when joe told me he wanted to go camping in yosemite for his bday, i was all for it but i had one stipulation: 

i did NOT want to be cold. 

**i don't like being cold in general, and i usually am. 

but this mostly stems from a camping trip we took over the 

4th of july. 

it snowed. i wasn't prepared. it. was. freezing. 

hence i agreed to camping as long as he could provide warmth**

so what did husband do? 

he found heated tents, yes - heated tents - for us!!! 

bless his heart.

so we headed out friday night, drove the quick 4 hours to yosemite, and checked into our heated tent.

ok, so it was more like a tiny cabin than a tent...

but it still felt rustic, and we had to lock up our food to keep it away from bears, so it sure felt like camping to me!

**sidenote: they made this huge deal about keeping anything scented out of your car and tent. i think i had about 7 or 8 tubes of chapstick with me and had to put them allll in the bear locker. i was terrified i'd forget about something and we'd get mauled in our sleep. joe tried to calm my fears by saying "if yellowstone has taught me anything, it's that bears don't exist." turns out i had a tube of chapstick in my backpack the whole time that i had forgotten about, but we're still alive so maybe joe is right?**

our campsite was nestled in the middle of yosemite valley, right next to glacier point, with a view of half dome behind us. the size of these mountains was unreal, even in the dark.

^^ glacier point ^^

on saturday we hiked to upper yosemite falls.

it kicked our butts.

it's about 7 miles round trip, but pretty much the entire first half is super steep switchbacks. 

it was awesome though, and totally worth it

(even if our legs were embarrassingly shaky on the way down...)

^^ i'm not sure if this picture captures the incline (or decline - because this was on the way down) but lemme tell you, it was killer ^^

on sunday we hiked to vernal falls.

it was a shorter hike, but just as intense. 

there's a part called the mist trail where you get pretty soaked from the waterfall, and have to climb what felt like a million stairs. (someone mentioned 600, that sounds about right i guess)

once again, we had the shaky legs to prove it.

but again, it was so worth it.

^^ look how happy joe is, even in the midst of climbing hundreds of stairs. this man is in his element ^^

 ^^ rebels WITH a cause ^^

^^ we made it to the top! joe told me that a lot of people in south america very strongly believe that the higher you are, the closer you are to God. i think they're onto something...^^

on the way out we stopped to take a few pictures of el capitan - a huge mountain famous for rock climbers (i can't even imagine trying to climb that thing), bridalveil falls, and the valley floor.

 ^^ el cap ^^

 ^^ bridalveil falls - on the left ^^

^^ el cap and half dome in the distance ^^

our weekend in the mountains was just what we needed, and it totally exceeded my expectations.

i stayed warm,

joe crossed something off his bucket list,

and we had a blast together.
the pictures don't do this place justice, and i'm super bummed that we only had our cell phones to take pictures with (time to invest in a nice camera maybe?)
but the moral of the story is...GO to yosemite.
i mean, they have heated tents people...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!

happy birthday to my love! 

joseph clegg jeppson

turns 31 today!

 as usual, we'll be turning this birthday into a weekend long celebration,

just because we can.
nothing sounds better to me than celebrating the life of the most important man in mine. 

so to wish him a happy birthday, here's a couple reasons that make me love him more each day:
>> he still puts his hand on my leg in the car. still gives me butterflies <<
//  he'll try anything i cook, and act like he likes it, even when it sounds or looks a little sketchy \\
::  he gives me a back massage almost every time i ask. sometimes he doesn't even ask for one in return ::

>> when i see flowers i like, his immediate response is "get em" <<

// he's the absolute best feet-warmer-upper. in fact, he told me that having him warm up my feet was the only consistent thing i have in my life. 

i'm not sure what he meant by that, but i'll take it \\

 :: he gets me. when i'm stressed and i snap at him, he doesn't take it personal. instead he just says "i know this isn't about me" and hugs me tight ::
>> the thing we "argue" about the most is who loves the other one more. talk about problems, right? <<

i'll stop there, but do me a favor and wish my #1 man a haps bday.
afterall, he really does deserve to be celebrated.
 happy birthday joe!

today marks the 3rd anniversary of the day joe and i met.

it may be cheesy to celebrate the day we met, but i'm gonna.

cause that day changed my life in ways i wasn't expecting, 

all for the better.

(plus i celebrate anything and everything, so...duh)

i didn't know right away that he would be my husband, 

but it didn't take me too long to figure it out.

i knew joe was different from the beginning, 

and i'm so grateful to have him in my life.

these pictures were taken on one of our first dates. 

so happy then, even happier now

 ps. notice joe's tattoo? keepin it classy!

thanks for making me the happiest girl ever,

cheers to 3 years!

life lately has been hectic, but great.

starting two new jobs + not totally quitting the old job + girl's nights + boy scouts for the husband = not a lot of time together this week, which i hate.

but busy is good too. i like busy

almost as much as i like lazy. almost.

and i'm not sure when i became ok with going to sleep at 11 on a friday night, 

but let me tell you, i never complain when it happens. 

snapshots of life's happenings lately:

^ day one at the new job - already in love

gold glitter - always appropriate ^

< hiking - yosemite prep >

^ joe and a babe. melts my heart every time.

for a girl that hates grocery shopping, this is a site that makes me giddy ^

< paradise edition - on repeat

kind of loving the fog. taken at 47 mph, i might add. don't tell my mom >

i just realized that today is the last day in february, 

and i haven't blogged once this month.

it's a total shame because february was actually pretty great.

lots happened and i took far too few pictures.

1.

jenny and matt came to visit.

it was the best.

1.5

this happened the night after jenny and matt left.

cause we are btb's and we're awesome.

2.

we celebrated valentine's day at cheesecake factory, 

just like last year.

if this is the start of a new tradition, 

i'm more than pleased with it.

plus, i managed not to eat all my valentine candy in one day. 

i'm pretty pleased with that as well.

3.

koby and marci had birthdays

i hated missing out on the celebrations, 

but thank goodness for facetime!

and koby wished me a happy birthday in return of my birthday wishes to him, so all is well.

4.

we finally ate at one of my fav restaurants again:

little star pizza in berkeley. 

best pizza of my life. sooo worth the drive.

5.

i got a new job!!!

i am the new grant writer at okizu, and i could not be more exited about it!

supporting families with childhood cancer seems like a good way to spend my days.

hello diet coke, goodbye hair

i guess it's time for an update, on two things mostly.

first up: the whole
one-month-without-my-favorite-drink-in-the-world deal.

yeah, that.

today is the 4 week mark. 

i'll be honest - i cheated 3 times.

once at dinner at benihana - cause duh.

[even though that was really a diet pepsi (yuck)
so i don't think i'm going to count that]

second at the movies, cause we got popcorn. duh, x2.

third after cutting my hair, cause i thought it was the
only thing that could possibly calm me down.
(i was wrong, but it was worth it)

so here i am, 4 weeks later and barely any dc in my system.

do i feel different?

no.

am i going to start drinking it again?

absolutely.
do i sound like an alcoholic?
most likely.

i don't care, cause i love it that much.

on to bigger and better things...

the day i chopped 20 inches off my hair!

i'm going to try not to be dramatic by calling this
the biggest mistake of my life,

but it's important for you to know the thought has
crossed my mind once or twice.

the last time i really cut my hair (other than a trim) was roughly 8 years ago.

i cut it to my chin and cried.

for the past year and a half i've been thinking about cutting my hair but i always chicken out 

or say "i'll do it after <insert insignificant event>"

aannnyyywaaay

i finally got the courage, made the appointment,
and committed to the big cut.
i knew i would have to cut at least 10 inches to donate to locks of love,
but somehow 10 turned into 20.
fast forward to this moment:

and i felt like i was going to throw up.
if you've ever given birth to a baby, this analogy will probably offend you, but here goes...
when she cut off the braid and handed it to me, i felt like she was handing me a baby.
that hair was on my head for 8+ years,
(way longer than it takes to make a baby, i might add)
and in a matter of minutes i was holding it in my hands!
it was the weirdest feeling and i hated holding it.
(i probably won't feel that way when it's my actual baby)

too dramatic? sorry.

it's been two days and i'm still trying to get used to it.
i keep trying to remind myself that my hair will go to
someone who needs it more than me,
but that doesn't mean i didn't cry twice yesterday...
luckily i have a super sweet husband who is willing to tell me lies things like
"it'll grow back in 6 to 7 months"
and
"you have longer hair than most girls i know"
sure, i know those are lies,
but they make me feel a little better.
now please pardon this awkward self-portrait, but i figure if you've made it to the end of my sob story, you should at least get to see the end result:

#shorthairwishididntcare :(

2 weeks of a non-resolution

i'm not really one for new year's resolutions.

the last one i remember making was around age ten: 

my goal was to have $100 in the bank by the end of the year.

i asked for money for my birthday that year instead of presents.

tada! resolution complete.

{ok i spent it all right away, but to be fair, i did have at least $100 in my bank account that year. that's a win in my book}

anyway, i had absolutely no intention of making any resolutions for 2013.

buuuuut, after two weeks in utah, and 12 hours of junk/fast food on the car ride home, 

joe and i arrived home feeling...a little...well, disgusting.

joe decided that was the perfect moment to start 

informing me of how bad diet coke was for me.

i'll admit, the stories he was telling me freaked me out a little bit.

enough that when he said 

"let's go without diet soda for one month and see how we feel"

i fell for it!

{although, for me, no "diet soda" means no soda at all.

cause if it's not diet coke, what's the point?}

so we shook on it, and i woke up the next morning throwing up.

therefore, i broke our pact day one by drinking sprite and coke (but no diet coke).

that only lasted a couple of days, and then i had to commit to this no soda thing.

that was two weeks ago.

two long, excruciating, torturous weeks.

oh, and head aches. lots of em.

i was not expecting that side effect - i refused to believe i was addicted

i promise, food has lost its flavor without a diet coke by my side.

ok, so maybe i am was a little addicted...

but i haven't had one sip of the good stuff since jan. 2!

it's not $100 in the bank, but still, i've kept my non-resolution so far.

take that 11-to-23-year-old me!

two more weeks of my nightmare (notice the dramatics? that really helps.), 

then i'll update you on how amazing i feel after a month with no soda.

if that's really the case, then just disregard this post...but don't count on it.

wish me luck!