Valentine's Day

It just occurred to me that I never blogged about Valentine's Day!! Not that any of you really care but I want to take this opportunity to brag about my super awesome boyfriend. Yes, I am totally turning into one of those girls that I hate who just talks about her boyfriend all the time and how amazing he is and you basically want to gag more and more with every word that comes out of her mouth. But I'm in love and this is my blog so I'm going to write what I want to write. Anywho...I had been telling Erik for like two weeks before Valentine's Day that he better be planning something good because I wasn't going to do it (I'm super needy that way...it was my first Valentine's Day with a Valentine and I wanted to be pampered, gosh dang it). So being the obedient kind, and loving boyfriend that he is, he planned a great evening. I don't have any pictures because I was of course running late for our date night and Erik had to pick me up straight from school and I didn't bring my camera with me.  

When he came to pick me up I was greeted with all of your typical, cliche Valentine's gifts: heart shaped box of chocolates, a necklace, a teddy bear, and roses.  

And I loved all of it!!  Plus I got three bags of my all time favorite candy: 

Sour Patch Watermelons.

Erik really knows the key to my heart.  Seriously people, if you haven't tried these things rush to your local Maverick and pick up a bag right this second.  It will change your life.  And the amazingness didn't stop there.  I also got this:

My first ever, real grown-up perfume that isn't a knock off from Wal-Mart.  The stuff smells divine.  Erik and I were at Macy's a couple weeks ago and I told him how I really wanted a signature scent, but I apparently have terrible taste in perfume because my roommates told me couple of years ago that the perfume I was wearing at the time smelled like a grandma...and not in a good way (wow that was a really long sentence...did you catch all of that?).  So he and I smelled all the perfume at Macy's and we decided our favorite was Acqua di Gioia by Giorgio Armani.  And Erik just happens to wear Acqua di Gio so now we're scent twinners!  How precious is that?!

Anywho...then we had dinner at Macaroni Grill which is probably my favorite restaurant (you've got to try the Penne Rustica...mmmm...so good).  And it's quickly turning into a tradition for Erik and I.  It's where he took me on our first real date...*sigh*.  

After dinner we headed up to Heber City for the absolute best part of the evening...drumroll please...

Yes...that's right...we went to see Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.  I didn't have Beiber fever before the seeing this movie but I definitely do now.  I had been joking with Erik ever since I saw the movie trailer that we should go see it for Valentine's Day but I never thought we would actually do it.  But he surprised me...and showed how much he truly loves me by enduring two hours of the Beibs in 3D.  And yes, I was dancing in my seat and singing along throughout the whole movie.  And yes, I squealed like a 13-year-old girl when Usher and Miley Cyrus made cameos (I might have a slight crush on Usher...and a bit of a Hannah Montana obsession and just between you and me, the Hannah Montana movie was the first movie I saw when I got home from my mission...but shhhh...don't tell anybody I told you).

The whole evening was really more than I could ask for -- especially because Erik didn't even get his present until four days later.  What can you expect...his Christmas present isn't even done yet.  I'm really blessed to have such a patient guy in my life.  

Carmel Riding Boots: A Love Story

Despite being a complete shopaholic I'm usually pretty cheap when it comes to buying clothes. I very rarely spend more than $20 on any one item and I've recently gotten super into thrifting (more about that latter...I've got to show you my totally fabulous DI finds). A couple of years ago I bit the bullet and bought a pair of Uggs. I know they aren't the most fashionable things but they have absolutely saved my very weak SoCal feet in these cold Utah winters. This year I decided I just had to cute winter boots. I looked high and low for the perfect pair (you know great fit, color, and style that cost practically nothing) and just couldn't find them. I really wanted these Frye Boots:

...but the $348 price tag was a bit on the steep side for a college student who works like 15 hours a week. One day Abby Wheatly (this completely adorable, uber stylish girl in my ward) walked into Relief Society wearing these boots:

...the Ciao Bella Thabata Boots. I instantly fell in love. So you'd think I would rush to DSW(where Abby had purchased those adorable boots for a mere $100...I know still on the steep side but much better than $300+) and buy them without question. And I did buy them but being the super indecisive person that I am I also purchased these:

...the Steve Madden Inka Boot at Macy's. I even opened a Macy's card to get the extra 20% off and only paid $60 for them. I then proceeded to let both pairs of boots sit in my room in their boxes for like two weeks. Then I tried them on and modeled them for all of my friends so I could try and decide which ones to keep (am I the only person that does this? Because believe me...these are not the first items of clothing that have gone through this rigorous screening process). In the end I decided to keep the Ciao Bella ones...and boy am I glad I did (despite the fact that I think I've seen the Steve Madden boots on every single fashion blog I read)! I am completely obsessed with these boots. I wear them practically everyday and they are so comfortable. They fit perfectly into the country club chic look that I'm going for PLUS they go great with my favorite Banana Republic Skinnies (now only $59.50 and worth every penny). Unfortunately both of these boots are basically sold out everywhere. But you can find ones really similar to my Ciao Bella ones here and here. Get a slightly different style of the Steve Maddens here (in fact I think these are actually the ones all the fashion bloggers are wearing). And just in case you can actually afford $348 boots you can purchase my coveted Frye boots here. Happy shopping everyone! I wish you the same fashion happily ever after that I've experienced.

The happiest place on earth!

For President's Day Weekend Erik and I hit the road to California looking forward to a long weekend away from the snow and cold of Utah. Unfortunately, we were met by the rain and humidity of the OC. But it was still a FABULOUS weekend. We hit up some of my favorite restaurants (Pick-Up Stix, The Whole Enchilada, and Harbor Fish Grill), relaxed at home with my family, and took Erik to my home ward for the first time (where lots of little old ladies exclaimed, "He's soooo cute!"...it was adorable) But the most exciting part of the weekend was of course going to Disneyland...for free. That's the best part of living in SoCal -- you always know people who work at Disneyland and are totally willing to sign you in for free. Erik hadn't been since he was a little kid so it was fun to help him relive his childhood. I tried to take lots of pictures but he's a total party pooper and wasn't too into that.

But I did manage to snap a few.

My mom made us all go on the carousel!

We felt like kids again!

Erik and I tried to pull Excaliber out to no avail...bummer.

It just wouldn't budge.

We all got scared of the abominable snowman on the Matterhorn.

And I convinced these two to try on some "Goofy" hats at the gift shop.

I was dying to buy those sequined covered Minnie Mouse ears but the dang things were $20!

I acted a little silly, while Erik looked like a total stud.

Look for him next season on America's Next Top Male Model.

We enjoyed free-falling on the Tower of Terror right before the sky let loose.

All in all we had a very magical day!

I just LOVE Disneyland!

Yellow Decor

Country Living read my mind. Apparently my taste isn't too bad. I wish had the money to buy all of this adorable yellow decor...especially the yellow and white flowered armchair! So cute!

Hello, Sunshine!

I do not feel good about this...

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My Favorite Gas Station

On Saturday I had one of those awesome all to myself days where nobody could tell me what I should or should not be doing. I didn't have to wake up for anything or be anywhere at a certain time. So I slept in and then did a buttload of errands. I love doing errands, especially by myself. It's just me time and I crank up my music in the car and I can take as long grocery shopping as I want and I can drive to three different craft stores looking for the right color felt to make a fab necklace (more on that next time) without anybody tell me I can't or that I'm wasting time and gas. And then I can get whatever I want for lunch! (can y'all tell that I grew up an only child and that I really cherish alone time, or what?!)

Anywho...so I decided I had to have Jason's Deli. I'm obsessed with their chicken panini and you should be too! Please go eat one, I promise you'll thank me for it. Plus...if you dine in you get free soft serve! What's better than free soft serve? Nothing, I tell you...except maybe free diet coke. Ok, I promise I'm getting to the point of this post. While I'm getting my sandwich I'm on the phone with my best friend, Karen, who lives in California and is not Mormon (that piece of info will be relevant in a second). So I get my panini and then I head over to Maverick...

no, not this Maverick:

this Maverick:

...next door for 48 ounces of goodness (diet coke with 2 quirts of cherry flavoring and 1 squirt of vanilla flavoring...oooo baby.). While I'm checking out I tell Karen to hold on a second...I've got to pay for my drink. And she says, "Why didn't you just get a drink at the same place you got your sandwich?" And I say, "Because my favorite gas station is right next door!" She then proceeded to laugh and tell me how weird it is that I have a favorite gas station to get a soda at.

So what I'm wondering, is this whole gas station soda obsession just a Utah Mormon thing? I started to realize that not once while growing up in California did I go to a gas station to get a soda. Our fridge was always stocked with diet coke so I never needed to. But my fridge is currently stocked with diet coke and yet I still go to Maverick a few times a week. It just tastes so dang good!! I know I'm not the only one in Utah with this obsession, because there are always people in and out of Maverick with massive sodas and I just read this post by Allison at SheBlogsSheBlogs. What are y'alls thought on the topic? Where do you like to get your soda? And have I officially turned into a Utah Mormon?

Christmas Traditions

Ok...so I know Christmas was over a week ago now but I'm not quite ready to let go of my Christmas spirit. My family doesn't have a lot of Christmas traditions but the ones we do have I absolutely refuse to let go of. Let me share with you my three favorite traditions:

1. In-N-Out on Christmas Eve

I hear that my sister Rachel started this one way back in the day. Apparently my family had no Christmas traditions at the time and she wanted to create one. And being an oh-so-chic SoCal family she decided that eating at In-N-Out on Christmas Eve would be the perfect tradition for us. And all these years later you can still find various members of the Thatcher clan at In-N-Out on Chapman Ave in Placentia on Christmas Eve. I know it's not your typical Christmas Eve dinner but we love it. When my sister was on her mission in France we even sent her a whole box full of In-N-Out memorabilia so she wouldn't feel so homesick...and I'm sure we would have threw in a burger and fries if it wouldn't have gone bad on the way to Nice. Gotta love In-N-Out.

2. Crepes and little smokies on Christmas morning

When my niece Emily and I were kids we could not get enough little smokies on Christmas. I swear we ate twenty of those things a piece. And we also devoured the scrumptious crepes my dad would whip up and cover them in tons of homemade maple syrup and powdered sugar. This year my dad thought he might get out of having to make a big breakfast on Christmas, but little did he know his 24-year-old daughter would throw quite the tantrum at the mere suggestion of that plan. No way was I missing out on Christmas crepes. And just like always, he couldn't say no to his little girl and the tradition lived on.

3. Lucky Charms under the tree

When I was growing up my mom would never let me have sugary cereal in the house. I was forced to eat nasty grown-up cereal like Cheerios and Raisin Bran that would inevitably be covered in sugar as soon as my mom turned her back. So every Christmas it became a funny little treat to get a box of Lucky Charms as a present. And still to this day I look forward to that magically delicious treat every year.

So what are your favorite Christmas traditions?