2014? Let's do this.

Yeah, yeah. It's been a while. My words, all of them, were being used elsewhere for the month of November, which I will explain later. And then the holidays and BAM. Here we are. January.

So. It's a new year and stuff. Pretty smooth transition, actually. My New Year's was pretty much uneventful, but eventful often tires me out, so that's okay with me.


Let's reflect, shall we? I vaguely remembered writing a blog post in early 2013 about some improvements and goals I had in mind for the year, so I read through it and....I kinda think I might have sort of accomplished them all in a way? Granted, there were only 5, but still. Here's how it went down:

1. Move out---->  Done! : )

2. Start my Own Business---> Done...ish. There is still a lot to take care of to make it official.

3. Accept Myself---> That's an ongoing project, but there has been significant progress this year.

4. Eat Healthier and Exercise Regularly----> I have actually done pretty well with this.

5. Letting Go---> Again, an ongoing project, but progress occurred.


I had forgotten all about that post, so I'm feeling pretty good about the progress I made. So let's do it again, huh? Here we go in no particular order.


  1. Finish my NaNo story (explained below).

  2. Get more serious about yoga, possibly including *GASP* doing it in public. Scary.

  3. Get more involved in my ward. Oy.

  4. Make a serious dent in my To Be Read pile. And attempt to not add to it. Heh. 

  5. Change my hair. Something different, just for fun. Haven't decided on what.

  6. Make my business official and kick it into high gear. 

  7. Take control of my finances. 

  8. GO TO ENGLAND. IT'S HAPPENING. YES. :D

  9. Do something in regards to my dating life. Which may involve actually trying to meet people. 

 10. Simplify. Read "The Joy of Less" and get rid of unnecessary stuff.

Yeah, I decided to up the ante a bit. Trying to push myself a little more. : )


But seriously, looking back, I did a lot of things that I wasn't sure I could do in the last year. Here's a few of those things, some of which have been mentioned above but I'll elaborate a bit:

  -move out of my parents' house and move into my own apartment, which I LOVE. I've truly been able to make it my home. Even renewed my lease for another year.

  -discovered that dairy no longer loved me like I loved it and we finally parted ways, which led me to....

  -becoming fully awake, allowing compassion to be my guide, and became Vegan. Cheese really was the only thing in my way. I mentioned that I was leaning toward going vegan in my last year's resolution of eating healthier, but that darn cheese. Once it started to make me really sick, that was the push I needed. And you know what? I don't even miss cheese. Seriously. Really. I love love LOVE being vegan. One of my best decisions ever!

  -drove to Berkley, CA, with my younger sisters to see MUMFORD & SONS IN CONCERT!!! One of the best nights of my life! It was truly incredible and I can't even describe how great those 4 men are at playing music. Loooooove them.

Don't mind the photobomber. She asked for the pic

so I sent it to her. People are weird. 

BEST. CONCERT. EVER.

  -went swimming in the ocean for the first time and then consequently got sand EVERYWHERE and ended up with quite possibly the worst sunburn of my life. Not awesome.

  -kept up with yoga, practicing just at home 3 or 4 times a week, and I've really improved. It feels SO good and I really notice a difference when I go a few days without. Related note, I was looking at yoga pins on Pinterest and poses to help a person do the splits caught my eye. That has never been my goal in yoga, but I recognized a lot of poses that I already do regularly. And you know what? I tried it. I can almost do the splits. WHAT. I have NEVER been able to do that. Ever. And that's without even trying. Whoop! : )

  -participated in National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo, aka NaNo. Meaning I wrote 50,000 words in the shape of a manuscript for a novel all in the month of November. It was pretty nuts and like I mentioned, it took ALL my words. No more words for blogging. But it was a great experience and proved to myself that I can do it, when pushed. I didn't finish my story, and honestly, I haven't written a word for it since the 30th of November. SO. MANY. WORDS. Wow. But I won! I did it! Proof:

  -bought a Christmas tree of my very own! I prefer real ones, although the vegan side of me wonders if it's wasteful. It smells amazing in my apartment, though! And the tree industry is actually sustainable, so. ; )

  -became more DIY and self-sustaining by doing things myself! Like making my own bread, pan spray, and almond milk, also buying in bulk and cooking at home 95% of the time to save money. I'm also trying to grow a balcony garden, although my avocado and celery plants are currently living inside right now cause it's friggin' FREEZING outside.

Left is celery, right is avocado. 

  -tried so many new foods, it's insane! Many people think being vegan is limiting, but it's really not. You just have to get a little more creative, and I love a challenge! : )

  -plan a trip to ENGLAND AND WALES that is happening in exactly a month!! A few more details to secure, but my passport is on its way! YES!! I'm so stoked. :D

Well, it's getting late and I'm starting to lose my train of thought, so I better wrap it up. Turns out 2013 was a pretty great year for me. A lot of growth and learning.

Updates: Business and Personal

Okay. So, on the business front, things are moving forward. Sometimes in spurts, sometimes at a crawl, but if there's progress, I'm okay with it. I've started getting the word out and there has been some response! I had to take a break on the website because it is SO not my forte and I was about to pull my hair out. So, in the meantime, I started a Facebook page. You can click here to peruse, if you care to. I am up at over 100 "likes", some of which are even people I don't know, so yay! I have also received and delivered 2 orders through this manner, so I really hope it continues. It's exciting. : )

I have also received my business cards. That was an exciting moment as well! I used the logo my brother-in-law helped me develop (he did most of the work) and then used VistaPrint.com to create my own cards. They turned out pretty cute! See?

I've given a few out already! Mostly to family so THEY can maybe give them out, but some were to customers and even one to a lady at the office in my apartment complex. That's where I picked up the package and she recognized the company. She also was who I first talked to about getting permission to have this business out of my home. You never know the connections you're going to make!

Speaking of connections, I went to the Salt Lake Business Expo with my friend from Culinary school, Hilary. She has her own dessert catering business ( ruedelis.com ) . I feel like she has the jump on me as far as the business learning curve goes, but she told me it took her NINE MONTHS to get her business license because there was no form to have a food business out of a town home in Draper. They had to create one for her. Crazy! It's been about 1 1/2 months since I started the process, and I thought that was long! Let's hope I can get this wrapped up in the next few weeks. Oy. Paperwork is a pain in the butt. ; )

Anyway! We went to this expo and it was pretty general, as far as business. All types, some food. It was fun to see the local businesses and make a few connections. Hilary did most of that since she's "legit", aka licensed. She also had business cards with her since mine did NOT ARRIVE THE DAY BEFORE LIKE THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO. Sorry. I was rather bothered by that. It was fun to see her, though, and there will be some more conventions that are specific to food that we might go to. And I have my business cards now! Finally. I'll be prepared next time. : )

So here are a few pictures of the recent orders I did: 

Angry Birds Cake. Chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream filling

and covered in fondant. All decorations made free-hand. 

Dr. Seuss-themed cupcakes for Chloe Hennis, who was turning 1! 

Chocolate cupcakes with Old Fashioned Chocolate Buttercream.

And a close-up of the decorations:

Pretty fun. : )

On a personal and possibly not-so-interesting note, I haven't been feeling well the past couple months and I kind of suspected I might be allergic to something. I wasn't sure what, but by experimenting and process of elimination, I'm pretty sure I'm lactose intolerant. : (   My dad is and I asked him what his symptoms were and they sounded oddly familiar. It's a self-diagnosis, so I'm not 100% sure but I've been feeling much better since I have mostly cut dairy out of my diet. I thought it would be really hard to give up cheese and ice cream, but it really hasn't been that bad. There are good substitutes and I live really close to a health food store, so the transition has been made without much difficulty. 

In relation to that (kinda), I have now been 4 years vegetarian as of the 3rd of this month. Hard to believe it's been that long! But I don't regret it one bit. In light of this possible lactose intolerance, I've started to make some vegan recipes since they don't have any meat or dairy in them (or eggs but that's another subject for me that I won't get into). You know what? I'm loving it. I feel a lot better and it just easier to go back to what my body actually needs. I was REALLY good at healthy eating when I first went veg, but I've strayed a bit. I'm trying to go back to the basics. Keep it simple. 

So there's some news for you! Oh, and I'm actually writing this AT my desk while sitting on my "new" desk chair. I got it really cheap from DI and it has been great so far! I'm trying to segregate "business time" and "chill time" so having a good chair is important! If I'm not comfortable, I'm more likely to lounge on the couch and productivity wanes. ; ) See you soon!