Project 365: Recap

So, I've been a little overwhelmed with life lately, which has led to no Project 365 updates for a few weeks. Things have slowed down a bit, for the time being, so here are the latest snid bits of my life.

Enjoy.

February Eighth

Aggie Blue Bikes had this little number on sale. I needed a commuter bike to ride around on when the weather is too harsh for my nicer road bike. I plan to spruce it up a bit, but this is the before pic.

February Ninth

I walk by this snowman at least once a day on my way to campus. Sadly, I have watched him melt away into nothing. Today he looked like he had been incarcerated by the sun.

February Tenth

Meet Panda. He is my USB port. I love him.

February Eleventh

Some Indian girls on campus were doing Henna tattoos to raise money for their club, so I got one. And I bought a real nice scarf.

February Twelfth

Yet another Spoon Me visit. I'm an addict.

February Thirteenth

Some of you may know of the infamous Violent Times Day party. It has been put on by my brother-in-law and his friends for years. It's another option for people to celebrate something other than Valentine's Day. Here is Chris reading his Emo poem by candlelight.

February Fourteenth

The pic didn't turn out that great, but Chris surprised me and took me to an awesome sushi place in Ogden on our way down to Salt Lake. It was oh, so delicious. Thank you, Chris. He is the best Valentine I have ever had.

February Fifteenth

We spent the night up in a cabin in Big Cottonwood Canyon with the Brewerton's and their family. It's where Chelsea grew up. We just walked right up to Brighton Ski Resort, enjoyed a great powder day on the mountain, and boarded right down to the front door of the cabin when we were done. Good times were had by all.

February Sixteenth

You should be able to guess by now that we spend a lot of time with Adam and Chelsea Brewerton. Well, this night we took advantage of a party of four coupon at The Indian Oven. That's Adam sneaking into my photo.

February Seventeenth

This is a one of the desks in one of my English classrooms. If you look closely you can see a Lord of the Rings theme. It's pretty amazing.

February Eighteenth

Chris had to work this night, so I invited Kelly and Casey over to help me get caught up with Project Runway. Originally I just watched the show to keep Casey company, but I got addicted. I'm a sucker when it comes to reality TV, although I hate to admit it. That Heidi Klume... she's so hot right now.

February Twentieth

Speaking of addictions... I heart Cafe Rio salads.

February Twenty-First

Just a typical Sunday in Logan, Utah. A man riding a hot pink BMX bike in a suit through a snowy field. Classic.

February Twenty-Second

I love that "family time" consists of hanging out with Chris, Devin, and Koo. I think I married into the best family ever. Don't worry, Koo isn't a violent person all of the time. Just when she plays Carcassone.

February Twenty-Third

This was in the yard of a house we are thinking of moving into. It comes with a pancake tree! That's what I'm talkin' about.

February Twenty-Fourth

Olga got a makeover. We have been looking into getting a roof rack for a while now, and we found a sweet deal on good ol' Craig's list. Olga looks so hardcore now.

February Twenty-Fifth

Behold the eye of a tired college student.

February Twenty-Sixth

This is the coolest part of Chris's new commuter bike. We are now owners of four bikes. I never thought I would be the type of person that would want more than one kind of bike. What is happening to me?

February Twenty-Seventh

USU has this thing going on where you trade in an old sweatshirt for this sweatshirt. The sweatshirt you trade in goes to the people of Haiti. Isn't that neat? I guess it's part of Traditions Week on campus. I don't even know what that is, but I got to help Haiti and get neat hoodie out of it!

February Twenty-Eighth

I started teaching Yoga two Sundays a month at Chris's work in Brigham City. It's really cool to teach Yoga to at-risk teenage boys. We had a lot of fun today. I love my job.

Well, there you have it. Don't you feel better now that you are up to date? I know I do.

P.S. Did you notice I gave my blog a makeover? I dig it.

Winter Blues

Well kids,

It's that time again. It's the end of February and springtime seems to be eons away. The winter sunshine seems hopeful, until you walk outside and feel the sting of a cold breeze.

This time of year lends itself to the lazier days of Randi Martin. For whatever reason, I am quite unmotivated. You may have noticed that there hasn't been a Project 365 post in a while. Don't worry, it's coming. Whenever I get around to it. I hate this feeling because my mind is constantly racing with things I need to do right now and things I need to do in the near future, but my body just lays there on the couch getting caught up on The Bachelor.

It doesn't help that I am taking 18 credits of upper division classes. Lesson learned on how much school I can handle each semester.

My house is a mess. I finally went grocery shopping yesterday but then ate out again for dinner tonight.

It's almost midnight and my body is begging me to do some night time Yoga and go to sleep, but I feel guilty for sleeping when I have so much to do.

I'm not even sure why I am blogging about my winter woes. Perhaps it's because I think if I vent about it, the funk I'm in might go away faster. Or maybe you are also experiencing the downfalls that the end of February brings, and reading this might make you feel like you are not alone. Or maybe it's because I am sick of just having Project 365 posts.

Chris is not as prone to being as moody as I am (or moody at all), but he is also feelin' it. We both skipped school today to be lame. It was fun, I guess. We deserve a break sometimes. It was nice cuddling on the couch together, eating a big bowl of pasta, and watching Arrested Development.

The good news is that I have been in this funk before, and I will probably be in it again this time next year, but that's ok. If any of you knew me back in my "glory days," you know that I was in a funk for years at a time, so this isn't so bad. It's just annoying. This too shall pass.

I have just decided to declare weekly goals that will aid in my seasonal recovery.

This week's goals:

*Don't skip anymore class
*Do yoga everyday (even if it's just 10 minutes)
*Clean and de-junk just one room of the house...let's say the kitchen.

Ok. I feel good about that.

Thanks for listening. Maybe, if I feel like it, I will return and report on my goals for the rest of the week.

And good luck to you all as Springtime creeps ever so slowly into our lives.

Project 365

Another week another dollar... or something. So, I realize that this may be boring for you guys. I had the intention of doing this project thinking that my life would be a lot more interesting to share. Ah well. Get used to it because we got a whole year of this, baby!

February First

For date night this week we made another delicious recipe from The Moosewood Cookbook. I bring you Southwest Black Bean Burgers. We topped them fresh spinach and mango salsa. It was pretty much the best thing ever.

February Second

I am not ashamed to admit that I am a huge LOST fan. It started last semester when I watched all five seasons in a month and a half. It was epic. This day was the season premiere of the final season! Chris and I made these amazing "healthy" cupcakes and decorated them to the best of our ability. We gathered with some friends and they provided "Dharma Beer." Don't worry. It's just Apple Beer in Dharma Beer clothing.

February Third

Arrested Development must be one of the best show ever made. Ever. Chris had never seen the second and third season *gasp* so we decided to just watch them all. We just started season two. So. Good.

February Fourth

I love my little sister-in-law more than life itself. We went to the oh so fabulous Spoon Me for some good eatin'. I know I have bashed Spoon Me in the past, but it has grown on me.

February Fifth

Meet Todd. He is our whale. He usually hangs over our front door protecting us, but as of late he had joined us on our bookcase. Everyone deserves a change of scenery every once in a while.

February Sixth

I recently started teaching a beginner yoga class at the Whittier Center right across the street from my house on Saturday mornings. I absolutely love it. My students are really great and we just have a good time. It's also a great old building to do Yoga in.

February Seventh

Extreme close up! Can you tell what it is? I will give you a hint. My husband named it Madeline, it is one of the coolest things on the block, and it rhymes with lypewriter. I really hope these things make a comeback, but for now it will serve as a cool decoration.

Welp, that is all for now! Until next week!

Project 365

Yay! I am staying on track. Now maybe I will move on to making posts that aren't just Project 365. Here is the latest.

January Twenty-Fifth

We switched our date night to Mondays and this time we made pasta and watched a movie. At one point during the night Chris pulled out this beautiful ring to give to me. I guess he planted it there earlier. He is such a romantic.

January Twenty-Sixth

We study together in the same room quite frequently. Chris was doing some heavy-duty reading and the next time he looked over at me I noticed that he had spun his mustache into quite the do. Good work, honey.

January Twenty-Seventh

Playing a lot of Plants vs. Zombies has reminded me to tend to my own, real plants. I love these little guys and I am thrilled that they are still alive. I created them in my Horticulture class semester and they are still with me!

January Twenty-Eighth

And some more of the loads and loads of reading I get to do for school this semester. These books are for my Medical Anthropology class, which is actually an awesome class. I have spent much time with these books this week.

January Twenty-Ninth

My brother-in-law, Devin, has been training hard for months for this very day. I am so proud of him that all of his hard work paid off at a, wait for it, Scrabble Tournament! At the last minute he needed an extra teammate and so Chris got to compete. Well, kind of. He got to be the team score keeper. But still, it was fun. I came, took some pics, ate the food, and read my books. Yay Scrabble! Don't knock it. Scrabble is a great game.

January Thirtieth

Our friends Adam and Chelsea have the best dog in the world. His name his Chaco and I love him as if he were my own. Chris and Chaco like to have staring contests. It's adorable, really.

January Thirty-First

We met Adam and Chelsea about a year ago. We fell in love and spent pretty much every day last January having a January party. On this last day of January we had a little shin dig to celebrate our one year anniversary. We have a slew of new and old friends over, including my good friend Jeff Cardon, who came up from Salt Lake. One of the items of entertainment was this sticky Lizard thing. Adam sat under it, pretty much like this, for a half hour waiting for it to come down. Sometimes we would forget we stuck it up there and it would fall down and scare everyone. Good times. I love my friends.

Well, there you have it. Until next time, stay in school and don't do drugs. H.A.G.S.

Project 365: Catch Up

So... it turns out this is harder than I thought. Well, it's not hard, I just keep forgetting and not having time to post. So, sorry this will be a little longer than usual but let me just get up to date.

January Eighth

Our good friend, Seth Hanks, came to town with his band, The Archer's Apple. They played a grand ol' show and it was so good to see him.

January Ninth

I am in love. This is my new favorite ice cream. I try to stay away from dairy products, but man. This is heaven in ice cream form.

January Tenth

Christmas is officially over. This isn't a good picture but we finally dropped our tree off to go to the Christmas Tree lot in the sky. Fare thee well,old friend.

January Eleventh

Today was our two year anniversary of being wed! It was also the first day of the new semester, so we decided to keep it simple. We went to Borders and picked out an amazing vegetarian cookbook called The Moosewood Cookbook. So, we went home, made some dinner (two-rice stuffed squash and roasted pecan brussel sprouts), watched a chick flick, and had a wonderful evening together. I love Chris so much. I can't believe I ended up with a guy like him.

January Twelfth

So, Chris and I have a tendency to get hooked on certain games. One of the latest is Doodle Jump. You can get it for your itouch. I love it and this is my highest score ever! I have not gotten remotely close since. It isn't as high as Chris, but it will do. I know I'm a nerd.

January Thirteenth

To try and aid in getting rid of the extra holiday fluff we had acquired over the holidays, we decided to go on a three day apple juice cleanse. We ate and juiced a buttload of apples. Surprisingly, it was a very positive experience and I still like apples.

January Fourteenth

Logan may have crappy, polluted winters,

but sometimes it is absolutely gorgeous. I love it when the fog freezes around the trees and everything turns into an icicle.

January Fifteenth

Another icicle picture. I love it.

January Sixteenth

Right before I got married, I got to live with the best roommates I've ever had. Chris and I met up with two of them, Kristin and Andrea, and their boys at Typhoon at the Gateway. I miss them greatly and it was so good to see them. Never a dull moment with those two.

January Seventeenth

For the long weekend, we went and chilled in Springville with the fam. Sunday was spent playing another game we are addicted to. Plants vs. Zombies. It's how we de-stress ok?

January Eighteenth

We went out to eat and to a movie with Chris's family on MLK day. We ate at Ginger's Cafe, which happens to be one of my favorite places on earth and where Chris and I went on our first

date. It's on Main Street in Springville. Check it out.

January Nineteenth

Now, I'm not gluten intolerant, but this pizza crust is wonderful. We make it at least once a week with our homemade pizza sauce and fresh vegetables. I love it.

January Twentieth

I successfully beat Plants vs. Zombies! And when you beat the game they play a music video where a sunflower sings and all the zombies dance. It's pretty great.

January Twenty-first

Thursday was our date night. We went to eat at the delicious Beehive Grill and then went to Avatar in 3D. It rocked my socks. And we looked pretty fine in our 3D glasses, I might add.

January Twenty-second

I get to read this entire bad-boy for one of my literature classes. I'm quite the procrastinator, so I usually end up having marathon reads. I spent most of the weekend with this book.

January Twenty-Third

I also had to read this entire book by Monday for my Non-fiction writing class. Oh, the good times this semester is already bringing!

January Twenty-Fourth

I am finally getting around to growing wheatgrass! I have had the supplies for a few months now, but finally I got myself a nice patch of grass. And today I put some into my green smoothie. I like wheatgrass because it is good for me, but also, I miss seeing green this time of year. It's amazing how much this little tray of grass can boost my winter blues.

And there you have it. I decided that posting on Sundays will be a lot more convenient that posting on Fridays, so stay tuned! Hopefully I will never have to do this long of a post again.

Project 365: Round one

So, I'm doing it.

My good friend, Andrea, gave me the idea with her entertaining blog and many moons ago I decided I was going to do it when the New Year came. So, it's the New Year.

What does this mean for you, my faithful readers? Well, for 365 days, I will attempt

to take at least one picture a day and blog about it once a week. So, let's say every Friday-ish, expect to get a recap of the week before.

Why I am doing such a thing? I don't know. I think it will be fun. Some of my many New Years Resolutions are to just be purely myself more publicly (I know that is a weird resolution but it makes sense to me) and to blog more and make it more entertaining for myself and those that read. So, this is a great way to kills two birds, if you will. Also, I got a new digital camera for Christmas! Hazzah!

So get ready for RAW, UNEDITED, ALL RANDI, ALL THE TIME!!!!! Just like you always wanted...

January First

I was lucky enough to ring in the New Year with Tor-kul-na. A beloved creature from the nerdiest game I have experienced in real life. Heroscape. It's like a mix of Risk and Dungeons

and Dragons. It also takes at least an hour to just set up! No, I have not played it. No, I will not play it. But, but my husband has and did THREE times on New Years Day with his siblings. Happy New Year.

January Second

I have a history of being very connected to the cars I drive. From the Lobster Superstar to Glory Moses, I have decorated my car with the same nicknacks and buttons to really make it my own. A week before I got married, Chris and I both crashed Glory Moses (at

separate times and within a few hours of each other) that eventually lead to his death. So we started our marriage with a black, 1999 VW Jetta named Olga. She's a great car and has been really good to us, but for some reason, I never decorated her like she was my own. Well, two years later, after a deep clean and an oil change, I decided it was time. Buddha and lawn gnome are now proudly displayed, along with some buttons up on the roof and beads and hemp necklaces around the rearview mirror.

January Third

My good friend from Fargo, Jenny, and her boyfriend came out to Utah to experience the greatest snow on earth. Chris has a season pass to Powder Mountain for work, so we went there. It was my first run of the season, so there were some falls and some swears, but it was a grand time for all. Luckily, we got to take advantage of the hot tub at Jenny and Dave's hotel afterward.

January Fourth

Attention all ladies. For all of those that suffer from lady-time cramps, meet your new best friend. No, it's not what you think it is. It's better. And legal. It's Red Raspberry leaf tea. I have been taking an online herbology course and this is where I learned of this magical plant. I had some of this tea this week and it has worked wonders! I encourage all to partake. It is also good for pregnant women and aids in all female reproductive issues.

January Fifth

So, I couldn't figure out how to flip this around. Whateves. Behold the newest member of the Martin Family. I have had the same backpacking backpack for a real long time. Although I did love my Gregory Palisade, I couldn't help but lust over the new Osprey packs. And thanks to our addiction to checking SteepandCheap.com, I was able to get one for quite the discount. I could not resist. Too bad it's so cold out. I can't wait to use this bad boy in the out of doors.

January Sixth

Our oven has been broken since the end of September. Three of the burners worked, so we have been able to manage, but we haven't been able to bake anything for months. This saddens me, what with it being cookie baking season and all. But finally, our landlord delivered a newish oven. Chris had a hard time parting with our retro green oven. It really added character to our kitchen and matched our lovely green sink. Although it was hard for him to say goodbye, he handled it like a champ.

January Seventh

Here is one of my homemade business cards/punch card for my little massage business. I was a little afraid of venturing off on my own with massage but it has been going really well. I gave three massages this day and two of them rescheduled! Good times for all!

So there you have it. My first week of Project 365. I hoped you enjoyed it. I did. And next week, more merriment shall ensue. Until then, good day and good night.

Well, here it is.

Since the beginning of July, I have been pondering and praying on if I would ever really make this post. I have debated over clever titles and themes to express what I am about to write, but I have just decided to just write and see what comes out. Hopefully, it won't be too long and that boring.

A little disclaimer: If you are not of the Mormon faith, or not that familiar with Mormons, a lot of things that I mention will not make any sense. Also, this post might not even be that big of a deal to you. And to all readers, if you get bored just scan down to "In conclusion."

For those of you that know me well, you know that I love people. I love my friends and family more than anything. I love meeting people, making connections, staying in contact, talking for hours, and making silly random phone calls texts just to say hi. And I don't know if you have noticed, but you probably haven't heard from me in a while. If you have, it has only been quite recently and here is why.

I like to say that I am on a "Spiritual Journey." Now, you might say in response, "So what? Everyone is on one. Good for you." Well, with my experience in the Mormon faith, Spiritual Journeys are encouraged, but only if it fits in with the Mormon way of life and you end up in the Mormon faith. I'm not saying this is true, but I'm just saying that this is my experience. So, when I realized that my little journey would take me outside of the Mormon church, I kind of freaked out.

For a bagillion reasons, I was finding myself not spiritually fulfilled in the LDS faith. It wasn't making me happy, like it did in the past. And after guilting myself into reasons that weren't true as to why I was unhappy, I decided to finally get real with myself and with God. This was not easy. This was not fun. But, it is what I deserved to do. And I knew that if I didn't do it, I would mentally and emotionally go back to a place that I worked so hard to get out of. Luckily, I have an amazing husband that helped me create a space of love for me to do this, because I was not getting it from my bishop, even though I gave him a chance to help me.

The next series of event are some of the most sacred conversations I have ever had with God. Because of that, I will not share them here, but what I want you to know is that they happened. Some people reading this may not believe in God, or may not be able to fathom that God would lead me to these actions, but it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what is real for me.
*And a little side note, the only thing that matters is what is real for you. Just because I receive one answer doesn't mean you will receive the same answer. So, please don't let my experience offend your beliefs or discredit things you believe to be or not to be true.

After I "got real" as to what was going on and what I felt moved to do, I felt so much peace and unconditional love inside. A feeling I don't ever remember feeling this strongly. But after I left the comforts of my own home, I realized I had to deal with everyone else. I got a huge pit in my stomach when I thought about what my friends and family would think. How would they ever understand my actions? What if this or that person knew? They would be so disappointed. Would they still love me? Would they still want me around their kids? Can they tell by what I'm wearing that I'm not active anymore? Would they wish I had never married into their family?

I know some of you may laugh at my worries, but they were so real. So, I did the only thing I could do at the time, and that was to isolate myself. Until I could gain more confidence in myself and not care so much what people thought of me, I just had to keep to myself. That is why I have been distant. I was judging all of you, before you had a chance to judge me. And, I'm deeply sorry for that. But I needed to love myself before I could let anyone else love me.

So that is really what I have been working on the most these past few months and I am happy to report that I am seriously getting there. And this blog post is a big part of that process for me. Some of you may think that this post isn't necessary. This is all personal and no one needs to know about it. Well, I am here to say, that I do need to do this. I just want it all to be out there partly so I can stop worrying about what so and so will think if they ever knew, and partly because I feel that people shouldn't feel ashamed to talk about it. In the culture that I live in, it is so hard to talk about doubts and even harder to act on those doubts. It shouldn't be that way. So, this is my way of talking about it and making it ok. I love you and I miss you. I miss being my social self and I am done with being ashamed of who I am and what I am going through.

In conclusion:

I love the Mormon church. I love that I was raised Mormon, that I served a mission, and that I got married in the Temple. I still consider those things to be sacred events in my life and I am thankful that they happened. I am not angry or bitter or anything like that. I still like being apart of events that happen in the Mormon world (well, the ones I can be apart of), so please don't feel like you can't be yourself around me. I won't be offended or mad if you talk about Mormon things around me.

Where I am at now is that still don't know how I feel about a lot of things. And to me, that is really exciting. I will never close the door to the church, but for now, it is not where I need to be. There is still more for me to learn from being on the "outside," and when it is time for me to be somewhere else, I know that I will be led there. But in the mean time, I am having a great time searching and finding things that really work for me and finding things that don't. And I really am happier and at more at peace than I have been in a really long time.

Some of you may be freaking out and racking your brain as to how you can help me. Well, let me help you help me. Just love me. Don't treat me any different than you did before. Feel free to pray for me, but I ask that you pray for me to find what works for me, not what works for you. Please, don't preach to me. I love hearing what you believe if it comes up, but preaching will have a negative effect. And please, please don't worry and don't be sad. I know that some of you reading this feel those two things and it kills me inside that something that is making me happier and healthier is making someone else worried and sad. And if you choose to feel that, I guess I can't stop you, but I just ask that you trust me.

And where is Chris is all of this? Well, his story is his and if you are curious about the details, just ask him. But, I will say that he has joined me on the Spiritual Journey train, and is has been really great for us.

I am afraid this is getting too long, so if you have any questions or anything, don't be afraid to ask. If you can't tell, I'm open to talking about it. Oh, and if you know of someone that doesn't read this blog who would like to be filled in on the spiritual life of Randi, then please share it with them.

A big thank you to those who I have already talked to about this. You have no idea how much your love and support has helped me.

On a lighter note, this blog shall continue as normal. Stay tuned for some holiday adventure recaps and some new and exciting goals for 2010!