Lovin the Freedom

I've been home for over a week now! Living in flip-flops & capris-and couldn't be happier. No stress from design classes and spending time with the fam! It's pretty awesome. I would definitely say this break has been holla worthy, as well as Christmas too.

A few pictures from this week-Minus the Nativity we did for the first time, i assure you pictures WILL be posted from that...it was way too funny. (i know it probably shouldn't be...but with a family like mine it's hard to take things seriously..)

Christmas Eve party at Gma & Gpa's house is always at the top of the list of my favorites. We all got "Sing-A-Ma-Jigs". Have you heard of those? They're for ages 3+ but i can assure you good times were had. After the party winds down a bit, Mady, Tar & I like to spice the night up with a little opera singing & tickling of the ivory. We attracted a few others who knew where the party was really at:

me, abby & lucy

Christmas Day was filled with Just Dance, wii tennis and stuffing faces. as it should be.

(from this picture you can clearly see who dominates the court)

hope you all had a very merry christmas too :)

Humdrum

Why is it when you have nothing to do and all you're wanting is to leave, time decides to kill you by passing so slowly? I'm having that problem right now. So i decided to try and solve it by blogging. I'm sorry, i'm sorry...i've been blogging a lot lately. Nothing really important either. But no fear, i will be MIA the next couple weeks...and when i return-real things to blog about! I'm so ready for this break!

This is my bored face:

The BYUI Center dedication this morning was awesome! It made me really happy about where I am and what i'm doing. Pictures are on my camera and uploading them to my laptop is really the last thing I feel like doing right now. But i did snatch a lousy phone pic:

It holds up to 15,000 people and looks very very similar to the Conference Center in SLC. It's so neat inside! Everyone should come visit me & i'll show you around :) And treat you to taco truck.

In the mean time, I will continue to download free tv episodes off itunes for the plane ride home...sighhhhh

Holy Guacamole

This semester is Absolutely. Entirely. Utterly. Consummately. Plumb. Over. This i am very excited about. My final "exam" took place today in which we all showed up to see a sign on the door telling us if we entered, we would get an F. Naturally we were all pretty curious. Check out what was awaiting us behind the door:

Largest game of Twister everrrr.

I fly home tomorrow! Honestly i'm not quite sure what to do with myself right now. I'm completely through! No homework-nada! I keep flipping through channels hoping a Christmas movie is on, only landing on commercials making me really excited to go shopping.

IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!!

"If you're not laughing, you're not living"

{story of our lives}

I stole this picture from my friend Liz's tumblr. We're just chillin' at Craters of The Moon. I believe we were throwing rocks at our friends down in the cave. typical. We were talking today about how lonesome we will be without each other during Christmas break. Lonesome indeed.

BYU-Idaho has been getting spiffed up this semester, preparing for the new BYUI center dedication on Friday. Yours truly has a ticket. Check it out HERE. it's amazing.

3 days and i'll be home! I'm just waiting for it to finally feel like Christmas! You'd think the snow might do it, but not when it's snowy in Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb/March/April and beyond. So not happening. I'm almost done with all my projects & guess what I realized today? I am exactly 1/2 way done with my college career. 5 semesters down. 5 to go. Holy.

End of The Semester, Say What?

Alright, everyone who votes this semester went by way to fast, raise their hand. My hand is raised. really high. but I must admit I am pretty excited to be heading home for a calm Christmas break. When I say "calm" I really mean shopping, outside movie nights, kickball games, baking, decorating, wrapping, family, friends and traditions. This semester in my family history class I have been trying to incorporate more of my history into my blogs. Sometimes I post stupid stuff (scroll down to read last post...) but I think some day i'll look back and laugh because it brings back memories. That's why I like to update, not to try to gain followers but to record my memories! woopwoop.

Memories like this one:

Nautical yacht party for Matt's bday last weekend

{hopefully more pictures to come!}

That's right, sweaters tied around the shoulders, some may say we're classy ;)

Or memories like this one:

Our roadtrip to Craters of The Moon and other deserted idaho towns.

stupid? perhaps...fun? definitely.

Or memories that I like to think about while it's snowing here in Rexburg:

{Dodgers vs. Reds in LA}

Yup, so i'm pretty sure you all get the picture & i'm pretty sure this semester was full of memory making. So here's to another great semester! .....and getting through finals this week.

Roommate Talk

I've recently noticed, after carrying on a conversation for quite some time, that my roommate and I talk about some weird stuff.

For example

While flipping through channels very late tonight we came across Raw wrestling in which a short conversation like this took place:

Jesika: You know, those guys aren't too bad looking-they're jaw lines and all.

Me: Seriously, I wonder how much of their face has been broken and then re-structured though.

Jesika: That's true. They're pretty attractive, but boys like that don't like girls like us.

Me: But I mean, if they had been raised in the church and then looked like that and played football for BYU or something, they'd be total studs.

Jesika: But then they would have to not know that they are attractive.

Me: True, it's always better that way.

But i'm pretty sure people talk about that stuff all the time, no?

Other things we've been talking about lately--

-Have you seen the commercials for that Sarah Palin's Alaska show? If yes, thoughts about Kate Gosselin and her kiddos being on it? We laugh at the commercials. Kate is totally freaking out about being hungry while camping out...i'm thinkin it's all a bad idea.

-Any Millionaire Matchmaker fans out there? We died laughing the whole episode this creepy millionaire was on it-

seriously, all i had to do to find a picture of him was google: "millionaire matchmaker creepy millionaire". score. If you didn't see it, it just may be worth wasting your time over.

Did you hear about the British comedian who was told he was going to die, so he spent his life savings on his bucket list only to find out he was mis-diagnosed? hmmm I dunno, I think besides having no money, knocking off your bucket list would be awesome. Probably why i love the show The Buried Life.

Alright, it's late, and Chelsea Lately is barely entertaining me, alas we were too lazy to change the channel after The Soup was over. Yes, we ended on The Soup after passing up Raw wrestling, classy ladies.

Aside from my odd celeb gossip post, a week from tonight I will be at home, in my old bed. wonderful.

However, do i ever have a lot of stuff to get done this week. Gah.

I Knew I Liked You

I was recently reading this hilarious post about de-friending someone on facebook. While thinking to myself "how do you even notice when someone de-friends you? You have to be the ultimate stalker". Ya, well it happened to me today...

My roommate and I doubled with these roommates we met through her mutual friend earlier this semester. Went over for a few movie nights randomly...just ran into him a few weeks and he was like 'blah blah blah! blah blah'...seemed super nice, like usual. Well, I click on a comment he made on someones status--DE-FRIENDED. super sweet of him! Classy too.

Now that i'm over that, because we all know blogging is my form of fuming..not that i should care. He's pocket size and i'm not into him at all...it's just the whole friend thing, who doesn't love friends?

Moving on.

Do you ever wonder what other people are listening to on their ipods when they walk past you on campus? I do. I wonder if any of them are as cool as i am ;) for example...today i was in a random playlist and and old-school miley song came on. First i thought i'm probably kinda weird for liking this but i'm not gonna lie, i let it play and i was totally lovin life. No matter what i'm listening to, I love to push the earphones into my ears & just hold them there so i can love me some bass guitar.

I'm always listening to music and i'm always up for new suggestions---what are you listening to & do you love it?

Off to see Life As We Know It---Josh Duhamel? sure, why not.

Welcome To My Mind

Here are a few random thoughts i've had lately.

1. I sure miss Steve Irwin

2. I hate videos where it shows people breaking bones

3. I want riding boots. badddddd

4. Why do girls wear halter dresses with t-shirts underneath at church?

5. Expect a song about Jake Gyllenhaal on TaySwift's next album

6. This is my jam: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtXOVKNazYU how catchy?!

7. I'm about to go buy myself a pair of silky pajamas! ;)

8. If you didn't watch the video, you think i'm crazy now

9. Pistachio pudding is the shiz....pistachio anything, actually

10. Know what else is the shiz? old pictures like this one:

OwOw! Parentals looking classy!

11. Slipping on ice, sliding under a car & getting stuck

12. My roommate and I are currently hoarding toilet paper because we're the only ones buying it...both bathrooms are out of tp, how are the roommates...?

13. Will it ever stop snowing?

14. I have an exam on gypsum, plaster, wall coverings, wood, plywood & bio-composites today. i need to study.

15. I love how my best friends are from all different parts of the country

16. Those little red tomatoes that you stick pins into while sewing-i like those. I would put those under the category "classy classics" among other things like pea coats, copper pots & polaroid pictures

17. I love Wham's cover of Last Christmas- the music video is rather festive too haha-one night i ended up watching like every one of their videos.

18. Riding in the Good Year blimp would be really cool.

19. My roommate and I just made brownies but substituted applesauce for vegetable oil-did you know you can do that as a healthier option? it's not bad.

20. That's 19 things you were probably better off knowing nothing about ;)

welcome to my brain...

What's this feeling?

Today I got to do whatever i wanted. it was pretty unbelievable. I mean, technically there is plenty of assignments i could be working on...but they're not due for a couple weeks :)

So today i let myself go. . . I guess you could call it that. . .

I slept in

Took a trip to walmart (got the coolest mug & hot chocolate. necessities!)

Saw Unstoppable with 2 of my wonderful friends (Chris Pine? Holla!)

Ate at Frontier Pies (chocolate peanut butter pie? yes please! Man working at the pie counter? yes please!)

And amongst all of these wonderful activities I was thinking a little something along the lines of this:

I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by

-Douglas Adams

and how good it feels to work hard on a project and be pleased with the outcome

The final project I talked a little bit about already included many many things. To name a few, I had to draft on CAD a presentation plan, lighting plan and furniture plan. Complete a colored floor plan on Photoshop and also a color rendering. Then put together 2 boards with finishes, inspiration pics, furniture pics, fabric choices etc for the Great Room & Bedroom Suite that were in the condo remodel. Then put together specifications, finish keys, ideation, and plans in a book. It really gets exhausting! And the fear of forgetting something is always there. haha. Anyway, here are a couple pictures I promised my mom. they were taken at very early hours in the morning...take a gander...comment...if you so desire...even if you don't desire.

{Sample board for the Great Room}

{Sample board for Grandmothers Suite}

{Colored Floor Plan}

{Quick vignette rendering from the Great Room}

Yup, so those are a few parts to the project. It's pretty crazy everything i've been learning. I can't believe how different I see many things now too. For example, I was watching Conan a couple weeks ago and just FYI his new set is all Mid-Century Modern design classic furniture! It was really weird. I'll notice stupid things on commercials and especially in movie theaters while watching movies. It's embarrassing.

Holy Moly It's Over

WOW. what a week! All i've been doing is working on my space planning Final project. Remodeling a condo in Santa Barbara with mid-century modern design while tying in Icelandic design & inspiration. I just presented in front of 3 of my professors as well as 2 fellow designers & I believe it went pretty well...But on the back of my mind the entire 93.5 hours of this project (seriously, we had to keep count of our work time!) was how i need to blog about the wonderful 10 days i had at home. Oh Thanksgiving break...you were quite delightful.

This Thanksgiving was special because Corinne (a friend from the design program) came down and stayed with the fam. However, normal activities still took place:

Ate a delicious feast on Tgiving Day & watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (love it!) We went riding, shooting

Played the family kickball game- it's becoming a favorite tradition of mine (Gma even took a kick!) re-match during cmas break!, ate out at Macayos while showing Corinne around the wonders of Las Vegas

and simply fooling around at home. She fits right in with the crazies I call my sisters.

And of course had to get the tree decorated before i headed back up to the arctic tundra. It has been snowing ALL WEEK.

13 Days 'til Cmas Break!