New Job

Today at work it was officially announced that I have a new job. I am no longer going to be on the phones (YEAH!!!) and I am moving to Consumer Lending. For those of you who don't speak credit unionese, I am moving to the department that processes and underwrites loans for the credit union. I have been a loan officer and this is similar, but it will be approving loans that the branches can't approve and working with indirect loans from car dealerships. Minus a few disappointments at work, this is a good thing and I am going to be excited about it. I will move over in about a week and a half. Change is always good and this will be a nice change in my life.

My Latest Creative Attempt

Last weekend my sisters and I went to Color Me Mine while Brooke was in town. This is a "paint your own ceramics" place and was a little bit of a stretch for us to do as an activity. We finally got our "projects" back this week, and I thought I would share my attempt at creativity with you...

Guess What I Learned at Church Today...

Today was our Ward Conference so our stake president, Pres. Dunn, spoke in sacrament. He started off by following our theme of "Come Unto Christ" and told us some stories of how he was going to relay that message to us. As he was building up the subject of his talk I knew where it was going... Marriage. It was a good talk and I think that Pres. Dunn is a good speaker and has a way of addressing topics without shoving them at you or making you feel like you are on the path to hellfire and damnation. But one of my favorite things he said in is talk was "I know this isn't anything new, it's not like you are going to go home and say 'Guess what I learned in church today... I need to get married!'" I thought it was so funny, because he knows so well that it is the one thing everyone in our ward is working towards and nothing that we aren't aware of in our lives. It also made me laugh because I don't know the last time I went home from church and said "Guess what I learned in church today."

All in all it was a good talk and although I might be inspired to get married, I still need a man to help me fulfill this eternal and everlasting covenant.

Welcome Back

Welcome back Spell Check, oh how I have missed you!

Busy

I always think that my life is so boring, but I am surprised my how little time I have sometimes. It seems like I have something going almost every night, and it's not always fun stuff. I am always so surprised when I get home and it seems like forever since the last time I was here. It's nice having things going on, but I also miss the relaxing nights of just sitting around or playing with the kids. Even with things going on, it still feels like nothing happens in my life, which in turns makes for very boring posts.

Fat Jill No Mo'

I have decided to share my goal with the world wide web, partially because I know it will consume my life for a while, and partially because it might help me stick to my plan. Today is day one of "Fat Jill No Mo'" (it didn't really have a title when I started, but it kind of came about at work today). But about a year ago I decided to lose some weight; I was very dedicated and had some success. But as most plans go the holidays happen and life happens, and although I haven't gained much back (mostly lost muscle tone), I am ready to jump on the band wagon again.

I am always so surprised how it consumes my life, from counting calories to finding something healthy (and satisfying) to eat to working out. But I do like working towards a goal and hopefully I can stick to it and get ready for summer or something... I don't really have an event I'm working towards, just to look better and be healthier.

Again, this is a little out there for me to share this with the world, but hopefully I'll stay on track and I will be able to have great updates for everyone along the way.

Definitely, Maybe

Tonight Stephanie and I went to see "Definitely, Maybe" it was actually really good and I enjoyed it. I have to be honest and say one of the best parts was Ryan Reynolds. I forgot how good looking he can be and he fulfilled that role in this show, I love the whole style he has going on.

After we left the movie we went back to Stephanie's house and we decided to check out the images of Ryan online. After looking at about every image on google.com we went to youtube.com and were able to watch slideshows of him. After about 30 minutes of this, I thought to myself "how old are we? Here we are looking at pictures of Ryan Reynolds like a couple of 12 year olds." I thought it was funny at how pathetic we were but neither one of us were willing to stop our ogling of Ryan.

Needless to say, I am adding him to my list of Movie Boyfriends (I know this list is getting long), and I have included this nice picture of him so that hopefully you will all appreciate him...

One Good Night

Tonight Stephanie and I made plans at the last minute to just run some errands; we headed up to Centerville and after our shopping stops decided to go grad some dinner. We went to the new Chili's in Centerville and they said about a 40 minute wait, about 25 minutes later they said it would be another hour wait because the kitchen was running behind. Since Stephanie and I were so set on Chili's we decided to call up to the Layton Chili's and get on the waiting list and off we went! Driving to Layton (yes, Layton) just for Chili's. We got there and were seated in about 15 minutes from leaving the other Chili's.

As we were sitting there waiting for our drinks Stephanie was expressing her dire need for Diet Coke and asked "What would you do if I started chanting 'Diet Coke! Diet Coke!' and pounding, POUNDING on the table really loud?" All in all a good question, but all I could do was laugh and say that I would embarrassingly laugh and hide my head in the menu. Luckily she got her DC before the raged chanting began. Dinner was so good and we both ate way too much and were ready to throw up when we left.

We were leaving and waiting to get on the freeway when the best event of the night occurred. I randomly had a rose and vase in my car, so carefully placed as the centerpiece of my car in the middle console. We were approaching a stop light I thought it might tip over and reached to grab it, little did I know Stephanie was already holding it and I basically attempted to hold her hand. At this she burst out laughing, harder than I had ever seen her laugh. Naturally I followed suit and soon we were in an all out laughing fit at the stop light. Tears were streaming down our faces as we look over to see a car full of cute boys. We were laughing too hard to see what they wanted (assumed they were wondering exactly what was going on) when we did look over they were waiving their cell phone at us with their window rolled down. We were both too unfit for conversation with our hysterical laughing and couldn't pull ourselves together to talk to them. As we drove away, we both regretted not taking advantage of this possible turn of events in the night.

As we got back to Bountiful Stephanie said "tonight turned out to be funner than I expected, we should go to Layton more often." Who know that Layton could be so much fun? I think the fact that we downed a million diet cokes at dinner didn't help (we've decided that it is probably possible to get drunk on diet coke). And of course our night wasn't complete without our all out Ingrid Michaelson Sing-a-long in the car, with the music turned up all the way.

I'm sure the nights events are not fully conveyed here and probably don't give them justice, but having a good friend is the best!

Favorite Things

I've added to my favorite things:

* Comments on my blog
* Getting flowers

Comments on my blog make me happy that what I write may actually be of interest to someone, and surprisingly I received flowers from two people yesterday (one unknown gifter) but the thought behind sending flowers is so nice! It made my day!

Best Brother

I have the nicest brother ever. Today when I got to work there was a long stem red rose waiting for me. The whole office had taken bets and wondered who it was from, but they were all wrong, and I couldn't be happier that they were. Jake had so thoughtfully had it delieved here at work for me. It made my day! And at the rate my week is going, probably made my week. I am so lucky to have the family I do!

The Break in the Storm

I have been so wrapped up in everything bad that I forget to announce the best thing that happened this week. "Becoming Jane" came out on Tuesday. My cute mom got it for me for Valentine's Day. I haven't had a chance to watch it because me and Stephanie are going to watch it for our V-Day Date. I am pretty excited because I love this show (basically any chick flick and has anything to do with Jane Austen in an automatic good thing in my book).

And so it Continues...

I know that I have totally been Debbie Downer in my posts this week and I hate to post yet another depressing post, but that is just the week I am having. We can start with my good news that when I woke up this morning I didn't feel very good (I know, not usually a good thing) so I called in sick and spent the day in bed. I probably subconsciously made myself sick as an easy way out of a potentially awful day at work, but now I will just have to face it tomorrow. As today moved on I realized that life might actually go on and that things will work out, and then I realized exactly what tomorrow is... Valentine's Day. I know it is the most lame and consumer driven holiday, but it still provides that excellent reminder that yes.... I am single. This fact and holiday alone could merit their own post, but I am going to refrain myself. So much for just having a bad day, I'm in for a bad week.

I know there is light at the end of the tunnel because I have a great friend that I am celebrating Valentine's Day with (nothing like a good "girl's night in"), the next day will be Friday, always a good thing, I have a date, and then it is the weekend. Like they say "this too shall pass" and I guess it will.

Improvement?

So it has taken longer than expected to fully recover from my bad day, but I think that after tomorrow the worst will be over. I hate making big life decisions. For a long time I have been a strong advocate for arranged marriages and now I am think that an arranged life sounds pretty good too. But I guess it's experiences like these that make you grow the most. Maybe one day I will really see it this way, as for right now it's just a pain.

Day From Hell

Why is it that all bad things happen on the same day?

Successful Saturday

Today I had a very successful Saturday, not in the sense that I accomplished a lot, but in the sense of having a Saturday the way it should be. I slept in until about 9:30, just the right amount of sleeping in. I didn't have to get ready right away and was able to lounge around in my pajamas most of the morning, one of my favorite things. I filed my taxes and was excited to see the nice refund I am getting. Amy was heading out for some afternoon shopping and I was able to tag along (what's a Saturday without buying some new clothes?) When we got back I caught up on our TiVo library, luckily CSI: NY is still having new shows. To top off my successful Saturday I actually had a date and got to double with Heidi and Brad. I had a lot of fun and realized that this is what a Saturday is supposed to be.

Update...

I finished the third book in the Twilight series this morning and I really enjoyed it. One of the things I like about the books is even though there is more to know and the story could go on, the books still have a conclusion. I hate ending a book, even with a sequel, and feeling like it is not really over.

I would defiantly recommend these books to anyone to read. I was surprised by how much I liked them.

Safe Room

Many of you know the OCD dad that these kids live with. Saturday was no exception. Trent was manically cleaning the house then relinquishing privileges to enter the clean rooms upon finishing. This included the playroom and when entering the TV room to watch a movie, even the couch looked to good to sit on (the slip cover was perfect, and that never happens). The kids retreated to what seemed to be the ony safe place in the house... Jill's Room. Andrew picked out "Young Frankenstein" to watch and we created a makeshift couch on my bed and started the show on my laptop.

(The house looked amazing for the party that night and Trent is always so good to keep the house so clean!)

My Passion: Reading

This weekend I had the opportunity to rediscover one of my favorite things... Reading. Friday night Stephanie let me borrow the much talked about "Twilight." I was intrigued by the hype of the book and so I started the book Saturday morning. I started it and finished it all that day. The book was good, but what I realized was that I had forgotten how much I really enjoy reading. There is something so amazing about letting your mind escape to a whole other place, a place that is created in your mind merely by words on a page. Guided by the author, but completely up to you to build the characters and interpret the words as you please. I love to get so involved in a story that it takes over my own thoughts and the story almost becomes one of my own memories I am re-living. I usually don't read a lot while I am in school, especially since I give so much of my time to it. So I have to be careful, but this weekend made me all the more excited to be done with school and have the leisure of reading all I want.

I am particularly enjoying these books. Sunday Stephanie was going to come up and bring the next book but got sick, so I resorted to the trusty internet to feed my craving. I was surprised to find the second book online and anxiously started reading. I finished that today and am now well into the third book. I guess I should spread out my enjoyment, but like I said, I just get so wrapped up in the story.

National Wear Red Day (Literally)

Friday was declared "National Wear Red Day" in honor of kicking off American Heart Month. I am guessing that about 99.9% of people were not aware of this but at work, somehow, we were all subconciously aware of it. When I got to work all of the women on my team (which is 5 of us) were wearing red. As well as SEVERAL other people near our department. I wish I would have thought to take a picture earlier in the day before everyone had left, but I got a picture of the few of us that were left...

Magazines

This morning Aiden and Oakly found some magazines in my room and decided to catch up on the latest gossip...

February

It is finally February! I have decided that January is one of the worst months of the year. It is long and drab and I just don't like it. So I was so excited today when I could change my calendar to February. Although I don't really like Valentine's Day, I do enjoy the burst of color it provides. Walking into stores and seeing the mass amount of red and pink after such a dull month is so refreshing!