Wild and Wonderful: WV

I have been having fun lately traveling and attending YSA activities and conferences. I figure I only have about 2 years til I get kicked out for being too old, so I'd better have fun while I can! The conference lasted Friday night thru Sunday afternoon. It was a long drive (3 and a half to 4 hours each way) but Ame and I had a good weekend. It was nice seeing the friends we have made lately. Originally Ame was driving, but that didn't work out so I drove. So on to the photos:

Hey Stef, look familiar? The WV building was just like Enumclaw's!

Me, Ame and Tracy (our friend from WV):

Our funny friend Adam:


Bonfire:

Team building exercises:

We went ice-skating on Saturday:

Tracy and me outside the rink- I don't skate cause I have BAD balance and I don't want to fall!
My scary bed- we were lucky to have beds in the basement (you never know what you will get when you are staying with people you have never met before!) but I got the claustrophobic bed in the tiny cave-like room and there was hundreds of pounds of stuff on the top bunk! I had to do breathing exercises to get to sleep the first night, I got a bit claustrophobic! Thankfully I did not hit my head sitting up and I was also afraid the top bunk would crash down on me!

Conference Itinerary:

Friday:

• Group games (I barely escaped having to play Kissing Rugby!), bad skits, cold pizza, dance with a lamo band (Ivan and I made total idiots of ourselves on the dance floor, that was fun)

Saturday:

• Breakfast, then workshops- we chose Beekeeping (learned way too much info about the sex lives of bees!), Crispy Critters (we thought it was cooking but turned out to be a lesson on the The Last Days!) and Taking Better Photos (They taught stuff that was unnecessary and skipped stuff that would actually help people, grrr)
  
• Team-building exercises (maybe I just don't belong on a team! lol)
• Ice skating (I had fun taking pics)
• Hot dog roast outside...totally looked like a Mormon kegger! lol
• Dance, it was pretty good.

Sunday:

• Sacrament meeting with WV ward and Elder Chipman of the Seventy as a guest speaker, he was neat. His wife was cute of course.
• Testimony mtg for just the YSA, very spiritual
• Grabbed sack lunch, hugged everyone bye, got home at 4:30pm (not bad!)
• slept very, very deep that night

There were a couple of low points but overall I am glad to have gone and had some escape from everyday life. I'm excited that there are upcoming conferences that are fairly close to us, I'm definitely going to try to go!

It's a little depressing when its time to leave the conferences- Ame is my closest friend out here in PA but I seem to only see her when we travel together! It's hard leaving my other friends that live far away too. And getting really nice hugs from boys (and man did they smell good! How pathetic am I? lol) just reminds me that I don't have that in my life, either. Part of me really wants to move to a larger YSA population (did I mention that it's now just 3 girls including me at fhe??).

So it's back to the usual: school, homework, YW, etc. It's not a bad life, but I am glad to get out of the house every once in awhile!

I have about a month of school left, woo hoo!

P.S. "Wild and Wonderful" refers to the state motto. It was the theme of the conference and we didn't know why it was named that til we saw the sign! We had a little of both this weekend!

Life

Not too much in the way of interesting stuff has been going on, I've just been busy with school and whatnot, the usual. I am glad to say that I am feeling a lot better and I'm almost done with the antibiotics.

Wednesday was an interesting day, instead of meeting in my Art Ed class, we broke up into groups and were observing classrooms. I spent about an hour observing a first grade class at the Edinboro grade school. Some of the students were so tiny! I have not set foot in a grade school in awhile, I think they all look the same wherever you go.

I enjoyed my time as a first grader, this week's focus was on Behavior Management. What was interesting to observe were some hearing impaired children- one had hearing aids and the other appeared to have had a cochlear implant (he had wires coming out of his head and into a hearing aid). There was an aide who would sign for them, but they could speak. I thought that was all really neat. They weren't really treated as being "different" by the others and the aide enhanced things instead of being in the way.

Other things were kinda funny...like how this youngish (but very "traditional" looking) teacher had a large lower back tattoo that showed when she bent over! Things have changed since I was in grade school!

Later that day I had to attend a mandatory Teacher Development Workshop (I have to do all this stuff to declare candidacy at school to get into the higher art ed classes) and I thought maybe it would have some good info. Nope, it was an hour of my life I'd like to get back! All it was was talking about the qualities that a teacher ought to have and then I had to take 3 aptitude tests to see where my occupational likes/strengths are. Go figure, it told me to be an art teacher! At least I got some validation. You also had to look at other career options incase you all of a sudden realize that teaching isn't for you. The whole point of the meeting was to weed out people who don't belong in teaching, but good grief.

While I was taking my silly aptitude tests (I'm artistic and I like to help people? Really? No way!) it donned on me that this is the world's way of knowing yourself and making important decisions. I already knew who I was and that this is the right path for me because I try to have the Holy Ghost as my companion and He helps me know what is right. I know who I am because I learned at church that I am a daughter of God and that we all have talents and abilities. Sometimes the funniest things help reinforce gospel principles. The other week my Art Ed teacher was talking about how we need to reflect on ourselves and write down those reflections and I was like "What is this, a Relief Society lesson???"

I'm driving to West Virginia this afternoon...wish me luck! I hope to have some fun pics to share.

Sick

I started getting sick last Wednesday afternoon- fever, sore throat, etc and then I get a call from one of my YW's parents saying that she had strep throat...and I was like OH NO!!! Several other people at school have had it too, I think I was doomed. Sure enough, I got it too. I am doing a little better, but I missed Thursday and Friday and I NEVER miss school! I only missed one day last semester and that was due to weather and I didn't miss any school at all during my first semester here.

So I basically spent the last four days on the couch asleep. I am on antibiotics and I think they are working (it's the same stuff I drank gallons of as a child due to my frequent ear infections). I went back to school today and I was dragging but I made it. I don't think I'm going anywhere tonight, though. No energy for FHE. I need my couch back. Here are some photos of what went on in the last four days:

It tried to snow, but melted away thank goodness:

Dad sawed up a fallen tree that had been on the root cellar for some time:
Mariah found a good pillow:

And I got a page done, it had been in Unfinished Limbo Land for awhile:

You like my bfly tin? It holds my glue runners perfectly.

It felt nice to get my page done, though I had really wanted to get more crafting projects done while I was sick. I never seem to have the time I want to do what I want! I was either asleep or other people were monopolizing the table, so that's all I did. I felt bad canceling Mutual on Wednesday and YW yesterday but what can ya do? There were only two girls coming on Wed and no one was coming yesterday so I'll try not to feel too guilty. I'm hoping I mend quickly because there is a YSA conference this weekend that I want to go to...in West Virginia!

Really?

So I get emails about scrapbooking and this image popped into my inbox and this one wins the "Really???" award:

In case you can't tell, someone has now made Ripley's Believe It Or Not scrapbook paper. Have we been transported to 1999 when all the scrapbook paper looked like this? Is this collection attractive? No! I strongly opposed bad design! It really drives me insane.

Honestly, how often would YOU use this design of paper?? Like never, right? How often do you go to a Ripley's museum and find the need to have matching paper for your photos? Why would you want to have these captions around your pic? In this time of economic turmoil, people aren't spending as much on "frills" like scrapbook supplies...shouldn't one be designing products that people will actually want to buy in these hard times?

To the kids whose photos their moms scrap using this paper, I'm sorry. Truly.

When I worked at Craft Outlet, the buyer drove us crazy. We had a lot of paper that was just too specific for it to sell....I seem to recall a lot of Red Hat Society and Build-a-Bear Workshop paper that never sold. Scrapbook paper needs to be a bit more general for it to sell! And much more attractive. HELLOOOO!!!!

And that is my rant for the day.

Weekend

I am still not fully unpacked from my trip to CA...it's been a busy week of school and then this weekend I was a chaperone for a YW pre-camp sleepover on Friday/Saturday. I had two girls go and everybody had a good time. Our theme for camp this year is "Fit for His Kingdom" and Girl's Camp will be a "Princess Academy", which sounds fun. Each unit is to come up with a Princess mascot that has a gospel undertone. The example was something like "Princesses of Purity" and I was like, really??? Mmmm...no. Am I the only one who thinks that camp should be fun? So my girls and I are going to have Snow White as our mascot- it's something fun and cute to make a flag and cheers and skits with and we can "justify" it...white is the color of faith in YW and there's the scripture in Isaiah about your scarlet sins being turned to white like snow through the Savior.

So as for the sleepover, I am getting a little tired of sleeping on the floor, but it was a good weekend. Friday night was a Spa Nite, with facial masks and makeup and painting nails. There was a fabulous spread of chocolate and goodies and a chocolate fountain, yum. We watched Enchanted, which is a way cute movie, but I have some beefs about it:

1. Why does Gisele have to fall on Patrick Dempsey's character wearing only a towel? And the whole implications in that scene of what she was "doing" there that night when the girlfriend walks in...not appropriate.
2. They don't get married. Only the animated couple gets married (In a big goofy ceremony) which in effect says "Marriage is for animated saps, not real people".

I ruined the movie for Miranda, she asked me what I thought and I said "Well, I like it but they don't get married." *glass shattering* "You're right!"she said, she'd never realized that before.

Saturday was filled with silly camp songs, meals, meetings about camp, games, working on our banners, and cleanup.

Frankenstein? No, girls with masks on!

Gotta love watching people make fools of themselves singing camp songs:
The main cabin, very similar to the place we stayed at for Snow Conference:

Girls pretending to ring the bell (since really doing it would be a big no-no cause it is a camp warning system):

Me with Laureen and Katie:

After church on Sunday, our Branch President's grandchildren were baptized- congrats to Carmen and Payton!

Baptisms are always great. Made me think back to mine and how it really is the gateway to so many great blessings.


Maybe I'll get that bag unpacked...someday!

Sculpture: Project 1

Here are photos of the first project that we did in my Sculpture I class, I've done a couple of smaller mockups but they weren't really worth posting here. My teacher changed this assignment from her usual, we were the guinea pigs.

Instead of doing one large project, you instead had to do many little body parts (no bigger than 5" in all dimensions) using different techniques that were on a list. The thought was to be able to discover new media/ways of construction as well as what you like/don't like to do. You could do human or animal body parts, I did a mix.

Since I'm not a freshmen and have been doing most of this stuff for a long time, I already know a lot of techniques and I know what I like/don't like to do. And after all this work with plaster, I can tell you that I do NOT like working with it! I don't like touching it, and I definitely don't like breathing the dust. Even after I wash my hands a million times, I still feel grody from it!

So we had to accumulate a lot of images as a reference when making these parts, that was called the Visual Morgue. Kindof a cool name, no? Maybe that's what I'll name my band. Ha ha. Sorry if these images gross you out, I'm kindof desensitized by now since I have been looking at tables of crafted body parts all semester!

Clockwise, top left: Carved tooth from block of plaster, fabric & yarn make skin and hair, two part mold and the foil butterfly positive, paper casting from found object, yarn muscle fibers

Wire mesh lungs sewn and stapled, a nueron riveted from a piece of milk jug and sheet metal with beads for a tail:
Here's looking at you: Eyes paper mache'd, cast in plaster, sewn (I stuffed a yo-yo and my teacher loved it!), and a polygon shape:

Red blood cell, alginate mold of my (flattened) finger, alginate mold of plastic flamingo head, press clay mold/plaster positive of lips, wire mesh coated with plaster and painted to look like lips:

You also had to do a photo or a film or audio (in reality sculpture encompasses EVERYTHING in art) so I submitted this print out of my face- back at my other college I had to color and place EVERY square (in the computer) in my pixelated face! It's based off of one of my senior pics:

It's nice to have this project done, it wasn't so bad at first but then got real tedious. We had critique today and I got a B+, which is pretty good considering two of my pieces didn't really turn out (not photographed). Most of my classmates were not very inspired and didn't do very good stuff, though a few did. On to project number two!

SF: Day 9 and home

Laura and I flew home on Sunday, Mom is staying until Thursday as to be there for Grandma's actual birthday (we had the party early so I could come on Spring Break). We think she just wants to go to Nick's again. Ha ha. Before we left, we posed with Grma on the porch:

Grma has some cute grandkids!

The plane ride(s) were long, but fine. Here is SF:

Laura and I got home at 11, went to bed at midnight and I slept....for three hours. Then I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep, dang it! I survived school and then Laura and I drove to Franklin and back (a good hour and a half each way) to pick up our doggies from the kennel. Even though Dad didn't go to CA, he was gone at work all the time and it would be hard for him to walk them with his bum knee so we boarded them anyhow. They were SO happy to see us! They jumped for joy. They JUMPED in the car, they were ready to go home! Poor babies, I felt bad we had to leave them so long. The guy said that they did well and that he really liked Hank (the brown one).

The doggies were good in the car and so happy to be home...it was eerily quiet in the house without them! I meant to only "rest" once home but crashed and slept and slept and slept like from 8pm straight til 6:30 am...it was heavenly!

I thought adjusting back to this time zone would be awful, but I actually feel pretty good...I never really did totally adjust to CA time, I always felt a little off. I guess I belong here...for now.

SF: Day 8

Today was a nice, laid back day. It was the last full day in CA- tomorrow I will be on a plane all day heading home. It was really beautiful and sunny today, I don't know if I've ever seen such nice weather here. We were still recovering from the party yesterday.

The four of us ("Auntie" Melissa, my real Aunt Marcie, Laura and I) posed in an attempt....

to recreate this photo circa 1991:

This is one of my favorite photos of my grandma and grandpa, taken around the time they married in 1949:

On to the here and now. We went back to Nick's today, yum. I always match my shirt to the sign I'm posing next to, ha ha:

Aunt Eileen, Grma, Roland, Aunt Marcie, Laura and me!

Pretty Rockaway Beach:

I don't really want to go home, but all good things must come to an end, eh? Besides we need to get home to my dad- he fell today and banged his face and broke a blood vessel in his eye. He's ok, he went to the Dr and got his eye checked out. I also feel bad that our poor dogs have been boarded in a kennel this whole time. We'll pick them up on Monday after I get out of school. It's just Laura and I flying tomorrow, Mom goes home on Thursday.

Wish me luck! It's 5 hrs from here just to Cleveland. Sigh.

SF: Day 7

Today was....the PARTY. The whole reason we came to CA. My grandma is turning 80 next week and my aunt turned 50 a couple of weeks ago so they had a big joint party today. It was a good day, but I'm a little tired. In the morning, we did all the little things that you can't really do in advance (like fold up the sofa bed that I sleep on) and then the caterer came and set up. The party went from about 2 to 7, you could just stop by anytime. My aunt and grandma have known a lot of people over the years and a lot of people came. Tonight we counted and figured that about 100 people came during that period of time. No wonder I am tired!

My job and Laura's job was to make sure people signed a guest book and we also were in charge of taking photos of people to along with their signature/greeting. It's not too hard of a job at a party when everyone comes in one door, but it was a challenge at this party since people were coming and going every which way- the living room and family room are at opposite ends of the house. I didn't get to sit much, there was always someone to photograph! I chatted a bit with people, there were a few friends of the family that I know. There were some people that I haven't seen for quite a while, it was nice to see them. Somewhere in the middle my Great Uncle Roland made a clever speech about my aunt and grandma, he did a good job. Everyone had a good time, and I think my aunt and grandma enjoyed themselves.

Here are a few photos of my grandma (I scanned and enlarged them for the mantle). She was a hottie in her day!

Grandma and Grandpa (he died when I was 10) taking us grandkids to Great America:

Grandpa and Grandma with baby Eileen (Mom's older sister):

The cake (we had to fix it cause it said Margie instead of Marcie!) :

Grandma and little Kaitlin, age 2:

Laura and me with Emily and Kaitlin (our second cousins):

The photos of my grandma on the mantel- I was primarily in charge of this:

"Auntie" Melissa (my aunt's best friend) and Angel (my friend in SF), her significant other Tom, and her boy Jack (I hadn't seen him in person til today):

Grandma was presented a Certificate of Recognition by the California State Assembly for her contribution to the community by a judge that she's friends with:

I'm still printing photos for the guest books, goodnight. I'm a little bummed that my trip will soon come to an end, but also kinda glad I don't have to worry about the party anymore!

SF: Day 6

No photos to show today, sorry. Just a pretty easy day around my grandma's house, getting stuff ready for the party. There's so many of us around that it makes the load fairly light. My great uncle is up from Southern CA for the party, he hung out with us today. The other day he was in a friend's garage going out for a smoke and he lost his balance and fell and banged up his forehead pretty good- he had to get stitches and everything. See, smoking is hazardous to your health!

Today was a Good Food Day- GUR (Great Uncle Roland, my grandma's brother) brought us all sourdough breakfast sandwiches from Jack in the Box (which we do not have in PA and miss) and then we ordered Chinese takeout for dinner. Lots of yummy stuff. Good Chinese food is a rarity in rural PA, it was on my list of things to do out here!

When GUR had me all alone in the kitchen, he asked if I had a boyfriend...mmmm, no. Don't we all know the answer to that one? I really hate it when I get put on the spot! I bugged him right back (it's been a while since he had a girlfriend) and high-tailed it out of there. It was just really awkward because I really don't know him all that well. One of these days I will have to post about what not to say to a single person. Trust me people, if I had someone, I'd tell!

Tomorrow is the big party. We're having it catered (phew!) which takes a load off, but there are a few little things to do before people start coming at 2. I am on photo duty to take pics of the guests for the guest book. I am excited to see people I haven't seen for awhile. I think we will all be tired tomorrow night!

SF: Day 5

My other grandmother (dad's side) picked up Laura and I this morning and we drove down to Redwood City and picked up my Aunt Susan (dad's younger sister). The four of us ate lunch at Applebee's and had a good time. After we dropped Susan back off at her house, us girls went quilt store hoppin'! The quilt stores in the area were having an event, you got free stuff at every store you bought stuff at. I got a bunch of fab fat quarters and a gizmo to make heart shaped yo-yos. My grandmother made the mistake of saying we could get whatever we wanted- famous last words! I really wanted to go to town with the retro prints, but I was a good girl and didn't break the bank. We spent some time back at the house with Grandfather too and he showed me jewelry he had cast a long time ago, I showed him the stuff I made the other semester.

My grandma (the one we are having the party for) has for years wanted to showcase the antique violin that belonged to her mother when she was a little girl, so we got it professionally framed at Aaron Brothers. They did a really nice job. We gave it her tonight and she was really surprised and delighted. We decided to give it to her now so that it could be out for the party.

Here is Grandma Norma today with the violin:

Wasn't my grandma a cute little girl?
I think she is about 3 here:

It's always a good day when you get to go fabric shopping!

SF: Day 4

Are you ready? Have you drank some Power-Aid? Have you done some stretches? Cause here come a stinkin' lot of pictures! We went into the city today and had fun first in Golden Gate Park at the Academy of Science. It is an aquarium, planetarium, natural history museum, rainforest and research facility all under one roof. They have recently renovated the museum and exhibits and we (my mom, two aunts, Laura and I) thought it would be cool to go.

T-Rex (does he come to life at night?):

In honor of Stef:

In their "Green" exhibit, you could write on scrap paper about what you would do to be more environmental...

...and somebody had the right idea!

Mr. Croc in the swamp:

Penguins! They were way cute.

And we got to see them be fed...happy penguins!

Note the large predator in the tree above me (he's stuffed):

a Honeycomb stingray:

Sorry Heather, these were stuffed:

Several types of seahorses:

Buttons? No, jellyfish:

This is the new roof to this building, pretty neat!

Here is the rainforest dome, it was closed, darn it:

We then went from there across the street to the Japanese Tea Gardens, which is one of my favorite places to see. It's very serene (and photogenic!):

I heart pagodas:

This is the Taiko Bashi or "Drum Bridge"

The gates to the gardens, aren't they neat?:

The view of the city from The Cheesecake Factory up in the Macy's building:

You know how every city has fiberglass installations? Seattle had horses, Erie has fish and frogs and SF has hearts (as in "I left my heart in SF"). Some were cute.

Us with hearts:

I got to go to the MOMA gift store...always fun stuff. I got a book of photographs taken by Lewis Carrol (yes, the Alice in Wonderland guy- who knew he took cool portraits back in the day?) and a mag (gotta love ReadyMade magazine) and some art postcards for the collection. Maybe one day I'll be able to afford the Charley Harper art books (do yourself a favor and look him up, cool mod nature art).

A full, but fun day with the fam. Gotta love it.