I'm Feelin' Twenty-Two

As much as I find myself wanting to resist liking Taylor Swift or any of her impossibly catchy songs, I can't help but secretly sing along to every one that comes on the radio while I'm alone in my car. Girl just tells it like it is, you know? Anyways they've been playing '22' on the station I listen to non-stop these days, and it's been constantly stuck in my head. This is partially due to the fact that I myself have just turned 22, and I get a small amount of glee every time I can accurately shout, "I don't know about you, but I'm feelin' twenty-two!" at the chorus. It's the little things.

My birthday was just two days after the last day of my spring semester, so everything happened in a blur of activity and excitement. I had to work on my actual birthday, but the next day Colton and I left for Prescott to spend time with my parents for my dad's birthday and Mother's day. After that, we took off on a week long trip to California which was awesome! We went to Disneyland/California Adventure and then spent several days in San Diego hanging out on the beach and eating lots and lots of food. The trip was part of Colton's birthday gift to me as well as my own gift to myself and the chance to take a week off work, spend a day at the Disney parks, and just relax and do whatever was sooooo nice.

Hopefully now that we are back I can get back into the swing of blogging fairly regularly. I am enrolled in a couple online summer classes this semester which have already proven themselves to be very intense! Last night I stayed up till 4 am working on my midterm and was able to turn it in with less than a minute (of the three hour time limit) to spare. It's a lot of work! But it will be worth it to have an easier course load this fall. That will be taking up some of my time though, and on top of that I am once again cooking for the Mendocino Sufi Youth Retreat in July. That means another week of meals to design and test followed by a lot of grocery shopping and finally 5 days of intense work from pretty much 6am to midnight. It's takes a LOT of planning and work but I really enjoy doing it :)

Other than that, I'm hoping to spend this summer continuing my regimen of healthy eating and fitness (I am 5 weeks into the couch to 5k plan right now. Have you heard of it? I think I'll do another post on just that later!) while also squeezing in time for the activities I really enjoy, like cooking and crafting. It would be ideal if I had enough extra time to really invest in my Etsy shop this summer and get it off the ground, but with so much else on my plate that might have to take the back burner. We'll see! Regardless, it's looking to be a fun and exciting last summer in college!

SO, that's what's been going on in my world the past few weeks and what's on the horizon. Before I go, here are a few pics from my birthday/vacation:

 Colton made breakfast for us both in the morning, which we ate outside in our little yard next to the cactus garden. Delicious blueberries and strawberries wrapped in crepes and topped with whipped cream with a side of center cut bacon- which is only 25 calories a slice! My kind of bacon.

I took my birthday as an opportunity to update my measurements since I hadn't done so since the 20 lb loss mark. I posted this picture on instagram with the caption that (as of my bday) I had lost 35.6 pounds and a total of 36.5 inches, which is the length I'm showing with the tape measure. I'm so proud of what I've accomplished by returning to a healthy lifestyle this year! I am now at about about a 38 lb overall loss and looking forward to hitting the 40 lb mark!

Colton had me pick out a necklace that I wanted on Etsy for my birthday and this is the one I chose- it is a Doctor Who reference which appeals to my nerdy side and love for that show, but it's also really beautiful and pairs well with my style.

Though it's probably not very safe, when Clementine rides in the car she doesn't want to sit anywhere but on my lap. She prefers to put her head right in the crook of my elbow while I drive as well, even if that means she has to sit up to do so. She's a super weirdo. Luckily she's small and light enough that it barely makes a difference while I drive. Colton took this picture on our way from Tucson to Prescott the day after my birthday and Clem just looks so very pleased with the world. She should have her own talk show with that smile.

Walking from our hotel to the parks on the morning of our Disney day!

Nearing the castle! Gosh, is there anything more fun than disneyland? We had the best time. It was hot (over 100), but the lines weren't too long anywhere and we zipped back and forth between the two parks half a dozen times, experiencing everything. We rode space mountain 3 times (it was the first and last ride we did as well) and California Screamin' twice, and those were definitely our favorites. Through some miracle neither of us got too cranky, hungry, hot, or tired and we just had a blast from open to close!

Indiana Jones line selfie...

Instead of spending lots of money on food inside the parks, we brought our lunch in and stored it in the lockers inside Disneyland. Bagel sandwiches, sliced veggies, trail mix, and chips... without waiting in long lines or forking over tons of cash. Definitely recommended! Although, we did split a sundae from the ice cream parlor later that afternoon :)

I wish I had taken more pictures but as usual I got caught up in actually having the experiences and didn't stop to photograph them! Colton has more pictures on his phone of our ride pictures, san diego, etc which I will put in a later post. Hope your week is coming to a nice close!

<3 Em