Exactly 694.41 Miles - Approximately 1600 sq. ft. - Maybe 8-12 months from now.

For those of you who have always dreamed of living at a mortuary in Southern California, you better stop reading cuz you're gonna be super jealous if you continue.

You know that HGTV show about turning weird places into cool spaces?? I can't think what its called. But I've seen one where this old scary abandon chicken barn was turned into an awesome duplex, and one where an old fire station was converted into a huge amazing house. Oh and one of my brothers went out with a girl once who's family lives in a house that was once an old church. You get the idea, right? So picture this, a huge mortuary in a cute little quiet town. The main floor is a fully functioning mortuary. I was gonna try and discribe it, but just look here if you're interested. Ok, welcome back. The upstairs of the mortuary is split in half. about a fourth of it is rented by one of my father-in-laws best friends and he owns a life insurance company. And on that same side of the upstairs is my father-in-laws office, a couple other offices, storage, a kitchen, bathroom...oh and Don (insurance) and Phil (father-in-law) have a "golf room." It has a net thing with a target on it and they can hit balls all day if they want and as hard as they want and they love it. On the other half of the upstairs my sister-in-law lives in a big studio apartment. Theres also an empty office, 2 bathrooms, a laundry room, and a gym. That half is 25oo sq. ft. Phil owns the gym and just lets people use it.

A couple weeks ago when Phil came to see us for the weekend there was some conversation about us moving to California sometime next year. He also casually mentioned that he was thinking of getting rid of the gym. Then he offered to turn the rest of that side into a big apartment. I couldn't quite get the vision, but was listening and kind of entertaining the idea. A few days later, (last week) my mom and I went out to SoCal for a visit. Phil had us come to the building and check things out. It was so fun and my creativity kicked in. I measured everything and drew up a floor plan to scale. Nothing is decided yet, but I love measuring and figuring. I've measured all the furniture in our apartment here and made little pieces to arrange on the floor plan and see what will work. I love it!

I guess Phil has wanted to renovate that area for a while now and turn it into 2 functional living spaces, and we're giving him a good reason to do it. And the best part is he's letting us be involved in the design. Decorating and design are like my favorite thing in the world so I'm loving this. Even if we never even live in it, I'd love to be involved in the transformation.

So, nothings decided yet as far as how we'll do it, if we'll do it, when we'll do it, but as of right now we're kind of thinking we'll be headed that way in the next year or so. Oh and the 694.41 miles? That's how far it is from my parents house to the mortuary. :(

I hope to go to California before any changes are made so I can take before and after pictures. I totally forgot to this last time!

Project 365: Week 30

July 20

Paul and I went shopping tonight. I wanted a new sundress and he decided to find me a bunch of clothes to try on. Nothing I would have picked probably, but he loved 'em and bought 'em for me, so we'll see.July 21
Paul has to work late in Utah county tonight. It's our date night and we usually go out but he brought home my favorite California food. There is only one Pollo Loco in Utah and it's in the UC. They are building more soon, don't worry.July 22
My mom and I headed to California today to hang out with my in-laws. My mom was suppose to go to a 2 day training but it got rescheduled so we went anyway and had fun instead. This is my and my father-in-law by a big tree in Long Beach.July 23
Salsa! My father-in-law has an awesome garden of tomatoes and peppers. Lots of other stuff too. But tonight we picked a bunch and made salsa! It was so good.July 24
My mom and I had a fun afternoon today at downtown disney and the circle at orange. This cute little FroYo place is the closest I've found to Spoon Me. It was really yummy. We had a fun day. I love California.July 25
I definitely had my share of baby making comments this weekend. Everywhere we went I caught either my mom or my in-laws, or all 3 together, looking at baby stuff. Man, it might not be for a while, but I have a feeling when the first one comes it'll be one spoiled little kid!July 26
There's a move in the future. This is a floor plan of an existing space that is probably going to be converted into our new apartment. Maybe I'll expound on that later.

Project 365: Week 29

July 13

Paul and I worked on fitting all our new stuff and getting rid of old stuff in our tiny little kitchen tonight. This is our last little problem pile. Someday we'll have a big kitchen, but for now this one is kind of working.July 14
Date night. We do pretty good at doing this every tuesday. It's usually B&D's and tonight we got it to go and went to liberty park. It was a beautiful day.July 15
Paul's parents gave us this series called Love and Respect. It's amazing. Probably the closest anyone has ever come on understanding and explaining men and women. We started it before we got married, then things got crazy but we finished it tonight. Good stuff.July 16
I got this in the mail today from my father-in-law. It's a picture he took at our rehearsal dinner. He loved it, and I do too. It's my parents, just FYI.July 17
Speaking of my father-in-law, he's in town!!! He and I hung out all day today and had so much fun! Have I mentioned how much I love him? He got here at 9:45 this morning and it's been a wonderful day. When Paul got off work we went to Pat's BBQ for dinner.July 18
Oh and about my father-in-law, my whole family loves him too. Taylor and my mom were singing in a concert tonight and Phil (Paul's dad) called my brothers and we all went to the concert together and then he took all of us to Squatter's for a late dinner. We had a great time!July 19
Dad White went home this morning. :( But my mom and I are headed to California on Wednesday to visit them for 3 days! I'm excited. I'll miss my husband though...he's such a hard worker. Tonight Mom, Dad, Scott, Laura, Taylor and his friend Feebe came over to play games. I forgot to take a group picture, but have you ever played Pictionary Man?? It's so crazy and fun. Girls dominated.

Project 365: Week 28

July 6

Another Bachelorette party! (The TV show, not strippers) We got together with Dave and Neally again this week to watch what happens with Wes. He's gone!! We talked Taylor into watching with us this time. One of these days I'll get a picture of everyone, but here is Taylor and Paul watching in suspense.July 7
Date Night! We're bringing it back. Hopefully every tuesday. Tonight we went to B&D's for dinner and then to The Gateway to see The Proposal. I loved it! Totally predictable, but really cute.July 8
Corps Encore! We used to go to this every year when we were younger. It's this big outdoor marching band concert/competition with groups from all over America. Me and Taylor and my mom were the only ones who really enjoyed it so we've started going again. We took Paul with us this year. It was really fun!July 9
I got this little plant kit for Paul at Christmas time last year. Kind of as a joke. It's a grow a Christmas tree kit. I found it a few days ago and decided to plant it. It's doing well! We're hoping to have a big lush 6' tree by Christmas...July 10
Dave and Neally gave my dad tickets to a Bee's game for Father's Day and we all got tickets and the whole family went. They won! We didn't get a picture of all of us together but here is Paul, Me, Neally and Dave. Can you tell I chopped off my hair?? I did. Right before we went to the game.July 11
I have a new love...well, a new smell I love. Any cleaning supply that smells like LEMON!!! I love it. Paul's kind of worried that I'm killing too many brain cells. I'm not a lemon fan in any food really. I do like lemonade, but man, I like antibacterials and clorox disinfectant wipes way better. Whenever I do house work its the lemon supplies that get me motivated. And when I have to do our bathrooms, I use the final wipedown with a clorox wipe as my reward. I know I sound a little crazy, but go buy some and you'll totally get me.July 12
What are these flowers? I first saw them in California and loved them. Never seen 'em before. Then I saw them at my parents neighbors house, on a landscape at a mall, and now at the side of my building...maybe a couple other places too. Are they new to Utah or have I just never taken the time to notice the small simple beauty around me?? Oh, and Happy One Month to me!

Bridals

I'm a little behind in my wedding post stuff. I'm gonna try and do it quick so I can get on with it. Here are my bridals. Well, some of them. Next will be wedding day, then honeymoon, then the California reception. I think that's it... I put one of each of these on my 365 posts but I want to post more...mostly for when I make a blog book for myself. And also cuz I know you all are just dying to see them...right??This was a hard day. I was scheduled for bridals on May 26th but that was the day my uncle died. I didn't feel like doing bridals at all, but I figured I'd regret it later. This was 2 days later on May 28th. It was a beautiful day and ended up being really fun. I got so lucky in terms of the weather in everything wedding. Engagements were sunny and warm, and the days before and after were windy, rainy, and snowy. Bridals were around the time Utah started getting its crazy rain. The 28th was the only non-gray or rainy day that week. Our wedding day was the only sunny and no rain day in 3 weeks in June, and our California reception, (we were worried about June Gloom) but it was warm and just enough over-cast for our outdoor reception and then the sun came out right after the afternoon reception, just in time for the big bbq and pool party. Perfect!

Project 365: Week 27

June 29

We went to Dave and Neally's for a BBQ and to watch The Bachelorette. Poor Jillian. What must she be thinking now that she's watching herself get deceived on TV by this guy?!?June 30
Paul and I are starting to do date night again...we hope. It's crazy how busy life gets! Tonight he took me to dinner at The Porcupine Grill. This is where we had our first date a year and a half ago.July 1
I love flowers! When we bought this plant it only had one bloom on it, and within a couple days it was fully bloomed and beautiful. I love it.July 2
We were at my parents house tonight and my mom mentioned that there where some locals from Bountiful who had done some scuba diving at Catalina Island and it was in the paper. She thought we might be interested because Paul and I were just there on our cruise. She handed it to me and this was the cover. I said, "Oh wow, that got a picture of Paul while we were there!!" Paul didn't see the humor. I did.July 3
Today was kind of a bad day. We're trying to make a lot of decisions about moving, jobs, the future, etc. I got a little overwhelmed. I went for a little walk and took this picture of our apartment building when I got back. It's such a cute place and it looks so beautiful in the summer.July 4
We spent all day at my parents. A parade in the morning, bbq in the afternoon, and fireworks and games at night. It was a fun, full day!July 5
We went back to my parents tonight because we still had a lot of wedding stuff filling their house. We went to try and organize it and bring stuff home. We keep finding more gifts and cards all over their house and garage. We think we about got it all cleaned up tonight. But now my apartment if full of random boxes of stuff with no place to go.

random things...like 8 of 'em, or 12...

1. I decided I need to blog more stuff, instead of just my project 365 pictures. So for all of the 1000's of you who read this, You're Welcome.

2. Married life is great so far! I'm in my 2nd month of marriage, actually less than 3 weeks in, but now I can say I got married last month. It's been so awesome. I married a wonderful man who loves me more than anyone ever has or I ever thought possible. By the way, I'll get all the wedding, honeymoon, and reception pictures up in the next week or so.

3. Speaking of wonderful man, my husband was on call last night and had to embalm from 11PM last night til 6AM this morning. He worked all day yesterday and was back at work at 9AM this morning. Poor tired guy. I love him.

4. I got back to the gym this week. Finally!!! I've been off my normal routine since my uncle died at the end of May. (And by 'off my normal routine' I mean, not going.) It's great to be back, but wow, I can tell I fell off the wagon for 5 weeks.

5. We're trying to decide if we're going to move further south. I go back and forth. I have pro's and con's lists but the lists are about even. Pro's- closer to Paul's work, closer to church, a new place that would feel like ours. Con's- moving sucks, especially moving my stuff, I'm month to month on this apartment and I hate the thought of getting locked into a lease, of all the places we've seen we've decided we really won't save money on rent. Most likely we'd pay more rent but then save a little on gas. Is it worth it?? I have 2 siblings that live a little south and the other sibling and my parents live a little north. I like being in the middle and feeling like I can stop by and see any of them pretty quick. If we move we'll be looking really south, further south than the southest of us all. I guess I have more con's than pro's, but we're still talking. A pro for all of you -if we move you can help us pack and then buy us housewarming gifts. Good news all around.

6. I love family. I have the best on both sides. You know how you always hope for good in-laws your whole life and then you finally get 'em and even if they're bad you put on a happy face and pretend like they're great but really you're wishing for new ones and then you just live with it and suffer through? That's not me. I seriously have the best. Our 2 families had an amazing time together at all things wedding last month. I'm so lucky! And my husband got amazing in-laws too!7. I haven't turned on the AC in my apartment yet. It's July! But I guess I'm not really saving much considering that the heater was on in May. What's up with Utah?

8. I need a Target in the SLC. Ft. Union and Bountiful are the closest to me. Oh and the Ft. Union one needs to finish its remodel project, I get so lost in there.

9. What's up with Jillian on The Bachelorette?? Wes?? Still?? All of America can see right through him so why can't our little Canadian sweetheart??

10. These are some things I wish for when I'm a home owner. A big spacious kitchen with tons of cupboard space and countertops. A balcony that's inviting and begs for bbqs. A walk in closet in my bedroom that's state of the art. I don't really know what I mean by 'state of the art' but I want it. Maybe moving shoe racks and outfits that pick themselves. A king size bed. Big windows and vaulted ceilings.

11. I need a bigger freezer. I buy too much at costco and then when I buy my 20lbs of crushed ice that more than fills it. Oh and the box of corndogs Paul bought me. I've been craving corndogs lately which is weird becasue I don't like cornbread or hotdogs. I've also been craving icecream and pickles. Just kidding.

12. I'm kind of freaked out by swine flu again. I was, then I wasn't, now I am again. There was a girl with swine flu at my wedding, (sorry everyone who was there.) She had mild symptoms and didn't find out til a couple days later. She's fine now. And Pauls aunt in California had a student get it. She was tested and was fine, but I'm still scared again. Paul embalmed a swine flu victom last night, and a family friends 30 year old son died from it a couple weeks ago. I know regular flu and common colds kill people too, and a lot of stuff kills people, but this is just seeming more real to me again and I don't like it.

Ok, that's enough for now.

Oh one more, how cool are these? My sister-in-law Neally and I were looking at a Pampered Chef catalog and saw them. (I'd love to meet the investors in that company.) These stick in the grass and hold bottles and glasses. They hold cups too, not just stem glasses. How fun for picnics, right?!