oh, sweet home

The other day, my lovely and talented friend Jennika Rae asked me to model for some photos she needed to take for her photography class (below are a few from the series that she is doing)...

and so, because she was conveniently at our house, and obviously very qualified, I ran inside when she was done and told Cam to hurry and come outside.

This was his initial reaction to spontaneous picture taking.....

but then he realized that I wouldn't let him leave without getting a few good ones.

And we got a few! Here are my two favorites.

  So although these weren't planned, I still love them and am so happy that Jennika was willing to take a few spur of the moment "family photos" for us! We finally—after almost 10 months— have a first photo in front of our first apartment!

yay!

printmaking

I have been taking some Printmaking classes in school these last couple of semesters and I've really loved them. I am definitely not an expert or the best (I see some pretty amazing stuff on a daily basis) but I am proud of myself for the things I have done! Especially because it's so different than the basic drawing/painting classes that we are required to take.

These first few are from my Intaglio printmaking class this semester. This print was etched on a copper plate in a process called Magic Black.

 Magic Black is when you put the plate in acid until it print's up a solid black and then use a burnishing tool to "erase away" what you want to be white. Easier said than done but such a fun process.

 I began with just the print of the vase & flowers and then decided to add the polka dots with a pencil eraser. It needed a little fun, don't you think?

 Color variations

Mixing colors is probably the most fun/most frustrating part of printmaking. These were a few mixes I made and experimented with.

The prints below are from earlier this semester. We had to do 22 tiny prints in the theme "My Precious".. so obviously I did sleep. We all traded prints and I was able to add 22 unique prints to my collection free of charge.

 These prints were so little (2x3") and so I wanted to make a little mini replica of our bedroom. I had fun adding little details like tiny iPhones, a tiny puppy, and well.. we all know tiny things are cute.

This is my strawberry print from last semester in my Basic Printmaking class.

This was a double plate print where we layered two plates on top of one another. It gave me a lot of grief in the alignment area and also in the etching of the textured background. But despite all the flaws, it is one of my favorites because I really just had to embrace the mistakes and experiment a lot with colors.

Well, there you have it! I am working on my final project right now which I foolishly decided to do on a 12x15" copper plate. a.k.a. a huge pain and 20 times more work! I will definitely be posting photos of that when it's finished. hope you enjoyed a little bit. 

birthday post...

...a month late of course.
 I think I've just learned to accept that despite my efforts, my life just isn't very full of exciting things. It basically consists of sleeping, eating, going to school and doing homework.

I mean, unless you really want some thrilling updates about what's going on in my art history classes right now...

Anyways, the point of this post is that every year I get unusually excited about my birthday (since birth you guys, I came out of my mom's belly 2 weeks early because I was that excited about my birthday)

Last year, on my twenty-first birthday I was in a tiny bus driving from Quito, Ecuador, through some crazy, windy, bumpy roads to Pasto, Columbia. And let's just say, while we had some fun pit stops at some great markets and the equator mark, a 10 hour road trip on your birthday (no matter where you're at), with 5 carsick people, is not the ideal way to spend a birthday. 

 This year was just a little different, because, well

1. I am married, and Cam and I have never spent my birthday and

 2. I turned 22 and that's just not an exciting age to be turning unless you're listening to Taylor Swift's 22. 

but being married has its perks. It's just one more family to party with. 

So really, I ended up having 3 parties

One with my family, one with my cute husband, and one with Cam's family.

I really can't express why I love birthdays so much
but let me blow out some candles & give me a little something to unwrap, oh, and tell me happy birthday, and I'm a happy girl! (and don't put me in a bus for 10+ hours)

here are a few too many pictures of the weeklong birthday festivities!

got to spend some time with these cuties...

 {p.s. finn's face in the background ^^^ kills me}

 my favorite kittens!

My mom made my favorite lemon cake that I only get once a year which makes it extra special.

Cam gave me these adorable Ray Bans that I have had my eyes on literally since we got married!

  

Also, I can't go a year without Jackie's empanadas. Every year since we got back from Chile. It's just not a birthday without empanadas!

I woke up to a house full of balloons and bubbles!!

& breakfast in bed!

I ate lunch and dinner with friends!

And then the third party went down...

Cam's brother & sister-in-law from Louisiana were in town and all of our birthdays are pretty close so Cam's mom just threw a big party!

 {just imagine me blowing out my candle on the bottom}

It was a great week of birthday fun and in the momentus words of Taylor Swift, 

"I don't know about you about but I'm feelin' 22".

just for kicks!

So, my good friend Madeline tagged me in this post a while ago and it has taken me a while to get around to it. It's actually pretty exciting, like when you were in Jr. High and your friend sent you a questionnaire that you absolutely had to post on your Myspace. Oh, the memories of being 13 are coming back to me! Don't act like you kind of don't know what I mean all you teeny boppers out there! So even though I'm 21 and in my 4th (and unfortunately, not my last) year in college I'm gonna go ahead and channel that 13 year old right now.

Presenting.... the 

I'm not sure who Liebster is, but I would like to thank everyone and anyone who has brought me to such a high accomplishment in the blogging world today

 (I'm just full of sarcasm tonight folks!)

here are the rules:

a. list 11 things about yourself

b. answer the questions the nominee created for you

c. choose 11 (or so) of your own favorite blogs to nominate

d. create 11 questions for them (or use the previous questions)

e. let them know they've won

11.11.11., it's too bad it's not still 2011

a. about me, myself, and i 

1. no, I'm not a crazy cat lady ^^^
2. nothing brings me joy like baking a batch of cookies/cupcakes!
3. i lied. nothing brings me joy like cuddling, specifically spooning with my husby.
4. my husband calls me Chobani. Yes, like the greek yogurt brand. Just think Fran Drescher from The Nanny saying "CHOBAAAANI".
5. i am a graphic design major but sometimes wonder if i should have gone to culinary school!
6. i can't not see a baby  and not say "cuuuute". i love babies. {no, I'm not pregnant or baby hungry, i just love them}
7. i love to sing. in public. in the car. in church. in the shower. when Cam plays the guitar! it is my one love. (besides Cam)
8. i pretended to be an actress for a summer at the Playmill Theatre (which is where i met Madeline!)
9. i have an unusual obsession with the smell of laundry detergent. 
10. i count down the days to my birthday. always have, always will (18 days...)
11. i can sleep through anything! Even 5 alarms. I'm that good.

this is all valuable information right?

b. questions from madeline

1. What is your favorite christmas tradition?

my mother's christmas hors d'oeuvres she makes on christmas evening!

2. What color best fits your personality?

probably black. just kidding! I would have to say pink because as much as i don't like to admit it, I'm about as girly as they come!

3. Do you like mustaches?

if you mustachk. Absolutely

4. What is number one on your Christmas list?

To be with my family!

5. N'Sync or Backstreet Boys?

Backstreet Boys. 

6. What is your favorite physical trait?

Eyes. They tell so much about a person!

7. Hot Chocolate or Apple Cider?

Hot Chocolate. Unless I am at Barnes & Noble. Then it's Caramel Apple Cider.

 8. If you could drop anything and go anywhere, where would it be?

 It's a tie between Italy and Paris. I went in high school and would love to take Cam. Both are so romantic and beautiful and I would love to go and explore on my own time.

9. What is your favorite movie?

 Pride & Prejudice {Keira Knightly version}. it "bewitches" me every time

10. Who is your biggest role model?

This may be cliché but definitely my mom. She is the ultimate example & is the most most generous, loving, caring human there is. I can only hope to be as wonderful a mother as she is someday.

11. What is your favorite picture? Share it!

 I take so many pictures, too many! But here is one that gives me a good laugh. It is from the 4th of July this last summer and I just happened to snap the photo when my nephew was being thrown in the air. Thus, the floating baby.

and I'll just add this one in there too, because it makes my heart melt a little.

c. some cute blogger friends 

                [or just cute bloggers i wish were my friends]

1. Ali
2. Joni
3. ShaLyse
4. Courtney
5. Hailey
6. Madi

congrats on being nominated for this profound award!

d. questions for you

1. what was your favorite food?
2. Favorite Holiday?
3. what makes you happy?
4. who will be your valentine this year?
5. n'sync or backstreet boys?
6. guilty pleasure?
7. what is your happiest memory?
8. if you could drop everything and go anywhere, where would you go?
9. favorite movie?
10. did you have braces? prove it.
11. what is your favorite picture? share it!

Welp, you probably didn't have as much fun reading this as I did doing it! Can't wait to read yours soon!

Home Improvements

We had a long, lazy, wonderful break in Idaho with my family so we didn't want to come back to Logan for school until we absolutely had to. When we got into town last Sunday we also had the depressing task of taking down our Christmas Decorations which always makes life feel so Blah! I think that the combination of taking down Christmas, starting school AND -9 degree temperatures kind of made us go into a crazed home improvement kick. We really did go crazy.

project no.1

The first thing we started on was something a saw on Pinterest that I've really been wanting to do for a while. These are the steps we went through.

(our boards were 16x16 inches)

Although Cam's real home state is Louisiana, he felt like Utah is more of his home so he chose that instead.

Cam felt like Utah was a pretty dull shape so he nailed in the Great Salt Lake.

and then he decided he didn't like the blue in the lake, so he took it out. haha. I think he redid his like 5 times.

This project was pretty simple, fun and quick!

project no. 2

The tree branch.

First, let me tell you that our house is about 105 years old...literally. So the walls are made of plaster and extremely difficult to hang anything from, so I'm grateful Cam is an extreme analyzer and handy-man. I would have never been able to do this on my own. In fact, I really didn't do anything except hold the tree up while he was tying the fishing line. And I didn't even last long at that. 

We used a stud-finder to make sure the hooks in the ceiling and hung the tree with fishing line. Conveniently, we have a little nook to hide the end of the branch so it really does look like it is just growing in our living room!

project no. 3

painting

I hate painting. It's one of those things that you get excited about because it seems easy and then 10 hours later you want to die. Haha! Do you see that ugly blue chest under the TV? That was once a painting endeavor and mid-way through, I just stopped because I hated the color so much. So we decided to give it one more try. We also got a dresser for our bedroom from an estate sale and it was pretty but just didn't fit our house. Due to the negative temps, we did all of this in our living room yesterday. I think we went through 5 movies and half of New Girl Season two before we were done.

But hallelujah. It's over!

we love the white! Maybe someday we'll add color in the designs on the front/legs...

and PLEEEASE ignore our poor, dead, houseplant. We just can't seem to let go of him.

Cam was in charge of the giant dresser...

Let me tell you, we are bad paint pickers, and we loved how this dresser looked in our naturally lit living room and on the paint-swatch but in the light of our bedroom, it realllly looks high-lighter yellow so we'll probably add a less intense coat of paint on top someday in the future. 

But for now, it'll do!

I think we'll lay off on the projects for a little bit.

Temple Square

Last weekend Cam and I took at trip to Salt Lake to see the lights (...okay, mainly to shop)! We were feeling especially lazy so we decided to drive to Temple Square from the Gateway and somehow we happened to get stuck in about 30 minutes of traffic!  I guess it doesn't help that we went on a Saturday night when the whole city decided to go too. We definitely should've taken Trax... Anyway,  we almost turned around but I am so very happy that we didn't! It was the perfect night to go! I didn't even have to wear a coat! That is unheard of in Utah in the month of December. It was beautiful as always and not freezing made it even better.

When we got there, of course I wanted to take pictures so I did what I always do and pulled out my phone.... This is practically routine every time we go places together. 

I pull my phone out, take a picture. Hate it. Tell Cam to smile for another. Mmmm let's try that one more time, and then, by about the 3rd or 4th try, I have lost Cam completely! 

Proof:

I think we got about 5 people to ask us if we wanted them to take a picture for us in our self-photography endeavor and after a few offers we finally took someone up on it....

yayyy! we got one!

I can't say the same about getting a good picture of the temple though...

I really need to work on my picture taking.

We sat at this spot {in the picture} for quite a while people watching.

Temple Square is a completely different experience when you are married and don't feel the need to keep a constant conversation going about likes/interests/flirting {Don't worry, that was us last year}! But I've decided that it's probably the most entertaining thing to watch. We saw a lot of different "keep-the-conversation-going techniques". Such as the We don't have anything else to talk about so I'll yell at my guy friends or a random stranger really loud and hi-five them and the Sooooo what color is your toothbrush kind of questions, we even saw a couple sitting near us whose hands were about a millimeter apart.. we could feel the tension. We loved every second of it and I loved being there with the husband!

Here are photos of last year on our temple square date when he was just the boyfriend

and he was a little more willing to smile in photos!!

It was such a fun and needed weekend in Salt Lake! 

let the festivities begin!

It's 

not really

 beginning to

 look a lot like

 Christmas outside... 

so Cam and I are trying all

 we can to make it Christmassy

 inside! Our teeny tiny apartment

 only has about 3 rooms {living room, 

kitchen, and bedroom...well, and a bathroom 

of course} so there is limited space to decorate

 but we have tried our best to fill every ledge, table,

 empty space, etc! With weekly Michaels discounts,  DIY 

projects, TJmaxx and Hobby lobby splurges, we have somewhat 

successfully decorated for our very first Christmas in our very own apartment.

—and yes, I am making this look like a christmas tree on purpose—haha!!

We are definitely

amateurs, but I

think we did 

alright! I'll let

you be the judge!

...

And since we'll really only be here for two weeks of 

December we decided not to get a Christmas tree 

this year... (excuse me while I dry a few tears)

 On the bright side though, Cam bought me this little 

tree that I've had my eye on for a while and that will most certainly do!

Since we put these up I can definitely say our days have been extra "Merry & Bright"!

I hope yours are too this special month!!

P.S. Sorry about my grainy iPhone photos!