Since You've Been Gone

I've been slaving away at my new job (hence the small amount of blog posts since I moved to Colorado, plus my computer died on me so I had to get a new one...) and it sure has made time fly by. I realized that I have been back in Colorado for three full months, which is a full quarter of a year.

Things are really getting busy at work and I am traveling a lot. Add the holidays on top of that and before I know it, it'll be another three months.

There are some things that I find myself really missing about Utah and I want to share it with you, and those of you who are still in Utah please think of me when you enjoy the following.

This blog post is inspired by my favorite Utah blog Your Heart Out, these bloggers find all the cute little shops and restaurants in the valley and share them with the world. I've been trying to find something similar for the Denver area and I haven't found anything even close - sad!

I miss the soup at Kneaders, and the fruit tarts. I also miss the all-you-can-eat french toast, the canolis, sandwiches - I mean I could go on for a very long time here. I loved going there for lunch on a cold day, and I didn't realize I would miss it so much.

I miss being in downtown Salt Lake and seeing temple square - and I know I am going to miss it even more when I know the lights are up.

I miss trips to Park City to go shopping.

I miss finding places like Stumpy's, which is absolutely delicious.

I miss knowing exactly where to find the closets bathroom when I am in the mall. Sadly, I knew the whole layout of the University Mall. Today my mom and I were at Nordstrom and she asked me where the bathroom was located. I looked around and simply realized that in Provo I knew exactly where to send her.

I was coming home from Omaha on Sunday and I got off the plane and I was a little sad when I realized that I wasn't landing in the Salt Lake airport. It is so much more intimate than DIA, and there are so many people running around that place. I envisioned myself coming down the escalator in Salt Lake and walking through the hall to baggage claim, but instead I jumped on a tram with a million strangers and waited for my ride to pick me up.

I miss my friends terribly. I miss running into people I knew everywhere I turned. Here there are so many people and I rarely run into anyone I know.

Please don't misunderstand the post. There are so many things I love about being back in Colorado, I'm just feeling a bit nostalgic today. Soon I'll counter with a "Things I Love in CO." Also I have pictures from Omaha when I went to Winter Quarters that I want to share.

School's Out Forever!

So it maybe took me a semester past four years but I finally graduated!

It hasn't really set in yet, but I am sure that when school starts next semester it will hit me. I think it will be amazing to do what I love and not have to worry about homework at the same time!

I did my final presentation for my capstone last week and my team rocked it (little shout out to Jeanette and Marianne for all their hard work this semester)!!! It was the culmination of four months of hard work from research to brainstorming to a lot of designing. I feel like the client was really pleased with our work too!

So I'm at a crossroads in life. BYU has offered to let me stay on as a graduate assistant and I am going to stay there until I find the right job for me. I'm really lucky to have a place that I can work while I transition it this quasi-adult life.

It will be sad to leave BYU behind and it will be unbelievably scary to leave everything that I have grown to love in these past five years.

I'm incredibly grateful for an institution that has really shaped me into who I am. I've learned so much while at BYU from an educational standpoint and I've grown in ways I didn't see imaginable.

But part of growing up is taking risks and jumping out into the world that is daring to eat me alive.

So here I come world (I say in a really dramatic stance because it's easy to have that stance from the comfort of my little Provo world).