Des Momies!

After a year of research and work and trials and tribs, the mummy case in the Learning Lounge in the MPC (where I work) is finally completed. I invite you all to come and see it and be proud of me. This project isn't over yet, it will eventually become my senior thesis, and I'm submitting to a couple of research symposiums. Wahoo!

Tumult

I really like this video, even if I feel like some of what he says is just strings of philosophical hubbub. It made me happy. I miss the ocean.
A Day in the Life of a Seaweed Harvester:

The Perennial Plate Episode 76: Seaweed Man from Daniel Klein on Vimeo.

Fixer-Upper

We're too poor to get nice furniture for the apartment. Instead, I've been perusing KSL and Ikea and Craigslist for dills and sells (that's Utah speak for deals and sales for those uninformed) and buying things little by little.

A couple of weeks ago we bought this table for $20. The chairs were $25 each, and we got 4 so we can entertain guests or something.

I call the color something in the neighborhood of puke green.

Then last week we bought this a-mazing dresser for $40 (it was originally $50, but there's no way I'd pay that much for this beast). Those are glow-in-the-dark red stars. Just fyi.

Anyway, clearly these needed fixing. So we went to Lowe's where we had a coupon for 10% off everything and bought paint and hardware for the drawers.

And then the great project began. We sanded everything (I took stalker-y pictures of Sam working)...

Here are post-sanding pictures:

Then painted the table a "lovely green"

Then painted a gray base coat on the dresser

Then painted it turquoise and sanded some more to make it look sort of antiqued

Et voila! The finished product!

This was my first experience attempting antiquing of something. It turns out it would have been loads easier had we rubbed a candle on parts of the base so that the top coat would have come off a lot easier. But you live, you learn, right? And I think it looks pretty dang good for a first attempt.

P.S. These are crappy pictures taken at night with my phone and/or Costco camera. It looks a lot cooler in person, promise.

Win It Nao

Since I was one of the first three commenters on my cousins' cousin's blog the other day, I am obligated to post this too as part of the winnings. But I'm actually really excited about this. So here it goes:

Here are the instructions: The first 3 people to respond to this post will get something made by me! However, there are some rules, which are:

1. I get to decide what it is.
2. But I will keep you in mind and it will be personalized. I'm not going to make you a teapot if you don't drink tea. I wouldn't make a teapot anyway, I have no clue how.
3. You'll probably have to wait until after the wedding. I'm too insanely busy to get it done beforehand. That ok?
4. It can be anything. Maybe I'll paint you a picture (on canvas), maybe I'll embroider something for you, maybe I'll bake you something...It all depends!

The catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. The first 3 people to leave a comment telling me they will win it forward get a fabulous homemade gift by me! Oh, and if you have a blog, be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it.

Muse

I feel like I haven't talked about my real life in a while, aside from the post I wrote in the hospital.

This has been an interesting semester so far. Between the numerous doctors' appointments and blood tests and diet changes and the veritable pharmacy I carry around with me everywhere I go, my health has sort of taken center stage. I don't like it that way. Not at all.

Another thing is the whole being engaged thing. People tell you planning a wedding (and carrying out those plans) is a menace, but they often forget to mention all the learning and growing you and your partner do. That, my friends, is a process. It's rather time-consuming. It makes me forget that I have a life outside of Sam, that my friends are still my friends. But if I'm going to spend the rest of my life with Sam, we need to work out the kinks and learn to be together, and not act as though we are two people, or single people living together. I'm not sure I got that point across, it's complicated.

And of course, as far as school and work goes, I have (typically) bitten off almost more than I can chew. Well, it's more like one of those enormous bites you take where you have to cover your mouth for a while to prevent things from flying out until you can get a handle on everything you've shoved in your mouth. Yeah, nice image. I have four research projects this semester, two of which I volunteered for. And the display case I've been working on putting together at the museum is finally almost up. And yet, the inevitable things are going wrong.

That's something I've learned to deal with better (at least I hope so) lately. Sometimes things don't go the way you plan, and as hard as you try and push to make it work, the universe (or people...) push back. Nothing will ever be perfect, not in this life. It's part of my growing experience to learn to be truly flexible and learn that not everyone, no matter how kind they can be or how well-meaning they are, will act according to plan.

But I have a lot to be grateful for. I'm actually grateful for all these experiences, even if it means I can't have my wedding precisely the way I want (note to the world: if it's not your wedding, it is NOT your wedding), or that I have to redo the labels in the display three times over and over, and get cut by a razor in the process, or that I live from meal to meal, wondering how everything I put in my mouth will affect me. And I'm grateful that I have friends who have offered support and anything they can do to help me. And I'm grateful for family, who constantly make me laugh and provide an outlet to really be myself. And I'm grateful for Sam, who will one day be my family, and who already understands me better than anyone else, and will do anything for me. We will work through the years ahead together, and I feel more confident knowing that he'll be by my side.

Fall Has Fallen

This past Sunday after church, Sam and I hopped in the truck and drove up to Sundance to look at the Fall colors in the leaves on the trees, since I've never driven through a canyon or anything to do so (I've only even had two other real Falls before, and I missed it both times).
Needless to say, it was a beautiful drive. I wanted to do more, but we ran out of gas. Such is life.
On another, completely irrelevant note, I bought new mascara the other day and used it this morning for the first time. I've read about Maybelline's Great Lash for years-- all magazines everywhere rave about it. I've never tried it, but this time I was attracted by the neon-colored bottle. When I pulled out the brush from the bottle this morning, I noticed how small the bristles were, and frowned a little. Surely it would be ineffective.
But wow. It worked like a dream. Absolutely zero clumping of eyelashes or anything! I literally said "Wow" to myself when I saw the results. So here's my plug: go try it. Seriously. I got it in waterproof in blackish brown.

Coming Soon: Our apartment is starting to take shape! I'm starting to actually like spending time there because it doesn't seem trashy any more. Ha!