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Emma Johnson

@emma_leone

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Catch me reppin’ years like @baskinrobbins be reppin flavors🍦I didn’t ~ask~ to turn 31 but honestly I didn’t ask to turn 28 either. Another year, another flavor of Emma #capricornseason taken in Salt Lake City by @emma_leone

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6 months ago

For the people of Gram but probably mostly my mom, I bring you Part 2 of things learned in 2025:

1️⃣3️⃣ Just because it ~seems~ like the pieces aren’t falling into place doesn’t mean they’re not. Let them fall. We might have expectations, but life is full of surprises. You could end up with a picture that’s better than the one in your head.

1️⃣4️⃣ And if that’s true then I think the opposite has to be true. Just because it seems like things are falling apart doesn’t mean they are. The pieces might belong somewhere else.

1️⃣5️⃣ If you’re gonna ask a stranger to take a picture, pick a sober stranger. (Last pic)

1️⃣6️⃣ John Mayer and DeadMou5 are on Raya. (No we did not match).

1️⃣7️⃣ Photo memory should go up as brain memory goes down. I know we’re supposed to live in the moment. But my camera roll retains everything my head could not. I love rediscovering the things of life that I didn’t even know I had forgotten.

1️⃣8️⃣ Seeing your older brother become a dad is a unique kind of wonderful. But seeing your little sister become a mom is its own kind of wonderful.

1️⃣9️⃣ My talons and I have gotten really good at typing wrong. 💅🏽 I’m trying to unlearn.

2️⃣0️⃣ I finally retired my CA license plates and I didn’t even cry.

2️⃣1️⃣ I finally retired my whole vehicle and only cried a little. (Enough mems for her own post tbh. 🚙)

2️⃣2️⃣ Passports can be renewed completely online. You can submit your own choice picture and everything. Love a good DIY ✨

2️⃣3️⃣ I have sympathy for the skiers but this has been the best Utah “winter” I’ve ever had. ☀️

2️⃣4️⃣ The years get shorter as these lists gets longer. It seems like I’ve got so much I’m supposed to learn in what feels like less time.

2️⃣5️⃣ But aging really is a privilege.

Happy New Year! by @emma_leone

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7 months ago

Welcome back, friends! My 9th annual list of [25] lessons, surprises, & victories, 2025 edition:

1️⃣ This was the first year I kept a note on my phone for this and compiled / reflected over time. So many of these lessons I’m “relearning” as I look back at them. Highly recommend.

2️⃣ When patience doesn’t come easy, count the things that were worth the wait. Knowing the list can only grow makes waiting a little bit easier.

3️⃣ Killer whales are technically dolphins.

4️⃣ I denied this one for years but canned sodas absolutely expire.

5️⃣ Sometimes, NOT making a decision is in fact the right decision. Does being undecided seem like skipping a multiple choice test question? Incomplete? Something that counts against you?
…….who decided that?

6️⃣ If you think you can get by on no sleep, you are probably right, but the day will be terrible.

7️⃣ There is such thing as invisible fire. (I should clarify I did NOT learn the hard way. I only learned it.)

8️⃣ Energy is so real. Align your attitude to your goals and those things (and people) will find you.

9️⃣ Case and point: I can’t believe I found another who hates raw onions as much as I do. (Are there more of us?)

1️⃣0️⃣ I delivered Zupas catering in college. Sweet gig tbh. Sometimes I’d drop things off at big adulty conferences and I’d wonder what my future “adult” life would look like. For some reason, it was like I had decided that life after struggling in college would look like placing catering orders for work events. In 2025, I got promoted and started placing catering orders for work events. After a while, I realized. I had arrived. I’m a whole adult now. When? How?
If you catch yourself wondering what it would be like to finally come out the other side of something, stop & take inventory. Maybe you already did.

1️⃣1️⃣ Pay attention to detail. My bag of beef jerky said “refrigerate after opening”. Since when??

1️⃣2️⃣ You might not be as old & decrepit as you think. Once I got to the bottom of my fatigue (finally), I became fun & spontaneous again like it was 2012. From vitamins to weekend trips, we deserve both kinds of self-care.

Part 2 tomorrow ✨ by @emma_leone

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7 months ago

My New Year Resolution of 2023 was to take more pictures and post more pictures.
…welp.
It’s never too late to start over, kids. 📸 by @emma_leone

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a year ago

24 things I learned or was surprised I did in 2024 part 2:

January goes by a lot faster when you have a birthday in it. Consider giving it a try.

Apparently your Xfinity bill is negotiable.

I train people how to administer psych meds. It’s way more fun with visuals and candy. (I need a funnier fake name though. 🤔 Drop your suggestions in the comments.)

My niece and nephew are at a coherent age where they hardly remember so many of my cherished memories with them.

Good thing every home video we’ve ever made fits into my pocket.

And has a search feature.

But if a camera has the nerve to remind me that I am starting to wrinkle, then I think the camera is a little too good.

Cats are deathly allergic to lilies. My 29.5 years on earth did not teach me that. Higher education did not teach me that. Google search and a false alarm did. 🫠 Speaking of humbling experiences…

I can’t bake at sea level apparently. I’ve made a few good sourdough loaves (it’s a game of roulette albeit) in UT but then I go home to CA, try to show off to my parents, and all of a sudden it’s like my first day on the job. Who knew flour and water could keep you so humble.

Attending family functions stag is like your teacher telling the class to pair up but you don’t have anyone to stare at and make a nonverbal contract with because you have no friends in that class. Otherwise, it’s great. Unrelated, if anyone is looking for seasonal part time work and considers their weakness to be “perfectionism” or “people-pleasing”, HMU.

Every time you get a raise, your rent will go up. Why hustle when you can just…run in place?

If Bezos stopped working to read this post, he would lose over $120,000. 🫠

Happy 2025 everyone! by @emma_leone

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a year ago

Time really gets away from me. But I’m 8 years in so I can’t stop now…24 things I learned / surprised myself with in 2024:

Part 1/2

The days get shorter with age. No wonder I’m so late with these.

And also, the easier the year, the less you learn. I look back at The Best of Emma’s Annual New Year Posts and the toughest years yielded the most interesting and funny reflections. So, you can actually be happy for me when you realize this one isn’t all that special. 😂

Being closer to 40 than 20 is a thought I could stupor on until I AM 40.

Change is still the worst. But if it weren’t for change, we’d still be dead faced in family portraits or marrying our late spouse’s sibling apparently.

In June, I took the LSAT. Woof.

I did worse than I thought.

But better than I could have.
(2025 edit: stumbled upon a promotion so that J.D. is TBD.)

I’ve been pulling from the dirty dishes at work. ☠️ Two years, guys. Hopefully these antibodies will carry me through 2025.

Working with teens always gives me new material for these. Sometimes I’m surprised by what gets flushed down the toilet, or taped to the walls in a state of unrest. There’s always the chaos, but there’s always the growth. The point is, our teachers remember us. And for any of my formers who find this, I think about you all the time.

I’ve yet to meet anyone who can cut a pomegranate better than me. Not cocky. Just selfaware.

I bought CAT FOOD for Black Friday. What a spree.

Someone asked me what my biggest takeaway from my 20s is. Vv thought-provoking. I’m realizing that it’s pointless to have regrets. I think I’d keep everything the same if I knew I’d end up in the same place. I like it here. I like all of you.

To be continued by @emma_leone

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a year ago

Officially 6 for 6 ☑️ #byualumni
🧑🏻‍🎓1984
👩🏻‍🎓1985
👨🏼‍🎓2011
👨🏻‍🎓2014
👩🏼‍🎓2018
👩🏼‍🎓2024 taken in BYU by @emma_leone

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2 years ago

Okay okay, still not as late as I was last year! Seventh annual post: 23 things I learned and was surprised I did in 2023…

Well crap I didn’t post all year. Miss me?

I thought I’d miss being a manager when I switched companies. NO I DO NOT. 😎#SerenityNow

You’re never too old to send rough drafts of every professional email to your parents first.

I’ve accepted that I’ll never grow out of the aesthetic of a 5 year old: pink and bling.

You know inflation is bad when movie theater snack prices suddenly don’t seem as daunting as they used to be.

Less money, more problems.

Leave your kids 🐈‍⬛ 🐈 home alone for the weekend and there just may be 5 feline embryos when you return. 😵‍💫 (Disclaimer: I got them fixed as soon as I could, just wasn’t soon enough.)

Contrary to science and trends in the wild that cat dads are usually uninvested/threatening, it was such a sweet surprise to see how much Butterscotch loved each of his babies.

I was not prepared for how hard it would be to see them go. Im so thankful they all went to relatives and friends, but in another life, I kept them all.

You can stop feeling sorry for anyone who refuses to help themself.

It’s not “bicep”, it’s “biceps”. Like, flex your left biceps.

If you’ve got a specific craving, Google a bunch of tasty words and bookmark those gems. Tried and true examples: strawberry poptart pancakes, and eggnog French toast casserole.

My brother in law is also my fourth cousin.
Why have a family tree when you can have a family wreath?

There’s CA winters, UT winters, and then there’s Park City winters. Last winter took me to SCHOOL.

Experience 15 degree weather and suddenly 50 degrees is the new 75 degrees.

I took up gardening. I knew it would either be fruitful, or become a graveyard. It was a graveyard. Haunted by yours truly.

I won’t compare trying to grow a garden to trying to raise kids…but I really really want to. 🙄 Maybe it’s more like a high maintenance girlfriend. I loved her the best way I knew how.

(Cont. in comments) by @emma_leone

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3 years ago

Never too late to reflect! So much I meant to post last year and didn’t, so my usual list of things I learned also included things I’m surprised I did in 2022:

1️⃣I have no idea when I got so bad at posting. Or responding🐢 But speaking of slow paces…
2️⃣Forgive at your own pace
3️⃣Grieve at your own pace
4️⃣Mom says you don’t have to let it go but you can let it be
5️⃣You can’t be betrayed by an enemy
6️⃣I auditioned for the Utah Jazz. When I didn’t make it as a center I auditioned for the dance team. (Only half of it is a joke.)
7️⃣I know even less what I want to be when I grow up. Taking ideas 👇🏼
8️⃣I took a liking to cats.
9️⃣I got cats.
🔟More than 1 pet = you don’t know who pooped
1️⃣1️⃣Sometimes I can’t tell if I’m dealing with some depressies or becoming more introverted. Maybe I’ll learn the difference in 2023.
1️⃣2️⃣I always wondered as a kid if teachers could tell if they were liked by students. Being on the other side (in a way): yeah you can tell. 😉
1️⃣3️⃣Winning the lottery sounds actually miserable. Look it up. I can now scrape together my absurd heating bill a little more contently.
1️⃣4️⃣Wanna go organic? Better eat it by the end of this sentence or else it’s expired.
1️⃣5️⃣Getting paid to exercise is an excellent use of time.
1️⃣6️⃣So I became a barre instructor.
1️⃣7️⃣Ugh I’ll literally never be able to spell exercise correctly. Thanks, autocorrect. 🥲
1️⃣8️⃣I can no longer rage at concerts without killing my knees and back. If this is where aging starts, YIKES.
1️⃣9️⃣You can drink too much water.
2️⃣0️⃣I still hate snow. Why did I take a job in Park City?
2️⃣1️⃣I’ll never get bored as long as I have Scrabble on my phone. If you need to get in touch with me (see #1) try challenging me to a game. I’ll be there.
2️⃣2️⃣A year just really isn’t that long anymore, is it?

Let’s make it a good one. 🥂 by @emma_leone

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4 years ago

The ~nap~ will be the real finisher 😴 #13point1 #moonlighthalfmarathon taken in Mapleton, Utah by @emma_leone

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4 years ago

Spotted: Emma from Selling Sunsets 🏠 taken in The Oppenheim Group by @emma_leone

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4 years ago

This was the Summer of Doin’ Stuff but honestly I just killed all my house plants. (Guilty plea, accomplice: @gabbcis)

I also did some stuff.

#stuff #summer #plantmom? taken in Sherman Library and Gardens by @emma_leone

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4 years ago