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

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