Goals for 2011

I'm still working on finalizing my goals for 2011, but here's the list as it stands now.

1. Start a business (any one of the 4 ideas I've got swimming around in my head).
2. Be in the best shape of my life.
3. Study for and take the GRE with satisfactory results (so... I'm thinking two to three rounds).
4. Narrow down the list of grad schools to 5 that I'll apply to for 2012 enrollment.
5. Complete my first 10K.
6. Complete my first triathlon.
7. Write in a journal daily.
8. Have personal prayer and scripture study every day (I've become very bad at this).

Lots of these coincide with my 101 things, which I'm still working on...

Happy New Year!

Research Proposal

For my research proposal, I decided to compare and contrast The Return of the Prodigal Son as depicted by three different artists: Rembrandt, Tissot, and Chagall. I'm going to talk about their religious backgrounds briefly so there is some personal context, and then I will address their artistic style and a few formal elements--most likely color, lighting, and perspective.

Fun, right? :) You probably don't think so, but I am actually really looking forward to seeing how the paper turns out. My rough draft is due tomorrow, so I'll be spending a few hours on it tonight and polishing it up over the next few weeks. The concept of a rough draft is weird for me--I usually just sit down and write it out in one sitting or two straight from beginning to end and then have a couple of people look over it. This will be a new adventure in disciplining myself to just getting the general ideas down and getting the structure and flow together without worrying about my exact word choice and whatnot from the get-go.

These are the paintings I'll be discussing:

Tissot's

Chagall's

Rembrandt's



Ooh, they just give me chills.

Time

An incredibly old clock at the Cluny (Museum of the Middle Ages) in Paris.

There's never enough time to do all the things I want to do...

I want to start a business. (Not just any business, mind you. I've got two or three specific ideas in mind. Jennifer Johnsen, I'm blaming you. You're the one who got the wheels turning on the first idea, and it has just progessed from there.)
I want to go to culinary school.
I want to learn silversmithing.
I want to go hiking.
I want to learn Arabic.
I want to learn German.
I want to learn Italian.
I want to keep making jewelry.
I want to paint more often than I do.
I want to have perfectly organized belongings and surroundings.
I want to make healthy meals with fresh ingredients.
I want to go to the farmer's market every Saturday morning.
I want to read more non-fiction.
I want to learn how to take care of my car without having to ask my dad to do stuff for me all the time.
I want to understand politics.
I want to tell people how much I love, admire, and appreciate them more often.
I want to learn how to can food.
I want to learn how to sew.
I want to learn how to throw things away that I don't actually need.

In addition to all of the things I have to do... which I will not list for you. (Think work, school, working out, sleeping, etc; i.e., all of the boring things in life [except school, which is fascinating and awesome])

Wanting to do a million different things + having a generally impatient personality = some serious ADD.

I'm trying to learn how to put projects on the shelf that can wait, and focus my time on the things that I can do simultaneously (like developing business plans slowly as I work my way through school for the second time).

L'embarass du choix. I'm telling you. At some point it's got to stop.

I'm not Dead

Hi friends!
I'm not dead, I promise... just busy.

Right now these are the things that are taking priority over blogging:

1. work
2. school
3. re-organizing, filtering through all of my stuff, and throwing away/donating a bunch of it. Too much stuff.
1. Mostly I'm doing this because I moved home and right now my stuff is hijacking half of my parents' living space. But it will be good to just clear out the junk.
4. my attempts to exercise more

So, at some point I will return. I think I'll try to post a bunch of new earring photos this weekend. I've almost finished all of the photographs (of ALL my earrings--yes I have officially finished the "wearing" stage of that project), so it's just a matter of getting them all posted.

Be back soon with some more updates, photos, and thoughts about my upcoming research papers...

For My Next Birthday (in 6 months)...

... I'm giving myself the gift of being in the best shape of my life. 'Cause that birthday's a big-un. And because that's a far enough--but close enough--date (to motivate me to reach my goal, but give me time to see a significant change).

I registered for the Freedom Run 5K today, so I feel like that's a good place to start. A celebratory kick-off of my journey to a strong and healthy body.

Research Proposals

Since we've met a total of three times, it only seems natural that I would already have a research proposal due today for my art history class. Right? Because a week is definitely enough time for me to know which art objects in a span of 20,000 years I'd like to research.

All sarcasm aside, the real problem I face is narrowing down the things I want to research. My three possible topics were:
1. Comparing funerary masks of various cultures and the meaning/power that was attributed to them by that civilization.
2. Discovering (for myself--not all of humanity--obviously) what kind of link there is between abstraction in Mesopotamian art, and abstraction and pattern in Islamic art.
3. The iconography (meaning of the symbols) of Egyptian jewelry and cultures it was influenced by/influenced.

The second topic came to light because I asked a question last class period that my teacher didn't have a definitive answer to, so he said, "That would be a great research paper."

The third topic, though... is much more interesting to me. Hmmm, I wonder why...

So, I'm printing out #2 and #3 and taking both of them with me to class.

(Really, I'm turning in the Egyptian jewelry proposal, and keeping the Islamic art proposal as a backup in case my professor doesn't like my first submission. Wish me luck.)

I forgot

that at the beginning of the semester I would have to get a new student ID card.

Ew. Should have thought to pause and re-apply some makeup.

With Both Feet

A while ago I posted about all of the different options I was thinking about for school.

Well, I made a decision, and I start classes on Monday.

I'm currently going back to BYU as a Post-Bac/Evening student, taking prerequisites to get into the Art History and Curatorial Studies MA program. My end goal is to work in Museum Educational and Family Programming, and I would also love to teach part-time (maybe full-time eventually. We'll see.).

So that's it.

At least for now. There is the one hurdle of actually getting accepted to deal with. GRE, here I come.

On Being Normal

Have I ever shared my theory about normalcy with you, friends?

Here it is, in all of it's profound glory:

Everyone is awesome.
Everyone is average.
Everyone is awkward.

I'm convinced it's simply a matter of what situation they are placed in. There's a painfully awkward kid in all of us, there's someone who's boringly mediocre in each of us, and there is an all-out rock star in each of us.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you're ever feeling awkward or non-descript, remember that you're truly awesome. (And remember that when you're talking to someone who is showing their awkward side just a bit [or a lot], that given the right stimuli they could blow you away with how brilliant/funny/kind/etc. they are.)

Sometimes I have a hard time remembering this.

Just food for thought.

Staying Positive

Wow. It's so easy to get bogged down in the cares of life, isn't it?

These days I'm trying to really focus on a few things:

1- Why people are awesome
2- Why my life is awesome
3- Making progress--however I can make it happen

The end.

(And I think it's really time for me to change my blog name and header pic, don't you?)

Last Week I Helped an Old Man and His Wife

They were bringing a 20-year car out of winter storage and the battery had died, so he was using a mid-size SUV to tow the car with her behind the wheel.

Well, no power steering + aging muscles and joints = difficulty making the car turn sharply enough to make corners.

As I drove down the street I take to get home from work one night, their towing difficulties were causing a slight (okay, total) roadblock. There was no way they were going to make the turn through the intersection without making it a 3-point turn.

Which I assumed meant they needed some help backing the car up so they could complete the remaining 2 points of their turn. So...

1) I pull over and hopped out to see if they needed a quick push backward.
2) The husband says his wife was just having trouble getting the wheel turned enough without the power steering available.
3) I, thinking "Yay! I'm helping old people!" jump into the driver's seat and give the wheel a good crank or two until the car is straightened out in the road. I prepare to stop at any moment and hop back into my own car.
4) The old man keeps driving down the road.
5) I start to panic because--thinking I would only be needed for about 30 seconds total--I not only left my car unlocked, but running. With my purse inside.
6) I watch anxiously in the rearview mirror, just knowing that some 14-year old kid is going to come steal my car.
7) The old man stops, gets out of his car, and explains how we wants to maneuver getting the car into their carport. He is not in fact taking me to the nearest mechanic and leaving his wife to fend for herself as I feared, but is simply towing the deadmobile to their house which is only another few doors down the road.
8) I can't relax until I am back to my car and can confirm that, yes, it is exactly where I left it and yes, I am able to get back in it without calling a locksmith.

True story.

Change

I like change. I crave it. It's refreshing and renewing to me.

My college roommates used to joke about me being pregnant all the time because I always wanted to move our furniture around in different configurations. When I owned a house, the artwork on the walls changed about every 6 months.

So. Why bring this up? Well, I just realized today that it is an important factor to consider as I'm weighing different career options.

My most recent career decision is Museum Studies. And I happen to think it's a perfect fit for me.

For the past 6 months or more, I've been trying to decide between art, education, and public administration.

Museum Studies combines them all. I decided I would really love to be the education director of a museum--coordinating workshops, seminars, school tours, creating curriculum based on permanent and temporary exhibits.

Think about it: I would be involved in education (check), surrounded by art and constantly thinking about/researching/talking about art (check), and the content I develop would change regularly, as would the people to whom the information is presented (check). Art, education, public administration, and change.

It's been a long time coming... but I feel really good about it!

So, to help get some experience under my belt, I am volunteering as a docent at both the Springville Museum of Art and the BYU Museum of Art. I'm really excited.

(I just hope it doesn't mean another 4 years of undergrad studies before I can do a Museum Studies Certification.)

Keep your fingers crossed for me! ('Cause I'm going to do it all while working full time.)

Spring Break 2009 Mosaic

Just messing with Big Huge Labs' Mosaic Maker today. I rather enjoy mosaics. I also quite enjoy Europe.

(Sigh)

Seen in My Backyard...

...a few days ago.

Nice, right? There were two additional deer to the right a little more, but they were hidden from the camera by a little tree in the backyard.

They just sat there and chilled for an hour or so.

SOLD! (or, 17/101)

So, last night I sold my first paining ever! It was #17 in my list of goals to accomplish before fall 2011, and now I can check it off the list!
Jessica saw this painting hanging around in my room, and offered to buy it outright. She picked it up on Thursday when she came for dinner.

Thanks, Jessica!

Fugliness

So, my best friend has a supremely unflattering picture of me as her profile picture on Facebook. (Well, she's in it, too. But still. SHE looks cute.)

Yep.

That's all.

If it's there come Monday, we might not be friends anymore.

(Kidding.)


(Kind of.)

Thursday Night Supper Club--The details and this week's menu

Alright, people. Thursday Night Supper Club is officially on!

This Thursday's menu is:

-Broiled Chicken Provençale
-Quinoa Salad with Dried Apricots
-Lemon Crème Brulée or Chocolate Tuiles with Vanilla Custard

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you'll get the update there, too. But if not, here are the details:

-If you know me and trust me in the kitchen, you're invited. :) Bring a friend (or spouse, o' course) if you feel so inclined.
-I'll make dinner every Thursday and you bring a few bucks to help pay for ingredients and whatnot.
-The cost will NEVER be more than $8-$10 per person, and I'm hoping to keep it more to the $4-$7 range.
-I'm NOT going to make money off of you--promise. The cost will be evenly divided among everyone who comes to dinner, including me.
-This isn't some weird self-promotional thing and I'm not trying to sell something to you.
-You don't have to participate every week (obviously).

I'll send out the menu every week by Monday, you let me know if you're coming by Tuesday night, and I'll have a seat and a plate for you on Thursday night. :)

Let me know if you want to join in!

If you're not interested this week, let me know if the general idea appeals, and I'll put you on my list of people to include in my weekly menu email.

Woo hoo!

Bookbinding

Today I found a bookbinding tutorial online. I can't wait to try it out to make my own unlined journal.

I'll report back soon on how it went. Wish me luck. :)

10/101 - Read one (auto)biography every six months

I have read the following autobiographies to fulfill item #10 of my 101 things.

1) Actually, the first one I don't even remember. I don't remember the title, and I don't remember who it was about. But it was funny.

2) Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman.

3) Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman.

I actually read the Lincoln biography last night. It's a children's book. Yep, that's how I roll. I'm really loving the Eleanor Roosevelt book by Freedman (also a children's book), so I might end up reading another biography or autobiography on her life. That's actually why I decided to read the Freedman books. They were short, so if I found someone I was particularly interested in through reading his books, I could go find some more in-depth materials.

That's it for now! All in all I will be reading 6 (auto)biographies before the end of the challenge.

Test Kitchen/Dinner Group

To help me resolve my little recipe problem, I decided to start a weekly dinner group/test kitchen combo.

Basically, I'm going to make at least one recipe from my (ahem) archives each Thursday and invite all of my Orem/Provo peeps for dinner every week.

I was thinking I would send out a weekly email with the plan for the main dish, a side-dish sign-up list with a couple of slots, and then let everyone else know to bring $3-$8 to help pay for ingredients, depending on how exotique the ingredients are. (So... if it's lobster, everyone brings $8-ish. If it's tortilla soup everyone brings $3.)

What do you think? Is it tacky to ask people to bring money? Should I just have them bring ingredients? If it were you, what would you prefer?

Would you participate in something like this if someone else was hosting?

Sibling Inspiration: Amy

Amy has started running.

I used to love running, but not so much anymore.

I want to love running again. Come to find out I have not only diabetes in my family history, but a history of heart attacks at an early age.

For months I have had this couch-to-5K running plan saved in my external hard drive and eventually posted on my wall.

So today I put each week's workouts on a 4x6 index card so I can easily prop up an outline of my workout on the treadmill at the gym.

It's a nine-week program, and I'll be running indoors only until the spring. (I don't do inversions.)

The idea is to not only lose weight, but to increase my health altogether and have an established running habit before I (potentially) move away to graduate school.

Wish me luck. Join me if you'd like. It will do your heart good. (Mine, too, since I'll know I'm not doing this alone.)


Another goal I've set for myself that's inspired by Ames: Journal keeping. I'm only good at it when it's require for getting good grades in school. Lame. Amy is great at it. So, I'm going to buy myself a new little journal that I can carry with me wherever I go and see what happens.

Get Cooking!

I got "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman. I think she was the one who said she learned to cook by just cooking her way through his book, and it inspired me.

Not only am I going to learn how to cook "everything," but I am also going to become a creative cook and ingredient-combining guru with the Ingredient Bible, which I bought for myself because it's my birthday.

So, if you would like to be a guinea pig, let me know and I'll invite you over for dinner, lunch, breakfast, or brunch.

L'embarras du choix

At a ward activity with my church in Paris, there was a potluck with some of the most delicious-looking foods I've ever seen.

As I stood before the buffet-style setup trying to decide where to start, a member of the bishopric came up beside me with the same "Where do I start?" look of hesitation on his face.

"Ahh..." he says, "L'embarras du choix." Roughly translated, that conveys the idea of "overwhelmed by my options" or "spoilt for choice."

And that's the perfect description of my life right now. Really, where do I start?

I've been thinking a lot about graduate school, but for the life of me I can't settle on one program over another. It's kind of distressing, mostly because the deadlines are all coming up soon, and I'll need to get cracking on the GRE for some of the applications.

I feel pulled in several different directions. These are the programs I'm thinking of applying to:

-French studies
-French Teaching
-Language Acquisition
-TESOL
-MPA
-Literacy Education

If I did either of the last two, I would want to do both and end up working for a non-profit with a focus on literacy education (either K-12 or adult ed). But I also feel like I should work in that field for at least a year or two to determine whether that's something I would want to do as a full-time career.

I think with French Studies or French Teaching it's almost a no-brainer that I at least apply, but the catch with that is I don't think I would want to teach secondary, so I would have to also do a doctorate. Yowza. I'm 28. You do the math.

They're all sort of related, having to do with literacy, teaching, and language... but they're all different enough that they don't really overlap. Except maybe Language Acquisition and TESOL. Those probably have some significant overlap in the theories I would study.

So, I'm not gonna lie... I think I would love them all. I'm not really making salary a part of the decision, because choosing a career based on how much I would make is a recipe for disaster (based on previous experience).

That's all. Just needed to get it off my chest.