It may be manipulation...

But I love this commercial. I want to make something awesome, learn origami and buy Asics shoes. There is something about Kihachiro Onisuka (yes, I had to look that up) that makes me wish he was my grandpa, or granspa's best friend (you know the one who comes over on Sunday afternoons for canasta).

Credits to Mabona Origami for making origami cool. 

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'Tis the season to blog about Christmas

This year, Christmas Rocks! I've spent the last month preparing the decorations. It is our first year (or holiday) that we've actually put anything up. First things first, I bought stockings. I've wanted to make some forever, but decided against it when I saw these at Pottery Barn (for the cost of material I would have had to bought). Right now, a lot of their stockings are on sale and they all ship free.

Alright, enough free advertising for Pottery Barn. It's Martha Stewart's turn. I started decorating ornaments and it wasn't working out. The tree was so overwhelming. But I wanted a lot of color. At the craft store, I saw a Martha glitter set of 18 great colors and ta-da:

(Side note: if you are a widow because it is finals week, don't get too carried away with the camera...)

And now advertising for me. Not really, but I did make sweet Christmas things this year. The back side of a gift certificate I made for a client:

I used it to make tags for our neighbor/friend gifts. I'm finishing them up but will show them to you later.

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Pictures of the New Apartment

The new pepper plant (ah, orange).

Our wall of Kathy art. The center piece fits PERFECTLY over our thermostat.

A section of our new tablecloth.

My favorite plant piece (and the only fake one!).

Our new bookshelf wall. We arraigned it by color.

A french not tutorial I'm putting together (mostly for myself).

We are loving it here. It is bigger, cleaner and brighter. We are currently taking reservations for visitors (because we miss you all).

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Grandma Vivi

Laurie decided to scan some photos of Vivian so we could display them at her funeral. While we were scanning/editing the photos, I thought I'd upload them on to flickr. Get your fill here. I'm still uploading, so there will be many more photos in the near future.

A before and after shot.

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Boy Bands and Cannibals

Every night for the past three nights, I've had a dream about dating some random person. The thing is, I never think about Anthony Hopkins, Justin Timberlake or the Jonas Brothers on a regular basis (or ever).

The first dream: Anthony Hopkins saw me at a show his daughter and granddaughter were performing in. I asked him if he wanted to sit next to me. It took him the whole rest of the show to get there. He asked me to eat with him, so I ran ahead to make reservations while he walked (slowly) to the restaurant after me. I went back to get him and he was dead. His daughter and granddaughter wouldn't let me go to the funeral because they thought I was trying to get his money. I didn't even like him, I just felt bad for him, so it wasn't such a big loss.

The second dream: I kiss Justin Timberlake and then he tells me who I should vote for because, "[He] used to be a member of the boy-band *NSYNC and [he] knows these things." He said it in a manner that implied, "Duh, you should have already known that."

The third dream: I'm dating one of the Jonas Brothers, but I've never seen them before and have a hard time remembering which one I'm supposed to be dating. I figure it must be the oldest one (at which point I try to figure out if it's against the law to date someone so young, but figure I'll just pretend to be 18), but I keep forgetting what he looks like, so I have to listen for clues. I don't like him but I think it's fun when we go places and everyone screams. Plus, we got to live in an awesome house in Disneyland.

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A Soviet housing revival right here in Logan (aka student housing))

I'm very excited to move, and yet I realized today that I will miss the quaintness of this apartment (mice, spiders, mold, dust and orange drinking water excluded). Today I was picking the last of the apples from the tree on an old, rickety (easy-to-fall-off-and-get-hurt) ladder, and I felt as if I was in a spread for an autumnal issue of Martha Stewart Living (in a good way, not the stuffy, too cute or too perfect way).

After it was dark, I went out to pick a great bouquet of saturated pinks, oranges and yellows. It is such a great thing to have a huge flower garden in your backyard. (I know you all want to see pictures, but I camera is in storage.) I was walking back inside with the flowers and I kept hear a faint buzzing, and whenever I moved what was in my right hand closer (either scissors or flashlight), it would get louder. I kept brushing myself off and then figured I had gone crazy and went inside. Then I felt something on my neck, something BIG. I made Dave check me for any bugs, but none were to be found. It turned out to be this huge bumblebee. Dave swatted it and it deflated it (it was substantially smaller).


Our apartment search could be going better (some places we looked include: apartments owned by the parents of the high school jock that wanted to date me but we didn't speak the same language-literally, a Soviet housing revival right here in Logan, and staying in Alta's basement). I'd much rather purchase the above house (Sq Ft: 2615, Bedrooms: 4, Baths: 2, Family Rooms: 2, Acres: .37, Outdoor Lighting, Wrap-around Porch, Dishwasher, Jetted Tub, etc.). All for (John and Brooke, skip this next part) $117,900. And that's the asking price, so I bet you could get it for cheaper (but they'd have to throw in the toy car and the bicycle). Someone we know lives by it and says the current owners have fixed it up a lot. Anyway, we are still looking for a place to live, so if anybody hears anything, let us know.

A quick update on the rest of our lives: busy and good. We are so happy right now, though Dave is always at work or school. We'll try to write more often. 

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How Could Tina Fey NOT be Sarah Palin?

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Our Current Living Situation

As promised, I'm keeping record of our lovely time in our current apartment. Including lovely little incidents like this:

(Before we located a shop vac: Dave soaking a beach towel and wringing it into a waste basket.)

The water came in through the kitchen window and brought with it all kinds of fun tidbits: dirt, dirty water, dead bugs, dirt... When we came home to this little surprise on Sunday, all the bugs in the apartment were climbing up the walls away from the water. 60+ gallons and still damp/wet.

ON TOP OF THAT: This morning I went into the laundry room (where we had moved all the living room things to to keep them from getting wet) and SURPRISE! It had flooded as well (Sometime between 1:00 yesterday and 5:30 this morning).

Oh well, I guess being young and poor means that life is full of exciting things like this. I'll probably (and hopefully) never get to jump in 2.5" deep water in me kitchen ever again.

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I know I promised to blog about our CURRENT living situation...

Heck, I'll even take the cheaper Ikea versions:

LEFT BOTTOM:

Four poster bed: HEMNES $299.00

Bench: NORDEN $69.99 + Upholstery Fabric, Staple Gun and Paint

Vase: OVATION Free, I already own it

Throw: UNNI VIRKA $29.99

Bed Spread: FORSYTIA $29.99

TOP MIDDLE:

Dresser: HEMNES $179.00 + contact paper (for stencils) and paint

BOTTOM MIDDLE:

Chairs: LILLBERG $149.00 + Black Paint

Rug: GEDSER $39.99

Assorted Frames: The RIBBA collection $7.99 and up

TOP RIGHT:

The real thing is cheap enough: Spectrum Chandelier $36.00

MIDDLE RIGHT:

Um, some blank White Bedspread and fabric ink: priceless

BOTTOM RIGHT:

Porch Swing: Delahey $109.00 + paint

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We're moving...

and I'm surprisingly a little sad. I wasn't a first, the day I realized the apartment was dark, dirty, and old, I found five spiders, and a mouse hopped across the floor. Then I started thinking about all the things I'll miss: Alta, the light fixtures, the garden, the dripping radiator, the skinny stove, the cupboards. 

We have a lot of history here, it has been the place for the first two-and-a-half years of "us." My mother was probably conceived here*.

I'm going to attempt to catalogue some of the things I like, as soon as I can find my camera. 

However, deep in our old photos I did find a picture of our previous fridge. Some things I loved about this fridge: 

-it was as old as my parents

-it opened from the left and since our kitchen is so tiny, you had to stand against the left wall and the open it, trapping yourself and making impossible for anyone else to be in the kitchen.

-When we got a new fridge, it had half the size foot print, and double the storage inside

-deicing

-the sweet handles

-the lazy susan style shelves

-like moldy food? you'd love this fridge, it doesn't keep anything cool enough

*More about my personal family history involving this house in future posts.

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YearBookYourself.com

When I'm a man in the 1970's I look like Jemaine.

In the 1980's I can actually gain weight (as a boy or girl).

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Clever Design

I'm loving these products from Peleg Design.

Crime Scene pot holder.

Hot man pot holder.

Magnetic Dots.

Magnetic Vases. (A small magnet sheet is placed under the tablecloth that holds the vases upright.)

Reflective Tic-Tac-Toe.

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The Fifth Grade Me

I was de-junking a box of old items I had stashed away and I found a book I made in fifth grade about myself. Every month my teacher would give us some form to fill out, and at the end of the year we had them bound. Some highlights:

1. On a page that asks our opinions on things:

      Pollution: "I don't even come close to liking it, it's icky."

      Stealing: "I have one word of advice, 'don't.' Although some peoples jobs depend on it, like lawyers, judges, police, T.V., and cable.

2. (A fill in the blank question) The touch of dead animals makes me sad.

Surprisingly, some parts were very insightful, and I think I'd answer them in the same (but maybe with a different vocabulary). The weirdest thing I found was a journal entry from the fourth grade where I talked about how the Church changed its logo and how I liked the old one better. Weird.

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Color Garden

I LOVE gardening, I never really realized until this summer. Wednesday has become my favorite day of the week because we get to irrigate (this means: playing in the mud, but not being immature). I really, really, really, love it. This year has been great because the raspberry plants are old enough to bare raspberries, lots of them (this means: raspberries and milk for breakfast). 

I've always had a desire to grab one of each paint swatch while I'm at the store. The other day I finally asked. I felt like it was such a bad thing to ask for. He said yes and, "They are ALWAYS sending me those things, take as many as you want." I did. I haven't decided what to do with them, but I have some good ideas.

My garden is more vibrant than the paint swatches. They don't have a color even close to the color of our raspberries, so I made one up in the tradition of Dutch Boy paint names (this means: lame). (Who names these things anyhow? Some of my favorites: "Pink Positive," "Wow Power," "So Mature," "Hootenanny Green," "Sweet Dream Sweetie," and "Sweet-alious.")

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Colorforms

Lise Nelson and I used to spend hours playing with colorforms. Our favorite place to play? The mirror in the bathroom. These must have been my favorite childhood toy. They are so simple. I love that.

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Wisdom

Ultimately, you can not control people by fear. Because their ultimate, ultimate essence is constantly craving dignity. Wole Soyinka

Your best work is your expression of yourself. Now, you may not be the greatest at it; but when you do it, you're the only expert in it. Frank Ghery

Love something. I think we've got to love something deeply. I think its love. Sounds sentimental as hell, but I really think it is. Andrew Wyeth

All of these quotes and pictures are from Andrew Zuckerman's book Wisdom. (Which I'm coveting.) These three quotes all related so well to things that I'm learning right now. 

I've been thinking a lot about Alta (who is now 91), our landlady/friend, who called me upstairs yesterday because she is afraid she is falling apart. She is so worried about losing her ability to take care of herself, because with it she loses all freedom. I was thinking about grandma Vivi, how much she loved the walk we took her on and how hard it must be to lose dignity. Then I realized something, I don't think either one of these ladies have lost any dignity, their bodies are falling apart, but if we could see the contents of the lessons they've learned, we would realize they are more knowledgeable, beautiful and dignified than most.

Right now, I'm trying to find out what my artistic style is. I've always had one, innately. But as its changing and developing, I feel like I'm losing touch of the essence of it. Its so comforting to think that I create for myself.

As for love, I always knew this, but I've been taught the lesson all over again in the last few months. The answer is love. Not only loving, but realizing that you are loved.

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Faded Paper Figures Album Release

Some of my favorite things include: John's Lyrics (lines like "When you come in you're my only income"), Heather's subtle vocals, and whatever Kael does to make rhythms out of noises you never knew could by music. (Brooke's picture of the band is fabulous.) Listen to samples of their music here. If you like it, you can buy MP3s here.

Now we just have to wait for Becky's album release...

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OUR HOUSE

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Helen Hunt? Really?

My "Look Alikes" and their percentages:

Helen Hunt: 66%
Hillary Clinton: 64%
JoJo: 63%
Patrick Stump*: 62%
Shu Qi: 61%
Alicia Silverstone: 61%
Penelope Cruz: 60%

*I wish Patrick's name was just Pat so at least we weren't positive he was a he. But he is a he, and I think we look more alike then any of the others. I have no idea who he is though.



Dave's "Look Alikes" and their percentages:

August Strindberg: 70%
Hilary Swank: 68%
Billy Idol (LOVE IT!): 67%
Emanuel Lasker: 64%
Maite Perroni: 64%
Leonardo DiCaprio: 63%
Andie MacDowell: 62%
Susan Sarandon: 62%

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The World's Largest Lobster is Made of Metal

I just got back from a two week road trip. Dave is making me do my homework now. I'll post about it later.

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A Blog of One's Own

I have a personal blog now. http://asugarcrystalsound.blogspot.com/

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I forgot how funny this TV show was...

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Is There Someone Living in Your Closet?

NOT actual photo, but it makes one wonder how many people have tried this...

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese man who was mystified when food kept disappearing from his kitchen, set up a hidden camera and found an unknown woman living secretly in his closet, Japanese media said Friday.

The 57-year-old unemployed man of Fukuoka in southern Japan called police Wednesday when the camera sent pictures to his mobile phone of an intruder in his home while he was out on Wednesday, the Asahi newspaper said on its Website.

Officers rushed to the house and found a 58-year-old unemployed woman hiding in an unused closet, where she had secreted a mattress and plastic drink bottles, the Asahi said. Police suspect she may have been there for several months, the paper said.

"I didn't have anywhere to live," the Nikkan Sports tabloid quoted the woman as telling police.
Local police confirmed that they had arrested a woman for trespassing, but would not comment further on the case.

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by David Fox)

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Why Not?

Make your own paper steak meal at: http://www.wombat.zaq.ne.jp/fare/steak.html

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Sleep Pirate Dreams

I fell asleep while typing a chapter summary for m y business class. This is what the sheet looked like when I woke up. I was probably asleep for about 20-30 seconds based on the number of rrrrrrr's that I typed . Hope I can get more sleep in the near future.

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River

Here is the newest of our nieces and nephews "River". You don't have to do quote signs when you say her name.

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The Distant Past

(First Photo: John, Halloween. Second Photo: FoTC Music Video, "The Human's are dead.")

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So They Didn't Come

Yesterday, Dave became a college graduate. Dave's GPA was terrific, especially for engineering. He is a hard worker and an intelligent person. I'm very proud of him.

Kath, Alex, Scott, and Laurie all came up and we had a lot of fun. Dave forgot to tell my parents and so they didn't come (and were upset about it). We hope they can forgive us.

Also, Dave recently placed third in a NATIONAL design competition. He won a $2,500 software package. I'll make him tell you more about that.

We love you all.

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Some Reasons We Love Primary

Scene: At Lauren's house. Dave and I have come to visit. Lauren is giving family prayer.
11-year-old Lauren: Please bless Dave and Mikelle to go home so we can have family scripture study.

Scene: Primary room right after we have discovered who the spotlight child is.
Child's mom (also Primary President): And what is Kate's special relationship to me?
Kate's 5-year-old friend: (Loudly and enthusiastically): She's yours!

Scene: Primary room. Pianist's child is crying so primary counselor is try to calm her down. She has the baby is face down, one hand under chest and one under legs and is swinging her quite high.
Mischievous 7-year-old girl: (Loudly) I think she's going to throw that baby!

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David Neglected to Talk About Profitability

Today, David was officially accepted into the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business MBA program. He worked really hard to get in and I'd like to congratulate him.

Along the same lines, last week David was selected out of many, many applicants to compete in business school's annual entrepreneurship challenge. Only 25 students were selected to participate. Unfortunately, David neglected to talk about profitability (worth 20% of his "grade") and patentability (worth 25% of his "grade"). 

I love you very much and am very proud of you Dave! 

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I am bald

isometric view.

Here I am afraid of something.

Here I am smiling

I haven't joined a white supremacist group. This is a 3d image of me that I produced using only 3 photos (both profiles and a straight on). It is a fun program I downloaded called, FaceGen Modeller. You can change your race, sex, emotion, or whatever you want. Here are a few sample images. The SI on my forehead is a watermark for the free version, also, the hair isn't included for the free version. If any of you want to do this, send me the three photos with a straight on image (not smiling) and both profiles. I will do it for you and send you some pictures.

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Our Trip, Thus Far

Some things I liked (or found funny) about our trip this week:

Sunday:

1. Emma, the reverent example in primary glared at all the noisy children.

2. We went to Snoqualmie Falls. Everything was mossy.

Monday:

1. We hit sticks to the song "Go Chicken Fat, Go."

2. When we were rehearsing what we'd say if someone offered us a cigarette, Zack said, "I'm a baby," as his response. (Probably because when Dave offered them to Isaac, he said, "What are you a baby? and Isaac said, "I'd rather be a baby then a smoker.")

Tuesday:

1. We went on "The Drive." It was awesome. (See the above picture).


2. Josie started calling me "MooMoo."

3. I finished a book! Actually, so far I've finished two this week.

Wednesday:

1. We went to the Seattle Art Museum and I got to see TWO pieces, in real life, that I have written term papers on (Ghiberti's "Doors of Paradise," which, by the way, are HUGE, and a bust of Marcus Aurelius).

2. The tie on Dave's swimsuit got lost and he accidentally showed our fellow swimmers at the YMCA his bum.

3. I threw up ON the trash at the same YMCA (bet they were glad when we left). I'm hoping it's not kidney stones.

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