Getting my geek on..

So tonight is the night that all of my friends and I have been counting down towards. We are all going to the New Moon release. Super excited!

Brads Birthday..

It has been quite the eventful week. I threw a party up the canyon for brad with all of his friends. While we were up there I was able to play around with the dutch ovens. I have never cooked this way but thought it would be an awesome way to make a lot of food for everyone. I had to change my plans with dinner though. I thought that I had 3 dutch ovens to use but when I got to my moms house I was in for a surprise and only had 2. This was almost a panic moment for me but after a few minutes of thinking I came up with the conclusion that I could just wrap the ribs up in tin foil and toss them in the fire.

All of the food worked out perfect, except for the peach cobbler. I think that I need to find another recipe for them. I thought that they were horrible but everyone lied and said that it was good. I found a recipe for "sparkling potatoes" which I thought sounded interesting. All I can say is yummy! Its a keeper..

I had thought for a long time what I could get Brad for a present and I came up with the idea to find a hutch or something that he could put all of his art supplies together and get them organized and off the floor. My moms husband had three bookshelves that he was wanting to get rid of so I went over to his house and choose out the one that I thought would work the best. I had to steal the top part of Brads easel and got paint colored matched so he could have a yellow studio. His mom helped me paint it so that it could be ready for his to see on his birthday. At first he was a little bummed that I didn't get his a PS3 but he came around and thought that this was a super awesome present. Everyone thinks that I should keep it for myself and put it in my kitchen because it would match all of my dishes and cherry things that I have :)

Last night his family threw him a party. Its hard to track everyone down because of work schedules and everything but some how we were able to pull it off and have everyone there. Even Grandpa Taylor was there..this was a shock to everyone because there was a BYU football game that was going on. It was great to see everyone. I feel like this whole summer I haven't been able to be part of the family because I didn't have a car and had to finish the stupid math class. Its so great to have that stress off of me now.

This has been a concert going week too. On Thursday we went and saw Rancid. Brad was on such a concert high after they were done. Last year when they came they did two shows and we were not able to go because we had work. Brad was really bummed about it and was working a graveyard shift so he had a lot of time to think about it. Well the nice thing about working at a gas station is that there is a lot of traffic that comes through. So that night when he was feeling bad about missing the show, guess who's tour bus happened to stop there. RANCID! So he was able to meet some of the guys that were in the band. Not exactly the same as seeing them play but almost as good.

Friday night we got tickets and went to another show. Flogging Molly..they are so good. I have seen them 3 times in concert and could totally do it again! There really is nothing else like going to a good punk rock concert! We were in the back of the venue but in the back there are big boxes/step things that you can stand on. So I was actually able to see the bands play instead of the tallest guy at the concerts back. It goes without fail that that always happens to me. I must be a magnet to them.

Got to hang out with Joel today. Got to talk about life and all of that fun stuff. It exciting to see what great things that he is planning to do with his life. I'm trying to convince him that he needs to move up to Seattle with Brad and me next summer, but he isn't really going for that one. He keeps saying that its not his type of a city. Maybe I can keep working on him and get him convinced on the idea :) Tomorrow night I get to watch my sisters kids while her and her husband go to a concert. I'm really excited about that. I don't really get to see them that much anymore since we have moved. Its crazy how life just goes on. I think that we are going to go out and have pizza for dinner and everything. It is going to be a lot of fun. Just the couple of months that I haven't seen them on a weekly basis they have grown so much. It just blows my mind.

I'm Finished!!!

I just took my final in calculus today. That is going to be such a stress off of me! I'm so excited that I am going to be going back to my normal life again. So lets all have our fingers crossed that I passed. I feel really good about taking the final, which is kind of unsettling to me because when are you suppose to feel good about math? I'm not that type of a person.

I have told Brad and he thinks that I am crazy but I am having some major withdraws from not working with food. I have been really tempted to go and get a fast food job of some sort. I don't know why I am missing it so much but there is just something about making food, something constructive about it that is gone in my life. I need something to make me more productive and working with food I feel like I have done my part in the world.

I might not feel this way if my job was more of a marketing type job and not just a baby sitter job. I have came to the conclusion that people don't take me seriously at work because I look young. After I have gone through the membership benefits that I am trying to sell I have people pat me on the shoulder and tell me that I am such a cutie. To make matters worse the other day I have a guy ask me that, "I thought that only adults could work here." To which I replied, "yeah." Then his comment after that was, "well aren't you like 16?" Only thing I could think to say back was, "far from it." Really what the hell?

Brad and me went to a real rocking concert the other night. I will have to say that I thought this was going to be someone that I could cross off my list and never have to go see again but he just left me wanting more. As in the words of Charging Frederick my goblet was not filled. Besides that one dumb guy stepping on my foot the concert was a lot smoother then what I thought it was going to be with all of the people that were there. I just freaking love concerts..doesn't matter what type they are! There is just no other experience like it. There are two more punk groups that Brad is wanting to see later this month so hopefully I will get my concert fix for a while.

Where did time go?

So I have been thinking about posting a new blog for a while now..then when I went to go look and see when the last time I did i couldn't believe that it has been a couple of month. Wow!

Life is the same old with me and Brad. Nothing really to report on. This is going to be a concert going month! There are so many good bands that are going to be here its crazy! Tomorrow night we are going to be going out to salt air. Not the best place for a concert but once we are done seeing him it will be a group that we can cross off our list and not have to repeat again. It was a scare though because we order tickets online and Bradley forgot to put our apartment number on our address. After a couple trips to the post office and many call we were able to get things worked out and the tickets will be waiting for us at will call. Some times I just don't know about Brad :) Good thing that it all worked out in the end!

I officially got full time at work. After working there for 5 years I think that it is just about time!
I'm really glad about this..even though I'm not enjoying my job all that much. All I can do is keep telling myself that this time next year that we are going to be in Seattle and that there will be a new club that I will be at!

That is all that I am going to be covering tonight. I would like to say that I will keep this blog more up to date but then that would just make me a liar. Hope all is good on your end of things!

Goodbye demos..

It was the weirdest day today knowing that it was going to be my last day working in demos. Thats right...i got a job with the marketing department at my work. Now my new official title is going to be "membership champion." This is going to be a good thing and I am super excited to finally be able to get some experience with the marketing team. I have no idea what this job is really going to include but I am going to be totally out of my comfort zone. This is my first job that I am going to have that I haven't had to work with food.. I start on monday and can't be any more happier then what I am right now!

Home..

At the beginning of the month we took a major step and moved. Its not exactly where we want to end up but for this time in our life it is the right decision to do. I just want to say that I am in heaven with this 2 bedroom apartment! It is seriously twice the size that our other apartment was. There is so much room that I don't know what to do with myself.

Last night I finished painting the bathroom here. That is the last place that needed some loving care. It feels so nice to have a "clean" bathroom. Now we just need to work on unpacking all of the boxes we still have left. Its crazy how life keeps going and there isn't really to much time to do the things around the house that need to be done. We also have been working hours that are not the same so on the time that we do have off we just want to sit around and hang out.

I'm just hoping that all of the space that we have now isn't going to spoil us so when we do move to the big city. Hopefully we will not go into shock with a smaller apartment when we do make that move. Guess I got a year until I have to worry about that though. Right now I'm just going to have fun where we are at now. Major improvement compared to the small town that we were living in. I feel like I'm more apart of society and not in the middle of freaking nowhere. Basically that means I've got a lot of time that I didn't before because I'm not having to make all of those long car rides to get up here to go to work or to try and have a normal life.

Internet..

We have internet again. We have been in the middle of a move and finally today was the day to get comcast! I'm so excited..it has been a LONG two weeks without it. Its so weird to think that about five years ago I really never had anything to do with it besides the emails I would get every once in a while. Its so crazy how technology changes so much.

Once again it seems like I haven't been keeping on top of this like I would like to, but there just seems to be so much going on that I just forget about it all together. I always think that I will keep up on it but in all reality it isn't on the top of my list of things to do.

A lot has happened since the last time that I was on here. The most important thing is that Brad graduated! Way to go..and on top of it all got really good grades this semester. Now life beyond this is kind of what we are dealing with now. There is just so much to do and have to decide in the next little while. I know that are plans of moving have been put off for another year so that I can finish up my degree, I'm so close that it would be really stupid of me to stop now. Now I just need to get my butt into gear so that it will happen.

Other then that, there really isn't that much that is going on. Just back to our normal summer routine of working our butts off so that we can get money for next semester. Oh the joys of being college students :) Hopefully there will be some Charging Frederick concerts coming up soon. We are all needing a good rock out now and again.

Brad's post about his show.

so here it is a week late i know but i need one more thing to distract me from finals. despite everything the show went really well people seemed to like it a whole lot, me i'm just glad it's over...



view when entering




this piece is called "home" the sound that it played was a recording of me and lib doing things in our apartment. we didn't speak, i wanted to viewer to focus more on the ambient sounds things like the shower the fridge or the tv turned on to the a/v channel to get that high pitched frequency it makes. it's made out of gormans maple, kozo paper, and glass.



this is "requiem" i have a video of it playing but unfortunately i don't know how to post it.



this piece is called "as clear as the voice of god." and it only played static. i only played static because to me it represents unseen forces, i mean if you think about all the different radio waves transmitting around us every day that we notice. the same might be said for gods influence it's all around us but we don't notice it, but at the same time it might not be anything at all and the radio is the one making the static in their' search there's no way of know if it's one way or the other. so i guess with this piece i was trying to describe what it's like to be agnostic.




this box was a joke and pay off big time. the name of the piece was "Waiting for relief" inside lay a single tum and when you turned the crank it make a horrible grinding noise for about three minutes but then finally it played an arpegiated "c" chord. it was so funny to watch people use this box most of them thought that they had broke it and backed away real quick. unfortunately it broke for real Wednesday night, it will no longer play the chord. but at least i named it cleverly cause it still works it's just now realief never comes.

Altspace

Today was the opening to Brad's altspace. Now many might ask what that is and I will now tell you. It is a student run gallery at the college. You get to sign up for a week and present a professional work of art. I was really excited about how his turned out.

As you all might know, Brad is into making his own music and doing art. The thought came to him that he should some how combine the two. His solution for this was music boxes. There are four piece that he made, some of which he wrote his own tune and put inside of them. Every single one of them has a different look and theme.

We have planned to have a whole bunch of friends and family that are going to be stopping by this week to check out his work. The nice thing too is that the student art show is still on so if you stop by you will see his work that is in both of the shows at the same time. Double score!

I will post pictures of them soon..I'm off to bed. We pulled an all nighter last night and I'm going on my 34 hours straight being awake. I will also have to get pictures of the boxes, I know that Brad had been taking pictures through out the whole process, but I don't know if he got the final picture of the boxes. Check back again and hopefully I will have something up that you will enjoy.

Students show..

We just got back for the college student art show. Brad did an amazing job. Out of the seven he turned in five actually made it. Best of all tonight at the gallery opening they gave out awards for different categories and Brad won for the printmaking division with his piece, Life Ambition. Way to go Brad!!! This was a very competitive category with a lot of strong pieces that had been entered. I'll have pictures posted later so come back and check them out.

What a day!

This is my last day that I have off before I have to go to work for the weekend. You would have thought that it would have been an easy one, but that was totally wrong! While Brad was away for his trip I had got him some wood so that he could make frames before the rush of the student art show. We cut down the board that I had for him, then we decided that we just needed to run home so that we could get his wood glue. Nothing to major.

Once we got in our car, we went to turn it on and it didn't start for us. The headlights and the cassette player worked but the car wouldn't turn over at all. Blah, just what we need a major car repair. This is what we get for getting our tax money back yesterday. I think that some one wants us to be poor, because when ever we get a little extra cash something major happens with the car. After fiddling with it for a couple of hours we were able to get it up and running again for $.54 We were super lucky this time around. I was thinking that it was going to be expensive because our check engine light has been on for the last week. After we messed around under the hood that light also turned off and we know that we still have a good battery! (big sigh of relief)

Due to our unexpected detours we did finally get the frames, matte board cut, and glass to finish off the project that we set out to do but it took hours longer then what it should have. In the long run Brad will be happy with the work that we did today, but right now I don't blame him for not wanting to look at it.

That aside there is just two more days until the scrapbook convention. I am kind of excited about it! I don't think that I am going to be spending that much money unless I can find plain card stock that is on a really good deal. I think that as far as my crafting supplies go I'm set for awhile. It also helps to have a mom in law that is also really into it. She has all the fun toys that she lets me use :)

Life..

Life has been really busy the last couple of weeks. I didn't even realize that I haven't written for a while. Don't even know where to begin, life is coming at us fast!

Last week I sent Brad off to an art department trip to Chicago. He faced his fears of the town and had a really good time. When he was working in layaway in Seattle there was a guy new to town that would tell him scary stories about Chicago. Luckily he didn't to deal with anything that was even close to the stories he was told. While he was there he got to see a ton of art work and came home excited to work on his own. He said that there was not a lot that was in his taste that he was finding until the last two day. At least he didn't come home feeling like it was a trip wasted. Next time I think that I would want to go there with him. That has always been a place that I would love to visit!

While Brad was gone I got the idea that I was going to refinish a end table that we have. This is a project that I have been talking about doing for three years and every time that I saw it I was reminded that it really needed to be worked on. I have never taken on a project such as that so I had no idea what I was really getting myself into. It had a super high gloss on it from the 70's that made it so that it didn't match anything else in the house and 2 legs that were pass the point of repair. I was talking to my friends at work and one of them said that they had refinished a dresser when she was in high school and that she was more then happy to come and figure it out. Three days later and I had a brand new table, and Karin and me had faced our fears of staining wood. It wasn't as hard as we thought it would be and now we can take on the world when it comes to staining.

Tonight was the final night that me and my friends were going to go see Twilight in the movie theater. Can't believe that time is going by so fast. I won a safety drawing at my work so that means that on Saturday I will have enough money to get it :) I'm a girl and I am allowed every once in a while to act like a girl.

On Friday I'm going to be going to a scarpbook convention with my sis and mother in law. I like doing that, it is really fun but I always spend more money then what I plan on doing. Also while we are up that way we are going to be going to a bead store. Two bad things in one day to spend money on :)

Nothing else to really report on. Brad and me need to really focus on school the next 6 weeks and get good grades. I know that the time is going to fly!

UPDATE: Bread

Last night I made bread that was actually edible! Lets say that it is about time that I figured out the yeast. Now all that I need to do is figure out how to make it more light and fluffy :) It smelt really good while it was cooking and has a fantastic flavor, so go me!

This one is for my sis..

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Put your iPod or other music player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the NEXT button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag friends who might enjoy doing this as well as the person you got this from.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
'Tis of Thee (Ani DiFranco)

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Sunday Morning (Lily Allen)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Tomorrow's Dream (Black Sabbath)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Better Days (The Redwalls)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Take Your Time (Al Green)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Binge and Purge (Clutch)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN?
Of Greetings and Goodbyes (AFI)

WHAT IS 2+2?
Its a Fire (Portishead)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
I'm Being Watched By the CIA (Anti Flag)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Bad Horse's Letter (Bad Horse Chorus)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
I Want What I Want (Social Distortion)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
One for the Braves (Good Riddance)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Just a Day Away (The Redwalls)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Everything's Just Wonderful (Lily Allen)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Work Your Way out (Ani DeFranco)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Run-Around (Blues Traveler)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Roll Right (Rage Against the Machine)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Asleep at the Wheel (Suicidal Tendancies)

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Under the Sun (Black Sabbath)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Far Behind (Social Distortion)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Can't Stop (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Never Think (Rob Pattinson)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Stop Children Whats that sound (Jefferson Airplane)

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Goodbye Bluefly (Lovedrug)

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Spotlight (Mutemath)

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Get Back (Ludacris)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Starz (Smashing Pumkins)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Ball and Chain (Social Distortion)

Hope that you enjoyed..I have never done this before but it is always fun to see what people have.

Star books..

I have been hard at work and finally tackled Brad down to help me get some good pictures of my projects that I have been working on. At my sisters girl nights that she has with her friends they all share their talents in the crafting world. Her one friend taught us all how to sew the binding on books. This is something that has always interested me..I love to make anything with my hands. I have perfected the art of my book making and I am finally really happy with the results that I'm getting. The two that I have finished the last couple of weeks are both gifts.

This is the cover for my red, white, and blue book that I did for my aunt.

Both of these pictures show the pages and the page that has pockets with tags in them.

This is the top view.

This book was really out of my colors that I normally like to work with but I was very impressed how they turned out together. Also my first time working a lot with sayings so I'm super excited to see that it turned out really cute.


This next book that I did was for a lady that I work with. I made it for her as a surprise and learned that she really liked the color green and yellow. I think that this is my favorite one I have done so far..

In this book I have added her pictures to the pages, which really personalizes it for the lady that I have made it for. She was so touched by the book that I made her and can't wait to show her what the final result looks like with the photos in it.

Brad was the one that helped me take the pictures. He got a new camera and is trying to learn all the fun things that goes along with it. I am really glad he was able to get better pictures then what I was able to do.

Life and all..

So I have realized that it has been awhile since I have updated my blog..so here we go!

I haven't made a successful loaf of bread yet but I will, I just seem to never have the time. Think that I am going to try and do that today. We will just have to wait and see how that goes :)

Nothing that exciting has been happening the last month. Just the normal school and work load that we have every semester. This is the first semester for Brad that he has nothing but art classes to work on..I'm excited to see what type of things he puts into his pieces. We are saving up so that he will be able to take an art trip with the department spring break. That is the funnest thing to do! You get to go see what people are doing in the "real" world and come home with lots of ideas. This is an awesome opportunity that any art major should do at least once in their schooling.

I have been working on my crafting projects and have just about gotten caught up to where I need to be. I need Brad's help to get me some good pictures and I will post it here.

Besides that there really isn't that much that is going on. Hope all is well with everyone!

Bread..

I have made up my mind that I am wanting to see if I can make homemade bread. I have never tried to attempt anything like this before so we will have to see how it turns out. I love how homemade bread tastes and I think that it will be healthier. I also love to cook and haven't really had the training to do so. I'm so glad for my job that I have now, working with all of my old ladies. They have been giving me tips over the last five years since I have been working with them. Things that you would learn only in the kitchen and years of experience.

I have also been working with Brad the last couple of years to figure out what gives him heartburn. We noticed that there was one ingredient that was constant in all of the food that was making him sick. For fun one day we went to the grocery store and checked out everything that we normally buy that had this ingredient to see if there was something that we could switch it out for. We came to the bread isle. This was the major eye opener for me. There was only one bread company that didn't add it into their bread. Lets just say this is what we have been buying from now on and it seems to be helping but it is kind of pricey when your living on a college student budget.

I would like to say thanks to my sister for looking through all of her cook books to find some bread recipes to try. Also she gave me the idea that I could always look on the internet. I found on that is called a half whole wheat bread. I'm hoping that it turns out. I don't have a bread maker and don't know if that will be something that I will want to invest in due to small apartment living and lack of storage space. If anyone has any good recipes to share I would love to hear! I always like to try new things (also working with Brad in that department, I don't like picky eaters but he is doing a lot better!!!)

I will let you know how it all turns out..fingers crossed!!!

Cleaning..

I'm down at our apartment deep cleaning before the semester begins. We have been up north working for the month of december so our apartment has been sitting empty all this time. I forgot to do some dishes before we left and there was a very funky stink when we got down here. We had a different life form growing in the sink..gag

Besides that it has felt really good being with my stuff and sleeping in my own bed. (No offense to the in-laws) Now I got to figure out where I'm going to put all of our Christmas presents that we received. Oh the joys of living in a small apartment :)

I guess that I need to get back to cleaning so I can just finish up the little that I have left.