Stacie's Place

I was just in Utah a few weeks ago, living in Salt Lake as a resident the past 5 years. But since the big move happened, I've been in California. It's been an adjustment for sure! I've met a few new people, gotten a taste of being a homeowner and been busy with projects and unpacking a zillion boxes.  My sister and her husband were flying to Peru for his high school reunion and it was good timing to come watch my nephews so I could attend a MojiLife soft launch party as well as Pinners Conference coming up the first week of November. I was a little nervous to drive by myself on new roads but it helped to drive during the day time. I left around 10:30am on Thursday morning, a bit later start than I wanted. I was supposed to pick up 3 people from Craigslist Rideshare in Vegas but they all seemed to fall through so I was solo all the way to SLC. I got to my sister's place at 9pm. The drive seemed to go fairly fast and I didn't run into too much traffic or road cons...

You guys.  Here I am and hopefully I am back consistently for good. My summer turned out crazier than usual. Besides the obvious road-trips to hot air balloon festivals and National Parks, throw moving into the mix makes it a whole different ballgame. Not just moving down the street or to the next city over but moving states. Yes. That happened.  My husband has worked for his new job since mid-July in a town called Ridgecrest in Southern CA. I refused to move down until we had a place to live and neither one of us wanted the apartment life again even though it went pretty well in Utah. So we worked on getting a house while I finished out my summer in Utah, said a sad good-bye to my job and enjoyed quite a few scenic drives to see the fall leaves in the mountains. After a ton of bad experiences with our realtor, we were finally able to switch from him about half way through. This delayed things a bit and I moved to this town with our stuff in a large Penske only to liv...

These are going to be an assortment of random pictures that I dont really have a blog post to put them in so they can all go in to one! Hiked to "The Living Room" in SLC by the U on Wednesday night. Okay, I didn't make it all the way to the top but the view where I stopped was pretty legit!

July was a month full of so many emotions. Lots of roadtrips too. We ended up taking an unplanned trip to Idaho to visit Tony's grandma before she passed away. It was a fun weekend though of seeing our families and eating lots of good food plus a little shopping . The next weekend was my birthday weekend and I've been badly wanting to go to Bear World up by Rexburg Idaho so we finally went! Tony's grandma had her funeral that weekend as well but Tony decided that his visit to her when she was alive was good and all the family we have seen recently at the reunion in Albion , ID so we did not go to the funeral. I was a little sad about that but it was up to him. Plus this was the only weekend we could do Bear World before Tony went to CA to start his new job. The weekend of July 16th we took my sister and her 2 boys to Lagoon . Tony has been wanting to take my 4 year old nephew for a long time to see how he'd like it and we sure cut it close but we all went and h...

I guess somewhat stupidly, I posted details about something super big coming up in my life on Facebook instead of writing a cliffhanger status and directing everyone here to my blog. Oh well! Lesson learned I guess! If you did not read it on Facebook already, Tony accepted a job offer in China Lake, CA and will start work at the naval base located there as a Computer Network Defense Specialist. We found out Tuesday morning that he had passed the security clearance/background check and they need him to start July 18th.  Eek! He has a little less than a month left in Utah with me. Time to amp up the packing and get more serious about how we are going to make this happen. I wish so badly the job was moving us, but it's not. We were thinking to move everything that has been packed to a storage unit so that we can move around a bit more easier and continue packing. I have a baby shower to host and a Pinterest party and I'd rather have a downstairs not filled with boxes wh...

You guys! I've gotten to get quite a bit of blogging done lately and there's still more roadtrips to blog about and some crafts but here's what I've got so far! I went to World Market the other day and found some pretty cute stuff. Of course, owls! among other things. There's only 5 days left to enter to win dessert for a year from a fun company here in Utah. My mouth drools and I can't wait to go in!  I got a new niece  in May and she's so adorable! It has been fun getting to know her and her personality a bit. If you live in Utah you may be sick of hearing about the Cavalia show but I got lots of cool pictures when Tony & I went. The show is headed to Portland, Oregon next! The Everything Food conference was one of the funnest things I did in May. No joke! It was such a fun experience and I look forward to volunteering again next year. I was able to check out the Utah Valley Parade of Homes one week with my friend Tiffany...

Are you all sick of my graduation posts yet? Well, here's another one you may or may not have read yet. So take a looksee! I got to see the amazing Kirby Heyborne perform at a benefit concert for a school in South Jordan. I started a magnetic chalkboard project with Tony's cousin. In the process of being finished still, got a little stuck, have you ever gotten stuck on a project before? Some of my Target favorites for the month of May! Do you want to take a 5K vacation? Participate in The Color Run happening this August in Salt Lake City! I have a $5 off code on the blog so be sure to use that if you are planning on running (or walking). I am loving Jones Creek beef! Tony & I got to cook up some hamburger meat that we picked to review. Check out what we made here . ***Exciting news***  Our travel blog is getting a complete overhaul! New name! New domain! New layout! New posts! I'm soo excited about it but it's not ready yet. Tony works...

I tweeted today that working a full time job stifles my creativity. It's computer work and any idea I have for the company or ways to do things, usually get shot down. Kinda sucks but that's how it is right now. Sometimes at work I am brainstorming things I want to do in my life to do with my blog or social media in general.  I came up with a super super awesome idea of how I want to run my "staciesplace" Snapchat with a format and everything. Right now I am compiling at least a month's worth of content so I can be prepared. I'll be snapping every M, W, F evening I think or roughly around that time. It will revolve around things I blog about so stay tuned for an announcement about that. I'm so excited about it! Finish up my social media resume so I can start actually really applying for jobs. So far I am not in a position to change jobs quite yet but when we move I want to find something. I also have not seen a whole lot I've wanted to apply for ...

The time has come where I get to graduate!! This is happening on Friday and it's right in the middle of a huge blogger conference I signed up for a year ago. I had no idea I'd be graduating the same day/time as the conference. #thestruggleisreal Overall I'm happy to be done but also sad at the same time not to be a student anymore. It has been really fun to go back to school and learn some new skills, make some new friends and do some really cool stuff! April has been insane so far and it's not even half over yet. Tony got a job offer in California. The St. George job fell through - boo. We got to attend the movie premiere for Saturday's Warrior  I held another Pinterest party - spring themed! Tony and I participated in a crazy fun 24hr event called Questival ! And last but not least, I did a review for my friend here and am giving away $100 of LuLaRoe clothing! Go enter!

I can find time to crank out a post occasionally here but there is so much still I want to write about and include pictures! Hot air balloon festival in Kanab, Outdoor Expo in Sandy, a family dinner with some of my siblings last Sunday...I dont know - just whatever random stuff I am up to! So here's the latest. This week started off slow and has gotten busier and busier.  Tonight after work I got to attend a "Cricut Crafternoon" at the Cricut HQ. It was so crazy fun. I got to design 2 baby onesie outfits. I ended up ironing one on a bib because all the onesies except preemie sizes got snatched up. We got a bag filled with tons of swag , I had hearts in my eyes! I learned some new tricks and am excited to figure out time to sharpen my skills. Thursday after work I head to FanX - I won a multi-day pass! and I got a ticket to meet and get a picture with NICK CARTER from the Backstreet Boys. I gotta pinch myself - is this real life?! Thursday I need to make a...

I went to a great dinner at Blue Iguana tonight in SLC that Blogging Concentrated put together. It was fun to meet and see lots of bloggers from many places. A group from the midwest, Boise and here in Utah too! I was exchanging information with a couple ladies at my end of the table and one came to check out this blog and said, your last post was January 30th and I was like yea...I haven't been great about blogging lately. In my head I thought, what's the big deal? January 30th wasn't that long ago, was it? Then I realized today is the 18th of the month - of February!  Honestly I haven't given this blog the love or attention it deserves. To be even more honest, I haven't done hardly any blog posts since the end of last year. I need to blog about girls camp, Tony's family reunion, Thanksgiving, Christmas, CES, CHA and so much more! Some bloggers just pick up where they left off, others say forget it, I'm starting fresh and not worrying about pictures I have...

Let me preface this by saying that I won an Apple watch from school last night. Super duper exciting! While I think it's one of the coolest watches out there, it obviously won't connect to my Android phone and I've been searching for an iPhone on eBay and KSL without too much luck (no responses from people mostly or the phone doesn't work with T-Mobile).  I'd like to get a 32gig even though 64 would be super great, however, out of my price range. I'm already getting attached to the Apple watch even though I have not even been able to use it yet. (Weird, right?!) I'm thinking of selling it to get the new Pebble Time Steel or another smart watch. A win is so fantastic but if you are unable to use the prize, it doesn't do you much good, agreed? I've had the original Pebble smartwatch for 3 years now and cannot live without it on my wrist. I like the long battery life, it's waterproof and pretty much all the watchfaces can be downloaded for free...

I'll probably write about this a bit in a different blog post but recently I went to Las Vegas for CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and while standing in line to get some swag, I noticed the bag of the lady in front of me. It was really cute and I complimented her on it. We got to talking, she was there with her husband and they were just so nice and down to earth, easy and fun to talk to. We got our swag and continued talking and exchanged information so we could keep in touch. I don't remember it all now, it is such a blur! She told me she was going to Anaheim next for CHA,  a show I've heard about in the last few years, thought it sounded awesome but it has never worked out to go. However, she told me she could add me to her 'list' and I could come if I wanted to! I was in so much shock, thinking about how I could possibly make it work. I had a couple commitments in Utah , I had 1 person who wanted a ride back to Salt Lake on Friday night and then there was the w...

I have so many things going through my head tonight so I thought I would write them down. Here goes!  It's less than 40 days until Christmas and I have barely done any Christmas shopping. This is the first year in a very long time that this has happened. I tend to shop throughout the year. This year, not so much. I do not want to be a crabby and stressed person in December but I have a feeling that's going to happen whether I like it or not. I am already thinking of the Christmas themed Pinterest party but I have to make it through Thanksgiving first before I can commit fully to it.  I have a couple crafts I need to put together to make in Idaho with family and that combined with food we need to bring and planning a strategy for Black Friday shopping...it's just too much to think about all at once.  I guess I have Christmas on my mind. How ready are you for Christmas? I refuse to decorate or have anything much to do with Christmas until Thanksgiving is ov...

How many of you feel like it was a whirlwind of a summer? Inbetween working full time, 2 classes at LDSBC, homework, roadtrips and my husband's summer internship, I can't believe the long warm days of summer are over. Tear. I heart summer.  Here are some links to what's been going on so you can catch up! I got to go to the Mystery Escape Room at the Gateway mall in SLC. Does your city have one of these? It was a pretty fun experience! There was a hot air balloon event every weekend in June, so crazy fun! I loved all the roadtrips and visiting some of my favorite small towns in Utah. We volunteered at an event in Springville which we had never gone to before. There were not a whole lot of blogger events this summer but I did go to one at The Roll Up in Orem which has crepes - one of my favorite foods! Tony & I had a fun little trip to Idaho for his nephew who got baptized plus we got to see family and hang out for a few days. That's always nice!...

Times are changing, the world is crazy. Things will change in my life, dramatically or not, maybe even less than a month from now. What I do know is that I never want to forget these days. Mainly in my own personal life. I never want to forget the times when Tony is in school or working his internship and we dont get to do as much together because he is busy with all that. His working on a website for BYU or endless hours of studying with his headphones in or falling asleep with his laptop. I do not want to forget when I decided to go back to school to get a degree in Social Media Marketing after not being in college since 2007 and the fun times, things I learned and the friends/connections I made and continue to make. Winning the selfie contest on the LDSBC Facebook page, that was fun. I do not want to forget living where I live. It may not be my dream home but it's what I've known for the past 4 years since living in Utah. The crazy neighbors. The cool neighbors....

WHY do I feel the need in my life to have so many choices! I am starting to realize that it just makes things harder instead of easier. Take for example, clothes. Those who know me well, know I have a lot.  I say I wear at least 90% of what I own, depending on the season. I like to have options because I have a lot of colorful shoes that I need to coordinate with my outfits, right? But having so many options gets overwhelming and makes me late for work.  3 pairs of gray pants, 3 pairs of black pants and brown pants, skinny jeans, athletic pants, leggings...I wish I could decide what I liked best and just stick with that, but I cant seem to do that. For awhile I was in to the colored or patterned jeans but lately I just dont want to wear pants. Haha, just kidding. I just want to wear soft , comfortable pants. Not pants that are tight on my legs. It just feels so restrictive. Maybe I need to lose some weight? Or get a little less skinner type of jeans? No! I have too ma...

Tony and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary last weekend by going to southern CA to do some fun things such as Medival Times dinner, Universal Studios and the beach. We stayed the night in Vegas and my Macbook started making a crunchy sound. Tony told me to shut it down and don't turn it on the for the rest of the weekend because my hard drive was crashing. Scary and sad! Luckily we were able to save everything plus most everything was backed up. Friday morning when we woke up, my iPod touch restarted for no reason and did not want to get off the reboot screen no matter how much we tried. There went my camera for the weekend, or so I thought. Once we arrived in L.A. , Tony, who is not a fan of Apple at all, esp iTunes, installed iTunes on his laptop and set to work to fix my iPod. I had already gotten on Craigslist to see about buying another one but by the time we went to Universal Studios on Saturday, he had the iPod up and working again! So amazing he was able to fix i...

My social media marketing strategy class put together this video to help drive donations for Operation Underground Railroad. It was quite the process to put this all together. I was there the day most of this was filmed and my sister brought her boys to be in it. My nephew Riley made it into the scene with the kids at the playground. It's been really neat to watch this all come together.  Check it out and share it on your social media accounts. Plus consider donating $5/month to help rescue a child from slavery. You can visit Operation Underground Railroad on Facebook too to check out a competition going on where you can win some O.U.R swag.

Here are some new blog posts to check out! One of our favorite places to eat, The Habit Free Ice Cream night at Dairy Queen Celebrating Pi day with food and fun As you can tell by the links, they all revolve around food. Oh well, sometimes its like that!