Spoiled rotten!

So, you may or may not know, but I recently celebrated a very important event: my birthday! And this year was a milestone for me. I had a few minutes of freaking out and then I decided that it’s just another number so there’s really no reason to be upset about it. And that was that.

My heart is still full to overflowing with everybody who reached out. From Facebook comments to sending cards across the U.S. (thanks Robin, Corey, Addie and Jack) to coming to my birthday party, it was a wonderful time.

It started with a family birthday party when I went to visit my sisters over President’s Day weekend. My parents came down and we celebrated.

Here’s a few photos commemorating the occasion:

I not only picked out a few things for myself, but I also got to help my sisters pick out some new clothes. It was fun!

At work that week, my supervisor not only took me out to lunch at one of Salt Lake City’s nicest restaurants, she also gave me a beautiful butterfly charm from Swarovski and dropped this tasty cake off for me, to my surprise and delight.

As is tradition for me, I took my birthday off work. Life is much too short for me to be working on my birthday I’ve decided. I slept in, went to the gym, had a massage and had an amazing party at my house! My roomies were fantastic in organizing everything, decorating and providing a great collection of food for the party. This is what it looked like.

Okay so I might’ve been having lots of fun playing at my party so I don’t have a lot of pictures of that. But here’s a picture of the whole group, sans a couple who had to leave early.

This is my birthday dance with Max. He is so sweet!

And, finally, this is my family birthday party on Saturday afternoon/evening with my aunt, cousins and some dear friends.

See, I told you I seriously got spoiled. It was a wonderful birthday and a great way to pass a milestone birthday.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes, Chucky made an appearance for my birthday. I’m just that cool so he couldn’t stay away.

Once again, thanks to everyone who made my birthday so special.

Snowshoeing!

Greetings to anyone who actually still checks my blog (cough, cough, it’s a little dusty here). Today, I hail from a little place called GMAT land. No, it’s not like the Emerald City or Candyland. It’s much less fun than that. But, I’m hoping it’ll all be over soon. Time will tell.

In any case, a LOT of time has passed since my last post. And I’ve had some very fun times I’d love to share. It would take me forever to put in all the posts I had intended to put here, so I’ll instead focus on just two. This one took place about three weeks ago.

Last year I had the wonderful opportunity to experience snowshoeing for the first time. It was hard work but lots of fun! So, when I heard that a second snowshoeing activity was being in the works, I knew I had to go.

Once again we hiked to the lovely snow-covered Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon. There was quite a bit more snow this year than last. Shocking with all the cold weather and storms we’ve had. J/K!

Anyway, as always I captured it in pictures, and they can tell the story much better than I can.

The whole group. It was a LOT smaller this year than last but still plenty of fun.

Of course here’s me, stylin’ in my snowshoes.

The snow-covered canyon. I hiked all the way to the falls last year, but it resulted in a rather cold trip home after I had to slide down on my behind. Since I still don’t own snow pants, I decided to skip that part this year. Instead I captured the rest of the group walking up. Oh and the canyon of course.

And here was our prize for finishing our hike (and just in the nick of time too because it started snowing as we were walking out).

Even being lost in GMAT land, sometimes I still get to have adventures.

Happy 2013!!

Hello to anyone who actually still checks my blog! I’ve had a bit of an unplanned hiatus, and I apologize for that. It’s been a very busy last month. However, I am happy to write my official post welcoming 2013!

I rang in this year quietly with just my parents and me playing games and having a nice evening together. And I’ve pretty much been incredibly busy since I got back. So, what’s been keeping me so busy? Studying!

My big goals for 2013 are 1) to take the GMAT and pass with an acceptable score and 2) get into grad school! There’s a few other small ones of course like continuing with my physical activity and the like, but grad school is the big goal in front of my face right now.

I signed up for an online GMAT prep course at the end of November. I thought I could get some quality studying time in December before Christmas. While I got a few lessons in, I didn’t have time to get as much studying as I might have liked. And my lovely long Christmas break was filled with other activities that didn’t involve studying for the GMAT. Alas, if I want to pass with a score acceptable enough to get me into the school of my choice, I knew this had to change.

So it did.

Since I’ve now gotten myself back into the work groove, with the commute each way, I now spend my evenings studying, going to the gym, eating a little something and then studying some more. Followed by a reasonable bed time so I can remember what I learn. And when I can, I sneak in social activities and trips to the temple. And then my focus is back on studying again.

Does it sound like an intense schedule? Well, I must admit that it is, but I’m making it. I officially registered for the test this week, and in doing so, I upped my test date by about 10 days. Yikes! But it’s now early enough that just in case I don’t do as well as I’d like, I can take it again in time to apply for the April 1 deadline.

Wish me luck (and the ability to remember all that math from junior high and high school) as I work toward this ambitious goal! I feel great about my choice even though it’s a lot of work, however, so I’m going to persist.

Happy 2013 everyone!