Salt Lake City again and again

Tonight I went to SLC, UT to see some artists at work in the LDS Church History Museum.

"The Spirit of Art - Artists at Work"

Blanche Wilson does woodcuts!

She got degrees in both art and special education, and then her masters in art.

Brian Kershisnik probably drew the biggest crowd and he showed this video that sped up three weeks of painting so you could see him do a huge painting in a matter of minutes

The Church History Museum uses Kershisnik's woodcuts as signs throughout the main exhibit

Somebody wrote "eternal love" on the parking meter :)

Never gets old

I thought I should have at least picture with me in it

OH, POSTSCRIPT: I GOT A JOB! MEET LAURA, OGDEN'S NEWEST TEACHING ASSISTANT!

Rainy content

You know when it's cold and dark and rainy outside and you feel inside like it feels outside? But you aren't depressed or unhappy, rather you're constantly smiling and happy and just good feeling? And everything outside is in a distorted light and it's beautiful and you feel like lying in the grass and getting wet with the air, no matter how cold it is? Like the rain is clean and content and happy and ready for whatever weather the morning brings? And you listen to mellow music and feel like going to bed early? And you just feel like you can breath because the rain washed away all of the dirty air and pollution? So it's good, just good, rainy wet cold dark clear clean happy peaceful content good. That's how I feel and I love it, goodnight world- well goodnight as soon as I read some OT and Narnia...goodnight then.

I was going to put the Red House Painters video for All Mixed Up, but I like this much much better:

Yummy things!

I think I think about food too much...haha! Well I wanted to share some more yummy foods that I've made recently- both are cost conscience concoctions.

The first are homemade granola bars! I eat a lot of granola bars and usually I just buy the Quaker smores one, but they’re loaded with junk and sugar and they really add up when you buy them all of the time. So I googled and combined my findings. This is what I came up with:

-Wheat germ (organic bulk bins-aka, super cheap!)

-6 grain oats (organic bulk bins-aka, super cheap!)

-Dark carob chips (no sugar or junk alternatives to chocolate chips! Also from the organic bulk bins)

-Utah made organic honey (organic bulk bins-aka, super cheap!)

- Fresh crushed in the store peanut butter (organic bulk bins-aka, super cheap!)
- Sundrops (no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Their color comes from beet juice, beta carotene and natural caramel. Their chocolate centers are made with rich milk chocolate, sweetened with evaporated cane juice and a touch of unsulphered molasses, organic bulk bins-aka, super cheap!)
-organic brown sugar (organic bulk bins-aka, super cheap!)
-organic butter

You can basically add whatever you want! Dried berries, nuts etc. Just boil the sugar, peanut butter and butter and pour that over everything else. Spread out flat and let cool and cut into bars (or be lazy and break in random chunk and put into a Ziploc:)) YUMMY! They taste like no bake cookies, or as my family calls them- poop cookies, but think they've got to be healthier than those smore bars I was sucking down every day! Oh yeah, I didn't really measure, I just tossed a bunch in so I would have a lot!!!

Next- turkey cilantro meatballs.

Okay, I've been wanting some serious meat lately, but meat is super exspensive! So last night I bought some jenny-O ground turkey. It cost about 2 bucks and it has all sorts of possibilities!

-Fresh cilantro (costs about a buck)
-Cumin
-Fresh garlic (super cheap, even the organic stuff)
-Cinnamon
-Chili pepper

With your hands massage all of the spices and ripped up cilantro leaves in a bowl until well blended. Form into balls shapes and plop into a pan with grape seed oil and fresh cut onion. Cook until inside and out is brown. You could eat these in tacos, burritos or any Latin dish, but I put mine on a big bed of lettuce and kidney beas with some fresh made cilantro ranch dressing (tons of fresh cilantro, ranch-coyote ranch from Utah is the best- but it’s fattening, water or milk, a tiny bit of garlic and lime or lemon if you want- but the acid tends to curdle the dairy).

Enjoy!

SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited! Anyone want to come? You're only invited if you don't mind being there as long as I want! I'm so excited!!! Two hours of seeing one of my favorite artists at work! Plus some other awesome artists- it will be super cool to see their processes! Oil, illustration, woodcuttting and more! Hello, I HAVE to go!

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700010673/Speaking-to-the-soul-LDS-Church-History-Museums-interactive-exhibit-communicates-Spirit-of-Art.html

Actually, this might be a Laura day...hmmm...

One track mind.

Seriously, I'm a creature of habit! I always sit in the same seat and by the same people in class. I eat the same things all the time. My mind is definitely always on one track. EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE…STUPID MEN, STUPID MEN, STUPID MEN, STUPID MEN, STUPID MEN…READ, READ, READ, READ, READ…OUTDOORS, OUTDOORS, OUTDOORS, OUTDOORS, OUTDOORS…JANE AUSTEN, JANE AUSTEN, JANE AUSTEN, JANE ASUTEN…repeat. Bwahahaha. I need to mix up my food, my time, my thoughts, my life! Who wants to mix it up with me?

Sorry to be a tiny bit negative, but...

I'M TIRED OF BEING THE FRIEND!!!

http://www.peroxidecomics.com/escape-from-friend-zone-game/

That's all.

All the things to do

What I do besides Facebook?
Go running.
Go to the gym with a friend (now I have a Thursday gym buddy! Who wants to fill in the other days?)
Take a nap.
Finish my homework before noon!
Arrange a job interview.
Make brown rice (and almost kill us all because I forgot it on the burner for about 4 hours....haha...oops)
Watch the end of Mars Attacks and some Flight of the concords, make cootie catchers and look through catalogs with Hillary, sleepover!
Finally fix the cover of my journal so it features a photo of me.

Dance in my room, kitchen and with my cousins.
Straighten my hair.
Watch more Roswell (only two discs left!!!)
Play the harmonica.

So yeah, plenty.

Sugar par deux and dreams

Can i just say that's it's funny that I went on and on about sugar and HFCS being bad, and tonight I ate some skittles. Haha. Moderation!

I almost forgot! This morning when I woke up I was dreaming that some girls told me my teeth would look better if the tops and bottoms were switched. In the dream I gave into the peer pressure and pulled my teeth out to switch them! Let's just say the girls were wrong! Several of my teeth cracked and were ruined and I looked like a freak with my teeth switched! Typically dreams about teeth falling out etc. are interpreted as the dreamer being concerned with their appearance and I think it makes sense. I have been concerned with my appearance lately, both in a positive-I love me-way, and in not so positive ways. I guess the moral is, don't give into peer pressure. Additionally other people's advice might be nice, but I don't have to take it. Most of all, LOVE WHO YOU ARE!

Here's a picture of Dwayne Johnson because he's in that movie, The Tooth Fairy, and because...he's

THE ROCK!

PS. Speaking of buffness, I can barely walk because my muscles are so sore from running, and yet I agreed to go to the gym at 7 am tommorrow! What's my mental glitch?!

Giving up Facebook for 40 days.

It's only about 2 pm on day one and I'm already going a little crazy. I think that's evidence enough that I need a brake from the time consuming and addictive Facebook. I'm using Lent as more of a time frame, rather than a religious experience. I'm using Lent to rid myself of something in my life that it's crucial, and that is addictive.
I have a lot of reading homework to do, I have paintings to paint, projects to work on, job hunting to do, journaling, and so, so much more that I could do, and yet here I am, blogging about Facebook because I can’t go on Facebook. Wow. My hope isn’t that I will quit Facebook forever, but rather that I will waste less time on it. I figure the best way to go on FB less is to start by not going on at all.

So here’s something productive I did today instead of going on Facebook. I went running. Okay, it was some running and a lot of walking, but it’s only day two of running in a long, long time- I’ve got to start somewhere. I’ve always loved running, which makes me a silly human. I love something that’s good for me and I never do it. In contrast so many of us do things that aren’t good for us, even when we know they wont make us feel good, and they’re not that enjoyable! Example- we love to overeat or eat sweets, even though we know they’ll give us mood swings and make us feel sick! Now I’m not saying abolish all cake, because then we’d be in hell- I love cake, but I am saying we don’t need candy, soda or whatever other crap we love put in us EVERY DAY.

I always love those high fructose corn syrup commercials because they always say, “it’s fine, like sugar, in moderation,” but then they pump high fructose corn syrup and sugar into everything! Here’s a video that I thought was good- oh man, I sound like Lucy from SVU! Haha, I guess she was right all along…bwahaha! Sorry for the health kick blogs I’ve been doing so much of ;)
Hahahaha, aren't you glad I'm not this intense:

Here's another good one!

Day 14: SUPER AMAZING!

I am so happy I did this 14 days of Valentine's blog and celebration. It's really hard to blog about what I love about me- real hard. After day two I was like...uh, I have no idea what I love about me...so I'm glad that this forced me to look at myself and see the good. You know, something I'm discovering is that if you want to be attractive, you have to act attractive. Don't complain about your life, your face, your body, your anything! Life is beautiful and wonderful and all of those crap days make the small good things BIG good things. No one wants a Debbie Downer- I'm talking to you girl who would hopefully never read my blog ;) Bwahahaha! Besides the benefit of being attractive to others when you behave attractive, you become more attractive to yourself! And as awful as it may sound, hearing a certain girl complain about herself has made me realize how much I love me! Not because I take joy in her pain, but because it makes me think about the whole self esteem canoli. I love Laura, Lora, Lara, Lawra…whoever I am!

Laura tree I painted for Christmas :)

Today’s love activity was pretty easy- I went to church. I love church. I love my new ward. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ! People talk about love all the time, like it’s something so casual or base, and often it is, but I love real love. I love a love so great that it loves pill bugs and baboons and pebbles! I love a love that would suffer any conceivable pain to save us all from eternal pain! I love a love that allows us to experience pain and suffering (sometimes for years and months) so that we become stronger, more interesting, more attractive, more humble, more beautiful, more fit to be gods and goddesses! Woah, this is getting too intense and personal for a blog, TMI! But who cares! I want to shout it from the rooftops! I didn’t have a SUPER AWESOME Valentine’s because I sent out Star Wars Valentine’s or because I watched romantic movies- My Valentine’s has been super because God loves me. Dig it. “That’s all” (I always love to say, “that’s all,” like Miranda Priestly from the Devil Wears Prada in my head!)

I love toothpasteforedinner.com cartoons!

So what do I love about me, me. All of it. I love my frizzy hair and my big nose. I love my blue eyes and my wonderful toes. I love that I don’t ever bruise, but I scar like a mink is minky. I love that I laugh at awkward moments. I love that I create awkward moments all the time! I love that my roommate just got engaged and I’m about to cry for joy because I’m so happy for her- and I’ve only known her for about a month. I love that every time I walk by the swing in my front yard (no matter the temperature or weather) I want to hop on and watch the cars go by. I love that I have my nana and grandmother’s names. I love that I am me. Happy Valentine’s World!

CONGRATS ROOMIE!

Day 13: Swanky Valentine's Party

Today's activity was all ready for me- all I had to do was my hair :) I was invited to a Frank Sinatra Fiesta! Aka, a party where we dressed retro and listened to snazzy Sinatra/swing etc. music! At first the night was suck-a-delic because Hillary and I drove around for a million years trying to find the place! Luckily I got a hold of a friend who's boyfriend had my buddy's (who's house said fiesta was at) phone number. With his magnificent direction we found the joint in no time! We played Wi, mingled and had a swell time- and I’ll tell you what, it was A WHOLE lot better than years past spent wallowing in singleness. I mean, I’m happy and I firmly believe you can be happy single, probably just as easily as you can be with someone, and I still single, but it was nice to have fun with friends! Hopefully Danny (the host) doesn't mind me shiesting some pictures for my blog!

Here I am telling Hillary's love fortune, I love Hillary's Betty Paige look!

Loving that fedora Danny!

Getting cozy on the couch, and a photo bomber! I said, "Justin, is that your fedora?" And he said, "Why wouldn't I have a fedora?" haha.

So ritzy!

My hair was as soft as kitten eyelashes. Just saying.

How random that Brianne Shiraki from BV, VA knows Danny! Small world!

So it was fun. What do I love about me today? I love my concern for God's smallest creatures. I've cried in the past because I killed a spider. I have a special jar just for catching bugs and spiders so I can release them outside and hope they can make it! Sometimes if I think about eating meat too much I get emotional. A lot of people make fun of me for it, but I don't give a squirrel burger! I'm not saying you're a sinner if you eat meat (if so then I'm going to hell with you I guess), but I am saying that God loves His creations more than we can imagine. He's all powerful and just like I know my paintings and prints, He knows his rolly pollies and His great blue whales. Unless they're really serving some ACTUAL threat, why do we have to squash every cute little bug we see? We don't. Sorry. Haha, por discurso rimbombante lo siento. Is that right Khiah?

Day 12: Ode to Wes Anderson

For Day 12 I had a Wes Anderson marathon with Hillary. We started the night off with Rushmore, then The Life Aquatic, and topped it off with The Royal Tenenbaums. Both Hillary and I dressed as Magrgot from the Royal T's, but Hillary was teenage Margot when she was darker.

What I like about me: I like that I like cleaning. That's right, I enjoy cleaning. Today I vacuumed our whole house, including the cobwebs around the ceiling- and I loved it! It's so freashing after you clean. It makes me feel like my mind is clean when my area is clean! Yay clean! I LOVE THAT I LOVE TO CLEAN.

Day 11: Video collage of Laura

For today's Valentine celebration I made a video of me and people and things I love. It's just a picture video- so it's most likely boring for all of you, but whatever...enjoy, maybe :)

As for what I love about myself- the scar under my lip. When I was about two I slipped and fell in the bathtub or something. I split my lip open and the little white scar has been there ever since! It's just a scar and it's small, but I love it. I think it gives me character!

Here's another video I edited:

Day 10: New clothes for my hot bod!

Today I did something possibly foolish, but I enjoyed it tremendously!!! I went shopping. You see, it is foolish because I don’t have a job…haha. I had to use my dress barn credit card and typically I wouldn’t recommend purchasing things you don’t have the money for…bwahahaha! At least I picked up a job application while I was there. Okay, moving on. It was wonderful- I got 3 dresses, some jeans and a turtle neck! I’ve wanted a turtleneck forever and I needed some jeans bad! They were all on sale and I got it all for a great price, plus the saleswoman gave me an additional discount! It felt so good and I felt beautiful, which leads me to what I love about myself.

Imagine this gem minus the socks with heels! Oh and I made a delightful discovery when I got home- this dress has a hoodie style pocket in the front middle!

This one surprised me- I hate orange, but this rust orange intrigued me and I ended up love loving it!

Just blue jeans and a black turtleneck! I feel so Audrey in it! Especially with a faux bang (my first time doing them, so they're not perfect, but I still like them! Practice make perfect!)

This dress is so comfy and it's a bit more flattering when it's not at this angle. It's flowy and purple and I feel like a gypsy in it- that's a good thing.

I LOVE MY BODY.
I really do love it! I’ve been trying to eat really healthy and I’ve actually trimmed up a good amount. Now hear this, I don’t believe my worth, or anyone’s should be correlated with weight- but I want to be healthy. I want to buy any clothes I want, I do not want to have a stroke or a heart attack, I want to hike farther and harder. So many things that I want require me to be healthy, and yeah- it feels good to look in the mirror and see the right curves on display, as opposed to only being able to see the wrong curves ;) I have so much to be grateful for- two legs, two arms, two good eyes, two good ears, all of the correct twos. Life is good and so is my body!

Day 9: Making some Valentine's

For today's Valentine activity I started making my Valentine's- yay! In fact, if you're reading this blog, you very well might get one! I don't think I have to explain why this is Valentiney, it just is.

Here is the mess from the Valentine's.

Here is the paper, address book and some stickers!

What I love about me on this Tuesday, I love that I cry. Visa Olympic commercials, babies, old people, small animals, animal cruelty, thinking about the meat I eat too much, Pollyanna, The Incredibles and just about any other family movie- they all have one thing in common, they make me cry! I used to be really embarrassed about crying, but now I see it as a gift. I'm glad I cry 6 times when I watch The Incredibles rather than releasing stress or anger via punching people or acting dangerously. You see, my crying is a release and I'm able to release pretty easily!

David A. Bednar quoted Marvin J. Ashton, saying, "In October 1987 Elder Marvin J. Ashton, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, spoke in general conference about spiritual gifts. I recall with fondness the impact his message had upon me at that time, and the things he taught then continue to influence me today. In his message Elder Ashton detailed and described a number of less conspicuous spiritual gifts—attributes and abilities that many of us might not have considered being spiritual gifts. For example, Elder Ashton highlighted the gifts of asking; of listening; of hearing and using a still, small voice; of being able to weep; of avoiding contention; of being agreeable; of avoiding vain repetition; of seeking that which is righteous; of looking to God for guidance; of being a disciple; of caring for others; of being able to ponder; of bearing mighty testimony; and of receiving the Holy Ghost (see “There Are Many Gifts,” Ensign, Nov. 1987, 20)."

You see? I have the gift of weep! And it is a gift, I LOVE THAT I CAN CRY!

Day 8: Dating do and don'ts

Monday's Valentine's celebration was easy because it was supplied for me! For our wards FHE our bishop and his wife talked about some of the do and don'ts of celestial dating and we even watched The Phone Call!

Click To Play

The bishop gave us a packet with ideas for easy and cheap dates, here are a few of my favorites:

Fly airplanes off a cliff, breakfast date (guys cook), fake running out of gas (the couple pushes), visit an old folks home, walk all the dogs in the neighborhood, decorate someone's car "just married," discover a mountain and plant a flag you made together, follow-the-clue hike, candlelight dinner in the back of a pick-up, get on a bus and take a tour of the city, go to an art gallery, go to a farm and do chores together, mud fights, little kid games (hide and go seek, mother may I etc), taffy pull, hiking, tubing, go fishing with a picnic, tennis, Lagoon, wash a car, bake something, badminton, shoot guns, Easter egg hunt, planetarium, dress in overalls and act like janitors, rent a cheap cartoon or movie, swinging in the park, horseback riding at night and more! This list is amazing! I want to do all of it! ASK ME OUT! haha...


Here are a few don'ts for guys:
Doesn't talk or carry on conversations, aggressively touchy, crude, burps, SPITS, swears, checks other girls out, cuts himself down, complains about price of date, too much aftershave/cologne etc.


Don’ts for girls:
Won’t help make any decisions- just says, “I don’t know,” doesn’t order dinner (pretends not to be hungry when she is), too much perfume, self deprecates, constantly going to the bathroom (they know you’re going in there to call or text friends etc), too much makeup, acts dumb, swearing, won’t tell you she doesn’t like you, expects fancy dates etc.


Rules for Celestial Dating:
No kissing/hugging/make-out sessions, no French kissing, don’t go into the opposite sexes room, no back rubs (back rubs lead to front rubs- I added that one), do not lie down on top of each other, dress modestly, avoid late hours etc.

Here's a fun date idea- make cardboard costumes and explore the town in them!

Additionally the packet has some info. about chastity, purity and date etiquette. It’s a great packet and I really enjoyed going to FHE!

So what I love about myself is that I give genuine compliments! Sometimes they are detailed and possibly people think I'm a freak, but if in my head I think, "That girl has a beautiful face," I'm going to tell her! Holding in a compliment is like holding in a smile, you're depriving the world of something that would benefit it! So feel good if I ever gave you a compliment like, "You have great bone structure," because I don't say compliments unless I really believe them!