Some people zig...but I ZAGG!!

Hey!

So, I wanted to send an update about things going on with me.

A few months ago, a friend of mine, Ian Joy, approached me about starting a business with him. For the past 15 years Ian has been playing professional soccer. About 3 years ago I met him when I was working at Wells Fargo and he became a client of mine. Soon that professional relationship turned into a good friendship. When Ian decided to retire from soccer this year, he came to me with a business idea. We, along with his girlfriend Nichole Newbold, decided to open a franchise for a company called Zagg. Zagg is actually an acronym that stands for "Zealous About Great Gadgets" and they make and sell coverings for gadgets like cell phones, tablets, computers, e-readers, etc... Their corporate headquarters are here in Salt Lake City and as a company they are seeing tremendous growth and success.

After doing some due dilligence we decided to open our store at the St Louis Galleria Mall in St Louis, Missouri. We had our grand opening on May 13th, and now just a month later we are doing fantastic!! We have already signed a contract to open a second store in a nearby mall on September 1st and plan on opening at least 2 more in the coming months in the surrounding area.

I am keeping my career as a Financial Advisor and am in charge of running the books, doing payroll and inventory. Ian and Nichole moved to St Louis to run the day to day operations for the stores. I never imagined myself as a retail store owner, but I'm sure liking what I see so far. I am really excited to see where this takes us! Check out our website and let me know what you think! www.zaggcart.com/win If you decide you'd like to buy something, type in the code "CARTS10" when you check out to get 10% off of your order!

Winter Wonderland

I recently had a friend, Kenyon, come for a visit from out of town. He hasn't had much experience with snow and was completely excited to see what Winter Adventures awaited him here. The "big event" that I had planned was a snowmobile trip. We went with several of my friends...in fact there were 9 of us in all each with our own "sleds" as the experts call them. We started out at the Montage Resort at the top of Deer Valley, then we rode across the mountains into Midway and Heber where we stopped for lunch, then headed back. It was one of the most fun things I've done in quite a long time. Not that I'm keeping score or anything...but I was the only one in the group who didn't get stuck all day long! I don't know if that made me good or just more cautious than the rest of the riders!

The next morning we drove down to Zion's National Park. I've been to this beautiful park several times, but never during the winter and it was just gorgeous...although they happened to be having one of the biggest snowstorms in recent history. Most of the hikes that I am familiar with were too wet and muddy to go on, however we did the paved trail at the Temple of Sinawava. It was covered in about 3 inches of wet slush, and it was continuing to rain/snow, so by the time we returned to the car we were completely soaked though! We saw a few other hikers on the trail and at the end everyone left their mark by building a miniature snowman...we had a to be a little different, so we made a tribal mask smoking a pipe instead...yes...we're very creative. Haha!

Originally we had planned to go to Bryce Canyon the next day, but after looking at the weather and seeing that Bryce was suppose to be 28 degrees and snowing, we couldn't stand the thought of being soaked and cold for yet another day, so we decided to head back up to Salt Lake. Driving conditions were pretty treacherous...and after making it 60 miles in 2 hours we decided to stop and get a room in the thriving metropolis of Beaver. You know...when you come to spend the weekend with me, I don't spare any expense and only take you to the most luxurious destinations that Utah has to offer :)

The next morning we made it back to Salt Lake and were excited to see sunshine and blue skies. We decided to head to Park City and do some snowshoeing. It was really the perfect day for it!

It was really fun to have Kenyon here and to show off the beautiful state of Utah. I have had a wonderful winter and have really had a lot of fun getting out and enjoying the snow instead of my usual hybernation, wishing away the months until summer....but just so you know...secretly I can't wait until it's 90 degrees again!!

I'm back!

Hey everyone!

I know it's been ages since my last post...and I'm not going to make any excuses about why I've been away. Let's just say that I've been very busy and that things are going great!

With the start of the new year, I've decided to do something that I've never done before; I'm embracing winter and the Utah snow. I was born and raised in the beautiful state of Utah, and for as long as I can remember I have dreamed about moving to somewhere warm and tropical. I've actually done that a few times, but have always come back to the Beehive State. Now that I am happily resigned to living here I've decided that I need some fun winter hobbies to make the cold half of the year more enjoyable...instead of just hibernating and wishing for 90 degrees. Last year I took up snowshoeing and had a really fun time doing that.

This year I am taking ski lessons. My first lesson was yesterday and I had an absolute blast! I talked a friend into going with me and we signed up for the Alta's Adult Learn to Ski Program. I had such a great time and the best part is that I didn't fall down even once! We spent the day near the tow ropes and bunny hills (with all the children..heehee!) but I really feel like I learned a lot and can't wait to get out there again. We have four lessons total and feel confident that I will be a pro by the end of the season.

The best part is that I looked really adorable in my snow gear! Haha! This is especially important because I learned that there are a lot of out of hot male out of townies who travel in groups...my friend and I got chatted up a few times yesterday. All of them seemed very impressed that we were out for our first time and were anxious to give us tips and show us how it's done...I might have a new career as a ski bunny!