Guess Who's 23?

Happy Birthday Mr. Scottie B.

My Dearest Scottie B.,

Some days I still have such a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that you are in my life. I thank God everyday for you. You truly are such a blessing. You push me to be a better person and encourage me to follow my dreams and goals.

Today is your birthday and I'm sad that I'm not there with you. I hope you know that I'm thinking of you and can't wait for the next time we are together.

Mr. SB, you are strong, kind, and confident. I admire your passion for God and your free spirit. Your positive attitude and happiness is contagious. There are so many more qualities and characteristics that I love about you, but if I list them all this post might then go on too long.

I'm so incredibly glad that we had the opportunity to explore Chicago together. And I'm looking forward to many more cities to have adventures in. I'm excited for what the future holds for us both.

I hope that your birthday is everything you are hoping for. I pray it's filled with joy and content as you reflect on all you've done and look forward to all that you will do. I know that God has great things in store for you and I hope that I'm there to see all that you do.

I love you.

Taylor

California Part One

After a pretty good night’s sleep, I’m feeling a little more refreshed. I did wake up later than my goal time of 6:15AM (about 25 minutes late), but I did get ready for work still. I’m trying to develop the habit of picking out an outfit for work and putting my gym bag together the night before work. That way I can actually make my bed, get ready, and not feel rushed.

As I’ve mentioned before I’m looking for a second job. So far I haven’t had much luck, mostly because of my own lack of ambition. I was having a hard time feeling comfortable interviewing for a job and then saying “By the way, I’m going to be gone for ten days”. So right before I left for my trip I interviewed at a hotel in Madison, it went well. Today I checked in with the manager and I have a second interview tomorrow. So, positive vibes or prayers are much appreciated.

California Part One

When I arrived in California I was nervous, excited, anxious, and all sorts of emotions. But as soon as I saw Mr. Scottie B. all of my emotions turned into happiness, just happiness. After spending two months skyping, texting, and talking on the phone, to finally see him…in person, right there…was so great.

We grabbed my luggage, got in his new car, and started to drive up Pacific Coast Highway. As I started to see familiar California stuff, I became quite obnoxious. haha. It went like this “awww, palm trees”, “awwww, Ralphs”, “awww, In-N-Out”, etc. This went on for about a day. It was just such a cool feeling to be in California. I grew up there and have a lot of family memories at these places. I know I claim Idaho as my home, since it’s where I feel like I established my roots. But California is also a part of childhood and life. Mr. SB stopped along PCH at a little beach and I got to put my feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in six years. The weather was warm and sunny, I could not have asked for a better first few hours in California.

Once we got to Ventura County, we went to In-N-Out. I ate a cheeseburger with no burger, French fries, and a chocolate shake (fun fact: on the day we first said “I love you” we were eating French fries and a chocolate shake). Then a quick trip to Trader Joe’s for wine and snacks. We attended Mr. SB’s college church group on Friday night. It was great to be back in church with Mr. SB, especially because the environment was so positive and inspiring. It was nice to have one of our first days together in California spent connecting with God.

Saturday we got ready and went to downtown (or was it called old town?) Ventura. We ate at Nature’s Grill, Mr. Scottie B. got ice cream, and we checked out some thrift stores. Then I, of course, had to change before meeting Mr. SB’s friend (quickest outfit change ever). Then we went to The Dugout to watch Tim Tebow kick ass…. Or so we thought. Mr. SB initiated a prayer circle and a few people Tebow’d for winning vibes, but the Denver Broncos still lost. But I had a great time meeting all of his friends. Everyone was very nice and lots of fun. There was talk of camping but unfortunately that didn’t work out (in case you didn’t know, I do not like camping. That unfortunately was sarcasm). But in all honesty, if we would have ended up camping I would have made the best of it. I know I would have been in great company and had fun. So for future reference, Mr. SB you CAN take me camping and I will only complain a little bit (I promise).

I was probably most nervous for Sunday. We went to Mr. SB’s church that he attended during high school. We met lots of people and he wore his uniform. He looked very handsome (as usual). Then… I met his parents DUN DUN DUNNN. His parents are so lovely. They are incredibly nice. I think it went well *crosses fingers*. After the nerve wrecking meeting, Mr. Scottie B. and I went to Santa Barbara and walked around State Street. We got coffee, ate dinner, and I bought a California shirt. Santa Barbra was a very fun, trendy little spot or at least the area we saw was.

That’s part one of three, I think. I might just do two parts, we’ll see. I failed at taking photos for the first few days. I was enjoying myself and still have a hard time not feeling silly taking out my huge camera to take photos. There are a lot more photos to come!

Blogging and Such.

Have you ever gotten back from a vacation and felt like you needed another one? That's how I felt this morning. I think it was mostly because I spent the final day of my trip on airplanes and in airports. Apparently sitting around all day is exhausting.

It was such an odd feeling being back in Madison and just going back to my normal routine. I left for California on January 13th and upon arriving I was back in Mr. Scottie B.'s arm right away. My trip was everything I expected it to be. It was filled with love, wine, fun, meeting Mr. SB's family, the beach, and so much more.

I was going to post part one of my trip tonight. But I'm having issues with the editing tool I normally use for photos and I'm actually not feeling 100% (crossing my fingers that I'm not getting a cold). So forgive me, I promise it will be up tomorrow.

Mr. Scottie B. and I discussed my blog a little bit while I was in California and he encouraged me to expand my posts beyond just pictures of my life. So I've been thinking about it a lot and I do want to post about different things. I love to bake and would enjoy baking new recipes and posting about it. And maybe my perspective, struggles, and positive outlook about my long distance relationship would be encouraging to others. And I have goals that, I think, by sharing would hold me accountable.

I'm excited about sharing more with whoever stumbles upon my blog! So expect more posts to come about all sorts of awesomeness.

Here's one of my many favorite photos from my trip (unedited). I feel so loved.

Here's To 2011 [image heavy]

It has been quite a year. So much has happened that took me by surprise. By the beginning of 2011 I had a good job in Madison and was spending lots of time with my family. I was adjusting to my new environment and was enjoying catching up on the time I had missed while living states away.

Then Facebook changed the course of my year... I know, I know. Flippin' Facebook :/ I discovered that Mr. Scottie B., who I knew way back when I was 12, was living just a few hours away. And in March of 2011, we had our first date. I spent most of 2011 working and planning weekends with Mr. SB. We explored Chicago and fell in love with the city...and we fell in love with each other.

And thanks to my parents, within this year I was able to travel to New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and New Hampshire. Each place was an awesome experience. NYC and Boston are such cool cities and I had so much fun. I can't wait for the next opportunity to explore Boston again.... okay or a new city.

I also discovered my love of baking this year. I baked cupcakes, cookies, and treats. I brought lots of goodies to Mr. SB and had a few failures too. But with the encouragement of Mr. Scottie B. and my fam, I will continue my baking adventures into the new year.

This year has been so great. I'm so excited for 2012 and pray it will bring just as much joy as this year has. I'm looking forward to starting my new year with a visit to see Mr. Scottie B. (only two weeks away :)

I hope everyone reflects on 2011 with a happy heart and have positive attitudes about the upcoming year.

Here's some pictures from throughout the year.

Christmas 2011

Since it's almost 2012 I guess I should put up a post about Christmas. Mom, Dad, Ben, and I spent Christmas Eve eating enchiladas (kind of a fam tradition) and spending time together. Christmas morning Adam, Rachel, Ethan, and Jaxson came to my parents to open gifts and eat breakfast. The adults exchanged stockings and watched the boys open up their gifts. It was so much fun. Mom and I saw "We Bought A Zoo" Christmas afternoon. The movie was so cute, I'd say worth seeing. Christmas was laid back and I had a few extra days off.

I hope everyone else had a lovely Christmas full of joy. Here are some photos from our Christmas morning.

Ethan is 4!

Well technically his birthday is tomorrow. Last weekend he had a Chuck E. Cheese birthday. It was lots of fun. (side note: Chuck E. Cheese is a giant creepy mouse). Rachel made red velvet cupcakes, we ate pizza, and played lots of games. I think it was a successful birthday party. 

I would say that it seems strange that Ethan is already four, but that seems about right. I was so lucky to have been there when he was born (at the time I lived in Idaho and we were visiting Madison in hopes that he would be born around his due date). And since moving here I've gotten to watch him grow up and it's been wonderful. He's the coolest four year old I know (not that I know many).

Happy Birthday EthanE! I love you so much and am proud to be your aunt.

Hair

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you probably know I cut my hair finally. I posted that I was going to do this. When I finally did, it was so difficult. I have never cried when I cut my hair...until now.

This may sound silly but...I think it was so hard to cut because I made so many amazing memories with my long hair. And Mr. SB loved my long hair. It took a little while to get use to but I'm liking it more. I actually do my hair everyday because it's so much easier. I will tell you though, I miss my long hair pretty much everyday. But I am looking forward to the different lengths I'll get to play with as it grows.

Here's the transformation