30 Before 30: Buy Something from Tiffany

Today while I was in Salt Lake I headed over to Tiffany and Co. I've had the money for a little while, but going into the store kind of intimidated me. It's so fancy, you know? I mean, it's Tiffany. That's basically synonymous with class. But, since I was in Salt Lake anyway and I was dressed nice, I decided to go in.

It was a great experience! The salesman that helped me was really nice. When he asked why I was there, I told him that I was treating myself. I gave him my budget and he showed me what would fit in that budget. Then I mentioned a certain collection I liked, he moved over there and talked about some of the designs in it. He asked if I was celebrating anything, and I said no, just that I wanted to get something. He said that he thought that was great and he thought more women should do it--that a lot of women think they can only get jewelry if it's a gift.

Anyway, I tried on four rings, but I kept going back to the first one I tried on. It was just more me, simple and delicate but elegant. And it was far below budget. Win!

The bag!

The box!

I felt really bad about undoing the bow when he had done such a good job tying it.

The ring!

30 before 30: Have Professional Photos Taken

I had never have a real professional photo taken of me. At one time I had a roommate who wanted to be a photographer and she used me for her portfolio, but I wasn't that impressed with them and her attention to detail left some things lacking. I think it was one of those cases where nice cameras are so available, everyone thinks they can be a photographer.

Last weekend I went out with a friend and the experience was completely different. He and his wife pay a great attention to detail, and he made me feel more comfortable about the whole process. I really think that's what makes a good photographer. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

Update: Birthday and Comic-Con

April has been an exciting month, lots to do and lots of fun. The month started with LDS General Conference, which I got to spend at home with Mom, Dad, and Bro. The next weekend was my birthday! My birthday happened to get stretched out to cover the whole weekend, and into the week a little bit.

The day before my official birthday I spent with friends. That morning I went to the temple to C, then in the afternoon M and I went to see a matinee of Les Miserables (a Christmas present from my parents--twice the enjoyment!). The play was AMAZING! I've seen it before, but I'm always struck by the story of redemption and how it only took one person to show val Jean that he was more than just a former prisoner. It just gets to me, so of course I cried.

After the show we got dinner at one of my favorite restaurants and took it to go (what we usually do). Then when we got home I opened the door to this:

As my brain was trying to make this fit into my reality, I was surprised by friends popping out from behind the kitchen counter! M and C had planned a surprise party for me and I was totally oblivious to the whole thing! It was a fun night, with just a few friends, which is exactly what I like.

Then on my birthday, I got to wear a new dress I had bought precisely for my birthday (because I felt I deserved it :) ).

I love the fifties style! After church I went to the parentals and had a little nap, then dinner, presents, and cheesecake! My birthday was extended even further on Tuesday when General Minion and Minion S took me out to lunch to Kneader's.

Then Thursday was Comic-Con! I was excited and nervous for my very first con. I went with my coworker and fellow whovian, K. Oh my gosh, it was so much fun! Just being around all these geeks, and feeling a connection to hundreds of people you don't know is awesome! Highlights: I made friends while waiting in line for a panel; I met Adam Baldwin and Nathan Fillion (oh, so handsome); and seeing all the creative costumes people come up with. Here a just a few pictures:

My day one cosplay! I got a lot of compliments, and a few people even asked if they could take my photo!

My new friends!

Ioan Gruffudd. He's so charming. 

James Marsters. I just couldn't get a really good picture of him. 

Day 2 cosplay--Nerdherder!

Karl Urban. He drove right past us! 

Getting Adam Baldwin's autograph. He was so nice!

Awesome Christoff and Elsa--I love her attitude.

The oh so ruggedly handsome Nathan Fillion. 

The cute and fun Karen Gillan.

Adam Baldwin during his panel.

Me and R2-D2! He even made squeely noises.

Definitely can't wait to go to another con! I was exhausted every night, but it was so much fun!

That's about it for now--hopefully I'll have some news on the job front in the near-ish future!

Going Home (PEI Day 6)

I decided to get to the airport early the next day because I hadn't been able to check in to my flight online the night before, and because I had something to ask Hertz about the car. It was a good thing I did too, since my plane ticket seemed to have disappeared.

Yes, that's right, they couldn't find my plane ticket. A very nice man named Angus spent an hour searching for it and calling different airlines. When I had been driving through Charlottetown on my way to the airport I was sad to be leaving, but when I thought that I wouldn't be flying home that day I immediately got homesick. All I wanted was to be able to go home now. Fortunately, Angus was finally able to recover my boarding passes and I was finally on my way home!

There's something about walking out to a plane, or exiting a plane by stairs that makes me feel like I'm in a movie. And I got to do it quite a bit on this trip. :)

My first layover was in Montreal, and let me tell ya, it was like entering another country, even more so than entering Canada was. Everyone was speaking French, and I had to go through customs, which I thought was weird. (Come to find out, it made it so I didn't have to go through customs once I actually entered the US. It was still weird though.) 

When I made it to Chicago, I was able to call home. Mom told me that she had been tracking all my flights, which made me feel loved and missed. It was that last flight that was the worst. It was the longest of all my flights, and the last leg of a journey is always hard to endure (I am not a good traveler, have I mentioned?). I also finished my book thirty minutes before the end of the flight, which was a bit rubbish. It was too late to turn on my iPod because I would just have to turn it off again in a few minutes when we started out descent. So I wrote in my journal, but it still didn't take up all the time. I glanced out the window and saw our wonderful Utah mountains, and got a bit teary eyed. No matter how much I loved the Island, or what a good time I had, Utah will always be my home and it felt good to return to it. 

Anne with an E (PEI Day Two)

The next day I woke up to the sound of birds, and a little bit of sunshine streaming in through curtains. It was rather cold and windy, but at least it was raining. Thursday was to be my Anne Day, so I got ready and went down to ask the concierge (yes, I stayed in a place with a concierge! And where they would fold the toilet paper into little points. I quite spoiled myself!) how to get to Cavendish, where Green Gables is located. She printed out the instructions, then gave me more detailed instructions. She said that people in Charlottetown are bad drivers, so to be aware of that. I never did notice any particular bad driving habits, so either I'm the same brand of bad driver as the Islanders, or they aren't as bad at driving as the the concierge says.

The drive was very nice, as all the drives are I was to learn later, and I found Green Gables without any trouble at all.

The house belonged to some neighbors of LM Montgomery, and it is what she based Green Gables on, though she admits to not keeping very sharply to the facts. I have to admit I may have teared up a bit while I was on the property. I saw the house, and could imagine Anne in her bedroom, or discovering the drowned mouse in the crock in the kitchen. I could even see Mrs. Lynde making her way up the road to the back door to discuss the latest piece of gossip with Marilla. 

Lover's Lane

Green Gables is part of the PEI National Park. This means that the wilderness around the house is protected and properly looked after. There are two walking paths, about a half mile each. The first I walked was Lover's Lane. I can't even begin to express how green everything is. I don't think the pictures even show it properly.

The second walk was through the Haunted Wood. Montgomery called this wood the Haunted Wood when she was a young girl. The spruces creak and groan in the wind, which to a young, imaginative child would sound like spirits. I tried to capture it on video--you may have to turn your sound on high to hear it. Off of the Haunted Woods there is a path to the homestead where Montgomery was raised by her grandparents, and where she wrote Anne of Green Gables. 

Only the cellar still exists of that house, but some cousins of Montgomery's live on the property and have opened it up for visitors. They realized by reading her journals how much she loved the homestead and Cavendish, so they have tried to restore it as much as they could. There is a little book shop on the property where you can get a little verbal history of Montgomery's life.

After I was done at Green Gables (and had bought a warmer sweatshirt in the gift shop along with a copy of Anne of Green Gables), I headed over to New London, to see the house Montgomery was born in. Her mother died when she was 21 months old, and then she was sent to live with her maternal grandparents at the homestead we saw above. The docent at the birthplace was a nice woman and we had a good chat (and I came to learn that you can't go anywhere without having a conversation with someone. Islanders really are very nice). She told me how to get to the Anne of Green Gables Museum, in Park Corner just about 6 miles down the road, which is where I headed next. 

The Anne of Green Gables Museum is in the home of Montgomery's cousins (the Campbells). She would come and stay frequently throughout her childhood. She used this home in some of her other books, and called it "Silver Bush." This is also the home where she was married, in the parlor. I also was able to see the room she would stay in, and read quite a few selections from her journals. 

It is at Silver Bush that the Lake of Shining Waters is located. In fact, there is a letter on display in the museum that says that she did use the pond as her inspiration for the Lake of Shining Waters in Avonlea. 

On my way back to Charlottetown, I drove past the Cavendish cemetery. I thought briefly of stopping and seeing Montgomery's resting place, then I dismissed the idea. Not much further down the road, I decided that it wouldn't be much of a pilgrimage if I didn't stop by, so I turned around and went to go see it. My eyes got a little watery again as I told her thank you. Thank you for Anne, for without her I never would have come to PEI.

Moving Out and Up: My Geekery is Showing

So, I don't have pictures of the whole apartment, but here are pictures of my Doctor Who themed bedroom!

Here is a wide shot of my bedroom. The other photos will show close-ups on the more interesting parts of the room. (Though I do want to point out the two decorative pillows my mom so nicely made for me, and the AMAZING Doctor Who afghan my sister knitted for me last Christmas at the end of the bed.)

This is from season 5 of the new series (the first season with Matt Smith). It hangs above my desk and is basically the awesomest thing ever.

Not Doctor Who, but still geeky. No room of mine would ever not have books in it. This isn't even half of the books I own and I'm continually getting more.

When I was 16 my parents let me pick out a bed for my new room in our new house. I always wanted a daybed, so that's what I picked. Across the back is a star (above), a moon, and a sun.

The flannel sheet set my parents bought me soon after (I think the Christmas we moved into our house).   They are getting a little worn, but let's face it, they are awesome! (I think that it's interesting that 6 years before I ever started watching DW, I was so into stars and the heavens. Actually, it's not that interesting. I watched Star Wars and Star Trek. And space is beautiful.)

You'll remember my banner from earlier this year. This is from season 3, with David Tennant.

This is the door to my own personal TARDIS, AKA my bathroom. And you'll see why in the next picture.

It's bigger on the inside!! My closet is in the bathroom, making it literally bigger on the inside from the outside. Also, it travels through space! Not even kidding! Every morning I check the weather on my iPhone while drying my hair, and almost every morning my phone says that I am in a different city (none of which are the city in which I live). So, space travel. Still working on the time travel aspect.

There you go! My geekiness for all to see!

And this concludes the series of "Moving Out and Up".

Halloween Costume

Inspiration:

Execution:

This photo was a happy accident. The flash didn't go off as it was supposed to, so my Dad took another photo with the flash. But when I looked back at it, I realized how great it looked! Sort of like an old poster!

Summer Update

This post is just going to be a random collection of things that have been happening to me this summer.

First up: I bought my very first car!

His name is Perry. He's a Honda Accord that I bought off my parents. :)

How is it possible that someone in her mid-twenties never had a car before? Easily answered. I never had the money before. Anyway, I bought Perry about a month ago. It's kind of weird, because I've been driving him around, especially last summer, so it still hasn't hit me that he's really and truly actually mine. (Though the new battery I had to put in him helped a little bit!)

I still ride TRAX to work, so I still get all those adventures! In fact, I learned something this last week. If I leave work 5 minutes early, I get home 20 minutes early. Not bad, right? On Friday, I was on my ride home and someone came and sat down next to him. Just a few minutes later he started leaning over to my side of the seat, then jerked himself back up again. I glanced over and noticed he had fallen asleep. And in the next ten minutes he kept slowly falling over to my side of the seat and then jerking back up. I'm not going to lie: I may have lightly elbowed him a couple of times.

Work is going pretty well, though the last couple of weeks have been a little stressful. We're getting right to the final deadline for one of our volumes, which means that they have asked me to help source check. The first document I source checked took me a week. And it was so frustrating! But last week I was going faster and I really think that I'm understanding where to find sources. Though I do have a doc coming up this week that I'm a little worried about. Guess we'll see! Also, one of my very good friends Melissa left the project and moved all the way across the country with her husband. We started at the project the same day as interns, and before that and sat next to each other in a class at college. The first thing I would do after coming in in the morning was walk over to her cubicle so we could go fill up our water bottles and chat about the latest celebrity news, or a book, or a movie, or a TV show we both liked. Work is going to be a lot different without her there.

A week from tomorrow, Perry and I are going on our first road trip! We're taking the bro with us and going down to CA to hang out with the sis and bro-in-law. I'm so excited to be going on vacation! I've been a bit restless lately, and with the stress at work, I just really need to get away. My last vacation was more than two years ago, so I think I'm a little over due! It's going to be about 30 degrees cooler down there than it is here, which will be super nice. And we're going to see the ocean, and big trees, and fun cities. It's all going to be great. Just cross your fingers that I can make the drive! It will be the longest that I, personally, have ever driven (I've been in the car going to CA before, but never drove), and I'm a little afraid I'll go crazy and bro will have to knock me out so we can get to CA safely!

So, I've come to realize something this summer. Being a grown-up isn't just something that happens. I keep thinking, "When I graduate college, then I'll be a grown up." "I'll be grown up when a get a job." "I'll be grown up when I buy a car, move into my own place, get married, have kids." The thing is, these are all steps of becoming a grown up. Because being a grown up doesn't just come all at once when you reach a specific milestone; you ease into it a little at a time and you learn more with each step. Which I am really grateful for! I can't imagine what it would have been like to have to learn everything at once! Especially not with everything I've had to learn lately!

So, that's just a quick little review of what's been happening with me! I'll be sure to post a few updates and pictures from my trip.

A TARDIS ipod case!

Okay, I am so geeky. But I absolutely love Doctor Who. It's practically an obsession. :) Anyway, last week I was thinking about how I needed to make an iPod case to better take care of my poor ipod (now that it's three years old . . .). But something that was really important to me about the case was that I wanted it to have some sort of pocket or something for me to put my headphones in since I'm really hard on headphones (two pairs in the past year alone) and thought maybe if I had a pocket I wouldn't just wrap them around the 'Pod and hopefully that would make them last longer.

So, I went onto pinterest (which is so dangerous. It's like a blackhole. Which is the reason I don't have one) and looked around at iPod cases. It was so fun to see the things people come up with! I really liked this idea (I'd also seen it done with a teddy bear) with the cute little arms "holding" the headphones. And then I got to thinking about how I have so much blue felt left over from when I made this banner in May. Instantly I thought, "I should make a TARDIS case!" Which I then spoke out loud. And my mother (who is basically a genius) said, "You could make doors that open and close!"

I used this tutorial as a kind of starting place, and then I went off on my own! As you can see in the left corner, I was having some problems with the applique film, as I had never used it before. I also made the mistake of writing "Police Box" on with fabric paint before attaching it to the felt. This meant that when I ironed on the applique film, it kind of melted the paint a little bit. My cutting and sewing isn't perfect, but it just makes it look a bit more cartoony, which is totally fine! I hand sewed the panels on the doors and went around twice, making sure that the stitches were different the second time around. Then I just got out the sewing machine and attached the elastic and sewed up the sides!

I'm actually kind of proud of myself. Maybe I can be crafty . . .

Becoming a Crafty Woman, parts 3.2 and 4

For week three of Michael's "Becoming a Confident Crafter" series, she gave us the homework assignment of making something for ourselves. The week before, Mom and I had picked out a skirt pattern at Hobby Lobby, so I decided to try to make that. Try. :/

I made Simplicity 2226 (it has pockets which every respectable skirt should have. Also, don't let the name fool you--if this was simple, I don't want to try anything else!). When we measured me, it came out to a pattern size 14 for the waist band, and a 12 for the rest of the skirt. Mom thought that seemed wrong but that's what the pattern said, so that's what I cut out. (I had to pin the pattern on twice, because I was looking at the instructions upside down from the way I had my fabric laid out.) 

I never thought of myself as someone who couldn't follow directions very well, but for every step I would read the instructions, look at my pattern, read the instructions, then go ask my mom. Thank heavens I have a resident home ec teacher! Though I did ask her if this was something she had her students do, and she said yes. That made me feel untalented--13 year olds could do what I was struggling with!

By Saturday I had struggled through everything (including putting on the stupid zipper) when I went to try it on. Low and behold, it was much too big. Five inches needed to be taken out. This leads me to believe that my body either defies measurement, or the pattern was wrong, because I ended up being a pattern size 6. 

Mom figured out how to fix it without having to take the whole skirt apart (she took out the zipper and took everything from the back seam). 

I hadn't finished the skirt in the week for the homework assignment, but that was okay because last week's assignment was finish something undone! I did have some freelance work that took up most of my week, and a bobbin lace class that I started, but Saturday I was able to get it done. I kind of cheated on the bottom hem, and my top stitching (which I did so well on the pockets) ended up really horribly on the waist band--mostly because I was trying to keep the fabric from bunching and then I would swerve, and I didn't want to go back. Oh well, worship flaws!

I wore it to church today, here I am:

Because of the way we (and by that I mean, Mom) had to take it in, the front doesn't quite lay the way it's supposed to, but I don't think I did too poorly for my first try. I wish it were my last, but Mom says I've got to make another in order to make buying the pattern worth it. Sewing is not something I find enjoyable--and I think I'm too lazy to do well. :)

New Mommy Survival Kit

I had a friend that just had a baby a couple of weeks ago, and I really wanted to get her something, as well as something for her new baby boy. 

I'm actually a little proud of what I came up with! My noncreativeness took a holiday and I came up with the idea of a "New Mommy Survival Kit," seen here:

Included in this gift is a movie (well, actually it was one of those four in one movie things--found at Target), chocolates, lip balm, lotion, bubble bath, and votive candles. Because even new moms deserve some "me" time every once in a while--even if it's just a ten minute bath! Then I got a basket from Hobby Lobby (which took much too long to find. Why can't they label things there?!) and tied on a ribbon that I already had.

I love giving gifts when I know that the person I'm giving them to is going to love them, and this present did not disappoint! There is no feeling like giving a good gift.

The Great Closet Clean-out 2012

My mom used to have this rule that when we got new clothes we had to get rid of the same amount of old clothes. As I recall, this rule didn't last into high school. Well, about a month ago I was thinking about my closets and what I have in them. Here they are:

And I was thinking about two things. First, that there are a lot of clothes in my closet that I never wear. Second, I was thinking about how in my apartment when I was in school, we had three closets in our bedrooms half the size of one of those in the picture above. With two people to a room, that meant we both got a closet and a half. And there were six drawers, three for each of us. And upon thinking about those two things, the thought came to my mind that it was definitely time to clean out my closet. (Hopefully, I'll eventually clean out my dresser too.) 

I had originally planned to do this last month after my shopping trip with Melissa. But a decision was made that would make a big change in my life, so I decided to wait until this month to do it. And yesterday was the day. I emptied all my clothes from my closet:

 put on Kyle XY on hulu, and got to it. As you can see in the picture above, my clothes are in piles of "types": camis/undershirts, nice shirts, grungy/pj shirts, slacks/skirts/dresses, and outerwear. This is how my closet in organized.

The first thing I did was go through every pile and decide one of three things about each item: keep, get rid of, not sure. I had two sacks for the get rid of decision, depending on whether or not the item was in good condition or not:

After I had made those decisions I went through my "not sure" piles. I tried on every item, and decided whether or not I still liked it, if it fit, or if it was in good enough condition to keep. Those that I decided to throw away, I then wondered if there was anything I could salvage from them. For example, these shirts:

I bought these shirts in high school, so about six years ago. I loved them and took good care of them (hand washing, which is a bummer). But in six years, things get worn. These shirts in particular were stretched out of shape and thinner than they had been before, which was pretty thin. The lace was still in good condition, being heartier stuff than the thin cotton of the rest of the shirt, so I set the shirts aside to pick the lace off of later. You never know when you might want some pretty lace! I also took buttons off shirt that was too worn to be given to DI.

After I went through the "not sure piles," I went through the "keep" piles and made sure that everything still fit, was modest, and was still in conjunction with my personal style. I gave away a few more things from those (one dress sadly because it had accidentally been put in the dryer and shrunk about 1 1/2 inches. 1 1/2 inches that couldn't afford to be shrunk.), then hung everything up in my closets.

Here are the hangers of everything I got rid of:

I even organized my closet by sleeve length and color (It won't last long, but hey, it's like that now!):

I do have a bit more room in my closets now, though I still use both of them. And I probably could get rid of more clothes, but I'm going to wait a little bit and then maybe revisit and get rid of some more. After seeing what I threw away, I was overcome with this urge to go shopping again because I felt like I have no clothes (which isn't true, but I think it was that I saw how little "work" clothes I have. Most of the clothes I do have I don't wear often since I wear a dress/skirt 6 days a week.). I'm trying to hold off on it (because of $$ and the fact that I might not have a job in 2 months), but with the new City Creek center just across the street from where I work, it's going to be hard!