Here are some things I believe.

1. Fresh cilantro seriously makes everything infinitely better. If you don't like cilantro, what's wrong with you?

2. Cats are hoarders, too. I discovered their hoard under the couch a couple weeks ago. At what point do I call the Hoarders people?

3. Diet Coke with fresh lime was made for me. Am I right, Carmen?

4. On a similar note, Diet Coke in a glass bottle will basically translate you to heaven in the blink of an eye.

5. Also, water is boring.

6. Jessa is the most hilarious person alive. Please go read and follow her blog, Bowl of Bees.

7. Healthy food is boring. You can take your healthy Pinterest pins and shove it.

8. Thom Yorke is the be all end all. He is the MAN.

9. I watched not ONE, but TWO seasons of Toddlers and Tiaras. I know. Commence judgment....now.

10. It's perfectly acceptable to take pictures with grapes in your upper lip. Perfectly ok use of time. (Steve Buscemi, anyone?)

Feel free to write your own facts post. Let's hear those random facts.

(PS--crappy phone photos brought to you by my instagram feed. I'm @amorby. Let's be IG friends.)

BUT, never fear! The Morby Family Gardens are BACK for part 2 this summer, and thanks to Mitchell, I think this one's going to flourish infinitely better than part 1.

Yes ma'am! It's an Earthbox! Mitchell followed this tutorial to build it. It's supposedly fool proof, but, these two crappiest gardeners in all the land will see about THAT!

We planted zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, and beans. I also took the liberty of naming each plant after a Weeds character. Igancio, Sucio, Esteban, Guillermo, Nancy, etc. I do believe this will make the plants feel loved, thus helping them grow into beautiful and promising plants of society.

The whole idea is you just use this little pipe to water it and it makes this reservoir in the bottom. Then the roots can just wick up the water whenever they feel parched! No overwatering. Fingers crossed.

Then, if you put one watchcat to guard the garden, you are guaranteed success, right?

Are you a gardener? Anyone out there planted an earthbox before? Tips?! Let's hear it!

Here's the thing about Chelsea. She is easily THE sweetest girl on the planet. Maybe even the universe. Yep...the universe. Chelsea and I have been blog friends for just a couple of months, but we instantly felt a kinship. Since I was heading to Phoenix for the Radiohead concert anyway, I knew I had to meet up with her and her awesome partner in crime Scott. We met at Lola Coffee, and if you read Chelsea's blog, you feel like you've been there already. When she told me she was taking me there I was soooo excited to try the pastries she's always picturing on her blog. It didn't disappoint.

That right there is a pear ginger scone. Amazing, you ask? Why, yes! I completely annihilated the thing in a matter of seconds.

Why is it that blogging creates such lasting friendships? Is it because we all naturally flock to one another because of similar interests? Blogging is weird. I tried to explain it to some friends on this Phoenix road trip, and I was mostly met with a lot of blank stares and/or awkward silences. Yeah, we are weird girls that take pictures of ourselves. And yes, we share intimate details of our lives and talk about seemingly trivial things. But the bottom line is that blogging is a form of self-expression--it's an outlet for all of us to express our interests, passions, and daily lives in a time when things are rushed and busy.

Mostly, I think that in a world where careers and success define us, blogging is a way to define ourselves in a whole new light--let the world get to know us outside of our day jobs. How often in small talk does the question, "so...what do you do?" come up? A lot. And it's frustrating. For me, blogging is a world beyond that. And whether or not you think it's weird, I'm cool with it. It's the one place where I get to meet people that like the same things as me, you know?

All rants about blogging aside, I'm so glad I got to meet Chelsea. Be sure to visit her blog and give her a follow! She is the most genuine and caring lady I've ever met. And sooo smart, too!

PS--I totally snuck this pic of Mitchell in here. He confessed the other day that he hates being on my blog. Buahaha so sneaky!

I think it's time for me to slow down--mentally, physically, all around. I want to notice things. I want to enjoy things. I want to live in the moment.

This past week brought the first glimpses of spring, and we took advantage of it with a long walk to the park. I thought this walk was the perfect time to slow it all down and notice things. I didn't want to rush through the walk--I wanted to take note of my surroundings. That's what matters, you know? Living in the moment, taking the time to notice the small beauties, and enjoying every second of it.

So, a rather pointless post to just tell you to slow down in hopes that I'll practice what I preach and slow down with you. Life is short, time is fast, and it's always good to remember what really matters.

Have a good weekend! I'm off to Austin, Texas for Texas Style Council. And let's just say...I AM SO EXCITED! I can't wait to show you all of the pictures of me, Elise, and Maria partying it UP!!!

There are five rules:
1. Post these rules.
2. Post a photo of yourself and 11 random things.
3. Answer the questions set for you in the original post.
4. Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5. Go to their blog/twitter and tell them you've tagged them.

My 11 Random Things

1. I have a huge and wildly irrational fear of walking across grates in the street. Or sewer lids. Or anything that implies it's a door to somewhere down below the street. I will go far out of my way to walk around these. Hate them.

2. In another life, I want to be Beyonce. Or just have a Beyonce alter-ego.

3. I played the violin for 11 years before I quit when I graduated high school. I consider this to be THE greatest mistake of my life, and I regret it every single day. I tried to pick it back up again last year but failed miserably due to being a lame-o adult. Growing up is overrated.

4. These types of things are always absurdly difficult for me as I have never broken a bone, never had surgery, and I can't do any cool things with my joints. I am probably the most boring woman in America in this respect. I didn't even have braces. Nothing. Booooring.

5. I hated cats immensely my entire life until two years ago when we randomly came home with one after a rogue visit to Petsmart. Royal changed my life, and I am now the proud owner of two cats, an always-full-no-matter-how-many-times-I-empty-it litterbox, an inordinate amount of cat figurines, and three, yes THREE, cat dresses. And sweatshirts. AND SWEATERS. CATS!

6. I sometimes voluntarily listen to Jim Croce and maybe even ELO. Don't judge.

7. I have THE biggest crush on Adrian Brody. Before you say "but what about that NOSE?" just take a look at this picture and then think twice. Ryan Gosling can suck it. And if you still judge me, so be it. I stand by my Adrian Brody obsession.

8. I won the spelling bee two years in a row in 5th and 6th grade. The first year I won with "pneumatic" and "codeine." Year two, I went head to head with this kid for so long that they had to move to random words in the dictionary.

9. I am the #1 Beatles fan of the universe. I got Revolver for my 8th birthday, and would lock myself in my room listening to all the albums. I even wrote stories to the entire Sgt. Peppers album. Nerd. Nerd, nerd, nerd. And proud of it. I was also obsessed with Weezer in 7th grade, was Rivers Cuomo for Halloween, and built a semi-creepy Weezer shrine in my room. I prefer NOT to think back on these days. The Green Album was where I jumped off that bandwagon.

10. I love my 1984 Westfalia Vanagon more than I will ever love my children. Once in my About page I said I would later regret saying that, but I won't. I really love her that much. Even though we just paid $600 to fix her yesterday. Van life!

11. RuPaul is my absolute hero. No joke. If you can't love yourself, how the HELL you gonna love somebody else? Can I get an amen?

Beca's Questions

1. If you had to put 3 things in a time capsule for future generations, what would they be?

My stuffed ewok, my favorite dress, and a note with all of my favorite things and hobbies.

2. What is one skill/craft you wish you could perfect?

Drawing. I've always felt so bummed that I can't draw. Sad trombone.

3. If you had to describe yourself in senses, how would you smell, feel, color, taste, etc?

I would smell like sugar cookies, feel like 70s velvet, be the color of olive green, and taste like honey toast. I.love.honey.toast.

4. How do you take your coffee or tea?

Cinnabon creamer every day of my life.

5. What is your favorite junk food/go to snacks?

Diet coke and Sunflower Market gummy bears. Yeah baby.

6. Describe the wall in front of you. What color is it, what's hanging on it?

A nasty cream that is redeemed by the wall-size Jimi Hendrix Bold as Love poster hanging on it.

7. If you could keep any animal for a day, without fear of getting maimed or killed, what animal would it be?

This fennec fox.

8. Have you ever sewn anything? If so, what was your best project?

Yes! I wish I was still into sewing, but I made a pretty cool dress out of a vintage sheet once.

9. Who in your family do you think you are most like?

My dad. We are musical, love donuts, and have this weird hole in the back of our ears. Very strange. I'll show you a picture sometime.

10. It's Sunday afternoon, what do you wish you were doing?

Sundays are for sleeping and Grey's Anatomy.

11. What was the first blog you started reading regularly?

A Beautiful Mess!

My tags and Questions

1. What is your spirit animal? (This is mostly a joke. Roll with it.)
2. What is your most embarrassing moment?
3. Would you rather have a tattoo of Patrick Swayze as a centaur or Chris Farley as a Chippendale's dancer?
4. What is playing on your iPod right this instant?
5. What is your dream place to live? If money and practicality weren't issues?
6. What do you want to be when you grow up?
7. If you could play any musical instrument, what would it be and why?
8. If you had to wear one last pair of shoes every day for the rest of your life, what pair would it be?
9. If you had to eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? (Mine is donuts, FYI. Serious.)
10. Would you rather kiss a wookie or an ogre?
11. What is your favorite part about spring?

I tag all of you! And specifically, Chantilly, Kate, Maria, Larissa, and Carmen. I'd tag Carly, but she's living it up in Cuba. LUCKY.

Happy weekend! I've got a whole lot of plans for a whole LOT of nothing. Couldn't be more excited if I wanted to be!!

I've had several of these decisions in my life--english or social work? Stay and finish school or drop out to get better? Logan or Salt Lake City? Law school or graphic design? Muesli or Apple Jacks? Just kidding on the last one. Although Muesli is delicious.

I recently came to another one of those pesky crossroads, and it was one I didn't want to deal with. At all. Mostly because it was scary but definitely because it would require an enormous leap of faith.

I quit my job.

Whaaaat? Crazy, I know. In fact, after quitting, I've been making that face a lot.

After working through an absurd amount of jobs, I finally had a full-time graphic design position for an Apple reseller. It was very exciting, I gained 2 years of exceptional design experience, and got to dabble in things I never thought I'd be able to--billboards, product packaging, social media--but I'm a firm believer that individuals are meant to be challenged, and after two years, I wasn't feeling creatively/socially/personally fulfilled.

So, here I am today. I've scooped ice cream, sold Vans shoes, hated life as a bank teller, cooked at a rest home, interned for a science journal,  made a breakthrough as an intern at the Vice President for Research office, wrote software manuals and hated it, wrote more at an information design company, almost shot myself working at a law firm, blogged for a radiant heating company, then found my calling as a designer at an Apple reseller.

But sometimes once you think you've found your calling, you realize that you really haven't found it at all and there's an entire journey ahead of you. At this point all of these jobs have showed me what I don't want to do, and now it's time to find out what I do want to do.

And thus this crazy journey begins. I'm now going to be a work-from-home champion working for Blowfish and loving life completely. I'll be filling in the cracks with freelance and some blog design. I cleaned out my office today ande made my new little workspace a home. All a bunch of little steps to hopefully get me one step closer to finding my calling in life, whatever that may be.

I quit my job on December 30, meaning 2012 started off as one enormous ball of optimism and enthusiasm. I couldn't be more excited to be working for such an awesome company and working from home. Of course, I'd be lying if I said the last two weeks at my design job haven't been bitter sweet--I'll miss all of the incredible opportunities I was a part of there along with my cooky coworkers. It was certainly a 2 years I will look back on fondly.

But--bottom line--this crossroads I've reached at age 24 required me to make this decision. Sometimes you have to grow up even if you really don't want to. Decisions can be scary, but from all the silly decisions I've made thus far in my life, I've found that each one brings a profound sense of confidence and self-meaning when all is said and done. No matter the ramifications of said decisions, good or bad, you always glean something meaningful about your life and learn something that helps you later in life--confidence, compassion, understanding, wisdom, all of the above.

Now onward to 2012 with joyful hearts filled to the brim with hope! Oh, and really the best part about this decision--being a full-time cat mom. I know one cat that's stoked about the sun in the new office...

Happy Wednesday!

Lately I've been loving a lot of things--mostly Christmas gifts I can't get enough of. And in an effort to seek out the small things that make my days great, here are a couple of things I'm loving this weekend.

Walking into my biohazard zone craft room and finding Royal completely wedged inside my new tablet box. He's crazy. There's not a box Royal met he hasn't liked.

My amaaaaaaaaaaazing fox gloves my friend Mel made for me! Mel is easily the most talented person I know. I asked her to make me some of these fox mittens, and I about died when she showed me the finished product. Mel, thank you! And be sure to stop by her shop! She's immensely talented!

These silly iPhone cases. I got the black cat one for Christmas and couldn't resist buying the white cat and the bear, too! They're so cheap!

And be still, my Star-Wars-loving heart. These two prints Mitchell got for me are my most beloved prints yet. Oh, Chewie! You scoundrel! You can get yours at this cute shop.

Lastly, I'm loving this unseasonably warm weather we're having. Usually Utah is being barraged with snow and face-melting cold, so these 50-degree temps are strange. Very strange INDEED! But I'll take it!

What are you loving today?

Until then, Mitchell and I go just about once a week. It's imperative to our survival. This week we hit up Ruth's Diner--a Utah local favorite. It's a sweet diner in an old trolley car straight out of 1949. The lady who started it was a cabaret singer in Salt Lake City from 1912-1916 basically meaning that Ruth's is the coolest place to eat breakfast in the valley.

These "mile-high biscuits" right here are the closest to heave you'll ever get as a mere breakfast-eating mortal. I guarantee it.

Well, 80-year-old self, I'll be there in a few, and we'll eat this asparagus/pepperjack omelette every day. Also, I really should write a post about working in that retirement home someday. Oh, the shenanigans!

What's your favorite breakfast joint?

It's true, and I'm sure you've noticed it. And after receiving two insanely thoughtful surprises from two incredibly talented blog friends the last two days, it hit me that I've been a real stinkpot lately about being a good blog friend in return.

Why is this? I don't know--I'd chalk it up to my extreme shyness or the fact that I'm forgetful 90% of the time, but either way I hate that I do it. I've met an inordinate amount of people via this blog that could be/probably are my long lost sistas from anotha motha. I've never really seen any other community that's so supportive and uplifting, and I would hope to always contribute to that feeling. You know--pay it forward and all that.

I guess I'm still learning about this whole blog business--including how to come out of my shell and connect with everyone despite the awesome social anxiety I inherited from my dad. (Thanks, Mike. Just kidding. It's all good.)

That being said, I wanted to extend the most enormous thank you possible to every single one of you who offered me congratulations on the new job. That meant the world to me, and I couldn't stop smiling all day. Thank you for supporting me and partying it up with me in my excitement.

And thank you to all of you for the increasingly kind comments I've received lately. I'm so sorry I didn't respond and let it be known that this crazy cat lady is working on it.

Thank you all for making and keeping the blogging world a positive and uplifting place. I promise to always do the same and interact with you on a personal level since that's what blogging is all about. It's not getting followers or sponsors or competition--it's about interacting with stellar people that you wouldn't otherwise meet. That's why I blog. Thank you for reminding me of that lately and for keeping it real with me.

Now get thee to the weekend! I hope you have lazy, lazy plans like I do!

Indeed. We spend most of our days at our condo's pool. Every day. After work. Find me here.

Today we will be celebrating the 4th with my favorite ladies--Jenny, Erin, and Laura from The Hungry Fashionista.

When it's 90+ degrees out for four months out of the year, you really have no other choice but to live in the pool.

Mmm hmmm.Happy 4th of July, everyone! Hope your day is full of parades, kicking back by the pool, and fireworks. Keep it real and wear your sunscreen!

PS--How are you surviving this summer? Is it ridiculously hot where you are like it is here? And do you love it or hate it? Because I'll be straight with you--I hate summer heat. Lots. But nothing a little pool time and limeade can't fix, right?