S U N -----> V A L L E Y

          hi, its been a while! i thought i should do a little catch up posting, and so that includes a fun trip me and jp took with our friends to Sun Valley at the end of the summer. I love to explore new places and to see things that i have never seen before.  i love to feel like every day holds something that i didn't know before that, and going out of town is the best way for me to feel that! One of my best friends owns a house up in Sun Valley, so a few of us decided we would tag along with them up there to have a little bit of last summer adventure! 

          First day there, was nothing short of perfect.  We went to the yummiest little breakfast nook and explored the main parts of town, taking in the sites and most famous parts of sun valley.  I was absolutely blown away by how incredibly beautiful up there it was!  The air is some of the cleanest and purest i have breathed in a long time. much needed... That night we went to these natural hot pots, and seriously visiting hot pots like these is one of my very favorite hobbies.  There is something so relaxing about lounging in pure minerals surrounded by tall trees and silence that just makes you never want to leave.  So it was a little bit scary but also really fun to be there at night because it was PITCH black, and i mean that... literally so dark, could not see a thing in front of you.

          The next day we went to a parade!  I'm not quite sure what it was called, but its equivalent to Utah's 24th of July... so needless to say everyone and their dogs (literally there may have been more dogs than there were people) were at this parade.  it was so much fun getting to see how much people who live their really love their town.  The people there were so nice, and offered us free food and drinks just because... it doesn't get much better than that! after we had paraded all morning, we went fishing in the river that runs right through town.  We spent the whole afternoon there catching no fish and daring each other to get into the freeeeezing cold water.  Eventually we all made it in! by the end of it all, our legs were numb for sure. that night we went swimming, ate more pizza than we should have, and went to the cutest old time theater that has been turned into a movie theater.  It was so cute and so much fun to see!

          On our last day there, we played it really low key, just trying to soak in our last day of freedom from all things stressful and crazy at home.  we went walking through the mountains and headed back up to the hot springs for one last soak before returning to reality.  It really was the perfect weekend getaway, and we can't wait to get back there and do it all over again! if you have never been up there, i really encourage you all to go see for yourself how beautiful it is there, you will love it! 

enjoy some pictures!

L a k e T a h o e

          So i know i promised last time that i would be posting about my love for thrift shopping, and i promise that i will, but really fast i just have to post about my family trip to Lake Tahoe.  This trip is always by far my favorite one, for about a million reasons.  I don't think there is anywhere more beautiful than Lake Tahoe, and no where really means more than there either.  My family has always loved to travel together and make memories, so growing up, my family and our whole extended family as well would always pack up the cars and drive down to Lake Tahoe.  It kind of turned into a tradition a long time ago when my dad and his siblings would go down there growing up as well, and stay in the most beautiful condos right on the lake.  So, in order to keep the tradition alive, we too have always stayed in these same condos, and i really couldn't imagine it another way.  There is something so amazing about Lake Tahoe, and the way we all feel when were there.  It really is like coming home- everything is so familiar and warm and it really is a place filled with love.  Its amazing to reminisce on old memories of growing up, and making new memories as a family.  I introduced JP to Lake Tahoe a couple years back right when we started dating, and he will tell you the same thing... there is just 'something' about LT.  While we're there we spend most of our time outside, boating around the lake and enjoying the most amazing scenery.  The water is always freezing, but seriously the most crystal clear blue water you will every lay your eyes on.  You can't help but practically live in it!  We fish for crawdads using way gross hot dogs, and scream every time they almost pinch us hahaha.  But that's just because we are all little girls...We go bike riding along the Truckee River, and hiking in the surrounding mountains, and it really is so refreshing to be able to connect with nature there.  If you asked any member of my family what our favorite thing about Lake Tahoe is, they would all tell you that its the s m e l l  of it that sets it apart from any other place!  I seriously wait for it every year... try and picture it if you can: A twelve hour car ride through mostly nothing but dirt and dead grass, and you finally come upon a canyon.  You know that everything good and lovely is just over the other side, and once you finally reach the peak, you roll down your window and your lungs are filled with the sweetest of sweet air! your hair is blowing in the wind and the sound that it makes brushing by your face and flailing out behind is innocent, and the air smells clean like pine trees and happiness- yes the air literally smells of happiness.  That is the only way i can describe it, and then you know, you're home. Here are some pics, enjoy!

The story of US .

          Okay, as promised before, I thought I should give you the background story of me and JP.  I know, I know all of these getting to know you posts are probably a little more than tiresome, but I thought that you should feel like you really know me before I start posting more fun things!  So, if you are still here... be patient with me. and thank you for checking back.  Those of you who are new to Vine Street, welcome! So happy to meet you! Go ahead and check out my previous post if you want more of the details on me and some of the things that i really love. Okay, here we go!
          So, to start off, i need to give you all a little background on where me and JP were in our lives up until we knew each other.  JP had just returned from Paris, serving his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in February of 2012.  Seeing as how he had been gone for the past two years, he decided he would dip his toes into the social networking system and start dating that way, talking to girls he had never met before.... Now, i wish that i could say that i was the very first girl that he contacted when he got home, but that's just not the truth!  JP is too cute for his own good, and had zero trouble finding anyone who wanted to date him.  I on the other had was trying NOT to date a single soul.  I had decided once starting college to date as many people as i could find. I really wanted to meet every single different kind of personality that I could find, to see what i really liked in a guy, and what i really didn't like. Now, I had dated people in the past, I wasn't foreign to relationships, and i knew the good ones from the bad ones... BUT! I wanted to know exactly what made a relationship go south, you know, trying to find exactly what things made me run from a guy, or the things that made me feel like I could maybe get close to them.  So i spent about a year and a half straight doing this, finding common traits that I liked and disliked among different men, and truthfully i probably hurt a lot of feelings along the way, (and i'm sorry) I distanced a lot of people. After doing this for a while, and figuring out the things I needed in a relationship, I actually grew tired of dating.  Like seriously tired of it... so i decided to stop. That was it, i just needed a break from it all. You know how they all go, the same interview questions, over and over again, and you're both trying to bring s o m e t h i n g  -  a n y t h i n g different or new to the conversation to spice things up, and just falling short. However, my dating hiatus didn't last me very long...
          One day I got a friend request from JP.... When i normally get a friend request, I check to see what friends we have in common, and in this case, we had NONE. literally zero mutual friends... So I kind of laughed, and clicked on him, thinking I would just look at his profile and never answer his friend request... But then I saw him... and he was maybe the cutest thing I had ever seen... and I was like okayyyy, well he is super cute... but he is probably not my type AT ALL! super judgmental right? I know. But as I scrolled through his profile, I saw that we had some things in common, and got pretty excited... I decided I would think about it and decide what to do later. The next day, my sister was laying on my bed with me and i decided to show her this guy who added me... we both agreed that I needed to add him, and truthfully I just really wanted to kiss him! I decided I needed to get the ball rollin' and wrote him a message the next day, it said exactly this," Heyyy.... you seem pretty cool! We should be friends." Kind of a lame intro right? I know. But it worked! He gave me his number and we texted for one day before we met...
          Now some of you might get mad at me for this part of the story... and looking back on it now, I totally and completely agree that I was incredibly stupid, and even in the moment, I knew I was stupid... So try not to be super angry... Okay, here goes nothin.
        It was 10 o'clock on a Thursday in May of 2012 and me and my man had been texting for one day.  I was pretty excited to meet him because since we had been texting I had learned we had a lot more in common than I originally thought. We both had an insane love for everything music, same taste in music, origami, Oreo's, the wind, and many more. And if you know me, you know that anyone who loves origami and Oreo's is a friend of mine... Anyways! My parents travel a lot, they have my whole entire life, so I was alone at my house a lot of the time. We were texting and he asked me what I was up to, and mind you at this time we had already scheduled a date for Saturday, and it was Thursday.  So, I told him I had just taken my parents to the airport, and that I was home alone. (First mistake, i know. None of you ever say that to someone you met online and have no friends in common with, okay?) He replied, "thanks for the invite." Thinking to myself that it was already 10pm, and that we already had plans for two days later, i decided it was a safe bet that he wouldn't come over if I invited him. I was wrong. I told him he could come over, and he replied by asking for my address. Shoot. I gave it to him. I know... mistake number 2... So I ran and got ready, completely unsure about how this night was going to play out, and trust me, I was terrified he was going to kidnap me. All of a sudden every worst case scenario played through my head, but... I didn't do anything about it, like I didn't even tell anyone I was hanging out with this mystery man... no one even knew that were WAS a mystery man...  Correct: mistake number 3. So I started to get really nervous that He wasn't going to be who he said he was going to be, so I decided I would wait for him in my garage instead of letting him come to my front door. Literally anyone could overpower me at my front door, but i figured i could just shut my garage if he wasn't who he said he was... I didn't really think about the fact that garage doors close verrrryy slowly... it just seemed like the best idea at the time...
          So he shows up at my house, and boy was I relieved that it was actually him!!! But then I did something none of you should ever do... I got right into his car.  I know. I know. I know. Mistake 4! How dumb of a girl could I be... Literally putting myself in the worst situations, and I am SO cautious, like I wish you knew how out of my comfort zone this was. I mean, I am scared of toilet papering... ask my friends. But I got in his car, and we were immediately best friends. It was literally like we had hung out dozens of times before, and our conversation seemed to pick right up where it would have left if we had ever met before.  W e went to dinner, (at taco bell, uh huh...) and then back to my house where he serenaded me on the piano for hours. And I. was. mesmerized. I'm serious, I couldn't take my eyes off of him. It was like the energy in the room was pulling me, no, dragging me as hard as it possibly could in his direction. I could hardly see straight. We then swapped some music, and make bracelets together, and talked and laughed and laughed and talked and talked and talked literally the entire night. I can remember his hand brushing my leg a couple of times while we were making bracelets, and I'm telling you, my world started spinning... and I was so confused because he was supposed to be this man that I had never met, but he felt so much like home that I didn't even know how to respond. The night flew by. It was almost 5 in the morning by the time he left my house, and I was completely surprised about how the whole night turned out! I was planning on having this kiss and no tell night with this extremely cute boy, but it was nothing like I had expected. I never imagined to click with this stranger how I did, but I wanted more of it... I don't think I recognized it at the time, but looking back now, I think I might have loved him that very first night. And he did too! The minute he left he texted his best friend and told him that he loved me... how crazy is that. Literally I never would have thought.
          We talked non stop after that first night, and couldn't wait to be together again on Saturday for our date! He picked me up and we went to dinner, and then came back to my house and watched 500 days of summer, which is both of our favorite movie! I can remember that very first time we cuddled, I LOVED it! Oh, i probably should have mentioned this before, my husband is 6'7"... so he is sort of big! He kissed me for the first time during that movie, and it was perfect. After that night, we spent every single day together, and fell more and more in love as time went on.  We became official the 3rd of July, and he told me he loved me a few days after that. But he didn't even have to say it, I already knew, because I felt the same. We dated for one year and one week before we got engaged, and were married in the Salt Lake Temple 2 months later on August 20, 2013. That was a perfect day. Now we are almost at our one year mark and we really are learning to love each other more all the time.
          Isn't that kind of a funny story? I never would have thought Facebook would have helped me find my  husband, but hey, don't knock it till you try it! Anyways here are some pics of us from our dating life, some wedding day, and a couple from married life! enjoy! I'll be back soon to post about thrift shopping, and to show you some of my favorite most recent finds!

                                                                             xoxo

little bits about me.

          Let's get to know each other! My name is Julie and I am super new to this blogging thing.  I think I am going to like it a lot once i am able to better get my thoughts together.  Let me tell you a little bit about me.  I am married to possibly the worlds most handsome man... he is insane and I have to introduce you to him. His name is JP, and I about die every time I lay my eyes on him!  I just turned 22 and he threw me a surprise party for me with all our friends to celebrate! Mostly he just spoiled me rotten all weekend long (and all the time, really) and we even got to watch some fireworks to top off the night! I'm so lucky.  I am about to graduate from the Utah College of Dental Hygiene and am going to become a dental hygienist just this next month! I cannot wait to be done with college and get back to enjoying the sweet life! It has been the hardest thing I have ever done, but it will totally pay off! 

          Also coming up next month is mine and JP's one year wedding anniversary!! I cannot BELIEVE it has gone so fast, and it seriously has been the best year of my life. I found the best guy.  really.  In honor of our one year anniversary, i am going to post some of our engagement pictures, bridals, and really just all of our wedding pictures because i love them all!  Jessica Janae Photography is amazing and took some killer wedding pics for us. I love her photo skills, and anyone and everyone looking for a photographer should look her up.  trust me.

          Okay, a little bit more about me, just so that we can really be friends... I love people.  I love meeting as many people as i can, and not just meeting people, but really knowing people.  I love the feeling of being able to truly know someone, and what they need.  I love friends, and try to make as many as I can.  Okay, no making fun, but i really do this:  I somehow find friends from all over the world, and talk with them through facebook.  It has really become one of my favorite things to do.  It has taken pen palling to a whole nother level. You should really try it! I have met some amazing people through instagram and talking with them through facebook. So, yes... I LOVE people.  all of them.

          I love outside. Our Utah mountains? are unreal.  so serious they are beautiful and amazing to hike in. One of mine and JP's favorite thing to do is to go exploring in the mountains.  It is amazing to see what beautiful things you will find up there.  So that's another thing, we love to hike and be outdoors.  I'm always begging jp to go on adventures, (and he always takes me) and those times are some of our favorite times.  I love the wind, mostly because i feel like it brings in the new and gets rid of the old.  It brings change, and I like that.  Also, next time its windy, just stop. . . . and really listen to the sounds the wind makes. I think you will gain a new appreciation for it...

          Taking pictures is an obsession of mine.  I love memories. I scroll and scroll and scroll through all of my pictures way too often.  but i just can't help it!  i just love to document the fun times, and the happiest times, so that i can always remember them.  but, i'm sure sometimes i go a little over board.

          Okay, okay, this is probably enough for my first post. Check back soon, i'm thinking my next post will be the whole story of me and my jp. So, if you are into that sort of thing, don't go too far.  And i PROMISE it's a good story that will probably have you laughing.  Here are those pics i promised up above^^^. So good to meet you!