january life savers.

I can't say I love the month of January, because I sure don't. But here are some things I've become a little bit obsessed with lately, and maybe you're interested to hear about those?

• Fruit Mentos. This is the first thing on the list because when I think of "obsessed" this is what comes to mind for me lately. The saddest thing happened when we were driving from D.C. to Vals. We stopped at a gas station and Paul was being way nice and went in to buy me some fruit mentos, and he came back and said they only had mint ones and I wanted to cry. Skittles are the best substitutes but he didn't know that. My niece got skittles so she shared with me. The mint ones don't even taste bad until you think "this could be a fruit one" and then you're just left wanting. But that was nice of Paul, right? 
• Orange Juliuses or Juli-i? How would you say that? I think you understand what I mean. These things are so delicious. Especially with some ice cream mixed in. When Paul gets done home teaching I think we will have some. My brother Eric gave me a magic bullet for Christmas and I leave it out on the counter all the time (I don't even do that with the toaster) because I make these so much. Also good: chocolate shakes, snickers shakes and strawberry shakes. 
• Buns. It's pretty much my go-to hairdo now. (Yes, I'm talking about hair - weirdo). I like 'em good and high on my head. Less headaches that way. I also love this hair blog. I think that lady Regan is cool and her normal blog is awesome too.

The best news is that February is days away. Hip hip hurray. Are these obsessions weird or normal? I think awesome, you might think weird.

Also, Megan asked for Utah pics and on this blog all comment requests are granted (all reasonable comment requests are granted)!

 This is... quite honestly, the only picture taken while we were in Utah (and 2 others just like it except my momma is coughing and I'm making a weirder face, which seems impossible, but it's not. Also a picture of the stairwell of the cabin.) Sorry for that failure. 

Luckily we also went to Idaho... and I took a few more pictures while we were there:

Like this one where we played with sparklers and I didn't get third degree burns-so thanks for asking, family. But I did make everyone take mini-time-lapse pictures, but they ended up kind of fun. And I also like how Paul and I are wearing coats from the coat closet of wonders where you can find a jacket from most decades. (You'll see in a couple pics...).

 One night we were wondering where Paul and Jeff were and I came down stairs to loud "Eye of the Tiger" and this. They are way funny when they are together. 

 Early 90's jackets? Check. Several shades of denim? Check. 

Oh yeah! And we celebrated Christmas too. Sweet new Jams are a seasonal fav.

And now Paul is home so we can have our Orange Julios.

NJ snow

Remember before Christmas how I was whining that there was no snow in New Jersey and it didn't even feel like Christmas, and I was just loving that new Coldplay song that says "Still waiting for the snow to fall... doesn't really feel like Christmas at all.."

Well. We got some snow. We got a whole-lotta-that snow.

Paul and I stayed up late last night lovin' Jimmer and our cougs. We watched the snow build up on our windows and it looked pretty magical.

This morning the results were in:
SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW!

 Just outside our apt. Lots of snow, see?

 I believe the term we should use here is... tromping. Tromping through that snow.

Best boots ever, by the way.

 Showing off our buried car. When I was cleaning off the windshield, I stood on top of a drift that was as high as the hood of the car. Yikers!

 My main man Paul getting ready to dig that Idaho ride out. 

Taken from our apt window after we shoveled ourselves out.
(I had to run upstairs to put away the shovel, so I hurried and took another pic of our success). 

Notice how no other cars/people thought it was necessary to go out in these conditions? Apparently my husband loves what he does because Rutgers even cancelled class but he still wanted to go into his lab.

And don't worry, because the OG stayed open... snow won't stop people from getting their soup, salad and breadsticks, no siree!

So, sorry New Jersey for ever saying you didn't snow enough for this Utahan. You proved me wrong!

(and I like it!)

Eric and Kimberly are getting married!

Yo! Exciting News! Last night my brother proposed to his girlfriend, Kimberly!
She said YES!

I'm excited to welcome a new sister to our family. We are so excited for them :) We got to meet Kimberly when we were home for Christmas. She is sweet, smart, funny, and pretty much perfect for Eric. So Hurray for that!

(stolen from Facebook- very cute picture of the two lovebirds).

****UPDATE: They sent me pics of the bling-a-ling:

PS. I just spent way too much time adding labels to most of my posts. Check them out on the sidebar :) so fun.

white walls = boring

Our apartment has lots and lots of bare white walls.
It drives me nutso!
Here are some thoughts I've had on adding some color (we can't paint- darn it all) to those boring things.

A simple picture collage - because you know how many cute nieces and nephew we have. And how we go to cool places sometimes.

Some vinyl options...

A large canvas print?

Speaking of which, my sister-in-law craft/creative woman extraordinaire showed me the coolest thing this weekend (we visited her family in PA). This summer when we were all in Idaho Falls for the fierce reunion, we went to the IF temple visitors center, and they had these really amazing Hubble Telescope photos. There was one in particular that we all just fell in love with. The colors were amazing, but more amazing was that it was a picture of the birth of a star - so cool! 

Valerie kept joking about stealing it off the wall and taking it home. 

Well, she did. Just kidding, she didn't, but she went and found the photo and had it printed on a huge canvas- it looks amazing! I'm excited to see where it ends up in their cute house. 

And apparently, the Hubble photos are free to download in all different sizes right here. (Val's was the Carina - AMAZING).

Find a friend who is an amazing artist and paints me something like this? via design sponge.

If I was loaded, I would go with an Ann Carrington masterpiece (like the Queen).

 Did anyone else watch 9 by Design? They love her stuff.

Or a catchy print?  via Oh Joy

What do you do with your naked walls - especially in apartments where changes can't be permanent?

Please help!