Autumn Days are Here Again

Woo Hoo! It’s officially autumn! The weather has been so perfect lately that I really don’t want it to change yet. But I’ve been getting antsy for fall weather to get here. I see the leaves starting to change colors and I’ve needed a slightly warmer blanket at night.

I’ve already got plans for how I’m going to hibernate through the fall/winter season. There are a couple tv shows I want to catch up on, books to read (of course), and baking to do. I’ve been looking for soup recipes to try and this year I think I’m going to try making my own hot chocolate just to see how it compares.  I think I’ll also work on finishing a couple crafty projects I have laying around. Really, this is my favorite time of year and I’m so happy it’s here again.

Living the good times

A few years ago I made myself a collage on a piece of poster board and titled it “My Motivation to be Healthy”.  I hung it up in my bathroom. It was my way of reminding me why I wanted to take care of myself both physically and emotionally. It’s full of pictures of places I want to travel, clothes, motivational sayings, family, books, tv shows… just things that I like.  It’s still got some space and every once in a while I’ll add to it.  I took a good look at it the other day and realized something. I’ve told myself for so many years that I will be able to do certain things or go certain places when I am a certain way or a certain weight, etc.  But there are so many pictures on that board that I’ve already done.  I’ve been to Italy, Machu Picchu, concerts…done things with my family.  There are still a lot of things on the board I haven’t done but it’s not because of what I weigh or anything else.  I just haven’t got to them yet.  I’m glad that regardless of what I tell myself, I haven’t let these ideas that I’m not good enough stop me from actually doing the things I want to do.  I’ve been living my life while I was telling myself that one day I’ll really be living my life.

Anyway, all those things on my motivation board are still really good reasons to take care of myself and be healthy and keep working towards it (and they really have helped motivate me). But instead of waiting for the good times, I’m going to be more diligent in realizing that I’m actually living the good times.

Perfume

I love to wear perfume.  I wear a different perfume everyday depending on what I feel like, the weather, or what seems to go with what I’m wearing. I was in heaven when I discovered I can buy perfume samples on the internet. I haven’t counted how many I have but without seeing them I could name over 20. I have a problem, I know.  :)

Usually my favorite scents are the clean ones. I like green and citrusy scents. I like floral and other fruity scents too. Spicy and oriental scents are my least favorite but I do sometimes like them. I don’t like powdery and rose scented perfumes and I don’t like to smell like vanilla. But I’m really open to trying anything. It just depends on the individual fragrance and what I’m in the mood for.  Ha ha… and since my moods change, small bottles and samples are really great for me. 

My favorite perfumes right now are:

• Stella by Tocca – love the citrus in it
• After My Own Heart by Ineke – starts with lilac, one of my favorite flowers but I love how it smells on me after the drydown
• Sea and Sky by TokyoMilk – this is another one that I just love after the drydown
• Dahlia and Vines by Nest - fairly new to my collection, it combines flowers with green and I like it but it is really strong and must be used sparingly

There are a bunch more that I really like but those are the ones that I seem to come back to or have actually purchased regular bottles of.

Today I’m wearing Ed Hardy Love & Luck. I like it but I’ve had the bottle for years and I’m kind of tired of it. The bottle is almost empty though so periodically I get it out and try to use it up.

Life is Good

Sometimes life gets extremely busy. I’ve been busy lately which is good and bad. I was talking with my sister the other day about how busy she is. She’s now got 3 kids in school and a 1 year old at home. Spencer is in boy scouts now and Livi has achievement days twice a month and my sister is trying to figure out bus schedules and manage her little family. While I don’t have kids, I still have a household to manage.  The advantage is that I can just talk to myself to get everything figured out.  I love the scripture in Ecclesiastes 3:1 that says: To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. I like how life goes in seasons and cycles.

I’ve been busy managing my time since earlier this summer when I was asked to be the relief society president in my ward. I’m learning to love it but it has been a big adjustment for me to give up time that I had to do other things. 

One of the things that had me a little busy this past month has been the temple open house. I was able to volunteer as an usher a couple times and then I’ve had the opportunity to play the piano in the visitor’s tent. It’s been fun and I’m glad our temple is ready to be open again soon.  We took the kids to see it one night and then had to go for ice cream.

 

Anyway, life is good. Not without problems but really, really good.

I love rainy Saturdays

I spent the week in Charlotte, NC for work. I had a couple days of meetings and then because of when my flight out left, I did a little shopping and just enjoyed the afternoon. Now I'm home and it's a rainy, thunderstormy afternoon. And I love it.

I'm actually sitting in my spare bedroom where my bookcases are and I'm going through my books. I went to the library book sale this morning and picked up a few good finds. But I think it's time to purge again. Usually a purge will take me a couple hours because I find books I forgot I had or hadn't thought of in a while and I end up skimming to my favorite parts. So yeah, I'm basically reading bits and pieces of many books and I love it. It's an absolutely perfect way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Family Camping Trip

I spend the last weekend (really 5 days) camping with my family in Logan Canyon. It was fun and I love being with my family. We did a little hiking and playing in the river. The hike was hot and the river was cold but both were fun.

 

We hiked up to the Wind Caves one day.

The kids had a good time although I think they didn't expect it to be so hard for them. They did great though.  I just realized that I didn't get many pictures of the other kids. Oh well. :)

Fourth of July

I spent the 4^th of July weekend in the Uintah Mountains with my sister and her dog, Charlie. After the excitement of the Inca trail, I found myself purchasing gear for a backpacking trip. We were trying to do a trip to King’s Peak, which is Utah’s highest peak but that fell through and in hindsight I’m glad it did. I believe it is better that my first real backpacking trip was only 13.2 miles. Well, I consider the Inca trail a “real backpacking trip”, but this is the first one since I was a teenager where I carried all my own stuff.

We hiked up to Amethyst Lake, which sits about 10,740 elevation wise.  The hike is really not that hard although I did feel the elevation a little bit. It starts out pretty level with some minor ups and downs. Then a couple miles in the trail forks and we took the path up the mountain, which was the hardest part. It wasn’t super steep, but it was all uphill over a really rocky trail.  Then it leveled out again for a bit until we arrived at the meadow and lake below Amethyst. That’s where we made camp for the night.

 

We set up camp and rested a bit then we got up to explore again until it was time to make dinner.  In the morning we left camp after breakfast and hiked the last little bit to Amethyst Lake.  Then we packed back up and headed down the mountain.

 

 

 

Once we got down we put everything in the car and drove along Mirror Lake highway. It was a busy weekend. We had decided to camp one more night in a campground and we found a good place at the Trial Lake campground.   Then in the morning we packed up and went home.

 

The trip was fun. Again I’ve realized I don’t really love hiking (especially with the heavier pack) but I do like to be in the mountains and Amethyst Lake is just one of those places you can’t get to without using your feet (or a horse, if you have one).  I really wish I would have taken my book on the hike, but after putting my pack on, I didn’t want even a tiny bit of extra weight. We had some downtime that I could have used to read. We also didn’t light a fire the first night and I just really like campfires. I don’t know why, but sitting around a camp fire staring in to the flames is one of the most relaxing things.

 

It won’t be my last backpacking trip, especially after I bought some of the gear (although some I needed or has multiple uses) but I probably won’t do another one this year.  I am planning on a couple smaller day hikes when my family goes camping.  I don’t necessarily love hiking but I do like the views from the top and the physical activity is good for me.