So i'm bored at work - and Kortni Challenged me to post this. So here ya go my dear :)

8 Things I am PASSIONATE About...
1. The Gospel!
2. My Family
3. Friendships
4. Computers
5. Diet Coke
6. Politics
7. Hard Work
8. Integrity

8 "words" or "phrases" I say way to often...
1. "Oh my Hell
2. "I need a diet coke."
3. "Let me tell you why Mac is better than a PC"
4. "I work at Icon - yeah. . they make Proform and Nordictrack. .. . it's pretty great" - explaining my job
5. "I'm freakin out"
6. "I need a diet coke"
7. "CSI is on!!! "
8. "So i read in the news today that. . . ."


8 Things I want to do before I die...
1. See a receiver in the NFL call a fair catch and still get hit. and live - so i can laugh about it.
2. Start my own Interactive Design/Marketing Company
3. Be a Wife
4. Be a Mother
5. Own a Land Rover
6. Hear someone in Asia make fun of English.
7. Own my own MacPro
8. go SkyDiving

8 Things I have learned From my past...
1. You can't Change the past. Don't stew over mistakes. Learn from them, and move on.
2. Breaking your nose hurts.
3. As cliche as it is - time does heal all wounds.
4. Heartbreaks can't kill you - although at times you wish they would.
5. Hard work ALWAYS pays off. Don't ever slander your own name by slacking off.
6. Friends come and go - family doesn't.
7. you need kindling wood to start a fire :)
8. Integrity is everything. Everything. Everything.

8 Places I would love to see...
1. Paris
2. The Vatican
3. Niagra Falls
4. Sidney Australia
5. the McKinnon Castle is Scottland
6. the pyramids
7. King Tut's Tomb
8. Hong Kong


8 Things I Currently Need or Want...
1. I want to get a MacPro
2. I want to get a Facial
3. I want to take a nap
4. I want to go snowboarding. for a week.
5. I need to relax and let life happen.
6. I want the time to be 5 - cause then i'm off for Christmas
7. I need to not let stress drive me as much as it does.
8. I need to listen.

There ya go! :)

So I noticed something today. All of my friends who aren't web designers - have really cool, personalized blogs. I - am a web designer. . . and my blog is a plain template. I'm not going to change it. . .but I just thought that was pretty interesting. I guess since I spend all my time doing web stuff - I just don't put the effort in on my own stuff? Eh. I'm not too stressed about it.

I also realized I don't post nearly enough. I have been having less and less inspiration on blogging the past few months. . . I don't know whether I can credit that to the fact that I'm constantly working, so when I get a break from programming i just want to hide from my laptop - or the fact that I tried to quit diet coke for a few weeks, and that led to the drain of all my creativity? Either way. . . I intend to post more often from here on out.

So last night I got to go to dinner with an old friend. And I realized - I sure do love old friends. This particular friend and I have a tendency to slip into philosophical conversations about life - not only how we lead it, but how we can figure out the mentality of those we interact with on a daily basis. He and I are 'lucky' enough to have the same personality type, and so it's always fun to figure ourselves out through simple conversation - As we analyze what the other has to say, we often figure out our own little issues. I'm so grateful for friends like that. It's crazy how you can know mass amounts of people - but there will always be that select few that truly understand you, and that you can always call a close friend.

With it being the Holiday Season, I can't help but feel SOO blessed. I have the type family that used to be on TV - back before they started highlighting screwed up families. My family is not screwed up. They're fabulous. How lucky am i that I can honestly call my family my best friends? When I need someone to talk with, cry with, laugh with(*or at) - I know i can count on my family. I've got great friends, an amazing job. I'm just an all around lucky gal!!! Isn't it great that during this season we can recognize our own luck - and take the opportunies to spread the joy and the blessings with those that might be a little down on their own luck? I just challenge us all to count our many blessings - and try to share them :) Merry Christmas!

Putting on the Ritz. Literally.

So I figured it was time to write a new post! It's been about a month. . . which I know is way to long to go inbetween posts! But there's a good reason - I had no idea of what to write about!! I would think of random ideas - but none of them were good enough to make up an entire post.

So the exciting news is - I got a new computer last weekend. I love it. Mac just holds a very special place in my heart - and my new macbook isn't letting me down at all. I love this machine - and I haven't even reached the full 7 days of ownership mark. Work is going well too - we're heading into the busy season - and trying to get all of our main brands websites launched. So far NordicTrack and ProForm have launched - with HealthRider coming soon. I'm really excited to get all of the Redesigns out of the way - so we can start working on really tweaking them, spending more time on the details. I'm also trucking along in the freelance side of things. I'm having to tell potential clients "no thanks - i can't help ya" because I'm just too busy. Love that feeling! I'd much rather be too busy than to not have any work at all!

Speaking of Freelance, I actually just got hired as the web designer for the new "Discover USU" website. I am SOOO excited for this project for a lot of reasons! #1. USU is the love of my life! #2. I get to use all the fun little widgets/gadgets to make this website fun that just wouldn't fly on the sites I work on day to day here at Icon. We're talking make this baby just look "cool". And the purpose of the site? To help prospective students catch a glimpse into how amazing USU is. How great is it when you get to work on something that you're passionate about? Well, i'll answer my rhetorical question. It's very very great!
OK - so it's time to blog about something more interesting. The 'bad' news is I'm back on diet coke. I'm just a lot happier person when I'm not depriving myself of things I love. My biggest hope that came along with quitting was to lose weight. and guess what? You don't lose weight when you quit diet coke. you actually gain weight. Don't ask me how that is possible - well, ok. I know how it's possible. You replace diet coke with other things. . . like Snickers. In case you wondered, snickers has roughly 300 more calories than diet coke. which has none. Speaking of calories. . did you know that ritz crackers are full of them?! I didn't. I was trying to figure out why my fat butt wasn't getting smaller. . and so I started looking at the calories on my usual snacks. I was blown away to find out that ritz crackers have 35. In each of them. Tell me someone who can eat just 1 ritz cracker and I'll give that person a big high-5 for self control. Cause in my case - when I eat one cracker, the rest of the package quickly follows. So. . that's a whopping 3,000+ calories each time I eat a ritz cracker. Needless to say, I am no longer buying ritz crackers. I thought the whole "puttin on the ritz" was a jingle about a hotel and being rich, not about putting on pounds by eating the amazing crackers.