Commission

A woman I work with commissioned me to draw a portrait of her and her late husband for Christmas. Aside from it being another project I can add to my portfolio/resume, it was also my first paid commission, so I was very excited about doing it. It was a lot of fun, and it helped to remind me of why I love to draw people. It's so challenging. Once I get in "the zone" I can draw for hours straight and wonder where the time has gone when I come back to reality. It keeps my normally flighty mind engaged, which is saying something.

Any ways, here is the finished product. Unfortunately, I don't own a scanner so I have to rely on my camera for digital images. It loses a lot of the detail that you would normally see. The actual piece looks a lot better, I assure you. One of these days I'll be able to afford new art supplies...one of these days.

Brandon Sanderson Came to Logan!

Today I had the great pleasure of meeting one of my favorite authors, Brandon Sanderson. He's been on tour recently for the release of his book "The Hero of Ages" which is the third installment of his Mistborn trilogy, and he happened to stop in Logan to do a few signings at the local Borders. If you haven't read his books, I recommend them highly. He has a stand-alone book titled "Elantris" which is a good read, but his Mistborn trilogy is superb. I have first editions of all of his books, and he was kind enough to sign them all for me. Below is a picture Peter took of me and Mr. Sanderson. He's a very friendly and gracious fellow.

Brandon Sanderson has made recent national and worldwide attention recently, not only because his most recent book made the top 25 of the New York Times, but last year he was personally selected by Robert Jordan's wife to finish the last book of the Wheel of Time series. Robert Jordan passed away while he was writing the last book, but he left ample notes with the major plot points with his wife before he died. I was already a fan of Sanderson's work when I heard the news that he was going to finish Jordan's series, and needless to say, I was thrilled that he was chosen. On another note, Brandon Sanderson is also a local fellow! He lives right in Provo and even teaches a writing class at BYU.

If you would like more information about Brandon Sanderson and his works you can check out his website www.brandonsanderson.com

If I wrote Peter's Research Papers...

The other night I went with Peter over to USU's main library to help him find research materials for a paper he has to write. Mostly I think he just wanted me to keep him company. He's been fairly stressed out recently over all the tests, projects, and papers he has due in the next few weeks. So much so that he hasn't even touched a video or computer game in several days, which is quite surprising if you know Peter. It's even more surprising considering that World of Warcraft released their most recent expansion last week. The fact that he hasn't been up all hours of the night checking out the new content only goes to show that he really must have his work cut out for him right now.

So, as we we're sitting there in the library with several tomes about trees stacked around us, he asked me (in obviously a moment of desperation) if I would write his final paper for his dendrology class (dendrology literally means "the study of trees" for all you people who don't speak Latin fluently). He was obviously being facetious, but I enthusiastically (and sarcastically) said, "Okay!" and this is what I came up with:

"I like trees. I think they're neat. They make great homes for cute little critters like squirrels, chipmunks, and little birdies. However, they sometimes can be bad. Like when they have all that sticky sap on their branches that gets all over your hands and in your hair when you try to climb them, or if one of those cute little birdies decides to poop right on your head as you walk underneath. That always sucks. However, trees provide us with oxygen, which is a good thing because I like to breathe.

So, in conclusion, I think trees, as a whole, are good and we should have more of them. The end."

For some reason Peter didn't think the paper I wrote would get him the "A+" he was aiming for. Clearly, he needs to get his priorities straight. I think my paper clearly defines what trees are all about. It's not like this final paper counts as half of his grade for this class or anything...

Oh...wait...it does.

Good thing I'm not writing it then or he'd be screwed.

It's Not Even December!

I love Christmas music. I can't wait until the day after Thanksgiving when I can blast my Christmas music and sing carols until my throat is raw. However, there is a time and a place where Christmas music is not acceptable, at least in my opinion. Last night, I stopped by a grocery store on my way home from visiting my family over the weekend, and I heard the distinct sound of "Silent Night" coming over the PA system. It was only November 1st, the day after Halloween, and this store was already moving onto the next big holiday to over commercialize and hopefully make big money from. It appalled me, and I quickly made my selection, purchased it, and left the store with a bad taste in my mouth. It wasn't the song that upset me, like I said before, I love Christmas music...I just can't stand the fact that the holiday means nothing more to some people than a marketing gimmick that they can heavily exploit. I understand that a lot of retail companies rely heavily upon the holiday season to put their accounting books into the black, but honestly are we going to start promoting Christmas as early as July some day? Where is the limit? It's almost enough to turn me off from the whole holiday...but I won't allow it to embitter me. It's a wonderful, and heartwarming time of the year that hopefully reminds people of what is truly important. I just choose to wait until it's December before I start getting all excited about it.

Has It Really Been That Long?

Today Peter and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary! It was five years ago on this day that we embarked on an eternally long journey together, and I can't think of another person I would want more for my traveling companion. He's funny, he's sweet, he's handsome, he's a great cook, but most of all he's my best friend. What more could a girl ask for?

Of course he's not perfect, but I'll let you in on a little secret...

I'm not either.

So, at least we're on the same level.

Now, if someone had asked me on my wedding day what I thought our lives would be like in five years, I would have surely told you that we would be done with school, have a kid or two already, and possibly be living in a house in the 'burbs somewhere. Have we managed to accomplish any of the aforementioned goals, you may ask?

Not a single one.

Apparently, things in life don't always go as planned. Shocking. I know. But you know what? I'm okay with it. Sure we don't have a house, or kids, or even our degrees (we're working on it), but we're happy. I long ago decided to stop worrying about what everyone else has and what I don't. I would be a horrible person to not realize how very blessed I am. I have a good husband who miraculously loves me despite all of my flaws and quirks (and boy am I ever quirky). I'm lucky not to have just one family I love and adore, but two! My in-laws are some of the most wonderful people I know and I'm grateful to be a part of their family. My grandmother used to say that she was the richest woman in the world because we, her children and grandchildren, were her jewels. I can't help but agree with her because I am surrounded and loved by some of the greatest "gems" in the world. My family.

Am I being too cheesy? Well, it doesn't matter. I happen to like cheese.

So, how are Peter and I planning to celebrate this milestone in our lives? Nothing, really. Turns out familiar wealth doesn't exchange favorably in today's market, i.e. we're broke. Peter's also completely swamped with school work, so even if we had the money to go on a trip somewhere, he couldn't afford to miss any classes. It's okay, though. To quote The Beatles, "All you need is love," which I have an abundance of, it seems. So, here is to another five years (or 50+, even) of marital bliss.

I don’t know what the future has in store for the two of us, but I’m excited to find out.

(Edit: Apparently stupid blogger thinks I posted this yesterday...and not this morning like I did. My anniversary is the 18th, not the 17th.)

Home Sweet Home

Peter and I finally moved back to Logan at the end of August and I can't even begin to describe how glad I am to be back! Working for the Forest Service was great, but I really did not like living in Evanston, WY. Our apartment there was a tiny rundown studio that smelled like musty old cigarette smoke, but it cost us the same amount of rent as our two bedroom in Logan and that includes cable and high-speed wireless Internet! We also slept on an air mattress for nearly four months and that gets old real quick. I almost cried with joy when I got back to Logan and saw my king sized bed waiting for me. I don't think anything short of the apocalypse would have woken us up that first night back home.

The view from my apartment in Evanston was also less than appealing. Every day I would get up and leave to go to work, only to be greeted by this when I walked out the door...

Beautiful, isn't it? It also smelled really badly, too. Most of those trailers had been condemned but people still lived in them. I just don't understand what brings a person to this point in life. Most of my neighbors also worked at the oil field and they would get home late at night and stand half naked out in front of their apartments and blast their mariachi-techno-rap music and get drunk. Needless to say, I never went anywhere without Peter as my personal bodyguard. I got hit on a time or two in the laundry room, too, by big nasty hairy men. Ick. Oh, that's also another thing I'm happy to have back...my own washer and dryer. It's so nice to not have to drag my laundry up and down three flights of stairs and pay $10.00 a week on the coin operated facilities.

So, yeah...Evanston was loads of fun.

I had a rather odd summer filled with all kinds of new experiences for me. I got to work for the Forest Service and meet all kinds of interesting people. I also gained a greater appreciation for the things I do have. Peter and I don't have much, but we have each other and we're happy. Being college students our budget can be really tight, but we know we're working towards building a better life for ourselves.

It's the little things in life that matter the most any ways, and I'm just glad I can walk outside in my own neighborhood again without fear.

Summertime...It's So Fleeting.

Another summer is coming to a close and school is starting up again in a week. I felt the first signs of fall as I went to work on Tuesday and there was frost on the lawn of the Bear River Ranger Station (along with two horses that had escaped from a local campground and had decided that it would be a cozy place to bed down for the night). The recorded low for the previous night had dipped down to a balmy 32 degrees. It seems like only yesterday that I was praying for the snow to melt and for the summer to officially begin.

Peter and I will be moving back to Logan next weekend to begin another adventurous, busy, and sleepless year back at school. I was too late to sign up for fall classes, but after a five year hiatus I will be returning to USU in January to hopefully pursue a degree in graphic design. I can hardly wait! I decided to start this blog in an attempt to record my experiences as I go back to school, and to also share some of the crazy things that may happen along the journey.