i can see the light!

That's right! There's a light at the end of the tunnel and I am getting closer. I am finishing up my final projects, studying for my final tests, and... taking photos on my mac because I don't want to do any of that boring stuff any more!

This is a pretty good representation of how I feel tonight. Classy I know.

Thumbs down for finals!

I don't usually take energy drinks, but when I do, I do it for a good reason! Here are my reasons for tonight:

1. I have to study for two art history tests, and let's face it... nobody wants to do that even with the extra energy boost
2. my day has consisted of projects, projects projects, and all I want is sleep, sleep sleep
3. my hottie husband is at the fire station tonight and has been all day, therefore I don't have my personal motivator to keep me going
4. did I mention I'm studying art history?...
5. the energy I have spent writing this blog post needs to be made up for! 

And that is all! Tomorrow I will wake up early (if I even decide to sleep tonight), take my tests, finish up some last projects, then head to work! Oh how glorious it will be when this is all finished. John and I can't wait to have some time to actually get a Christmas tree and do some holiday shopping! We have done absolutely nothing yet. Plus we are heading to Spokane this year to be with John's family and we are oh SO excited!

happy thursday!

Yes it is a happy Thursday indeed! Remember those self portraits I had to take for my photo class? Well... I definitely had some complications, ran out of time, printed them last night and felt so depressed because I had failed all of my expectations of taking a great photo of myself. Pretty much taking self portraits is more difficult than you would think with a DSLR camera. So... I started ALL over again last night because yes, the deadline is TODAY. I made a little photo shoot in our shabby little home just to get the perfect self-portrait! It was quite the learning experience. I stayed up ALL night shooting and editing, and then working on other homework. Finished just in time to come to the photo lab at 8am and printed off my photos. I am VERY satisfied! I'm still figuring out Photoshop and Lightroom but I think I'm getting the hang of it. So here they are!
I was going for a sort of raw look with a modern and colorful twist. I think both of them express me pretty perfectly.

If you have any questions about the settings I used to take the photos and what editing I did then feel free to ask and I will surely answer your questions. Also, if you're wanting some pics taken I would love the experience and it will be super cheap for you, because I'm still just a baby in the photo world.

And now time for an embarrassing moment... This last week John and I were headed into the grocery store. For those rexburgians, you all know that these obnoxious people stand outside of broulims to try and get you to purchase a "starving student card." Well John and I spotted the obnoxious, so we decided to run to the entrance and avoid confrontation. John's foot caught on the rug in the entrance and lifted it up just enough to catch my foot and send me soaring through the air, gracefully falling to the floor into a double roll! It was super epic... and super embarrassing. We couldn't stop laughing! Unfortunately, neither could the other couple who witnessed the whole thing. Now I have a swollen knee and a pretty nasty rug burn as proof of my complete fail.
That's all for now!

happy happenings

It has been quite a while since my last blog update! Let's just say that life has been on full speed the past few weeks. I decided to give a quick update on recent life. 

Our short little Thanksgiving break was perfect. Lots of family, lots of laughs, lots of games, and LOTS of food! John and I had Thanksgiving with my family this year and there were 13 pies this year. There was lots of variety too which is unheard of in my family! Usually it's mostly apple and pumpkin but we went all out this year and they were all delicious! My mom even made her famous completely vegan apple pie with apples from my daddy's tree. Can you guess which one it is? I will have to share the recipe for that in a later post because it is sincerely delicious!

I also have a few more pics from my photography class. Luckily I had a drop dead gorgeous model. A shout out to my niece Ashley for helping out! Sorry boys... she's taken. 

For my next photo assignment my professor wants self-portraits so stay tuned for those coming next week!

For my graphic design I was given an artist and had to create some posters as if a museum hired me to advertise an upcoming art gallery. Any body heard of Charles and Ray Eames? Well they are an eccentric married couple who design furniture, fabrics, architecture, games, short films, etc. Well I'll show you what I have so far. I am far from experienced but I feel like I am doing pretty good considering how far I am into the program. I used adobe photoshop and illustrator to design these. If you have any questions, feel free to ask either through email or just comment on this post! 

This one is definitely my favorite so far! Not too crazy about some of the typography but hey that just means there's room for improvement.

 Only 2 weeks left in this semester! I'm trying to finish out strong so if I don't make another post for a while then that's the reason. Once school is out then we are planning on spreading Christmas decor around our little home. How exciting!

my sick day

Last week John had the stomach flu... I felt bad that he wasn't feeling very good at all, but honestly, I LOVED playing housewife and taking care of him. I fed him chicken noodle soup and everything! I think he enjoyed the banana popsicles and peach yogurt more though. For anybody who doesn't know, yoplait has the yummiest peach yogurt! 

Well... I guess it's my turn now. I was up in the night, with nausea and it hasn't stopped. That's not even the worst part though! John is doing a 24 hour shift at the fire station today so he can't even be here to take care of me. Don't worry though I've been snacking on saltine crackers all morning because he told me I should try to eat something. We'll see if I can keep them down! 

In honor of the final twilight movie coming out this week, I've been having a marathon by myself. I'm not the biggest twilight fan but I will admit I'm excited to see the new movie. I've been working on convincing John to come to the premier with me. Wish me luck on that one...

Does anybody use essential oils? Well I've made myself some peppermint tea for my stomach using doTERRA's peppermint oil. I just boil some water and put a drop of peppermint in it. You can add some stevia or honey to sweeten it up if you would like. Or you can just rub some on your stomach and it helps. Just be sure to put some kind of lotion or massage oil on first to dilute it because the peppermint is so strong and can burn your skin. I use coconut oil for that! 

My Mom and sisters are really into essential oils. I have a few of my own, all from doTERRA. My favorites are peppermint, lavender, melaleuca, and their own mix of oils called on guard. Everyone of their oils is all natural and each are used for different healing remedies. Check out their website! I highly recommend it.

missing our plunger

 One neat thing about living in an old basement duplex is that all of our appliances are just as old. Anybody who has seen our place is definitely jealous of our green refrigerator. But unfortunately our toilet is pretty ancient as well. We're lucky if we can get anything through it without having to use the plunger.
Well this morning we found ourselves in need of a plunger but we lent it out to a friend. I don't think very many people can say they've lent out their plunger but a few weeks ago one of my friends found herself in a little situation. We'll leave her name out of this to save her the embarrassment.

I have learned lots of life lessons from being married and this is one I'm not proud to admit but here it is: if the toilet doesn't flush the first time, don't flush it a second time. If by some chance you failed to read that first lesson and flushed it a second time, don't flush it a third time. All you end up with is soggy carpet, wet feet, and an "I could be happier-husband." Good thing he's so patient with me. Life lesson learned... We did eventually get our plunger back and currently we have a giant fan drying out the damage.

On a not-so-gross note, I'm taking a photography class and here are a few of my photos from my last assignment. While working in black and white, we were supposed to show the effects that natural sunlight has on our surroundings and also how to capture that light in our photos. Unfortunately I haven't been at my best creativity level in this class, and for an art major that can be quite frustrating at times. I'm working on it though and improving with each week. Give me some of your thoughts!

Some of these photos were taken out by Eagle Park Campground in Rexburg, close to what is commonly known as the "duck pond." Other photos were taken outside of our house.
I used a Nikon D3100 to shoot with and a 55-200 mm zoom lens. I'll do better keeping track of my aperture and exposure in the future for anybody who is interested. I don't usually edit my photos very much at all. I usually just bump up the exposure and the contrast a bit. I do this in Adobe Lightroom. It's an awesome program and simple to use. I have Photoshop as well but I'm still learning the tricks on that one.

to blog or not to blog

...THAT is the question. Once I started a blog, made two posts... and then deleted it. I never posted anything, and quite frankly, I got tired of my own blog. Surely nobody else could have been enjoying it. This time is different though (or so I say now). I spent some time this week brainstorming ideas. I didn't want to just be a family blog, a DIY blog, cooking blog, or fashion. My problem is that I want it to be an EVERYTHING blog!

So here I am. This is my lifestyle blog. Hopefully I can make my life seem interesting enough for people to read about. I haven't exactly figured out this whole blogging thing yet though so if you're reading and know what you're doing, some tips along the way would be much appreciated!

You can read more about me and my blog here and feel free to follow. I would love to follow your blog too so hit me up with a link. 

Happy happenings!