Oh Dear

I feel like I can't focus on a darn thing.

I have so much on my mind! Running has basically come to a hault as the cold that seems to be going around hit me last Friday night. I am still in recovery but might try a little running tomorrow. I played basketball tonight and it winded me quite a bit and my ring finger on my right hand had a head on collision with the basketball so typing without it is kind of interesting.

I only have 84 days until graduation!! So excited I can't stand it. However, there are certain students...correction just one student I think I may end up punching before those 84 days are up. I am sure I have mentioned him in previous blog posts so I will not go into detail. I am so excited about my new project even though I will basically be scrapping all the work I have done thise far and coming up with all new bottles, labels and "company" name. But I have the momentum I need to inorder to get it all done. If only I could get some of that momentum for my other class.

My wedding invites are designed....I think. I keep changing my mind =/ I guess that is the prob with designing your own. Once those are done I think I will be designing my own graduation announcements as well cause paying $65 for 25 just seems a little ridiculous to me. I dunno I haven't decided. I mean I have plenty of other things on my plate. One thing that I just cleared off my plate has been on there since September. Getting pictures I took of my future sis-in-law on a CD and to her. Oops kind of forgot. Sorry Cait! BUT it is done and now I don't have to worry about it. Course... now her hair color has changed so she may not like them I dunno.

Life is good. Only 91 days until I get married. 72 Days until I run a half marathon and 84 days until I graduate. Sigh I can do this. And thanks for reading.

Running and Running.And.Runnninng

Happy 2012!

I've got a lot on my plate this year. I have my last semester of school. One of my teachers has been known to fail seniors in their last semester. I am a little worried but I'm working to pull through. I am also planning my wedding (YAY). I think I am more on top of things than I think I am. I finally found my dress last Saturday, my reception place is booked, the temple is reserved, I have a photographer for all but the day of my actual wedding. I am excited for all of this stuff to happen and be over. These are all kind of alot to take on but I must have thought, hey I don't have enough to do because I agreed to run a half marathon with a friend of mine. You may think, "back out now!" Well I've already registered and paid my money so I am going to do it.

I am in my 5th week or so of training. I am getting to the point where I know I need to get up and run but the idea of running on a treadmill just sucks all energy out of me. Running outside in 20-30 degree weather doesn't really tickle my fancy much either. There is an indoor track that has an oval ice track and some hockey "fields" inside of it. That I can run on for 60-90 minutes and be distracted enough with the hockey games, world speed skating events, or random people ice skating. This week it is closed and it's driving me crazy. So far the longest and farthest I have run is 8.71 miles in 90 minutes. =) pretty proud of that... however I think I may lose a toenail or two =/

Just wanted to give a quick update =0)

A Calendar and a Deck of Cards

I cannot begin to describe the excitement I feel about the semester coming to an end. I have one class I am worried about. I need a B- in it so that I am okay to graduate in the spring. I just want to get to the point where I find out if I pass or not. I still have 3 weeks of pure crammed craziness so I thought I would write just in case I don't survive.

In my final weeks I am working on calendar. I am pretty excited about it! It has been a bit of a challenge thus far. I was hoping to do a poster size, year-in-a-glance calendar like I did last fall. My teacher suggested a different direction and I am going with that. This way if my grandma ends up asking me for help getting a family calendar together again then I will have this one ready. Granted it won't be full of pictures of when my mom and her siblings were younger, in their "awkward" stages, etc. No family pictures are in this one. We'll see if grandma goes for it.

I also started creating a deck of cards for another project pitch in another class. Even though my project didn't get picked I think I will finish creating the rest of the deck and get it printed for myself. I am excited but I'll definitely have to search for the time to complete it. Maybe next year I'll have it done. Below are some aces that I have done. If you are on my facebook you can see more.

A-Z

Stole this from my cousin. Seemed like a good way to avoid my homework for a little while longer.

The A-Z's of me:

A. Age: 24

B. Bed size: Queen. Yea that big for just me. I take up alot of space when I sleep... or maybe it's all my pillows that hog the space shrug.

C. Chore you dislike: Who likes doing chores is the real question here. Okay okay what I really dislike is cleaning the shower/tub. I don't mind cleaning the rest of the bathroom for some reason the shower/tub is just not my thing. Oh and vaccumning the stairs.

D. Dogs: I love them. Wish that I had one here with me all the time but I'm under strict rules of no pets that shed or poop.

E. Essential start to your day: I don't think there is one thing that I have everyday. I like to switch up my breakfast. Bagels, cereal, toast, but if I have time pancakes, waffles, or french toast. LOVE French toast.

F. Favorite color: Blue.

G. Gold or silver: I don't really wear jewelry but I like silver looking jewelry.

H. Height: 5' 7" or 6 "

I. Ice cream flavor: Oh gosh! I love ice cream. I love Ben & Jerry's! Generally it's either peppermint, cookie dough, or mint chocolate chip. As For Ben & Jerry's I can't even pick a favorite lol

J. Job title: Customer Service Rep. Soon enough I am hoping that I will be an official graphic designer

K. Kids: Someday but not right now.

L. Live: Utah. Born and raised but who knows where I will end up.

M. Movie: This is as difficult as picking ice cream. Currently it is A-Team and Despicable Me

N. Nicknames: Anna Banana or Anns Banans

O. Overnight hospital stays: Probably when I was a baby and that is all

P. Pet peeves: Sadly there are many. But when asked I can never really think about them. People that drive 5-10 miles below the speed limit for no obvious reason (an obvious reason would be weather conditions, a stop light/sign). When people are flakey cause don't like plans to be up in the air. I like to know what I'm doing, where I'm going and who is coming.

Q. Quote from a movie: "I wanna get chocolate wasted!!" - Grownups

R. Right or left-handed: Righty

S. Siblings: 2 older siblings. A sister (36) and brother (31)

T. Time you wake up: Depends on the day usually anywhere from 0630 - 0830

U. University: Univeristy of Utah is where I go to school and Brigham Young University is who I cheer for.

V. Vegetables you don’t like: Where do I begin....lol jk. I'll eat whatever but I really really really REALLY don't like peas or lima beans.

W. What makes you run late: I get distracted easily

X. X-rays you’ve had: Mouth, right wrist, right pinky, right foot, left foot, and if ultrasounds count then I've had one of those too.

Y. Yummy food you make: I make lots of food and about 50% of it is good. Trev and his sister really like my chicken noodle soup, which never really turns out the same cause I basically make it up each time.

Z. Zodiac: Virgo usually but some things say Leo... I guess I'm a confused individual lol

Motivation, where art thou?

I've be struggling with motivation and grand ideas. I have a catalog that I need to make for one of my classes. We get to design it (all 16 pages) and we have to take all of the photographs for it by ourselves. It has been overwhelming and frustrating so far. My catalog/magazine (whatever) is going to be about making your own clothes thus showing some of the things that I have made. I thought it was going to be great and fairly simple to get photos cause all my clothes just fit me and I can set it up how I want and have someone snap the button. WELL... not so much. The professor made rules that you can't be in all your pictures and she discouraged having someone else take the photos because it needs to be us taking the photos but she did give in a little that if we get everything set up and just have someone hit the button then she'll be okay with it.

So far my ideas have been poo-pooed by my teacher and things pointed out about my type choices. I am at the point where I don't know where to go from here. On top of it all I have had a hard time finding time to take pictures with people that would actually fit in my stuff AND there is still daylight outside. It's been stressful. Stressful enough to the point that I have lost a lot of sleep this week and even when I do sleep by the time I wake up it doesn't feel like I have slept a wink. Blah. School, I love it but i hate it all at once.

On a brighter note, the sewing machine that my boss gave away because it didn't work? Yea not so broken after all. I mean it doesn't work but I took it to a repair guy today and he told me that one of the adjustment screws inside fell out completely and that was the only problem. He is servicing it and I'll have it back Monday. I'm pretty stoked that it will be in working condition for only the cost of servicing it. Good deal.

I am really hoping that once I get some photos taken tonight, hoping that the forecasted rain doesn't get in the way too much, will help spark a direction for my assignment. Other than that I think I am on my way to burning out due to insufficient sleep.
Anyway, here are some pics from the my non model photo shoot.

Day Two & Three

I survived day two of school! Yay!

I am alittle nervous about my digital process class. The teacher basically opened class with, "I am the hardest grader in this program." Oh good.... And of course I was 10 minutes late because my trax train got held up by another trax train that wasn't working or was stalling or something. They don't actually tell you what is happening but that was one patrons commentary on the situation.

Day three isn't over yet BUT I have had some interesting things I feel like commenting on thus far anyway.
1) This lady on the trax train saw another lady in a neck brace and then proceeded to tell her all of these horrible stories. I was trying to pay attention to the book I was reading but I kept getting distracted. First she started off with the story about her mom breaking or hurting her neck. Back to my book. Distracted by some one's head hitting the ground and blood gushing out their nose. Back to my book. Caught word of some one's thumb being severed from their body and the long trip to the hospital and how it got reattached and still works. Also the lady said some time later she almost severed her thumb from her hand. Apparently thumb severing is genetic? But really just cause someone is wearing a neck brace doesn't mean they want to hear all the horror E.R. stories of your whole family tree. Back to my book. Thank goodness story lady got off.

2) Walking from the train to class I see one of those parking ticket hander outers (parking police/Nazis) writing tickets for 3 motorcycles parked in the same parking spot. If it is illegal I mean I get it but seriously think about the smartness of it. There are  hardly any parking spots in some lots. Students loop around for many many laps around the parking lot and even stalk walking students til the reach their car. Personally I say you go motorcyclist that are saving parking spaces. I am sorry that you are getting a parking ticket for saving space with your small modes of transportation.

I find my life is more exciting when I am school. I guess it is just the fact that I am getting out and I have more random people and things I see that I can comment on. Happy Reading =)

It wouldn't be, without...

The first day of school!

I'll admit I was excited for it. I love school because I love learning. Sometimes I lose sight of that portion when I have racked my brain for every possible idea I think is in there (aka a designer's block). However, I usually find my way out of such predicaments and make it through to the end of the project. Not to mention today was the first day of my last year of school for life (unless I decide to go back but that isn't in the cards right now)! Sweet sweet bittersweet day. Of course what would the first day of school be without an awkward moment and some good news.

Good news. The Trax system has been improved. I can ride all the way from the station I get on to the station I get off at school. No switching trains in slightly scary part of downtown Utah. I guess it wasn't so bad during the day it was the waiting there for the sandy train to come after my class got out around 9 PM that I had the problem with. BUT it is a problem no longer. Now the trip from home to school, via trax, almost takes the same amount of time as it took me to drive there, find a parking spot and walk to class. Yay for the person that decided to make this change.

Awkward moment. After skipping from the train to the library, where my class is (okay okay I didn't really skip but just pretend I did). I walked up to the classroom with the correct number and went right in.... looked up realized I knew no one in the class including the teacher. Ooops! Apparently there is a class in that room before mine. They all looked at me like, "How dare you disturb our little circle of chairs!" I could imagine the teacher having a voice like the cave in Aladdin, "Who dare to disturb my slumber!" Yea. backed out almost as quickly as I had entered and found a fellow design student and friend.

Class. Excited to have a teacher that I haven't had except for one day when she subbed for my teacher last semester. She handed us a sheet of paper talking about our first assignment and the wave of being overwhelmed hit, as it usually does. Once she started explaining it in more detail then I got excited in addition to the overwhelmed feeling. I definitely forgot about that feeling over the summer. BUT here we go onto a new semester! C=