Change

I feel like I have a lot on my mind lately. There are so many changes going on in my life. If you know me-well you might actually not know this- I have SUCH a hard time with change. I went through a mini panic attack a couple months ago when Preston rearranged the living room and sold the car within like 2 weeks of each other. It was a hard time for me...

So you can imagine how panicked I am feeling lately with these big changes coming up in my life:

• graduating from college
• moving from my home that I have been in for two and a half years
• selling my car (we now own no cars)
• leaving my job that I have had for 4 and a half years
• leaving Provo and moving to an unknown city (that is WAY different than Heber & Provo, and might I add, on the opposite side of the country)
• needing to find a real full time job because I no longer have the excuse that I'm in school
• all my friends having babies or moving away {this one is small in comparison}
• leaving my ward that I've been in for 2 years

Does that seem like a bit much at one time to any one else??

Okay I will admit that I am about as sentimental as they come, and also a big worry wart, so maybe I'm over reacting, but it really is like a whole new chapter of my life coming up!

I'm excited though, it's definitely time for a little change in my life and it's good for me!

On a happier note...

I finished my last final ever at BYU on Saturday! It was so crazy walking into the testing center knowing it was my last time. Good thing it was a pretty easy test so I ended on a good note. I may or may not have gotten a tiny bit sentimental on my last question. :)

Goodbye testing center

Also today was Preston's sister, Cassidy's, farewell. She is going to Eugene, Oregon for the next year and a half to serve an LDS mission. It is going to be so different without her around. She is the sweetest girl you could ever imagine. Like seriously.  At least we get to spend a lot of time with her this next week, which brings me to my last point:

We're going to Florida!! I am so excited for a vacation! We leave on Thursday and it can't come soon enough! I'm obsessed with my new swimsuit- it's been sitting out  in my room since I got it making me way excited to take it to the beach! Ahh only 4 more days!!

New York City (for the first time)

Yes it's true. I had never been to New York City until last week. Preston was so excited to take me there. He had a group placement meeting for his internship this summer, so I decided to come along and see the city and look for an apartment. 

We took a red eye flight in and couldn't get into our hotel room for a little while so we walked around like homeless people for the first couple hours we were there. Ha I looked so bad. I hadn't planned on it being so cold, so I had only brought some light jackets and I ended up layering them and looking like a little kid in a snowsuit! Luckily it warmed up a bit the second day we were there.

We did a lot of sightseeing, and I feel like I can navigate my way around pretty well now. We did all the classic tourist things: visited Wall Street, ate pizza at Central Park, saw Times Square, went in the Plaza, went to a farmers market at Union Square, saw St. Patrick's cathedral, shopped on 5th Avenue, visited Rockefeller center, happened upon a Scotland Day parade, ate some good food, and lots of other fun things! It was a busy 3 days!

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but here are some bits and pieces from our trip:

 

 

 

 

 

Leibster Award

I know I was tagged a while back, and I had started typing this up a long time ago, but I guess I forgot since I haven't blogged in a while! I went in to do a new post and saw that I had started, but never finished this (ha typical me) so here goes! 

My beautiful friend Shelly nominated me for the Leibster award last month. This is an award that goes to bloggers with less than... 100 followers I think. Whatever the number is I'm way below it! ha ha. So the rules are:

1. each person must write 11 things about themselves that readers may not know.

2. answer the 11 questions the tagger asked, and then ask the people YOU nominate and tag to answer 11 questions.

3. choose 11 other blogs and link them in this post.

4. go to their page and tell them.

5. no tag backs!

(Don't ask me why everything is 11...?)

11 things you may not know about me:

1. This is now my 3rd time writing unique things about me, so I'm really having to search my brain

2. In 3rd grade I was moved up to 4th grade for a couple months, and then moved back to 3rd to be in a "special" class. ("smart-special")

3. I want a puppy more than anything. Preston just doesn't understand this need of mine because he's not a pet person, so it makes things a little tough (combined with the fact that we are stuck in tiny apartments for the time being)

4. My favorite girl celebrities are Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, and Kate Hudson

5. I am a total summer person, but I LOVE Christmas- especially the week before Christmas

6. My husband and I are opposites in almost everything but it totally works :) -- he's left brained, I'm right -- he loves city life, I love wilderness -- he's on top of things, I'm forgetful and put things off -- he loves TV, I only want it on once a week. -- etc. etc. etc. He's a gem though, definitely my best friend and perfect for me.

7. I have a bunch of little phobias. Basically I am very sensitive. I don't like knees to get knocked, ankle bone things to touch each other, people to bite cold things such as popsicles, pulling apart cotton candy or cotton balls, two people's teeth to touch, etc. There's a lot of them.

8. I'm finishing my last classes of college right now and will soon be entering the "real world." Scary.

9. I am the worst at keeping a clean house. Clothes just overwhelm me. Although I am pretty good at keeping a clean kitchen. I can't stand dirty dishes or bad smells, so I try to keep the sink clean.

10. I am obsessed with sunsets. I have like 100 different pictures on my phone of sunsets. Funny thing is they never look like anything special in a picture. They are one thing that you really just have to experience yourself.

11. I am a Mormon

Now for Shelly's questions...

1. What's your favorite article of clothing? I really love skirts- like casual summer skirts. They are almost as comfortable as wearing sweats, yet you look like you dressed up! 
2. What's your favorite childhood memory? I have so many... probably just playing in the big sagebrush field behind my house with my brother and my dog like every day :)
3. Scariest moment of your life? Two of them (not counting all the times I was babysitting and thought someone would break in and kill me): 1. rolling my car in high school in the provo canyon. The scariest part of that was having to call my dad. Second scariest part of that night was when Holly said she thought her teeth might fall out :) 2. I was left behind in the canal that ran through our neighborhood when I was really young and I thought for sure I would die in the rapids, but I was miraculously rescued by a kind lady who heard my screams
4. One word that would best describe you? Independent
5. If your friends and aquiantances were willing to bluntly tell you what they really think of you, would you want them to? Why or why not. Totally depends on who haha. I think I would... to a lot of people I probably seem like I keep to myself a lot and to acquaintances at BYU I probably seem ornery a lot of times but who isn't at that school? It's a stressful place ha
6. What is your favorite month of the year? definitely July!
7. Favorite restaurant? that's hard to pick just one... I love Tia Rosa's in Arizona for Mexican, Cellars in Park City for steak, and Molly's in Provo for a cheap local place
8. What's your favorite number? 24. ha I just made that up- I don't have one! But 20's are always good.
9. What is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you? I can't think of specifics, but my husband always gives me pep talks to build me up and says things like I have so much talent and potential that I could do anything I set my mind too. Makes me feel good about myself...
10. What is your favorite Disney movie? I really love Little Mermaid, and Lion King, and this is kinda weird but I always remember watching Fox and the Hound so I guess that's a favorite too.

Now I nominate:

Dana from Scribble and Jot
Lauren from Robins and Ruth
Lauren from Simple As It Should Be
Ellee from My Life as Superman's Wife
Tawni from The Brinton Bunch
Heidi from Greg and Heidi Atkinson
Kelsey from Love is in Stiles 
Holly from Todd and Holly

Here are your questions:

1. Why did you start blogging?
2. What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?
3. What is your favorite food?
4. Do you prefer mornings or night?
5. What is your biggest pet peeve?
6. What is something you are most proud of and why?
7. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?
8. What is your scariest memory?
9. Favorite holiday?
10. What's your favorite thing to do with friends?
11. Is there a meaning behind your first or middle name?      

Enjoy! :)


P.S. I realize my font is teeny tiny but I can't get it to go normal!!

Ellen...

Since I'm sitting here tonight kind of bored and feeling a bit antsy, I thought I'd share a fun find. I know I've posted about Ellen DeGeneres before, but I promise I'm not some fanatic fan. I just love her sense of humor. So what a great surprise it was to me to stumble upon her instagram account and find all sorts of funny things- not like a laugh your head off funny, but a "that puts a little smile on my face" kind of funny, ya know?
In conclusion, I highly recommend you follow her, and here's some motivation:

photos from Ellen's instagram, @theellenshow

(you can follow me too if you'd like @lanenprest)

F.I.V.E.

So I was tagged by my friend Ellee to do the "5 things about me" thing that went around Instagram last month, but this time in the blogging world. Since I already did that, and I can't think of anything interesting, I wrote more of a "5 things that happened to me today" post.

Five things about me:

1) I hit the mute button with my cheek whenever I talk on the phone. It drives me crazy, but luckily Preston is so used to it that he always know when I've pushed it and can tell me right off the bat. ...Does this happen to anyone else???

2) I always get suckered into buying a .25 donut after 8:00pm at Maceys

3) I love laying in bed probably more than anyone in the world (I guess that could be translated as "I'm really lazy" but I'm not, I just love being in bed)

4) I have watched every episode of the Bachelor and Bachelorette for the past two and a half years and I'm really excited for the finale next week!! The Bachelor and The Office are pretty much the only shows I ever watch and ever have watched  ...once again I'm not making myself look very good on here - apparently all I do is eat donuts, lay in bed, and watch TV ha ha

5) To redeem myself, I did go to the gym and the grocery store, payed rent, took my car in for safety and emissions testing (which it failed) and worked at the rest home tonight- all after getting off work at 4:00.
Also another little bonus thing about me is that I have never written lists for myself. I basically try to keep track of everything in my mind, which never works because I forget things all the time (quick side story about that: My visiting teachers called the other day to tell me they were coming over that night and I was like "Oh my gosh I totally forgot!" After I got off the phone Preston told me he had overheard them talking at church the other day saying that they needed to make sure they called and reminded me before they came visiting teaching because I tend to forget things! ha ha) Anyways I was saying that I never write lists of to-do items and Preston told me that I should try that so I made a list and it's kind of consumed my mind. I'm always checking it now and wanting to be able to cross things off. It's nice because it frees up some memory space in my mind, but it's also a little annoying seeing all those things I need to do on a piece of paper :)

There you have it. Five things that have crossed my mind in the last five minutes. Now I'll go cross off my list that I did this!

Sunshine, old age, and a good quote...

It's hard to explain how I'm feeling right now- a mix between giddiness and contemplative, and if I'm completely honest I think that it's a result of the weather today. I can't say that I have seasonal depression, but I can say that I feel like a brand new elated version of myself when spring rolls around. And today feels like spring has rolled around. I know I'll be disappointed probably by next week, but I am just really enjoying this nice day today. I drove to school with the windows down and walked up to campus without a jacket- and for me, it's those small things that make my day.

It was also my last day working at Old Towne Grill. I'm actually kind of sad about it. I really love that restaurant and would have liked to keep working there if it worked better with my schedule. But, I do have another new job. I (along with my friend Shayla) am working at an assisted living house helping an elderly lady named Millie. Millie is 96 and has dementia, so we are playing music and singing hymns, doing puzzles and word searches, and doing other activities with her. As a result, aging has been on my mind quite a bit lately. It's crazy to me how life goes in a complete circle sometimes. Older people become almost as dependent as little children.  You have to help them walk, show them how to do puzzles, read to them, help them get ready for bed.. etc. What's kind of sad is that I don't think she'll ever really know me. I have to introduce myself each day to her- but, I've only been going for 2 weeks so maybe it'll change..? I don't know, but through doing this and spending the summer living with my grandparents, I do know that spending time with older people means the world to them. Even when I was living with my grandparents, (and they aren't even THAT old) whenever they would get a phone call, they would get this big smile that lasted all day. Also it was like a huge event for Sandy, my grandpa's new wife, to have visiting teachers over. They just get so lonely and love interaction with people. This is definitely something I need to work on. I always feel so bad when my grandpa has to call me because I forgot to call him. So here's my little challenge for myself and whoever is reading this- take time to visit or call your grandparents or some older person that you know. In my case, I would give anything to have my grandma just a phone call away, and I need to take advantage of the fact that I still have my grandpa.

With all that, I wanted to share one more thing and that is this quote:

I saw it on Pinterest and it really hit me how true it is. I thought of all the people out there praying that they can get pregnant, or that they could walk again or hear again, or have their mom back again... There are different things for everyone. I don't think I really need to say much else about it, but it's good to keep in mind to always be grateful for the things you have.

Well I've spent a lot of time spilling my thoughts, so I better get back to work! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

A Vegas Weekend

For the 3 day weekend, we went down to Vegas with some friends that are also doing investment banking and will be in New York with us this summer. I had a blast with them, and am so happy I get to spend a summer (and 2 years after that) with these fun girls! I was so happy with our choice to go to Vegas, it was in the 70s all the days we were there! It felt like heaven!

(prepare for picture overload)

The first day we were there, the boys went golfing and the girls went shopping and to lunch on the strip.
 

That night, we all went exploring on the strip and to dinner at Maggianos. I was loving everything. I seriously just love walking around and looking at all the details that go into all the hotels. It's crazy!

My very favorite part was going to see Cirque de Suleil. We saw Mystere and it was incredible! I can't even describe how mind blown I was. I really want to go see all the Cirque de Suleil shows now, I am obsessed. Seriously, look up them up on youtube and then imagine being right in front of them where you can see every muscle working to do these stunts. Thank you Preston for the perfect Valentine gift!

 The next day was Sunday so we went to church and had more of a relaxing day. We did go to this park down the road that was pretty ghetto, but at least they had tennis courts!

On our way home on Monday, we stopped in St. George to hike around at the crack. I had actually never been in it, so it was super fun for me. Definitely not something for claustrophobic people though!

It was an awesome weekend! I totally started to think that it was spring, and even bought some shorts while I was there. But coming back to Provo, I realize I've still got a little bit of winter to get through :)