Currently

Thinking about: Way too much! I feel like my mind is just non-stop lately and I'm having to force myself to calm down so I can sleep at night. As I've mentioned before, I've always struggled with anxiety, and right now it seems to be at a peak. Nothing too crazy, just a lot going on. We are six weeks out from the wedding, and feeling like there is still so much left to do! As my sweet fiancé keeps reminding me, we just have to take care of one thing at a time and panicking will not help (something he's had to tell me a lot, haha!) But that is what we're doing. I wrote down the final checklist that consists of about twenty-five things and keep in it my purse with me, so every time one is completed I can check it off and feel a little bit of relief. My final dress fitting is Saturday and that'll be a huge thing to check off the list, so I'm really excited about that. I just really can't wait until the day is here and we can just relax and enjoy our special day together.

Feeling: Lack of motivation. I don't know if it's from being so busy or what, but I hate having days pass without posting anything on my blog, or even Instagram, where I usually post almost every day. I wanted to make sure when I started blogging that I wouldn't just abandon it for days at a time, but lately I just can't think of anything I want to share. I think it's a combination of being busy/overwhelmed and writers block. But I'm hoping on getting out of my social media funk soon!

Watching: There are so many shows and movies I'm looking forward to this summer! There's always a while where I'm kind of bored with everything on TV because none of my shows are going, but soon there will be so many and I can't wait! Orange is the New Black, Pretty Little Liars, The Fault in Our Stars, Maleficent, plus a bunch of action-y movies Joe will want to see, we'll always have something to watch, it'll be great! Anything you're looking forward to watching this summer?

Realizing: How incredibly busy this time of year is in my family! Lately it just seems like one thing after another! Between April and June, there are six birthdays, my bridal shower, Easter, Mother's Day, a baby shower, our wedding, and Father's Day. WHEW! Joe and I keep saying that once we decide to have kids, we will make sure they aren't born in this time frame!

Looking for: BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS! If you have any books you love, please share! I'm looking for a new great book I can fall into. There really isn't a better distraction than an amazing book, and that's just what I need right now!

Currently posts inspired by Danielle at Sometimes Sweet.

Journal Day #10 via Sometimes Sweet

Quite simply, what are you good at? All of us have particular strengths- what are yours? This week, talk about these talents, big or small. Ideas: discuss how you use these things in your daily life or job, how you discovered a knack for this or that, perhaps even touch on whether or not you are passionate about the things you're good at.

When I saw the prompt for this Journal Day, it almost made me nervous. I am usually much better at thinking of things I'm not good than things I do well. So I almost skipped it (again, oops). But I thought I actually should do this, it'll be good for me. I should rack my brain and come up with a few things I think that I'm good at, everyone should have a few! 

Here's what I thought up:

I can make my friends and family laugh.
I take really good care of my chihuahua child.
I really care about people and their feelings.
I'm good at cooking Italian food.
I'm pretty organized.
I'm so much better at talking to people than I used to be.
I'm usually prompt and on time.
I take really good care of my skin.
I'm good with kids.
I really enjoy helping people.
I always stay true to what I believe in, but also listen to and respect others' opinions.
I try my best to never judge people.
I'm confident I will make a good wife (soon!)

That's all I can think of, but that's more than I thought I would have, so I'm glad I made myself think of a few things. It's important to recognize the good qualities about ourselves, especially when insecurities tend to get in the way!

What are you good at?

Happiest Easter

Joe and I just got home from an absolutely wonderful Easter celebration at my sister's house. She always has the best parties and makes the most amazing food! I love having little reasons like today to see my family and hang out with everyone. Not to mention the weather here today, gorgeous! A sunny and slightly breezy 72 degrees, couldn't have asked for a nicer day out! We had a great time talking with everybody and doing our little family traditions we've been doing for as long as I can remember, like taking photos with the Easter Bunny(aka my grandpa) and hiding plastic eggs for the kiddos.

I've always loved having a family that goes all out for holidays, and now that Joe is apart of them all it makes me so excited that I have my own little family to add to them all! 

Today was completely lovely, and now we're home tired and full from delicious food and candy but so happy! Joe is playing his video game and I'm sitting here on the computer just feeling so thankful. Days like today are the best reminders of how good my life is and I should always appreciate that!

I hope you had a wonderful Easter too, and if you don't celebrate, hope you had a wonderful Sunday and are all ready for another week!

my whole family!

April 2014 BirchBox: Rainy Days

So I finally did it! I've been wanting to subscribe to some kind of box for so long now! I couldn't decide between stationery, recipes, or makeup, there are so many different options! But I finally decided that BirchBox would be a good choice for me. I always love trying out new beauty products and get so excited when I find something new that I love!

Today I received my first box in the mail and was so excited that I thought I would share all about it here (since I ripped that thing open like a little kid on Christmas.)

The first thing I pulled out was a shampoo called N.4 High Performance Hair Care Lumiere d'hiver Clarifying Shampoo. New shampoos are something I'm always open to trying out, and this one seems really nice and smells amazing! It also came with a little reconstructing mask of the same brand. Always love using hair masks and having super soft hair for a while!

The next thing is a nutrition bar called Kind Healthy Grains and it's maple and pumpkin seeds with sea salt. I've definitely seen this brand before and heard good things but never tried it, so I'm excited to give it a try!

Another thing I got was a perfume sample called Harvey Prince Yogini. I'm honestly not a huge perfume person besides my Marc Jacobs perfume I wear on special occasions. A lot of them give me headaches, and this one is super strong and probably would too! It smells nice, but to me smells a bit more like an air freshener than a perfume, probably will toss it or give it away.

Then I got a nail polish called Color Club in the color Heirloom Pearls. I really love collection nail polishes so I'm happy I got one! It's a really pretty color too, very soft and pearly. So that'll be fun to try out!

And finally, the last thing in my box is an eyeliner called Sumitas Color Contrast Eyeliner. I got a little nervous when I saw that the color was "Deep Purple" since I don't really wear color on my eyes, but I tried it out and it's very dark, more like a brown than purple, so I think I'll be able to make it work!

So that's everything I got in my very first BirchBox! I'm excited to try some of these products out, and even more excited to get my next box in the mail! Such a fun little surprise every month! If you don't have a BirchBox subscription and would like one, click here to sign up! It's only $10 a month! And if you are a subscriber to this as well (or anything else for that matter) I'd love to know what you got in your box this month!

Have a wonderful Easter weekend!

21 Before 22

Since I'm officially 21, I decided to join the bandwagon of doing my age in goals before my next birthday. I made a list of twenty-one challenging but realistic goals I want to try to accomplish before I turn twenty-two! As I complete them, I will come to this post and cross them off, and maybe link a few to a post based on it! Wish me luck!

01. Take at least one instant photo at every special event. I just found these adorable albums meant for minis and would love to fill a few up with special moments.

02. Visit a state I've never been to. Joe and I plan on visiting Vermont later this year, and I really am hoping that works out! He grew up on the East Coast and I have never been there.

03. Get married! Should be easy, been planning it for over a year!

04. Learn to sew. And sew at least one thing from scratch.

05. Volunteer for a charity. Any ideas?

06. Host a party at my house. And I don't mean have a bunch of people over to drink and play board games. I want to host an actual party that I can plan and decorate and get dressed up for.

07. Get at least one big/statement tattoo. I have so many ideas in mind for my sleeve, and I can't wait to finally get started.

08. Shoot a roll of film a month. Film is so much fun and so special, something I need to do a lot more often!

09. Bake and decorate a cake from scratch. I've been wanting to get good at baking and decorating for a long time!

10. Go camping. I've never gone camping in my life. I promised Joe we could go camping for ONE night this summer. And he promised it'd be fun, so we'll see!

11. Take a cooking class. Cooking is another thing I would like to get better at, and I think it would be so much fun to learn more about!

12. Go skiing in Flagstaff. Joe has been snowboarding his whole life and always says how much he loves it, and since I've never been skiing or snowboarding, I really want to make sure I do this year!

13. Grow a little garden. Without killing all the plants :(

14. Meet at least one blogger friend in person. Even though I'd love to meet so many!

15. Dye my hair something other than brown. I think a fun change is in order!

16. Build a piece of furniture from scratch. With Joe's help, of course!

17. Get five more pen pals. Email me if you're interested :)

18. Go to Disneyland. Gotta try at least once a year!

19. Take a shot of wheatgrass. Really want to but I'm scared, haha.

20. Film at least one video of myself and post it. Super nervous but I really want to!

21. Blog at least a few times a week. Gotta stay motivated!

There are my 21 goals for the age of 21! Here's to sticking to them and getting stuff done!

All Time Low & Cake & Pink Drinks

The weekend of my twenty-first birthday was definitely one I will remember forever. Joe was so amazing and planned a whole weekend that he knew I'd love; tickets to a show in Flagstaff of one of my favorite bands, a cake decorating class, a scary movie, my first legal drink at midnight, and the cutest pink birthday setup and home-made cake on my birthday! He even gave me the instant camera I've had my eye on for a while! So wonderful!

Friday after Joe got off work, we hopped in the car and headed to Flag to see All Time Low, who I completely love! They were playing in a really small, intimate theatre, so it was so cool to be able to see them so up close! We even pushed our way to the very front of the crowd, something Joe was used to but I'd never done before. It was an awesome experience despite all the crowd surfers smacking me in the head! Also a kind of funny story from the show; as All Time Low finished up, Alex (the lead singer and guitarist) dropped the pick he'd been using on the ground and started tossing a bunch of picks he had on his mic stand into the crowd. We tried to catch one but failed. After the crowd started to disperse, Joe suggested we stick around to try to find a pick that might've fallen. We couldn't find any, but right in front of the stage, I saw a $50 bill just sitting there. I snatched it as fast as I could! Right then, a security guard cleaning up the stage noticed the money we found and showed us that he was holding the pick that Alex had been using the whole show and dropped. He came up to us and asked if we wanted to trade, and of course I said yes right away! So now I have a guitar pick that Alex Gaskarth played with for a whole show, so cool! 

The next morning we got up and met my sister to do a little cake decorating class. I've always wanted to learn to make beautiful cakes, it's such a cool art! The class honestly wasn't as fun or interesting as we thought, but we still had fun goofing around. After that we got lunch and later that night went to see Oculus. I love scary movies, feeling scared (without any real threat) is so much fun to me! The movie was pretty cool and interesting, although not really scary. Just jumped here and there. We stayed up until midnight so I could go get my first drink in a bar. I ordered a Cosmo. Nice and girly! I'm not huge on drinking and hate the taste of alcohol! But it was still a fun new experience. We even ran into a few friends down town that we hung out with until the bars closed. Then we figured we might as well go get McDonalds breakfast at 2am because ya know, why not! It was really great!

Sunday morning we spent the day at home, which was nice after being out all weekend. Joe made me a delicious strawberry cake all by himself! He set up streamers and balloons and made the cutest little set up for me! I loved how pink everything was! And gave me the most thoughtful gifts; a card full of the sweetest words, an adorable floral Grafity mug, and the Instax Mini 90 I've been wanting. I was all so much fun. We ended the day with dinner out with my family, which was great. 

So as I've said a hundred times, it was such a wonderful weekend. I loved it so much and Joe made it so special for me. I feel like the luckiest girl ever to have someone who takes the time to make sure my birthday weekend is beyond amazing, and he definitely did that!

twenty-one

Today is my twenty-first birthday, and like always, Joe managed to make it one of the best days ever! I have a million photos I've taken from this amazing weekend, but I just wanted to stop in really quick to make sure I posted something today. I'll be back soon with photos from my birthday weekend! 

Hope you all are having a great day, too!

It's Wednesday

these two photos of me with my best friends were taken ten years apart! so crazy!

Today is Wednesday (I hate the term "hump day.") and I finally feel like I have a moment to sit down and blog. Life has been so hectic lately, but in a really good way! I'm still somewhat new to this whole blogging thing and am still trying to find a good balance between real life and social media life. When life it busy like it is now, I always tend to put social media aside and focus on real life. And I definitely think real life should always come first, but I do need to work on finding a bit more of a balance as someone who aspires to be a "real" blogger some day. I even find myself losing 2-3 Instagram followers every day I don't post a photo, which is always a bummer! And I really don't want to lose interest of the few readers I have and worked really hard to make! This just happens to be a busy time in my life as I'm looking for a new job, and am finishing up planning my wedding that is now in two months (a lot of stressful wedding issues have come up lately, not so fun to deal with!) So soon things settle down a little, and I will try my very best to keep up on my blog and post more often!

Here's a little update on everything going on in my life right now:

As of Sunday we will be only two months away from the wedding! Which means it's crunch time! Time to finish up all the planning and get things done! All of that was going pretty well until a couple days ago; Joe, Emma and I spent about five hours putting together little programs for the wedding. I was so happy to be done when the next day I realized we forgot two people's names!! I was so pissed I managed to make a mistake like that! So now we have to completely start over and redo all 125 of them! I guess I just need to be thankful we didn't wait until the last minute to do them and have enough time to start over. It was just such a waste of time and money! But ya know, shit happens.

Another fun thing about Sunday is that it's my twenty-first birthday! Joe, being the sweetest guy in the world, has the most wonderful things planned for this weekend, and I absolutely cannot wait! Although, he does insist we go to a bar since I'll be of legal drinking age, and let me just tell you I'm very light weight and have had some pretty, let's say, icky experiences with alcohol, so hopefully that all goes well! I'll be sure to take a ton of photos and will be back to talk about it!

In other news, my big sister is about five months along in her pregnancy and it's been so neat seeing her belly grow and grow! We also just found out recently that she is having a little girl (yay for girls!) and is going to name her Amelia! Is that not the sweetest name ever?! She is due in August and I just cannot wait to meet and squish the little darling! Then I'll officially be an aunty of three!

And lastly in the life of Cam, Joe just got a really great promotion at work and is loving it! I'm so proud of him! He even thinks this is something he'd like to make a career out of! It makes me so happy to see him doing something he loves and feels good about! Marriage, careers, we really are growing up! Well, once I figure out what I want to do for a career!

So that's about it for me. Busy busy busy! But even though it feels crazy, I am really loving this time in my life and want to enjoy every moment of it. I'll only be someone's fiancé for two more months, only be planning my wedding for two more months, and will only have the excuse of being too young when I don't want to go out with friends for a few more days! Just kidding, but seriously. So many things are going to change soon, so I really want to make sure I stop to look around and really enjoy this time in my life, because there will never be another one like it again!

Birthday Wishlist

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

My birthday is just ten days away, so I put together a little wish list of things I've had my eye on lately, although I may have already bought myself that pancake lens, happy early birthday to me, haha!

And my wish list from all of you guys, if you feel like it, would be for you to either post your favorite recipe below in the comments, or a link to a recipe you love! It can be anything from entrees to desserts to drinks, anything you personally love! I'm really enjoying cooking and baking right now, and trying new things, and it would mean so much to me! Thanks so much, and have a lovely Thursday!

My Bridal Shower

Saturday was my bridal shower, and I can honestly say it was one of the most wonderful days I've ever had. My mom and little sister (maid of honor) threw me a beautiful, colorful shower at my mom's house in Phoenix. She made mini mac 'n' cheeses, my favorite food, and there was tons and tons of sweets, another favorite of mine! They really made the whole thing so perfect and so, well, me! They even remembered me gushing over an amazing sprinkle and bow cake I saw at our wedding cakery and had one made exactly like it! 

All the wonderful ladies in my family were there, and a few friends were able to make it, and I enjoyed so much seeing them all and spending time with them. We even played a couple little games; The Price is Right with little household items, and a super silly game where everyone had a piece of paper with only my head on it and had to draw a wedding dress on me. I seriously loved going through all the different drawings and picking my favorite, and loved even more seeing how much fun everyone was having with it!

It was beyond anything I could've ever imagined, and am so happy to have such wonderful memories of my bridal shower! I didn't even take that many photos (for me) because I was too busy having fun, but here are a few I was able to snap :)