Pardon this interruption...

I'm geeking out over here and I need to share or I'll explode.

And no, it has nothing to do with comics, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Psych, Dr Who, Twilight, Avatar the Last Airbender, or anything else I normally geek out about.

REALLY soon the 1940 US Census is being released! And I can't wait to check it out and see all the stuff about my relatives on.  Exciting times, exciting times.

Speaking of Avatar the Last Airbender I can't wait for the new series to begin!  I think it's next month?  Wow!  2 great things to look forward to and so close together!

Egypt - King Tut

Last night I caught the last half of a 2010 documentary called King Tut Unwrapped and it was really interesting.

They discovered that his left foot was deteriorating and would have been extremely painful. (Which then made sense as to why he was buried with so many walking sticks.)

They had his DNA analyzed for known diseases of the time and they discovered he had malaria. I can't remember the type of Malaria but the worse kind there is. (Which then made sense as to why he was buried with a bunch of different seeds - for example one of the types of seeds was a fever reducer.)

Ancient Egypt fascinates me and I've always been drawn to King Tut.


I don't know if it's because the mystery and circumstances that surround him and his discovery... whatever it is I LOVE it!

(image from wikipedia.org)

And I may have gotten teary-eyed when I was in the Cairo Museum looking at King Tutankhamun's gold burial mask. What? I don't judge you.

PS - This also explains why I would plan a trip to Berlin, Germany just to visit a museum to see the beautiful bust of Nefertiti. And oh man, it was beautiful in person!

MIA

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!

Christmas time!

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?

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 :-)

Exciting news!!!

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

Dilemmas, dilemmas, dilemmas....

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......

PS

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

I'm back!!

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.

It's time...

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.)

Need a clever title here....

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!

My brain has been working overtime...

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:

1. 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.


2. 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...)


3. 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?

Catch Up

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

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!

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.

updates

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!

What place near you...

...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?

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)

THANK YOU!!!

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!

They're baaaaaack

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!!

Tiger Lily

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.