Three, Two, One...I Love You

Well loves, the year is almost up. It's so hard to believe that 365 days of 2013 have almost transpired! This year has truly been one heck of a ride. In many ways, 2013 started off with a lot of trials and challenges for my family, yet we made it through and now, sitting on the tail end of 2013, all I can think of are the tremendous blessings I've seen in my life this year.  First, I'd like to thank you lovely, lovely readers for following along thus far, and lets keep our fingers crossed for a smashin' 2014 with more friends to join our ranks here at Life of a Coy Fish! I love you all! Now, I'd like to just take some time to share photos from this year and express my love and gratitude for all those amazing humans who I love and adore and were so incredible as to share this year with me.

The first people to thank on my list, would clearly have to be these two, my lovely parents. It would be unfair to everyone else's parents to call my parents the best parents in the world, so I'll just say that they're the best parents in the world for ME. I'm so grateful for them and for their love for me, but more than that, I'm grateful for their love for EACH OTHER . Their life together has truly been one heck of an adventure. Heck, with my dad, you're sure never to pass through a dull moment. If ever we're feeling like life is feeling pretty choice he's sure to notice too and decide to add in some more...pizzazz. ;) I love them both so much, and the life they've built for each other and our family. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Next up, my baby sibs. Even, though, they're grouchy and mean half the time (I know. I should be the grouchy mean one since I'm the older one. Don't worry, I'm rolling my eyes too;) I still love them more than anything. They're a couple of the weirdest/funniest four eyed goofballs around. They make me laugh like no other and all the funny moments we've shared this year truly made 2013 a year worth living. Love you Faola and Poopah. ;) You both make me a proud big sister and every day I'm grateful that I get to share my life with you two!

This isn't the greatest photo of just the two of us, but since I lost my phone it's the only one I could find. Words can't describe what this girl means to me. Best friends for 21 years, and every single year I'm more and more grateful that God made us sisters and that our hearts chose to be best friends. I think there's a reason it was the two of us that were placed in the same boat of troubles in life because no other two could have handled it better. Through every struggle we faced this year because of our lot in life, you were always right there next to me to hear out my thoughts, feelings, and be probably the only human I feel comfortable crying in front of/with. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being my best friend and partner in crime. I love you!

Friends. My goodness, friends. I honestly don't think I could have survived this year without them. There's all at once too many words and not enough words to describe how grateful I am to have had the best friends that I have. They have been supportive and loving through mine and my sister's loss of our grandma this year, and have made me so grateful that I have them around. We have shared some truly hilarious and embarrassing moments this year, and I can't remember a year in which I've laughed harder. From road trips, to dining out, to ill advised group date things, to hanging out on the wet grass of a park while eating Chic-fil-a fries, to serious chats about our take on life, to just plain old crying from laughter. Lisha, and Ro I love you to the moon back. Let's have another year of cry from laughter friendship!

Maybe it's cheesy to include my puppy in this, but he's given me all the therapy I've needed this year by way of cuddles and that means the world! Oh, and before I wrap up, just a quick thanks to those of you who have meant the world to me this year as well but that I don't have photos of. You know who you are, ahem, ahem, Angelica. ;) Oh, and of course my dear sweet Graham girls, and Randi! I love you all!

To one of the most beautiful women I've ever known, I love you. I simply love you. Loosing you this year was so extremely difficult, for the simple reason that death is a hard thing but for so many other deeper reasons as well. I could take your passing and let it make me see 2013 as a bad year, but it wasn't and I know you wouldn't want me to see it that way either. It was a wonderfully blessed year, and I'd like to think that you had a hand in making some of those blessings happen. I think my heart has at last made peace with your passing. I haven't stopped missing you, I don't think the missing ever really stops, but my heart has made peace. This year more than any other, I am so indescribably grateful for The Savior, and The Plan of Salvation. My testimony of these truths has deepened in profound proportions and although your death saddened me, I think the spiritual growth it helped me achieve has helped my happiness of the gospel radiate more than ever before. Thank you. "Y colorín colorado este cuento se ha acabado, y el tuyo aún no ha comenzado."

Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday LCF and a HUGE Giveaway!

 

Hello my dudes! Guess what, guess what! Life of a Coy Fish officially turned one today! EEK! I cannot believe it's been a FULL year since I started this wee lil' blog of mine! It has been one heck of an adventure blogging and learning all there is to it! I can't thank you lovely lil' readers of mine enough! I have so much more planned for this space, and so many goals envisioned that I hope to make a reality! Cheers to seeing where this next year will take us! In the spirit of celebration I've teamed up with Kiss Me Darling, Fashions by Mariah and 16 other lovely bloggers to bring you one awesome beyond awesome giveaway! So, happy birthday to Life of a Coy Fish and go enter away for a chance to win about $200 in prizes! 

 

 

                              Kiss Me Darling//                                                 Fashion by Mariah//        

  

 

Simply Just Lovely//          Love Me Dani Marie//         Chevron Smiles//           Some Girl// 

             Fred Rongo//            Perfection Possibilities//         Raspberry Glow//    Wake Up Your Wardrobe//

         Blushing Boulevard//           Rylee Blake//                    Night Chayde//              The Red Closet Diary//

  Wild One Forever//             A Beautiful Life//                    Jody Beth//         Lipstick, Heels & Baby//

 

$100 to Nordstrom//     $50 to Bitter Root//         Bip & Bop//       $50 to Target//

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Stuff of Nightmares

My dudes, I'm sick. I've been trying to pretend I wasn't sick since Christmas Eve, but it has now become inevitably apparent. Scratchy throat, congested lungs, runny nose, and sneezy. The works. Delicious. At least I've got a TV to watch as I snuggle in bed now. Silver linings right? Which, speaking of, I read the book "The Silver Linings Playbook" last night, per recommendation of my bff. May I say, it was aaaaaaaaaamazing!!! More on that later, though. You know what happened to me today? I was confronted by, not one, but TWO of my all time worst fears today! I know. I know. Pffft. A pffft. How is that even possible right? Well, it's possible.

First, remember how I mentioned a little while ago that it seemed like all birds in the state of Utah had migrated to within a quarter of a mile of my house? Yeah, well, today they all decided to migrate directly to my house. AHHHHHHHHHH!! This morning, they were all smacking into my window like a bunch of wackos as if to mock me and my terror. Buttheads. Anyway, when I went with my sister to run some errands, they were all perched on my neighbors bush staring at me as I backed out of the drive way. I just know they were all thinking, "We'll be here when you get back, Allexis. We'll be waitingggggggg." Ughhhhhhh, I could cry. Luckily they were gone by the time I got back. Phew. Anyway, now onto the next fear that smacked me in the face today (I should've known the birds were a bad omen). Escalators. Yupp, you read that right, escalators. I'm afraid of escalators. I know it's stupid, but they terrify me. I'm constantly afraid that I'll fall down and get my face torn open by all of those sharp, rugged, ruffle chip shaped edges. OR. OR. My shoe lace will get stuck in one of those creepy little cracks and then I'll get stuck and chopped up to death all Final Destination style. They. Are. Terrifying.  I mean, what if I get one foot on a step but the other foot stays on solid ground, and then my legs start getting pulled away from each other and since I can't do the splits my legs get torn in half??? Again I say, terrifying. For the most part, even though I'm deathly afraid of stupid escalators, I can still manage to get on them and swallow my fears. Every now and then, though, on days like today, I find myself completely unable to get my foot to take that first step onto the escalator. Today, when I faced the escalators at F21, I found myself starting to sweat and completely unable to get my feet onto the stupid escalator. All of my completely irrational fears about escalators started seeming a whole lot more rational. My sister was pretty much halfway down the escalator by the time I managed to hop on and hold on for dear life. Needless to say, I survived. Anyway, all that was missing in my day of nightmares was for Shamu to show up and bight my arm off. Yupp. I'm also afraid of Shamu, more specifically, killer whales in general. Demon spawn.

 {h&m: sweater dress, socks; F21: key necklace, readers similar; GoJane: booties similar}

Anyway, these reader glasses, little booty socks, and over sized sweater dress are a few more of the items I got for Christmas. I luuuuurve them. This sweater dress is seriously so, so cozy. It's like wearing a blanket. Yumm. I also love the idea of pairing something so relaxed and cozy as this sweater with something as girly as these frilly pink socks and heeled booties. :) I'm sensing a go to outfit being born. ;)

Much love!

Dream a Little Dream

The day after Christmas is the worst. All that magical cheeriness is over with, and with the magicalness being gone you realize you probably ate one too many rolls. Christmas this year, though, was INcredible. It was seriously so wonderful. This Christmas, we had the wonderful opportunity of helping out a family in need. We were given the chance of going out to buy some gifts for a small, young family of six. Having been in the same situation once before with my own family, it was a true joy and pleasure to be able to provide a few gifts to a family that might otherwise not have had much. It was such an incredible experience to be able to provide a service to a young family in need, especially when once the same service was provided to my family. My heart is full. Now, in the Hispanic culture most of the celebratin' happens on Christmas Eve, or as we would call it, La Noche Buena. In my fam bam, we cook up an awesome dinner, play games afterwards/watch a movie, have a Christmas Program of sorts to refocus in on what we're really celebrating, and with our spirits full of gratitude for the birth of Christ we stay up with anxiously excited hearts till midnight. Come midnight, we all clap, cheer, share hugs, and start tearing into our gifts. Now, if we were in Guatemala, after we opened up our gifts we would all head outside to explode some MAJOR fireworks and play around with sparklers just to show our happiness. Even, though, I only spent a few Christmas' there, I've always missed the fireworks, they were my favorite part.

Now, since we traditionally stay up all through Christmas Eve till midnight to open gifts, I've come to the realization that come Christmas morning I get what I like to call a "Christmas Hangover", ya know, sans any alcoholic influences since I don't drink. Obvi. :) I wake up tired from staying up till almost two in the morning, worn out from all the excitement, still slightly food comatose from eating too much ham, and have a massive headache and tired eyes. My only cure? My now four years and counting tradition of going on a Christmas day long run. It freshens up my mind, gets rid of my tired eyes and headache, and well, frankly, makes me feel a whole lot better about having eaten too much ham/rolls. ;) Plus, its always nice that the roads are COMPLETELY empty of cars. I could seriously run in the middle of the road if I felt like it!

 {American Eagle: over sized shrug, dark wash skinnies; h&m: basic tshirt; F21: over the knee boots similar, readers; Dream Catcher Necklace: gift from my aunt in Guatemala}

Like I said, this year, Christmas was truly stupendous. We were all able to gather 'round and share our sincere joy of the birth of Christ, and were able to share a special evening together. I've always been a big believer that it isn't the gifts that make Christmas special, and my family and I have had many a quiet and humble Christmas (and they have often been some of the most truly memorable and special) but when we have the means to give each other grand gifts we sure do give 'em and we give 'em with a sincere joy in spoiling each other. There's nothing quite like looking at the faces of loved ones light up when they see all of their Christmas surprises. The joy of giving, right? :) This year, my loot was truly stupendous. I got a good pile of clothing, these jeans and shrug being in the mix, a couple of my favorite movies (V for Vendetta, and Silver Lining's Playbook, holla!) and the big kahoona....a 40" inch tv!

This year my parents have slowly started building me up what I like to call "my dowry". When my mattress got messed up earlier this year, my parents went out and got me the best queen sized mattress possible and told me to consider it as a starter for my own place for whenever I get married. Now for Christmas, they got me a nice lil' tele and told me now I'd have another thing I could check off my "for when I get married" list. They're the bestest. ;) Plus, now when I start dating someone worthwhile I can say, "Did I tell you that I come with a tv and a mattress?" ;) Ok, that sounded kind of creepy right? Alls wells, just call me the creep master. Now, ya see that gorgeous beyond gorgeous dream catcher necklace? My beautiful aunt and adorable little cousin sent it over to me from Guatemala with my adorable grandpa when he flew in a couple of weeks ago. I love them, and I love the necklace. It's so unique, and I adore that it's a dream catcher!  I think I did a stupendous job of giving gifts this year too, if I do say so myself. ;) I got my mom a beautiful church dress from Banana Republic, an adorable missionary appropriate polka dot skirt for my little sister, and a set of remy hair extensions for my big sister! I, unfortunately ran out of money at that point, so I didn't get my poor pops and little brother anything. They forgave me, though. ;) I hope all of your Christmas' were merry, bright, and full of love for family! 

Much love!

Christmas is almost upon us!

I was lazy this weekend my dudes. I apologize. There was so much Christmas celebratin' to be had with my girly friends that blogging just kind of fell to the back burner. Nothin' like staying up till almost 2 in the morning watching "Fools Rush In" and laughing about nothing and everything. Awww friendship. The fuel of life. In other friendship news, I ran into one of my high school best friends the other day and it was so great to catch up for a couple of minutes! I ALSO get to hang out with my other high school best frennnnnn in about a week or two! I can't wait! Sigh, what with gift exchanging with the bffs and Christmas Sunday, this weekend was absolutely lovely. The Christmas program at church is always my favorite. Hearing about a thousand Christmas hymns all in one hour is just the greatest! Anyway, do any of you notice anything new round these parts? Eh? Eh?? Yupp. I totally just redesigned my little space here even, though, I promised I wouldn't for a while. I just couldn't help myself, though, spending hours redesigning everything is just too much fun! Tell me your thoughts! I, for one, am pretty pleased with the outcome. :) There are still a few minor details left that I want to tune up, but otherwise, this will be the new look for LCF until I get the designing bug again. Which, honestly, will probably be in another month or two. ;) All my tabs are still the same, they've just been moved from underneath the header to my right side-bar so go give 'em a gander.

In other news, it has now been a full THREE weeks since I lost my phone. Nope, thine eyes dost not deceive you, you read that right, THREE WEEKS! I have to admit, the first couple of days were really hard. It felt akin to living life without a toe. (Not that I know how that feels;) After the first couple of days, though, it actually started feeling really nice. Being disconnected is actually sort of calming and relaxing in a surprising way. There are still moments when not having a phone can be challenging, though, ie when I need to urgently call a family member with one of my MANY questions, or when I want to go on a run because um, I ain't gon run outside without no phone when there are potential murderers/rapists on the loose! Obvi. ;) Anyway, maybe once the holidays are over and I have a little more money in the bank account I'll be able to just go out and buy a new phone, even though it'll kill me. Sigh...why is my memory such rubbish?! Why do I have to loose everything I own?

{F21: dress similar, over the knee suede boots similar; h&m: wide brimmed hat similar, faux fur vest similar}

Whelp, friends, this will probably be my last post for a couple of days. Unless, I decide to do a quick mushy 'the meaning of Christmas' is glorious post on the 24th. Otherwise, though, I'll be checking out of Blog Land to get into full on Christmas celebration mode. :) I hope you all have a truly spectacular holiday and enjoy your time with your families!

Much love! Happy Holidays!