one girl who makes decisions and decide what color we wear on wednesdays, and I was never that girl. I always just quietly comply. Sort of pushover-y but not really. I think Ron's that way, but he's also got his own thing going for him, which I think I've got, too.

3. What winter fashion trend are you going to be trying this season?

I am hellbent on getting some graphic tee's in my closet, but I cannot for the life of me find any that I like?! GAH. It's been so annoying. I'm also falling very quickly for ankle booties and the one pair I have so far isn't cutting it! I need more!!!

4. Who was your best k-12 teacher? What made them great?

I had this language arts teacher my junior or maybe senior year. It was technically an English class, but she took a whole different approach. She was just so energetic and charismatic. She thought outside the box and encouraged us to do the same. It's because of this class that I ultimately decided to major in communication and print journalism once I got to college. She was just so passionate. She was obnoxious and weird but in the best way. I loved it.

5. Favorite secret/unknown/under-the-radar restaurant in Utah?

Danica, I've already taken you to or told you about most of my favorites, and I've even got some posts in the works about restaurants around Utah that I love, but I'd have to say for the sake of this question, everyone needs to make the drive up to Kamas and eat at Mirror Lake Diner. Brandon, Devin's brother is a chef there, and they have the best diner food of all the diner food ever. It's quality deliciousness. Their breakfast is absolutely perfect. I may be biased, because anything Brandon makes is ecstasy to my taste buds, but you can't deny good food. And this is good. Other options I'd say are Ekamai (thai food) in Salt Lake, or Cafe Bella Rue on SodaRow at Daybreak. Both amazing. I am a huge foodie, so I'm a good person to ask! But seriously, I've got some posts I've been working on for months that will be all Utah food destinations. And you'll thank me for it!

6. What awesome holiday traditions should I be starting with my fuzzy little family this year?

When it's just the two of us plus a dog, it's hard to have traditions of our own (we both have several traditions with our families though), but we've done what we can! We get each other an ornament every year, something that has a meaning or is so us, you know? I got Devin a camera ornament our first Christmas (because duh. and this was the year he started collecting vintage cameras.) - i started the tradition without him that year, haha. And last year, I got him a Ralphie in the bunny suit ornament (because that's his favorite chritstmas movie, and we quote it all year long) and he got me a red Hunter boots ornament, because I had actually asked for them that year, but we were really poor. That's always been fun. We also watch all our favorite Christmas movies the week of Christmas. Our favorites are A Christmas Story, The Polar Express, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. We've also been giving "The 12 Dates of Christmas" a valiant effort each year, but it's a lot of work. It's basically just a Christmas countdown, and for the 12 days before Christmas, you do a Christmas-related date/activity together. This ranged from watching synchronized light/music shows around town, seeing the lights at temple square, baking, and even just getting our christmas shopping done together. It's just nice to actually set aside time, as a couple, to celebrate. And I love stretching out celebrations as long as possible, so it works for me!

7. Do you have an inspirational quote or saying you look to when things get tough? Share please.

I'm the girl who as a young teenager, I kept one actual journal, and I kept another journal, solely filled with quotes. I have dozens of books like this, just filled with quotes. I would sit online for hours and search for them. And then pinterest came around and it's the best source for great quotes ever. My go-to quote when things get tough is actually a love quote. I value my marriage above everything else, and when I read this quote, it reminds me of what's important. It's like my own personal version of president hinckley's "forget yourself and get to work" quote. It's by Martin Luther and says "Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave." - this is like, my marriage mantra. I have always aspired to be a housewife (it's a thing. don't judge me. it's what i want.), and it's important to me that my husband always feels warmly welcomed and happy to be home. I always feel like when I can maintain my household, other things in my life will either fall into place, or will be easier to manage. When things get tough, I'm reminded what's important to me, and what steps I can take to better conquer other problems. I'm really old fashioned about this, and am so content with cleaning and cooking and raising kids while my husband works. It's that 50's lifestyle. I think it works perfectly. Does this even make sense?

And when that's not cutting it, I turn to the good old D&C. My favorite is section 101:16. "Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in My hands; be still, and know that I am God." Except I like to replace "Zion" with whatever it is that's making life so hard. Good one, right?

8. What phrase should I be using to shut up the people asking me when I'm gonna "pop out a baby"?

I know how you feel, girl. I'm getting to the point where the polite answers just aren't cutting it anymore. I could tell people we just aren't ready yet, or that maybe when Devin's done with school, but at this point, it seems like a better idea to just mess with them, right? "A baby? Oh, were not having any babies. We plan on raising dogs until we create our own breed." or "I'll have a baby when you stop [insert snarky, rude thing here like "dying your hair the color of the white hot sun" or "over tweezing your eyebrows" or "asking people such personal questions"]" - try 'em out. Let me know how those go over!

9. What are you going to ask Santa for for Christmas?

Like any good blogger, I've got a whooooole post of wish list items coming in hot in the next few weeks. Or, like I tell Devin, "just look at my pinterest boards!" - my christmas wishlist is always very broad, and covers a lot of ground, while still being pretty detailed.

10. What is something your readers don't know about you?

I love coming up with these little weird things, and I do it often, so I'm afraid I'm running this well a bit dry.... Let me think.... oh! I can wiggle my right pinky toe. By itself. It's so weird, you can't look away.