Batman heart

MIA

2012-02-05T22:34:00.000-08:00

I've been MIA all month. I know I'm not the best blogger but I don't think I've missed a whole month before, but eh - whatcha gonna do? It has been a great and interesting January.

1. My best friend came up from Utah and surprised me so I was able to ring the new year playing with her. We had so much fun! Oh, I just love Miriam! (PS Miriam, you better come visit me while I'm in Hawaii!)

2. We had some major flooding. It was crazy. We had a lot of snow one day. Then the following day the snow melted and it started raining. It rained constantly for 3 days (and I mean constantly) and we got almost 7 inches of rain. LUCKILY (a.k.a answers to prayers) the rain stopped, even though the forecast was for 3-4 more days of rain. There were some areas that were hit hard though. I was ok, but areas not too far from me weren't.

3. I have a new niece! She's almost 2 weeks old and she's adorable! She was 4 lbs 15 oz & 18.25 inches long. My sister took some cute photos of Miss Emma Rae on her blog.

4. Work is busy. I was given new stuff, which I started at the beginning of January. So I've been getting used to the new projects at work. The good thing with work being busy is that the days go by fast. And I mean fast! I'm really enjoying my new responsibilities.

5. I've still been doing art commissions and it surprises me that I've done so many dog paintings. I'll do a post and show the paintings I've done so far. It's been fun bringing in some extra money as an artist. It's definitely not enough to pay the bills but it's perfect for some extra to the college savings.

6. I'm co-chair to the activities committee at church and our committee had to be built basically from scratch... I think there were 2 left in the branch.... so I was scrambling to get the January activity and the committee to the point that we're ahead of the game. (You know, so there's not so much that needs to get done at the last minute). We're very close to that.... I think a few more meetings and we should be there.

Yay for January and happy February to you!

Photo Friday

2011-12-30T00:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas time!

2011-12-28T18:35:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I love this time of year.

I love how people are more generous and kind to each other, (but for some reason if you're at a place of shopping that might not be so true...). Did you read the articles about people paying off other's layaways? How awesome is that?!?

I love how people focus more on Christ throughout this season. (But why can't that be done all the time?)

I love how there's a focus on family time too. That's one of my favorite parts is having our Christmas Eve party and chilling with family on Christmas Day. This year we were missing two of the brothers, but it was still fun.

PS - Laura & Larry got me a longboard!

Isn't she a beauty?!?

Why so serious?

2011-12-28T18:26:00.001-08:00

I've learned that it's important to laugh at yourself. We all do stupid things. So here's my latest stupid thing:

A couple of days ago I posted that I received an acceptance letter.... well I received a hold letter and I interpreted it wrong. Oops! Luckily I was accepted. So I now know I'll be attending Fall 2012 at BYU Hawaii! Yay! I can't wait! BYU Hawaii & a Bachelor's degree here I come!

You know, I don't think I would have found that as amusing if I wasn't accepted. Luckily I don't have to find that out :-)

Photo Friday

2011-12-23T00:30:00.000-08:00

Preston England Temple

Oaxaca Video

2011-12-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

Here's video #1. I don't like to do very long videos so I've separated them. Part 2 isn't quite complete but part 1 is!

Exciting news!!!

2011-12-21T20:30:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to return to school for quite some time now. I have an Associates Degree but I want more. Not knowing what I want to study is part of the reason it has taken me so long to act on this desire. The other part was self-doubts that I could do it - like 'I'm past college-age' type of self doubts.

Last year I decided what I wanted to study and I set a goal for myself to go back in 2012 - specifically January. This year started to wind down and I was in the process of deciding on the university. I had a feeling to deter from my plan of looking at Oregon Universities and decided to take a chance at applying to BYU Hawaii. It was a school that had crossed my mind many times, but I always disregarded it because I didn't think I was good enough. But I decided the worse thing is the answer is no and if I didn't try I would be plagued with 'what ifs' and the feeling to apply was pretty strong.

So I put in an application and I waited....

While I waited I kept being plagued with thoughts of being too old and thoughts that I have a good job and should stay with it (which is true, I work for a great company that has been VERY good to me).

Luckily while I was in Oaxaca I had the opportunity to hand out Elementary and Middle School Completions Certificates. Whenever those thoughts would enter my brain I thought of this experience. These certificates were special. They were through the adult education program. These adults (some my age, some a little younger, and some older) are working on receiving their education for elementary and middle school. They were so happy to receive the certificate and they plan to continue with their education. I think of them to remind myself that I'm not too old. We're never too old for education.

Finally the other night my waiting ended.... I was ACCEPTED!!!! Wa-hoo!!!

In other news I finished part 1 of the Oaxaca video & it's scheduled to post tomorrow

Photo Friday

2011-12-16T00:30:00.000-08:00

Stonehenge, England

Dilemmas, dilemmas, dilemmas....

2011-12-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

Do you watch Big Bang Theory? Sheldon (the character that makes the show) is socially awkward and a planner. There have been times when his character does things that I do, which usually make me go "nooooo!" (Does this mean I'm socially awkward? I believe the answer is, yes at times I am.) But we both share the trait of planning.

I don't always plan, there are times that I will do things in the spur of the moment, but there are times that planning is essential.

Yes, I will make plans that will map out a year. I have made a plan and now an opportunity / choice has come up that will disrupt the said plan. It's a good opportunity / choice but there are question associated with it:

Is it right to change the plan?

Am I supposed to make this change to my plan?

Does the Lord have a different plan for me?

I definitely have some praying and thinking to do......

On another note I'm almost done with my Oaxaca video, in fact I'm hoping to complete it today!

Photo Friday

2011-12-09T00:30:00.001-08:00

Edinburgh, Scotland

Oaxaca, Mexico

2011-12-06T22:30:00.000-08:00

The trip to Oaxaca, Mexico was a couple of weeks ago and it definitely was a life changing trip. It put things in my life in perspective. Oh my goodness, I've never seen people work so hard. (I'll explain about the work we did at the Kindergarten in another post - with pictures! And then you'll see what I'm talking about.)

The program is set-up as in we're helping the community with their project. It's not our project. This way the community is taking the pride in the school and when it needs repairs they will step in. The program fees paid for the supplies (these are very poor communities) at the school we worked at and other schools in the area. You may be thinking, "why is the government not paying for these schools." The government supports schools in wealthier areas not schools in the city dump and outlining areas. Which is where we are working.

We went to visit the other schools that received project funds from our program fees to meet the kids and see their projects. The families in these areas were so thankful for us that each school threw us a fiesta and just kept feeding us. Every meal had meat in it. These families are so poor that they're lucky to get meat once a month.

There were so many students at these schools but we only had a few supplies, but we did have enough to give the teachers notebooks and each student a pencil. Yes, you read that correctly a pencil. And those kids were so excited to receive it. Some parents tried to take the pencils from their child since it was lunch time, but they would not give it up. Some kids were grasping the pencil so tightly that their knuckles were white.

One girl was asked "You have your pencil and your pencil sharpener, how come you haven't sharpened the pencil?" She replied "We're about to eat lunch and I might break the tip. If I break the tip some of my pencil has been wasted. I don't want to waste my pencil." One little boy loves art and math so he wants to be an architect. He was so excited to get a pencil so he can work on what he loves.

Did I mention that these homes and these school buildings are tin shacks? No electricity and no running water. Their bathrooms are an outhouse - which is a smaller tin shack. At one of the schools the bathroom is slanted because it's on a small cliff's edge. Don't worry this is an important project and money has already been given to their school to build a new outhouse and the ground has been broken.

Once a school has been operating for a certain amount of time the government is required to build them a building. The school that is literally in the city dump has been operating for that amount of time. The government is building them an actual building! Two days before our team leaves the government came back and said that the community needs to raise 55,000 pesos for the building to be built. The leader of the organization that we went with (Friends of Pimpollo) said it will happen. He didn't know how it would happen but it will happen. So the government began breaking ground. This very poor community that scavenges through the dump to survive did everything they could to raise money but were only able to raise about 9,000 pesos and they were afraid that the government would request the money any day.

The night before we visited this school we were chatting and our team (I had the opportunity to work with some amazing people on this team) began to pitch in money. Some were only able to pitch in a little and some were able to pitch in a lot. In less than 5 minutes we came together and were able to raise the money this school needed. The leader in Mexico speaks English but it's limited and we were talking too fast so he wasn't sure what was happening. After the money was raised he was told "It's done." He only was able to get out "You guys..." and then he started to cry and then we all started to cry. Did I tell you we were out to dinner? The waiter came and brought us all new napkins.

The next day when we went to visit this school the kids were amazing! (All the kids were amazing. They have big plans!) They put on a cute performance for us as their "illustrious guests." The agenda was to discuss fundraising ideas with the school. So after the performance a boy about the age of 8 gave a speech (that's where the illustrious guests came from) and he said he had never thought he'd ever be able to attend school in a concrete building with windows. He mentioned that their parents have done all they could to raise the money but haven't been able to and he had asked us for our help. I think our whole team was crying during this speech. It was wonderful to watch their reactions as John (team leader) told them that we raised the money the night before.

There was so much that we did and I would love to share more, but this is already super long.

I've been Christmas busy and haven't had time to process the photos (boy do I have lots!), so I'll have another post (hopefully soon) with stories and photos. (You'll get to see all the hard work we did at the Kindergarten, the other schools, the community center, and some ruins!)

Photo Friday

2011-12-02T00:30:00.000-08:00

Bath, England (February, 2011)

Photo Friday

2011-11-25T00:30:00.000-08:00

London, England (February 2011)

I'm back!!

2011-11-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

I'm back from Oaxaca and it was an amazing week. It was a definitely a life changing trip. I have many photos to process & some video to edit. I'll post some pictures and stories soon. It'll be easier telling the stories on my blog since I cry when I tell people in person. It was a very emotional week (but rewarding).

I met some great people and many great kids.

Photo Friday

2011-11-18T00:30:00.000-08:00

Berlin, Germany, March 2011

Highland Tour Part 4

2011-11-16T00:30:00.000-08:00

Here are the final photos from my Highland Tour:

We had a stop at Inverness

And then back to Glasgow for me to head home!

Highland Tour Part 3

2011-11-15T00:30:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pictures of my Highland Tour (why do one long post when I can drag it out for four posts, right?)

As we drove through Glencoe the tour guide told us about the massacre that happened there and then we stopped off at the three sisters for the view and photos.

To be continued one more time...

Highland Tour part 2

2011-11-14T00:30:00.001-08:00

Yay, more Highland tour! This time it's Loch Ness, which included a boat ride to the Urquhart Castle.

This was the only Loch Ness monster that I saw.

It was so beautiful up there! (and it was a NICE day too!)

To be continued....

Highland Tour Part 1

2011-11-13T00:30:00.001-08:00

As I continue to get caught up on processing and posting some of my pictures I've decided to do some of my favorite pictures from the tour of the Highlands that I took.

Lambs!!!

We stopped off at Drovers Inn for some tea and a rest. Drovers Inn has welcomed people into their doors for over 300 years (including Rob Roy MacGregor)

To be continued...

It's time...

2011-11-12T00:30:00.000-08:00

It's time for my trip with the Friends of Pimpollo. We have received our itinerary for working in the Vincente Guerrero Community. We'll be working at a kindergarten and two different preschools, I'm so excited to be helping out on these schools. I can't wait!

Thank you to everyone who has purchased an art commission you have helped make this happen. After this is all completed I'll post a few of my favorite commissions.

Thanks again and I'll take lots of pictures while I'm away. (Pretty sure not many pictures will be taken while we're working on the schools.... a few might be taken because I hear the kids love helping out and love their pictures taken.)

Photo Friday

2011-11-11T00:30:00.000-08:00

Ferniegair, Scotland

Whale Watching

2011-11-08T22:29:00.001-08:00

This past weekend Laura, Larry and I stayed in Anacortes, WA so we could go whale watching. Laura and I have had the desire to see a whale breach and we were positive it would happen this trip. Humpbacks were in the area and a possibility of seeing the resident Orcas. We saw no Humpbacks. The captain was giving it 10 more minutes before he was going to turn around and it would be a "no-show" whale watching trip.

But it wasn't!!!

The Orcas came!! All three pods were present and they gave us a show! On the right side, the left side, the front, and the back - seriously. There was so much breaching... it was amazing! (I know, Orcas are technically not whales but they're so cute!)

I didn't use my zoom because I'm not quick. (But check out my sister's post she has a telephoto lens.) But I did do some recording to give my family a very small view of what we saw (sorry for the filming but it was rocky on that boat.)

(I was going to remove the sound but then you wouldn't be able to hear the splashing. You have to be able to hear the splashing!)

Countryside Drive

2011-11-07T00:30:00.000-08:00

We had a beautiful day to drive home from the temple. Since it was early April there were lots of lambs out and whenever I saw one I would sing, "Laaaaaaaam~bert, the sheepish lion. Laaaaaaaaaam~bert is always trying to be a wily wooly sheep, Lambert the sheepish lion." Sometimes I would sing in my head and sometimes it was sung outloud.

Preston Temple Part 2

2011-11-06T00:30:00.001-07:00

I had the opportunity to visit the Preston, England Temple for a week. It was a wonderful week and I'm so thankful for that opportunity.

Preston Temple Part 1

2011-11-05T00:30:00.000-07:00

The temple grounds are beautiful!

Need a clever title here....

2011-11-04T00:05:00.000-07:00

My mind has been going again. This happens a lot, but sometimes topics get heated in person and I have a blog. My blog is my outlet (BTW I have more photos coming soon)

For awhile now I've been thinking about the occupy movement. I can understand the frustration with the greed, how Washington can't get along and are not really doing anything, how the economy is still suffering, and there are still lots of people out of work, etc - I do understand.

But what I don't understand is how the occupy movement is supposed to help and change things. There's no "demands," so how are they supposed to gauge their success? And lately it seems that they're wasting resources more than changing anything.

Wouldn't it be better to be a movement actively seeking change instead of camping out? This is all still marinating in my mind. Do you have any thoughts or insights on the movement?

In other news, I'm going whale watching today. I'm heading into an area that is known for whales playing and therefore they breach a lot. Crossing my fingers for breaching! I love them whales!

Photo Friday

2011-11-04T00:00:00.001-07:00

Preston, England (April 2011)

My brain has been working overtime...

2011-11-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Some drama happened the other day and my first instinct was full blown attitude "Oh no she didn'! I have the proof in my inbox!" complete with the head moving to each side (in my head of course).

This is obviously a very high school reaction (oh my goodness did I have an attitude as a teenager and handle insecurities horribly). That reaction only happened for a moment, then I reminded myself that I was an adult. It's hard not to take offense and to be hurt, but it's amazing how a misunderstanding so small was blown up to this and could have easily been resolved with some communication.

Different personalities communicate differently which is why communication and understanding is so important.

I'm telling you right now I'm shy and have a few social awkwardness. Also there are times that I'm flighty and have tunnel vision because I'm focused on my goal. But I'm never telepathic.

If you don't tell me I did something to hurt or offend you (which would not have been done on purpose), then I don't know that I did.

But this whole thing got me thinking of a few things:

I'm so thankful that my real friends and family don't enjoy drama and therefore don't create it. We communicate with each other. Yes we have our disagreements and little fights over stuff, but we talk to each other and they get resolved quickly.

I find it very interesting that I have been drama free for YEARS, but the last 6 months or so I've had some bouts of drama. But what I find interesting about that is that the drama happens when I'm doing or about to do something that will help me grow spiritually. (Makes you go, hmmmm...)

My initial reaction surprised me. I haven't had an attitude like that since high school. So is the "oh no she didn' " head bob always going to be my first reaction to stuff like this? (In my head of course) Honestly I think yes.

I think yes because I still jump off at the end of an escalator so I don't get sucked in. Just like I did when I was a child. (I'm sure some of you still do this too.)

Do you do things (rational or irrational) that you've done since childhood?

Kelvingrove Museum

2011-11-02T00:30:00.000-07:00

I thought I had already did a post about my visit to the Kelvingrove Museum, but apparently I didn't.

Kirkmuirhill

2011-11-01T00:30:00.000-07:00

I did a lot of country walks in my village and here's some photos that I captured:

In other news, I'm getting contacts today and can't wait!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:19:00.001-07:00

This weekend has been a Halloween blast. I decided to design an outfit to be Harley Quinn from Batman:

So you'll know what I'm talking about:

The weekend started with a Halloween party and here are the lovely hosts, who are rock, paper, and scissors:

A party is not a party without glowsticks:

Which led to some glowstick fighting:

I hope you had a fun Halloween too!

On another note, tomorrow is November 1st!! Which means NaNoWriMo starts. (Is anyone else doing this?) I've participated for the last several years and I've been debating about participating this year. I'm debating because I'm going to be gone for a week so I'll only have 3 weeks to write instead of the 4. But on the other hand I can spread that week's worth of writing out to make up for it.... Argh, tomorrow's the first I need to decide! I've been debating all month! I have my idea just in case I decide yes... I'm thinking since I have my idea I should just give it a go and see what happens. :-) Thanks for helping me decide.

Hamilton

2011-10-30T00:30:00.000-07:00

Here's some stuff around Hamilton that caught my eye:

Polkemmet Country Park

2011-10-28T23:21:00.000-07:00

This park was SO much fun! There's a mini zip-line, battery ram thing, and other cool toys at this park. Fun for adults and kids! It was WINDY and cold so the picnic ended up moving inside the Motherwell church building, so the park fun didn't last forever.

This is the adorable Heather and Hannah.

I can see my nephews having fun on this! The kids go inside and then someone (usually the Dads) spin it VERY fast.

Told you it was windy.

This is the battery ram thingy. (it was awesome!)

You can get it going very fast... unless there's a little kid that doesn't know how to hang on properly and keeps getting off and back on. And then you're think, "Make up your mind kid I want to go fast!" That may have happened to us.

These are like see-saws but BETTER! If you're mean spirited you can jump off quickly and make the other person go flying. That may have happened on accident to Hannah and it really was an accident, the kid on the other side fell off.

Look at this cute shot of Hannah that I lucked into.

Pillow fight!

2011-10-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

This is Susan and Allan Duncanson. They're AMAZING! (and they have an adorable family!)

They invited me over for an American Thanksgiving and a girls movie night (with Mary and Bronwen)... but this post isn't about either one of those activities.

They invited me to a picnic and due to my transportation it was decided that I needed to spend the night. And this post is about the evening before the picnic because it cracks me up!

And here's the quick lead in:

The missionaries from the Motherwell ward stopped by for dinner and a spiritual message (we're going to refer them as Elder 1 and Elder 2). Elder 1 had been serving in the Motherwell Ward for 9 months and had "starred" in the Motherwell Play for the Glasgow Stake Road Show (I wish our stake still did the road show). After the spiritual message Elder 1 talked them into playing it so Elder 2 can see his wonderful acting. Honestly, he didn't have to talk them into it too hard. Not long after watching it pillows started flying between the three little girls and the two Elders....

I'm pretty sure Elder 1 started it. Elder 2 didn't know what to think and didn't know if he should get involved.

Elder 2 decided to pick up a pillow... but not quite fully into it.

This is my favorite shot! Yes, I got hit with a pillow.

Now it's ON - full blown war!

Hannah got tired of the pillow fight, but unfortunately they weren't stopping. So she decided to take the pillows as they landed and hid them in her chair. She was hoarding them like squirrels hoard nuts for the winter.

A ceasefire was declared. BUT the Elders may have done a sneak attack and then ran away.... May have.

They're such a fun family! I'm so glad I was able to meet them and count them as friends. (They now have a new addition to their family! I'm so happy for them) Allan is a photographer who introduced me to blipfoto, which I've been majorly slacking on....

Up next - The picnic at Polkemmet Country Park (the coolest park EVER!)

Catch Up

2011-10-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

It dawned on me today that my Mexico trip is right around the corner. And I mean RIGHT around the corner (only a few more weeks!) I was hoping to be caught up with blogging my Europe adventure by now... but I've been slacking. My goal is to be caught up before I leave.

My hold-up is that I haven't finished going through my photos. So I have created a plan:

1. Tonight, Monday and Tuesday evening I'll spend some time to go through my photos

2. I'm going to start posting them on Wednesday

I have photos from Scotland still (like the Highlands), Italy (Milan, Florence, Pisa, Rome, the Vatican, Pompeii, Venice), Paris, and Iceland (Reykjavik & the Blue Lagoon). And of course all the fun stuff I've done since being back!

I am so behind.... I haven't even blogged about seeing Pirates of Penzance at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (which was SOOO good!) or Portland Fashion Week (which I had a blast at!)

So far behind..... Time to get that plan into action.

In other news, this picture just breaks my heart!

This little guy, who luckily was rescued, is so afraid! You can tell just by looking at him. There is a black market for baby gorillas and the only way the poachers could have gotten him is by killing the parents (and possibly other gorillas in the process). The article is here.

Children + Big Dreams

2011-10-14T13:35:00.001-07:00

My adorable nephew loves cars. And I mean he LOVES cars. I often hear him talking about getting a BMW or a Lamborghini or something else. We all (this includes me) laugh and say "do you know how expensive that is?" or a "you're not getting a *insert car*"

But I've been doing some thinking about this for awhile:

Who am I to dash his dreams of getting a nice sports car?

Kids dream. Kids are not conformed to a certain way of thinking.... yet. We (as a society) encourage kids to dream big and often tell them, "if you think it, then you can do it." But then we'll turn around and crush some of their dreams. I'm sure most adults are thinking they're "preparing them for the real world" but they're kids. Don't make them live in the real world yet - and besides it will be better for them if they can think outside of the box anyways.

I've decided instead of using my pessimistic knowledge of real life I'm going to encourage them to dream.

For example, I accompanyed this same nephew to a fireside at my church about college and afterwards I let him drive my car around the parking lot. He didn't want to be there at first because he's going to be a race car driver and doesn't need to go to college. Honestly, my first instinct was "you what?" (I never heard him mention this option before) but I reminded myself not to crush dreams, so our conversation went like this:

me: "But college is important, you can do both."
nephew: "....."
me: "what if you got tired of racing cars?"
nephew: ".... *shakes head no*"
me: "..... what if you got in an accident on the race track and you lost the use of your right arm?"
nephew: "...... *has a thinking face*"
me: "You'd want something to fall back on, right? What about fixing cars?"
nephew: "I like auto-mechanics."
me: "Then study that. It's not stopping you from racing cars."

Don't let the silence fool you, that one's a thinker.

Yep, I don't think I dashed that dream at all.... :-)

Purple hair!

2011-10-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

Last year I dyed my hair purple. I have always wanted purple hair (I blame Psylocke from the X-Men comics) but my work has a dress code that includes only "natural hair colors" So unfortunately I'm unable to dye my hair purple again.

Until now!

I was killing time on pinterest which led me to some other blogs and I came across the lovely blog, Hair Romance.

Of course this picture caught my eye and I read about the "color bug"

It's basically eye-shadow for the hair! I can't wait to get it in the mail. That's right, I ordered the purple one (I was also tempted to get the pink). And it's fate because I ordered the last one from Amazon. :-)

I'm going to be anxiously watching the mail box.

Dr Who Finale Party

2011-10-02T11:30:00.001-07:00

What can I say? I'm a nerd

My friends and I had a Dr. Who finale party. Our invites looked exactly like the invites from the beginning of season 6. My two nieces like Dr. Who so I invited them as well, but discovered a problem with that scenario. They've started watching Dr. Who on Netflix, but are only in the 3rd season, so last weekend we had an impromptu Dr. Who party (for them to watch the 6th season) starting at about 9:00 Saturday evening. I had them up until about 12:30 and they wanted to keep going, but I had to be the responsible one and say "That's enough for tonight, church is early." Never fear we continued it after church. By last Sunday evening they were ready for the finale party :-)

I think it's fun doing nerdy things with nerd friends and having a nerd time = Geek out sessions. Yay geek out sessions! (Just like midnight showings for the Twilight movies)

We played pin the bow-tie on the doctor, we had a trivia game, we had many treats (double heart cookies, jammie dodgers (sp?), mini tardis cakes, etc) I started to create a BINGO game but wasn't able to get that finished in time, so I think we'll be playing that at the premier party. Yep, I smell a season 7 premier party in our future.

It was a fun episode and a fun evening. Sadly I didn't take any photos. Oh well!

PS - It's fun being able to geek out with your nieces and nephews. (Dr Who for the nieces and it was Avatar the Last Airbender for the nephews) I think I need to find something else to geek out with the nephews since Avatar has been over for awhile. Hmmm.... I wonder when the Legend of Korra will start.

Photo Friday

2011-09-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

Edinburgh, Scotland

Largs, Scotland

2011-09-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

Alison, Blair, and I took a little trip to Largs, Scotland back in April.

We did a little exploring trying to find land....

Then bought some yummy ice cream....

Then we tried to seduce a viking.....

And then we did a little DDR

Took a walk along the beach

And had a little fun attempting trick photography

Great company and a great trip - can't ask for much more than that!

updates

2011-09-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

I was doing a good job last week getting my blog all caught up, but I've slacked this week. I've been working hard on art commissions and I've still been able to accomplish some fun things the past few weeks. Here are my top 3:

1. I finally finished the very first hat I made in my hat class! (During my class I was working on several pieces since I don't have any hat blocks, steamer, etc) Yay for tackling the "unfinished projects" bin.

2. I bought tickets to attend Portland Fashion Week. I've been wanting to attend for a couple of years now and I finally made it happen this year. I'm excited because one of the shows I'll be seeing is Seth Aaron's. Seth Aaron won Project Runway a couple seasons ago. (I'll post pictures from this night when it happens)

3. I went to see Pirates of Penzance at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival - it was AMAZING!! (I'll be posting pictures soon)

Hope everyone else is having a great week!

Photo Friday

2011-09-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Berlin, Germany March 2011

What place near you...

2011-09-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

...do you love to visit?

Pictures of seattle taken in February 2010

I LOVE Oregon and visiting the various places in my lovely state (the coast and Portland,etc.) But Seattle is a fun get-a-way place. I just love it up there!

Book Suggestions?

2011-09-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

I was at Target the other day and a couple books caught my eye. Have any of you read these books? If so, did you like them?

I'm a sucker for retold fairy tales so of course these two by Jackson Pearce jumped out at me:

These also caught my eye...

(Photos via Google)

Berlin trip - Final post

2011-09-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

One of the things I first noticed in Berlin was all of the graffiti. I know most people see graffiti as a nuisance, but I actually like it. There are some talented graffiti artists out there. The first night at the hostel I met Elsie, she was from Oslo, Norway, and it was her last night staying there. We found out that we both liked photography and urban decay so we went on a photowalk. Here's some of my favorite graffiti that I photographed:

This one cracks me up. The normal just blah writing isn't all that great - I think if you're going to do some graffiti go all out. But I like the wolf figure... I think he's pretty cool

This one is a top favorite of mine.

I forgot to mention an interesting fact from my tour in my previous post. There were so many secret police officers and informants in East Germany that it's calculated that there was 1 for every 7 citizens. There was one in every apartment building and at least 1 in every work place and church meetings, etc. 1 for every 7 people!

Now onto some more photos of Berlin:

Here's some of the artwork from the Eastside Gallery. It's an open-air art gallery on a section of the Berlin Wall

I visited the Lomography store, got some cool posters & stickers (for free! yay free!), and bought myself a cute little camera.

My Sachsenhausen tour guide had mentioned "Ghost stations" and I was intrigued. When Germany was split into West and East the train lines that started in West and ended in the East were split into two as well. But there was a line that started in the West and ended in the West unfortunately there were three or five stops that were in the East. It didn't make sense to split that line, so the train was still allowed to run but it had to go very slow through that part and couldn't stop. The stations were sealed and they had 3 border guards constantly patrolling the stations. When the country was reunited the stations were reopened and were basically like time capsules because they hadn't changed from the 30's.

Here's a funny story about the Oranienburger station, well I thought it was funny. To help me remember the stations as I traveled I gave them nicknames. This one was obviously THE ORANGE station and this is the station I would change trains to take me to my hostel. This becomes a problem when you're chatting with a very nice old man who asks you where you're heading. I gave him my final station, which isn't on the line that we were on, and he's now worried. He wants to make sure I'm not going to be lost and asks me how I'm getting there and if anyone helped me figure out the directions. I'm trying to tell him that I'm going to THE ORANGE station to transfer, but that's not what it's really called so he doesn't know what I'm talking about. The map I have has the legend covering up THE ORANGE station and a few others, and THE ORANGE station is coming up next. He doesn't want me to get off and get lost but I'm trying to explain that my transfer is at this station. He still didn't want me to get off while he's trying to find a map, but the doors are closing. He was so nice, but sadly I just had to get up and say "danke, I need to transfer here" as I smiled, waved and exited the train. He was such a cute old man trying to help me and I felt bad leaving him.

Hey look it's Twilight!

Berlin Trip - Sachsenhausen

2011-09-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Sachsenhausen was a work camp that was opened in the 1930's. The propaganda was that the undesirables were going to work and be trained to reenter society. From the train station they were marched through town to the camp - which was the same route that we took. When they brought the Jews to this camp they were snuck in by train at night.

Paublo, our tour guide, explained very well how this camp was not a death camp but a work camp, but there were still executions in this camp. And as the Nazi's campaigns changed (basically as they built death camps and ordered more executions) this camp changed. Toward the end Building Z was built. Building Z was needed due to accomplish all the executions that were ordered. I've tried to include enough pictures to explain and show what I mean.

As we walk around the camp walls to the entrance we pass a building, this building was the SS training building and they were the ones in charge of running Sachsenhausen. So basically you have young 19 / 20 / 23 year old boys guarding you. The building is now the police academy. Our guide had explained that there was controversy over that due to what the building was before, but the police cadets are required to give tours of Sachsenhausen as a reminder of what happened with the horrors of absolute power.

Once inside the gate you enter a courtyard, this was the courtyard where registration and humiliation was done. All the prisoners were stripped and shaved, etc.

During the registration process they were given a badge which signified why they were there. Political prisoners, Jews, Homosexuals, etc. I had always wondered why the prisoners didn't work together and uprise because there were SO many of them. Paublo answered my question as he explained these badges. These badges served to separate the camp into groups and then the soldiers treated each group differently. This created contention and resentment for the groups that were getting better treatment, so there were a lot of prisoners but they didn't unite and uprise because they weren't united.

As they enter the camp the gate tells them "Work will set you free" - such a lie.

It may look like an open field but it wasn't. See those two buildings that are still standing? Well the open area was filled with them. These two buildings serve as a Jewish Museum and a chance to see how cramped the barracks were. Back in the mid-90s they were set on fire by Neo-Nazis, instead of replacing the burnt wood it's still there as a reminder that there is still hate in the world.

There are rectangle slabs with a number engraved on them throughout the area. These are markers representing a barrack that is now gone. If you have a relative that was in that barrack you come visit and leave a rock to symbolize them.

If you entered the neutral zone the guards shot you. At first they killed on sight, but then they started wounded them. Wounding was much worse then death because you were experimented on by the doctors. Gangrene was a big problem for their soldiers and finding a cure was one of the experiments. No one knows why the change in tactics, but our guide guesses it was a way for the soldiers to take back control. For the prisoners to enter the neutral zone they're taking control of their life, and by wounding instead of killing the guards are taking that control away from them - again. I think it's a very interesting theory.

I can't remember what this building / area was called, but you did not want to go there and it was not part of Sachsenhausen. This was were they took special prisoners to make them talk. The young SS soldiers did not guard this area, the more seasoned soldiers were in control here. Do you get my drift?

The building was much larger than what's here, the foundations are still visible. See those poles next to the foundations? They were used to hang these prisoners on them for torture.

Executions were originally done by firing squad in this trench. But this had problems. These young soldiers were having issues from so many firing squads and there started to be more and more execution orders. This is not a death camp so there is no morgue, the dead bodies were piled in a small room down in the trench.

There solution to this problem was to have the prisoners build a "hospital." This "hospital" was Building Z and it was no hospital. They had music playing loudly so the prisoners weren't hearing the gun fire inside. One prisoner would escort another prisoner into an "examination" room and measure their height. One the measuring tool was in place he would knock and a soldier would open a small window at the back of the head / neck area and fire. Another room had prisoners undress and "shower" which was really a gas chamber. There's still a red stain in the drain of this room from the blood.

Building Z also had a crematorium so the bodies no longer needed to pile up in a room.

There are two memorials for the prisoners at the camp. The first was done built in the '50s and was used as propaganda. This memorial is only for the Communist political prisoners and shows the Russians liberating a worker. (At the top of the memorial is the badge used for Communist political prisoners) But this isn't anything new, how many times have governments taken an event and used it for their own means? It's done today. But when the Russians arrived they didn't liberate anything because the camp was evacuated and the prisoners were on forced marches northward.

Another memorial was created and placed in Building Z to remember ALL prisoners that suffered and were killed at the camp.

After the evacuation the camp was used by the Soviets until the 50s. In the late 90's there were mass graves discovered from the Soviet period.

I'm very grateful that I had the opportunity to visit Sachsenhausen, it was a somber experience but one that I'll never forget.

To be continued - My final post on my Berlin trip will be next.....

Photo Friday

2011-09-09T00:30:00.000-07:00

Statue in Berlin, taken March 2011

Berlin Part Two

2011-09-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of tours because I like getting the information of what I'm looking at and knowing that I'm seeing the highlights instead of passing something by. For example our tour guide stopped us in the middle of this parking lot and asked us why we were stopping there. We're all looking around at the apartment buildings surrounding the lot dumbfounded. We have no clue.

This was the location of Hitler's bunker, which has been destroyed, filled in with debris, and is now a parking lot. Yep, would have missed that.

Another example, you're walking down the street looking at the sights and you take a quick look at your feet, you know to watch your step so you don't trip on any rocks. You barely notice that the bricks are in a certain pattern. If you do notice you probably push it off as decoration.

Well, since I was on a tour I learned that these bricks / stone/ whatever it is are done this way for you to see where the Berlin wall was located at. It's quite the eye opener to actually see how the city was split in two.

Up to this point I was seeing some OLD stuff and due to that visiting Berlin was weird for me... or maybe more surreal? Let me explain. Yes WWII and the Berlin Wall is awhile ago but it's close history. I remember seeing news footage of the wall going down. I remember learning West Germany and East Germany as separate countries.

Don't get me wrong it was very cool visiting Berlin but it was odd seeing historical landmarks so close to and from my lifetime.

Another way to tell if you're in the old East or West Berlin is by the walk signals. Yes, the walk signals. West Berlin is more to what you see here in the states. But in the parts that used to be East Berlin you have these cute signals:

Aren't they adorable?

The Neptune Fountain even thought it's not spouting water. Unfortunately I think I was there too early for the water to be on. Granted it was a couple beautiful warm days, but still too early for those fountains. The four women that surround Neptune represent the four main rivers of Prussia: Elbe, Rhine, Vistula, and Oder

In the background is the Rotes Rathaus

St Mary's Church and the TV Tower

The interior of the Neue Wache and the Kathe Kollwitz sculpture, Mother with her Dead Son.

This was a WWII memorial but my tour guide said that it now stands for all soldiers lost in any war.

In 1933 there was a book burning campaign. At the Bebelplatz, a location of the burnings, is now a memorial. Underground there are several rooms filled with empty bookshelves - they calculated how many books were burned (can't remember the number) and how many bookshelves it would take to hold them. They built those empty bookshelves as the memorial and there's a plexiglass window that allows to look inside one of the rooms and see the walls lined with those empty bookshelves.

Over a hundred years before the book burnings, the German-Jewish poet, Heinrich Heine, stated "Where books are burned, human beings are destined to be burned too."

Sadly we now know how true that statement is. You'll take a look at one of the places where it happened with my next post - my visit to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.

Berlin Trip - About time!

2011-09-06T22:50:00.000-07:00

Back in March I posted that I was visiting Berlin for a couple of days. I had a wonderful time but I never posted about it! Well I did one small post, but never anything in detail and I figured it's about time. Here's my trip:

Going to the Neues Museum was my top priority. (What can I say, I'm a wee bit of a nerd.) So I had to visit Museum Island. (Sadly I was only able to make it to the one museum.)

Here are some other lovely images from the museum:

This coin is from Charlemagne's time. The coin is protected and can be viewed through a viewfinder.

Brandenburg Gate in Pariser Platz

Even Darth Vader enjoys Berlin!

To be continued.....

THANK YOU!!!

2011-09-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank everyone that has inquired about orders and/or have placed orders for art commissions.

On the first day I reached 1/2 of my goal! That's awesome!!!

I want to give you a big thank you - Thank you for your support. I'm over in my corner sketching my heart out so I can come up with some beauties! :-)

If you would like an art commission there's still room for some more....

Thanks again!

Word Art

2011-09-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

This year I started creating word art as birthday presents for my nieces and nephews. I posted the first one I created but I hadn't posted the rest of them! I have a lot of fun making these! I finish them with a white matte and a black 12 x 12 frame.

Landon's gift:

Alivia's gift:

and Michael's gift:

I'll have three more to make later this year!

Fundraising - ART COMMISSIONS

2011-08-31T20:42:00.000-07:00

In this previous entry, I mentioned that I am raising money for me to go to Oaxaca, Mexico to help build a school. (And I'm super excited to go~!) I received some great ideas for fundraising and I'm doing a tweak on the "Homemade Sale"...

I'm offering Art Commissions of you, your daughter/son, or niece/nephew as:

Their favorite super hero
A princess
A character in their favorite show
Or in a popart style

The cost is only $25 (for one person with a simple background) and you'll get a high-resolution 8x10 drawing of the person in the photo. (And not to mention that the money is going to a great cause!) This is opened up to the first 30 commissions received.

If you would like a drawing with more than one person contact me and we'll discuss the project and the cost.

The drawings will have a simple background, if you would like to request a detailed background email me and we'll discuss the project and the cost.

Here's two examples:

Here's a childhood picture of my brother Mike

Here's childhood Mike as the Green Lantern (Yes, Mike I realized at the end the ring is on the wrong hand - Don't worry, I'll try very hard not to make those minor mistakes on your commissions)

Here's my best friend Miriam

And this is in my pop art style

Here's how it works:

You will email me (neffie (at) gmail (dot) com) or comment on this post to request a commission, provide a photo reference of the said person, and what you want them turned into (their favorite superhero, princess, TV show / movie, etc.) At this time let me know if you would like a different size than the 8x10.
I may ask for additional information concerning the person in the photo (i.e. favorite color, etc)
Once payment is received you will be added to the commission list. I'll send you an email containing your number on the list and an estimated timeframe of completion
Once completed I'll email the high-resolution drawing to the email address you have provided

Disclaimer: The funds raised will go to the cost I need to go to Oaxaca. If extra funds are raised those funds will go to my tuition.

Elsinore Film Series

2011-08-21T21:33:00.001-07:00

It's that time again! The film series at the Elsinore Theatre will be starting September 14th. I'll be attending several showings (especially a couple of the silent movies). Will you be there? (Obviously this question only applies to those in Salem)

New Car & Seattle!

2011-08-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't mentioned it on here but I FINALLY found a car! It's so nice too - drives smooth and is super roomy. I've had it for about a month now and I love it. The only downside is it's an automatic. I prefer manuals because then I can pretend I'm a race car driver as I speed up to get on the freeway - I don't know why, but I always do that.

Anyways, since I now have wheels I went up to Seattle to visit my brother the last weekend of July. I already had the trip planned but after reading this lovely blog post about the Aladdin play by Ardith I did two things: 1. Asked Steve if he wanted to see it 2. Looked up the 5th Ave theatre to see if tickets were still available.

Steve cracks me up.... he always makes a face when it's time to take his photo.

We both LOVED the play! They did a great job bringing the movie to the stage and boy was it funny.

As we left the theatre we saw this awesome Duck boat/car. Wouldn't you love to be on the water in this? It would be so cool.

We did some quick walking around downtown Seattle after dinner. Steve has transferred from Anchorage and hasn't had a chance to explore Seattle so I took him to the gum alley. You have to visit the gum alley when you're there! It's the unspoken rule. :-)

They're baaaaaack

2011-08-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

I find it amusing that when people hide behind anonymity that their stupidity and rash judgments come pouring out. I think anonymous users are Satan's helpers because they say hurtful things to tear you down - a person they either know or don't know.

Luckily I had a self-discovery trip to Scotland and my confidence grew tremendously from it. So the comment doesn't hurt me, but I don't like stupidity and rash judgments. Therefore, I like to explain situations and in the process point out the stupidity and rash judgments one makes.

You may be wondering what comment I'm referring to, someone had a problem with me being "disrespectful" and "lazy" by wearing jeans to my friend's reception. So I'm going to tell you a story:

Once upon a time my friend was getting married. The night before the wedding, her mother, father, a couple of nephews, and two friends (Me and Erika) setup the reception. We did all we could that night. Her mother did the linens the morning of and was planning on skipping or leaving the luncheon early to blow up balloons and to finish the decorating. The wedding day arrived and it was HOT! After a beautiful Temple sealing and wedding we waiting outside for the bride and groom to emerge.

The little kids were now tired and the heat wasn't helping any. After the photos were taken the bride's sister decided she needed to take her kids home. Since she was going to miss the luncheon she was going to blow up the balloons. I decided to help her which allowed the mother of the bride to fully attend the luncheon. (I thought it was important that the mother of the bride fully enjoyed the day as well)

Once a good number of balloons were blown up and floating lovingly in the air, I stepped outside to decorate the entrance steps. Just as I was finishing the last railing I stepped on my skirt ripping the last tier. I only packed the one skirt, so I had to change into my jeans. (luckily my suitcase was there). After changing I went back to help setting up.

Did the bride have a problem that I changed into jeans? Not at all. In fact, she was appreciative of everything I did and she felt bad that I ripped my skirt. I proceeded to tell her that she can't feel bad on her wedding day and I can easily fix it once I'm home.

Now time for the moral of the story -

Moral #1 - You should not judge events based on photos because they may make you look stupid. No matter where you see the photos - on someone's personal blog, the tabloids, etc. You do not know what happened before and/or after the photo was taken.

Moral #2 - If you blog and you have rude anonymous comments just say "Get thee hence Satan!" and don't let them hurt you. You can bring their stupidity to light or just ignore them.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day because I sure know I am!!

It's a nice day for a.... white wedding!

2011-08-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

Jen and Erika are the closest I have to childhood friends. I missed Erika's wedding this past December, but since I was back you bet I was going to make it to Jen's.

It was a beautiful ceremony and as a bonus, it was great seeing old friends again.

Jen, Erika and I

Jen, Miriam, and I

Dianna dancing with two of her four kids. Dianna and I were very close and it was great seeing her again.

Miriam, Dianna, and I

This has become our tradition when we attend weddings together - we feed each other a bite of cake and laugh afterwards.

It was SO hot that day.

Miriam and I

Jen's dress was beautiful

London, from several months ago....

2011-08-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

Awhile back I visited London for the 2nd time and never blogged any photos. A few of the places I visited were Hyde Park and the V&A Museum. I lucked out and the V&A museum was having a Yohji Yamamoto exhibit. (Yay!)

Isn't this sign hilarious?!

This is one of Leonardo Da Vinci's books - he wrote backwards in them. You have to use a mirror to read his notes.

Isn't this old man adorable? The pigeons think he's a statue.

It's been awhile.... correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is the Prince Albert Memorial

This is the Princess Di Memorial

And this is a squirrel eating a nut

It was a lovely day!

I need your help...

2011-08-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

Do you have any fundraising ideas?

I have the opportunity to help build a school in Oaxaca, Mexico this November. My work is working with a local organization called The Friends of Pimpollo. Work is paying the program fees and transportation in Mexico while I need to purchase airfare and lodging.

So I need some ideas to raise the money needed. My goal is $1500 and I've already done the "Appeal Letter" fundraiser and I received several donations, but I need to do something else to raise the remaining funds.

Any ideas?

Thank you!

Shakespeare Festival - Ashland, OR

2011-07-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

Hola! It's been awhile. I've been a bit busy and blogging has been the farthest thing from my mind. You see, I'm a bit obsessive when I work on projects. I put my all into the projects and will do nothing else... unfortunately this usually means I burn myself out before completing the said project, but not this time!

Anyways, I'll blog about the rest of my Scotland / Italy / Paris / Iceland trips real soon instead I'm blogging about my weekend away with my niece Alivia.

My niece is now a young woman (not quite a teenager, but almost) and I figured it's time to do something grown-up with her. The Shakespeare Festival is held every year in Ashland, Oregon and it's only a 4 hour drive. Perfect!

So I rented a car (which turned out to be a Decepticon.... I'll explain later), picked Alivia up after work on Friday, we watched the Dr. Who episode with Shakespeare at my place, went to bed late, and then hit the road early Saturday morning.

I tried to teach her the fine art of car dancing on our trek, but she didn't see the point. Come on Alivia!! I told her "One of these days I'll get you to car dance." So this one is a work in progress.

We made it to the hotel a little early so we decided to do a photo walk in the little town of Jacksonville.

We were finally able to check into the hotel - yay air conditioning!!

We changed from our sweaty driving clothes to cute "going out" clothes. Instead of going to a nice restaurant we hit up the local Pita Pit. Seriously SO GOOD! I love the Pita Pit!

This is totally my favorite picture because it wasn't planned. We each thought the other one was smiling.

Our play was Love's Labor's Lost and it was fabulous! They had it set in the 1950's and was a wonderful production. There were parts where Alivia and I (and the whole audience) were laughing so hard. I want to see it again!!!

Remember on Friends (I swear this has a point) when Joey would hit on the ladies with a head nod and a "How you doin?" Ok, keep that head nod in mind.... at the very beginning of the play one of the actors did that head nod to some ladies in the audiences and followed it up with a "How art thou?" It was SO funny!!! hahaha!

Oh, and on the car ride home Alivia and I may have calculated the number of days until she's 16 - the driving and dating age. I may have told her to text the number of days to her parents. And I may have told her that she should make a count down chart and color off a square each day. I can neither confirm nor deny if I did this though.

PS - Back to the Decepticon car. You see Decepticons want bad things to happen and this car wanted me to get a speeding ticket! It kept going 80 without any notice or warning. I don't know how that happened. (Basically a 4 hour drive ended up being a 3 hour drive.)

Tiger Lily

2011-06-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

This beautiful plant just popped up in our front yard and I was in awe. I asked what it was and I was told a Tiger Lily. So I've been telling people that I'm in love with Tiger Lilies, but not this one:

This one:

Both Image: Google Images

The only problem is, when I was searching for photos online for this blogpost all the photos of Tiger Lilies didn't look like the plant in my front yard. I eventually found out that it's not a Tiger Lily, it's an Orange Pixie Lily.

Different name but still extremely beautiful.

On another note, Pixie is the name of my cat! (Of course I think my Dad may argue that she's his cat, but my Mom may argue that she's her cat. Hmmm.... I still say she's my cat!) So we have a Pixie inside and outside. But unfortunately my cat's not orange.

Photo Friday

2011-06-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

One of the "ghost stations" in Berlin, Germany

People's Palace - Glasgow

2011-06-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

So back in February Alison and I went wandering around Glasgow. She kept buying different types of Scottish treats for me to try because I had to try them before I left. And I must say I had some tasty sweets.

While we visited the gardens at the People's Palace Alison and I had a contest. 1. We would imitate a plant 2. The other person would guess which plant.

Alison totally won!

The People's Palace is a museum that shows the history of Glasgow. In history classes we were taught about the London Blitz, but only discussed London, so it was interesting learning how badly Glasgow was bombed as well. For some reason it never occurred to me that the rest of the United Kingdom would be bombed as well.

In the museum you can enter a bunker (covered in sandbags) that people would go to when the alarm sounded. They could be in these bunkers for hours and sometimes they had to spend the night in them. It was a TINY bunker. Seeking shelter there would have been very scary.

And we may have posed for a photo-op....

Photo Friday

2011-06-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

Milan, Italy

Photo Friday

2011-06-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Bergamo, Italy

Holy Hannah - it's a post!

2011-06-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd post a sneak-peak of my trip photos:

Bergamo, Italy

Milan, Italy

Florence, Italy

Venice, Italy

Paris, France

There will be more detailed posts after I return from Utah. Yep, I'm shortly heading down to Utah to participate in a 5K and as a bonus I get to visit some friends and family! Oh, I better finish creating my 5k playlist.

Learning from kids

2011-06-06T08:24:00.000-07:00

My cousin and her family is just amazing. (Honestly, I have a lot of amazing cousins) BUT anyway, this particular cousin lives in the midwest which has been ravished by tornado after tornado.

Joplin, MO isn't too far from them - they're their backyard neighbors. When her kids heard about the devastation they wanted to help. So they did a lemonade stand called "Lemonade for Joplin"

Read her blog post about their stand.... we can learn a lot from children.

Have you ever...

2011-05-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

had the hiccups so bad that you pulled a muscle in your chest? Well let me tell you it's not fun. Not fun at all.

So as I prepared to move back I was debating about getting a car or not. I figured I can use public transport easily and buy a bike. So I had decided that I wasn't going to get a car. Well, that has changed since arriving. Public transport in my city stops at 7 but some lines go until 9 (say it isn't so?!) but they only run Mon- Fri. There goes my plans. So I'm on a car hunt...

Besides hunting for cars I've been creating a book in Shutterfly about my & JoElla's adventure. And let me tell you I'm in LOVE with the new shutterfly custom path way of doing books. I have no idea how new it actually is, but it's new to me!

I'll post some Scotland / Europe posts shortly! I swear.... I have a wee bit of an obsessive personality so most likely it won't be until I finish creating this book.

Have a great day and send me good car vibes.

My painting

2011-05-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

2 weekends ago Amanda and I got together and did some painting. (While we watched some Dr. Who....) Amanda painted a beautiful sunflower (we watched the Van Gogh episode of Dr. Who...) and she also painted a Tardis.

A mixed media painting was running around my head. I was able to complete the background but nothing else since it wasn't dried.

Then a week went by (I was going through my stuff in storage - which I completed! Go me!) until I could work on it again. I completed it Saturday night and it was fun and I love it!

Sorry for the crappy picture... I was lazy and took it with my phone.

PS - i've had a talking to about posting the rest of my pictures and don't worry I'll get to it.... eventually :-)

Fun Run

2011-05-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

I received some horrible news on my birthday this year, my cousin Jeff passed away unexpectedly. Sadly I wasn't able to attend his viewing (which was scheduled for two hours but so many people showed up that it was four hours) or funeral.

BUT I will be attending the Jeff Young Fun Run in Perry, UT this June, which is a fundraiser for Jeff's children.

There's a 5k, silent auction, bake sale, etc.... If you're itching to run/walk a 5k and can't make it to Utah you can still register and run/walk where you live!

If you would like a registration form email Kristal at ksmall84302@yahoo.com

Thank you!

Photo Friday

2011-05-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Bath, England

Update on several things

2011-05-01T09:31:00.003-07:00

I haven't had real internet access in the last two weeks. I say real because I was able to get on public computers a couple days during the two weeks and provide quick updates via facebook but that was pretty much it.

I have done my "Taste of Italy," Paris, and Reykjavik trips. (Unfortunately my friend was sick in Paris and had pneumonia, but she's discharged, on the mend, and back in the states)

About two months ago I set-up goals for the "next phase" since I met all the goals I had set for myself when I moved to Scotland. To achieve my new goals it was time to return to the states. (And I couldn't find a job in Scotland, so I used up all of my savings living and traveling, but I found one in Oregon.)

After Reykjavik I flew back to Oregon and surprised my nieces and nephews. Madison and Alivia told me I'm never to leave again. Landon, our 6-year old gamer (who is very competitive when you play with him) gave me his lives on Mario Brothers so I could continue playing two-player since I really suck at video games and died. Needless to say I was excited to see them and they were excited to see me.

My "Unprocessed photos" & "To blog" folders are absolutely HUGE because I've slacked on my updates. :-) Sorry! I'll still be uploading those photos and activities as posts.... eventually.

It's been interesting trying to adjust. I have made sure to not take any naps and I thought it would only take me a day to get back to normal but I was wrong. Around 5:00pm I'm ready for bed BUT I still go out with my friends. For example, we saw Jane Eyre last night. I really liked that movie and I want to see it again. But in the evening my brain kind of checks itself out so when we're hanging out they get a lot "Well I.... sorry I lost my thought.... I'm sure it'll come back...." sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.

And I was planning which bus to take to work on Monday, I was looking at the routes to see my best options. The bus I will take makes a loop so I need to catch it after it completes that loop to head downtown. My dad told me the stop down the road works perfectly and I was arguing with him that it doesn't because it's on the wrong side of the street and will take me on the loop. We went back and forth a couple of times before I realized I was thinking the bus was driving on the left side of the street instead of the right side. Oops.

And by the way, I'm SO excited to have a dryer again! Yay dryers!!!

Here and There (30 of 30)

2011-04-30T00:01:00.001-07:00

{Here} - Torch

{There} - Flashlight

PS - isn't Laura's picture amazing?!!

Photo Friday

2011-04-29T05:00:00.001-07:00

Stonehenge

Here and There (29 of 30)

2011-04-29T00:01:00.002-07:00

{Here} - Concentrated juice (or diluten sp?) is kept in the fridge like soda. You can make a glass or a pitcher of it just be following the simple instructions: 1-part diluten and 2-part water

{There} - Comes frozen and you have to make it all in a pitcher.

Here and There (28 of 30)

2011-04-28T00:01:00.001-07:00

Fluoride is not put in the water over here.

Here and There (27 of 30)

2011-04-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

{Here} - I took a jewelry making class and a hat making class.

{There} - Laura took a quilting class and is currently taking a drawing and acrylic painting class.

Here and There (26 of 30)

2011-04-26T00:01:00.002-07:00

{Here} - Parks have amazing play equipment that adults can fully enjoy as well. They can also have old estate homes, castles, or ruins of roman baths like in Strathclyde Park. Oh, and the ones I've been too have all had great hiking trails.

{There} - The playgrounds are generally the same with swings, slides, mulch so the children don't hurt themselves if they fall.

Here and There (25 of 30)

2011-04-25T00:01:00.002-07:00

{Here} - After a 2.5 hour flight you arrive in Berlin, Germany

{There} - After a 4 hour drive you arrive in Seattle, Washington

Here and There (24 of 30)

2011-04-24T00:01:00.002-07:00

{Here} - I have a mail slot in my door. And now that I think about it I have not seen a mailbox like we have at home anywhere....

{There} - Mailboxes are generally on the street so the mail carrier can just drive up.

Here and There (23 of 30)

2011-04-23T00:01:00.001-07:00

I don't think this one needs to have any explanations.

Photo Friday

2011-04-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Edinburgh

Here and There (22 of 30)

2011-04-22T00:01:00.002-07:00

{Here} - No big difference in the stamps. They have different kind of stamps just like home, but since it's going overseas I always have to add the "By Air Mail" sticker

{There} - Has the Liberty Bell on it... which you could have figured out on your own.

Italy Update

2011-04-21T10:19:00.002-07:00

For real this time.... I attempted to update at our last hostel that had wi-fi but it didn't work out so well.

Our taste of Italy was amazing and Italy was amazing. And boy do I have stories! I'll share those once I'm back.

For our gelato taste test my favorite came from Firenze and Pisa. JoElla's favorite came from Bergamo and Roma I believe.

Definitely want to visit Firenze and Venicia again for several days.

Yes, for awhile I'm going to be one of those traveling people (who some people find annoying) that will say Firenze instead of Florence, will say Ciao, etc.

Now we're experiencing Paris. I'll update you on that later. :-)

Ciao!

Here and There (21 of 30)

2011-04-21T00:01:00.002-07:00

{Here} - This is Largs on the Scottish coast. When you look out into the ocean you don't see just ocean because there are many isles there. You can take a ferry to visit the isles. And the Scottish green countryside is very close. The beach actually reminded me of the Alaskan beaches I visited since it was a rocky beach instead of sand.

{There} - There are rocks, but the Oregon coast has sand. The Oregon Coast is beautiful but it is not surround by isles and when you look out over the ocean you see to the horizon of just ocean.

Here and There (20 of 30)

2011-04-20T00:01:00.001-07:00

{Here} - Here's the Scottish flag in front of Loch Ness. If you were thinking "Isn't it the Union Jack?" No. The Union Jack is the flag for the United Kingdom but each country has their own flag.

{There} - Here's a beautiful field of the American Flag.

Here and There (19 of 30)

2011-04-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

{Here} - They sell cute and tiny magazines! (I'm a sucker for cute and tiny)

{There} - They do not sell cute and tiny magazines.

Here and There (18 of 30)

2011-04-18T00:01:00.002-07:00

{Here} - There are old, big, grande churches / cathedrals.

{There} - The old churches are a little more plain.

Here and There (17 of 30)

2011-04-17T00:01:00.002-07:00

{Here} - There's a lot of old buildings in the "center of town." Stores occupy the old buildings and make use of the space instead of tearing it down and rebuilding a new up-to-date building/store.

{There} - The capital building is the center of town and not to many blocks away is the mall.

Here and There (16 of 30)

2011-04-16T00:01:00.001-07:00

{Here} - There are so many castles throughout Scotland, as shown here in Edinburgh.

{There} - In Salem the only castle you'll find is now an antique shop... and obviously not as old.

Photo Friday

2011-04-15T05:00:00.001-07:00

Just some birds in my village kickin it on the wires.

Here and There (15 of 30)

2011-04-15T00:01:00.002-07:00

{Here} - The walk signals basically look the same as there, but if you're outside of Buckingham Palace a signal for a horseback rider is included.

{There} - Standard walking stick figure

Here and There (14 of 30)

2011-04-14T00:01:00.001-07:00

{Here} - When it's 18:00 (or 6:00 PM)....

{There} - .... It's 10:00 AM

Yep, an 8 hour time difference. (PS - don't let the blue sky confuse you, we don't always have blue sky)

Here and There (13 of 30)

2011-04-13T00:01:00.001-07:00

{Here} - There are OLd cemeteries, as illustrated here at the Glasgow Necropolis where there's a lot of victorian era statues / headstones / tombs

{There} - They're semi-old but the headstones are all similiar. Where's the large statues of angels?

Don't know what to put

2011-04-12T16:14:00.004-07:00

I don't think I've laughed as hard as I did last night and today in awhile. It's been a good couple of days.

Stopped by and visited Mary and Sebastian. I'm staring at Sebastian and then finally asked "Is it just me.... or does he look like Sam?" Mary and Becca have already had the same conversation. (Sam is Sebastian's cousin - Becca's son.)

Had dinner with some friends and afterwards I had the opportunity to watch an amazing pillow fight between two missionaries and four little girls. The girls were declared the winners, but the missionaries may disagree. They even did a sneak attack after the ceasefire and then ran away.

Enjoyed a picnic at the Polkemmet Country Park. We need a park like this one back home. Adults can enjoy these toys as well. So fun! But it was a wee bit windy so the picnic was taken indoors. We still had great time chatting while the children ran amuck.

Met up with Blair and Alison and took the train to Largs (a sea-side city), and we had a grande time!

Pictures will come soon. I want to check with the parent's and make sure it's ok to post pictures of their wee ones.

Here and There (12 of 30)

2011-04-12T00:01:00.002-07:00

{Here} - Phone booths that I've seen have all been enclosed, like this one in London. They all don't look like the above but do have a door so strangers can't hear your private conversation.

{There} - They don't care if strangers hear your private conversations. No doors.

Here and There (11 of 30)

2011-04-11T00:01:00.002-07:00

What's in a word?

{Here} - Biscuit

{There} - Biscuit

Yes, the same word but definitely not the same THING.

PS - the biscuits I'm eating right now are so good! Yum yum yum..... but of course by the time this posts they will be gone.

Wales

2011-04-10T09:33:00.004-07:00

When I visited Egypt it felt surreal and that feeling lasted for the whole 2 weeks.

When I visited London I was excited but I felt the same as when I visited New Orleans or New York City. Honestly I thought I would be more excited because London has been on the top of my "to visit" list.

But Wales.... Wales made me giddy! I have never been that giddy before visiting a place.

I had to meet the coach early in the morning so I was asleep for most of the drive, but I woke up just as we passed this contraption that reminded me of entering California and declaring "I have no fruit." I immediately wake-up getting excited that we may have just entered Wales. And sure enough the signs now have English and Cymru on them.

I'm looking around and it's breathtakingly beautiful. From that point on I was just giddy until I had to leave (and I did not want to leave).

I had explained this to my teacher when I returned and she completely understood. Wales is just gorgeous.

A lot of my ancestors are from Wales so I've contacted my sister and we have a Family History trip to Wales that we are planning.

See the sections that are a lighter color stone and have a redish line around it on the wall to Cardiff Castle? That's the original roman wall.

Oh yes, I may have attended the Dr Who Experience while I was in Cardiff.

Here and There (10 of 30)

2011-04-10T00:01:00.001-07:00

{Here} - You can't just plug in an appliance, hairdryer, charger, etc and expect it to work right away. You have to turn the outlet on first!

{There} - Outlets are always on, just plug in and go.

Hahahaha

2011-04-09T12:07:00.007-07:00

I received the best responses about the anonymous commenter who watches my blog since I started my journey, thinks I haven't accomplished anything and that it's been a waste of my money.

I know I shouldn't be calling attention to this sad piece of work that wants attention, but I LOVE these responses and wanted to share. :-)

"You were supposed to accomplish something? I thought you were just kicking it in the UK to make us jealous?"

"Usually, they're trollers. Dickheads doing it on purpose to try to get you to argue with them. They think it makes them cool to piss other people off at random. All I can picture is overweight 30+ year old men with a bad need for a haircut and shower living in their mama's basement, jobless, yet thinking they're so awesome for being a pain in the @$$ to completely decent people. Ignore them. They are not worth your time."

HAHAHA - those crack me up.

Thanks for your support guys!

Well, I just got back from spending a glorious week at the temple in northern England. It was an amazing week and absolutely gorgeous!

And I got laughed at today when I ordered mashed potatoes and gravy. As they laughed they said "that's so American." And I'm like "then why do you have the mashed potatoes?" Everyone else was putting the gravy on the potato wedges or the chips. (But I like them mashed.) She then ordered fish and chips and I was like "that's so English." :-)

Now I have a lesson to finish preparing.

Here and There (9 of 30)

2011-04-09T00:01:00.002-07:00

{Here} - The appliances and your kitchen tend to be on the smaller side. I know I love cute tiny things but man I miss big appliances.

{There} - Appliances and kitchens tend to be larger. You need the room to store the large amounts of food that Americans consume, right?

Batman *heart*

MIA

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THANK YOU!!!

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Update on several things

Here and There (30 of 30)

Photo Friday

Here and There (29 of 30)

Here and There (28 of 30)

Here and There (27 of 30)

Here and There (26 of 30)

Here and There (25 of 30)

Here and There (24 of 30)

Batman heart