long time no blog

As you may have noticed I have been a very bad blogger lately. I blame it on the fact that I now sit in front of a computer for 8 hours a day at work and have no desire to be near one when I come home. Plus I have been back to my incredibly busy self these days. Anyways, here's an update of some of the happenings in our lives. Sorry to lump it all together like this.

1.MERE'S JOB: The "new" job is going pretty good. The people are nice and we actually have more freedom in the design process than I expected. I had a really hard time being at a computer all day for the first couple of weeks but I think I'm finally getting used to that part of it. Also I haven't been new to a job in a long time (BYU library for 2 years, the Gap for 5 years) so it has been a little bit humbling to be the one who doesn't know what they're doing. Mostly at a time like this I'm just grateful to have a job where I can use some of the skills I acquired in college.

I usually try to go for a walk on all my breaks at work so I can stretch and get my blood pumping a little. I work in a very industrial part of Provo so the walks are not too scenic but I kinda think trash is interesting to look at (or at least it makes me want to go home and make a collage) so I sometimes take my camera along. Here are a few pics from one of my routes:











2.JAMES' JOB: James got a promotion a few weeks ago so he is no longer an intern! Although he is still only working part time, he now gets benefits like health insurance and retirement. It's pretty awesome.

3. PRINT EXCHANGE WITH BYU AND BYU-I: Last month I was back at my old stomping grounds working on a print for an exchange with 26 artists (BYU and BYU Idaho and a couple of local artists). It was so much fun to be back in the intaglio room and hanging out with my BYU art friends. I miss seeing them all the time. Although I procrastinated a little too much and didn't really sleep for a couple of weeks, it was a good reminder that I'm happier when art (esp. printmaking) is part of my life. I just have to learn to always leave a little time for it. I will try to post pics of some of the prints that I received in the exchange but if I don't get to it there will be a show in the fall at BYU with all the prints.

P.S. - speaking of being up at BYU...3 prints from my BFA show are up right now in the HFAC as part of the Annual Student Show.

4. GENERAL CONFERENCE: I have always looked forward to general conference weekend (when I was a kid I think it had to do with my mom's cinnamon rolls and watching church on TV instead of dressing up and going to Church on Sunday). Now I think I look forward to it because it is a much needed reminder to get my priorities in check and to be better, more hopeful, and more faithful. And as usual the talks this conference were exactly what James and I needed to hear.

On Saturday we had James' siblings over. We had a good time relaxing and being entertained by baby Trevor's every move. Also I attempted to make my own cinnamon rolls this year...they turned out okay but nothing like my Mom's. So far all my bread making attempts have been about like that so I guess I gotta keep working. On Saturday night we headed up to my parent's house in Midway and watched the Sunday sessions with some of my family. As usual we ate too much, played the Wii, and went for a walk to check out the new houses being built.


Here is Uncle James and Trevor. Trevor stayed like this for about 2 hours. James decided he might need to lose a little weight if his belly has become that comfortable.

5. EASTER: We were supposed to spend Easter Sunday at my brother's house but my Mom and my niece ended up being sick so we postponed the celebration. James' siblings were going to come with us to my brother's house so we ended up throwing together an Easter dinner of our own and eating it at our apartment. Christine, James, and I had already dyed eggs on Saturday in preparation for the annual egg roll so we decided to go ahead and have one out in front of our condo and it ended up being really fun. As usual James was the winner of the game. The weather decided to act like Spring yesterday and I was grateful we could all get out and enjoy it.










THE END!

March

A few things I love about March (in order):
1. A glimpse of Spring....it's amazing what a big difference a little sunshine and sandals can make after long, long, long, Utah winters.
2. March Madness...I love the adrenaline rush of back to back, down to the wire, college basketball games.
3. Girl Scout Cookies...no need for an explanation there.

Come on get happy...

Okay so I kind of want to apologize because my blogging lately has been kind of depressing. In fact my friend Kate told me "I glad you got a job so you will start having happy posts again"...which made me laugh really hard but also feel a little bit guilty for complaining so much. Anyways in sunday school at my parents ward today the teacher mentioned an article he found in the NY times talking about a study that showed happiness is contagious. I believe it and I know I need to work harder at accentuating the positive. We are so blessed and I was grateful to have the reminder today that I have a million reasons to be cheerful. Here is the link: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/is-happiness-contagious/?emc=eta1. Sorry I couldn't get the little blogger link thing to work. I'm not sure if this is the same article he found but I think it is taken from the same study. I especially like the part about if your friend's friend becomes happy it has a bigger impact on your happiness than a $5,000 extra dollars in your pocket.

Weekend Update

James and I have actually had lots of excitement the past few weeks which is probably why I haven't posted in awhile. It really has been a lot of random events and the order of those events is kind of jumbled in my head so I apologize if this post doesn't make any sense. I am trying to put most of it in list format so there is some order. Here we go:

1. Rachel (James' sister) and her husband Ryan had their baby Trevor Arthur Stephens. He is adorable and James and I have had a lot of fun going over to visit him. They even let us hold him...ha ha...I think we are both scared of holding newborns so we are trying to get over that.
2. I got a job as a graphic designer at a scrapbook company (the interview I talked about in the last post). I start on Tuesday and I am a little nervous because I know nothing about scrapbooking. But mostly I am excited to have something to do. Hopefully it won't be too rough of an adjustment after my several lazy months.
3. We went to the Draper Temple open house James' mom and his sister Christine. It is a beautiful temple and it was so fun to take a tour through it. I can't believe how windy it is in Draper though!
4. James' dad and brother Blake came to town for Trevor's baby blessing (his mom was already here helping Rachel with the baby) and we had a good time going bike shopping for James' Dad at all the local bike shops. Sunday was the blessing. It was a really nice blessing and it was fun to get together with everyone. Plus Ryan's mom gave me a quick lesson on how to crochet!!!
5. I entitled this last week as "freedom week" because it was my last week of very little obligations. I was able to work on some letterpress projects, go to the gym/yoga class, work on my sock monkeys, work on house drawings with James, practice my bread making skills (which still need of lot of work...I place most of the blame on our crappy oven though), meet up with some old friends, visit the BYU printmaking wing, and get involved in some art projects. It's amazing how knowing something is going to be gone soon makes you much more appreciative and productive.
6. James and I were able to go to a couple friends' art shows in the HFAC and to the gallery stroll. I was so happy James was able to leave work a little early on Friday and go with me. Definitely go the HFAC and check out Whitney Johnson's show and Laura Reynold's show.
7. James and I escaped to my parents house in Midway this Sat and Sun. We spent a lot of time driving around looking at houses. We have been doing far to much of that lately but James loves to look at houses and draw house plans and now he's got me hooked. Mostly we just dream about the day when we will own a house. We also ate a lot, watched Flash of Genius (okay movie), and played a lot of Mario Kart. Sometimes it's just nice to get out of Provo.

Here are a few pics from our activities...sorry I didn't get any pics of cute Trevor with my camera:


Me at the letterpress in my lovely apron.


My sister-in-law Andrea commissioned me to do a letterpess print for a friend's baby shower. She told me that her friend liked vintage robots so this is what I came up with. I have lots of extras so if you're interested...


A house James and I liked in Midway


Out of all the houses we drove by this weekend we liked this one the best. The picture below is the same house just farther away.

random/ very long/ too personal post

Sometimes I feel like I share a little too much personal information on our blog. Normally I'm not really one for sharing my feelings. But some reason it seems like it's easy to do that on a blog. However, I figure since I'm terrible at keeping a journal, I can at least go back and read the posts on our blog (along with everyone else...yikes!). Anyways here are some things that I have been feeling like writing down - random remembrances and the personal.

First, I had a funny experience on Valentine's Day that reminded me of two other funny valentines experiences I had in high school. As I mentioned before James was out of town for V-day so I volunteered to babysit for my brother. When he and his wife got home they were talking about their dinner and how Matt's "feast for one," wasn't much of a feast. I have experienced the "feast for one" at Brick Oven and was surprised to hear him say that. We then figured out that the waitress never explained to Matt that he was supposed to go to the pasta bar to get the rest of his food. They decided they should call and complain. The manager said they could come in and pick up the rest of their dinner but they decided it wasn't worth it. I however live very close to Brick Oven so they told me I should go get it. I'm not one to pass up free food so I went for it. It was only when I started walking into the restaurant alone at 9:30 PM on V-day I realized what I was doing was a little weird. As I arrived at the pasta bar alone with a very large plastic take out container, I realized the guy running the pasta bar was an acquaintance from my freshman year. I definitely turned a little red and proceeded to have a very awkward conversation during which I attempted to explain why I was there.

This experience made me remember how my junior year of high school I had a Valentine's Day party at my house. In preparation I went to the grocery store and stocked up on A LOT of Blue Bell ice cream. Anyways, as I was heading to the check out with my arms full of ice cream I ran into the young "hot" track coach from my high school. He laughed and looked at me like I was the saddest creature on the face of the earth and I'm pretty sure he believed all that ice cream was for me and me alone. I said a very quick hello and ran away.

Thinking about that made me remember v-day my freshman year of high school. I was putting my books in my locker before first period wearing my new red shirt when out of no where this kid jumped around the corner pulled at my shirt and poured some kind of hot sauce/salsa concoction down it before I could do anything. I turned to see who the culprit was saw that it was one of the boys from the Special Ed class. What was I supposed to do...beat him up? I ran to class told my teacher I would be late, went back to my locker grabbed my track shirt, went to the bathroom and attempted to clean myself off. Let's just say I smelled like a lovely jalapeno for the rest of the day. Later that day my mom called the school to tell them what happened and they told her he must have "escaped" from his class and that he had a fascination with pouring things. Ahhh the memories.

Now for the personal. Life has been interesting lately. I feel stuck, cramped, lost and literally bored to tears. I think of things to do but I know if I get all my art stuff out it will overwhelm our apartment and I will be stir crazy after 10 mins. I have not been handling the graduation transition very well. I miss school a lot. I miss people. I never realized how much small daily interactions meant to me. I miss printmaking. I want to spread my stuff all over the intaglio room and answer the little freshman's questions while I work. Art is tricky...it's hard to finish a big project and to start something new, it's especially hard to do it alone. I am trying to figure it out because I love making things and I need to learn to do it all by myself like a big girl. So here's the favor I ask - be my art friend. Come do a project, send me a cool link, mail me a collage and I'll mail you one back. Tell me to get off my butt and go make something!

I have a job interview tomorrow. We'll see what happens. I'm scared. In most ways I want a full-time job - I love schedules and I love being around people all day. Plus I know I have a lot of time ahead of me to do lots of things. However, in some ways I feel like kind of a sell-out. I know that's weird but I'm sure most artists feel like that at some point in time. I just keep reminding myself of what one of my favorite optimists said:

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride." - President Gordon B. Hinckley

Numero Uno

Although James left me for Valentine's Day, he returned victorious! His Construction Management team took first place at their competition. I am very proud of my national champ...he and his team worked really hard and spent a lot of time planning so I'm glad it all paid off! Here are some pics from the event:






To make up for his absence on Valentine's Day we went on a fun little adventure last night. One of my favorite shows is Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network and the other day they featured a BBQ place in Salt Lake. I am on a constant quest to find good Brisket in Utah (a very difficult task) so of course I had to go try it out. It was pretty good. Definitely best brisket I've had here and James' pulled pork sandwich was delicious. It's called Pat's and it's in South SLC...give it a try. Our adventure also included a stop off at Nordstrom Rack (at my demand...although it was quite disappointing this time) and Ikea (at James' request). It was a fun evening and I'm glad to have my James back!

Spring cleaning

Today has just been one of those days where you have big plans to get so many things done and you get through about 1/3 of what you had planned to do. James left for his CM competition in Reno today and won't be back until Saturday night (we have only spent one night apart our entire marriage so I think I'm going to be lonely these next few days). Anyways I got up at 3:30 am to drop him off on campus for the trip. I came home planning on crawling back into my bed and falling promptly back to sleep. No such luck. I finally fell back asleep around 5:30 am and accidentally slept until 10:30. I hate sleeping that late. You wake up and feel like the day is already a waste. Cleaning our house was on the top of my list of things to do so I started with that. The problem with a day like today is that I have no obligations, no where I have to be at any specific time. For most of you this probably sounds wonderful, but don't worry having nothing to do is highly overrated. The problem is I make a huge list of stuff to do in my head. Then start one thing and realize that I might run out of time to do the other things and run around like crazy person. For example, part way through cleaning our fridge I decide to clean out my closet. After getting rid of half of my shoes and old t-shirts I go back to the kitchen. The fridge is wide open and half of the contents is on the counter. oops. And now I'm blogging while the contents of my closet is on my bed and my kitchen is half cleaned. Back to work.

PS. One random thing that happened to me today: My mixer that I have only used 4 times stopped working several weeks ago and I took it in to see if it could be repaired. They called and left me a message on Monday that it wasn't covered by the warranty and that it would be $173 to fix it - I didn't call them back. They called me again today to see if I would like to fix it. No thanks. I told them I'd just come pick it up. Then an hour later they call me and tell me they accidentally fixed it already and that I can come pick it up free of charge. I guess it pays not to return phone calls sometimes or maybe my luck is changing.