bison or buffalo?

my second full day in utah was kind of great.

i played with babies some more.

i had a fro yo lunch all by myself.

and i went to antelope island!

i lived in utah for 6 years and had only been to antelope island once!

all i remember is that it was october, so it was gorgeous,

but it was also real cold, and we thought it was a good idea to stick our feet in the great salt lake.

this time, however, was amazing.

i might have begged mother nature for perfect spring weather on this trip, 

and she definitely came through. 

we took pictures with the antelope and the bison,

climbed some rocks for the best view ever, 

lassoed/got lassoed at the ranch house, 

played "guess the bon iver song" (new favorite game, for reals),

and talked about life and the future and basically all the good things

cause it was so ridiculously beautiful that i could not get over it.

 for your enjoyment:

 i could have leaned out of the window and stroked this beast, it was so close.

 i found this terrifying gem in the house on the ranch.

do yourself a favor and go visit before it gets too hot!

and then tell me about it cause i'll be so proud,

but don't give me too much detail cause i might be sad.

i took myself on vacation

i went to utah!

it was sort of a birthday/boredom/i have skymiles trip. 

and it really did need to happen. so happen it did!

i had a layover at jfk on the way there, which was a little funny to me because i've never been to nyc (but i'm going this month!) so this was my first look. the airport is self is a little crazy. i arrived about 3 gates down from my departing gate, so i didn't do a whole lot of exploring, but i did buy this lunch right here for $19. yay new york food? it's not even real new york food! i'll feel better about paying that much when i'm not sitting in an airport. the juice was delish though. i could totes get into juice. not pictured: the smell. the ipad booths (nyc is too fancy for regular seating at gates. the abundance of power outlets was appreciated, however). the jacket sitting next to me that magically turned into a sleeping woman. me peeing in a nasty bathroom while holding my coat, bag, and pillow. the young hipster drinking some cocktail with maraschino cherries, and probably writing poetry while we waited for our flight. the most magical beard. me staring at everyone who could maybe be famous. it was obviously a memorable experience.

so then i got to utah and my lovely cousin megan picked me up from the airport (on her & her boyfriend's one year anniversary! she's the nicest). then i surprised the rest of the fam! it was the best ever. i really decided to do that just because it would be fun for me and i need some fun, but it ended up being perfect for all parties involved. anyway, a lot of crying happened that night, and it was wonderful.

 

waking up to the mountains was pretty sweet.

i started the morning by surprising more family and snugging babies.

then, i made kyle come have lunch with me and it was the very best.

i miss my best friends so much.

then i surprised my karlie's family. if i can't have her, they're the second best.

but really they're all the best.

i am so lucky to have such great people.

the rest of my day was spent surprising one more bff, 

a trip to target, 

and perfect park weather.

also, i drove my old car around all week (thanks, maddy!) 

and was seriously nostalgic about all the things.

intermission:

you have to wait for the rest cause i'm tired and it took me 2 weeks to write this. xo

Last night I was rummaging around my bathroom, searching for things to pack (to pack! more about my trip later!) and because I can't just do one thing at a time, I was compelled to organize my growing collection of Bath &  Body Works products.

You may or may not know this, but I started working for Bath & Body Works last September. I did really well for a while, but I've unfortunately (for my bank account) gotten to the point where I just can't help but buy things! Sometimes. I'm not crazy. I don't think I'll ever have the collection comparable to some of my co-workers (one has over 60 candles!), but I'm learning what I like.

So... I decided to do some a review of sorts. Really chill. I'll just let you know what my favorites are in each category, since I get that question a lot.

Cool.

So I'll see you in a week?

i'm just really proud of this piece of lint.

so sturdy & fluffy. 

an anomaly, really.

Launching Leaders

So it turns out that churchy self help type seminars are a huge deal. Who knew?

Now, I can't really tell you a whole lot about what this one is really about 

because I attended like 3 of the 7 or 8 or however many sessions there were.

BUT, Brother & Sister Ritchie are super sweet missionaries who I picked up some wise thoughts from.

(I also stole these super flattering photos of me from their website, http://theministryofbusiness.com/)

ANYWAY.

I was looking at my notes the other day, and there's actually some gems, so here you go:

+ Write a personal constitution.

You're not going to be what you say you want to be if you don't name them & remember.

Peak Performance Model:

+ Spiritual Toughening

+ Time Management (self esteem=productivity=tm)

+ Financial Fitness

+ Skills & Talents- find your oil

+ Nutrition & Rest

+ Humor (the most successful leader/person only laughs at themselves, no one else)

+ Creativity

+ Mental Toughness- "I will go, I will do."

+ Communication

+ Leadership

3 Es of Training (Communication, I think?)

Educate

Edify

Empower

7 Steps to a Great Talk:

+ "I remember..." story

+ Summarize

+ a Scripture

+ object lesson/visual aid

+ "Will you..."

+ "I promise..."

+ "I know..."

^ Also, 

Humor, Passion, Voice, Face, Grooming, Time

*An 8 minute talk is 8 minutes or less. That's my jam.

Gotta have a good mix of:

Message, passion, credibility

I love that. I think it applies to the way we live life,

not just the way we give talks!

So so awesome.

I also would say message/cause because of the next part...

BHAG -> Big Hairy Audacious Goal

(something we should all have! but that I can't figure out)

BHAG = cause, credibility, passion

And that's all we have! Except for a couple great videos.

The first one is a TED Talk by Benjamin Zander,

which I remember nothing about except that it was good & this:

"I will never say anything that I could not stand to be my last words."

The other one is something I just remember being adorable and hilarious:

The Story of Jonah far across the sheeaa!

k i'm done.