happy 2012!

Wishing you fun, excitement, and joy in the new year. I plan to have some of each myself. :)

just because

I was going through some old photos and found some pictures I took of the Twin Falls Temple back in 2009, I think. I had just stopped at my grandparent's house and was on my way back to Boise when I drove by the temple and was taken with the beauty of the white temple against the gorgeous evening sky - I had to at least try to capture it! This picture certainly isn't perfect, but I decided the breathtaking blue sky was just too gorgeous not to share.

lucky number 7

Back in August Jeff and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary! We went to one of our favorite Indian food restaurants here in SLC (please come visit us so we can take you there - yummy!), then went and played mini golf, one of our favorite things to do together. I'm so glad I married my best friend in the beautiful Idaho Falls temple 7 years ago. :)

real country

There is something about an agricultural field that just captures and holds my attention. Whether is is a vast expanse of potato, wheat, or corn I often find myself pausing to take in the beauty. I love the close up macro shots, as well as the big picture views where the fields look like rich and colorful ribbons. I guess that's just one more thing that makes me a country girl. :)

confessions of a color lover

I posted a similar picture from the fair in Boise a long while ago, but I still love it!

It's true - I am a lover of color - big time. Color is something I have always been drawn to, way back to learning the order of the colors in the rainbow and the complimentary colors. I even remember contemplating colors combinations as early as second grade (as a child I determined that pink/gray, pink/green, and purple/turquoise were good ones).
 
The love of color continues today. One of the most fantastic features of our SLC and Maryland apartments are/were the wall colors (LOVE the taupe, blues and yellow). And I have been known to organize my closet, bookshelf, fabric, even DVDs by color. And I admit to not being able to get over the first color issue of the General Conference Ensign issue - epic!

So it looks like I'm not the only one to confess a stronger than average affinity for color. Aarean is dedicating a whole new blog to it (with an awesome giveaway, too). Don't you adore the beautiful items she paired together above? Lovely. I believe I shall be making some more color posts myself one of these days.

project: seat covers

 

A little something about me: I enjoy a nice, bold, graphic print. Lately I've been quite drawn to chevrons. I knew I wanted to incorporate this print into our decor somehow, so I decided chair-pad covers for our dining table would be just the place.

Exhibit A: Boring Before.

We bought a 5 piece dining set when we were first married (7 years ago!) from Walmart. The whole set was $100, which I do think was a steal of a deal (especially considering the Provo D.I. is ridiculously overpriced when it comes to furniture). We've had to replace some parts, but overall the chair frames have held up well. However, the boring tan fabric on the chair pads was in definite need of replacement from years of use and abuse. So, I figured the perfect time for this project was when we first arrived in Salt Lake, seeing as how the chairs had already been dissembled for the move. After lots of time in the fabric store (which, PS, can I tell you how wonderful it is to be so close to JoAnn's once again?!) looking for pretty yellow fabric for a decent price, I finally decided to just make my own yellow print with some white and yellow duck cloth that was on sale for 50% off. So, about $15 and a lot of work later...

Exhibit B: The Awesome After!

 

It took some long, hard thinking, experimentation, failure, seam ripping, and frustration with the staple gun, but I finally figured out how to make my own chevron print chair pad covers (I suppose I could have just googled "chevron design" and found instructions on how to make the print here, but that would have been much too easy). The seams aren't perfect and it took a lot longer than I would have liked, but I LOVE the result! The bright pop of color these add to our home is so fun, and I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I look over and think, "Hey, I made those covers!"

hello there

Hello there, friends. I'm alive and planning to post. I just need to get up the stamina to do some of the massive updating that lies before me. I can do this - I just gotta take baby steps. And my first baby step is this little post. Not much substance, but posting this picture of a pretty daisy-like flower from a hike up in Cottonwood Canyon back in August is a start, right?

Okay, that wasn't too hard. Let's see if I can keep this going...

remember

I remember that morning 10 years ago. I remember waking up and hearing that World War III had started. I remember going to my Political Science 1100 class that morning. I remember hearing my professor, a New Yorker, tell us with tears in his eyes that class was canceled - he needed to find out if his loved ones were okay.

I remember another day just 4 months ago, when Jeff and I visited Ground Zero. I remember walking around the construction site where the now completed 9/11 memorial stands. I remember walking into St. Paul's Chapel across the street, the place of healing and comfort where recovery workers stopped to rest between shifts during that dark time in their individual lives as well as our nation's history.

I was saddened to see picture after picture displayed of the victims whose lives were taken in the attacks. However, I also remember the feeling of gratitude for the many more individuals that gave their talents, time, and prayers to lift up the hands that hung down during that trying time. The chapel was covered with paper hands, origami cranes, and other forms of encouragement from around the world, sent by those who wanted to let the people of New York know they were not forgotten.


These memorials serve as a wonderful reminder to me about the potential we each have to be a force for good in this world. No act of kindness is ever wasted, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant it may be. Truly it is our responsibility to be the hands of God on the earth. As Marjorie Pay Hinckley said, "We all have a responsibility to make a difference, to be an influence, to lift someone." May we all strengthen our resolve to do just that.

summertime, summertime, sum sum summertime

Hello friends! What a busy, busy summer it had been! After lots of driving, Idaho time, and visiting dear friends and family we are finally getting settled into our new place in Salt Lake City. I don't have a full update at present, but I will share a couple of fun summer photos taken with my new camera, the Canon Powershot G12.

craziness

Goodness! What a crazy few weeks it has been! I wish I had time to get my blog properly caught up on all the happenings of the last, well, 4 months actually, but I just don't have time tonight.

However, one piece of news that I suppose it is finally time to make official on the blog...

We're moving....

to Utah!

What? Didn't we just get to Maryland a year ago? Yes, yes my friends. But life has a way of leading us down certain paths where we think we know the final destination, only to lead to another, completely different path.

In short, after trying out the PhD program at the University of Maryland (and enjoying his professors and doing well in his classes, of course) Jeff has come to realize that the PhD route just isn't for him. Jeff loves to learn and had the ultimate goal of teaching in mind when he started the program at UMD, but Jeff came to find out pretty quick that teaching is not the focus of the PhD program he was in. The research heavy focus at UMD was too theoretical and philosophical for Jeff. He wants to be involved in the practical application of business; he doesn't want to write papers about business and study it - he wants to DO it.

So, after much research on graduate programs, pondering our future plans, and prayers for guidance, we came to the decision to go to Salt Lake City so Jeff can pursue an MBA at the University of Utah. Why Utah? Well, they made Jeff a great offer, which includes a spot in their entrepreneur center that Jeff is pretty stoked about. We are also hopeful this move will help him build his professional network in the west, seeing as how we love it there. Of course this is to say nothing about being closer to both of our families, which will of course be a big plus.

Although we have lots of reasons to look forward to and anticipate this big change, I don't think either of us were fully prepared for how sad we are feeling to be leaving our new home here in Maryland. I have an amazing job that has given me the opportunity to know some incredible people and to do some phenomenal things. We have had the opportunity to travel to so many places and learn so much about this country we both love. We have met so many dear friends out here, people we truly love and will be so sad to leave. We've come a long way from the homesickness we felt those first few months out here and are sad to be leaving behind so much we have come to love. During those times of sadness we are grateful to have the guidance of the Lord to help us know where to go, what paths to choose and what direction he wants our lives to take, even if we don't see the reasons why at present.

Something we have seen over and over in our lives - Heavenly Father is mindful of us and is directing our lives. I remember telling my brother that we were moving back west, and his first reaction was, "Man! What a waste!" feeling as though we moved all the way out here for nothing. However, we can honestly and truly say our time out here has been anything but a waste. We have learned so much, gained so much, and come to love so much out here. We see so many blessings from being here and are grateful for the time we've had - it has been a wonderful blessing from a Heavenly Father who loves us, knows us, and wants what is best for us.

So, here we are again, packing our lives into boxes for a big cross country move. We leave in about a month and will be spending time with family, friends, and loved ones in Idaho for a couple of weeks before we head to SLC. Hopefully we weather the big changes without too much sweat and tears and will settle again in the West soon. I can't make any guarantees on posting between now and then - I have a lot of catching up on our trips of the last few months as we've tried to squeeze the whole east coast before we leave! The above picture is from our trip to NYC. You can see my photo album on Facebook by clicking here.

Finally, lest you think Jeff is trading his Cougar Blue in for Ute Red, please be aware that Jeff still holds that you can attend the U without become a Ute and is proud to proclaim he still bleeds blue. Let's hope we can hold true to that!

dearest may

Oh May, I love you! So many happy things to look forward to: New York, my birthday, softball, seeing friends, Boston...yep, it's gonna be a good month.

mmm...mmm...mmm

I highly recommend you do yourself a big, fat, favor and make this yummy yum yum Bread in a Bag. Do not be deceived - it is as ridiculously good as it is ridiculously easy to make if you ask me. Simple, quick, and not messy to make means I can create this loaf of goodness on a weeknight after I get home from work - oh yes! And I'm thinking this would be a fantastic project to do with kiddies.

We never seem to make it through a loaf of store-bought bread before we throw it out. So when bread is this easy to make, well, why bother buying the store bought stuff? This loaf disappears FAST! Especially when there's tasty apple butter from Amish country to slather on it. :)

Enjoy!

stunning

I do so enjoy the stunning night sky behind the Capitol, even when it's rainy out.

quilt fun

Quilts! Quilts are fun. Time consuming, but fun. Here is a quilt top I made for Relief Society (we tied them for the RS birthday party). I've done humanitarian quilts before, so I was excited to do one again. However, I was quite surprised when I was handed a bag of random fabric that was not cut into squares. What? I was going to have to cut it into squares myself? At first I was nervous, but then I got pretty excited as I looked online for ideas and started cutting. This is what I came up with. What do you think?

I know, terrible lighting, but you get the idea. And don't look to closely - there are definitely crooked lines and imperfect seams. But I am definitely glad I was able to get my creative juices flowing to make something nice for someone in need. And don't the colors look nice together? Berries n' Cream is what I call it.

Doing this quilt has inspired me to do some more quilts of my own! I have been going through my fabric to get rid of some and put some to good use in projects. I don't have a picture yet, but I will report my progress soon.

still

saw dandelions for the first time this year :: they still make me happy