Kristi Cartwright

I NEED YOUR OPINION!

2012-02-01T08:48:00.001-07:00

Okay readers I need your opinions…. As you may know I recently re-upholstered a wingback chair. Well I desperately want a matching second chair for my space. So while browsing the web yesterday I found a chair for $10 of course I dropped everything so I could go grab it. I got it home and realized that it’s about 4 inches shorter than the chair I currently have.. SO MY QUESTION IS…. Would it look okay to have the chairs be different sizes, or should I sell the “new” chair and keep looking? What would you do?

Craft Attempt

2012-01-30T09:11:00.005-07:00

About a month ago I was bored and looking on KSL. when I found a great wingback chair for $15 buckaroos so of course I grabbed it. I really wanted to re-upholster it but I don’t know anything about upholstery so it’s just been sitting around in my living room. Luckily I have a great and super crafty friend Brandi Banks-Hess who I think was just as excited as I was about the chair. After a lot of searching I finally found my fabric and set a time and date with Brandi. This is the before picture.

I didn’t want to keep Brandi away from her cute family for too long while she was helping me with this project, so I spent a few hours in the evenings un-upholstering the chair prior to our date. That way we could just put it together because it’s definitely a 2 person job!

The day finally arrived. I had been researching chair upholstery on a lot of blogs beforehand the best one I found was: http://www.allthingsthrifty.com/2010/11/top-10-upholstery-tips.html Because of the great tutorial they provided I won’t go into a ton of details but we basically followed all of their directions. I had cut the pattern and even labeled each piece of the old fabric so we were ready to go. Brandi and I walked to one of my favorite little spots for some dinner and catching up then it was time to get to work. First problem… The staple gun I just bought didn’t work… Good thing I had my dad’s old gun around just in case. We came up with our game plan and started pulling, folding and stapling away.

We decided that instead of sewing a cushion cover that we could go ahead and just skip that part and cover the cushion attached to the chair. It was a risk but I like the way it looks. Good thing Brandi can sew really well because I suck.. She made two sleeves for the chair shoulders/wings. There are a few flaws in the chair but I think for our first attempt we did a fantastic job!

THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH BRANDI!

I can’t wait to help with your chair and do my second chair (when I find it).

Lunch Date Fail!

2012-01-27T14:36:00.001-07:00

I just got in from a rather strange lunch date. The guy seemed nice enough and completely harmless, however I knew from the moment we started talking that I wouldn’t be interested in him. Sadly I could tell that he wasn’t douchey enough for my liking. But it’s Friday and didn’t have any lunch plans so I decided to just go meet up for a quick bite.

My first problem with him was that he was wearing a hat… I don’t think hats should be worn on a first date unless you’re at a rodeo or playing in the snow… Jus sayin. My second problem was that he was wearing a Mr. Rogers sweater, not in a hipster I can pull it off kind of a way. But in an old man sweater kind of way… The biggest problem however was is lack of personality and sense of humor. From the time we said hello I was ready for the goodbye.

We sit down and start with the small chat. He asks me why l like living downtown. So of course I explained how I love being able to walk places and that I prefer dining at local restaurants over chain restaurants but mostly that I was just a city girl and that suburbia is just not my thing…. He then leaned back and threw both of his hands in the air while he yelled “WELL CLEARLY THIS ISN’T GOING TO WORK!!!!” hahaha I was taken back I’ve never had someone get mad because I enjoy my city life. That was definitely a first!

After his tantrum he started talking about relationships… Primarily his ex-wife. Apparently during the time they were married she was a horrible wife because in his words “she couldn’t balance working full-time, cleaning and cooking a two bedroom apartment, I should have known not to marry her.” Really?! You can’t help with anything you just work full-time, expect her to do the same AND take care of everything else…. No wonder your marriage failed.

Finally his woman bashing came to an end and he asked the question: “you know I expect you to buy our lunch right?” to which I replied “I will gladly pay for myself.” I dropped my portion of the bill and my tip and hit the door. I guess I was wrong, he’s a total douche just not the type of douche traits I like to date!

*Just to clarify it's not that I like dating douche bags, it's more I like a little sass but I don't like calling guys sassy. :)

Updated Nook In My Nook....

2012-01-24T10:46:00.009-07:00

When I first moved into my new little nook, my main focus was getting my living room in order. It’s still not finished I have some revamping and reupholstering to do but it’s in a place where it’s livable. Off my kitchen is a small breakfast nook which quickly became my office/table/junk space. I had a little table that I shoved in the corner, a crappy plastic 9 drawer unit that’s filled with all sorts of odds and ends, everything from crafty stuff to electronics and important documents. Then I had a big honking black desk. Put these things together and I had a truly ugly room! I hated looking into this room it’s just NOT ME and it's BLAH! Even worse I hated when people would come over and see it from my living room. So it has become my new project.

This space is teeny tiny so I knew I had to make the most of what little space I have. So of course I scouted the boards on pinterest and found my visions from the following pictures.

To kick things off I sold everything so I could start fresh, I love KSL Classifieds! Then off to Ikea I went. I picked up two narrow bookcases and a super cheap desk (I know I will rarely use this so there’s no need for something better) all in white. I put one bookcase on each side of the window and tucked the desk in between. Since my kitchen colors are hot pink and white I decided to carry them over into the breakfast/office nook. I happened to find a chair that’s the perfect shade of hot pink while wandering a store around the corner from my house.

Next I wanted to find a bench that could also be used as a storage chest, so my clutter will be hidden but also living in such a small space I need extra seating. I’ve been searching the stores and internet trying to find something at a decent price. I don’t mind spending good money on good things but until I have a permanent home I just don’t see the point when who knows how long I will keep these items, plus some of this stuff is WAY over priced to begin with. Then while sitting at work one day I remembered my parents still have my old toy box from when I was a kid. So I decided to use that for now. I threw on a few coats of white paint to give it a new look. I considered making a bench cushion but instead I opted to make 3 accent pillows. I have this weird quirk where I buy new bedding every time I move. Therefore I have some extra accent pillows that I’ve been keeping for the right moment. Now is that moment. So I hit up the fabric store and after spending a whole $16 bucks I now have 3 new pillows! Which is great since most accent pillows cost $25+. I’m super happy with them. The gray pillow isn't finished but it will be pretty cool.

Before

After

Now I just need to hang my bike above the bench as an extra space saver and do some accessorizing.. Brand new look for under $150 cash dollars.

Dating Shmating :)

2012-01-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

Last March upon my return from Denver I officially started dating again. It was pretty hit and miss for the first little while but in past few months its almost taken over my life! Luckily for me I’ve met some great guys, unfortunately for me I’ve had to weed them out by meeting some weirdos!

Anyways here’s my best and worst list over the last couple of months. Enjoy!

1.Best first date - A couple of months ago this guy took me to Ruth’s Diner for dinner. There was a long wait so we took a short drive up the canyon to enjoy the scenery. The conversation was really good and we had a lot in common. After dinner he took me up the avenues to a little bakery for hot chocolate. It was such a simple date but it was so nice to go out with someone who actually planned something more than grabbing a beer or coffee!
2.Worst date - Please see my post from September 26, 2011 about Jerry Seinfeld! I’d go into more detail but I just don’t feel like reliving the horror right now!
3.Best compliment – “You have a beautiful mind!” I don’t know that I deserve it, but hey I’ll take it haha
4.Worst compliment – “I like your pirate shirt!” really?! BTW I was wearing a dress that looks NOTHING like a pirate, in fact it happens to be a favorite of almost all of my girlfriends!
5.Funniest compliment – please note he was drunk “I’m trying to see past your great boobs and look at your smile.” hahaha
6.Cutest quality – Cheers to the guys that can humble themselves enough on a first date to share some of their flaws.
7.Ugliest quality – A guy who throws his wealth in your face because that’s all he has to offer!
8.Best kiss – I won’t say his name but I’ll call him Mr. Tuesday night he’s a keeper for a while haha
9.Worst kiss – Again I’ll leave his name out but it would be The Greek, let’s just say when a guy tries to peck you for a long time it gets really awkward!

NYE

2012-01-05T11:01:00.009-07:00

Here we are in 2012…. Holy shit does time fly! I don’t know about you but I said goodbye to 2011 in what I think is a proper way. Some friends rent a bar every year and have a “private party” you pay a cover fee to get in and all of the drinks are included (yes I’m drinking again for those of you who don’t know). The location this year wasn’t near downtown and since calling a cab on NYE is nearly impossible almost everyone who attended the party got a room at an extremely cheap motel down the street so we could stumble back safely. When I say cheap I mean they probably rent the rooms by the hour! I had a wonderful time laughing with some of my nearest and dearest friends. Apparently this year it was a theme party, however someone (Adam) didn’t want to dress up so he “conveniently” forgot to tell us about the theme. We danced, we laughed, we drank, we played games, met new friends and caught up with old friends. At the stroke of midnight, balloons fell from the ceiling, the room was filled with cheers, noise makers and confetti, hugs and kisses were free for all. And there it ended, my perfect year! I can only hope that 2012 will bring me as much happiness.

The Boys: Busch and Jefe

The Girls: Chandra aka IBS and Kristi aka Snooki

Snooki and the mr hottie mc hot cowboy (Jason)

Creepy Zach

He got the highest score of the night on the punching game... It came with battle wounds.

Zach and his attempt to look normal...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The End...

2011-12-27T14:24:00.001-07:00

As the year is coming to an end I have so much to be thankful for. 2011 has been filled with wonderful memories to reflect on.

For starters January 1, 2011 I made a HUGE change in my life when I left my job of 7 years to start a new career. That change alone is the reason that many of my adventures have happened. More awesome things that happened this year include:

1. Whitewater rafting in Jackson Hole
2. Enjoying my first taste of North Carolina BBQ.
3. Flying lanterns like in the movie Tangled.
4. Camping at Pine View Reservoir for a 30th birthday bash.
5. Visiting a logging museum.
6. Whale watching at Dana Wharf.
7. Catching my first fishy ever.
8. Girls trip to Denver, CO
9. Venice Beach.
10. Visiting the Goonie house!
11. Do-Se-Do-ing with an old man at Home Depot
12. Go-kart racing
13. Rocking a city wearing a green mustache.
14. Living on my own.
15. Denver Zoo.
16. Laguna Beach.
17. Drank too much.
18. Festival of Colors.
19. Duke Chapel.
20. Didn’t drink enough.
21. The Getty Museum.
22. Llama Fest.
23. Cabin camping with new friends.
24. Guitar lessons.
25. Visiting the Farmers Market.
26. Kansas live in America Fork.
27. Comedy shows.
28. Tracy Aviary with BETH!
29. Balboa Island.
30. Cookouts in the Mountains.
31. Moab.
32. Shimmer Wall.
33. Dressed up as Bjork.
34. Brewtour.
35. Hungout with a former Raider.
36. VIP… Too many times to count.
37. 311.
38. Princess party.
39. Hike the Little Wild Horse and Bells Loop
40. Goblin Valley.
41. Raiders Game.
42. Astoria, Oregon.
43. Shipwreck Beach, OR
44. Cannon Beach, OR
45. Vancouver, Washington.
46. China Town, San Francisco.
47. Season tickets to the UofU complete with a tailgate pass.
48. Alcatraz.
49. Golden Gate Bridge.
50. Utah vs. Cal football game in San Francisco.
51. Hike to Naked Falls, Washington.
52. Drive the PCH a few times.
53. Built a sand castle with my best friend.
54. Caught a wild frog.
55. Got stuck in an elevator.
56. Met P.O.S and Dessa from my favorite hip hop group.
57. Got a new little nephew who I love to pieces.
58. Celebrated Mardi Gras for the first time.
59. Foreigner and Styx concert.
60. Hanging out at the Irvine Spectrum.
61. Hosting a golf tournament.
62. Chillin’ with the infamous Crazy Lady.
63. Visiting a Monastery.
64. Dated more than I ever have before.
65. Gallery Strolls.
66. Bikram Yoga.
67. Pay off all of my debt.
68. Watched a meteor shower.
69. Worked on my domestic skills.
70. Real Salt Lake games.
71. Medical questions answered.
72. Banff Film Festival.
73. Knee injuries… Again…
74. Gave to the Giving Tree.
75. Dreamt about care bears and strawberry short cake.
76. Ensign Peak.
77. See Perish Lane’s first show ever (band of a friendish).
78. Went to a tea party.
79. Found a note I wrote on the wall at Kilby Court nearly a decade ago.
80. Moved from Downtown to the Suburbs.
81. Moved from the Suburbs to Downtown.
82. Spent a wonderful day in Huntsville.
83. Baby showers.
84. Weddings.
85. Nature hikes.
86. Tin Foil dinners.
87. Met someone who the very thought of made me smile.
88. Took up playing Frisbee golf.
89. Learned I’ll be getting a sister-in-law soon.
90. Bees Games.
91. Saw a baby moose.
92. Free mini getaway to Park City… Oh the stories I could tell…
93. Shuffleboard champ.
94. Lived the good life.
95. Bowled like a champ or maybe not so much like a champ.

2012…. GOOD LUCK being as great as 2011!

Feels Like Home!

2011-12-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

For the first time in my adult life I’m able to decorate my home in a way that’s completely MY STYLE! Yes, it’s weird, eccentric and eclectic but hey so am I, so it works. Little by little I am working to complete the look of my cute little nook. I was inspired to decorate my living room using the color scheme: yellow, grey, black and white (thanks Christy Koy for the inspiration). I’m not able to paint the walls so I’m limited and have to create other ways to make the room unique.

The living room has its original 1930’s hardwood floors and so I knew I needed to find a nice rug. I started searching all the stores and lucky for me I found this little gem on

http://www.etsy.com/shop/GiulianaDesign I knew the moment I saw it that it would be perfect for my vision and what a steal of a deal for a handmade rug! I also knew that I needed something larger to warm and fill the space so I added a black shag rug underneath it. The overall look is so warm, soft and cozy!

My next step was figuring out a storage space for my books. Yes, I could have easily gone to Ikea or a number of places to pick up a bookcase but then it just wouldn’t be right for me. I came up with an idea to use old, wooden apple crates stacked like a staircase. I found a great woman in Alpine selling them for only five-bucks. I bought 6 crates and some paint and for about $40 including my trip to the car wash to clean them I was able to build a fun one-of-a-kind Kristi Cartwright original bookcase. What makes this even better is the shape and the extra surface area for décor. I haven’t had time yet to paint them so I’ll show you the finished look in a couple of weeks.

I used an old Ikea bookshelf as my tv stand, I know you are probably asking “Kristi, why the hell didn’t you just use that for your books and tv?” The answer is simple I wanted to use it for pictures and fun items not just my books! So I flipped in on its side and put my tv on top leaving plenty of nooks for photos and personal items. Above the television I hung 2 pictures that I took from my grandparents home after their passing. I always loved them growing up and it’s nice to have a part of my relatives in my home.

I have strange love for octopus and a few years ago I saw this picture on some design show.

I loved the idea of bringing something similar into my home. However, I’m not a fan of commercial art. I like things to be one of a kind and quirky. Plus I wasn’t about to spend over $3,000 for a picture. Once again I started searching www.Etsy.com for a handmade picture that’s more in my price range. There were a lot of great paintings but I could find the right color, size and look combination. Then I stumbled across a guy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/StephenEdwardGraphic) who makes vinyl decals in any color…. HMMMM my creative juices started flowing again. I remembered that I had an old picture frame that was the right size so why don’t I try to do something myself. I bought the decal in grey and upon its arrival I painted a large poster board with yellow swirls before I added the decal. Whala I have an original piece of octopus art and it cost me less than $25!

Along with the octopus http://www.etsy.com/shop/StephenEdwardGraphic sent me a practice decal of a little bird that just so happened to be yellow, so of course I HAD to do something with it. I found another picture frame that I could use it has a mat in it and 3 windows. I went to my old scrapbook stuff (which I haven’t touched in years) and found two sheets of grey paper. I then hit up Hobby Lobby where I found a packet of small, black, felt keys. Kind of an odd combo but in weird little Kristiland I think it works. I cut the paper to fit the windows, put the yellow birdie in the middle and 1 key in the window above and 1 key in the window below. Another custom art piece that cost me less than 5 cash dollars!

I have a big wall of windows which have blinds but it’s just not that attractive and let’s be honest curtains can cost a bundle. I’m willing to spend the money if needed but I got lucky again this time at good ole Ross! I found exactly 4 panels of sheer grey curtains. They allow the light to come in but they also make the room look better even when the blinds behind them are closed. Again I only spent about $20.

I have the most comfy, cozy couch but unfortunately its greenish/brownish… It doesn’t match at all. I purchased a slip cover but it looked hideous so I returned it. I might get it re-upholstered but for now it’s just there. I did however add some great pillows that I bought at Bed Bath & Beyond on SALE!

I have one area left, I think I’ve figured out what I’m going to do I just haven’t started the execution. I’m also on the hunt for a strange, one-of-a-kind end table that I can refinish with the help of Brandilla Hess and maybe a cool chair. All in all I like it and for the first time since I moved out of my parents’ house at 18 I feel like I’m HOME!

Back to Cali!

2011-12-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I went on a quick trip to Orange County for work. I had to be at the airport super early to catch my flight but at least I got to watch the sunrise over the mountains.

Upon my arrival I had a few hours to myself so of course I took a drive down to my favorite spot in Laguna Beach. I took a nice relaxing walk down the beach and enjoyed listening to the ocean, watching the waves rush in and the paddle boarders always make me smile. I did a little shopping, went to some art galleries and grabbed some lunch and a great local café.

Then it was all business: Meetings, meetings, meetings and guess what?! More meetings! But after the meetings we had a wonderful fun filled dinner at my new favorite restaurant ever, Javier’s at the Irvine Spectrum, if you are ever in Irvine you MUST go there and order the Cabo Azul – best meal of my life! We walked around saw a beautiful sunset. The next day was more meetings and a flight home. It was great to see my co-workers and I learned a ton of new things, I can’t wait for my next meeting!

2011-12-02T09:17:00.001-07:00

Last week I went to lunch at Panda Express with some friends. Of course at the end of our meal we all opened our fortune cookies to see what was coming our way. See mine below.

“The coming month shall bring winds of change in your life.” This couldn’t be more true for me! I moved from downtown Salt Lake City to the suburbs of Murray in July. The place is great and the girls I live with our wonderful, but it has never felt like home. I recently broke the news to them that I was going to start looking for a place of my own back downtown. I’ve realized that I’m just not a burbs kind of kid. I like old buildings with weird nooks and crannies, original hardwood floors from 70+ years ago, random fixtures. Being able to walk to art galleries and local business. Call me crazy but this is what I love. So I started calling some buildings that I’ve always had an interest in but none of them had anything available. I put my name on a few waiting lists and continued my hunt.

Then on Monday afternoon I randomly checked Craigslist and found one of the buildings that I had called was listing a one-bedroom apartment. WHAT THE EFF??? Why didn’t they call me? I’m on this list!! I called immediately and talked to the Manager he looked at the list and saw that I was the #1 person, however there was a note that I wasn’t looking to move until January so they didn’t bother calling me. My thoughts at the time, “that’s because YOU said there wouldn’t be any openings UNTIL January!!!” So I left work right away to go check it out, knowing that a gem like this wouldn't last long. Luckily I was already on the waiting list because in the 2 hours it had been listed her had received over 45 calls. But guess what?! This little beauty is officially MINE!!!

It’s exactly what I want, meaning it’s weird and old. It’s one block away from my old place downtown where two of my best friends still live. It’s small but plenty big enough for little ole Kristi. I’ve never lived completely alone I’ve always had roommates or family so this is going to be a great adventure. For the first time I get to decorate how I want without asking anyone if it’s okay with them. I can’t tell you how excited I am!

Thanks cute little townhouse at Dufftown– You’ve been good to me but I’M OUTTA HERE!

Tune in next time to start seeing the makeover unravel. In the mean-time Peace and Love!

2011-11-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh Thanksgiving, the typical stuff your face with everything you can possibly eat holiday. But not for me, not this year! I had a wonderful low key day mostly snuggled up, cozy watching a Dexter marathon (I’m addicted). And since I’m not really a fan of most Turkey day foods I decided to go for a little Italian instead. My recipe of choice was a Tuscan Pasta with Tomato-Basil Cream along with some fresh cheesy, garlic, French bread. It was really easy and tasted delightful.

I started out by pre-heating the oven and preparing the French bread (not made from scratch just one of those packages). I took it out of the package and cut 5 slits equally distanced along the top.

Then I chopped the tomatoes and basil, I mixed them with the wine and vodka sauce (substitute as I couldn’t find the sun-dried tomato alfredo sauce which the recipe called for). I let them sit until I was about 7 minutes away from everything else being prepared.

I cooked the 4 cheese ravioli per the instructions on the package.

While waiting for the pasta to cook I grated some fresh parmesan cheese. Sliced some swiss cheese and melted some butter mixed with garlic.

About 7-10 minutes before the bread and pasta were done cooking. I turned the burner on to heat up the sauce. I also removed the bread from the oven and stuffed the slits I had cut previously with the swiss cheese and poured the garlic butter on top. Put it back in the over to finish cooking.

I added the cooked pasta to the warm sauce, garnished it with some parmesan cheese and fresh basil. Wahla!!! I had a yummy in my tummy meal, with plenty of left overs to give my roomies over the weekend since they were so sick of Thanksgiving leftovers!

Here’s the full recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 (20-oz.) package refrigerated four-cheese ravioli
1 (16-oz.) jar sun-dried tomato Alfredo sauce
2 tablespoons white wine
2 medium-size fresh tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Garnish: fresh basil strips

Preparation
1. Prepare pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, pour Alfredo sauce into a medium saucepan. Pour wine into sauce jar; cover tightly, and shake well. Stir wine mixture into saucepan. Stir in chopped tomatoes and 1/2 cup chopped basil, and cook over medium-low heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Toss with pasta, and top evenly with 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Garnish, if desired.
*1 (13-oz.) package three-cheese tortellini may be substituted.
**1 (14.5-oz.) can petite diced tomatoes, fully drained, may be substituted.
***Note: For testing purposes only, we used Buitoni Four Cheese Ravioli and Classico Sun-dried Tomato Alfredo Pasta Sauce.

2011-11-04T09:08:00.000-06:00

Well friends who actually read this and to on looking strangers…. It turns out I yet again that I suck at keeping up with my blog! I completely missed October… Oopies! Let me fill you in on my recent life.

University of Utah football is back, which of course brings entirely too much happiness into my life. This is by far my favorite tradition my family has. My parents and their friends have been tailgating together for about 35 years and I was lucky enough to get to tag along from the beginning of my days. Let me breakdown a typical game day. We show up at the tailgate around 6:00 am to set up our tents and get the Ute mobile ready for the day. Rain, shine or snow you can find us out and about all day even if it’s a late game. If it’s cold we have our sweet fire pit out and get cozy around the fire. We spend our day eating, playing games, catching up, laughing, making new friends, and running into old friends. We know all of the people who tailgate around us as we’ve all kept the same spots for years. It’s a very bonding tradition that I hope to continue for the rest of my life. This year we sold our Ute Mobile – So R.I.P. Old friend!! Here’s a look at our football life.

I’m happy to say I FINALLY went to Moab! It was a super quick trip there and back but I was with my amazing friends and it was perfectly relaxing. Trevor, Oly and I got there about 11am where we met up with some of our other friends Brandon, Kourtney, Dawn, Kevin and of course Murphy the dog. We had some lunch and explored the town for a little bit before we went to find our little nook. Unfortunately it was a super busy weekend there so but after checking out several camping locations we finally found a spot. It wasn’t ideal but it was good for us. The girls went on a nature walk that was pretty fun. That night we hung around the fire shared some laughs , and watched the stars before calling it a night. I woke up before everyone else the next morning so I went on another nature walk and enjoyed the scenery and peace. We went to town for lunch then headed back home. It was short but perfect. AND I can finally say I’ve been to Moab! I think I might just go on a rafting trip there next spring and definitely go to arches and see more sites!

Being that I’m a HUGE football fan I decided to tag along with my parents and their friends to San Francisco to see the Utah vs. Cal game. We lost… In fact we got our butts kicked but it was a great trip. We arrived on Thursday and went shopping, followed by a visit and dinner in Chinatown before we went to a hilarious comedy “hair-show. “ which was kind of like watching a drag show only the characters in the play weren’t dressed in drag just crazy costumes and insane wigs.

Friday we visited Alcatraz which was very interesting. It was kind of creepy but I thought it was extremely cool. Then we checked out Fishermans Wharf where we had an amazing seafood dinner at Scoma’s and of course enjoyed all the shops, people watching and street performers.

Saturday morning we went on a driving city tour that took us to the Golden Gate Bridge and all over San Francisco. Then we headed to the Utes game at AT&T Ballpark (home of the SF Giants), which was right on the bay so even though the game sucked the views were awesome. Plus I got to touch the outfield and grass of the (at the time) current world baseball champions… Yes I know I’m a geek with my love of sports!

Sunday I hoped on the train and went to Oakland by myself so I could see my very first NFL game. GO RAIDERS!! I have to say that even though my team lost it was an amazing experience to be there. I had a 3rd row seat right next to the Black Hole – which is where all the crazy fans sit. All of my favorite players were warming up for the game right in front of me. I was in football heaven! I love the coach Hue Jackson and there was a moment when he was about 20 feet in front of me! Al Davis the owner of the Raiders had just passed away and Jon Madden was at the game to light an eternal flame in honor of old Al… JON MADDEN was right behind me! I’m not kidding when I say I was in football heaven! It was a blast seeing all of the crazy fans!

And of course my favorite holiday is Halloween this year I decided to be Bjork… I made the dress by myself and I messed up as far as what side the swan head was on but besides that I think I did a pretty good job, considering my lack of domestic skills!

2011-10-03T12:38:00.000-06:00

This song seems fitting today...

sometimes I need a brake
to cheer up myself
sometimes I need some help
to answer questions

sometimes I need you friend
but sometimes I just wanna be alone
and if you´re a real friend
you have to understand

there are times that I need you
and I ask you for your help
and in all this cases
you make me feel okay
there are other times I don´t need
more than be alone
and if you try to help me
I can answer wrong

sometimes there is no way
to make me understand
that you just wanna help me
and you´re giving me your hand

from my world an go
to other side and stay
until I camo back to myself

there are times that I need you
and I ask you for your help
and in all this cases
you make me feel okay
there are other times I don´t need
more than be alone
and if you try to help me
I can answer wrong

there are times that I need you
and I ask you for your help
and in all this cases
you make me feel okay
there are other times I don´t need
more than be alone
and if you try to help me
I can answer wrong

sometimes I need a break

2011-09-30T09:47:00.001-06:00

So there I was returning from lunch on a lovely Wednesday afternoon. I walked into my office building, looked towards the stairwell then I shrugged my shoulders and decided I would take the elevator since I was wearing 5 inch heels. I walked towards the 2 older women who were already waiting for the elevator. The bell went off I was slightly annoyed because this particular elevator is being remodeled, it’s torn to pieces one the inside and I think it’s ugly. But I got in and because I was near the buttons I asked my fellow passengers what floor they would like select… 4 for them and the top floor for me easy enough, the door closed and up we go.. Until we got to the 3rd floor and that’s when the adventure started. All of a sudden the elevator started to slow down then it dropped. It didn’t drop far but it dropped enough to knock us all down. I asked if everyone was okay and helped the women get to their feet. One of them (Flo) was already in tears as she is claustrophobic and already hates elevators. I assured her that everything would be okay and I reached to push the buttons. UH-OH none of them were working, so I picked up the emergency phone where I talked to the Midvale Fire Department. I explained the situation and they were on their way. We decided we should sit down and get comfy, yuck I hate the ugly, under construction elevator floor! We sat, we sat and we sat some more. Good thing I had full cell phone service and was able to find entertainment from texting and facebook. 1 ½ hours later after listening to the firemen working on the elevator trying to fix it we finally moved and the doors opened on the 2nd floor. I was happy to see that the men who had come to our rescue were little lookers which made the experience a little more fun… It was a good time and another classic Kristi moment.

2011-09-26T12:29:00.001-06:00

Saturday night I was BRAVE! I had enjoyed my day having lunch with friends from my old job and attending a dear friends bridal shower. I got home and was ready for a nap.. However I’m doing all of this online dating crap and this guy started messaging me. I wasn’t super attracted to him but I didn’t have any concrete plans for the night so I decided what the hell I might as well go out him.

We decided to meet up at Green Pig Pub (bar/restaurant) downtown, I figured it was a good social place. Plus if it sucked I could always meet up with my old roomies Adam and Trevor for a fun night on the town. I arrived at GPP only to find that he wasn’t even on-time… I HATE that, which means he automatically lost points in my book. Finally when he did show up 20 MINUTES LATE he was definitely NOT the same guy I had been talking too… This guy was at least 10 years old than he said he was and he sure was missing the cute shaggy hair and decent style from his pics! Instead he was about 40 years old and dressed like Jerry Seinfeld, I know I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but I knew immediately that this guy was not for me.

He sat down at the table and could barely even say hello. This wasn’t an “I’m shy” kind of awkwardness it was “I could be a serial killer” type of awkwardness. He wouldn’t make any decision for himself, he would only order what I was having even though he knew he wouldn’t like it. He attempted to tell me stories about his “life” which only involved people who work at clubs that where he goes to hangout by himself. Note: these people are not his friends!! Also within the first 10 minutes of meeting him he (for what reason I don’t know) started explaining the structure of a vagina to me… Okay, thanks mr crazy but I’m well aware of what a vagina is and how it works considering I have one and I doubt you’ve ever seen one!! This man kept trying to talk about porn, sex and all of this other random crap. All I could think about was how the hell do I get out of this?!

This was not your typical guy where you can say “well nice meeting you, I have to get going.” Nope that WOULD NOT work with this wako and I knew it… I had already sent the “help” text to Adam and Trevor to show up and save me but I feared it wouldn’t be soon enough. I’m not just kidding when I say I this guy would chop me up into little tiny bits and leave my remains scattered around the salt lake valley never to be found again! He was THAT CREEPY!!!

Then my lucky break came along. He said he needed to use the restroom and as he walked away I flagged our server down paid my half of the bill and literally RAN out the door! I continued to run down the street and around the corner where I ended up in another bar I know well. I called the boys the give them the update and I hid in the corner. I was seriously so scared that this guy was going to walk in and find me any second. The calls and texts from him started to flood in… Where are you? I miss you? Please come back? I need you? Can you say SCARY this is basically straight out of a horror flick! My nerves were going crazy and the second my friends walked in I would not let either of them leave my side.

They decided they didn’t want to hang out at the current spot so we went to a few other locations. Everywhere was dead. Then they mentioned they want to go to Green Pig Pub… ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! That’s where I left the guy! But they made a valid point that no guy would dare come up to me with them around (they are big and good looking) and if they did I wouldn’t have anything to worry about because they would take care of me.

As we walked back into GPP I glanced across the room and he was nowhere to be found halleluiah! My server came right up to me and said I made the right choice and that she would have done the same thing. She also said he threw a glass at the wall when he realized I wasn’t coming back. So now everyone that works there knows who I am and were applauding me and saying it was the best thing they had seen all day. It quickly turned into the funniest joke of the night. We decided to go hang out on the rooftop patio and while walking up the stairs (Adam followed by me and then Trevor) I saw him… OH NO I’M STUCK IN THE STAIRWELL WITH HIM AND THE BOYS DON’T KNOW THIS IS THE GUY… So I just looked straight forward not making any eye contact with him. When we got to the roof the first thing Trevor said was “did you see that guy, he was crazy!” I explained that was the guy. Next thing you know guess who’s back on the roof circling us giving me the evil eye?! The creeper!!! This went on for a while and more and more of my guy friends showed up to “protect me” and hang out. We didn’t stay there long because we all knew it just wasn’t a good idea.

Even after we left we figured out I would probably need an escort everywhere I went for the rest of the night. All and all the night ended up being a blast and I really think it’s funny that I ran out on him but it was still scary. I had my phone on silent and woke up Sunday morning with 71 missed calls and over 100 text messages from the guy! I haven’t heard from him since so hopefully he’s moved on with his creepy life!

2011-09-12T10:55:00.000-06:00

Well summer is coming to an end and I’ve been lousy and blogging lately. I guess I’m in a writing rut! So here is how I’ve ended my summer…

First off here are the pics of whitewater rafting in Jackson Hole. It was so much fun, I want to go again!

Every summer there are a ton of concerts but there is only one that all of my friends can agree to go too… That would be 311, so of course I went and had a blast as always.

My roomie and I visited the zoo to check out the dinosaur exhibit…

I haven’t seen the movie Tangled but I hear it’s great. Anyhow I was invited to a “Lighting of the Lanterns” inspired by the movie. I went and had a blast… The pictures don’t do it any justice but what a great and fun experience!

Utes football started Yahoo!!!

Finally I spent Labor Day weekend visiting my best friend Mary up in Oregon. We had a blast!

Friday:
We met downtown and explored the city. Grabbed a bite to eat then headed for Vancouver, Washington where her boyfriend lives. We spent the evening listening to his band practice, picking wild black berries, going for a nature walk, watching the sun set and playing games with all of her friends.

Saturday:
We hiked to Naked Falls, Washington where we were able to do some swimming and soak up the sun. The we went to lunch on the harbor and got to watch all of the sail boats. That night we were exhausted so we just grabbed a movie and stayed in.

Sunday:
We went back to Vancouver, Washington and played some beach volleyball and played in the water. Then we headed to Portland where we explored the Pearl District which was super artsy and cool. We went into an art college and got to watch interpretive dancers haha it was hilarious. Then we went to Harvey’s Comedy Club and laughed our faces off.

Monday:
We had a ton to do. We started off by visiting a logging museum where we took a bunch of pictures and played on all of the old equipment.

Then we headed to Cannon Beach where you see the 2 big rocks in the movie Goonies. It was low tide so we were able to find a bunch of potholes filled with crabs, starfish, clams, fish and other little goodies then.

Our next stop was Shipwreck Beach (I can’t remember the real name) this was super cool. There’s this huge ship that wreck a long time ago. Most of it is under the sand however along the beach parts of it stick up. The very front of the ship is really cool and you can climb all over it (yes I’m worse than a little kid) then you randomly see other tubes and stuff sticking out. It was really awesome. We also attempted to build a sand castle complete with a zen garden and animal guards haha while we were there.

After that we stopped quickly in the city of Warrenton for a good view of the coast.

Finally our last stop was in Astoria, home of the Goonies and Kindergarten Cop. We saw the Goonie house and the school in Kindergarten Cop. Then we went down to the Rogue Brewery where we had dinner and watched the harbor. There were a ton of sea lions near the dock so we went and watched them lounge around and there were even a few fights among them.

It was a great weekend away filled with much needed time with my best friend and also fun meeting her new friends.

Peace Out Summer 2011 it’s been a big hit!

2011-08-08T11:07:00.000-06:00

I had a pretty great weekend! I went on a QUICK trip to Jackson Hole, WY with my friends Britney and Randy. The drive was long but beautiful! We camped Friday night then Saturday we went fishing and I caught my very first fishy ever!!! Then we just hung out around town before going white water rafting that afternoon. Then we drove home right after… Like I said it was a super quick trip. I don’t have any pictures of rafting yet as I used a disposable camera and I have yet to develop the film but here are some of the pics I took with my phone.

California and catching up on other recent adventures...

2011-07-28T10:59:00.000-06:00

I must say the last couple of weeks have been a fun adventure! Some of the highlights will be noted today.

To kick it off I went to see one of my favorite bands in concert…. Kansas!! Yes you read that correctly! I love me some Dust in the Wind!!! Anyways I really wanted to wear a sweat shirt and thanks to Ebay I was able to make it happen. I found an old vintage iron on from one of their tours from the 1970’s and made myself a cute shirt. I was impressed with my awesome ironing skills! To make the show even better it was at American Fork High School (they’re a big deal…. Obviously) on the football field. The people were all polite, there weren’t any annoying “scene” kids, we showed up about 30 minutes before the show started and were still right next to the stage plus there was fireworks, cottoncandy and my bff since first grade Dawn! It was basically glory in a concert!

The of course I went to the Harry Potter premiere. I even drew the HP scar on my forehead. I have to say I’m actually really sad that my tradition of seeing the movie’s opening night has come to an end.

Then of course I went to llama fest to support the Krishna Temple…

Last Friday I went up to Oakley, Utah and stayed at a new friends cabin. It was a blast! The views were awesome, we sang, danced, hiked, laughed, stayed up all night watching scary movies, we even saw a baby moose along with a plethora of squirrels. It was exactly what I night at a cabin should be. Finally when we drove home early Saturday morning my roomie and I stopped by Rockport Reservoir for some sunrise pictures. What a great way to start a weekend!

Sunday morning I flew to California for a mini vaca before meeting up with my co-workers for some board meetings. Watching the sun rise 2 days in a row can be very tiring! Anyhow my flight landed in LAX about 8:30 that morning so I had a full day to squeeze stuff in.

Since I’ve been there several times I wasn’t concerned about going to Hollywood I mostly want to hangout and catch some sun. I started my day visiting The Getty Museum which was beautiful. The architecture and gardens almost outdid the actual art!

I then headed down to Venice Beach and left pretty quickly as I had forgotten how much I hate it!

So I headed to my hotel in Irvine, the drive was perfect and relaxing. After checking in and seeing that my hotel was on Cartwright Street I went down to Dana Wharf where I walked around and looked at a lot of the boats and enjoyed some quality people watching. Then I jumped on a boat and went out on a whale watch. Unfortunately I didn’t see any whales but there was a ton of dolphins. I also so a pretty cool pirate ship and watched the sunset.

Monday morning I woke up early and headed to the PCH on my way to Laguna Beach. I was shocked how empty the beach was when I arrived. I kicked back and enjoyed the sun and everything that comes with being at the beach. I later explored a rocky area where I saw a bunch of cute little sand crabs. I grab some lunch at a cute little place off the beach where I met some sister missionaries who wanted to “share a message” with me, but to their surprise I’m already a member so we just enjoyed each other’s company for a short while.

The rest of the trip included a lot of meetings, great company, laughter and amazing restaurants. Then Wednesday afternoon we headed down to Balboa Island where we shopped, walked the boardwalk, enjoyed the views, got ice cream and just hung out before we had to leave to catch our flights. I was a great little getaway even if I was working half of the time.

2011-07-13T12:32:00.001-06:00

So yesterday morning I had the glorious song “For What it’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield in my head. I came up with an awesome idea that if I listened to the song all the through and posted about it on good ole facebook that I would stop singing it. So I decided to give it a shot. I listened to it and it brought oh so much happiness to my little heart. Then my FB status was posted “There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear. There’s a man with a gun over there, telling me I got to beware…..” whala it worked! The song was no longer on replay in my mind. So I went on with my day as usual.

Then about 11:00pm I got a call from my mother. Who asked me if I was okay…. Out of confusion I said of course I am why? Her response was “well I was on facebook this morning and I saw your post so I was worried.” Being that I was half asleep I had no clue what she was talking about so I asked “what post?” her response “something about a man in the corner with a gun. Are you okay what happened?”

HAHAHAHAHAHA

I’m glad that my mom was so concerned about my safety that she waited over 13 hours to ask if I was okay from what she thought was an attack! My mom is the cutest!

2011-07-05T08:57:00.000-06:00

Last week was a blasty, blast! I wish I had taken more pictures, but I didn’t so I’ll just have to tell you about it.

Monday – I went to dinner with my old friends Tasha, Darcy and Jenny. Following dinner we headed back to Darcy’s house where we played a round of a “new to me” game called Mexican horse shoes. It was a team game and I was paired up with Tasha. We had a slow start but it turns out I’m pretty good at this game and we made a good comeback! YAY, Tash, who would have thought we’d ever win. Anyways, as much fun as the game was the company was so much better. I miss hanging out with those lovely ladies, the laughter never stops!

Tuesday – I had my first experience hanging out with my new roomies Megan and Jennifer. We went to a relief society gathering. There was a massive bouncy house for adults and a swimming pool. We all just hung around and tried to get to know each other. The temperature was perfect and making some new friends was good too.

Wednesday – The roomies and I hung out again. This time we went to Ichiban for some delicious sushi, I’m really enjoying living with them and getting to know them. I hope we continue to become better friends.

Thursday – My parents came over to my new place and helped me hang a bunch of pictures and stuff then my mom and I went shopping where I bought myself a brand new bed. Nothing too exciting but it was still fun hanging with the ‘rents.

Friday – Possibly the best day of the week. I was meeting up with Adam and Trevor to celebrate Adam’s dirty 30 birthday. One of our favorite hip-hop groups was playing a show. They’re called Doomtree, there are 5 members of the group who have all done solo projects as well, I had never seen them perform with the whole group only as solo artists. I was super excited!!! Before we headed over to Urban Lounge the boys decided to go across the street for the pre-drinking at the neighborhood bar. As we were walking through my old court yard I saw all of Doomtree just hanging out walking down my old street. I’m not kidding when I say I was like a little kid, jumping and cheering…. Needless to say, the boys made fun of me all the live long night! Anyways when we finally arrived at the show we grabbed our spot for the night and that’s when I saw my most favorite member of the group, who’s name is P.O.S. I was shocked that he was just walking around the crowded venue and nobody even noticed him. I went right up to him and asked if I could get a picture. As he walked away I looked at the picture and I was super sad when I found it was too dark and you couldn’t see either of us. A few minutes later I met one of the other members and she gladly took a picture with me. The show was glorious, I smiled and danced all night. After it ended we started on our way back to my old apartment when all of a sudden P.O.S. came up to me and asked if our picture turned out okay, I told him no and he just said “well that’s just not okay let’s take another one!” So I got my picture and had a night of happily ever after! Seriously though I’ve met him a bunch of times and he is so incredibly nice and grateful for the support of his fans. He’s the best!

Saturday – I spent my morning at the hardware store buying wood and power tools. I decided I was going to build my own boards for the game Mexican horse shoes, and I did! I later went to a BBQ at my friend John’s house with my two roomies and my buddy Brokk. We had a blast playing the game, the best part was that I beat Brokk hahaha! Then we tried to go see some baby barn owls that I had heard about but we didn’t have any luck.

Anyways, it might not sound like a lot but I love weeks and days like these. I love the simplicity of hanging out with old friends and making new friends and memories, it’s truly one of my favorite things in life!

2011-06-30T10:28:00.001-06:00

I feel like I’ve been so busy over the last week or two. Packing, moving, unpacking, new house, new neighborhood, new roomies (strangers), new ward….. There’s been a lot of change in my life and I think it’s going to be superb. However I’m still getting settled so I’ll hold off on talking about it for a little. I first sat down today and was going to do a simple ipod shuffle and share the first thought or memory that comes to me about whatever songs came on…. I actually did start doing this. However one of the songs single handedly changed my entire perspective on my post.

The song is called “Where Can I Turn For Peace?” the lyrics were written by a woman named Emma Lou Thayne. She happens to be the mother-in-law of one of the men in my bishopric, and she spoke to us in sacrament meeting just two weeks ago. This woman is amazing! She’s 87 years old and has been married to her husband for 62 years. She’s a mother of 5 daughters and who knows how many grandchildren and great grandchildren. She received her B.A. in English in 1945 which is amazing on its own as it was so uncommon for women to even go to college back then. She later received her M.A. in creative writing. She was the only woman on the Board of Directors and the Deseret News in the 1970’s She was an English teacher at Olympus Jr. High, Murray High School and the University of Utah, she also taught Institute at the UofU and was the head coach for the women’s tennis team. All of this while being a writer and mother. Salt Lake Community College even named one of their buildings after her – The Thayne Center for Service & Learning… I hope if you’re reading this you’re slightly understanding why I was blown away by her. She truly is fantastic!!!

This woman helped her daughter who was battling from bipolar disease in the 1970’s, back when mental illness was not talked about. It was a very hush, hush situation. She had no idea how she could help her daughter and most doctors didn’t want to have anything to do with it. It was this time in her life that she wrote the lyrics to the song “where can I turn for peace?” She wrote this as a poem and called her friend Joleen Meredith, while reading the words to her over the phone Joleen composed the music. The entire song was written and composed in less than 2 hours. This remarkable woman has overcome many trials in her life including a terrible car accident that broke nearly every bone in her face. Yet she still has such a positive outlook on life.

During her talk she made each of us turn to the person sitting next to us and say “I love you, and there’s nothing you can do about it!” Earlier in the meeting a blonde girl sat next to me and I had barely even glanced in her direction. As I turned to say the cheesy line my bench neighbor had beat me to it. With a warm, inviting smile she looked in my eyes and said the words. As I was looking at her I realized I had been sitting next to Elizabeth Smart! As I repeated the words back to her, I knew just how much I truly loved her. I remembered the day she was kidnapped and how I cried and cried for her and her family. They were in my thoughts and prayers for such a long time, and now here I was with the opportunity to tell her I love her. Who knew you could love someone so much when you’ve never met them before?!

I’m not a writer (and I don’t try to be) I’m not able to explain how wonderful and meaningful that day was to me. It was very uplifting and humbling I hope it will stick in my heart for a very long time.

I also had another experience meeting a 59 year old man who is in the military and has just returned from a 1 year stay in Iraq. I only got to talk to him for a few minutes but he truly made me remember how lucky I am to have as much as I do…… I can’t even begin to describe his amazing presence, I just know I was blessed to have had the opportunity to rub-elbows with him for a few moments.

Goodbye to my East Broadway Business District!

2011-06-22T08:37:00.000-06:00

As my current time living downtown is coming to an end, it makes me think about all the little things I love and am going to miss about living in the city.

I love watching the city “wake up” when I’m leaving for work in the morning. Seeing the streets being swept, the parking meters being emptied, windows being washed all with the smell of fresh brewed coffee coming from about 90 coffee shops in the vicinity. The good people of the world taking an early morning jog. I especially love the way the sun hits the high rise buildings as I drive down 300 south.

I love my afternoon walks around the city, never knowing where I’ll end up or who I’ll meet. Some of my favorite personal moments have happened on my downtown adventures. Some of my favorite spots to visit are the Library, Liberty Park, Trolley Square, Temple Square, 9th & 9th, The State Capital and the Gateway. I love that I’m so close to so many great places.

There are so many activities especially in the summer: free concerts, gallery strolls, farmers markets, charity drives, street performers. All of them make me so happy for the most simple reasons. Plus everything is “local” yes there are chain restaurants and shops but there is a great selection of local stores and places to eat. I love finding new little nooks to fall in love with and share with my friends.

Back in my drinking days I was in bar heaven. I could walk to almost any bar and stumble home at the end of the night. Never having to battling with friends over who would be the designated driver or waiting for a cab. I never had to worry about walking home by myself at 2am the streets never got to me, in fact they embraced me.

My apartment… Oh how I love my apartment. The courtyard which my friends say makes them feel like they’re walking through and ivy league college campus, complete with old fashion street lights and a few park benches. My wall of windows overlooking the beautiful courtyard. The living room and all of its massiveness. My dining room, what apartment has a dining room and not just a breakfast nook?! I’m even going to miss my maintenance man Jim, who says I’m his favorite and will always run to assist me when something goes wrong. I’m going to miss the weird things too, like the alley cats fighting in the middle of the night. I might even miss the stupid pigeon who lives outside of my window and watches me while I do the dishes. Even pushing the gate code outside the building.

Although I’m sad to leave all of the little things I love. I’m really excited to start my new chapter of life in the burbs!

I found this a while back and have been meaning to do it. Now seems like the perfect time!

Share your neighborhood: enjoy a walk around your neighborhood, take 10-15 photos to share with people via your blog or facebook.

Kristi Day

2011-06-21T15:24:00.000-06:00

I woke up early for no reason on Saturday morning. I got ready and headed out the door. I wandered around downtown and found myself at the farmers market. I enjoyed listening to all of the musicians/performers and talking to a lot of the vendors. I got myself some breakfast and a new handmade fused glass ring before I headed home. I took a different route home just so I could enjoy a different part of my city.

I had a wedding to attend in Morgan, Utah that evening and I knew I had no desire to hang out at home on such a beautiful day. So I gathered everything I might need for the day and jumped in my car. I again opted to take the scenic route.

I drove to Huntsville where I hung out at Pineview Reservoir and visited the Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity Monastery. I have to say that drive happens to be one of my favorites ever! Spring is just hitting this area so the grass was extremely green covering the rolling hills and there were wild flowers everywhere. I loved that you could see so many bright colors for miles then in the background there was still snow covered mountain tops.

I then headed up to Snow Basin where I took myself on a small nature hike. I saw so many butterflies while on my short journey. I found a nice area where I sat and read a couple of chapters of Bossypants. I loved that there was nobody around, it was just me surrounded by nature.

I continued on to see the Devils Slide, which made me laugh as I remembered floating down that exact part of the Weber River with some of my best friends a few years back. I drove through a few other towns in the area. Before heading to Morgan. When I arrived still had a little time to kill before getting ready for the wedding so I stopped at a local pizzeria and grabbed a bite to eat. Then headed to a local park and walked along the river for a while.

The wedding was beautiful. I had such a simple and relaxing day. Typically when I need a day to myself I go get pampered and do some shopping. This was WAY better. I loved spending the entire day getting lost in my thoughts on life. Definitively one of my favorite “Kristi” days in a long time.

bum, bum, bum

2011-06-15T13:34:00.000-06:00

Today my co-workers and I decided to walk over to Jamba Juice for a refreshing fruit smoothie. We were waiting for our drinks and I couldn't help but to observe the people around us. Standing in line was a boy and his mother, this kid must have been around the age of 15. He spoke very clearly while deciding what to order. He was dressed very fashionably with a trendy haircut. Then after they ordered and moved to the side to wait he said “mom, can you scratch my bum now?” The mother didn’t even think about it, she just reached over and started straching this kids ass like it was a back rub! Who does that?! I couldn’t contain myself I just started laughing hystarically.

2011-06-13T12:00:00.001-06:00

Life is good. I’ve been busy which explains why I haven’t posted anything in a while. I’m still training to run a 5k, I really suck. I’m only up to about 2 miles… But I’m MAKING myself complete one before the summer is over. Then I want to run at least 1 a month while I start training for a 10k. I’m getting ready to move and once that’s out of the way I’ll be able to have more time to dedicate to running and working out in general.

My old roomie Beth visited from Rhode Island over Memorial weekend, we had a blast! I feel like we mushed so much stuff into those four days including: Bee’s game, Hangover 2, Green Pig, Jackaloupe, Lucky 13, D&D’s, Frisbee golf, ReAl game, smores, Tracy Aviary, SLC Library. Red Iguana, Cannella’s, cartoons. BBQ’s and I took her to a wine tasting. It was so much fun, I miss having her here and getting to go on constant adventures.

My older brother Jason just got engaged so I’m preparing to visit Florida early next year. I’m really excited for him and my future sister-in-law Jessica. They seem really happy. I’ve only met her once for about an hour but I hope I get to know her better in the future.

One of my best friends (Ashley) just had her baby, little Cohen. I love him so much and am so excited to have him in my life.

I’ve been going to some parties, farmers markets and stuff. That’s all been a good time.

I can’t really think of all the other crap that’s filled up my life but there you go. Once I get settled in my new little nook in the suburbs I’ll be much more interesting….

2011-05-24T08:49:00.001-06:00

They say 1 in 5 people meet their match online. Well since I super suck at meeting people in real life I’ve decided to give this whole world of internet dating a shot. I’m not going to lie I’m extremely skeptical about it. Infact I’m pretty convinced that one of these internet weirdos will chop me up into little bits and leave my remains scattered across the valley never to be found. No joke! But I have a few friends, family and a Bishop to tell me (practically daily) how I need to get hitched. So why not put myself out there. It’s been almost 2 months since I joined this dating site, here’s what I’ve learned.

1. I hate the question “why aren’t you taken?” now if it’s a statement I don’t mind it, although I find it insainely cheesy it’s still flattering. But if it’s a question, then I hate you! Do you really want to know why I’m single? Why don’t you call every guy I’ve ever dated, I’m sure they can give you a long list of reasons!!!
a. I hangout with more guys than girls, which makes men (or rather boys) jealous.
b. I enjoy sports more than a lot of men which let’s be honest a guy really doesn’t want to date a chick who understands football better then he does.
c. I’m curvy and not the most attractive girl in the Salt Lake Valley.
d. For non-mormon guys – I’m a mormon girl.
e. To mormon guys – I wasn’t always a mormon.
f. I can be embarrasingly shy and awkward.
g. All girls are crazy
I could really keep going but you get the idea. Is that really the type of stuff you want to hear on a first date?! Let’s just throw every flaw in the world out there and let’s see if you can look past it and find something to like about me!!!
2. When a guy uses terms of endearment of the first date… Well run, he’s a creeper! Oh and listen buddy, I’m not your sweetie, babe, honey, boo or any of that crap why do you actually try remembering my name!
3. Always have a couple of ideas of things to do, because there’s a good chance you’ll meet up with someone and they’ll say: Where should we go? What should we do? Okay mr. you asked me out….. But apparently I’m now in charge of this gathering!
4. Chivalry isn’t dead but guys seems to think that if they actually open a door for you that they’re guaranteed some action… Nope!
5. I’m starting to believe guys have more self esteem issues then girls.
6. When you give a dude your phone number and he only wants to text (all day and night) without ever calling or trying to meet you… Change your number because he’s a loser and isn’t going to stop texting you even if you haven’t responded in a good 3-4 weeks.
7. The websites should only be used to “break the ice” exchange 2-3 emails then you need to talk on the phone and meet shortly there after. Otherwise you’ve created this idea of a person baised on their resume which is probably very exagerated from the truth.
8. If his occupation says “Entrepreneur” don’t be surprised when he is unemployeed and has never moved out of his parents house at age 33.

There are many other things I’ve learned but I’m all sorts of fired up just thinking of these few annoyances. So I’ll sign off for today.

To be continued…

2011-05-23T11:35:00.001-06:00

I’m pretty sure I’ve officially fallen off my rocker! Last week I found myself in a lot of pain and finally I gave in and took a lortab. Now let me tell you I HATE taking pills, especially ones that make me loopy! So there I was slowly falling into a land of prescribed craziness.

I was half asleep when I started thinking about my old Strawberry Shortcake wall paper from when I was a little girl. I loved that wall paper, I loved it so much that I had to draw (more like scribble) all over it so I could be part of its glory! I also thought about my old Care Bear stuffed animal Lucky. That little buddy went everywhere in the house with me. All of a sudden Strawberry Shortcake was alive a crying, oh no! I asked her what was wrong and she told me how Lucky and his sidekick Champ had hurt her feelings.

I was so distraught over this, why would the Care Bears ever want to hurt little miss shortcakes feelings?! I couldn’t figure it out. But I sure did call my friend and tell him all about it for about 30 minutes. Followed by me lecturing him on life…. I’m pretty sure I was asleep during a lot of the conversation as I really don’t remember most of it, but I looked at my call log and we talked for nearly 2 hours!

A couple of days later I was again in need of medication. Although I was really dreading taking it, I NEVER take pain killers especially not twice in one week! No joke, I won’t even take ibuprofen when I get a headache. I sucked it up and took another lortab. This time I was again visited by Care Bears in my dreamland. This time however, they were not making anyone cry. They were simply doing the Care Bear stare out of my front window, I’m not really sure why though.

Luckily my back is feeling much better so I don’t think I’ll being seeing those little buggers anytime soon!

Little Wildhorse - Bell Canyon Loop and Goblin Valley

2011-05-17T15:03:00.000-06:00

I love the outdoors, however due to several surgeries and a spine injury I haven’t been hiking since high school. That all changed a couple of weeks ago. One Tuesday evening instead of going to our typical gym workout Britney and I decided to make the short trek up to Ensign Peak. It was a simple stroll up the mountain/hillside for a quick outlook over the city. Even though it’s probably one of the easiest hikes around I was still super excited to say that I hiked again!!

Wednesday we decided to take a walk from my house in the downtown area up to the State Capital building. Britney hadn’t ever explored the inside so we got some history mixed in with a nice little walk.

Then Saturday morning came along…. I picked up my good friend Kristen about 7am and we drove and drove down to the San Rafael Swell. We arrived in the parking area about 10:30am. After a brief stretch and a quick bite to eat we loaded up our back packs and set off on an 8 mile hike through Little Wildhorse and Bell Canyons.

I had done a little research about the hike prior to making the trip and all the books and websites kept saying it’s a simple hike, there’s one spot about ½ mile into it that takes some athletic ability. If you can make it over that you’ll be in good shape for the rest of the hike. I could see why people struggle with it but thanks to my research I found an extremely simple way to go up the side rock wall about 10 feet and then back down. It took us about 30 seconds to beat the so called hardest part of the trail.

The next 3 miles were amazing. Words cannot describe the beauty of winding in and out of the slot canyon. The way the light hits the rocks is just stunning. I think we were both smiling from ear to ear the whole way. There were some points where we were trekking through water, up and over rocks even under rocks at times. I felt like I was in a maze that doesn’t allow you to get lost. The next thing I knew we were exiting the slots. I was so sad and excited at the same time.

That’s when the worst part of the hike started. Walking through a desert in loose sand. The sun was beating down on us and there weren’t very many places that offered any shade. It seemed to drag on and on. We definitely started to lose our momentum. So we stopped to have a quick sandwich and some water. After what seemed like forever we reached a sign that showed us we were at the half way point. WOO HOO! We basically started skipping and all of our energy came right back for the next 1.6 miles until we reached Bell Canyon.

Bell was not nearly as cool as LWH, but it was still really fun. I’m glad we decided to do LWH first. As some of the boulders we had to climb down were too smooth and large, I’m not sure we could have easily climbed up them.

I actually had a 127 hours moment…. We were scaling down some large boulders and my little legs couldn’t reach. There was nothing to hold on too or to push myself off of I knew I was about to slip. I prepared myself for the 6ish foot drop between the rocks and hoped I wouldn’t be too injured. I let out a gasp and fell. Landing on a bunch of smaller rocks I jammed my toe and had a few scrapes and bumps. I considered myself lucky as I could have easily twisted my ankle.

Soon enough we were back to the beginning. We were so proud of ourselves! I loved all of the hikers we met along the way.

We took a quick drive over to Goblin Valley and did some exploring for a few minutes before we made the trip home.

I can’t wait to go back to see more of Goblin Valley and to re-explore Little Wildhorse Canyon!

2011-05-11T10:05:00.000-06:00

I can’t believe it’s been over a year!

May 8-9, 2010…. It was my best friend Trevor’s surprise birthday and graduation party. We had gathered all of our friends together and somehow managed to pull off the surprise. We had such fun night full of laughter. I went home early as I knew I had a church meeting early the following morning.

I walked into my apartment to find my brother who happened to be extremely intoxicated. We started talking about how fun our evenings had been and he was so drunk he could barely speak. He too had been at a party with friends. I asked him how he had gotten home and he started to explain how he had driven himself home and that he was so drunk that he actually got lost. It was then that I calmly told him “I’m glad you had a good night, but I’m sorry I’ll have to talk to you about this tomorrow.” When he asked why I simply said “ you know how I feel about drunk driving so I’m sorry but I’ll just talk to you tomorrow.”

As I started to walk towards my bedroom he started to yell the absolute most crude and disgusting things I’ve ever heard anyone say in my life. I was stunned that my own brother could speak to me this way. All of his anger that I had decided to become religious started to show. He began to throw pictures that he ripped off the wall and he even picked up my flat screen television and threw it at me. I tried to calm him down but there was no stopping him.

I again turned to walk to my bedroom when he grabbed me by the back of my neck and started to strangle me as he bashed my head repeatedly into a wall. I was caught so off guard that I didn’t even have a chance to fight back or defend myself. I fell to the floor where he continued to bash my head into the tile floor. I finally struggled to get away and run to my bedroom (why I didn’t leave I have no clue) in the process I saw the most evil look in his eyes. I knew he wasn’t finished. There are no locks on the doors in the apartment I live in so I knew I wasn’t safe in my room. I grabbed my phone and dialed 911 as that’s the only thing I could think to do.

He walked into my room and started beating me again while I was on the phone until he realized it was the police on the other end of the call. He stormed out of my room, grabbed his keys and slammed the back door behind him. I continued to tell the police that a very drunk and angry man was about to drive the streets of Salt Lake City. I describe the car and the direction he’d be leaving. They were on their way.

As soon as I hung up the phone, my brother was back. He had forgotten his cell phone and accused me of stealing it. He tore a lamp from the wall and started beating me with it. I was trapped in the corner of my bedroom with no place to go. Luckily the police showed up just in time. As he was yelling how he wanted to kill me.

I was in complete shock, when did my family turn into white trash?! We’ve never had violence in our home. Fighting was not how we were raised. We were raised to accept and to love everyone regardless of their beliefs. Yes my brother is gay, yes I’m now a Mormon….. However I will never judge anyone for their sexuality. I fully support everyone in my life to be who they are and to make the choices that are right for them!!! Why would he think I would all of a sudden change the way I feel about humanity because I now have a relationship with God?! Yes, I understand the how the LDS church views homosexuality, but that doesn’t mean I have to agree with every single part of the religion in which I have chosen to be part of. I’m still Kristi Cartwright!!!

My brother was taken to jail that night. He was charged with Battery, Criminal Mischief, Public Intoxication and Disturbing the Peace. I had called my parents and it broke my heart when they watched their first born child be taken away in handcuffs. My brother was released only 4 hours later, he was not allowed to contact me for 72 hours. During that time he stayed with my parents and they made the decision that he needed to move home and continue to pay his portion of our rent for the remainder of our lease. My parents asked me not to speak about the “incident” as they were embarrassed and didn’t want any negative attention. They were actually upset with me when I called some of my best friends for support. Who was I supposed to call? My parents (who are amazing) are not emotionally in-touch with us kids. I wasn’t able to go to them for support. At one point my mother said “Kristi, I’m not worried about you. You’re a strong woman and you have great friends and things in your life. I’m more worried about your brother as he doesn’t have any of that.” I definitely agreed with my mom, and told her that they needed to be there to help my brother over me. My father was upset and the entire situation and out of frustration he blamed me for the incident.

I wasn’t able to eat, drink or sleep for the next five days I had knots in my stomach that were so made I would just vomit even though there was nothing in my system. I was a robot going through my daily tasks but I was void of emotion. I never cried I just stared blankly. I had bruises across my face and chin, burns on my neck from his fingers, bumps on the back of my head, and my entire left thigh was black for over 3 months from where he had hit me with the lamp. Finally I started to patch my home back together, literally. I bought new pictures and erased the trace of him ever living there.

The civil case worker had told me that he when he met with a judge he would be given: community service, a fine up to $1,000, required to take anger management classes and be on probation for a year. However it turns out both the judge and the prosecutor are my brothers clients so he only had to pay a $200 fine. Now a year later he has never apologized or learned any type of lessons. He blames me and says it’s all my fault and that he would gladly do it all again. I have spent every holiday alone without my family as he is too selfish to leave my parents home. I rarely see my parents as he is always present. He’s still my brother and I love him unconditionally for the person he is, I have no hate towards him, he’s been forgiven by me. However I can’t put myself in the presence of someone who would so easily bring so much pain and harm towards me.

Last night while enjoying dinner for my best friend Trevor’s birthday I realized just how lucky I am to have such amazing friends who love and support me regardless of my religious beliefs.

2011-05-03T07:54:00.001-06:00

Have you ever had one of those moments when you see or hear something so shocking (to you) that: your heart stops, you can’t breathe, tears rise in your eyes…. But just when you think your world is over you realize you have to save face, so you shake it off and smile as if it’s the best news ever ? I have…. It super sucks!

Modern Day Petroglyphs

2011-05-02T17:06:00.000-06:00

Back in my early 20’s I was a pretty cool kid, at least in my own little world. I worked for a radio station along with some snowboarding companies and from these gigs I spent A LOT of my time at concerts and local events. I helped small bands try to make a name for themselves while passing through Salt Lake in their beat up mini vans. Most of them never amounted to much in the music industry and some of them have grown to be large and fairly well known bands, in a small way I’m one of the many people who contributed to their success.

At some point I fell away from “the scene” and moved on with my life to. However I still have many of these connections and sometimes I find myself being invited to shows or events and on very rare occasions I even receive thanks and appreciation from these bands.

This last weekend I was invited to good ole Kilby Court so see an old friends younger brother play, I thought to myself “why the hell not?!” I’ve maybe been to Kilby 2-3 times in the last 7-8 years so being there definitely took me back in time…. As I was catching up with my buddy I randomly looked at the wall, only to find a message I wrote to the world nearly a decade ago…

I’m not going to lie, I think it’s still true today =)

Mystery Solved.... Well sort of...

2011-04-29T10:04:00.000-06:00

I hear a phone ringing.
It’s not the ring of any of the office phones I’m used to hearing, but I know it’s a phone.
It has a high muffled pitch.
I’m the only person in the office today, am I going crazy?
No... There’s DEFINITELY a phone ringing....
I get up walk around the offices, nobodies phones are lighting up.
I walk to the vacant receptionist’s desk, there’s not even a phone there...
The phone is still ringing..
Is this place haunted??
I listen again and follow the sound.....
There’s nothing there, not even a desk....
The phone continues to ring........
I look up to the ceiling… No it can’t be......
Ring, ring, ring
I grab a chair and start climbing.....
I slowly lift the ceiling piece.........
Yep, there’s the ringing phone......
WHY THE HELL IS THERE A RINING PHONE IN THE CEILING?!

The Giving Tree

2011-04-29T08:38:00.000-06:00

Less than a block from my house there once stood an apple tree. A very large tree decorated with peace flags and a hand painted sign that read The Giving Tree. Every time I’d walk past this tree I’d see a pair of gently used shoes, blankets, or clothing sitting in its shade and warmth waiting to be picked up by someone less fortunate. Considering I live Downtown there are a lot of homeless people in the area who need these items more than I, so I decided that every time I clean out my closet I too will donate to this simple cause.

Last weekend I did some spring cleaning and had some good warm and wintery items. I put them in a bag with a small note and added some fruit. I put my jacket on and walked out my front door with a smile. I practically skipped down the street. I was approaching the stop where the grand tree should be standing, only to find a stump surrounded by wildish flowers with the sign leaning by its side. I was immediately taken back to my days of reading the story by Shel Silverstein. I can’t help to question, did everyone take everything that this tree had been able to offer OR is it merely a coincidence that this apple tree called The Giving Tree had to be cut down?

Either way the spirit of The Giving Tree is still there and I’m proud to be one of the givers.

Drip, Drip, Drop Little April Showers

2011-04-27T07:59:00.001-06:00

Yesterday morning I looked out my window only to see a rainy day, I thought to myself: YAHOO, I can wear my rainboots! I skipped to my closet and pulled out my pokadot boots and put them on my size 10 feet (I know I have HUGE feet considering I’m only 5’2 ¼” ) I looked at my feet now warm and cozy with a big smile on my face.

I can think of a lot of reason why I love the rain including but not limited too:

1. It means I can wear a hoodie.
2. I love the sound of rain drops hitting my windows.
3. Watching scary movies is so much better when it’s cold and rainy out.
4. Jumping in puddles…. I should do that more often…..
5. Something about rain makes things a little more romantical.
6. The smell…. I just love the smell after it rains, so clean.
7. Rainbows, who doesn’t love a rainbow?!
8. I know the May flowers are coming (insert cheesy grin here)
9. You get to eat soup, yum!
10. Memories….

I remember my first dance performance when I was 3 years old. We danced to the song Little April Shower which was in the movie Bambi. My best friend Angela and I were late getting on stage to hide behind our umbrellas because one of us had to use the restroom (probably me but I don’t remember). We wore pink raincoats while we twirled and skipped around the stage with our umbrellas. We were so happy and proud of our awesome skills. Maybe that small memory is really why I love the rain…. Who knows, but it always makes me smile.

A Sweet Treat

2011-04-26T09:35:00.000-06:00

Everyone has a favorite sweet treat, whether it be chocolate, cookies, pudding, ice cream, etc….. I too have a favorite….. cupcakes! I have such a weak spot for cupcakes. Every now and then I get the cupcake itch. I rarely take the time to bake them because then I might get the urge to eat WAY more than I should, so I hit the town and find a local bakery. Nine out of ten times I’m highly disappointed with the quality of cupcakes. Either the cake is dry or the frosting is gross…. I can never find an all around good cupcake!

This weekend I was out and about shopping with one of my lady friends when SHE got the cupcake itch… I of course couldn’t resist once she said “I really want a cupcake.” We were in Ft. Union and since I work in the area I mentioned a bakery that recently opened. So off we went to The Sweet Tooth Fairy. As we walked in I started preparing myself for another disappointing cupcake experience.

The second I opened the door into the bakery I was so happy. I felt like I had just stepped on set for an old Disney movie. This was not just a bakery but more of a parlor or old soda shop. The music, ambiance, décor, staff, everything was just right AND they happened to have the best bakery cupcake I’ve ever had. Therefore I must give my props to The Sweet Tooth Fairy, and if you haven’t been yet I say go the $3.00 cupcakes are well worth it! Enjoy!

If only we could be friends….

2011-04-22T13:42:00.000-06:00

Last night I was rummaging through a lot of my old books when I got lost looking at all of my old architecture and interior design books. It reminded me of the “creative” life I once had planned for myself. I can’t help but to admire the work of so many amazing artists but one in particular has always stood out to me … The fantastic Frank Lloyd Wright, a man who created so many different building types: offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels and museums. Not only did he design the exteriors of many of his masterpieces but he also worked on “key” interior pieces.

If I could go back in time I wish I could have hung around Frank Lloyd Wright just to pick his artistic brain!

Photo Flashback :)

2011-04-15T08:25:00.001-06:00

Today’s photo was taken back in 2007 while in Cancun. Candice, Steve and I had just finished snorkeling. I think this was my favorite day we had there. I got to be the boat captian and drive for a little bit, then everyone else HAD to copy me… We danced on the roof of the boat to a song I can never love… The YMCA…. We even got to ride in a real live yellow submarine where we saw sea turtles!!! Also during that trip I was almost killed in the ocean, and I’m not just kidding. It was super scary but hilarious at the same time. The hotel was fantastic with such great service and a sports bar that featured some of my favorite Yankees!! I could keep going on and on about this trip… But I won’t… Much love to Candice and Steve!!

Shuffle.... But not the Truffle Shuffle... Part 2!

2011-04-14T13:02:00.000-06:00

Quick update on me: I’m doing well tomorrow is the last day of my cleanse, woo hoo! Then it’s on to the vegetarian / vegan / raw lifestyle. I’m actually really excited about it now! That’s all I’ve really been up to for the last 1 ½ week… Lame, I know!

On to the topic. I did this a few months ago out of boredom at work…. Here I am again, super bored. So I put my ipod on shuffle and am going to write a memory or feeling about the first 10 songs that play. I’m not going to control this at all these songs are completely chosen at random… Brent – if you’re reading this… Stop right now as I’m sure you’ll HATE every song on my ipod!

1. Jack Johnson: Better Together – This song reminds me of the great Amie Lee Wood Swensen and one of my favorite summers ever! This song was her ringtone, it’s so happy and friendly. Just like Amie!
2. The Pretenders: I’ll Stand By You – I LOVE this song! It makes me so happy and yet can bring a tear to my some days. I value friendship so much and this song is the epitome of what a friend should be! I hope I’m the type of friend that will stand by someone thru all the good, bad and ugly times that life brings!
3. Guns N’ Roses: Paradise City – My first thought is the movie Can’t Hardly Wait… How sad is that?! Anyhow I think it’s definitely one of the bands greatest songs and Slash is glorious!
4. Styx: Mr. Roboto – OOOOOOO is it sad that I can’t ever get enough of this song?! No really….. I probably listen to it at least 5 times a week… And there’s a good chance I do the robot every time regardless of where I am…. Last spring I saw Styx, Foreigner and Kansas in concert and I’m not going to lie, it was amazing! Domo arigato misuta Robotto!!!
5. The Temper Trap: Sweet Disposition – This song is another goodie that I can always listen too. I find it motivating and inspiring…. It makes me think of last summer and numerous drives with my friends belting this song at the top of our lungs! Good times and great memories!
6. Tina Turner: The Best – High School!!! This was the T-ville “theme song” one year and although I was raised to love Miss Tina this song always makes me think of high school… I hate thinking of high school so that kind of sucks, but it’s still a good song!
7. Katy Perry: Thinking Of you (Live) – I hate this song! But only because it makes me cry… I won’t go into details but it 187% relates to my life… So really it’s a love / hate relationship…. Anyhow the album version sucks but the live version is really good, mostly because you can actually feel the emotion in the song!
8. Rammstein: Du Haust – hahaha this song makes me remember the years when my girl friends and I became addicted to skateboarding and skate videos…. We thought we were super cool and would all be pros one day! This song played in our most favorite video… It’s a really creepy song though..
9. T.V. Caprio: I Want To Hold Your Hand – This version of the Beatles classic is actually my favorite version ever! I even MADE my best friend walk down the aisle at her wedding to it…. Plus I love the Beatles and the movie Across the Universe. I think this is the PERFECT love song!
10. Outkast: Hey Ya – Happiest song ever… Well maybe not ever, but it’s up there. I remember the first time I saw this music video.. I was at the bar with my “dude friends” and it started playing…. I’m not kidding when I tell you the entire bar stopped whatever they were doing to stare at the tv! Jaws were dropped and smiles were huge… It makes me laugh. I still love this song.

Bonus Track – you can’t have music without a bonus track right?!
11. Journey: Faithfully – okay really this is one of my all time favorites. One of the best memories I have of this song was at a Journey concert a few years back. I was there with my two of my great friends since elementary: Dawn Donaldson (1st grade) and Chandra Bowels (4th grade) plus Mary Farrer who I met at work about 7 years ago. I love these ladies with all of my heart. We’ve all been through so much together. We may have had a few drinks that night… Maybe… When they sang this song we found ourselves hugging having an “I love you man” moment! Looking back it was so cheesy, but it was the truth that we will faithfully be there for one another forever!

A new day, a new life!

2011-04-06T08:18:00.000-06:00

Wull…. The results are in, yesterday afternoon I was officially diagnosed with Miniere’s Disease… I must say I’m happy to know what’s wrong with me and I look forward to fighting back!

I have a few medical problems which I’m not supposed to consume the following: red meat, poultry, carbohydrates, dairy or fatty foods. Now I get to add: caffeine, tobacco (not an issue), alcohol (again not really a problem) and sodium to my list….. In the past I haven’t been great at following all of the rules, but that’s about to change. What does this mean??? Basically it means that beginning today my lifestyle has officially changed to me being a vegan / vegetarian at least 90% of the time. I say 90% of the time because as long as I’m good the majority of the time I can let loose and splurge when I’m out with friends, dating, events, etc…

To kick it all off I’ve decided to do a cleanse. I know sooooo many people thing this is a horrible idea, however I used to do a couple every year and I always felt great. This way I can clear my body of all the stuff I’m not supposed to have and when I start to consume real live food again I’ll only crave fruits and veggies.

I’m totally going to kick this things ass…. TAKE THAT MINIERE’S!!!!

The Color Code

2011-04-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

During my freshman year of college I was on Student Government at UVU (then UVSC) and in one of our leadership classes we were all given the book The Color Code. Basically it’s a series of questions that help you figure out your personality type, which is then classified into 4 colors:

Red – power, logic, determination, money oriented and visionaries
Blue – service, nurturing, loyal, ethical, dependable, thoughtful
White – peaceful, patient, content, the voice of reason
Yellow – fun, enthusiastic, carefree and optimistic

Most people have one dominant color with a small mix of the other colors on the side… That was me, can you guess what color I was?!

YELLOW!!!! Who would have thought?! I was about 80% yellow, 10% blue with a about 5% of both white and red.

Last night while doing a little spring cleaning I found my old book. I decided to re-take the test since it’s been a little over 10 years since my first color coding experience. I looked at the results and was surprised and a little relieved that even I Kristi Cartwright had grown up a bit…. I’m now about 60% blue, 20% yellow, 10% white and 5% red…

I’m not going to lie, it made me smile that I still had that much yellow in me, I thought I lost a lot of it!

Would you do it?

2011-04-01T10:15:00.001-06:00

Although I don’t consider myself to be a fashionista by any means I still love shopping and fashion. Today while looking at some of my favorite fashion sites and blogs I came across these shoes that are not considered to be couture, just everyday fashion for this summer… Really?! I don’t get it, I might wear them to a theme party! I have to ask, would any of you actually wear these to a serious event?

Weekendzzzzzz

2011-03-28T11:17:00.001-06:00

I was one of the thousands of people that attended the Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork this weekend. So much fun, I loved every second of it! An extremely brief explanation is that it’s a fantastic organized riot, celebrating the coming of spring and the triumph of good over evil. Here are some of our pictures..

After I got all cleaned up I went to the RSL vs. LA Galaxy futbol game at Rio Tinto. This was my birthday gift to myself and RSL killed it they played such a strong game. I must say that even though he’s slightly washed up, it was still awesome to see David Beckham play!

Also I forgot to post my pictures from our Pre-St. Patties celebration at Piperdown…

and now I wait.....

2011-03-25T08:26:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a little disappointing.. It started off being a great day, I’ve had a great week full of birthday celebrations and a large project at work that I’m really looking forward to… However, that being said I’ve been extremely worn out and tired all week.

Approximately 4 years ago I would start to getting really tired every few months, after a few days of being extremely tired I’d realize that I had no clue when the last time I ate was. Then all of a sudden my hearing would start to fade and I’d begin to feel nauseated meanwhile the room would start spinning and I’d lose my ability to keep any type of balance. To experience vertigo is NOT a fun adventure to say the least. These issues would last 2-3 days at most.

The first time this happened I went to my physician and was told I had an ear infection. A few months later I went back again…. Same thing…… He gave me an antibiotic and some eardrops and would send me on my way. Over the last 4 years it’s been a regular experience. I started to notice that every time I had an “episode” I had either been really, really busy and hadn’t been getting enough sleep or I had been super stressed about something. This last January he finally said to me; Kristi, there’s a good chance you have a condition called Miniere’s Disease. Next time you start to feel crappy I’d like you to go see a specialist!

While at work yesterday morning I felt like I could sleep for 9 days straight and still be tired. I also realized that I had only eaten at birthday celebrations this week. So I called 11 Otolaryngologists (ear, mouth and nose) and none of them treated this so called Miniere’s Disease luckily I found Dr. Anderson who works with the disease and was able to see me right away. By 11:00am I was in his office taking hearing and balance tests. Which I passed with flying colors. As we started talking about my history and symptoms he became almost certain that I do in fact have Miniere’s Disease. Unfortunately that’s not the only possibility, there’s also a small chance that I have some minor brain damage caused from one of my numerous accident prone moments.

With Miniere’s Disease there is a chance that it could spread into both ears and I could eventually go deaf and or have constant vertigo. However if I stay away from alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and salt it can prolong this. Most people aren’t diagnosed with this condition until their 40’s and only 0.2% of Americans even have this condition. There haven’t been many studies about it so there’s always a chance for a cure before I would get to that point.

Brain damage…. Well that could be another story, which we didn’t really talk about since he’s not a Neurologist…..

Anyhow I’m waiting for my insurance to approve an MRI and some other tests so I can get to the bottom of this and start working on fixing myself. Wish me luck!

Denver!

2011-03-21T10:36:00.000-06:00

I just got home from one of the most fun girls trips ever!!! Linda, Britney, Maylee, Nichole, Monica and Samantha – I love you ladies, I can’t wait until our next semi-annual girls trip!!!

Wednesday:
Right after work I rushed to the airport so I could catch my flight. Only to find that the TSA had completely stopped the security line! So for almost 45 minutes I just had to stand in a non-moving line which super sucked but it was okay. I learned later that there was a security breach because some lady grabbed her bag that was supposed to go through a second screening…. REALLY, everything shut down for that?!?!?!?! Anywho I got through the line and met up with my besties Linda and Britney, soon enough we were on our way. Once we arrived in Denver we hurried to drop our bags off at the hotel so we could meet up with the ladies from Tucson. We wandered the streets of Downtown Denver until we found the bar Fainting Goat. It was just my type of place! Kind of a dive bar, really low key BUT they had shuffleboard – SOLD!!! The best part was seeing Maylee and Nichole, it had been over a year since I had seen either of these fabulous chicks. I met Samantha and Monica and right away I knew we were going to have a blast! We all caught up, played some shuffleboard and grabbed a bite to eat, super casual but just the right amount of fun after a long day of work and traveling. Then we decided to check out another bar called Charlie Brown. It was lame and we met some crazy dudes that were super annoying. So far we loved Denver but had decided that the people of Denver were all socially awkward!! We made it back to the hotel about 1am so we could wake up the next morning.

Thursday:
Happy St. Patties!!! Maylee surprised us with green mustaches to wear on St. Patties and let me tell you they were a HUGE hit! We decided to walk from our hotel to the Denver Zoo wearing our fantastic mustaches, cars were honking, people wanted pictures, construction workers stopped production. So much fun until they started to itch about 7-8 blocks into our journey, the staches had to go…… According to our iphones, the zoo was only 2.5 miles however in real life this was not the case, we walked for about 1.5 hours before we got to the zoo. I’m not kidding when I say it was at least 6 miles! Now a 6 mile walk would normally be fine and dandy but none of us were wearing very good shoes therefore by the time we actually got to the zoo we didn’t want to walk around the zoo…. But we did…. It was a really nice zoo, except for one of the apes was really creepy, oh the story I could tell….. But I won’t because it’s disgusting!! I think the tigers were my favorite part and the geese were definitely my least favorite part.

After the zoo we took a cab over to the Irish Snug, we got there at 1pm and it was already super busy. The food wasn’t good but the crowd was entertaining. Our poor little Linda had a little too much to drink, so we called her boyfriend to come pick her up on his way home from work (he lives in Denver). Maylee was walking her out to Steve’s car when they passed one of the security guards at this point Linda was crying so he was about to ask if she was okay when she wailed “I DON’T WANT TO GO HOME, I WANT TO PLAY WITH MY FRIENDS!!!!!” maybe one of the best quotes of our trip. Poor Steve was the one who was stuck taking care of her that night…. Too funny! By 9pm we were all hungry and exhausted so we made our way back to the hotel.

Friday:
Shopping at the 16th Street Mall and lunch at Rialto Café with the ladies was a good way to spend our early afternoon. Then we had a walking beer tour through the streets of Downtown Denver.

Starting off the Great Divide Tap Room we met our tour guide, we’re all convinced that he’s a leprechaun in disguise… I’m not kidding… The people that work at the Great Divide might just be the happiest people ever! Plus they gave us ladies some free food – ahhh how nice. They showed us around the brewery so we could see the full process. Being that I used to work in a production environment I found the “bottling room” to be fascinating. We then headed to Breckenridge Brewery, Wynkoop Brewing Co. and Rock Bottom Brewery plus on the way I got to see Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies… I love baseball so I was ecstatic!

After getting ready for the evening we had dinner at Lala’s Wine Bar where my friends sang happy birthday to me and Samantha. Then we went to check out a club called The Church – however it was scary so we ended up at a place called The Tavern. More shuffleboard was played and the birthday girls dominated! Monica was probably a little too drunk when she let possibly the ugliest guy every (he had shaved eyebrows) kiss her… Seriously almost the entire bar yelled “NOOOOOOOO” when it happened. You had to be there but it was hilarious. After a long fun field day I was ready for bed.

Saturday:
The day started off really slow, I’m not sure why. We walked around the 16th Street Mall again and had some lunch at Earls. Then the best part came…. Linda’s boyfriend Steve and his boss Sean took us to ride go-karts!!!! So much fun, I super sucked but holy crap it was a BLAST!!!!

That night we had a wonderful dinner at Venice Restaurant & Wine bar. I was so sad that it was our last night in Denver. After dinner Steve and Sean too us to a really “hip” club called Beta. Where we had a V.I.P. table and lot’s of booze on hand to anyone that wanted it… I think there were 2-3 bottles of grey goose, patron and champagne plus anything you might want to mix them with. We danced and laughed… But soon enough myself, Britney and Maylee left since Britney and I had early flights the next morning.

All in all the trip was a success, I loved it so much!!!

Mardi Gras!!

2011-03-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

My roomie dragged me out to a Mardi Gras party the other night at the Puck… Yes folks, the Puck… Good Ole’ West Valley! A bunch of dudes he went to high school with were there and it ended up being a lot of fun. Mostly because random dudes kept giving me beads in hopes that I might show them my rack. Don’t be fooled I’m not that kind of girl, but sure I’ll take your beads! Then they kept buying me adult beverages, which I would just slide on over to the dude friends. So to the men I met thanks for getting my friends hammered and making me look like a hussy! Oh and to the Blaze 97.5 thanks for the sequin hat along with a lot of other accessories but most importantly the Motley Crue, Poison and Cheap Trick tickets oh and I can’t forget the Grizzlies tickets!

My love for the Banff Film Festival!

2011-03-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

I love extreme sports, I always have and I always will. For the past 5ish years I’ve been attending the Banff Film Festival tour when it comes to SLC. Basically this film tour highlights the best of the best extreme sports videos. Everything from kayaking, kite boarding, snowboarding, skiing, long boarding, bouldering, dirt biking, surfing…. You get the picture, all of the good stuff. Some of the videos are less than 5 minutes long while others last 30-40 minutes. I look forward to this event all year. It gets my adrenaline rushing and makes me want to do awesomely, radical things. This year I’ve been busy so I was only able to attend the last night. It’s called Radical Reels, it pretty much the best of the best videos. They showed 9 different films my favorites were:

1. Second Nature – this was a long boarding video, these guys were riding 60-70mph down a mountain while filming it themselves with a handheld camera, and they were wearing sweet blue suits!! I was freaking out, super gnarly!
2. Cross-Country Snowboarding – Hilarious!!! These guys were so funny, I want to be friends with them, nough said!
3. The Storming – of course I loved this, it was a great snowboarding vid that featured some of my fav. lady riders. They rocked it with some sweet moves!

All of the films were fun and inspiring but these were my favs. You should check out the trailers at:

http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainfestival/worldtour/radicalreels/#2

But here my friends is the trailer for Radical Reels 2011!

who let the crazies out today?

2011-03-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

I’m starting my 3rd month at my new job and it’s still super boring! I mostly spend my day reading blogs and surfing the web. How sad is that, I wish I had a million things to get done… But no, I have nothing to do because they don’t want to overwhelm me… Can you please just whelm me a little or something… SHEESH!!

Anywho. So here I am wasting my life away at my desk when some strange man just walks right into my bosses office. Normally this wouldn’t be weird, but my boss is out of town and I’ve never seen this man before. So I go introduce myself to him and welcome him to the office. He just stares at my and asks what I’m doing in Daren’s office… Well listen here buddy, it’s my office too! After explaining AGAIN that I work for Daren he still just stares at me and says nothing. So I kindly ask, can I help you with something? He still would not tell me who he was and continued to look at me like I’m a crazy person. Then one of the other Directors (Don) walks in and welcomes the man and asks what are you doing in Daren’s office… His response was that he was waiting see Don for an interview… What the hell?! This guy is a crazy, please don’t hire him!!!

3 posts in 1 day... That's annoying, sorry friends!

Back to my internet roaming I go!

Missing a friend.......

2011-03-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was driving to my parents house and I decided to go a different route. I drove past your old house and tears immediately filled my eyes. I haven’t thought about you in so long. I had to pull over and contain myself. I can still see us as little kids meeting up to walk our dogs down the street. Or playing basketball after school. Racing each other to finish our math assignments first. Sadly when we hit jr. high our friendship started to fade. By high school it was practically nonexistent other than a smile or wave if and when we passed each other in the hallway. My heart was crushed when I heard the news my freshman year of college. Then I thought about your laugh, I always loved your laugh….. I smiled. I miss you Chris and your laugh!

Today's photo

2011-03-03T09:33:00.001-07:00

What a fantastic summer this was! I think this picture was taken the summer of 2007 possibly 2008 I don’t remember off the top of my head. Every day was a blast! Amie and J’aime lived down the street from me and we spent almost every single day together. On this particular day we thought it would be great idea to shotgun beers in their front yard in the middle of the day….. We got some strange looks from the neighbors but what did we care?! Then one lady who’s boobs hung down to her knees walked up to us and said “don’t let them judge you, if I can walk around with my nipples out you can drink a beer!” CLASSIC!!! I don’t think any of us knew how to respond, and considering we’re all typically very out spoken, that’s a big deal! We then continued to spend our afternoon taking pictures of each other which turned out to look a lot like engagement photos… Then in typical summer fashion we headed to the Gallivan Center for one of the free concerts. We had a blast, except for the once part where a crazy chick said she was going to slit J’aime’s throat!!! There were some other slightly inappropriate things that happened that night but we blame the booze and I really think us three are the only ones who will ever understand the humor in them! One of my all time favorite summers!

Classic Kristi.....

2011-03-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

I’m accident prone, everyone that knows me knows this!

Friday I went to dinner with a couple of my lady friends from my old job. I got home around 8:00pm and didn’t feel like I should be “in” for the night. So I told my roomie Adam that I would hit the town with him and the crew. This is something that hardly ever happens anymore, but I was all dressed up with nowhere to go so I thought why not?!

I was wearing my favorite holey jeans, a fantastic dolman top, my favorite owl necklace and my brand new designer shoes! ßhappy to say I can check THAT off my dirty thirty list!!! My hair was curly just the way I like it and I don’t want to brag but my smokey eye’s were basically to die for. I had put way too much effort into this look, I mean that was a whole 30 minutes out of my life, so I should live it up!!!

We started the night at Dick & Dixie’s, a fun little bar across the street. We then headed to a fun little nook called Cheers to you which has karaoke on Friday’s. It was there that we met up with my buddies Trevor, James and some other dude who’s name I can’t remember. My good friend since elementary school Chandra even came out. I also ran into my old neighbor Erin Bodine, I can’t believe she’s old enough to go to bars!!! We hung out there for a while then decided to check out Gracie’s….

It was the trek to Gracie’s that almost led me to my death, not really but let’s just pretend. It had started snowing and I had no coat. I was soooo cold we just wanted to get there quick. So we start running. We approach a stop light on 400 south and West Temple, we’re almost there. Adam and Chandra take off running up West Temple while I decide to cross at the light…. I was in the running through the middle of the intersection when my heel catches in a pot hole and I fall to my knee.. I quickly jump up and continue running. I must say I feel that it was pretty smooth fall, even though it was super embarrassing! When I get to the other side of the street I take a look at my knee to see the damage. It was already bruising and bleeding, awesome! I meet up with Adam and Chandra at the bar (less than ½ block away) I show them the damage and the laughter breaks out…. We walk into the bar and my hair which had earlier had superb volume and curls was now wet and straight… sad. All was well and it was still a good night.

It got pretty swollen...

Then my bad luck continues last night… I was walking out of the mall at a pedestrian cross-walk. I look both ways and it’s clear so I walk towards the parking lot. A car is headed my direction out of one of the lanes. They stop and look left, it’s clear. They never look right, so as the make their right turn they run right into me!!! I’m fine no injuries except minor bruising but seriously who just drives into a person!!! They didn’t even stop or get out of the car. The lady just looked at me to notice if I was okay and shrugged her shoulders as she drove away. That’s a hit and run lady!!! Anyhow all is well.

Have you ever seen the movie little giants? I think I should walk around in a padded suit like that little boy at all times!!! Just sayin’. Anyhow both moments are now funny memories and can go down in my list of Classic Kristi Moments!!

I believe there are angels among us!

2011-02-25T08:06:00.001-07:00

Today’s photo was taken on New Year’s Eve 2011. My BFF Britney, her hubby Randy and his BFF Skyler and myself enjoyed a really simple evening. We went to dinner, played games, watched movies and played in the snow and had some delightful hot cocoa. In this photo you see Britney and I with our NYE party hats and noise makers making snow angels. It just proves that there really are angels among us, right?!?!

It's getting hot in herre!

2011-02-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

It’s 7:30 on Wednesday night and I’m so excited for a little Bikram yoga! It’s been about 1 ½ years since I’ve been able to practice and I’m still worried about my knee. My partner in crime for the night Christy arrives shortly after me, she’s never been and I’m very excited to introduce her to this wonderful workout. We spend a few minutes catching up on life and our adventures, then it’s time for class to begin.

As we walk into the room I’m immediately slapped in the face with the stench of body odor mixed with the heat. It only takes a few moments to feel back at home, and quite frankly the heat is a wonderful break from the cold, Utah climate. We find our spot in the back of the room and do some mild stretching while we wait for our instructor.

The room is getting really full and almost everyone seems as if they’re “regulars” to the class. It’s always interesting watching the people that come to these classes. There are the hippies that love everyone who are just looking for a peaceful 90 minutes. There are the meat heads who I think just want a reason to look in their almost naked bodies in the mirrors while helping to elongate their muscles. Every class there is always a few older, slightly creepy men wearing their speedo’s, but hey they’re working out so that’s great. Everyone is so different, but tied together with this wonderful experience.

Running a few minutes late our instructor walks in and starts rushing us through the breathing exercises due to her own tardiness. We then begin the class. In the past when I’ve done this class the lights have been off and it’s been very serene but that was not the case this time. The fluorescent lights were on and I felt more like I was in an aerobics class with the instructor barking orders at us. Even with the unusual change the class was still great…

About 15 minutes into the class I started to get nauseated from the Café Rio I had for lunch… What lousy timing, I wasn’t able to do all the poses for the full time in fear that I would lose my lunch…. Literally! 26 poses and 2 breathing exercises later it was over. It’s such a rush walking out of the hot, musty room into the lobby where it’s only about 70-80 degrees. I was so relaxed and had so much energy. Christy loved the class too and I’m so happy I was able to introduce her to it.

What a fabulous night AND I get to check “ take a yoga class” off of my Dirty 30 List!!!! WOOHOO

Cool Runnings!

2011-02-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

I hate running! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…. I HATE RUNNING… Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system let me say that I’m trying really hard to like/love running… I really want to be a good runner one day. I’ve been training for this 5k that I’m running in April, I know it’s only 3.1 miles but with my medical history that’s a lot! Anyhow so far I’ve trained up to 2 miles only 1.1 miles to go YAHOO! I’ve also dropped my time down by 4 minutes since I started a couple of weeks ago. Next week I’ll start running 2.5 miles with a 0.5 mile cool down. All of this I’ve been doing in my old cross trainers. I’ve known I need to get better running shoes but I’ve just been lazy, my current shoes are good but just not the best for running.

So I’ve been doing some research for the last couple of days and I came across Vibram, FiveFinger shoes…. I’ve seen these shoes before, but I thought they were mostly for water activities. I had no idea they were running shoes. I read a ton of reviews and here are what people have said:

1. They’re really hard to put on at first.
2. You trip a lot when you first start wearing them.
3. They’re the best running shoe ever.
4. Once you get used to them you’ll never want to wear another running shoe.

Personally I just think they look fun and the fact they can be worn for running, hiking and water sports just make them sound even better. So last night I headed out to REI and I tried some on…. They were really hard to put on but immediately I thought they were the right shoe for me. So I gave in and bought the weird looking things, knowing I’ll get a lot of strange looks at the gym and park. I got home and put them on, it was much easier this time, maybe because there wasn’t 97 people looking at me funny. Wow they felt great! I did some chores around the house and my feet felt awesome. It’s just like being barefoot but with extra griping abilities. I definitely felt that they gave me a much needed pep in my step, I didn’t want to take them off when I went to bed… Don’t worry I did.

I’ve been sick for the last few days so I haven’t been able to test them yet but I’m very much looking forward to it. Here my friends is a photo of these spectacular shoes!!!

North Carolina or Bust!

2011-02-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hello! So I’ve been slightly M.I.A. but that’s only because I was out of town for a week for work and I’ve been trying to catch up on life and work since I’ve been home. Let me tell you about my trip to Raleigh, North Carolina…..

February 7, 2011 – My alarm is set for 4:00am, I’m already packed but I need to be at the airport by 5:30 and I’m always paranoid I’ll forget things before I travel. I however can’t sleep so I wake up at 3:00am which gives me plenty of time to read, get ready and have a bite to eat. I decide I might as well head to the airport a little early in hopes to beat the lines. I had already printed my boarding pass but I needed to check my bag and go through security. I was super happy I got there early because the security line took me about an hour…. Which sucked already, then I realized that I could have gone through the express line because of my priority ticket, which made it super suck!!! Anyhow I was the first person to board the plane so I got my window seat up front. Off to my first stop… Vegas baby! I had a short layover so I decided to play the slots and lost a whole $2… Then I decided to stop… off to N.C.

I arrived about 5:30 in the evening and headed to my hotel, it was a 2 mile drive however I got lost so it turned out to be about a 10 mile drive…. I checked into my room took a quick shower and realized I was starving. Just as I was putting my hair up my phone rings. It was an old friend Derek Bailey who now lives in N.C. he was hungry as well and was only 10 minutes away from my hotel… Crap!!! I have to look cute in 10 minutes?! I hadn’t seen him in over a year and we have a big history together so I didn’t want to look like I just jumped out of the shower. Luckily I hadn’t washed my hair and it was still curly enough that I was able to pull off looking decent… not cute just decent. He picked me up and it was so good to see him. We went to a local chicken wings place and decided to get a wing sampler. We had to pick 5 different flavors, so we picked 4 that sounded good and of course we had to try the spiciest one on the menu…. The Bravehart… Let me tell ya, it was HOT!!!! At first taste it was sweet and we were both confused, then the heat started to kick in, our eyes were watering, faces red and noses were running… It was like WHOA!!! After dinner we went for ice cream. It was a good and fun reunion. I was spent so I then went to bed.

The following morning I was on my way to the office when I drove past a swamp! Holy cow they have swamps?! I really wanted a picture but I thought there could easily be alligators and snakes so I didn’t dare.. The office was beautiful and my co-workers Kari, Si, Cheryl and Slava were fantastic. I felt so welcomed and happy to be there. In that first day I learned so much from each of them. We had a nice Italian lunch and then more training.

That evening Derek was taking me to meet some of his friends. So I went to his place where I met Trevor, originally from Georgia and he was hilarious. Together we drove to an area called Chapel Hill, it reminded me of Main Street Park City simply because of the old yet hip and chic shops and restaurants. Such a cute area I loved it. We went to a sushi place where we met 2 more friends Ryan and Chad, these guys train with Derek for Iron Man races. Ryan is currently a nurse but is also pre-med and Chad is an eye doctor. Good food and good company. After dinner Derek and Trevor took me on a city tour. We went into Downtown Raleigh and to an area called North Hill (I think) we were going to catch a flick but the latest movies had already started. Then we decided to go bowling, but I didn’t have socks…. So we went and saw the Strivectin offices instead. Up top it was a great view of the city. I was please to learn that there were no alligators in N.C. and that any snakes would be hibernating!

On my way to work the next morning I got my picture of a swamp! So exciting!!! I learned that one of the ladies at the office believes that her late husband is trying to contact her through aliens… interesting. I learned a lot of great things for work but they are boring so I won’t get into any details there. They really wanted to take me to try Carolina BBQ which is vinegar based so that’s what we did for lunch. I ate my whole meal the local way chopped bbq sandwich, fries with vinegar on top and sweet tea. All in all it was good except for the tea…

I was sent home from work early so I decided to visit Duke University, or at least Duke Chapel. I was so beautiful and peaceful. The campus was full of life since there was a big basketball game against N.C. that night. I wish I could have spent more time there.

That night I picked Derek up for dinner and he was so excited to take me to his favorite place… He couldn’t wait for me to try Carolina BBQ…… I didn’t have the heart to tell him I had already tried it. So I prepared myself to try it all again for the second, first time. He took me to a place called the Pit which was super ghetto on the outside but very nice and trendy inside. He ordered us fried green tomatoes, 3 types of meat to try the BBQ sauce on, cheese grits, mac & cheese, sweet potato fries, coleslaw and hush puppies… Oh my word it was soooo much food! All of which was amazing. We both felt guilty and sad that we couldn’t finish it. Not only did we try the Carolina BBQ but we also were able to try Memphis BBQ which is molasses and tomato based. I have to say the Carolina BBQ wins! After dinner we went to see Shimmer Wall it was so neat. It’s a giant wall that is silver and has a black design of trees and stuff on it, they project different colors of lights and when the wind blows it causes it to “shimmer” I can’t really explain it but it was super rad. We also witnesses a lady stuck in a parking garage trying to lift the bar so she could drive out, comedy… pure comedy! Then we just went to his place and played games for a while.

Thursday I went to the office did the last of my training with the girls, then headed to the airport to pick up one of colleagues who was flying in from Memphis to meet me and show me some things. On the way to the airport I got lost and ended up at the National Guard base were they searched me and my car before letting me get on my way. Holly and I went to lunch she’s fantastic! This woman is brilliant! She has 3 degrees, a PhD in medical technology, a masters in both architecture and microbiology. She’s lived all over the world and reminds me of someone that should be on a safari. Spending the afternoon with here was great, I learned so much and it was awesome to build a friendship with her. That night Derek and I went to dinner then to see a documentary, Hood to Coast. Was a great film, so inspiring, I had to hold tears back several times. This film got every emotion out of me. We then went back to his place to have a re-match with our games before we said goodbye.

It was a great week for so many reasons: beautiful state, wonderful people, words that needed to be said were said, uncontrolled laughing, the ability to learn… I was amazing! Back to real life!!!

Where ma gurlz at?!

2011-02-04T15:41:00.001-07:00

I have to say…. I love this picture! We have Jill, Mary, Dawn and myself. These ladies amaze! We were driving to Liquid Joes to see the Heavy Metal Gods, which is always a blast. It was one of those silly girls nights where you just act stupid and laugh and laugh…. I miss nights like these, with ma gurlz!

That's my girl!!!

2011-02-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

So this is baby Olyvia, I love her!!! Her dad Trevor is one of my best buds. She’s almost 2 but this picture was taken when she was just a couple of weeks old. I was hanging with her cute mom Karla and I was making fun of her dad, when she gave “her first dirty look.” I could not stop laughing, I had to take a picture and text it to Trevor so he would know her true feelings about him!

A day in Austin = happy Kristi

2011-02-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

Last summer I had the chance to go to San Antonio for work. I flew in on Sunday morning, I’ve always wanted to visit Austin, TX and it’s only an hourish away from San Antonio I made the trek to Austin Sunday afternoon. Austin was amazing, I could easily and happily live there.

A good friend of mine and his cute wife are living there so we all went to dinner at a fantasticly cute place, this place had no indoor seating just a gigantic tree which all of the tables were under, quirky and cute which is just my style. Then we went to Congress Bridge/park area which is right outside of downtown Austin. The view of the skyline was beautiful! We stood on the bridge and as the sun went down thousands of bats that live under the bridge took flight off into the night. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever had the chance to see! The best thing about the bats is that they fly around the city and eat all of the blasted mosquitoes, how rad is that!

Anyhow after the bats we went to the legendary 6th street. This is a place I’ve always wanted to visit. What is 6th street you might ask… Let me explain…. Austin is known as the “live music capital of the world” and for the last 25 years they have hosted a huge music event called South By South West (SXSW) it’s kind of like sundance for music. 100’s of bands show up to play and the city is packed. I’ve always wanted to go experience this but I’m yet to make the trip. Anyhow, 6th street is where the magic happens, it’s an entire area that’s a huge bar district. If I were still a drinker I would have been in heaven. So that’s where this picture was taken under the street sign at the best part of 6th Street. Being that it was a Sunday night it wasn’t super busy which meant we were able to just walk around and see all the cheesy and fun themed bars and hear some sweet tunes. Then back to San Antonio I went. I wish I could have spent more time in good ole Austin!

One day I want to be like Martha.... I need to keep practicing!

2011-02-01T08:52:00.001-07:00

So I really want to be like Martha Stewart one day minus the jail time. However I rarely take the time to do crafty, cute things. I’ve been trying lately and here’s one of the things I’ve come up with…. Hopefully I’ll get better one day!

This is the diaper cake I made for my friend Missy’s baby shower, it was really easy it only took me about 15 minutes. Which is good because I was running really late. Next time I make one of these I definitely want to spend a little more time.

I’m also a fan of cooking, however in this case I was only preparing as it was a RAW inspired meal. My friend from church really wanted to try some of my favorite raw foods. I should have put these in cute cups or something for presentation purposes but oh well maybe next time. Here’s the recipe for my tabouli I don’t remember what exactly I put in the fruit salad right now… I suck!

Fruit Salad

Tabouli
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch parsley
2 tomatoes
1-2 avocados
1 lemon
½ cup sliced almonds
Honey

Easiest raw meal ever, simply chop the cilantro and parsley. Dice the tomatoes and avocado. Mix cilantro, parsley, tomatoes, avocados and almonds together. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the top and add some honey to help everything stick together. Mix it up and wa-la it’s ready to serve. I personally like to eat this as a lettuce wrap, however it’s also good on crackers or by itself. Plus you can switch it up and add cucumbers or other seasonings to change the flavors.

And finally my visiting teaching partner and I made cupcakes!!! It was her family recipe and they were yummy!

Come on ride the train!

2011-02-01T08:14:00.000-07:00

Today’s photo was taken a few years ago in either Heber or Midway, Utah. Candice and I went to a tribal Indian pow wow. It was way fun. We got to watch the tribal dancing, the kids were super cute to watch. Then we took a stroll through the towns Midway and Heber. Candice and I used to go on random adventures all the time... Good memories!

Good times with good friends

2011-01-31T09:42:00.000-07:00

So this last weekend was great. Friday I went to dinner with two of my besties: Ashley and Britney. We went to our “favorite ghetto Mexican restaurant” and had a chance to catch up. Ashley is preggers and she finally has a cute little baby bump! So stinking cute!!! I love every moment I get to spend with my girls.

After dinner I went to our first “Friday Fun-ness” at my friend Candace’s place. It was a small group of about 5 people from my church and we just hungout, laughed and enjoyed the company of each other. I think I’ll host next month and have a Wii Olympics or something like that.

Saturday was a big hit! I woke up and thought to myself “ah man, I’m running a 5k in April and I haven’t started training yet, I suck at life!” so I went running. Now let me tell you…. As a kid from elementary through High School I had really bad asthma. I was never able to run a mile – ultra lame, I know! So this 5k business is kind of a big deal to me, which is why it’s on my dirty thirty list of things to do. So off to the gym I went… I ran 2 miles which is good considering I’ve never ran a mile non-stop in my life… The crappy part was that it took me 22 minutes… 22!!!! That’s horrible an 11 minute mile, I suck!!! The good thing is that I felt okay, I haven’t been sore and I feel as though I could have ran the 3rd mile. Anyhow I’m going to keep training and increase my endurance and decrease my time. I’ll keep y’all posted on my progress.

I also finished ready the B.O.M. for the 2nd time – that’s right I get to check something off my dirty thirty list! I’m super excited about it!

That night I met up with an old friend from BR and we went line dancing at the Westerner, so much fun. They have a mechanical bull there, unfortunately the line was super long so I didn’t ride it. However I will go back soon and check that baby off my list too! Line dancing is so cheesy but I think it’s super fun either way. I left after a couple of hours and went to meet up with my roomie (because I never “go out” with my dude friends anymore). We started at the Jackalope, it little dive bar downtown but they play great music on Saturdays. Adam and Trevor were so excited I was there that it was actually really cute. Then we walked around the corner to the Green Pig Pub, along the way I had to ride the cement lion (picture below). I love those guys, I really should put in the effort and go out with them more.

Yesterday I went to church where I started my temple prep class. I’m really excited and I only have 5 classes left until I can go through, YAHOO!!! Then I met up with my friends, who I like to call the Asian Mafia, to celebrate Linda Lou’s birthday. I love her so much, she can always brighten my day. I’m so lucky to be able to call her my friend. All in all it was a great weekend.

As for today I just booked my trip to North Carolina, I leave next Monday. - my good pal Dawn and I believe that January is the last FULL month of winter. Since February is a short month and spring begins in March… So my friends, happy last day of the last FULL month of winter!

lioness

2011-01-31T09:23:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken Saturday night. I was hanging out with my two of my favorite dude friends and wandering through downtown SLC… When I saw the cement lions, it had to be done! So there I was on 400 south and State riding the lion… Good times, good times!

Funny Face

2011-01-28T10:29:00.001-07:00

Today’s picture was taken on Halloween 2009. I was tailgating before the game and my mom brought a bunch of little costume accessories. Ashley (my football sidekick) and I had to make time for a quick photo! The game was Utah vs. Wyoming, it was actually the “blackout” game and I dressed up as Where’s Walda (not to be confused with Waldo). I actually took a picture of me in the stands in my outfit so I have a legit where’s walda picture game!

shuffle - but not the truffle shuffle....

2011-01-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

I decided to put my ipod on shuffle and tell you what the first 10 songs remind me of… Can you tell I’m really slow at work?!

1. Paramore – I Caught Myself – yes I own all of the Twilight albums… I think the music selection for these movies is awesome, much better than the movies themselves. I saw Paramore in concert they opened for No Doubt and this song reminds me of that… Most people weren’t cheering until they played “a twilight song” then the crowds went crazy. I love Paramore!!
2. Naughty By Nature – O.P.P – this song reminds me of growing up! How can you not get happy when you sing “you down with O.P.P.?!” and what about the sister act version “you down with G.O.D.” that’s a classic!
3. B-Hamp – Do the Ricky Bobby – one of the WORST songs ever! It reminds me of my roomie Beth, we went to a Bee’s game and it played each time one of the players (I don’t know who) would walk up to bat. It’s incredibly stupid, but the memory of Beth and I yelling “ricky – bobby – ricky – bobby” is just funny to me.
4. From Autumn to Ashes – Autumn’s Monologue – such a beautiful and sad song. It reminds me of a breakup I went through. The lyrics “oh why can’t I be what you need? A new improved version of me” still bring tears to my eyes, even though I’ve been over the relationship for years and years! Weird how a song can bring back so many emotions.
5. Incubus – Warning – ahhhh my favorite band! I have a million memories of this song: waiting in line for 12 hours to be in the front of the concert, breaking my nose, road trip to vegas to see them play, seeing Incubus open for 311, my celebrity crush on Brandon Boyd, I could keep going but I won’t. I just love their music and his voice, this is one of those songs I will never get enough of.
6. Maria Taylor – Clean Getaway – this is a great “independence” song. It’s about breaking away from your life and trying something new. It sounds sad but it’s not! It’s so simple and it inspires me to “make a clean getaway” and make it on my own.
7. Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby – oh man this is a classic! I had dinner with Robert VanWinkle one time. I’m not just kidding, we ate at applebees and I saw him and M.C. Hammer perform in Provo the next night. It was awesome, I’m a fan!!!
8. Sarah McLachlan – Ice Cream – such a sweet song about love, “your love is better than ice cream.” I don’t even like ice cream but I love this. If I ever fall in love again I hope to find love that’s better than pineapple!
9. Dolly Parton – Jolene – Best Dolly Parton song ever! I’m not just kidding when I say I listen to this song almost daily! I love how vulnerable she is in this song.
10. Billy Idol – Dancing With Myself – oh my gosh another song that I just love, who doesn’t dance by themselves?! I do it all the time and it makes me feel so much better at life. I wish I had a montage of my life to this song!
11. 50 Cent – In Da Club – I’m having too much fun with this, I had to do 1 more song…. This reminds me of turning 21! The song was huge and I’m short… Yes we played this a million times at my pimp and hoe birthday party! What a hit!!!

Ringpops!

2011-01-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken in late May, 2010. The awesome chick I’m with is Beth, she was my roomie that summer. She came to town from Connecticut for an internship at Tracy Aviary. This was our first time going out together. We went to Piper Down with our sweet ring pops and my dinosaur hoodie. It was gay pride weekend and I’ve never seen so many lesbians in my life, everyone thought we were a couple. It was super funny! I miss her guts a lot, one of my favorite roomies ever!

Photo spotlight

2011-01-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

I have a few friends that are doing “spotlight” pictures on their facebook pages. This is such a great idea. I’m going to start it on my blog.

This picture was taken on New Year’s Eve 2008. Our friends rented out a bar and we had a huge private party. It was insane. In this picture 3 of my favorite dude friends (Adam, Joesy and Zach) are having a moment… A very weird moment and I’m trying to get in on the action too…. So many great memories were made that night!

Loving the simple things :)

2011-01-26T10:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday at work I actually felt like I was contributing to my team on my own without the assistance of others. It was spectacular, however that being said I was super busy all day I had a ton of reports to run, presentations to prepare, travel arrangements to make and customer data to review. I felt rushed all day then 5pm hit, YAY free for the evening! I was so excited I knew I had sushi plans with a couple of the guys I used to work with but that wasn’t until 8pm so I had a whole 3 hours all to myself!!

Then an alarm went off on my phone…. Service dinner… My first thought was “oh S*%t I totally forgot”, my second thought was “I have to go to the store” and my third thought was “I don’t really want to go.” Such a lousy attitude I know, but I was tired. I knew that I had signed up to take chips and salsa and that only 8 people in the ward signed up to go, so I had to attend. So I hurry and ran to the store, picked up some chips, salsa and taquitos, ran home and tossed them in the oven and got myself ready (slightly). The oven timer when off just in time for me to leave.

All I knew about the service dinner was that it was at a low income housing unit, when I walked in the door I didn’t see anyone I knew (I was the first person there… Not really a surprise as I’m always early), but a really nice man in a wheelchair came right up to me with a big smile on his face and said “are you here for dinner? We’re meeting right in here.” As he pointed to a big open family style room. When I entered the room I realized that the group of people we were hanging out with were adults with minor disabilities and medical conditions. I immediately had a change of heart and was so happy to be there. This is the attitude I should have had all along. I started introducing myself to everyone that was there and helped set the tables up. They were all so excited that we were there, more of my friends started to show up and it just made it better. I was a great turn out and I’m so happy the missionaries in our area set this up. I knew I could only stay for about an hour but I tried to mingle as much as I could during my short time.

Just a little reminder that I need to step back and enjoy the simple things like new friends even if they’re “single serving” friends.

Oh and sushi with the Basic Research buddies was a hit, I miss those guys!

Don’t think I’m above being a little judgey!

2011-01-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

Last week was pretty fun. I went to dinner with some friends on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Friday I went to the January Gallery Stroll. I look forward to the gallery stroll every month. I think it’s so fun to stroll around downtown and see all the creative ideas people come up with, even if their art isn’t my cup of tea. Anyhow this month there were some great pieces. My favorite exhibit this month was at Brand32Design (335 W. Pierpont) The artist Brandon Gregersen used his metal working skills to create really urban inspired plant holders. I know I’m not making this sound cool, but it was actually awesome, his work was beautiful and honest. I also enjoyed Kayo Gallery and Saan’s Gallery both usually bring happiness to my heart. Also the clothing store Fice had a great display of photographs of hip-hops artists such as the Beastie Boys, Run RMC, Jay-Z and many others.

Saturday night I had the pleasure to attend a housewarming party for my friend Megan. Her home is so cute and I’m very excited for her. I also went to a comedy show at Wiseguys. It was really fun, I haven’t been to a comedy show it a really long time.

If you’re friends with me then you probably know that I’m a fan of dining out. Not every day because that would just be disgusting. But I do like go grab dinner with friends once or twice a week. I’m a big fan of trying new local places. People are always asking me for ideas of where to eat. So I’ve decided to become my own little food critic. I’m a nerd I know, but maybe I can help you find the right place to dine on your budget for that “special occasion.”

Restaurant: The Copper Onion – 111 East Broadway, Salt Lake City, UT, 84111

I live right down the street from the Copper Onion, it opened about a year ago (ish) and it’s always packed. I’ve looked at the menu several times but it never looked amazing for the price. Finally one of my girl friends and I decided to give it a go. We got there about 7:15 on a Tuesday and had about a 30 minute wait, not too bad considering it was “prime dinning time.” The atmosphere was cute and trendy. The tables were really close together but somehow it still managed to feel like an “intimate” yet loud dining setting. After looking over the menu. I ordered the Spicy Marinara, I have to say it was good, although there was nothing spicy about it. Mostly it was just spaghetti, nothing too special and the portions were small. I don’t mind small portions because I don’t usually eat much anyways, but sometimes it’s nice to have leftovers. We then decided to order dessert and I don’t know what it was called, it was a flourless chocolate something… Whatever it is I don’t recommend it, it was disgusting! I know I’m not a big fan of chocolate to begin with but it was so sweet and just gross.

So my overall opinion = it’s okay, but there are much better places I’d rather spend my money.

Who is this girl????

2011-01-20T14:53:00.001-07:00

Hi friends! So I still suck at blogging. I don’t know what I’m doing and I get busy and forget to update it. However I thought I’d give you a little update and a preview of some upcoming events in my life.

Past and Present
From the time I graduated high school (10 years ago) up until 1 year ago I was partying like a maniac. Always dancing, drinking and just having a good time. I made so many amazing memories and fantastic friendships that will be with me forever. I learned what it meant to fall in love and to have my heart broken. I started a lot of things but never fully completed them. Somewhere in the middle of the party I completely lost who I was.

Almost 2 years ago I realized that although I loved the party I needed to re-find myself and set life goals. I also felt that religion was missing from my life. Being that I’m from Utah I automatically decided that I couldn’t be a Mormon as I thought that was the “easy way out.” So I started to study a lot of random religions. Nothing too in-depth, I just bought random books that had “the basics” from good ole Barnes & Noble. I found a lot of amazing things in many religions but nothing was sticking. So finally I decided to buy a history book about the LDS religion. Even though I’ve technically been a member my entire life I really have not known anything about the religion. It was a VERY short and simple book, but for some reason when I finished reading it I still wanted more. So I continued a journey to learn about the LDS church. I finally gave in and decided to become an active member.

Almost exactly 1 year ago I gave up the lifestyle that I knew and stopped drinking. It was both easy and hard at the same time. Easy because it was for something that I knew I believed in and hard because my friends and family weren’t big fans of my decision. Although I haven’t lost any friends from this decision I do feel very distant from them. I have lost one of my brothers who does not agree with my decision. Last spring he actually “blew up” and went to jail for battery after attacking me because of my decision.

I’ve become very active in my singles ward and am currently preparing to go through the LDS temple. Yes, I Kristi Cartwright will be one of those garment wearing weirdo’s! I have to admit that I’m really excited about it.

Besides the religion thing I have had another big change in my life. As of January 1, 2011 I no longer work for Basic Research, I am a proud member of the sales team at FedEx. It’s a really exciting and nerve racking change for me. Since I started my new job I’ve found a new outlook on life. I have so many goals that I can and will reach.

Future
I turn the big dirty 30 on March 22, 2012 and I’ve made myself a “to do list” that must be completed before my 30th birthday. So this is where the fun begins! Here are some of my upcoming plans:

1. Hot air balloon ride
2. Read Bible/BOM
3. Send a post card to Post secret
4. Go on a vacation
5. Road trip
6. Run a 5k
7. Yankees game
8. Grand canyon
9. Go on a hike
10. Camping
11. Volunteer
12. Learn to play at least 1 song on the guitar
13. Raiders Game
14. Lakers Game
15. Go to a Play
16. Go to a dance concert
17. Buy a new designer purse
18. Sing karaoke
19. Sleep under the stars
20. Visit the Copper Mines
21. Hot springs
22. Golfing
23. Frisbee Golf
24. Take Yoga classes
25. Take a cooking class
26. Ride a mechanical bull
27. Buy designer heels
28. Learn a language
29. Ride a bike
30. Be debt free
31. Watch a meteor shower
32. Float down a river
33. Shoot a gun
34. Shoot the tube
35. Go to Yellowstone
36. Surf
37. Charity
38. Jazz or classical show
39. Catch a fish
40. Live on my own
41. Moab/goblin valley
42. Eat vegetarian 30 days

The best thing that almost all of these are going to be super easy for me to achieve!!! Wish me luck and lets go on some adventures!!!

Much love,
Kristi

Girls, Girls, Girls!!!

2010-10-11T19:54:00.000-06:00

So here's the deal... you take a bunch of your high school girl friends and you have a sleep over 10 years later... You get a good time!!!

Summa, summa, summa time!!!

2010-10-11T19:31:00.000-06:00

Well summer is now gone and I’m so sad! This last summer was awesome! I was lucky enough find an awesome roommate, Beth. She moved to SLC from Connecticut for an internship. We had a blast here are some pics…

Kids...

2010-02-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

Earlier today while at work there was a little girl sitting in my office. I've met her once before, she's a co-workers child. She just kept looking at me and I couldn't figure out why. So after a minute or two I smiled and said "hi there!" She immediately came running up to me and asked "do you like hello kitty?" I simply replied "why yes I do." She then asked "so do you like Betty Boop?" I answered "I sure do." Her final question was "do you like my nail polish?" and I responded "I love your sparkling, pink nail polish." Then she just smiled and said "Well I'm only six years old but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be just like you when I get old. And I'm okay with that... Okay, gotta go, bye!" and she ran away. How stinking cute is that?!

RAW!!!!

2009-06-30T16:56:00.001-06:00

About 2 years ago some of my girlfriends and I stumbled across a raw foods restaurant and decided to give it a go. Instantly we all fell in love. In my mind raw food was just too simple such as eating carrots or an apple. This place opened my eyes to so many delicious foods. I had no idea that you could make a raw pizza or pasta. Not only was the food great but the employee’s seem to love food, their jobs and just people in general. We’ve since gone back several times.

A couple of weeks ago I was looking at the lifelong learning programs offered thru the University of Utah and found that they had a raw foods class available. To make it better the owner of our favorite spot was teaching the class. So of course we signed up.

This class was so inspirational. We learned some awesome tricks on how to prepare these type of meals on our own. We also got to taste a bunch of Omar’s creations. He is such an amazing person. He truly loves life, people and food. He’s possibly the most genuine individual I’ve ever had the chance to meet. You know how when people meet a prophet or pope they say that person has an amazing presence? Well that’s the feeling I got from Omar! I was in total awe of him. I can’t believe that someone only 2 years older than me is that wise and inspirational.

The very next day after the class I decided that I want to attempt to eat raw for 30 days. So I bought 2 recipe books and as of right now I’ve started eating about 60-70% raw. My two girlfriends have decided to join me on my raw quest. We’ve even come up with a great way to have girls nights. Since most recipes make 6-8 servings we are planning on having non-cooking, cooking parties once or twice a week. Each of us will bring the ingredients to prepare one or two meals. We will then split them up between ourselves giving each of us a larger variety of foods to try.

I think it’s going to be a great way to us to motivate each other, hangout, be healthy and try new foods. I’m not sure when we’re officially going to kick off our 30 days together but so far I feel great! I can’t wait to go 100% I’ll keep y’all posted on how things go!

Did that really just happen?!

2009-06-21T20:48:00.000-06:00

So I was out on the town Friday night celebrating because my buddy James Davis just finished his third year of medical school. We were at Popular with all of his medical buddies and a few other people. Going into the night I only knew James and his girlfriend but everyone else was super cool and laid back. At one point I was sitting with 4 guys and 2 girls, we were all just talking and laughing having a dandy time. Then it happened.... Some man in full camouflage came walking up to us and started confessing his love to me. At first I thought he was drunk and just kidding around, but no he was completely serious. He was sober and went on and on and on for about 30 minutes. At one point he even got on his knee and kissed my foot (without my permission). It got to the point that I was holding my laughter back. I know I should have just been flattered and I was..... slightly, but I was also freaked out. I'm not the most emotional person so I can't really handle things like this especially when I'm with a bunch of people I barely even know. It was horrible!!!! HORRIBLE!!! And of course James just sat back and laughed the entire time. This guy asked if he could fly me to Texas and take me on a date and kept telling me how he could offer me the world. Can you say freak?!! Anyhow it was funny and humiliating all at the same time.

A funny thing happened on the way to the movie!

2009-06-12T13:52:00.000-06:00

The funniest thing happened on Sunday. My friends and I were out to dinner enjoying some delicious pizza at Stone Ground when we decided we should go see the movie The Hangover. I wasn’t all that excited to watch it but I was having a good time with my friends so I decided to go. Myself and my friend Dawn were riding in my car while our other two friends, Adam and Mary, were riding in his car. Adam decided he wanted to stop at a gas station before heading to the flick, so we pull into the Chevron on 9th south and State. As we were preparing to back up I was watching Adam in my rear view mirror (so I could make sure I didn’t run his car over) as he was reversing I noticed some of the other people around. There was a man putting air in his tires, 3 early 20’s kids sitting on the hood of their car hanging out and a few other people filling their tanks and or walking thru the parking lot. When all of a sudden there was an extremely loud “BANG” it sounded like a gun. The sound scared me and I jumped at the same time I noticed the man putting air in his tires and literally jumped into the trunk of his car, and 2 people were laying face down on the ground. Everyone thought they were being attached. I looked over at Adam and Mary to make sure they were okay and Adam was getting out of his car. He popped the hood and to our surprise it wasn’t a gun at all, his car battery blew up. You might think I’m kidding, but I promise you that I’m not. There were 2 holes on the top of the battery and one side had completely blown off. We just started laughing we had never heard of this happening before. So of course we call our friend Brandon who knows everything about cars and he has never heard of this happening either. Luckily there was an Auto Zone less than a block away so we were able to easily get a new battery. All I know is that I will never forget the image of the man jumping into the truck of his car in fear of his life. It was a hilarious and priceless moment, at least to those of us that witnessed it.

2009-06-06T19:30:00.001-06:00

So I’ve realized that I suck at this whole blogging thing! So I’ve decided to make it a goal of mine to update this thing at least once a week. I still consider myself to be completely blogspot retarded….. After all this time I still haven’t figured out how to put a sidebar on my page with my list of friends along with a few other things. I don’t really care though.
A lot of fun things have happened since my last update. I might even write about them in detail at some point. Today however my plan is to just post a simple list of some of my favorite things that I’ve done since last summer.
1. Trevor (one of my best buds) is a dad to the cutest little girl in the world. I love baby Olyvia.
2. I got tickets to see Flight of the Conchords about 10 minutes before the show and laughed my face off for days.
3. Saw my first live Lakers game!
4. Mended some broken friendships
5. Cheered for my dear friend Mountain Man Kevin as he finished his first marathon.
6. Met Vanilla Ice!!! That’s right I really did meet him and he was really cool.
7. Went to the Vanilla Ice and Mc Hammer concert.
8. Shot a gun for the first time. My friend Brandon made a target with his face on it. I think it motivated me to shoot extra good.
9. Played a sweet April Fools Day trick on my office mates.
10. Had my season tickets to the UofU football games.
11. Bought an Octabong – 8 person beer bong. It’s AMAZING!!!
12. Met myself 15 years from now.
13. Sang Boyz To Men in the back of a cab at the top of my lungs with 3 of my friends and the driver.
14. Met and hung out with P.O.S. 2 times (he’s a hip hop artist)
15. Saw No Doubt in concert, I love them!
16. Attended some killer Halloween parties.
17. Bought a new car.
18. Karaoke, lots of terrible karaoke!
19. Met a George Bush look alike.
20. Fell asleep in my friends front yard and didn’t wake up when the sprinklers turned on.
21. Ate 711 nachos at 2am in the middle of liberty park.
22. Saw Hoobastank in concert.
23. Went to Denver.
24. Has been given the nickname Smurffette
25. Attended the annual O’Focker St. Patties celebration.
26. Went to a sweet murder mystery party
27. Was at the democratic party when Obama won the election.
28. Was inducted into the University of Utah Football Hall of Fame (okay not really but some drunk guy said I should be in there)
29. Is currently in training to become the next dancing, crazy lady at the Utah football games.
30. Broke into the liberty park swimming pool in the middle of the night of a swim.
Well that’s all I can think of right at this second. It’s been a good time.

Summer So Far

2008-08-05T20:02:00.000-06:00

So there have been a lot of fun things going on lately... First of all my very best friend Britney got hitched. It was the perfect small wedding up in the mountains. One of my good friends Brent was the priest and it just tied it all together to make it more intimate (rather than having some strange person marrying them) There's nothing that I didn't love about the wedding all of my girls (except Maylee) were there. It was at a cabin right by Brighton Ski resort, once the ceremony and pictures were done with Britney and I do what we do... We found a swing set and just ran around getting dirty in our dresses having a blast!

I finally went fishing for the very first time in my life and of course I didn't catch anything!

I chopped my hair off...

So far it's been a good summer!

The case of the missing lake!

2008-06-01T20:01:00.000-06:00

So today I went out to the Miller Motorsports Park to watch the AMA World Superbike Championships (my company sponsored it so I got free tickets). Anyhow I went out there with my dear friends Britney Henline and her fiance Randy Whitney. On our way back Randy mentioned that he's never been to Saltair, so of course we decided to stop. We approached the building and as we walked around back we found that the lake was missing! You might think I'm kidding but I'm not and I have pictures to prove it!

So if someone could please return the Great Salt Lake I'd really appreciate it! Thank you, this is Kristi Cartwright, over and out!

2008-05-10T16:12:00.000-06:00

Okay well I don't really know how to do anything but post blogs on this site... so any advice would be appreciated... Anyhow I thought I'd give ya'll an update on my year so far...

My New Years was fantastic! My friends and I went to a private party held at fats pool hall. It was soooo much fun. I might have had a few too many drinks though!

A bunch of my friends were in town for the Holidays so every night was crazy since we are all rarely out of school and in in the same town. So we tried to spend as much time together as possible.

Some of us got tickets to 311, it was way fun because it was at the Depot and they're one of our favorite groups and it's rare to see a big band like that in such a small venue. So of course we had to have a pre party.

One of my friends came into Salt Lake from Scotland over St. Patties for one night only so we lived it up like crazy people!

I had the best birthday of my life!

And since 4 of my friends are getting married this spring we've started the bachelorette parties...

Oh so confused!

2008-05-08T19:46:00.000-06:00

Okay so maybe I'm extra retarded.... SHOCKER I know, but I can't figure this thing out! How the heck to I add friends on this thing????

Cancun

2007-12-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Cancun. It was so much fun. I went with two of my friends/co-workers. It was rainy and cloudy most of the time but it was so nice to get away from the snow. We went snorkeling and on a submarine ride which were both super fun. I also got in a fight with the ocean which was scary at the time but now it just makes me laugh. Senor Frogs was a blast. I wish I could go back. The people were all fantastic and it was a beautiful place.