Let It Snow!

Can I just say that I'm really happy I have awesome friends and people in my life! Because it's true I really, really do!

Moving on.

Last summer I went on an ATV adventure in the High Uintas with one of my besties, Ashley, her hubby Cohl and his best life mate Lance. We stayed in a cute little cabin and had a blast together while we soaked up our time in such BEAUTIFUL place. A few months ago we saw that the people at Bear River Lodge were having a great deal so we jumped at the idea to head back to mountains for some winter fun!

 

Ashley photo bombs Lance while he takes a selfie

We piled in Cohl's truck on Friday afternoon and headed to the Uintas via Evanston, Wyoming. When we checked in we were happy that we got the exact cabin we had stayed in before. I made us some yummy tin foil dinners that night made with both steak and chicken. Then we just spent time together drinking and laughing and we even made Lance watch Pitch Perfect. He's says he didn't like it but he was laughing most of the movie. So I'm pretty confident that I can make him watch it again sometime hahaha.

Lance, Me and Ashley are ready to ride!

Saturday morning we woke up early had breakfast and got bundled up so we could head out on the mountain. None of us had ever really driven a snowmobile so we didn't really know what to expect but it was such a blasty, blast! We spent about 8 hours exploring the mountains we tried going to Mirror Lake but it was pretty much a white out so we went to Whitney Reservoir instead.

Worst group photo ever! Cohl looks mad. I have no eyeballs, Lance looks drunk but Ashley looks cute!

The snow was as tall/taller than me and Ashley

At Whitney Reservoir there is a little cabin where people enjoying the mountain meet together with a fire, have some adult beverages and just get out of the cold for a bit. We had a great time talking with some of the other riders.

After a cold day on the mountain it was so great to go home to our cozy cabin where we could sit in front of the fire, watch a scary lame movie, and eat some soup that Ashley had been cooking in her crockpot all day.

Sunday morning came too soon. I wish I could have enjoyed another few days up there. But I know I'll go back again soon!

Good friends really improves the quality of life!

My Dining Nook

My next project in mi casa was my 'dining room' now in 950 square feet I don't really have a dining room, I have a dining nook. Here is what it looked like when the previous owner lived there.

Of course this just isn't my style. So the first thing I did is head to Home Depot for some paint! Again I like bold and bright so I picked a color called Peacock Feather. The struggle that I would have with painting is that the wall I wanted to paint is connected to the living room wall and there currently wasn't any kind of separation between the spaces. So I had to get creative. I painted my peacock wall and then to breakup the two colors I built with my own two hands a floor to ceiling wine rack!

Basically I bought a piece of wood and cut it to size then stained it. I like a slightly distressed look so I only did one coat of stain and then I buffed the wood and banged it a bit to look a little beat up. I then found 2 iron wine racks on amazon.com, each of them hold 9 bottles. I stack them together and connected them to the board. I then bolted the entire thing to the stud in the wall. WaLa I have a customer, one-of-a-kind floor to ceiling wine rack!

Next I pulled in my buffet table that I had in my old apartment and placed it against the bright wall. I love the contrast of the blue, white, steel and wood colors! I personally think it's a great combo.

I was planning on making floating barn wood shelves to hang above my buffet but then I found an awesome shelf at world market and had to buy it. I hung it above the buffet table and placed a few white ceramic items that help make everything pop.

Please don't judge the mess on the side of the buffet table, it has become my paint storage space hahaha. The overall space is so small that I wanted it to have an open plan but still be functional, this added a lot of storage into my kitchen. Rather than just having a table and chairs (which let's be honest I really would never use anyways) sitting in the middle of the floor.

I still wanted a table though. I was about to buy a brand new one online when I decided to check out the classifieds on ksl.com and I found a cute counter height table with 2 stools for only $40 so I decided I'd grab that and eventually if I want something newer and nicer I can replace it.

The cute little 'LOVE' banner is something I made with my friends over the holidays and just hung it there temporarily. I plan on making a distressed wood sign that says 'HOME' in the same peacock feather color that the other wall is but I want the 'O' to be a heart made out of wine corks. I need to start keep working on my drinking!

It's a simple room but the new look cost me less than $200 and the biggest expense was my $80 shelf from world market.

Tell me what you think of my make over!

Girls Best Friend

Life is full of changes. Not only have I recently upped my life and bought a condo in suburbia but I also fell in love.... I fell in love with a four legged, furry, friend. His name is Copper and he has become my best friend.

I've always loved dogs and I've wanted one for a long time, but I couldn't have one at my downtown apartment. When I bought my condo I had decided that I would buy a puppy for my birthday in March, as I knew I would be traveling at the beginning of the year for work and that it would be easier to potty train in the spring than winter. But then on December 23rd came along. The week of Christmas is always dead slow for me at work and for whatever reason I logged onto KSL.com to look at the classifieds. I soon found myself in the dog section and that's when I saw this cute face.

I knew immediately that this was my dog! So I drove 4 hours to Ely, Nevada to pick him up. His name is Copper he's 3 (almost 4) years old. He is very well trained but was neglected emotionally by his first owner. His original owner sold him (why I don't know) only a week earlier to the sweet family I bought him from. They too fell in love with him. He's so sweet. They took him home and it turns out that Copper was scared of their 2 year old child and their very hyper lab. So after a week they decided to find a home that would be a better fit for him. He was scared at first but by the time I got him back to Salt Lake I think he knew he had found his forever home.

I'll be honest, I've turned into a crazy dog lady. I ditch my social life just to hang out with him and I take a million pictures of him. He's just so effing cute! He loves to tuck himself into my bed, cuddle and go on walks. If I'm in the room it's rare that he's not sitting on or next to me. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Yes, I'm that cheesy.

I of course want him to be a social dog but so far I've only introduced him to one friend. Dylan, they are both selfish and don't like sharing their attention but besides that they seem to like each other enough.

Any how that's copper, you'll probably see a lot of him in the future!

Scrub-a-dub-dub

I’ll admit I’ve fallen off the blogwagon for a minute. I’ve always been terrible about journaling and my memory is already turning to shit. So I MUST KEEP BLOGGING because life is exciting and I don’t want to forget this stuff! So let me rewind a couple of months to a very special purchase. I bought my very first condo. It’s still weird to me that I’m a home owner! It’s nothing big and fancy just a humble 2 bedroom 1.5 bathroom place in Murray.  So I’ve spent some time decorating and stuff. Here are some before and after photos. 

My first big project was the main bathroom. I hated the paint, Like HATED it. My friend and now roommate described it perfectly when she said 'it looks like someone got poop on their hands and smeared it all over the place!' Really though, the picture doesn't show you how bad it was. 

So in typical Kristi Cartwright Fashion I decided to make a pretty drastic, bold and bright change. Starting with the paint I went for Mint. I knew it with either be an awesome or completely terrible idea. I might have a biased opinion but I think it turned out great. It livens the space up and feels fresh and clean. I also found a great shower curtain, again it's very bold but I like how it compliments my color choice. Lastly I added a couple of shelves above the toiled and replaced a towel rack on the other wall (not shown above) with hooks. 

Since this is the only bath/shower in the condo space and storage is an issue. Especially in a shower shared by two women. So I got a little creative (at least in my opinion) and I added hooks inside the shower. From the hooks I hung two storage racks so we each have our very own organized space. It helps keeps the clutter contained and the space cleaner I think. 

Off my bedroom I have a private 1/2 bath so besides the shower this space belongs to my roommate. I didn't want to fully take over with my decorating so I added just a couple of decorative items and left the rest free for her items. 

I still have some pictures I need to frame and hang above the towel hooks and of course I need to frame the mirror but this project only took me a couple of hours and I think it's made a big difference.

Tell me what you think!

Spring and Summer Days!

I love spring and summer. Like seriously I can’t get enough of soaking up the sun! This weekend was practically perfect… Well except for Friday night!

One of my friends asked me to go to a mid-singles (31+) dance with her Friday night. I’m not going to lie I REALLY didn’t want to go! I don’t like dancing, I haven’t been to a dance since high school, and I figured it would just be pretty dumb. However I LOVE HER so I decided I would take one for the team. After getting dolled up (not really but sort of) we started the trek to Orem, yep you read that right we went to Utah County!

We arrived at the church and the parking lot was packed and I figured most people carpool to stuff like that so I actually thought “oh maybe this won’t be THAT bad..” Welp my friends I was wrong! As we were walking in we started noticing that people were a tad older than us. Once we got in we realized that everyone was WAY more than a tad older than us… I mean they were a good 25 years older than us. There were walkers, and canes and creepers, OH MY!! So we ran but we couldn’t help to notice all the older ladies glaring our direction, they wanted us young ladies GONE! We got back to my car and had the giggles. We decided to grab a bite at a local place but we were mad that we didn’t get any pictures at the dance. So we loaded up in my car and went back. I tried to be sneaky and take pictures but most of them didn’t turn out. My friend Brandi was forced to dance with a weirdo while her sister Holli and I ran out of the room to hide in the bathroom, good friends right?!  

All in all it was a hilarious night full of laughs and memories so you can’t go wrong.

Saturday I went to one of my besties baby showers. It was held at the Grand America Hotel where we had tea time. It was adorable! The girls who planned it did an excellent job. I won a bib decorating contest (WHAT, WHAT!) The baby momma looked so amazing and I can’t wait to meet baby “Z” she is going to be so loved by her parents and HUGE family!

That night I celebrated the birth of one of my long-time friends, Missy. We had a nice sushi dinner with plans to go bar hoping after. However he license had just expired so she couldn’t do that part. So it’s on hold for Birthday Madness Part 2 when she gets a new id. So instead I met up with my best buddy Adam and hit some fun bars and possibly had a little too much to drink.

Yesterday was SUPERB! I love Sunday brunch, it might be my favorite meal of the week! Seriously though, I’m not kidding. After brunch I spent the WHOLE SUNNY DAY at the pool. Yes, I might be a tad sunburnt but tomorrow it will be a tan! After a long day in the sun Adam and I hit up El Chihuahua because it was Cinco De Mayo so we figured it was the right thing to do.

I think ALL weekends should be filled with friends, food, sun and fun! I could get used to this!

JAMMIN!!

Well hello little lovies in blog land! I thought I’d give you a treat today. I’ve been an ass kicking fat kid lately (have you seen Run Ronnie Run? No? Then you wouldn’t understand that) and working my tush off at the gym. So I thought I’d share some of my favorite tunes jam to while I work it out. Don’t judge me for my poor taste in music and I won’t (this is not a promise) judge yours! Let me just say that a lot of this is music I wouldn’t listen to when I’m not working out, but these all have high energy beats! Also there are a lot of repeated artists, that’s a hint that it’s good stuff.  So add some of these to your playlist and hit shuffle! Oh and feel free to leave me more ideas!

Almost anything by DJ Girl Talk - I have so much of this that I didn't bother listing every track. 

Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff – Deadmaus5 (Nero Remix)

Promises – Skrillex & Nero

Feel So Close – Calvin Harris (Nero Remix)

No Love – Hooray for Earth

True Lovers – Hooray for Earth

Jesus Walks – Kanye West

Heartless –Kanye West

Stronger – Kanye West

Beat Goes On – Madonna

Good Life – Kanye West

Pressure – Lupe Fiasco feat. Jay-Z

Crazy in Love – Beyonce feat. Jay-Z

99 Problems – Jay-Z

Brush Your Shoulders Off – Jay-Z

Can I Get A – Jay-Z

Ni**as in Paris – Jay-Z and Kanye West

Blow – Kesha

Take It Off – Kesha

Starships – Nicki Minaj

Super Bass – Nicki Minaj

Turn Me One – David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj

That’s Not My Name – Ting Tings

Shut Up and Let Me Go – Ting Tings

Fruit Machine – Ting Tings

Circus – Britney Spears

Womanizer – Britney Spears

I’m a Slave For You – Britney Spears

Raiser Your Glass – Pink

So What – Pink (I just love her)

Funhouse – Pink

Push It – Salt-n-Pepa

Whatta Man – Salt-n-Pepa

None of Your Business – Salt-n-Pepa

Stay Gold – The Big Pink

The Best – Tina Turner

Buttons – Pussycat Dolls

Don’t Cha – Pussycat Dolls

Enter Galactic – Kid Cudi

Up Up 7 Away – Kid Cudi

The Beautiful People – Marilyn Manson

Tainted Love – Marilyn Manson

The Dope Show – Marilyn Manson

Take it to Da House – Trick Daddy

Single Ladies – Beyonce

Ring the Alarm – Beyonce

Naughty Girl – Beyonce

Run the World (Girls) – Beyonce

SexyBack – Justin Timberlake

Rock Your Body – Justin Timberlake

Wait a Minute – Pussycat Dolls

The Way I Are – Timbaland

Promiscuous – Nelly Furtado

Disturbia – Rihanna

Don’t Stop the Music – Rihanna

Rockstar 101 – Rihanna

S&M – Rihanna

The Show Goes On – Lupe Fiasco

Go Go Gadget Flow – Lupe Fiasco (MY FAVORITE WORK OUT SONG)

Just Dance – Lady Gaga

The Edge of Glory – Lady Gaga

Wanksta – 50 Cent

In Da Club – 50 cent

We Are Young – Fun.

Disparate Youth – Santigold

Nightcall – Kavinsky

A Real Hero – College & Electric Youth

Zero Dark Thirty – Aesop Rock

Gucci Gucci – Keayshawn

Lights – Ellie Goulding

Sail – AWOLNATION

I Need A Dollar – Aloe Blacc

Pardon Me – Incubus

Number 1 – Goldfrapp

Right Hand Man – Joan Osborne

Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey

Good Feeling – Flo Rida

Back In Time – Pitbull

Lip Gloss – Lil Mama

Satisfaction – Benni Binossa

Bad Girl – Danity Kane

Fergalicious – Fergie

London Bridge – Fergie

Regulate – Warren G

Call Me Up – Chromeo

Can’t Get You Out of My Head – Kylie Minogue

Air War – Crystal Castles

Dirrty – Christina Aguilera

Hindi Sad Diamonds – Nicole Kidman

Scream – Usher

Everytime We Touch – Cascada

The Fighter – Gym Class Heroes

Some Nights – Fun.

Tongue Tied – Grouplove

Madness – Muse

Revenge of the Nerds – KJ-52