California Love

{Initial necklace, a gift from Ryan}

Finals are done, and it's that weekend. You know, the one where we finally move to California for the summer for Ryan's job and my internship. I'm twitterpated with such overwhelming excitement! I don't even know why I'm sitting here on the couch watching Hart of Dixie {only because I LOVE Rachel Bilson} and reading blogs because I should definitely be running around like a madwoman cleaning up the house and starting to pack. But after such a crazy long day yesterday, I almost feel justified sitting on the couch to be a potato for a little while.

We went up to Salt Lake where I got my skin checked {2 years cancer free!} and after the devastation of my iPhone breaking this past weekend I was able to get it replaced for free. Which definitely saved me a lot of stress, time, and money! Then we wrapped up the day by dropping by our friends place to say goodbye, only to be invited to stay for dinner where they totally doted on us with a delicious Spanish dinner and made-from-scratch brownies {which Ben whipped up when he heard we were coming over}. It makes me so grateful to have such awesome and caring friends!!

Well, I'm playing the procrastination game pretty well and now have to get some work done in the house. I'll see you on the other side my friends :)

Francesca's Valentine's Blogger Bash!

Tonight was the Valentine's Blogger Bash at the Francesca's location in Orem!

It was a serious BLAST.

Honestly I was a little nervous, you know the usual stuff you think about before the guests of your party arrive.

Is everyone going to talk to each other?

Is the food going to get eaten?

Is everyone going to have fun?

That last question was the one I was most concerned about.

I really wanted just everyone to have fun :)

Andddd they did, the proof is in the pudding...or pictures!

We did a mannequin relay where each team had to put together a hot date outfit for their mannequin to go out in on Valentines day!

They each had to come up with a story & place where their mannequin girl was going.

So cute!

The treat table was decked with:

Brownie bites, raspberry/pineapple pastries, red velvet cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, lofthouse mini cookies, chocolate cupcakes, peanut butter cookies, and milk to balance out the sugar coma!

The whole group! It was such a fun blogger group to party with :)

Instagram Photo booth!

We turned the back two dressing rooms into a mini-Instagram photo booth! 

Looks like everyone had fun there!

Kelsey said something along these lines when seeing the streamers:

"These streamers remind me of the dances I was never asked to!"

Then she proceeded to pose in front of the background with a pouty face!

It was too hilarious :)

Good thing she has got an awesome husband to take her to dances now!

{Her husband was my Statistics tutor, I knew him before they had ever met, too funny!!}

Overall, the night was a success and I was so glad that everyone had such a good time :)

Hooray for blogger parties!

Blogger List!

Alycia from Crowley Party

Ana from Sweet Serendipity

Ashley from A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of Ash

Bonnie from The Life of Bon

Brielle from Mr. D & Me

Deidre from Love, the Skinnys

Diana from Livy Love

Elisabeth from Bella 

Jen from T & Me

Kyla from Ford-ology

Kelsey B. from Kelsey Bang

Kelsey E. from Stories of Kel

Kiana from Kiana Bates

Laura from The Outfit Addiction

Rachel from Mr. JP & Me

Sponsor

Kara Chocolate's

amateur decorater

Now that school is about to start, I have this ridiculous urge to re-do my entire house.

You know when you just get sick of the way something looks and your'e like:

"You know what...I'm gonna paint that dang wall today."

I already painted a wall in the front room blue, and I'm going to paint our bedroom walls cream.

Kinda stinks that school is starting soon.

Like Monday soon.

In the near future, you will all see the new & improved 'Lil Yellow Brick House.

I'm so so SO stoked to get pictures on the walls and walls painted.

Just with the paint, it already feels like a whole new space!

I feel like if I was a professional decorator or a gallery owner, I would wear stilettos and flowy tops all the time. Maybe I need a change in my career path??

Yesterday on Instagram, Diana from Livy Love offered up some free prints to whoever would come over to her house and get them off her hands.

I was more than delighted to take some of her talented prints to display in my house, and I was even more excited to sit and talk with Diana for almost an hour! 

I love it when you can click with people just like that!

I also had the pleasure of meeting Jenna from The Life of the Wife.

Ummm, she is even cuter & more gorgeous in person.

I need to get around and meet more of my favorite bloggers in person, it was so much fun!

Any of you starting school soon?
Excited??

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. On the other hand, this not knowing has it's charms"
Mmmmm one of my favorite movies, time to put it on and get crackin' on some decorating!

<3 Bri

a world i never knew existed

Ok, I just woke up and I have to...just HAVE TO write down my experience from last night before I forget it completely and can never ever tell it correctly again.

Evan is in town for the week and since Ryan is not much of a dancer, Evan is kind enough to take me out dancing whenever we are together.

He was dying to hit up some West Coast Swing at a place off of Center Street in Provo.

After much debate of going at 11 o'clock at night on a Cafe Rio filled stomach, we decided to go.

I left on my leggings from work, put on a glitzy top, grabbed my sparkly latin ballroom shoes 

and was ready to bounce!

Evan double checked:

"Hey Bri, you have your wedding ring on, right? 

Ok good...just don't want some random guys asking you to dance."

I thought it was kind of odd that he was asking...but whatevs, he can be the protective younger brother.

We get to the dance club, pay our dues and head out to the dance floor.

After some hardcore swing and cha cha dancing Evan runs into a girl he knows and sits to talk to her.

Whilst he is conversing, I sit my own buns down cause I haven't freaking worked out in like 2 weeks and dancing for 2 songs in heels is already getting me all out of breath.

I know I know....I'm so bad.

As soon as I sit down to take a breather, a guy asks me to dance and I warn him that I haven't danced in a while and that I'm a bit rusty.

He notices immediately between the dance shoes and my dance grip that I'm not a regular to west coast swing.

I totally stuck out cause of my sparkly heels...everyone knew that I was not one of "them".

And sidenote, how in the world can you tell by my dance grip?!

I run to sit my buns down again, because at this point I'm sweating up a storm and I'm pretty sure I stink between dancing and running around at work all today.

As soon as I sit down, another guy asks me to dance! 

Then another, then another, then another....pretty sure no one looked at my wedding ring.

Or really cared for that matter.

Totally thought that was weird. Nowwwww I understand why Evan was double checking about my ring.

Regardless of the ridiculously forward guys, it was so much fun to dance again!

At the end of the night, I took off my ballroom shoes and put on my sparkly leopard flip flops.

Are you noticing my obsession with sparkly things yet?

A guy leans in to talk to me over the loud music and asks:

"Are you new around here? I haven't seen you before, would you like to dance?"

"Well, I just put on my flip flops...."

"Oh that's fine, come onto the dance floor."

Turns out...

the guy is the owner of the studio and he pretty much gives me a free lesson on how to do the West Coast Swing properly.

Even with my flip flops he could tell I was used to ballroom dancing...because of my dance grip.

What is up with that?!

He gave me a full on lesson and danced with me for 2-3 songs while Evan waited for me at the front door watching me and my new dance partner like a hawk.

 After the songs I thanked my new friend and ran out to the car with Evan.

Did you ever think of how weird the blogging world was when you first started to blog?

It was a community that I never knew existed and when I try to explain it to anyone who isn't a blogger, they just don't understand how I can make random connections with people over the internet.

I definitely felt the same way at the west coast swing club.

Everyone knew each other and knew what the heck was going on.

It was a whole new community of dancing that I never knew existed!

Can't wait to take Ryan there so he can supervise while I'm dancing :)

<3 Bri 

The Mannequin Girls

As many of you know, this is my first retail job...ever.

{At Francesca's Collections!}

When asked what I wanted to learn most about, I practically leaped and yelled and twitched with excitement when I said:

"Dressing the mannequins!!"

The picture above? 

My first display window.

Totes presh :)

I asked lots and lots of questions about what creative process is normal in dressing mannequins.

I just love getting outfits and accessories together, but sometimes I would get a creative block.

You know?

One of the best pointers I heard was...

All the mannequins should be dressed like they are going to the same place.

So the girls above?

They are from New York, and they haven't seen each other in a while....

 so they planned a girls' night out on the town to a pretty ritzy restaurant and happened to run into the Gossip Girl cast and danced all night long.

So now, I make up 'lil stories to go with each set of mannequins.

Some of the girls in the store even name the mannequins and give them personalities.

Ya, I haven't gotten to that point yet! haha

These girls are bff's from Texas, and they are heading to a friend's wedding in the country.

A mix of vintage, class, and country!

These are girls heading out for lunch at Zupas while it's raining outside, to catch up on all the latest gossip over some delicious paninis and salad.

Obviously I get a kick out of this :)

This is the start of my jewelry organization, so I can see exactly what I have.

So hopefully, when I go shopping I stop getting stuff that looks like something I already have.

You do that too?

Ok good, I'm not the only one :)

Any of you have some stories for the mannequin girls?

<3 Bri

Only Thing to Fear, is Fear Itself

Last night was my first night of training for work. 

I was SCARED to death. 

I work for Provo Parks&Recreation. 

I have been a referee for Junior Jazz basketball {1st&2nd graders} and decided to suck it up and ref the adult league.

Yikes! 

I had to talk myself into doing it. 

No one is great at doing something the first time. {those freak of natures you know that can, don't count}

All I need is practice. And game time.

And making 15/hour is worth being yelled at. Right? 

I found these quotes on Pinterest and they actually made me feel tons better! 

One more reason I loooveee pinterest. And random side note, I decided to do the A-Z thing, sounded fun :)

Here are the A-Z's of me, I can't wait till this week is over!

A. Age: 20

B. Bed size: King size, be jealous :) 

C. Chore you hate: I hate doing the dishes. They only get done with I'm bored or upset.

D. Dogs: Our family dog Benuda, a St. Bernard/Labrador mix just passed away this summer. I miss him :/

E. Essential start to your day: Before Ryan leaves for work, he gives me a sweet kiss on my forehead.

F. Favorite Color: BLUE. Any kind really.

G. Gold or Silver: Silver. But I'm warming up to gold jewelry now.

H. Height: 5'3. I'm a midget.

I. Instruments you play: piano, and I can sing, does that count?

J. Job Title: Provo Parks&Rec scorekeeper and referee. And self-employed crafting enthusiast. 

K. Kids: Nope, not till we finish college. But they will be sooo cute.

L. Live: Currently in Utah, originally from So-California

M. Mother's Name: Anna

N. Nicknames: Bri, Breezy, B, Bri-baby, nugget, Bri-magee, beasta

O. Overnight hospital stays: When I was born?

P. Pet peeves: Tapping your foot, seconds left on the microwave, humming, sometimes whistling, chipped nails, dolphins, the toliet paper not getting replaced, when people are rude for no reason, Utah and Oregon drivers, horrible driving skills, nasaly voices, girls substituting real pants for tights. You can tell I have a lot of pet peeves.

Q. Quote from a movie: "No. The blues are because you're getting fat and maybe it's been raining too long, you're just sad that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly your'e afraid an dyou don't know what you're afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?" -Breakfast at Tiffanys

R. Right or left-handed: Right

S. Siblings: 2 younger brothers

T. Time you wake up: 8:30am on school days and 9 at the latest. On the weekends? Noon.

U. Underwear: Uhhh no comment.

V. Vegetable you hate: Hmm....pickles. So gross.

X. X-rays: Root canal, December of 2009.

Y. Yummy food: Chinese food, Italian food, Sushi, burgers, really anything. I like food. 

Z. Zoo animal: PENGUINS.

Have a good weekend!!!

<3 BRI