diabetes donuts

utah is kind of hurting in the dessert department. i mean, sure, people MAKE great desserts, but as far as going out for a treat they are lacking. no pinkberry, no diddy riese [the utah-imitation, smart cookie, just went out of biz in provo], no sprinkles or dots cupcakes. this is bad news because we KNOW how much i love my desserts.

my bff britt just introduced me to the sweet tooth fairy, which i will admit is verrrry good. but i just miss my sugar-overloaded black & white sprinkles cupcakes :(

this week we were house-sitting for the in laws in SLC and drove by a donut shop called "just glazed." i love a good donut, so we investigated.



this was NOT your average donut shop. i was actually a little freaked out by the array of glazed donuts covered in toppings like oreos, frosting, fruit, etc -- they even had a grasshopper flavor, which grossed me out a little bit.

we ended up going for the raspberry tart -- glazed donut topped with fruity & sweet frosting and graham cracker crumbs. it was good but a little too sweet, even for me.



guess i'll just have to keep pining away for my cali cupcakes...donuts are a poor imitation.

got a job

YAY! i got a job!!! this fantastic company called this week to offer me a job in marketing...and i couldn't be more thrilled. they make various scrapbook & paper supplies, so it's right up my alley [which you probably know if you read my other blog]. i start on wednesday. now i can enjoy my last few days of unemployment without stressing :)

it's so funny that i was freaking out about not finding a job -- granted, it's not just the "job" i was worried about, but other things attached to the fact of having a job. but i should really know by now that everything always works out. i like to get myself all riled up thinking things won't go smoothly, but if there's one thing i've learned from my life it's that there's a reason for everything -- and that i get exactly what i need.

here i was, thinking i'd be unemployed indefinitely, and the next thing you know my #1 job wish falls in my lap. things like this make me realize god listens to my prayers and knows exactly what i need -- and sometimes even gives it to me -- even if i think it should come at a different time. sort of comforting to know i'm not the only one in charge here :)

my new life.

every day i wake up with a new regret about moving to utah. staying with my new theme of trying not to be whiny, i will not enumerate these regrets on the blog, but just know that i do not like change. and if it is change that i CHOSE for myself [i.e. i decided i'd like to quit my job & move 1,000 miles away from my homeland in l.a.] then i sometimes have an even worse time dealing with it.

so silly, because you'd think since this was my own decision i'd be able to go with it. but NO. since i chose it, i start wondering what would have happened if i didn't make this choice. blahhhh. my mind is an endless trap of what-ifs and wonderings.

exhale. but here we are. utah does have some nice things going for it, i must say. for example, sky like this:





i mean, i know there's sky in california and everything, but it just never seemed quite this BIG. i like utah sky.

another benefit is i'm actually starting to quite enjoy all this free time, now that i'm trying to find more productive things to do. i have an almost endless supply of time for crafting, sewing, shopping [a.k.a. window shopping, due to the lack of income, though i will splurge on the occasional home item], watching movies, visiting friends, seeing fam, cooking, blogging. yay for free time.

also i have come to wonder if our apartment is built on some weird magnetic minefield or indian burial ground. NOTHING stays open around here. i open the fridge door & turn around to grab the freshly-filled water purifier from the sink -- and the fridge door has swung shut. i pull open the oven door to place a heaping pyrex dish of italian chicken inside and as soon as i take my hand off -- it slams shut. [that one is dangerous as it has nearly resulted in a few 3rd degree burns of late.] other things won't STAY shut -- if i don't close the bathroom door or closet door allll the waaaay it slowly swings itself back open. maybe our house is just crooked?

we also have a little playground just outside our complex, for all the small children living around here i presume. fortunately it also has an adult-sized porch swing thing, which b and i have taken to swinging in at dusk. in case you were wondering, dusk doesn't happen here until 9:30 p.m. i think that is weird -- to have it still fully light at 8:45 at night? anyway, the swing is lovely; the swarming mosquitos are not.

pioneer day is a big deal in utah, though i think they celebrate it oddly -- they broadcast a parade from SLC on tv, and it was nooooothing like the rose parade or any other parades i've been to. low spectator content. they do get the day off, which is nice i suppose but we didn't care because EVERY day is a day off for us. so we went up to cottonwood canyon and had dinner & a campfire w/ b's family at some riverfront property they own. it was nice. THEN my favorite sister & bro-in-law came to visit us for the weekend, which was so much fun and sorely needed. i suppose moving here is okay if i'm only four hours away from them [and i guess orem isn't quiiiiite as hick-ville as i like to think, because my sis doesn't even have a TARGET. yes, that's right, no target. orem is much better than rexburg :) ]

that's all. today is b's birthday so we are going to a local brazilian restaurant to consume ridiculously large amounts of meat. can't wait! [and happy happy birthday to my old, now-27-years-old wonderful husband.]

hgtv eat your heart out

we are officially unpacked, which can be seen as either a good or a bad thing. GOOD: yay! this is my own place and i can feel settled! BAD: boo. now i don't have a massive project taking up all my time, and since i am stillll unemployed this means i'm starting to get very antsy & restless. i want an income. and health insurance.

but i digress. i've had some fun filling in some of the blanks in our new apartment with some before&after craft projects.

numero uno: the kitchen shelf

we have a random little open shelf above the kitchen sink. [have i mentioned how much storage is in this place? it's fantastic.] it wasn't so much ugly as it was just bare and open, so i wanted to do something to fill it in. before:



i went to joann's and found some discount retro-style fabric that i thought matched the rest of our funky kitchen [a space that also includes random wood-paneled countertops, a vintage -- or rundown -- oven and a stainless steel sink]. i cut out a big piece, sewed it together on my totally sweet new machine and put some cardstock paneling inside it so it stays put over the edge of the shelf. add a couple decorations and voila! the after:





number two: the turquoise mirror

i bought this little baby for twenty-five cents at a garage sale before we got married. i always thought it was such a cool piece, and it fit pretty nicely in our l.a. apartment. we never really found a spot for it in our pasadena place so it just sat propped up against the wall. b kept threatening to trash it in the move [a la the infamous blue chair] but i defended it all the way to utah. the before, all taped up for our project:



i've been so intrigued by the idea of bright colors [especially turquoise] lately, and was devastated that our new landlord refuses to let us paint the walls. so, i decided i wanted to paint this mirror instead. we went to lowes, picked out the paint, laid a couple coats on the mirror and then distressed it. a fun little diy project for me and b. here's the after...i love how it turned out:





now i'm on the hunt for a few more turquoise pieces to tie it in better to our front room. fun!

we still have a couple more spaces to fill in around here [a task that will hopefully be completed after a little ikea run tomorrow], and once that's done i'll put up pictures of the whole apartment. i'm sure you can hardly wait.

i guess i should add to the list...

one more good thing about living in utah is being so close to my extended fam. i was at dinner last night at my grandparents' house with all my cousins...and just as we were leaving, my very-very-pregnant cousin shuree's water broke! haha i was simultaneously fascinated and disgusted.

b and i went home and she went straight to the hospital. her still-nameless baby girl was born early this morning and i got to go meet her today. she is adorable and sooo tiny!

helloooo baby:



utah does have its perks :)

pasadena friends

last friday i got together with my pasadena friends for one last craft night. these nights have become a semi-regular tradition of late, with everyone taking turns sharing their latest projects, and i have LOVED a. hanging out with my girls and b. having an excuse to make fun crafts. we drink diet coke, play with supplies and laugh all night.

last time megan hosted and taught us to embroider. i made this little giraffe especially for my co worker [who returned from a trip to africa this year]:



friday was my turn to share my card-making ideas [totally NOT exciting...but it was fun to share my supplies and watch everyone make cute cards!]...plus i needed one last excuse for a trip to dots.



sachia hosted at her clubhouse...she even made me a sign because this night was dubbed MY night. haha. gotta love goodbye parties.



me & the lovely hostess:



it was so much fun to spend one last night with my friends. thanks girls for coming out!

group shot [we took this late, after a few had left...sorry if you missed the photo shoot :) ]



annnnd. totally delayed. but this craft night was just part two of my farewell to pasadena...we had a pool party the friday before i left. we had soooo much delicious food...including my favorite, homemade oreos :) thanks kristie! mmm.





i miss my pasadena friends already!!

birthday fun

sunday was my 25th birthday.

as you may recall, b and i both celebrate july birthdays, and thus have designated the entire month birthday month.

it is so so much fun to have an excuse to do something great every day. [but i think i'm getting spoiled in that department, because the month of june was pretty fun too...trying to squeeze in all these last-minute friend/sight-seeing activities before we moved. so maybe i should just call this "birthday summer."]

birthday month got off to a bit of a rocky start what with the emotional move and all, but turned out nicely. first there was the houseboat, then we stayed with my parents in rancho for a week before heading back to utah.

since my b-day was on a sunday and we try to keep sundays pretty quiet, we did the major celebrating on saturday. my parents, bro & b took me to a delicious teppan yaki place in town -- it was SO tasty but i think i liked watching our chef, vincent, cook up all the food right in front of me even better. wow, do you know how much butter goes into fried rice? UGH. i was glad i opted for steamed rice.

here's vincent, working away. right after i took this photo he flipped chunks of scrambled eggs at us and i caught mine in my mouth. i like playing with my food:



the fam:



me & b:



then we went home, played rock band and watched win a date [which you may ALSO recall was a staple of birthday month 2008 as well].

sunday was my REAL birthday...i turned a quarter of a century. we went to church and it was my first time back in the ward i grew up in since probably last year. it was so fun to see old friends and get caught up.

momma made my favorite for dinner -- tacos and homemade salsa, with pizookies for dessert -- and our friends karly and chris came by. AND, we all know how much i love cookies, so this was a major highlight: deena, the mom of my high school bff kelly, showed up at my door with a birthday plate of chocolate-covered strawberries and cookies. YAY!



my big present this year was a sewing machine!! i was SO excited. mom and i spent all day saturday setting it up and practicing the skills i learned in my sewing class. we went to joann's fabrics to get some supplies, and i walked through the fabric section and noticed some USC fabric and stopped to take a closer look. right there, in the aisle at the ontario, california joann's fabrics, were material featuring the following colleges:

USC
UCLA
georgia tech
university of utah

random? YES. haha i laughed out loud...what are the odds of that? it was meant to be. so i bought half a yard, and my first project was a utah pillow for my little ute fan:



traitor. but after all, it IS his birthday month too.

the day after my birthday, we left for utah :( BUT decided to spice things up a bit with a night in vegas. we stayed with my wonderful friend angela rose, whom i hadn't seen in almost TWO years!!, and i got to meet her little baby colton. he was adorable and we had so much fun catching up.

here's my best shot of colton...sorry ang, not the most stellar photography. you can go to her blog for tons more cute pictures :)



then, my birthday gift to b was to see the beatles LOVE show on the strip. i had never been to a vegas show before, let alone a cirque de soleil show, so i was super excited. he has been dying to see this show ever since it debuted.





the show was a littttttle weird for me...but turns out, if you're a diehard beatles fan [like b] you understand a lot more of it than the average layperson [me]. when we got out, he explained half the show to me and it made a lot more sense.

nevertheless, it was a truly amazing and beautiful show -- those cirque people are INCREDIBLE. if i had half the upper body strength they do, i think i could be the next superwoman.

we slept in the next day and finished our drive to utah, spending the next few days unpacking. i'd say birthday month got off to a pretty good start, and we still have two weeks left! i doubt they'll be quite this exciting :)

updates from the front

still here. still settling.

we don't have internet at our apartment till next week, so if you've seen me online this week it means i am sitting in a local coffee shop, utilizing the free wi fi. b's new official MBA-student laptop arrived this week, so luckily we can do dueling laptops instead of taking turns on our old one.

i've been to super target every day this week and each time i am more and more amazed. that place is like heaven. yesterday i bought groceries [including produce], home decor and car stuff -- what a combo! i also dropped a picture frame on my foot, but you can't win them all.

still waiting to get a job offer, but i've had some encouraging progress in that area so hopefully news will come soon. until then, we are quite enjoying the unemployed life. though i do feel slightly guilty when we go to the nordstrom anniversary sale, roberts crafts, targetx3, etc. and i know that my bank account is NOT being replenished with a regular paycheck. thank heaven for savings.

houseboat

so b and i went to utah on june 30, dumped our moving boxes, and less than 48 hours later we hopped a plane to las vegas to meet up with the rest of my family [parents, siblings, bro-in-law, dog and grandparents] and boarded a houseboat on lake mead.

i was originally concerned with the trip due to lack of internet, cell service, etc...i get freaked out if i'm not continually connected and busy, so i was nervous i wouldn't have enough to do. BUT, maybe because of our crazy utah trip OR because i actually do like relaxing more than i thought, i had a great time.



we loaded up a TON of stuff [a week's worth of food for nine people is a lot!] on the ski boat and cruised it over to the houseboat. seriously. only one person could fit in the boat because of all our stuff:



during the trip, i read three books, played board games, ate snacks, went swimming, wakeboarded, tubed, cruised the lake, took naps, talked with my fam. it was glorious. but i was ready to come home when it was over :)

other highlights of the week included marveling at the amazing scenery [and dodging thunderstorms...kind of hard to sleep on the roof of the boat when there's a full moon, lightning storms and gale force winds. we spent the rest of the nights in the air conditioned cabin]:





here's grant, my grandad and b -- they all wore plaid shorts on our departure day. cute matching boys:



we were out over the 4th of july [my favorite holiday!] and sadly didn't get to participate in any fireworks displays due to drought warnings. that didn't stop us from posting the colors [AND rocking out to a little neil diamond] though -- my dad is a great little flag attendant:



i grew up boating every summer with my family; we hadn't been all together out on the boat since before i got married. it was so much fun hanging out with my sister & brother, just like the old days [though we are all much too big to ride tubes together behind the boat now, like we used to]. a few of our favorite token myspace [and highly photo-shopped] shots:





and of course no boating trip is complete without some type of injury...this time, in a very uncharacteristic manner, it was me! check out this sweet bruise -- i never get things like this, so i was proud of it. all you need is one good wipeout on the tube and you too can have a war wound like mine:



hopefully we don't have to wait another three years for a trip like this :)

it's been a while

i am BACK!!! wow, taking a self-imposed break from blogging is an interesting experience. i kept thinking of blogs to write in my head, but never made it to the computer to get them down.

let's be serious here -- there's been a whole lot of living going on the past three weeks, just no time for blogging. and thus my recap begins.

when we arrived in orem two weeks ago i cried a lot. i hated utah, our new apartment, our landlord...and missed california like crazy. but a vacation, a break from real life, a stay with my fam in rancho and a couple of road trips later and my head was clear.

we got back last night and have spent the past 24 hours settling in -- we're almost completely unpacked already! i'm feeling MUCH better about our situation...or maybe it's because i made a conscious decision last week to stop being so whiny and just make the best of it. sure, maybe i didnt really want to quit my job and move 1,000 miles and be the sole breadwinner for two years...but i kind of DID want to do all those things, too. this is a new adventure for me and b and i am going to be happy.

i got a letter from my cousin last week [who is serving a mission for our church in brazil] and he said: "byu will be a good time. change is always a good thing, it just sucks when you're involved in it." LOL. couldn't have said it better myself. i'm all for planning for a change...i just hate going through with it.

PLUS...already great things are happening. today our bff's from pasadena came to see us...they are in the slc area this week visiting fam. see, another benefit of utah! all mormons come through here at least once a year or so.

so we went to rumbi grill and had fun.





also, i made this sign and hung it on my fridge: "the happy utah list." whenever i start feeling sad about living in utah i am going to read it and remind myself there are at least nine reasons why i am happy to be here.



and...guess what we did last night, as soon as we arrived? yep, we're officially in utah because i got my cafe rio fix.



welcome to utah, payzant-wells family!

made it

we are here! made it to utah with only a terrible migraine headache and 700+ miles getting in our way.

i cried a lot this week. that is what i do when i can't figure out how to deal with my emotions [at least i don't EAT my emotions like the girls on mean girls]. provo is just SO.......country. i am a city mouse stuck in a giant grassy farmland world and i dont know if i can handle this. sure, four years of undergrad is one thing when you're insulated by campus & co-eds...an entirely different one when you like to think you're a cultured, experienced grown-up. i hope i can make it through these two years.

highlights so far:
incredibly nice people at my new target
no traffic
cheap cheap cheap [toothpaste is 89 cents!]
met our new bishop randomly on the street
two good job interviews, check
d-bag landlord and crappy apt
visiting w/ the grandparents

holding off on the cafe rio initiation till my nervous tummy adjusts to the new homeland. tomorrow we fly to vegas to board a houseboat for a week -- NO email access, NO blogging, NO cell phones. scary. i didn't even give up internet when we went all the way to europe!...will i survive? but honestly, after this week, i'm quite looking forward to unplugging and doing noooooothing.

after that we'll be in rancho / pasadena for a week. and regular blogging / correspondence will resume :)