A new beginning

I love the chance to start over. To start new. I love the feeling that I can change right here, right now, today and be whoever I want to be. Even though many people don't stick with their New Year's Resolutions much past the beginning of February I still love that everyone is so focused on changing and becoming better.

I, like many of you I'm sure, have thought of things I'd like to change in my life. The thing I'm doing differently this year is that I'm not going to lay out a million things I want to do differently because that does not work for me. I fall into a trap where I get feeling down or disappointed because I can't be the perfect girl I see in my head. Newsflash: it's okay to not be perfect. I'm starting with two goals, just
two.

One: Eating healthy

This may seem like a bandwagon goal that everyone does, but if joining the bandwagon helps me develop good habits then I'll gladly buy that ticket. My goal is to eat at least one fruit, one vegetable, and have one serving of protein a day. Protein is the main area where I really struggle. I have never been the biggest meat eater in the world. I think that's largely due to a traumatizing experience I had as a child with a thanksgiving ham and some bone marrow. I blame it on my queasiness that has been passed down from both sides of my family. Anyway, I have stocked my freezer with some chicken breasts and bags of nuts from Costco. I'm going to try and get creative with getting in some protein, so if you have anything that has worked well for you I'd love to hear!

One other thing with eating healthy is that I want to limit the processed sugar that I eat. My mom and sister have both decided to go off of sugar for 21 days and I have decided to join them. I am specifically not eating candy and dessert like foods. I did this for 2 weeks a couple of months ago and it seriously made a world of difference. My end goal with this is to be able to break my body's addiction to sugar. I've realized that I like the taste of sugary things more than I like eating a ton of any one particular thing.

Two: Talking

I'm one of those people that is so beyond quiet when I first meet people that others often think I'm stuck up. I don't know why I'm like this. I usually have plenty to say, but for some reason I just can't get myself to break into a conversation very easily. I do better in small groups. I think a lot of it stems from an insecurity with putting myself out there. I don't do very well when I know there are people that don't really like me. I know, I know I'm being a girl.

I usually have to feel really comfortable and that I know the dynamics of a group before I begin to talk. But how can I expect to get comfortable in situations if I don't start doing things to help me become more comfortable??

Looking at my life I realized that I haven't made many new friends recently. The new friends I have made I love and am so glad that they are in my life, but they are far and few between. I've just let myself become comfortable with my roommates and haven't felt the need to push myself, but the time for that has ended. This year is about pushing past feeling uncomfortable. It's a scary thought, but it also makes me excited.

I have high hopes for this year. I think it is going to be one of the best so far. And you know why? Because I'm deciding that right now. I am equipped with everything I need to be successful and I know it.

If you're thinking there is something hard that you want to do but aren't sure if you can I say go for it! After all, we all can do hard things when we put our mind to it!

I'm excited to see what this new year brings and I hope you are too!

Because I look up to Alyssa

My wonderful friend Alyssa had a clever idea to go through her profile pictures from Facebook and I always love a great idea, so here goes my copycat post. Like her, I am going to go from the oldest to the most recent. Ready? Here we go!

 1

Date: July 16th 2008

Kenzie Willes (used to be Smoot) was the one who basically set up my Facebook for me. She picked this picture, largely because it was one of the only ones of me on her computer. She is the one on the left. We had gone to a Jordin Sparks concert at the Scera. Gotta love the braces and funky hairdo. 

 2

Date: August 14th 2008

Hello extended family. Everyone in this is about 7 years younger, smaller, and I haven't seen that much hair on most of those heads since this picture. Speaking of hair, I was pretty blonde at the time. 

3

Date: August 31st 2008

A classic EFY picture at none other place than BYU. Me and Karoline definitely made those t-shirts because we thought it was "the cool thing to do." Apparently it was because we got a lot of compliments on them. Those sunglasses were definitely borrowed from our C.O.W.S. 

4

Date: October 20th 2008

This girl was my very best friend. This year I basically lived at her house when I wasn't in school. She kept me sane and doing fun things.

5

Date: December 20th 2008

Christmas Eve has always been one of my favorite holidays to celebrate. These boys have been my best friends through the years. This was the year I got my first camera. Needless to say, we took a bazillion pictures that night. Making the weird faces was the way to go.

6

Date: February 26th 2009

Ballroom tour. Sophomore year. Until looking back I didn't realize how much I have thinned out since then. Change is always good, definitely good. This was my favorite year of ballroom mainly because of this trip.

7

Date: April 9th 2009

Remember those 2 boys from picture 5? We've been a gang since the beginning. This is my all time favorite picture. We were in our innocent years. Look how precious our smiles are! This was one of our first trips down to St. George. So. Much. Fun.

8

Date: April 24th 2009

Something really great must have happened. Do we look like twins? I am wearing his shirt and jacket after all. This picture makes me cringe just a bit. At times I look at pictures that I have posted and think what on earth was I thinking?!

9

Date: June 29th 2012

EFY round 2. Again, me and Karoline made those shirts. This time with spray paint because we've reached high school at this point and that's the cool thing to do. This experience legitimately changed my life. I LOVE these girls.

10

Date: July 5th 2009

More EFY. Us with our favorite new friend. I liked how the shadows played on our faces. Uhhh..yeah...

11

Date: August 19th 2009

This was taken at my mom's wedding. I wasn't sure I would have made it through this day without her. It meant a lot she was there, so the world needed to know it! I'm not sure how anyone ever let me out of the house with that much blue eye shadow on. 

12

Date: August 21st 2009

This was taken at a ropes course that we went to with the ballroom team. She kept me laughing through it all. Which I greatly appreciated since I hate heights. 

13

Date: August 26th 2009

New Year's Eve stake dance. I really did spend nearly all my time with her. Believe me yet? 

13

Date:November 22nd 2009

On our way to go camping or something. Peace signs and headbands? Hippies for sure. Sister love. We've changed a lot in just a few short years.

14

Date: February 1st 2010

Random picture in Macey's? This is another one of those why did I post this picture.

15

Date: May 17th 2010

Family pictures are always a joy. Usually we can never get everyone to smile. This was a picture taken while we were walking to the next spot for a posed picture. I love it. It was the first time I realized my brother can show that he loves one of us. 

16

Date: July 11th 2011

Senior picture time rolled around. I felt the need to jump on that bandwagon. Also, how about that hair color change? I've been thinking about changing it here soon. We will see. 

17

Date: November 6th 2011

Freshman year. This was the first night we ordered food to have it delivered to our apartment. I don't know about Carolyn, but I was feeling like we were a pretty big deal. 

18

Date: November 27th 2011

Thanksgiving trip down to St. Geezy. Leaning against a pole is a cool thing to do, right? 

19

Date: May 24th 2012

Wanna be let in on a secret? I couldn't curl my own hair until my Freshman year. I'm not sure why I'm confessing this about this picture because I didn't even curl my hair for this picture, but I liked the way it turned out. I stayed at my Grandparents this past Summer and this was taken when I was unpacking everything. It was an exciting day indeed!

20

Date: August 24th 2012

Summer trip to New York. Taken in the Sacred Grove. I was sort of going for king of the forest. Did it work? I didn't realize how much I would blend in with my green shirt and green sunglasses. 

21

Date: November 1st 2012

Brother's going on a mission!! He got his mission call on Halloween that is why he has on a dorky looking tie with perfectly parted hair. He is going to Santa Rosa, California and he leaves in 36 days. Ah!!! Obviously I was extremely excited for him.

22

Date: December 6th 2012

If you've been reading you will recognize this picture from not too long ago. It is from my work Christmas party. She graciously offered to be my date for the evening. Plus, it was festive.

I don't change my profile picture that often considering I have 22 pictures since 2008. Maybe that will be a New Year's resolution. Take more pictures that I find profile worthy. It's funny how we pick the pictures that show the most exciting or interesting thing about our life at the current moment.

 I'm still not sure what my profile pictures say about me, but one thing I gathered from looking through these is that I like to showcase the important people in my life. I know that people come into our lives for a reason and that we usually have something important to learn from each of these people. I'm grateful for all of the lessons I've learned up to this point.