So, I can't sleep. What else is new? My mind has just been going a million miles an hour and so I went back in time to read some of my old blog posts. I was such a dork. It's kind of like going back and reading some old journal entries. I love the ones when I was in 6th grade and had a crush on so and so and thought he hated me... but then he gave me a high-five so maybe he liked me. They really were the things to worry about back then. Oh to be a kid again. Nothing really to worry about. Nothing big at least. No one warns you about the suckiness of growing up. Growing up is awesome. But, responsibility is not. Plain and simple. I have zero shame in admitting that. And you shouldn't either. Let's make a club. The "I-HATE-RESPONSIBILITY-CLUB" where only the elite may join and you have to somehow figure out a way to pay all of your bills and buy that way cute Coach purse without working full-time... and prostitution DOES NOT count.

Anyway, I was talking about going back in time and reading old journals. I always used to write the songs I liked at the moment when writing in my journal, or my favorite outfit, or food etc. I would look back and think, OH YEAH! I do remember that! Or, why did I ever like that? Well, I found this little tag I did 3 years ago and I am re-filling it out again.

Want to read the old one?

Enjoy.

8 Favorite Shows:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Brothers & Sisters

3. 30 Rock

4. Real Housewives of New Jersey AND New York
5. Gossip Girl
6. Keeping Up With The Kardashians
7. Chelsea Lately
8. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Ate Steak... TWICE.
2. Went to Target. Played with a bouncy ball... almost purchased it but, did not.
3. Played with kittens.
4. Wrapped 1 out of a billion presents that need to be wrapped.
5. Slapped Ani's butt and Ani got mad.
6. Ate TOO much chocolate.
7. Pretend to be a flying squirrel.
8. Attend my cuz's bridal shower. Did not win toilet-paper wedding dress game. I'm a sore loser. Whatever.

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. Seeing Kirk in 4 days!

2. Christmas!
3. Summer. I know I say it a lot, but I am in SERIOUS need of a VACATION.
4. Saving the dolphins.
5. Going back to school, like a stay at home mother...
6. Babies. Someday... someday.
7. Having a ginormous house where everyone comes over.
8. When I have a grown-up job.

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Carrabbas. Still a favorite.
2. Acapulco FRESH -- Sadly it's gone forever and I am actually not sad about it, I'm pissed.
3. Guru's
4. Cafe Rio
5. In-N-Out
6. Chick-fil-A
7. Cafe Trio
8. Thai Ginger

8 Things On My Wish List:
(I'm really not so vain...)
1. A new NORTHFACE jacket (this was on last year, and I still want one... a white one.)
2. A new pair of EXPENSIVE jeans... ok like 10 new pairs. (Yup, still want this as well.)
3. Get married. Yeah, I said it.
4. iPhone4.
5. A vacation with my family.
6. A HOUSE! (still want this too.)
7. Everything I see when I go shopping. What... you know you want it too.
8. Wow... I guess I only want 7 things. I guess I'm not as vain as I thought.

And now I will be able to look back and remember what I liked on December 23, 2010.

Ohhh... New Years is just around the corner!

look what i made.

So I was walking through one of my favorite little boutiques, Soel, at Riverwoods (which has gotten a very awesome face lift) and they had these REALLY awesome sparkly, vintagey, rustic, paper, Christmas trees.

I asked them how to make them and then I immediately went home to make my own.

Here is the result:

I am very proud of my craft.

I actually made 4. And they all look different but this one photographed the best so it is the one that is on this blog.

Want to make your own?

Go to MarthaStewart.com

Click HERE for the directions.

randomness upon randomness.

Hey all.

I don't know why, but I always feel the need to greet all you lovely readers out there before starting my posts. I like it, I hope you do to.

It is 2:04 in the AM and for the first time in weeks, I am ACTUALLY tired. Weird? Yes. Mostly because I have the sleeping habits of most nocturnal creatures namely: owls, wolfs and wombats (yes, I did just google "list of nocturnal creatures" to get those animals... did you know cats are nocturnal? Add that to the list of reasons why I like cats so much. I'm a cat lady, sue me.) and I have been going to sleep between the hours of 3 and 5 am. I know, scold all you want people. I am aware of how awful that sleep pattern is. And I know I'm going to have a rude awakening once school starts in January. I know, I know, I know. And, while I'm being honest, I would just like to say that I also don't really enjoy people telling me that they think I'm lazy or scoff when I say I just woke up at noon. I KNOW they're just jealous. And, when there is nothing to wake up for, what is the point? Right.

Moving forward.

I have had quite the productive day.

I managed to get all of my Christmas shopping DONE.

And I have started my to-do list for my little Shadey Lady Party 2010.

I have an artichoke dip in the fridge just ready to be baked tomorrow.

I have made a few decorations. More on that to come. I found the AWESOMEST idea. Thank you Martha Stewart.

I have gone through some of my mother's Christmas ornaments. I am supposed to do something with them? But, there are boxes and boxes and I can't really part with them but on the flip side, I have absolutely no use for them. And probably never will. I will probably keep a few for memory's sake.

So tonight, I was STARVING and I looked through my fridge to find the following things:

a lemon

a zucchini

a serving of pasta

a chicken tender

I put my culinary talents together and whipped myself up some lemon, chicken, zucchini pasta with minced garlic and let me tell you something, it was DIVINE. I am pretty proud of myself and I will be making it again. Everyone was jealous of my food. And it was the easiest thing ever. I recommend making it.

We are driving to NorCal (that's what I call it now) on Sunday and apparently the weather is supposed to be "iffy". This my friends, is why I prefer NOT to drive ANYWHERE during the Christmas season. It is exactly why Ani and I have been driving home for Thanksgiving and FLYING for Christmas for the last 5 years. But I guess Californian's don't believe in snow. Or maybe it has something to do with us waiting too long to buy plane tickets THUS the prices have gone drastically up... hence the 12 hour car ride through Reno. Ahhh Reno, the land of beauty and wonder.

Sorry there aren't any recent photos to post... but there will be.

However, I found this gem of a gem.

Enjoy.

Yes, this scantily clad girl happens to be yours truly and I remember that horse. His name was Blacky and he was my best friend. I played on him on the daily.

Oh, and this is a picture my little sister, Julia (or Dolly as some of you know her as) drew when she was 4. Notice what she said it was... a whale. She always drew the best pictures.

Goodnight to all.

lights at the temple.

I really wanted to see the lights at Temple Square this year.

I've been in Utah for 3 years and have never seen the Christmas lights and I decided that 2010 was the year!

So last week, Kirk and I ventured up to Salt Lake City and began our adventure at Gourmandise Bakery in Salt Lake for dinner. The dinner wasn't exactly amazing however, the baked desserts were beyond delicious and certainly above par.

We then headed our way to Temple Square and took about 20 minutes to find parking. It was a Tuesday night and I thought it wouldn't be too crowded but I was so wrong. I guess it was youth activity night and about EVERY single ward/stake from Utah County were there. Cool. It was so crowded! But, it was still fun and we managed to get about 15 different youth to take pictures of us.

The experience made me really want a sweet sauce camera and have mad picture taking skills and about 10 minutes into the evening my camera battery died but luckily we had Kirk's iPhone so all was not lost.

Here are some gems from our magical evening!

Christmas time is here.

Feel the magic.

Happy Holidays!

hahaha.

Woke up this morning with a link to this in my email.

He's pretty funny.

Enjoy.

dreams are weird.

Do you ever have dreams about people who you thought you would never dream about?

If you do, do you all of a sudden think you have this close bond with that person after you wake up?

This happens to me sometimes and it happened last night.

It's so weird.

I had a dream about someone who I thought I would never dream about and it made me feel so weird. I felt like I needed to have a conversation with that person and have some sort of relationship with them.

I feel like I know more about them than anyone else.

And that we are best friends.

Sometimes when I have these dreams, I dream about someone I used to know or sort of know so if I ever do talk to them or see them, I think I really am friends with them.

It messes me up!

Have you ever woken up from a dream happy because your dream felt so real and it was an amazing dream?

Or how about waking up in a horrible mood because someone ruined your life?

And then you carry around all of these negative feelings towards that person and you end up hating someone you shouldn't?

One time, I had a dream that I was Sabrina the Teenage Witch and I woke up thinking I still had magical powers but to my surprise, I had normal human powers. Which didn't thrill me. I was so mad.

Another time I had a dream that I had a love affair with Brad Pitt and it was A-MAZING. Imagine my disenchantment when I woke up only to realize he didn't even know who I was... But, I felt like I knew him!

Or how about flying dreams? I have had a few of those. I had to concentrate really hard on flying and then I could do it. But the moment that I thought of something else, I would fall.

Or how about the terrifying dreams when you can't run or scream? I ALWAYS have those kinds of dreams. I can't scream loud enough or run fast enough. It's the worst feeling.

The point of all this is to say that dreams are awesome. I love having dreams and waking up remembering them. It's like entertainment for the bored, sleeping mind.

Sometimes you wake up relieved that it was only just a dream, and sometimes you wake up disappointed that it wasn't real.

Today, I woke up sad that it wasn't real.

So weird how dreams affect us so much.

blah.

Let me recap the last 13 hours for you.

In a nutshell:

Come home from Kirk's at about 1am.

Get ready for bed and slip under covers around 2am.

Quickly go over to-do list for next day:

Go to DMV

Fill out FAFSA

Drop off paperwork at UVU

Christmas lights at Temple Square

Toss and turn until about 4am.

Take melatonin (bring on the headaches and morning grogginess) and pop in a movie.

Toss and turn some more.

Finally drift off to dreamland around 6am.

Wake up at 1pm angry that I couldn't fall asleep, and now I slept half of the day away. Worst feeling ever.

Blog about it.

And that was how I spent the last 13 hours. I could have driven to Washington. Shame.

And now I feel like this:

BAHAHAHA!

OH and please enjoy this Christmas song brought to you by Coldplay. I am in love.

my grown-up christmas list.

I know it's not very grown-up of me to have such a vain and materialistic list.

But hey, it's hard to get someone a college degree or a kitten (cough KIRK cough).

So I am resulting to THINGS.

Sue me. We all want stuff, don't lie.

Let us begin.

The Jessica Simpson animal print flat. J'adore this.

I had some gold flats from a shopping trip in Park City over a year ago and now those shoes are sadly worn to their bitter death. These will have to do. I really do enjoy them. Steve Madden metallic flats.

I have been wanting a pair of black boots and a pair of hunter rain boots. Why not combine the two and enjoy a wondrous marriage? Hunter Boots in High Gloss Black.

This stuff is a miracle. Found at Bath and Body Works, it is the ONLY kind of hand lotion that makes my hands feel moisturized all day and smells like fresh oranges. Delicious.

I have been having issues with my car having an odd scent due to some spilled spices and I finally decided to clip one of those portable scents things in my car. Works like a charm. Now I just need some good smelling scents! Please refill!

Old Navy has some pretty cute and trendy jewelry these days. I love the embellishment of the flower and the simplicity of the ribbon! Found HERE.

and a multi-chain beaded necklace! Found HERE.

I have been wanting a new watch for MONTHS. I can't resist this MARC by Marc Jacobs gold watch. I am drooling.

This ruffle coat makes me feel so happy and I LOVE the cream color. Classy yet, flirty.

Oh, and a new hairdryer. Preferably a Conair Infiniti found at Target. Then, I won't have to share with my sister anymore. Yes, we STILL share a hairdryer.

These and a partridge in a pear tree por favor?

No?

it's all about motivation.

Bonjour lovely readers.

Are you still there? ok. good.

Just a quick little update.

Getting closer and closer to January 5, 2011 - First day of school in 2 years. I could honestly say I am nervous. It's ok. I'm comfortable with that...

I decided to get my associates in the Fine Arts and then use it to transfer to the Utah State and get my Interior Design Degree. We will see if I decide to stick to it or if I change it up... With this plan, I will be in school for MUCH longer than I thought I would be but, I will be doing something that I enjoy. (Hopefully.) The only reason why I would "change it up" is because I don't know if I will stay motivated long enough to be in school that long. Maybe I want to do something that will be quicker and easier. But, whoever said the road to happiness was quick and easy?

The other day Kirk and I went on an adventure... to BYU campus. We like to venture far and wide.

But, he really wanted to take a picture next to this fountain by the Joseph Smith Building? I don't remember the name of it. Go me.

(Oh, and we needed to document our trip to Carrabba's... because we don't have enough evidence of our obsession located mostly around our midsections.)

I am getting really bad at taking pictures lately. Mostly because I HATE being in pictures. I really don't like being in front of the camera because I just don't really like the way most pictures of me turn out. I gotta get over that I suppose. I found my external hard drive I used my freshman year of college at BYU-Idaho (ahhh memories) and I was SUCH a ham. Who is that person? I found some pretty funny pictures and I literally LOL'd. Heather - do you remember a little photoshoot we had? haha I can't post those pictures. Too embarrassing. Too incriminating.

Anyway, I was looking for my old music that I used to have, and I found it! Who is ecstatic about this? ME! And now I can listen to Celine Dion and Josh Groban in peace. Oh, and Coldplay. Oh I just love Coldplay. I desperately want to go to a Coldplay concert. I would be in heaven. Someday people, someday.

I have also been getting really bad at getting ready in the morning. Since I don't have any plans during the morning hours, I generally don't get ready until about 2 or 3pm. Who am I and when did I get so lazy? You ask? Well, I am Alix. And there is no reason for my lack of motivation in the mornings. Lo siento.

gwyneth.

I love Gwyneth Paltrow.

I think she just oozes class.

She has a website called GOOP and I am a subscriba!

It has a plethora of Ms. Gwyneth's insights about balancing life, food, travel and shopping - among other things. I really loved her article on sugar addiction. I even sent it to Kirk. haha Basically, you can learn to be just like her if you wanted to... which I do.

I am especially thrilled about her recipe section. There are so many great recipes she writes about that I can't even handle it! One in particular is the Penne Arrabiata. I used to buy the frozen kind at Trader Joe's whenever I was in Washington. I looove it. A little spicy, a little tangy and so good. My little sisters even love it. But there is no Trader Joe's here and when I saw this recipe I almost cried. Why? I don't know. And it's so easy.

SERVES: 4

TIME: 15 minutes

• Coarse salt
• 1 pound penne
• 2 cups of your favorite tomato sauce (see the recipe included with the Eggplant Parmesan)
• 1 long red chili, cut into quarters (remove seeds if you don’t want it too spicy)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup firmly packed, finely grated pecorino cheese (about 1 1/2 ounces)

Set a large pot of water on to boil and season with a few big pinches of salt. Boil the penne for two minutes less than the package tells you to. Meanwhile, heat the tomato sauce with the pieces of chili in a large frying pan over low heat to infuse the chili into the sauce. Reserving about a teacup of boiling water from your pasta pot, drain the pasta and add it to the frying pan with the tomato sauce. Stir the pasta and sauce together with the olive oil and let it cook on low heat for two minutes, adding a bit of the reserved pasta water if necessary. You want the pasta to be just coated by the sauce, not swimming in it. Turn off the heat, remove the pieces of chili, stir in the pecorino and serve.