quinoa wrap

Here's my current favorite recipe using quinoa for those who were asking. So far out of the four people I know who have tried this, they have all loved it! It's seriously sooo good and so good for you (I think)! Here's the recipe I got the idea from, and then I tweaked it a little bit (carrot hater over here) to make it taste better and also easier to roll up. 

XOXO
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a happy list: 46

When Trixie is standing in the doorway, and I go to leave the room, and she backs up instead of turning around hahaha / Sitting in the bathroom during Jake's showers when it's all steamy / Grape-apple Martinelli's / Marshmallow Santas / Baking + cooking night with Mila (Can that be a weekly thing please?) / Getting back into photography (if you know of any super good models in the Utah County area, let me know) / Painting my nails with new colors / Finally sewing clothes that have been in my "fix" pile for yearssss / QUINOA. Enough said. / Celebrating another New Year's Eve with my bb

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Funny things people have said…

(Mila was cradling a swaddled Trixie and rocking her in the rocking chair. We were sitting in silence.) *Looks up from staring at Trixie Baby* "I feel like I'm going to be a good mom."

The general conversation that revolved around my mother's disapproval of me giving Skully catnip, seeing as "it makes cats be crazy!"

My grandma (via text): "Very cute picture of the cat!! Are you sure they weren't talking about Tricia?"

Mila (via text after leaving my house): "Omg I just realized that Skully is probably in like her teen rebllion stage and she doesn't know what's best for her you know?"

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Here's some internet things to make you happy! If you didn't already love Taylor Swift, watch this video and you will. / The fact that solo weddings exist in Japan. / Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's New Year's Eve song. They are like, the most perfect indie duo haha. / 100% of all the photography on this website. 

project 365 / 1-3

I saw this idea on Kaylah's blog and thought it would be fun this year, since I'm pretty much done with school and can dedicate more time to photography. 

Day 1: I finally got to meet and shoot with my hair role model. The sunset when we were leaving was so so so pretty. I have probably taken way too many sunset photos, but I just can't help myself! 

Day 2 / I did a small shoot for a deal Dana Leigh Apparel ran on Saturday. Needless to say I have been wearing this shirt non-stop ever since. Judge me. 

Day 3 / I finally made heart waffles with my heart waffle maker! I threw some Abbie and Ellie Kneader's syrup on there and it was basically a small heaven. Also, the waffle maker has a little beep that goes off when the waffle is done. BURNED WAFFLES NO MORE!!! I care so much about it. Sooo much. 

Funny story: Someone left a typed note in our mailbox about Skully. Here are some very real excerpts from it.   "Please accept my observation in the spirit in which is it intended: not to be critical but to encourage you to provide proper protection for your pet by establishing regularly a warm environment in the winter and a cool one during the hot summer months." "Thank you so much."

There was a little more to it than that, but I will spare you. They signed it with their first initial and last name, but we still have no idea who it is. So, I'm posting this in hopes that whoever wrote the letter will  see it and know the truth! She has been hanging around the neighborhood for quite a while as neighbors have informed us, so she handles winter somehow (although it's freezing and I have no idea how). Also, if the Note Writer only knew how many hours I have sat out there with her trying to get her to eat from my hand haha. When I first started taming her she wouldn't come out if she could see us. When we pulled up in the driveway she would hide and wouldn't come out. Now she will come out and eat in front of us, but still won't let us pet her. She will come inside if I put her food dish inside, but that's about it.

Anyways, so I bought her a little bed and some cat nip (which led to the funniest conversation with my mom) in hopes that the Note Writer would be able to see that we are not choosing for her to stay outside, rather she is crazy wild and will not come inside the house.

So, that was that. Good intentions I think, but they obviously don't know how obsessed I am with cute animals haha, because if Skully was a friend I would be allllll over that ish. So, if you know who wrote it, let them know I am working on it and hopefully she will be domesticated soon…ish. :)

XOXO

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celebrations

I don't know about everyone else, but I for one am so sick of seeing "year in review" posts haha. So, I'll spare you and share photos from our New Year's Eve instead. If you really want to read about my year, the archive link is on the sidebar ;)

Anyways, whoever invented the idea of giving gift cards to college students is a GENUIS! We went to Chili's and enjoyed a very tasty meal complete with The Molten, which is in my opinion the best dessert of all the desserts at all the restaurants. (Except maybe the chocolate pudding at Cafe Trio. I still dream about that stuff.)

We stopped by Jake's friend's party for a little while, and then headed home to get our teen adventure on by watching Moral Instruments. Can we talk about Lily Collin's eyebrows for a second? Sometimes they are so perfect I cry, but then sometimes they are like, 100% too big. So, that's weird to me. 

Also, if you have not yet tried the Apple-Grape Martinelli's then you are seriously missing out some very real happiness.

And lastly, what movie night would be complete without the cutest small angel of the world? (Not the phone, Trixie. Hahahah.)

I've never really been a "resolutions!!!!" person, because I find that if I just tell myself I am going to play the piano more as opposed to "play the piano every day!" then I usually end up doing better at the goal haha. So, I'm thinking I might make very vague goals this year, and see where that gets me. Pretty much the only goal I reached from last year was to get above a 3.0 every semester, so yay for that! Jake on the other hand is just like, "Hmmm, I haven't run a lot before, but this year I am going to run a half marathon." Then he like, gets out of bed the next day and runs 6 miles. Men, am I right? Like, can you share some of that manly strength and endurance with my baby body please? 

Anyways, 2014 was good! Not for any specific reason, but just because it was another wonderful year I got to spend with my lovely, lovely bb. Also, we went to New York and my dreams of living there were VERY solidified haha. So, hopefully 2015 will bring some equally awesome things!

XOX0

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from the iPhone

I don't know why, but if there are ever more than like, 100 pictures on my iPhone I feel so disorganized until I transfer them all to my computer and put them in their respective folders.

I love putting my fisheye lens up to my iPhone. 

Study breaks with Trixie.

I made a study spot on the floor and Trixie was like, so confused as to why I was laying on the floor and she was laying on the couch. Also, it's important to note I fell asleep studying right after this picture was taken and lost like 4 hours of precious study time.

Living in leggings, eating easy food on the Christmas plate we made at Color Me Mine. Pretty much the basics of finals week, right?

I got Trixie doggie bacon and she gets like, so excited every time I give her a piece.

The view of BYU after I finished the last final that actually mattered. So yay! 

But then we had to stay in Provo all day. Like, for 12 hours... So, obviously we got Provo Bakery donuts for date #6 to make the day better. 

Date #7: We never got around to trying the Cronuts in New York, but the one's at Bianca's French Bakery in Orem are prettttttty delish.

Date #8: I love how most of our dates were food. Chocolate chip bagels and orange juice… A must!

My birthday cake! I'm glad I finally had an excuse to make a rainbow cake. 

Date #9: The most delicious raspberry cream cheese croissant from Kneader's and looking at Christmas lights. We happened upon a dancing lights house! It was so perfect. Jake had never seen one before!

I will never have too many pictures of my dog.

It snowed one morning on my way home from work and the temple looked so so pretty with all the frosted trees. Also, this is what laying in bed all day will do to your topknot. I swear, Jake will braid my hair in like the tighest, most perfect braids and every morning when I wake up my hair is so crazy. A part of me wonders what I do when I'm sleeping to wreck it so hard.

Lastly, my constellation mug! The constellations light up when you pour hot liquid in it. I can't even express my love for it. Morning cocoa has never been so enjoyable.

christmas snippets

You know those dreams you have where everything goes exactly how you want it to go? Like you want to fly on a broomstick (my personal favorite) and then all of the sudden there is a broomstick and you're flying on it? Well, that is literally how this Christmas was. Everything went 100% according to our planned schedule and it was so amazing. Here's some snippets of our holiday!

Even the meanest of cats get delicious food on Christmas eve.

But, then they get sassy and demand you bring the food to them, but you resist because you remember you have an amazing dog and also that you hate cats.

These are three very real, very unedited pictures of the sunset on our way to dinner Christmas Eve. UTAH IS BEAUTIFUL.

My brother won a package of those giant Reese's! Also, he left them here so needless to say I will be enjoying literal 1 pound giant Reese's for the next week or so (because who knows how long it takes to actually eat the whole thing, ya know).

Our pajamas turned out pretty decent, if I do say so myself. There's just something about matching pajamas that makes me so happy hahahaha.

IT SNOWED CHRISTMAS MORNING SO THAT'S HOW I KNOW MOTHER NATURE LOVES US.

The cutest dinner date and the yummiest dinner at Buca Di Beppo! I'm not the biggest italian cream soda fan there ever was, but MAN. Those italian sodas are something else. The cream is like, literally form the clouds of heaven, I swear.

Ah, the lights at Temple Square. They were such a nice way to end our quiet Christmas Day! I am loving those lights on the water. Sooooo pretty. 

All in all, I'd say Christmas was a success!

XOXO

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a happy list: 45

The new reusable mugs at Starbuck's / Giving Trixie and Skully gourmet pet food / When I  found out Skully isn't scared of Trixie / Lounging in bed all day with bb / Grape-apple sparkling cider / Jake's family's fondue dinner / Little baby snowflakes quietly falling all day (FAVORITE) / Ghirardelli minis / Getting organized after the Christmas madness / The portrait of Trixie my sister-in-law gave us for Christmas 

Here's some internet things to make you happy!

This at home shoot of my cute friend and her husband. Aren't they perfect? And isn't the photography perfect? / This GoPro video a guy took of what his dog does when he isn't home

Yay for Christmas break! I'm loving all this time to do nothing at all haha. It's the best. Jake and I have been lounging all day. I took some photos of a bloggy friend, edited, and hung out in bed while Jake played X-Box. So, it's a winning day in our books.

XOXO

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at last, my love has come along

Do you ever tell yourself, "Ok, once I finish ___ I am going to start ____ again." Well, pretty much that was me throughout college. I'm not done yet, but I'm also no longer doing tons of classes, so I want to start doing my nails again! I used to do them every Sunday and it was so fun to be constantly switching it up! I want to get back to that, ya know?

I saw this "winterize your nails" color swatch by Julep and thought it would be fun to do winterish nails!

I'm slowly but surely getting better at taking in focus pictures of my nails haha. Anyways, I'm pretty sure Kaylah is the queen of Awesome-Nails-Land, but I do hope one day (with much practice and effort) to be at least half as good as she is! Here's some tips about how to keep your nails healthy in the winter too, if your nails have been small babies about the cold.

If you're needing to treat yoself to some new colors, Julep's got some amazing colors!

XOXO

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winter hikes = luh

For one of our 12 dates of Christmas we hiked battlecreek falls in Pleasant Grove! It was amazing and easy (because I am a small baby who can not do exercise-related things well) and basically just perfect. Shall we begin with the photo diary?

Ummmmmm, look at that fog. Like, it is seriously so majestic and wonderful that in this moment as I type this I am experiencing such strong feelings of appreciation for this wonderful world that we live in.

Do you ever take a photo and it's wayyyyy underexposed? That's how this one was. It was black. I played around with it in Photoshop and I think it looks kind of cool.

Scarf by bae. I'm obsessed with it so much. I've wanted a red plaid scarf for so long, and at long last I own one! Just in time for the chilly, snowy weather. 

Now, just enjoy these nature photos.

LIKE SERIOUSLY UTAH OK YOU WIN. 

Also, here is a picture we took when we got to the top. We just followed the trail on my app and there wasn't anything really majestic where it ended. But, it was snowing and I was proud of my baby legs and I was feeling extra love for Jake and his encouragement so, that was majestic enough for us.

The snow was so perfect. I was scared it wasn't going to snow on Christmas, but alas that tricky Mother Nature just likes to keep us on our toes I suppose. (Rhyme?)

OK THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART. There is a place called The Truffle Cottage and it's in Pleasant Grove, Utah and it is LITERALLY THE MOST AMAZING PLACE. We passed it on our way up to the hike and decided to stop by on our way back. The truffle on the left is Oreo, then chocolate, and in the back that is a BRAIN. It was strawberries and cream and underneath the top layer of chocolate there was even a little layer of red jelly like the meninges (?)!!!! I guess that could be gross, but I finished my behavioral neurobiology and met my grade goal, so I felt like it was the perfect way to celebrate haha.

Anyways! Please go hike battlecreek falls if you're in Utah! It's amazing and so so so so so pretty. Like, #tumblrworthy. Kidding… but like it really is so gorgeous and it's not even that hard of a hike.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas! Gosh, I know Jake and I felt a little guilty with how generous eveyone was to us. We truly are grateful to have such kind friends and family!

XOXO

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