Furniture, Frolicking and Football

Okay, I am going to try uploading pictures with this posting, so cross your fingers...About a week and a half ago I decided that I was going to pull an old cheap-o bookshelf out of storage, sand off the laminate, and paint it aqua so I could stand to have it in my house. I think laminate is so ugly, and this particular bookcase was quite hideous, but we really need some more space for movies and books in this little place I call home. So I got on the internet, downloaded some instructions for painting over laminate, and chose a paint color.

I finally finished the bookcase on Saturday and moved it to its new home on the second landing in my stairwell.

I left work a little bit early on Friday and had a girls night out with Heather and Amy. We first went to get Halloween costumes (fun period costumes to wear with our Venetian masks), and then drove over to Gardner Village for Witches Night. I was a little skeptical when Heather first told me about it, but it was actually really fun. Hundreds of women, every single one dressed up as a witch. Some of these women went all out on their costumes, it was amazing.

Heather, Amy and I got dressed up (hats, capes, and tights), and joined in the fun. We had soup in breadbowls, shopped around Gardner Village, and took lots of pictures. I'm going to have to go back there on a slower night, because there were some really great shops there!

And last but not least, the fabulous BYU vs. Eastern Washington game on Saturday. The Cougs won 42-7, and it was a fun game to watch, but it was COLD. It rained for a majority of the game, and there was some wind, but by the last 10 minutes of the game, there were snowflakes the size of quarters falling and we were all afraid that we had frosbite on our toes.

An Update... Finally

So, I recognize that it's been over 7 months since I've contributed to the world of blogging, but here I am, letting you all know that I'm still alive and kicking.

Since March, so much has happened that I can't be bothered to write about anything in very much detail, so glance over the bulleted list below and just e-mail me or call me if you actually want details. (Disclaimer: These are not in any specified order, because I also can't be bothered to put them in chronological order or rank them by importance).

• I did two new paintings that I love and I'm currently working on 6 more. If you read Jessica's blog, I think she posted pics of the 2 that are already done.
• I went to Europe with my family for two weeks. I decided that one day I must live in France, and that Italy is going to be revisited some time in the near future (meaning in the next few years of my life--I'm too poor to go anywhere right now).
• I found out that one of my dear, dear mission companions passed away while I was gone on vacation. She would have been 63 or 64, I think.
• I got two raises at work. Wahoo! (That still doesn't change the being poor issue, though).
• I went on my first business trip to Phoenix. It was supposed to last two days and ended up being a week long. I will never live in Arizona unless I become suddenly allergic to everything except the sun and dirt.
• My siblings and I established 'Ticket to Ride Night,' and we now play every Sunday.
• I went on a road trip to Boise for the funeral of a good friend. The funeral was beautiful.
• The drive to Boise was horrible, though. What boring terrain. I thought only the midwest was supposed to be that flat and uninteresting.
• I finally got my Bachelor's Degree in French with a minor in English. Useless? It's debatable.
• I decided that I should probably go to grad school. That won't be for a while, though.
• Went to see Hairspray in the movie theater. Three times. I'm addicted to the soundtrack, and I hope people on the road enjoy watching me sing to my steering wheel on my way to and from work.
• I tried tofu for the first time ever and absolutely loved it.
• I still can't do sushi.
• Heather pointed out to me how often I say the word "awesome," so now every time I say it I smile to myself and the people around me think I'm nutso.
• I discovered how much I love Baroque music like Watermusic, Xerxes, and Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I don't like the harpsichord that much, though, so that limits the options for listening.
• I realized that life really is fragile, and I need to be better at keeping in touch with the people I love. So here's the first in a series of attempts.

Perspective in Prose and Poetry

Today I spent five and a half hours at the library trying to get through my British Lit. class. While reading the introduction to one of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poems, I read the following quote, which he had adapted from Thomas Burnet's Archarologiae Philosophicae:

"... It is helpful sometimes to contemplate in the mind, as on a tablet, the image of a greater and better world, lest the intellect, habituated to the petty things of daily life, narrow itself and sink wholly into trivial thoughts."

It was an unexpected and beautiful reminder about putting life in perspective.

And That's Why They Call It Impressionism...

Yesterday I went to the Museum of Art on BYU campus to see a new exhibit with Mom, Amy, Heather, and Easton (who is 2). The exhibit was designedto highlight the influence of French Impressionism on American painters in the 1840's and 50's.

So there we were... wandering through the exhibit, thoughtfully gazing at each painting, when Easton delightedly exclaimed, "Horsey!"

Thrilled at the thought of Easton actually enjoying himself, we all leaned in to see what he was pointing at so we could praise his intelligence in our own sing-songy, baby-talk voices. Heather was standing--Easton in her arms--in front of a beautiful lanscape depicting grass and trees bending and waving in the breeze of a beautiful, sunny day.

Strangely, there wasn't an animal to be found on the canvas. There was, however, a series of brush strokes in the green grass that looked strangely like the shadow of a galloping horse if you looked at it with a forgiving eye.

After a moment we moved on to the next painting, and to our surprise heard Easton exclaim once again, "Horsey!"

No, I promise, darling boy... even though it might look like a horse, it's not actually a horse.

But it couldn't be helped. If he saw a horse, he saw a horse, and who were we to tell him otherwise?

So I look like a pug, do I?

The other day at work this girl comes up to me and says, "Do you know what you remind me of?"

"What?"

"A pug."

Uhhh...Come again?!?

She apparently thinks pugs are the cutest dogs in the world... so even though they are sqatty and wrinkly, I'm supposed to take this as a compliment. Okay, then.