Take One Step at a Time.

Remember this post when I was rambling about the importance of enjoying every moment of my life and not just letting it pass me by? Well, yesterday I had one of those moments where I paused and realized that I needed to change some things.

This past weekend I didn't get close to enough homework done and started off the week behind, which is everyone's favorite feeling! I woke up Tuesday like I do most mornings, automatically running through my to-do list and schedule in my head before I can even take a moment to breathe. This is what my thoughts were sounding like yesterday: 

"Okay, I need to finish that personal narrative that is due today that I'm only half done with, and then I have weights, and then I'm not going to be able to run because I didn't finish my Book of Mormon reading so I'll have to read it on my phone while I do the elliptical..and then hopefully I'll have my narrative done by then..and then I'll go to class and then I have work, and then I'll go visiting teaching because it's the 28th and I've put it off all month, and then I'll start my homework and ugh today is going to be long."

Guys, I'm not joking. And this is basically how my day went. I went through my day, just thinking about the next thing I had to do as I walked from class to class. Here's the best part though: I got out of my English class at 1:20 and had to eat lunch and read 3 more chapters in the Book of Mormon before my class at 2.  So after waiting in the Subway line for 20 minutes, I had twenty minutes to shove a salad down my face and  read these 3 chapters. I scanned the crowded Cougareat, looking for an empty table and I found one so headed towards it quickly, and as I was about 5 feet away, I could tell another guy had the same idea as me. At this point, I decided that I just needed to sit at this table even if this guy was too because I didn't have time to find another one. As he went to sit down, I asked him if he minded if I sat there too and then I sat down, pulled out my salad, opened my laptop and hastily ate and read.

And I completely ignored him. We were literally sitting at a tiny square table together and after I sat down, I didn't say a single word to him. Not even, "Oh hi, I'm Cady and I'm so sorry to ignore you but I have homework due in 20 minutes!" Nope. Just hurried while he ate his 4 tacos from Taco Bell in silence. As I was walking to my next class in my classic speedwalking fashion, it hit me what had just happened. I literally slowed my pace down by about 50%, took a couple deep breaths, and kept walking, making sure to look up and smile at other people around me, taking in the beautiful day around me.

I was doing so well at the beginning of the semester at leaving for class a little bit earlier so I could walk more slowly, enjoying the scenery and life in general. But when life gets busier it's so easy to go into survival mode, thinking that I just have to survive the week until the weekend. But, guess what? The weekend is only 2 days long and trudging through 5 whole days just for those 2 days is a pretty lame way to live.

So, today I'm recommitting to living in the moment. I've caught up on homework (because procrastinating equals stress and stress does not equal living in the moment) and I'm setting my alarm 5 minutes earlier so I can slow down a little bit on the way to class, and I'm not going to think too far ahead. Because this life is beautiful and I want to savor every minute...even the minutes spent in the library or at work at 5:30 am. I also need to make sure I start my day off with a little chat with Heavenly Father rather than going straight to my mental to-do list (or Twitter...) and I'm going to end it the same way, but with a little bit of stretching and meditation first. What do you to eliminate stress and live in the moment a little more? I need all the help I can get!

Even though I do get a little bit lame during the week, I really do try to make the most of my weekends. Last weekend included two men's volleyball games, ice skating, trip to the temple, Costa Vida, and time spent with my lovely friends! If you guys missed it, I was featured (ha!) on BYUtv at the BYU vs. Stanford game... see, I told you I was a celebrity!

 Snapchat from one of our fans (I mean friends...)

Although we all look a little angry in this photo, I promise we had a good time. Here's a picture if you don't believe me:

Good friends, hot Stanford volleyball players, and a win for BYU...what's not to love?

Life is good, guys. I just need to remember that every single day. And every single moment.

Love, 

Cady

PS. Ten points to anyone who can guess the song that was the inspiration for this post title!

This Is Real, This Is Me.

I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now...gonna let the light shine on me!

Every time I go to title a blog post, all I can think of are song lyrics so I've decided just to roll with it. Here's your soundtrack to this blog post, courtesy of my childhood.

 

Anyways...I was nominated for the Liebster Award by Jorden at Showered In Sequins! This award is to promote new blogs and encourage blogger collaboration... I'm loving the blog world already and scrolling through my Bloglovin' feed is another addition to my bedtime routine (as if I didn't need another thing to keep me from going to sleep...but whatevs.)

 

Anyways, here are the questions that Jorden gave me to answer, so here ya go!

 

1. What is your blog about in a nutshell?

Documenting my life's little moments, my thoughts and feelings, and anything else I feel the urge to write about :)

 2. Lady Gaga or Katy Perry and WHY?

I'm honestly not a big fan of either, but I'm always up for some Katy Perry when I'm jamming in the car.

 3. If you had to choose one clothes store to shop at, what would it be and why?

Forever 21. I could live my life in their comfy sweaters and $15 jeans. 

 4. What inspires you generally?

I am so incredibly inspired by the people around me! I try to learn something from everyone I meet and am just motivated by the successes/beautiful characteristics of the people I'm surrounded by.

 5. What is your favorite song currently?

Asking somebody as indecisive as me what their favorite fill-in-the-blank is almost mean...especially because I'm always studying so that usually means classical music... but I'm loving anything from the Frozen soundtrack and this beautiful rendition of "How Great Thou Art" by Carrie Underwood.

 6. Any cool make up tips you have or something you do you can share with us all?

My best tip is to not wait until 5 minutes before you have to go somewhere to do your make up...because that's what I do about 50 75% of the time and it doesn't always work out in the best way.

 7. Lip gloss or Lip stick and WHY?

Lip gloss all the way. I just don't consider myself someone trendy enough to pull off the lipstick look...plus I'm too obsessed with Bath and Body Works mentha lip gloss to use anything else.

 8. Who is your secret celebrity crush?

Hmmm.. I'm quite the Hunter Hayes fan. Sometimes my sister Riley would repeatedly watch the Storm Warning music video and fawn over his adorableness...true story.

 9. Where do you shop the most? Retail shopping.

Hmm.. I'm kind of all over the place but I love Forever 21 and Target. College budget. What are you gonna do?

 10. What is the piece of clothing you cannot live without?

Probably my favorite jeans from JCPenny that I always buy multiple pairs of and buy the same exact ones every time I wear them out. And I'm still crying that last time I went to restock I discovered they changed them to STRETCH jeans. Which is a little disappointing because I really prefer when my jeans are not falling off after wearing them for a day (or 2 or 3....)

 11. And last but not least what is your favorite app??? and why??

Twitter, Twitter, Twitter. Got 5 minutes to kill? Scroll through and get your laugh for the day.

 

The 10 bloggers I'm nominating that can participate if they want to are:

 

Erica

Kayla

Samantha

Taylor

Hunter

Shelbie

Cortney

Lauren

Alexis

Shanell

 

Here are their 11 questions:

 

1. Why did you start blogging?

2. What is your favorite way to workout? Why? 

3. What is a quote that inspires you?

4. What is your favorite social media site? Why?

5. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?

6. Do you prefer relaxing or busy vacations?

7. What are 3 things that never fail to cheer you up?

8. What is your favorite blog? Why?

9. What is your guilty pleasure TV show?

10. Would you rather be woken up by an alarm or another person?

11. What are you looking forward to most this week?

 

Hope you all had a great weekend! I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with some pictures from lately.

 

Cady

Just A Small Town {Weekend}

Hello, friends!

I am well aware that it is Thursday and it's a little sad that I'm just posting about last weekend right now...but life is busy, yeah know? And sometimes you are so busy living life that you don't have enough time to write about it. But, last weekend I was able to go with Erica to visit her hometown in Montrose, Colorado. She is from a quaint little town on the western slope of the state and I absolutely LOVED exploring it with her.

We drove up on Friday night after classes + last minute packing and then started our adventure on Saturday!

And by started our adventure, I mean slept in until 10 and went out to breakfast... Vacations are the best :) We decided to spend the rest of the day hanging around Montrose. It was so fun to have Erica show me some of her favorite places, including:

-Fox Movie Theatre: This is where Erica has worked for the past couple of years, and it is the coolest movie theatre I have ever been to! It is 100 years old, starting out as a theatre for shows and then transitioning to movies. It was one of the most unique buildings I have ever been in, with eccentric paintings everywhere and a huge variety of tiling+paint. We went to see Frozen (my second time and I loved it even more! The soundtrack is on repeat over here.) and it was crazy busy when we went! So Erica's manager asked her to help out for a few minutes while we were there and it was so fun to see my best friend in her element. A couple of old ladies turned to me and said, "Sorry you have to wait for your friend! She is just perfect for this job!" But, we got free snacks. So...#winning.

Seriously so cute. And small. Only 3 movies play at a time!

I'm kind of getting a "Sleeping Beauty's castle" kind of feel?

 4 different types of tile just on one wall.

Kickin' it junior high style with practically matching outfits. And yes, we're wearing leggings as pants because that's what happens when you're in college and procrastinate doing laundry and everything else is being washed.

-Coffee Trader

This is the most adorable little coffee shop I have ever seen! It is a house that was turned into a shop and it is so cute. We met up with Sam and Martell (two of Erica's good friends!) for hot chocolate/smoothies.

-Car wash: No explanation necessary, I just had to show you this lovely photo.

 -Dinner at this fun little Mexican place that I don't remember the name of: We drove up to the mountains (which are heavenly, by the way!) to this delicious Mexican place with Erica's parents. Their flour tortilla chips + salsa were to die for. As well as the delish quesadilla I ordered. (Currently thinking of Napoleon Dynamite's grandma: "Napoleon, make yourself a dang quesadilla!")

P.S. In case you were wondering if everything we did this day somehow had to do with food, you would be correct. Hey, we were on vacation!

That night we just relaxed in her home theater (big deal when you've been watching any movies on a laptop, leaning against your brick wall in your bedroom for the past 5 months...) and watched the Prince and Me, which I highly recommend if you're looking for a cheesy chick flick.

On Sunday, we slept in+blogged+went to church.

Sunny and smiley on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon!

Then Erica's mom made a delicious Sunday dinner...I seriously thought I died and went to heaven. Not that the Cannon Center isn't good, but it was amazing to have a nice home-cooked meal.

We spent the rest of the evening catching up on Downton Abbey (umm...I'm dying after that last episode!), doing nails, and talking about boys (what else is new?)

On Monday, we headed over to Ouray, a beautiful little mountain town about an hour away. We hiked Box Canyon Falls, watched crazy men ice climb, and enjoyed the amaaaazing hot springs. It was so rejuvenating to get out in nature for the day and just relax.

Just in case you weren't aware, running shoes+skinny jeans are the latest fashion ;) 

There is an ice climbing competition here every year and this is the sculpted platform for the winners!

 Our view from the hot springs.

Ahhh....take me back.

On Monday afternoon, we packed up and headed back to Provo!

Back to reality. I'm pretty sure there was some dramatic fake crying at this moment.

I could have stayed for another week, but it was so nice to just get a couple of days away from school/Provo/the dorms and hang out with my best friend! We had a lot of talk time between 10 hours in the car+3 days of straight time together and we definitely got to know each other better. Its always fun to find more about your friends' families, friends, and hopes for the future. (And also to Facebook stalk every boy we have ever liked...I would highly recommend doing that if you need a reminder to be grateful that its a good thing most of us don't marry our junior high crushes...)

We celebrated our arrival back in Provo with a trip to the grocery store with Kayla to prepare for the upcoming week...college style.

I pretty much had a break-up with soda this summer, but sometimes when you need to push through the afternoon/an evening at the library, Diet Coke really just does the trick. Plus, it was 3 for $11, so we really couldn't pass the offer up. We looked a little ridiculous in our sweatpants, hauling out cases of soda to the car and had a couple of guys ask us if we remembered it was a school night...but they were both holding bottles of Coke Zero, so they understood ;)

College life came back swinging this week- we've only had 3 days of classes and yet it has seemed so long! It's all good though, I truly love all of my classes and I love the people I'm surrounded with. I've been trying to focus less on the to-do list and more on enjoying every day, because these really are some of the best times of my life!

Have a great Friday!

Love,

Cady 

School, Selfies, and Some Thoughts.

Hello, friends! Glad you stopped by :) I actually wrote this post on Friday, but after trying to fix some formatting issues (that are still not resolved as you can see), I just decided to publish it!

I cannot believe it's already Friday! I mean, I'm not complaining, but this week has flown by! I feel like I can summarize my week in this one picture:

Just a few of my lovely textbooks.

Or maybe this one:

I sent this picture to my mom at 2 am on Sunday night after spending hours trying to plan out my life...Making decisions is rough!

Okay, but all lame photos aside, I actually had a really great week! I am a lot busierwith schoolwork this semester, but I love most of my classes so I actually don't mind doing my homework most of the time. (Yes, I fully embrace that I'm sort of a nerd.) But I definitely had some fun too.

I went country swing dancing for the first time and it was a blast! (Tuesday nights in the Wilk, for all you BYU kids.) There were definitely a lot of pros there, but I embraced my lack of skill and just had fun :)

I also had my first day of ski class that I'm taking here at BYU. We go up to Sundance once a week for about 3 hours and take ski classes there! I was pretty nervous, but I had a great time! I didn't even get embarrassed when I fell, lost both my skis, and took 5 minutes to get them back on (Alright, real talk. I was a little embarrassed...but I got over it and that's what counts!) I'm excited to get to go at least once a week and hopefully improve a lot! After all, I'm going to be living 15 minutes away from a ski resort for the next 4 years, so I need to make the most of it!

Last night, I went 80's dancing  with two of my favorite girls, Kayla and Erica. Kayla LOVES 80's music and has been before, so she had to introduce Erica and I. It was at a sort of sketchy club in Salt Lake with sort of sketchy people...but then a ton of freshman from BYU showed up! So we all danced together, met some new people, and had a blast! And its always good when you are with your best friends who help you out when creepy guys try to talk/dance/flirt with you. Anyways, that will not be my only appearance at 80's Night this semester. In fact, I would probably go every Thursday night if there wasn't this silly thing called going to class...

You're not a freshman if you don't take pictures in your horribly plain dorm hallways before you go somewhere.

Erica is simply adorable. 

(No individual picture for Kayla because she realizes how ridiculous you look when you pose for a picture by yourself in 80's attire in your hallway. Smart girl.)

One thing that I've really been thinking about this week is how much the way you think about yourself affects how you act. I'm in an "Art for Elementary Teachers" class, where we are learning how to teach children art. Which is kind of a problem because I've never considered myself artistically inclined. (And when I say that, I mean that I would actually physically cringe when I heard we were making crafts for Young Women's. And that every artistic project I made in high school would have been impressive if it were made by a 4th grader.) 

 But on the first day of class, we watched this video that was actually pretty inspiring to me.

 

The speaker addresses how believing that you are creative will lead you to think creatively more than anything else. I decided that in this class I am not going to go in with a "I'm bad at art so everything I make will be horrible" attitude, but an attitude that I can be successful if I try.

And it has worked. We had to make a themed watercolor color wheel in class on Monday, and although it's a little messy, and many of the other projects turned out better than mine, I put in my best effort and I'm pleased with what I came up with.

Color wheel lollipops with a horrible quality camera.

I've realized that this can apply to any aspect of life. If I tell myself that I am outgoing, I take more opportunities to introduce myself and meet new people throughout my day. If I tell myself I can become a good skier, I don't get frustrated when I can't pick it up right away. If I tell myself that I'm a fit person, I get myself to the gym. It is crazy how much attitude affects actions! Hopefully, if I think enough like the person I want to become, I will start acting like the person I want to become. 

Have a great weekend! Do something you normally wouldn't. Step out of your comfort zone!

See you next week!

Love,

Cady

PS. I am now on Bloglovin', so click on the button to the right to follow me!