I can't lie no more, gotta be true to myself.....

You guys, I am doing so great!!!

That's my new saying (?) - "YOU GUYS!!"

But regardless, I am doing tremendous.....

I initially thought it was going to be quite a moderate transition...

But rather, it feels as if I have never left.  Such a crazy, unexpected, wonderful feeling.

I found a home!  I am living in a brand new apartment with 2 other way cute fun girls.  My first grown up, clean apartment with no crazy superintendents (that are NOT rapists) and never-been-used appliances.  All clean everything.  We gotta get rid of boxes in our living room, but other than that it's so cozy.  In fact, I initially started blogging from the comfiest bed on earth (MY new bed) and now I'm on my balcony.  Yep, balcony.  First class, e'erbody.  

This s the new place.  I 'got' (I KNOW wrong grammar, it's okay) my own bathroom, walk in closet....yay.

Here's a preview of Amy's life the past few weeks:

But I still have my old roommates in my heart.  Saturday lunch at Hooter's while my BFF Sherra is working is the best.  She's a good waitress, sometimes...Cass is a perfect companion.  We love Hooters.

Burt and I went to a pet shelter and it was the saddest thing ever.  I loved this baby.

My first job interview(s) at U of U...I parked in level 3 of the parking garage.  That's my fave number.  I have a THIRD (the number!!) interview scheduled for next Thusrday for my dream position.  And one tomorrow for my 2nd ideal spot.  Eek, when it rains it pours I guess.

Oh Hey Nich, here's a never before seen pic.

NICHOLE I wish this could be you instead of me.  Love you forever and ever.  Love, Amy and Grieves.

So, long story short Burt knows a lot of famous people apparently. Awkward, for me at least, since I am not a famous-person's-person.  Not a fan girl, not a crazy girl, not normal, just awkward.  And I found out Nichole is obsessed with this guy I was having dinner with..Grieves.  A rapper.  Who is apparently a big deal....I didn't know.  He was super nice, fun, beer lover, etc....I probably was out of line when I asked him to make a "make a wish" video for Nichole (she's not dying).  Oh, the things you do for best friends.  :)

THE END for now.

Blog Giveaways? I win.

So this other time, I won a blog giveaway.

Pretty sure it was my first blog giveaway that I entered...Maybe second. 

But I won a bunch of goodies from the Houston Blogger Symposium and I'm happy!

The e-mail's timing couldn't have been better:

I'm sitting at a job interview, sweating, heart racing, impulsively checking my email/twitter/instagram so I could calm down.  And then I see a "congratulations!!" e-mail saying I won a cool bag of stuff and I thought "this could be my lucky day!!"

Verdict is still out on whether I got the job or not, but it was definitely not a disaster of an interview (thank goodness).

Actually, it was probably one of my best.

(Thanks Burt for mock-interviewing me.  I told you they would never ask about management ideals, and they did, so thanks for adding the word "micromanagement" to my vocabulary last night).

Anyway, the girl (She has a name! Megan)/blog that hosted the giveaway is probably one of my favorites.

Here's her site: Greetings From Texas!

She's a cancer survivor, owns a VISZLA (just like Taz!!!!), just adopted a baby and the middle name is in homage to Jay-Z...I could go on and on.

*I actually won it through the Houston Blogger Symposium site.  She organized that herself too.  Pretty cool in my book.*

Excuse my grammar in this post, but I had to wake up at 8:45am today and everyone who knows me knows how BRUTAL that was for me.

So, more updates on my real life later.  Bye for now!

America's Next Top Model. Obviously.

So this one time, I pretended I was a model.

It made me realize that I will never, ever be a model...But it was one fun experience.

Hannah was a trooper dealing with my non-model self.  She is one talented photographer.

(She was supposed to photograph my wedding, but alas that didn't work out..So we used my deposit on my own personal photo shoot.  Because that's right, I'm way cooler than anyone else and I like myself.)

Go check out Hannah's work!!

I don't have the majority of the pictures, but she gave me a couple that she has edited so far.  Here are the ones I am willing to share:

My "senior picture" glam shoot that I never got to have!! :) 6 years late, but better late than never, right?

I'm back out West!

I'm back in Utah.  It feels as if I've never left this place!

I'm happy.

I had the best road trip a girl could ever ask for.

I was so, so worried about not being able to survive that.

It was the most peaceful experience ever!

I listened to a 9 1/2 hour-long audio book and my, how time flew by.

I was almost irritated when people would call and interrupt my book-listening...But then I remembered that those people love me and wanted to keep me company, so it was okay.

New York -> Pennsylvania -> Ohio -> Indiana -> Illinois -> Iowa -> Nebraska -> Colorado -> Utah

5 new states to cross off on my list of never-have-been-to states.

Illinois was my least favorite to drive through.

In Iowa, we visited the largest truck stop in the world.  We met a trucker who was playing with a remote control car.  He was from Buffalo.  Let's just say, after the stories he told us of sliding sideways on the freeway in the snow and how awesome it was, I will never trust a truck driver for as long as I live.

World's Largest Truck Stop: The museum.

In Nebraska, we visited the Great Platte River Road Archway, which stretches across and over I-80 in Kearney.  It's a $64-million dollar archway.  The people who invested hired Disney World theme park designers to make it one sweet, sweet museum.  It made Nebraska bearable.

Platte River Road Archway:  The entrance to the museum.

Platte River Road Archway: The first room in the museum.  The walls/ceiling changed weather.  Pretty cool.

In Rifle, Colorado, I finally (so long-overdue- try 4 years) got to meet my friend Kari and her daughter Piper.  It was SUCH a fun visit!  We walked around town and just enjoyed each other's company.  It seriously felt like we had already met, we know so much about each other.  She was so kind to invite us into her home.

(Can you believe I didn't get a picture of this?!?! - so upsetting!!)

Burt was a trooper and drove the whole entire rest of the way from Chicago...And I didn't sleep once.  We had too much fun for me to sleep!

I'm now sitting in my old roommate's living room.  So happy to be back here again!

BONUS ROUND:

Pictures/video of cats and dogs to make you smile.

My mom's cat Frankie got bored when we were cleaning out the basement.  He decided to climb the pipes and posed for me.

Taz on a field trip to PetSmart.  Apparently he was a fan of the guinea pig.

I miss my boyfriend, Taz.  This was what I got to watch all summer:  He is quite the avid hunter.

Until next time.