Life lately...

I've been wanting to update this for a long time, but I feel like I have nothing worthwhile to say.

My days lately have consisted of working and then finding ways to entertain myself until I'm tired enough to fall asleep for the night. Since graduating this last December, it's been kind of a game for me to keep myself occupied. Thank heavens for Nathan- he takes up a good majority of my time. Ok well I have to take that back - his work schedule is typically opposite of mine, so I really do have to find ways to entertain myself still.

It's weird being by yourself, ya know? I don't have that lonely feeling, though. Like, yeah, of course I would love to spend more time with my boyfriend- yeah, I miss him when he's at work all night while I'm at home...but I'm talking more about the idea of staying busy and keeping yourself sane whilst being by yourself.

It took some time, but I've had fun figuring out what I like doing with my free time. I typically get home around 5 every day. Still too early for me to eat dinner, but late enough that I have to start thinking about it. I've been in a cooking kick since the beginning of the year, so honestly, I spend a good amount of time finding fun recipes or studying up on healthy dinners I can make for myself after work. And this sounds kind of strange, but I love cooking alone. Sure, I have a blast cooking dinners with Nate when we get the chance, but there sometimes is nothing more peaceful than being alone in a kitchen preparing a meal. I like having total control over my surroundings - obviously having total control over my kitchen is a great feeling. No one is there watching me make a mistake or taste test a million times or drop something on the floor. And then I get that feeling of accomplishment at the end of it all - judgment free. And it usually tastes really, really good :)

Besides cooking, I've finally forced myself to get back in shape. Believe it or not, it came faster than I thought it would. I've wasted so much money with my gym membership this last year...haha. Oops. But dating someone tends to make girls think that they shouldn't care about what their body looks like anymore because "they love the way I look no matter what". Bull crap, ladies. Bulllll crap. Your man notices when you're putting on the pounds, and it's your responsibility to get rid of it. While he may still love you, even 10lbs heavier than when he first started dating you, I can promise you he'd prefer you to stay in shape for him.
Nathan and I were talking one night, and he said something that I never really thought guys noticed a ton. He said one of the biggest things he liked about me is that I always look put together - that I take the time to make sure I look good every day.
I just like the fact that he noticed stuff like that. It made me realize that hey, he also probably noticed that I've gained 5lbs since the beginning of the year, and hey, I should probably drop that ASAP.

So with already starting this healthy eating/cooking kick, and then getting myself back in the gym, I started to notice the results real quick. And I LOVED that. Losing weight really is so much about what you're putting in your body. But it definitely helps being active, too.

Sorry...I've never been one to talk about stuff like this publicly, but I guess there's a first time for everything? 


Ok so Nate and I really have been doing some fun things lately! Last month was my birthday, so Nathan took me up to Salt Lake for dinner. We brought Aaron and Hillary and made it a little party there at The Copper Onion. Way good, btw. Definitely recommend it.

 

For my big present, Nathan wanted to make a little road trip down to Southern California that next weekend. He has a brother down there that we went to stay with and we had SUCH a fun time.
But we can't forget the stops we made along the way--
Nate has been wanting to golf at this course in the middle of the Nevada desert. It's called Coyote Springs and boy were we pleasantly surprised with what it had to offer us :) It was gorgeous!! It was so fun for me to watch him do something that he loves.

My only request once we made it to California is that we went to the Corona del Mar tide pools. It's a tradition of mine to go with Kaitlin every trip to her home, so since Kait's in Italy now, I had to make the trip with someone else!

The weather is slowly starting to warm up here in the mid-west. Utah likes to tease us, though...so this freak snow storm the other day wasn't a huge surprise. I'm excited for summer, though. Hopefully it means more of this: 

On a separate note, I'm moving back home to Austin right after graduation at the end of the month! Crazy, huh? Nathan and I decided that since he got into the graduate program at Texas A&M, it'd be smart for me to go ahead and make the move down there and find a good job (that I actually enjoy) for the time being. While yes, that means the summer apart, I think it's a smart move for anything that may happen in the future. A&M is only 1.5hrs away from Austin, so it will be easy for Nate and I to see each other on the weekends once he moves down there towards the end of summer.

First of all, I could not be more proud of him for getting in to such a fantastic school and program. Second, the fact he's going to school so close to home makes me ECSTATIC. And third, I'm beyond thrilled to move away from Utah and find a good job (that actually uses my college education) in a city that I love so much.

Guys, the future is exciting. I have no idea what it has in store for me, but the journey has been fun leading up to it so far. Great things are to come :) I can feel it.