one YeAR & a FuLL CirCle

I had to laugh the other day as I reflected on all of the happenings of 2010 up to now!!  I would have never in a million years believed life would have thrown me for so many loops in a 13 month period.  Just for my own documentation, let me give you the rundown.

February 2010.  I left a job (a very cushy job) of 5 years to pursue the world of Aesthetics.  Those who know me, understand that I am NOT a risk taker, but I was in a life rut and desperately needed a change and needed some passion back in my days.  If I learned anything, it would be that usually if things start bumpy, they are going to end bumpy.  I worked in a spa over in Eden, UT from March 2010 until June 2010.  It was fun, the days soon became slow and monotonous though.  As the dread seeped into my mornings I knew this wasn't going to last long.  Thanks to a chauvinistic man pig and a very irresponsible wannabe business woman I had a job on a Friday.  And come Monday - - - no more job for Manda!!  This was a first in my life.  I've always been the one to leave, or quit my jobs.  It was always a choice.  And now my choice had been taken away.  I was a little bit devastated, and in a panic!!

July 2010.  After 3 weeks of stressful job hunting, worrying, and lots of cleaning.  And poof, I landed a part time job back in the construction industry.  I started working for a building supply house in Ogden.  It was easy work, and surprisingly fun.  I really enjoyed it.  After enjoying the summer months of only working from 8 am to noon, I decided it was time to find something to fill the other hours of my day.  Something that paid!  I got lucky, or so I thought, and got a job doing some office work in South Ogden.  I almost forgot the best part.  This all took place around my birthday (September) and for my gift this year my sweet husband finagled a deal with Split-Enz Salon in N. Ogden.  I would start working there on November 1, 2010!!!  YAY!!  I should have been jumping for joy!  Instead I was stressing out!!  How is it that a few months before I was jobless, and now a few months later I have 3 jobs! For a month I worked both office jobs, while working on setting up my room at the salon, and somehow found joy in the chaos.  My second job decided they really needed me full time, which I was hesitant about because I was struggling to find enough to do during my part time hours.  But I jumped in feet first!  Go figure...  Things were good for a little while.  But eventually it turned to pot also.  Cat fights in the office, lots of imaginary scenarios playing out with me as the winner, and many days leaving early because of the lack of work.

January 2011.  Another choice taken from me.  Work was good, the weekend was great.  Went to work on a Monday at 9, left jobless by noon!!  WTF!? (do you see the pattern here?) At least I had the salon right?!  Well that was the other problem.  I kind of depended on the paycheck from the office to help fund my booth rent at the salon!  Oh well I guess.  If I have learned anything from all of this, it's that worrying is not going to fix anything!  So I am learning to enjoy my freedoms and go wherever the wind blows.  This is hard for me, but I'm doing okay.  Through February I helped clean houses in Park City to bring in some extra $$, and devoted myself to making the salon busy enough I wouldn't need another job in an office.

March 2011.  The beauty biz is picking up nicely!!  I'm learning to embrace the unknown!!  And then I got my tonsils out.  Holy crap, I will not recommend it to anyone.  No matter how much better it makes me, the pain was insane!!  I'm 3 weeks into recovery and beginning to wonder if things will ever feel the same?!  I hope soon!!  I laugh with Chase that I am a Jack of All Trades.  This month I am doing some freelance bookkeeping for a small contractor.  I am actually enjoying my unknown schedule and have learned that it all works out in the end.  I'm past the point of worry and anxiety of my situation.  I'm finally starting to branch out and embrace the world of "what if's."

Life is too short to worry about the trivial things.  I have my health, my happiness and my hubby!!  The 3 H's - - they matter.  I am very excited for the future and to see where the wind blows me!!  I think I have proven to myself that I can roll with the punches.  So bring it life!

Re-visiting the big #28

Finally got  my hands on some of the pics from Chase's birthday party in January!  Just thought I'd share them!!

I sure love this guy :)

Birthday Boy

Me & Bri rockin the Red Heads

The guys at PF Changs

Where do I begin??

Wow... blogging is becoming a thing of the past I feel!!  It's so hard to bring myself to do it!  There has been many ups and downs since my last posting.  And unfortunately I have really slacked on the picture taking to document it all.  SAD.
Turkey Day was a success at the Phillips household.  Nothing caught on fire this year, and no one got hurt!!  We had fun going down to see the Temple lights.  We rode the Front Runner down and had a great night!

  We had a night on the town and went to see the Cody Jordan Band play live at Teasers in Ogden.  It's a dive, but given the right company it can be fun!  We are now in love with the music that comes from this band.  Check them out, you won't regret it!

Well Christmas came and went.  We had so much fun in Idaho with the fam.  We went sledding up at Pomerelle.  It was a blast!!  We had a great hill and had my dad groom a track for us!  Seriously, I had forgotten how much fun sledding is!  Santa spoiled me and Chase ( I'm seriously the best Santa ever)... I got a super cute new Columbia coat and some other great things.  Chase got the watch he's been eyeballing FOREVER and some other random items.

The New Year was kind of lame this year.  I was oh so ill with a wicked head-cold so we didn't do anything exciting.  Chase turned 28 on Jan 8th.  I threw him a birthday party down in SLC.  It was amazing!  We had dinner at PF Changs (super delish), and then went to Keys on Main (a dueling piano bar).  It was such a great night.  Chase got called up on stage and had to sit on one of the piano's while they sang him a song.  I of course have no pictures to document it.  I could scream!!  We stayed at Little America with some friends and enjoyed their breakfast buffet Sunday morning.  Wow... it was so good!

Work for me was going good.  Seemed like things were finally working out.  And then on a lovely Monday morning at work I lost my job.  Yaayyy..... best thing ever to start a week off!!  It was a weird situation and I was really pissed about it at first.  But I have decided that things happen for a reason, and I'm going to take advantage of this!  Things at the salon are going great, so I'm hoping to keep growing my clientelle and not have to find another office job!!  My house is finally getting the TLC it has needed for a while, and I'm getting to learn how to deal with "going with the flow"  which for those of you who know me, it's extremely hard!!  I am a planner through and through, so for me to not know what each day is going to bring is agonizing!!  But I'm dealing!

Other than that, life is good in Willard!  Hope everyone has a HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

The Sun is Gone... The Leaves Have Fallen... The Snow is Coming

Ya... it's been quite a while since we've had an update!!  It's not because we aren't doing anything!!  Life has become quite a whirlwind these past few months!  I'll just hit the highlights these last few months!!

SEPTEMBER:

My 26th Birthday!!  Wasn't super excited about it!!  But it turned out awesome!  I got my hair cut and colored that day (what girl doesn't love that?), I got a beautiful bouquet of roses, and 2 JOBS!!!  Yay... just what every girl dreams of... a job for her birthday gift!!  ha ha... I can laugh now because it has turned into an amazing opportunity for me.  Chase got me a room at Split-Enz salon in N. Ogden to do my esthetics.  While he was arranging that, I was interviewing for an office job at MOSC-Affiliates in S. Ogden!!  Well... I got them both!  More to come on the salon stuff later!

We took a trip to Lake Powell with some super fun people!!  I have missed that place for the last few years!!  Thanks Mike & Stephanie for the chance to enjoy life again!!

OCTOBER:

We decided to celebrate Halloween to the fullest this year.  So Chase got a wild hair and we put on a haunted house in Brigham City at the old Indian Schools!!  It was stressful, but guess what... IT WAS AWESOME!!  Everyone who came through loved it!!  We broke even and considered that a success considering we did ZERO advertising for it!  It is now going to be a yearly Phillips Family event!! 

Chase's brother talked us into going on a "ghost tour" with a group of friends.  We were under the impression that this tour would take us around SLC and let us tour some haunted buildings while hearing about some awesome story's or perhaps experiencing our own.. Boy were we wrong!! Thank goodness for fun friends and imagination!!  We didn't get to get off the bus hardly at all, and the story teller was HORRIBLE!!  But it was a fun time being out!

Yes.. he's laying on a grave.  FREAKY!

My annual girls night with Camille and Lindy was a hit again this year.  We hit up Nightmare on 13th in SLC and headed up to dirty Dee's for some icecream afterward.  It was a night full of laughter, screaming, running and me getting called mom by some radio dj.  Thanks dick!

Time to get going!!

Well I've been thinking it in my head for months now!  I took the first step to getting my own thing going with my lashes and waxing and other various esthetics services!!  MY BUSINESS CARDS ARRIVED TODAY!!  Next step is to paint and re-arrange the extra bedroom to be a little more comfortable!!  Here we go!!

Bragging Rights...

I needed to share my newest creation with everyone. I have been wanting a cute jewelry holder for some time now!! This idea has been brewing in my mind for over a month now. I finally sat down and put it together! I have to admit, I'm like a school girl getting to show off her winning art project to people! I LOVE IT!!

It's only missing the finishing touch here. I have a cute little knob to screw in the wall above it and staple some cute ribbon to it so it's hanging from the knob! And I was toying with the idea of having a cute little vinyl saying made: "I just want to be fabulous" quoted by Miss Marilyn Monroe herself!! What do you think?

Better Late than NEVER, right??

Well July came and went almost as fast as a storm blowing over Willard Bay!! We had a crazy busy month, and made some great memories!!

Over the 4th we headed up to Bear Lake with the Phillips' side. It was a lot of fun, but the one day we went to the beach it was overcast and kind of chilly! Needless to say, no sun for me! And I'm not sure why, but I have ZERO pictures from the whole trip! I am starting to slack on the photog side of life!

Shortly after that little trip we celebrated Chase's sister's wedding! It was a lot of work! She had it at the Phillips' residence in Morgan, so we all got to help out getting things ready. I'll tell you one thing.... this family sure does pull together some dang amazing decorating/set up!! We had a great time hanging out with all the friends and fam that came to celebrate! Congrats to Whitni & Rob! We love you guys!

During July Chase and I also celebrated our 3 year Anniversary!! I can't even believe 3 years has gone by! I don't want to get all mushy or anything, but I am so thankful for every day that goes by knowing that I have a companion like Chase to spend my life with. He is amazing and I can see the progress we have made together and it is amazing how much two people can grow together. I get excited thinking about our future together and starting our own little family. (no this is not an announcement!!) We celebrated in style, as usual!! Would you expect anything less from us?! We headed to Park City for the weekend! We were completely spoiled that weekend, we got to stay in a HUGE house in Deer Valley (thanks Shelley!!) it had more space than we could ever use! The hot tub out back was nice too! Chase had won a gift cert. to Ruth's Chris Steak House at a title convention earlier this summer, so we got to enjoy one of the best steaks I have ever tasted in my life!! I'm not joking! We headed out to the Alpine Slide and the Alpine Coaster. Oh we laughed and laughed!! It was like being a kid again! Such a great place to spend time together! And we ventured out to the Farmer's Market on Main Street. It was amazing!! They had live bands playing, food cooking every where and some of the most unique vendors ever!! I want to go back before it's over! So that's a re-cap of our LOVER'S WEEKEND!!

I love you Chase Phillips!!