optimistic

my parents are serving an lds mission in the rome, italy mission. they are having such amazing and unique experiences. feel free to check out my mom's blog here for good reads. last night i had a hard time falling asleep, probably because I was watching the two part finale to the second season of revenge. on a totally off-topic note: the third season is starting in less than 2 weeks. i had no idea what a cool show this is! but now i'm hooked, thanks kinzee. 

anyway, last night (early this morning), i was still awake when my dad sent an email (the time difference for us is 8 hours) with quotes by william arthur ward. WOW. his quotes touch on an optimistic, gracious, inspirational feeling that i hope to one day have and fully understand. i'm not sure how many of you are into quotes (i am), but i wanted to share some of his. 

quotes by arthur william ward

"God gave you a gift of 86, 400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you ?"

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” 

"Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records."

"The optimist lives on the peninsula of infinite possibilities; the pessimist is stranded on the island of perpetual indecision."

"A warm smile is the universal language of kindness."

"Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige. It is discovered in goodness, humility, service, and character."

“Happiness is an inside job.” 

"Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate."

“Optimists enrich the present, enhance the future, challenge the improbable and attain the impossible."

“When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves."

"Today is a most unusual day, because we have never lived it before; we will never live it again; it is the only day we have."

"If you can imagine it, you can achieve it, if you can dream it, you can become it."

those of you who know me, know that i am not a woman of few words. i honestly think, though, that people who can say something so profoundly in only a few words are complete genius. this guy, arthur william ward, he gets it. he sounds very accomplished, according to wikipedia. i'm going to embrace some of this optimistic energy and you can too, if you want. and hopefully i can accomplish the laundry that's waiting to be folded.

(and a little grumpy cat, because she's good for the soul)

**wallace, ayesha and barb**

hawaii

this year mike and i wanted to go to hawaii for our one year anniversary. i feel like we've been planning this trip since my last trip to maui with my parents. they took me for my graduation present after i graduated with my bachelors in 2010. mike and i talked on the phone everyday and talked about how we would come here together. here we are.

day 1 was absolutely fantastic! we took a shuttle to rent our car from al's west maui vans- suuuuper cheap car rental in maui. have you heard of it? For 11 days we are paying $351.00. we are driving a classy, blue 2005 Dodge Neon. The only way the air conditioning keeps you cool is if you roll the windows down (aka it does not work at all haha) but we are happy with the price. no complaints here.

since we arrived in maui @730 in the morning, we were very tired from our journey. we ate "breakfast" at Sam Satos sharing a yakitori plate and a bowl of dry noodles. mike loved the guava canned juice and the sugar donut we also shared after. and he liked the food, of course because who doesn't love Sam Satos? 

then off to Costco. to buy some essentials for a good deal. then back to the hot car and a windy, beautiful drive along the coast to the condo. whales were splashing out of the ocean and we watched them the entire drive. mike was so impressed and we were both extremely excited. we made it to the condo. checked in. showered and took a little nap. Then we went to safeway to buy some household essentials and other groceries. 

we took a walk along the beach and toured around kaanapali, the places close to the condo. Took mike to the farmers market to get some mango salsa. showed him the ABC store. then we cooked dinner which we ate outside on the patio, watching the sunset and a cool big boat that slowly cruised past our view. absolutely beautiful. 

we are debating haleakala sunrise tomorrow early morning. I'm not sure i want to drive so far for it. I think snorkeling is on the agenda for tomorrow if we don't go to the summit. 

everything is so beautiful. i ask mike everyday, "can we please move here?"

(Here's mike on the beach :) love his swimming suit, don't you? )

**Sam Satos**

keepin' cool.

hello errr' body!


almost two weeks ago, mike and i moved into a new, cute basement apartment. it's the perfect size for a newly wed couple (aka: tiny) and we love it. 


the only downside to this wee, new place is that there's no central air conditioning, not even a swamp cooler. the temperature outside is just getting warmer as we are nearing the end of july, and august isn't looking much cooler. 


i've googled a lot of ideas trying to find ways to keep cool for the next month or two. as many of you know, i work for nest and have gained a scant knowledge of HVAC systems. how i understand central air is very basic; the cool air gets to our house by the compressor coils cooling and the air handler blowing that cool air through the vents. 


in the 2.0 software update for nest, a feature called airwave was announced. this feature saves energy by turning off your compressor a few minutes before your home reaches the target temperature and the fan continues to blow through the coils before they fully cool. 


sooooooo... i got creative, or crazy. i asked mike to stop by the store on his way home from work one night to buy a case of water bottles. i then froze those water bottles. once they were frozen, i placed them in a big metal bowl and put my handy dual turbo force fan behind the bowl, pointed at our bed. our room dropped 4 degrees in a matter of minutes. 

(since it's saturday i have moved the ice bowl and fan out to the living room)

our freezer is currently filled with about 50 water bottles that i continuously cycle through the metal bowl as the ice melts in each bottle. it's no perfect fix, but i like to think that it's helping! 

* hmm let's see..I'm a little over 6ft and there's three of those. sooo 6 x 3 is..92ft? that seems a little high don't you think?*

instagram

well it's 230 am and i cannot sleep, again. nervous and anxious about finding a job. and missing my man that i feel like i won't see til we are married. that's a lie-- we are going to jim gaffigan on FRIDAY! who's excited?this girl!!!!!!!!!!!! it was a birthday present from michael and how cute is he?

(photo by alexa warren and instagramed by me)

that DIMPLE on his face is just too much, too much.

soo the new thing i'm gonna try is instagram. i have shared or posted, or whatever you do, 4 pictuers. and mike is in hardly any of them. hah, another lie.

i have been staying up late looking for apartments and jobs. my concern about a march wedding is finding the perfect place. we are looking to live in the provo/orem area and most contracts are set on college semesters, it seems, and march is the middle of everything. so tomorrow i am going to go look and see who can wait for a march move in, or mid february ish. any ideas and or suggestions are more than welcome!

the job thing is awful--what's up with that?

soooooo if you want to see all my cool posting on instagram, feel free to find me! i can't promise to be amazing, but it'll be fun, kinda. maybe that's another lie? stay tuned, folks.

**golds movies**

101 & some things...

there are exactly 101 days until mike and i[ke] get married. some days that feels like waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many (most days) and then there are others where i can't believe it's soo soon. i need to find a dress, still. blah-- i mostly want to be a million times skinnier for my wedding which is why i'm putting off finding my dress. i should just go find a winner.

photo by alexa warren. soooo much talent in this girl!



a huuuuge thanks goes out to my amazing, talented sister, shelly. she is my wedding planner and i would be lost, confused, and crying in a corner without her. she is honestly, hands down, the best sister in this universe. she's got a beautiful smile and the best answers to everything--even if i don't ask. she lives her answers. i love you, shelly.

another win for michael in the settlers of catan department. we went to kemp's on sunday and played four people on a small board--out of control. and 5's were being rolled left and right. i think he cheated, yeah, we'll go with that : ) i'm sure kemp and whitney would completely agree.

paul and geri are on a cruise with my gma and gpa. i hope they bring me a mexican treasure. like a bracelett, or tanning lotion--a girl can only dream.

black friday was a success for best buy murray this year. and it was a long day-- we were opened for 23 hours. yucky. we hit some great goals though : ) *brushing shoulders off*

CHRISTMAS!:

christmas is in the air and i am soooo happy about it! i love seeing a christmas tree everyday and seeing lights as i drive in the evenings. the merry tunes play at best buy. life just doesn't get better than this. 


*hogle zoo*

surprise

we got to share in the festivities of brenda (momma jones)'s surprise 50th. i'd say it was a huge success!

surprise birthdays are some of the happiest magic, in my opinion. i have had many a surprise on my birthdays and it really is wonderful. mostly, i'm thinking of all the years my mom worked so hard to surprise me on my birthday. but i also had fabulous roommates and friends surprise me throughout my years. my 17th birthday is standing out pretty prominent in my mind right now. and my 19th. 

and i think surprises are great for relationships. surprise notes are better than burried treasure. surprise cupcakes are a dream come true. surprise flowers are like your favorite flavor of hot chocolate on a snowy day. michael is money with surprises.

mike and i[ke] got our engagement pictures taken on friday by alexa!!! it was so so so so good to see her. i miss her tons and i'm sad that it was a fast visit with a very specific event because we didn't get to meander through streets and streets of conversation. she looks soo pretty (like always!) and i forget how much i love her laugh. mike commented on it a least a dozen times. i'm super excited to see how pretty she can make me. no pressure lex, but maybe a little : )

the holidays are here! can we believe it? i actually can't. it's too quick. it just sneeked right up. i think mike just got home from work and i'm going to kiss attack him. sorry for the quick ending. loves

obsessed.

soo there is this picture of mike jones. i'm obsessed with it. it's prob the hot facial hair.

but seriously, i'm obsessed. it's currently the wallpaper on my phone

: )

i'm finally on my own at good ol' texas roadhouse. i am really loving it so far. but i tend to be staying up a little later and sleeping in a bit more, which i love--no complaints from me! a few nights ago i was up super, super late on facebook and pinterest (don't worry, i stalked ALL of you) and just surfing around getting some more wedding ideas. i could not stop thinking about mike jones. soo i wrote a little note for him.

to the man who won my heart,

as i read people's posts about falling in love and out of love strewn about the interwebs, i think of you. i think of us. our flaws and our strenghts. when i read about a couple going through a big fight i think of us and how much hurt comes with fights. how much sadness and pain. i get scared. i think of how unvirtous this world is, how corrupt. i get more scared. but then, i remember. you.

the posts about treating your woman like a queen and good communication--that's you. the sunshine and disneyland. the pink cupcakes and family vacations. good books and clean laundry. home cooked meals and a first kiss. letters and framed pictures. cheesecake and diamond rings. you are the good things in life.

your smile seriously kills me. every time. watching you hold a baby. seeing your dimple sneak out of your beard. hearing you talk to my dad. reading your love notes. singing in the car with me. the way you hear me. and the way you look at me.

we have a lot coming our way, baby. good and bad. it's kinda scary. but we can do it all with god.

with all the love i have and more,

your cake


*first roadtrip together, stg easter*