It's only been the last couple of years that I've been a real go getter. I think a little part of me has always been a list making, NEED to get certain things done and I'll stay up til 2AM if I need to kind of person. But before these past couple of years I didn't really take on more than i could handle. And I didnt really overstress when I couldnt be wonder woman. Maybe its just because of the added responsibilities that come with getting older, being in college and having a husband; which, dont get me wrong, all have their perks. But the past little while I've been in this mood where I get super stressed if I don't get every little thing done and am constantly feeling like there's more to do. School could always use a little extra attention, my laundry room has been totally clean MAYBE three times since we've been married, I'm lucky if I cook dinner three times in one week, I wish my car got washed way more often, can I ever make it to Costco before it closes?, my lessons could use some work and don't even get me started about where I need to be spending more time on the spiritual side of things. And that's a short list!
But a few months ago, I had such a great RS lesson. She talked about the seasons of life and being aware of which one you're in, learning what you need to while you're in it and being ready for the next one in whatever ways you can. Just mastering the moment youre in. If youre in the season of being a student: study hard, stay up late cramming for finals, be in the library til all hours of the night. If youre in a mom season: be the best, love your kids, freak out once in a while, have a messy kitchen. I remembered this lesson last week when someone reminded me that I just needed to trust that I'm exactly where i need to be, learning the things I need to know for the next step in my life (WHATEVER that may be). It was a little more poetic than that but you get the idea. I also saw this cute little sign the other day that I should seriously consider buying to hang up in my house. It said "you can do anything, but not everything."
My point is, I'm really good at getting stressed out about all the things I'm not getting done, but in the long run...thats just making me sell myself short on the things I am getting done. I forget too quickly that I'm in the season of finishing school and learning how to be a wife. My sweet husband doesn't expect to come home to a squeaky clean house with a well balanced meal on the table and me in a ravishing outfit and my hair done...especially when Ive been in class all day and hopefully at the gym for an hour. But I still have trouble feeling OK about this myself.
So my new goal: Im finishing school and trying to take advantage of the moment: being 24, married to the most amazing guy ever, living in still-cold-in-may Sandy, Utah and wearing sweats a little more often than my husband would probably like. ;) Maybe my next season will be the one where Im really good at juggling my household duties, cooking dinner 4 nights a week instead of 3 and preparing my lessons a week in advance instead of 3 days, and ironing all of Taylor's shirts the same month they got washed.
Moral of the story: be aware of your season. Live it well and learn from it! It's going to be over sooner than you think and youll be on to the next, wishing you got the most out of what was right in front of you.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
sighhhhhh
I swore that i already posted this last week but i guess not! It's a little out of date but still all seems to be true! Enjoy!
Ive been having such a great week. Taylor and I MAGICALLY both had Wednesday off. It was so nice to be able to spend an extra day together during the week and I LOVED IT. Ive come to realize that before you get married, youre constantly scrambling to make time with that person you love and then once you actually get married (thinking youll be spending so much time together), it's easy to forget to put them on your schedule. You see each other at home after work, you sit next to them at church on Sunday and they're always in the bathroom when youre trying to get ready. I know Ill always see Taylor for a least a few hours a day but I definitely think we need to make an extra effort to make our time together a priority. It's not either of our faults, it's just really easy to cram all our extra time with school-related, house-related and work-related projects.
OK, enough on that tangent. Back to my great week. Basketball playoffs are here, we have an Arizona trip planned in a week! and despite the 4 papers I have due in the next 10 days, and the monster of a project we call our spare room, I feel at peace. I know I sound like a broken record but I have the greatest husband and Ive never been so happy with my life.
On a different note, Id like to pay a little tribute to my friend, Kristie. She has a blog () that I LOVE and has really inspired me to keep up on my own. Her posts are so real. Im always impressed of how aware of her readers she is, but she still writes for herself. She's very passionate about everything she posts, as well as decorating, fashion, music and so many other things! It's made me wonder what I'm passionate about. Ive actually pondered on this subject alot this past year. Ive thought about things I could really get into: refinishing furniture, starting to paint again, becoming an amazing cook (I would love to do this but let's face it, it's a longshot), and things of the like. Ive always struggled with feeling like there's nothing I'm SUPER good at. Im more like...average at alot of things. But this past week, I went and saw my Grannie (love her) and as she was helping me plan an activity for my young women, she spouted off a couple of the things that Im good at, even though Im not great at them, and I felt pretty OK about that. Not everyone can keep a day planner like I do, or shop til they drop which Im really good at. So for now, I feel good about being Shauna, the average student, baker, lover of art and anything leopard, wife who cant wait to be a mom.
Ive been having such a great week. Taylor and I MAGICALLY both had Wednesday off. It was so nice to be able to spend an extra day together during the week and I LOVED IT. Ive come to realize that before you get married, youre constantly scrambling to make time with that person you love and then once you actually get married (thinking youll be spending so much time together), it's easy to forget to put them on your schedule. You see each other at home after work, you sit next to them at church on Sunday and they're always in the bathroom when youre trying to get ready. I know Ill always see Taylor for a least a few hours a day but I definitely think we need to make an extra effort to make our time together a priority. It's not either of our faults, it's just really easy to cram all our extra time with school-related, house-related and work-related projects.
OK, enough on that tangent. Back to my great week. Basketball playoffs are here, we have an Arizona trip planned in a week! and despite the 4 papers I have due in the next 10 days, and the monster of a project we call our spare room, I feel at peace. I know I sound like a broken record but I have the greatest husband and Ive never been so happy with my life.
On a different note, Id like to pay a little tribute to my friend, Kristie. She has a blog () that I LOVE and has really inspired me to keep up on my own. Her posts are so real. Im always impressed of how aware of her readers she is, but she still writes for herself. She's very passionate about everything she posts, as well as decorating, fashion, music and so many other things! It's made me wonder what I'm passionate about. Ive actually pondered on this subject alot this past year. Ive thought about things I could really get into: refinishing furniture, starting to paint again, becoming an amazing cook (I would love to do this but let's face it, it's a longshot), and things of the like. Ive always struggled with feeling like there's nothing I'm SUPER good at. Im more like...average at alot of things. But this past week, I went and saw my Grannie (love her) and as she was helping me plan an activity for my young women, she spouted off a couple of the things that Im good at, even though Im not great at them, and I felt pretty OK about that. Not everyone can keep a day planner like I do, or shop til they drop which Im really good at. So for now, I feel good about being Shauna, the average student, baker, lover of art and anything leopard, wife who cant wait to be a mom.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Update Shmupdate
In an attempt to stay on top of blogging, here's a mini-post update! Closing in on the semester (woohoo!), quitting my job! (more to come), fitness goals= slowly but surely, still married to the most amazing guy to ever live (I swear he gets cooler everyday!), congrats to my awesome big bro who is moving to auburn, alabama for vet school, yay for 2 fun jazz games last week and hooray for phone calls from Georgia to catch up with favorite friends. life is good! Any questions?
Friday, March 25, 2011
back to reality...(oh, there goes gravity)
Home sweet home! (a couple weeks ago). California was dreamy! It was so good to get to visit with everyone and just be home. It's funny how Salt Lake feels like home until I get back to good old Tustin! Seeing all the places I know so well and used to go so often make me feel less homey about Salt Lake. Tustin Lanes, The Market Place, even the Circle K that me and Jess always used to walk to! My favorite part was not waking up to an alarm and being with Taylor 24/7 for a week. And we always love Newport but it was a little chilly when we were there. I definitely took the beach for granted all my life because it's funny to see how excited Taylor gets just to see the ocean. Overall it was a great trip, but it just never seems like we get to spend enough time with anyone!
So me and Taylor super splurged and bought an iPad with some wedding money! We got a way good deal for a first edition on KSL since the new ones came out and we couldn't resist. So far the good has outweighed the bad and I don't think I've wasted too much time on it haha. But I got this sweet app called lose it! And its really been helping me keep track of my fitness goals. You put in your current weight and weight loss goals and it gives you a calorie range that you need to stay under each day. The best part is that every time you eat, you can put it in to the app. It has a huge list of brand name foods either from the store or from restaurants and has all the nutritional information so it's pretty accurate at counting your calories. And! when you exercise, you add that in and it tells you what you burned and how many more calories that allows you to eat for the day. I'm in love! It helps me pace myself when it's the middle of the day and I've almost reached my calorie count! It gives me motivation to get to the gym so i can eat a little more without feeling too bad. I highly recommend it! What are you guys doing to reach your weight loss goals? Especially my newlywed friends!
So me and Taylor super splurged and bought an iPad with some wedding money! We got a way good deal for a first edition on KSL since the new ones came out and we couldn't resist. So far the good has outweighed the bad and I don't think I've wasted too much time on it haha. But I got this sweet app called lose it! And its really been helping me keep track of my fitness goals. You put in your current weight and weight loss goals and it gives you a calorie range that you need to stay under each day. The best part is that every time you eat, you can put it in to the app. It has a huge list of brand name foods either from the store or from restaurants and has all the nutritional information so it's pretty accurate at counting your calories. And! when you exercise, you add that in and it tells you what you burned and how many more calories that allows you to eat for the day. I'm in love! It helps me pace myself when it's the middle of the day and I've almost reached my calorie count! It gives me motivation to get to the gym so i can eat a little more without feeling too bad. I highly recommend it! What are you guys doing to reach your weight loss goals? Especially my newlywed friends!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
shirking responsibilities and juicing our cares away
It's weeks like these that I was talking about in my previous post! Taylor and I have so much stuff that is due before this week is over. I have 3 papers due on Thursday, a mid term on Wednesday and a small-ish assignment due tomorrow. Im all for having homework-free spring breaks but seriously! Space this stuff out a little. Brian, Catherine, teachers-- TAKE NOTE! But all day yesterday (and apparently today as I am taking 20 minutes to blog!) we ignored all our responsibilities and I must say, had the BEST day! Lucky for me, I have the best husband ever who chooses not to study on Sunday, otherwise I probably wouldve let school stress get in the way all day.
Normally, we are blessed not to spend too many sundays at home on our own! We get to go have family dinner and game the night away but yesterday, everyone was out of town. After church, we started off our day of rest with a nap (Im not going to tell you how long because we would be embarrassed. But in our defense, yesterday was the day we had to move our clocks forward and it was killer!) The rest of the night was filled with dinner, a PUZZLE! (it was fun, dont judge)and lots of quality time. The lovely Jessica Hatton gave me an awesome juicer last year (IRONICALLY the brand is TAYLOR, and we werent even dating yet! How did she know?) and so we whipped up a couple delicious concoctions and have been re-inspired to juice it up from time to time in the near future.
Other than that, Mustache March is in full force and I still crack up every time Taylor gets home because I forget that he has one. We dyed it the other night and it looks AWESOME! (I wont name names, but SOMEONE is pretty proud of that silly stache). Ill have to post a picture A-SAP.
Besides that, we've been CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' and cant wait for thursday!
Normally, we are blessed not to spend too many sundays at home on our own! We get to go have family dinner and game the night away but yesterday, everyone was out of town. After church, we started off our day of rest with a nap (Im not going to tell you how long because we would be embarrassed. But in our defense, yesterday was the day we had to move our clocks forward and it was killer!) The rest of the night was filled with dinner, a PUZZLE! (it was fun, dont judge)and lots of quality time. The lovely Jessica Hatton gave me an awesome juicer last year (IRONICALLY the brand is TAYLOR, and we werent even dating yet! How did she know?) and so we whipped up a couple delicious concoctions and have been re-inspired to juice it up from time to time in the near future.
Other than that, Mustache March is in full force and I still crack up every time Taylor gets home because I forget that he has one. We dyed it the other night and it looks AWESOME! (I wont name names, but SOMEONE is pretty proud of that silly stache). Ill have to post a picture A-SAP.
Besides that, we've been CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' and cant wait for thursday!
Monday, March 7, 2011
TOO EXCITED TO SLEEP!
So after much debate, Im back to the world of blogging! Ahem..I mean WE are back to the world of blogging! My reasoning is this: I live far away from ALL of my family (Hayter side), as well as some special favorites tucked away in Georgia, Sacramento, and So Cal who I dont get to talk to NEARLY as much as I would like. So Im creating this opportunity for them to log on to my witty banter whenever they would like :) in an attempt for them to keep up with my life, if they are so obliged.
But for now, Ill side-step the messy up-dates (who knows who needs to be caught up on what!) and start with a list of the top 5 things that team tondevold is looking forward to in the NEAR(ish) future:
1. CA FOR SB! (SB= spring break!)
yes, it's true. S&T will be making the trek home to visit family and friends for some MUCH needed vacation time. on the schedule we have YEN CHING, knott's berry farm, some quality time with PAPA G and bentley jones, and lots of hayters, smiths and pauls time! YAY! if we dont answer our phones, it will most definitely be because we are taking a nap.
2. TENNESSEE! Elder Tondevold served his mission in Knoxville, TN and we are more than excited for a trip back to this place he holds so dear to his heart. We are crossing our fingers that SOMEONE might decide to go to vet school out there and we could kill 2 birds with one stone. However, my first trip to the country music state (thats not really the motto, but I couldnt find it anywhere!) will be sufficient if I get to visit my beloved old roomie and eat alot of fried things that I didnt know could be fried. We kept saying that we would go over fall break BUT...WE ARENT GOING TO HAVE ONE THIS YEAR! hooray! which leads me to #3...
3. GRADUATING! For the purpose of being more flexible in the future (no, Im not pregnant), graduation has been moved up from December 2011 to AUGUST 2011. Taylor will be done in May and after that we will have to figure out what the universe has planned for us. Things I will miss most about college: spring break...fall break...christmas break...student discounts...classes taught by grad school students (always the best)...scheduling your day to start at 10...being able to milk the excuse "im just so busy with school." Things I will not miss: being exhausted and stressed every finals week...the first day of the semester (will I see people I know? Is this the right outfit? Do I keep this class or is the teacher expecting wayyyy too much from a 6th year college student?)...buying $200 textbooks...those magical weeks that all your teachers decide you have something due...trudging across campus in the snow because teachers take away extra points if you dont come on days that it blizzards. That's probably enough, you all get the picture. HOORAY FOR BECOMING AN ALUMNI AFTER ALL THIS TIME!
4. MY FIRST SUMMER WITH A HUSBAND! This first year is going by so quickly! Bittersweet, right? Although it will be filled with firsts, there are also a lot of things we have been glad to get out of the way as a newly married couple. So summer will be a GREAT way to close out our first year as team tondevold. :) Last summer I had to spend a majority of my time in Chile and planning a small get together called our wedding. I definitely felt jipped. I missed 4th of July (my favorite!) with Taylor, boating, and the good warm weather before it gets too hot. This summer will be divine. We will have 2 new babies in the family (!) and even though it will be a little crazy with school, I cant wait for summer nights, family visiting Utah, and my first 4th of July with my favorite person ever.
5. GRAD SCHOOL! nope, not for me. 6 years as an undergrad was more than sufficient for me to have the "college experience." I think I maybe even had it twice. But Taylor on the other hand, will be going back soon to fight the grad school dragon. Where? When? Who knows for sure. But it will be like our first little adventure! And I personally, cant wait!
On a closing note, one last thing that I am looking forward to is new goals and accomplishments because of my wonderful husband and how much he inspires me...DAILY. There hasnt been ONE SINGLE DAY where I havent decided something that I am going to work on or change, simply because he makes me feel like I can do it! He is so awesome in every way and just makes me want to be a better person all around. Team Tondevold makes me feel INVINCIBLE and because of T, I am that much closer to becoming the BEST version of myself. Is this just what happens in marriage, or did I just get really REALLY lucky? Im gonna go with the latter. :)
ST OUT!
But for now, Ill side-step the messy up-dates (who knows who needs to be caught up on what!) and start with a list of the top 5 things that team tondevold is looking forward to in the NEAR(ish) future:
1. CA FOR SB! (SB= spring break!)
yes, it's true. S&T will be making the trek home to visit family and friends for some MUCH needed vacation time. on the schedule we have YEN CHING, knott's berry farm, some quality time with PAPA G and bentley jones, and lots of hayters, smiths and pauls time! YAY! if we dont answer our phones, it will most definitely be because we are taking a nap.
2. TENNESSEE! Elder Tondevold served his mission in Knoxville, TN and we are more than excited for a trip back to this place he holds so dear to his heart. We are crossing our fingers that SOMEONE might decide to go to vet school out there and we could kill 2 birds with one stone. However, my first trip to the country music state (thats not really the motto, but I couldnt find it anywhere!) will be sufficient if I get to visit my beloved old roomie and eat alot of fried things that I didnt know could be fried. We kept saying that we would go over fall break BUT...WE ARENT GOING TO HAVE ONE THIS YEAR! hooray! which leads me to #3...
3. GRADUATING! For the purpose of being more flexible in the future (no, Im not pregnant), graduation has been moved up from December 2011 to AUGUST 2011. Taylor will be done in May and after that we will have to figure out what the universe has planned for us. Things I will miss most about college: spring break...fall break...christmas break...student discounts...classes taught by grad school students (always the best)...scheduling your day to start at 10...being able to milk the excuse "im just so busy with school." Things I will not miss: being exhausted and stressed every finals week...the first day of the semester (will I see people I know? Is this the right outfit? Do I keep this class or is the teacher expecting wayyyy too much from a 6th year college student?)...buying $200 textbooks...those magical weeks that all your teachers decide you have something due...trudging across campus in the snow because teachers take away extra points if you dont come on days that it blizzards. That's probably enough, you all get the picture. HOORAY FOR BECOMING AN ALUMNI AFTER ALL THIS TIME!
4. MY FIRST SUMMER WITH A HUSBAND! This first year is going by so quickly! Bittersweet, right? Although it will be filled with firsts, there are also a lot of things we have been glad to get out of the way as a newly married couple. So summer will be a GREAT way to close out our first year as team tondevold. :) Last summer I had to spend a majority of my time in Chile and planning a small get together called our wedding. I definitely felt jipped. I missed 4th of July (my favorite!) with Taylor, boating, and the good warm weather before it gets too hot. This summer will be divine. We will have 2 new babies in the family (!) and even though it will be a little crazy with school, I cant wait for summer nights, family visiting Utah, and my first 4th of July with my favorite person ever.
5. GRAD SCHOOL! nope, not for me. 6 years as an undergrad was more than sufficient for me to have the "college experience." I think I maybe even had it twice. But Taylor on the other hand, will be going back soon to fight the grad school dragon. Where? When? Who knows for sure. But it will be like our first little adventure! And I personally, cant wait!
On a closing note, one last thing that I am looking forward to is new goals and accomplishments because of my wonderful husband and how much he inspires me...DAILY. There hasnt been ONE SINGLE DAY where I havent decided something that I am going to work on or change, simply because he makes me feel like I can do it! He is so awesome in every way and just makes me want to be a better person all around. Team Tondevold makes me feel INVINCIBLE and because of T, I am that much closer to becoming the BEST version of myself. Is this just what happens in marriage, or did I just get really REALLY lucky? Im gonna go with the latter. :)
ST OUT!
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