Happy Being Me-Last Day of Gratitude 2010

I am grateful and happy to be me. Can I say that without sounding conceited? I am not saying I am amazing or extra cool or even special, I am just saying I am happy and grateful for my life.

There have been times where I wasn't grateful at all to be me, but as I have matured and grown-up (well kind of grown-up) and gone through some hard times (seizures) and I guess I have learned the importance of loving myself.

There are definitely things about myself I would like to change (become a morning person, always put things away right after I use them, count to ten before I explode out of anger at my husband, have bigger boobs, enjoy running, be a concert cellist or pianist or maybe even a conductor) but ultimately I am happy with who I am.  Although I get embarrassed at times, I am grateful that I cry over almost anything-a sad movie, a not so sad movie, a sappy moment, a bird flying into my window and I tried to desperately help it back to life in a Snow White kind of way. I am a cancer through and through.

I am also grateful that I want to do good in life.  I try to be honest, work hard, and get good grades (even though right now I think to Hell with it) and I try to always help old people when I am out in public and I can see they need help crossing the street or pushing their shopping carts.  Wow don't I sound like a saint.  I guess what I am trying to say is that I am grateful and happy for my life and the opportunities I have right now and have had in the past.  I realize lots of people have it rough and I am just grateful that I can give back in whatever way I can. 

Does anyone feel the same? Are you happy being you?  What would you change about yourself or what do you love that is unique to you?


Check out these 17 tips on the secrets of happiness.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I have been partially on a STAYCATION and also on a real vacation this past Thanksgiving weekend, so I apologize for not posting on what I am grateful for. I am still grateful for things even if I didn't post everyday like I said I would this month. So here are my past grateful moments ...

Friday- I think we pretty much did nothing but hit up a few stores and then got in the car and drove down south.  We did stop at Williamsburg in the evening, which was decorated so beautifully for Christmas. Today I was grateful for just spending time with Paul and having no exact schedule. I think this was the first time in several weeks we were able to just hang out.


Saturday- We went to the Outer Banks, North Carolina. I had never been there before and wanted to go and see the beach.  We saw the Wright Brothers Memorial where they took their first flights at Kitty Hawk.  This was so much fun and so cool and if you ever get the chance I totally recommend that you go.  Paul was in heaven. So I am grateful for their perseverance so that now I can fly home to visit my family whenever I want.

Sunday- I saw the house from the Nights in Rodanthe movie. It was so awesome.
 
Then we drove home, hung out and pretended like we had no responsibilities.

I am grateful for getting this nice break in my crazy world.

Don't be fooled I wrote about 7 pages of homework and read a book for school during my break- so sadly it wasn't all fun.

Today I am grateful that I made it through another day of lectures at school and now only have one more Monday of lectures left.  Yeah Me.

To celebrate lets look at pretty pictures of snowy scenes cause I am in the mood for a White Christmas.

Thanksgiving Football With the Boys

 

I have always wanted to play Thanksgiving football.  It just looks like so much fun.  Sadly, I have never had anyone to play with. Usually it is a bunch of guys grunting and scratching and they think "Not a chance are we letting a girl play with us. She will probably break a nail and cry."

But today was different.  Today I actually got to play football with the boys. I was the only girl and I did a pretty good job. I had to guard Paul, which was really fun and I even tagged (ok maybe pushed) him just in front of the end zone which caused him to slide on his face and he was covered from head-to-toe in mud. Yeah me!  He didn't score though.  My team was proud that not only am I tough but that I can run pretty fast.  I was also laid out flat. I was chasing Paul and he weaved between two guys and we all colided. That hurt a bit-but I shook it off. Also,  I was even thrown the ball-and I caught it.  Yeah me for not looking like a totally "girl".

So today I am grateful for all the guys who let me play football. You made my Thanksgiving. 

Christmas Wreaths

Yesterday I didn't post. Oops sorry.  So for yesterday I am grateful that I finished my huge Marketing and Advertising project and that my teacher thought it was really creative.

Today I am grateful for making fun projects. Soon (come December 16) when school isn't making me want to rip my hair out, I want to make one of these cute Christmas Wreaths.

Images and tutorials via Martha Stewart

click HERE to see more wreaths and how to make them.
 

British Accents

Paul says that if we could have kids with British accents he would be all about starting a family immediately.  I saw this video and laughed.  I am grateful for kids with cute British accents and funny British humor.

Paul is Back

Today I am grateful that Paul made it home safely from Seattle with fun gifts for me.  I am also grateful that today was 40% off all items at GAP including sale items. I bought several Christmas gifts for myself and for Paul.

Here is my cute new shirt.

Paul Out of Town

Is it bad to say that I am grateful that Paul was out of town all week?  I was able to get so much done while he was away.  I will say though that I truly am grateful for Paul because I forget how much he does do for me everyday.  For example, I think he makes close to most meals that I eat each day so needless to say while he has been gone I have eaten lots of cereal, microwave burritos, and soup.

Maybe I will make this for him as a thank you for being so great.


Recipe: Blue Cheese and Pear Tart

Thanks

Today I am grateful for all of the outpouring of love and congrats for my well being and winning the bike. Thanks a bunch. It is fun to hear from so many of you.
If you didn't hear about the bike then look below or click HERE.

Madsen Cycles Cargo Bikes

Totally I am grateful for pure LUCK! I won the Link-Back contest for Madsen Cycles Cargo Bikes. And in 2-3 weeks or so, this exact bike will arrive at my front door.  Click on the photo or HERE to check out their awesome website. I can not wait to take Charlie around for a spin.

 

 

Imagine this girl with Blond hair and the lab about 60 pounds smaller and you have me on my new bike

one day when I have kids I can buckle them here on the seat.  Maybe I will sit in the bucket and make Paul drive me, Jack (the doberman) and Charlie around.  That would be so much fun.

Click HERE  to read Madsen Cycle's post about me winning the bike.  Yeah!  Goodie Goodie Gumdrops.  I couldn't be more excited. What a great Christmas Present.  Everyone should buy one of these bikes--cause I know you are going to want one when you see how dang cute Charlie is riding in the back with Jack.

Thank You Madsen Cycles.  This is such an awesome feeling- I am tickled with joy and a bit giddy too.

Monogram Corkboard

 

I really like this and want to make a big S one.

Click here to get the tutorial.

image and tutorial via the ever fabulous Martha Stewart.

Today I am grateful to have great S names.  Sutliff and Stone.  I really like my married last name... Stone.  It is a nice solid last name. I like to think that Leah Stone sounds important or maybe even famous-like. There was nothing wrong with my maiden name-I will always be a Sutliff.  It is a bit of a unique last name and a pain in the butt to spell over the phone, but I love my family and my heritage.  So here's to families and honoring your name.

It is definately better than the name Iona Knipl.  Click to read the NY Times article about worst last names.

Or check out this one.  Ha- don't mess with these ladies.

Busy Day

Today was hectic- but I will say that I am grateful to be busy.  I like to feel productive and that I have a purpose. So for that I am grateful. Since I am too busy to post anything about myself enjoy this great post of WTF posters.

These hilarious posters were right up my alley.
(Via Happy Mundane)

Sundays and Jo

Today I am grateful for Sundays.  Sunday is such a great day for doing nothing.  Thank you Sundays for coming around each and every week.

I am also grateful for Jo. Happy Birthday!  I hope you did something awesome (like ditch church).  Love you.Since I can't be there to celebrate with you just imagine that I did all of this for you:

Here is your festively fall table

And this beautiful fall birthday cake (Thanksgiving desserts HERE including this gorgeous carmelized apple spice cake)


 
And I decorated your porch like this.


And we did this just so you could wear your cowboy boots.  We actually rode the horses too, we didn't just sleep on them and give them Eskimo kisses.

Happy B-Day.
xoxo

Cute Monster Mittens

Today I am grateful for the kids in my life that remind me of the joys of being a kid.  I would like to make these for Christmas. These are by Martha Stewart.  Thanks Martha for always having such great gift ideas.  Make these for your little monsters this Christmas.  Click here for the tutorial.

 

And to my little monster nephew Ian--Good Luck at your Championship Game. 

Great Minds Think Alike

Today I am grateful for Best Friends.  One of my dearest friend's birthday is this weekend-you know who you are-and I am always amazed by our similar interests. For the longest time I have wanted to post about this country farmhouse that I love. I even bookmarked the photos, which are exactly the same as the ones my friend Jo just posted on her blog Little Jo Home.  I think Jo beautifully describes one of my secret little passions, to live the quiet country life.  And then I think about all the quiet in the country and my alter ego says YOU WOULD GO CRAZY and so I dream of living in Manhattan. So there you have it.  In honor of my conflicting worlds, I give you a couple of photos.

The Emerson Farm

Check out the rest of the photo shoot of the Farm here.

And ah-Beautiful NYC

Central Park in the Winter

The beautiful Lincoln Center

Does anyone recognize this?  This is the street Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City) lived on.

(And on a side note-Jo you wear those cowboy boots with pride - cowboy boots will always make me feel sexy).

No School Today

Today I am grateful that it was 60 degrees outside, sunny, crisp, and I don't have school today! Yeah me (I did have to teach singing though, but that is way more fun than school!)

My Mother

Today is my mother's birthday.  I am so grateful for her.  My parents left yesterday to fly back home to Utah and it was sad to see them go.  We had such a wonderful time together laughing and sight-seeing and going out to yummy restaurants and watching movies. 

One of my favorite things about my mom is her contagious laugh.  It is enough to make you laugh so hard you almost pee your pants.  Sometimes she laughs at the most ridiculous things and she wont stop for like ten minutes and for the next 2 hours she bursts into spells of laughter because she can't stop thinking about whatever it is she found so funny.

My mom had 5 kids-can you believe it-I don't even know if I can handle having one and she had 5 and to top that off she had all 5 kids without drugs.  Needless to say, my mom is one tough cookie.  A great example of this is when we lived in Michigan, I had to have been like 5 or 6 years old,  my mother made tuna macaroni casserole.  My oldest sister and a pill at the time as she was going through her pubescent years of her life said "Mom that is disgusting. I am not eating that." Mind you to set the scene my mom isn't a lover of cooking, so if she made a meal you better be proud of her and grateful cause she did it out of love for her family and not cause she loved to cook. So my mom was a bit fed up by my sister and just walked behind her and dumped the whole pan of food on her head. My sister was covered from head to toe in tuna macaroni.  Way to go Mom!  I learned right then and there to eat whatever I am served.  So thanks for that and thanks for being so great.

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you.

old fashioned wedding reception ideas

Today I am grateful that my night class was canceled tonight so I got to go home early and catch up on some homework (and who am I kidding--I also got to catch Gossip Girl).

This is a bit random but I thought I would share it. I found Post from Ruffledblog .
This is a very cute wedding reception idea and a LDS wedding to boot.  I really like the sundae bar idea and the photo booth idea.

Jace and Alex’s wedding, captured by Darla Roze Photography, brought the outside in with gorgeous garden details. In addition to the garden feel, there were tons of sweet details like a sundae bar fashioned after an old fashion ice cream parlor, a fun DIY photo booth, and a recurring silhouette motif. 






I am in love with paper laterns. We put lights and lanterns up in the room to give it an outside feel.


How adorable is her Ice Cream Parlour dessert table? You can download the templates courtesy of Amy from Eat Drink Chic blog!








I wanted a photo booth where the guests could put on some vintage props, use picture frames and capture a picture of them at our wedding. The DIY program we used was See Monkey. It was the perfect program to set up using a laptop, camera and tripod and printer. Guest snapped pictures, it printed two sets on a 4×6 sheet. One they left in the guest book with a note to us and the other they took home to remember the fun evening.


Relax and enjoy everything…you plan forever and then in one day its all over, so just enjoy it!

Wedding Vendors (Salt Lake City, UT):
Photographer: Darla Roze Photography / Ceremony Venue: Salt Lake City Temple / Reception Venue: Thanksgiving Point / Florist: Lora Bingham- Thanksgiving Point / Caterer: Thanksgiving Point / Cake: Marilyn Jenkins- 801-224-4086 / Photobooth: See Monkey / Bride’s Dress: The Perfect Dress / Silhouettes: Petit Debutant