Weekend with Kara

This girl has gotten me through a lot! I met her up at school and spring semester she lived right below me and lets just say after we connected through our frustrations with boys our friendship has only THRIVED. I practically talk to her everyday. Best news yet: she'll be one of my roommates when we go back to BYU-I in January!!! yesssss:]  Anywho, while we're off track she's living life in Boise working away her life at a kick butt job where she's earning lots of cha ching$$$. (I'm jealous really). And I'm living in Ogden, soooo i planned a weekend visit with a convenient stop at home on the way there and back.  I had the greatest weekend. We shopped and pampered ourselves, hung out with some new friends, went to church together and honestly just being together was the best part #truefriendship.  The weekend was topped off with a lovely stop at home.  I love it. And I love my family. Moral of the story to walk away with: Great weekend trip!

Jessi Cray & Kara Smack <3

Celebrating 20 years of life!

September 1st was my 20th birthday and i must say it was a grand ol time. First off, i was surprised by a visit from my parents! They picked me up from work on friday (which i was not expecting) and we went off to eat at the delicious Ruby River. One of the things i was looking forward to my birthday was the fact that it was my only break day for 2 1/2 months on this no sweets contract. (and that will be the reason for all the pictures of the sweets i ate within the 24 hour period. Honestly by the end of the day i felt utterly disgusting!) At ruby river i got  free desert and it was DELICIOUS and i could actually eat it! i called it a mini pazookie:]

On my actual birthday I had a good friend Emily come to Utah because her family was going to this play/musical and it happend to be in Salt Lake on my birthday AND they had an extra ticket!!

So we went to the musical 9 to 5 which was pretty cool cause it was in a round stage/theater. I had never seen one like that before! Then we ate at Macaroni Grill. 

MMM! so fun. then off to shop at the new city creek mall and spent 3 hours in only 2 stores, Forever 21 and H&M. Unfortunately our trip wasn't as successful as we hoped but i did get some accessories! My favorite are these classy shades.

That's not where it ended! We finished off with a cheesecake that i so badly wanted to make and i got the recipe from a good friend Dustin Boyd. Let me tell ya....it's some goooood stuff!

This birthday was spectacular! i have so many good friends who texted me, Facebooked me, called and Skyped me.  I love them all so dearly and i realized i have some pretty amazing friends and i'm sure some people are jealous that i get to call them my BEST FRIENDS!  Even all my family called or Skyped. They are the best.  With all these amazing people in my life i really felt loved and that is what i think made it one of the best birthdays. I felt like i was glowing with happiness:]

The Contract

I signed my life away. Just kidding. I actually signed away to sweets! Yeah see i'm trying this new thing where from about the middle of August to the end of the year 2012 i will eat no sweets. To clear things up it's not no sugar, it's NO SWEETS. (cake, ice cream, brownies, cheesecake, sno cones, fro yo, candy bars, etc...) I would normally find this impossible to do however i have a trustworthy friend doing this with me! so not only does it make me obligated to do it, we also came up with consequences if one of us so decides to break and eat something sweet. Hence, "The Contract".  The lovely Kara Smack typed it up and pretty much if one of us breaks we have to take the other out to a movie and dinner date.  
For me it had to go farther cause so what if you have to blow 20 bucks, sometime i'm sure a brownie would be worth it if that was the only consequence. SOoooo we came up with this nice catch: whoever breaks first must call their ex of the other's choosing and sing T-Swift's We are Never Ever Getting Back Together.  It's a good song and i suggest checking it out but who wants to sing it to their ex?! The funny thing is my ex is her best friend, and her ex is one of my best guy friends.  This is enough to get me to not eat a single sweet until the end of the year.  Humiliation would be a killer consequence. We do realize that this is extremely strict and probably impossible if we didn't have any break days so we set aside 3: My birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas but that's it! It's a challenge but totally worth it cause it will prove to myself self control:]

Let's stick with the Theme of CHANGE

I painted my bedroom. (see post below)

I've moved to Utah and live with my grandparents. 

I'll be making all new friends seeing as i don't know a soul around these parts of Utah. 

I started a new job at:

I'll be taking my first ever online class. 

My birthday's right around the corner and i'll soon be 20. 

My best friend who I've never been away from longer than 2 weeks is leaving for China for 4 months. 

And i upgraded my "Yeep"

to this baby...... 

Change-It's the only constant thing in life.
<3

Pinterest put to work

Change.  Sometimes it's nice to switch things up a bit. Such as my room! I've had the same look going in my room for at least 5 years and I wanted to do something drastic.  As I was browsing Pinterest (which is quite often) i found a cool idea and i've decided i wanted to be one of those people who actually tries to do a mojority of the things i post. So after a couple days of work this was the result and i must say that i absolutely LOVE it!! :) thank you Pinterest and your wonderful ideas.

BEFORE:

AND AFTER:

It's amazing what a brush and some paint will do:)

I love these girls.  All of them.  They were so good to live with cause they kept all the rules, cleaned up the apartment, kept a great spirit in our apartment, supported me when i was nervous to teach lessons at church, comforted me when i needed it, and made me laugh, smile, and enjoy life.  Thanks girls for all you've done to not only be great roommates but also my friends:]

I see the light!

Less than two weeks until I finish my first year of college! woop woooop:] it's bittersweet. I've learned so many things in the past 7 months that have forever changed me for my life ahead. So many things I couldn't possibly list them or even think of them all off the top of my head, but nonetheless i'm forever changed.
  I can't wait for my visit, which is the week after i'm done with school, to New mexico to my brother and his adorable family!! after that my life is an unexplored adventure and i have no idea what to expect or where to go. It's going to most definitely be an adventure....and you know what? I think i'm ready for it.