"Come, we'll look at swatches"

If you can get that movie quote you will win...something. Something great I promise. I'll give you a very vague, probably misleading hint: "Think Cary Grant.."

Speaking of swatches...I love color! My friend MDK made this for me. He let me go to town so I picked out all the colors I loved most {he had his work cut out to narrow it down to this many!}

I wanted to share a couple more photos from Edmonds. I forget between trips to the great North West just how much I appreciate the abundance of vegetation there. It is therapy for my dried out desert eyeballs.

My grandparents live on a hill, there house is set back in off the road and they have always had fun squirrels and birds in the yard who have become pretty demanding over the years. If the blue jays don't get their fair fix of peanuts they come to the back door and tap on the glass until they get fed. Then they pick them up one at a time and shake them, weighing them to see which one is best. The squirrels take whatever is there and bury it in the yard soon forgetting where they left it. You can imagine the endless hours of fun I had at their house with all the animals in the yard, and crabs just waiting to be caught at the beach down the road.

My grandpa likes to remind me every year that the trees used to be shorter than me when we planted them. I like to remind him that he used to be taller than me too.

Emerald City

Memorial Day Weekend could not have gotten any better for me. I wouldn't change one minute of it. The weather was beyond perfect, the company was fantastic and I have another adventure under my belt.
My friend David in Bellvue, WA wrote me a couple of weeks ago and said if I was interested he would fly me out for the weekend so I could go to a concert with him and also spend some time with my family. Not a momens hesitation!
I flew out of St. George (a first for me and now I'm spoiled) friday afternoon and met David (also for the first time) at SeaTac. My bag didn't make the flight so we hung out near the airport and saw Pirates 3 and had dinner at a fun Thai place. Have I mentioned yet how much I LOVE curry? Well, I do.

Saturday we went to Green Lake, a huge park with a lake and paved trail that is about five miles long running along the shore. My dad liked to take us there growing up when we went to Seattle for our yearly visits. He grew up right up the street from the lake. We had lunch outside at a fun Mexican grill. Afterwards we rented bikes and rode around the lake a couple of times chatting and watching all the dogs and people. We bummed around the rest of the afternoon, he treated me to my very first pedicure ever (AWESOME!) then we got ready for the John Legend concert and went into Seattle for dinner. I have a new favorite restaurant called Todai. It is an all you can eat Asian restaurant. Lots of fresh sushi, fruit, crab legs, salad and best of all, KIMCHI! I was in heaven!
We walked a couple of blocks to The Paramount for the show and it is now my favorite concert in the history of me. I had such a good time. John Legend is so incredibly talented.After the concert we drove across town to the Queen Anne area to a popular park overlooking the city. The view was really great because it feels like you are right on top of the buildings downtown. I tried taking pictures but none of them come close to showing how vibrant the cityscape looked. He pointed out a beach area called Alki in the distance and told me about how great it was there with sandy beaches and fun shops. It was pretty funny because I made the comment 'good view' or something like that and he thought I said 'good for you' and then there was a couple of moments where I was trying to figure out why he was looking at me weird and he was trying to figure out why I had such a bad attitude about some beach. We had a lot of fun teasing each other so this was just another thing to laugh about.

The highlight of my trip was Sunday morning when I drove up to Edmonds (in the beautiful rain) and spent the afternoon with my grandparents. I didn't tell them I was coming so it was a lot of fun to get such great reactions from everyone. My Aunt Bonnie was there visiting for the weekend and I caught her and Grandma before they left for 'the sales' so I tagged along since thrift store shopping is so grandma's element.
When we got back I sat on the floor by grandpa's chair and held his hand. We talked and laughed and made some more memories, something he says he is so grateful for.
Sunday night when I got back from hanging out with the family we went to David's parents house and played some pool and Cranium. True or False: The Canary Islands are named for the bird who migrates there every year.
He said false and asked what I thought. I said false also, since I had never seen a flock of canaries before. Such profound wisdom given with such seriousness had them rolling.

Today we went to Alki Beach, the place David had pointed out saturday night. We walked the boardwalk along the beach and had lunch from a deli while we watched some guys play volleyball. We still had some time to kill before he took me to the airport so we walked around more checking out garage sales and open houses.

The pace of the weekend was incredibly mellow and kicked back. It was one of those vacations that can be filed in the perfect category for the right amount of adventure, relaxation, conversation, destination etc etc etc. I don't think I can thank David enough for the opportunity to see my family either. (and no, he doesn't know about this site so I'm not just saying any of this to flatter him)

I love Jack Sparrow

After work I decided I to stop by a radio live remote to enter for VIP passes to the new Pirates movie. I was feeling seriously lucky and couldn't pass it up. As I was pulling into the parking lot the radio guy said the next person who came up to him and said Aye Matey to him would win a $250 gift certificate. I thought for sure someone else would have said it by the time I got there but he said hi to me as I walked up and so I asked him if anyone had said Aye Matey yet. He said no, and handed me the gift certificate. DANG IT! I didn't want carpet! I wanted tickets to the show. Blast, I used my luck on stupid carpet. I got over my disappointment momentarily when the carpet people told me I could use my winnings on an area rug until I noticed in the fine print that my good fortune was only good if I spent upwards of $700. Don't you just hate that? I do! I always win weird stuff, never the good stuff. Well once I won sushi so I can't honestly say never. But besides that one time, the only other thing I can ever remember winning was a ton of compost. Yeah, who else wins a truckload of poop?
So I decided to at least go outside and get my photo with the pirates. Johnny Depp is pretty much one of my all time favorites so if I squinted real hard, {OK honestly closed my eyes and pretend real hard} this stand in Jack Sparrow was almost as cute as the real deal.

jmr = color junkie

what do you think of these icons? I have my favorite but I just wanted to get some feedback and see if you pick the same one I did. Any suggestions would also be appreciated.

My friend, who is kind enough to design a business card for me, sent me these. I'm having fun picking out colors and learning all sorts of cool random things about the world of graphic design. I have a thing for color swatches so I got a little carried away on the websites he sent links to because I can play with colors all day long there. Wanna see? OK. http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html

Beside my collection of paint deck books that ride around with me in my car I have a stack at least 3" deep of RL color swatches I flip through randomly for fun or to be inspired. I think I want to start a collection of favs and keep them in a candy dish or something. I went as far as to spend better part of an afternoon obsessively moving about 80 of them around on a board creating my own color wheel (or square?) which now has a permanent spot at my desk at work where I can look at it and dream about walls I'd like to paint great colors like Mombasa mist or Mai tai red. I've mentioned before grey is the new black? I love it.

So now that MDK has introduced me to websites devoted to color swatches I can tell I'll have a hard time limiting myself to just a couple favorites.

Up North

Another great weekend in the Land Bountiful. If I keep it up with the weekly trip to the home town I would start taking myself seriously about moving back. I usually have temptations like that after a fun visit but after a couple days back in my desert the feeling fades.
Friday night I went to my friend Tony's grad school final gallery exhibit at the Y. He is super talented. I had fun hanging around chatting and afterwards a bunch of people went to dinner. Then Tony, his cousin Bry, and I went to their friend Ryan's (of Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band) house and we played darts into the wee hours of the morning.
I dropped by my friend Seth's house afterwards to see what they were up to since I knew they were planning on being up late. Video games and the usual hilarity is what I found. We created disgusting combinations of jelly bellies for each other, my personal worst: A mouth full of popcorn flavored nastiness. Banana being my least favorite by a hair could have been the only way to top this disgusting treat.
After a few hours of sleep I went and hung out with Michele at the Rugby Finals to sell TShirts. She is one super dedicated Rugby Mom. When I got there she only had 8 more shirts to go to break even and by the end of the day, hours later, she had sold those 8 plus a bunch more with all the proceeds going towards new socks for the team.
I squeezed in as much time as I could with my friends this weekend. The guys and I went shopping and goofed off most of the day until we met up at Ben's house and {I'm still looking for a camera} Shanlee was a dear and took out my stitches on my back for me.
{YES! I took the stitches on my stomach out all by myself before I left for Bountiful on Friday.}
I have found another favorite sport. Wii tennis. I've always loved the game in real life but I hate the lapse in the game chasing the ball. With the Wii I didn't have to get off the couch and I had super human powers with mad back hand skeeels.
Grandmas house has been acting as something of an elixir these last couple of weekends. I have loved staying in the basement room and listening to the creaks in the floors in the nite when grandma goes wondering. I have also really loved going to Grandmas ward with her, they are a spiritual bunch. We had a nice day today even with the Jazz losing. We watched the Work and the Glory 3 (well, ok, I slept thru most of it) and had a nice long chat in the sunny kitchen nook while I ate yummy chocolate ice cream. I felt perfectly content chatting with gma and watching the shadows move on the lace curtains, smelling that smell that is perfectly summer. We were talking about Grandmas favorite memories when she said something really sweet about Grandpa, "My life wouldn't have been complete with out him."
My drive home was pretty great too. Late afternoon is a great time to drive down south. My throat is scratchy now from singing along the whole way home to whatever music I had on. I listened to some awesome conference talks as well.
Way to wrap up another great weekend.
I wish I had pictures to go along with all of this, so much of my favorite parts of the weekend were visual. Another reason to get a new camera huh?
I'm already leaving so much out about this weekend!

Intimidation on the green

I've been going out after dark to ride or run since it most definitely is summer now and I haven't gotten used to living on the surface of the sun yet again.
I like riding on the golf course after dark because it adds an element of suspense to my exercise. I have to dodge the sprinklers, stay on the trail, (I'm not rude, I would never dream of making dents in the grass) and try to be as quiet as possible because I don't know how anyone else feels about bikes on the paths there. Better to ask forgiveness in this situation I believe so I rather sneak along and enjoy myself until I'm told otherwise.
So I'm flying along at crazy girl speeds when I come around a corner and see a huge swan on the green. I stop to watch him when I realize he is quickly moving towards me in the dark. Not running exactly, but he is moving at a surprising speed and something about his stance has glued me my spot. His neck is arched down, wings are up at angry angels and I realize he is charging me.
I know swans are mean as mean can be so I am ready to flee should I have to but I had a false sense of security because there is a thin rope about a foot high acting as a cage to the wild beast that has taken offense to me being on his green disturbing his swim with the pretty geese.
We had a stare down and I guess I proved to be a worthy opponent because he spent a couple of minutes working on getting his wings put back in place then we regarded each other a few moments more before I was off on my merry way and he back to the water for a swim.

Vicky asked about the stitches. Goooodness. My back was ACHING when I woke up this morning and I found out why once I moved. My stitches had gotten attached to my shirt and every time I moved it was pulling on them in every direction it seemed. I tried not to panic but failed miserably. I felt trapped and I'm sure I was making things worse with my unclear thoughts of ways to get out of this mess. I don't know if it was because I was panicking or what, but I thought I was going to pass out or lose my cookies so I sat on the bathroom floor trying to calm down and devise a plan. Nothing worked and I was cramped for time so I ended up cutting my way free. This all seems funny now, and I knew it was then too, but when I saw my eyes in the mirror as I tried to cut my way out of my mess I looked completely freaked out of my mind! Am I proving to be as big of a pansy as I said I was? I think so!

AWESOME

I had an awesome weekend. The holiday could only have gotten better if I could have given my mom a huge hug. I did get to talk to her and tell her I love her so that will have to do this time. I had her on my mind the whole day, along with my dad. With the aid of some really great talks and lessons and maybe some out of whack emotions I fought back happy/sad tears a bunch of random times though out the day. What is it about me and holidays that make me weepy? I just kept feeling overwhelmingly grateful to be a part of this great family. And to clarify for you all, you are included when I say family. Last time I dished on my fam your comments led me to believe you weren't including yourselves in this group.
We had a big party at grandmas sunday afternoon celebrating mothers day as well as Jamie's, Casey's and Grandpa's birthdays. My favorite comment about the dinner comes from Cade when Coree's friend Cody asked him how the ham was: "Porky." Dinner was, as always, fantastic. Doug even bbq'd a gigantic fish he had caught a few days ago. Of course with the all the Smith Boys and a couple friends provided my Coree and I we had some really great after dinner entertainment when all the big boys were playing with some of Caseys birthday presents. I think his wiffle ball is lopsided now after a lively game of Fly 10, or 1 or whatever it is called.
Being secluded down here in the desert makes my time with my family so much more sweet when I do get to spend time with you all. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!
Along with family I also got together with a bunch of my old friends from Bountiful for a bbq. Something I have been wanting to do for forever and Seth and Mike made it happen. I am so impressed. I haven't hung out with some of these guys for years, I can't say enough good things about this group of people. I wish I could see them more but that is the awesome thing about good friends. It can be years in between and it feels like yesterday when we can finally get together.
I feel like my life is so full of people like this. I don't know what I do to deserve to be graced by such high caliber character in my life. I catch myself at especially idyllic times kinda pulling back from a moment and looking at it and thinking 'Is this really how great my life is?'
And it only seems to be getting better.
So when Rowdy asked me today as I struggled to get back in the grind how my weekend was, what else could I say but AWESOME!

my very own stitches

Yesterday was a turning point in my life. I had a doctors appointment to have a couple of moles looked at that I thought looked guilty of being up to no good. I made this appointment awhile back so I've had time to syke myself up for the undertaking of disposing of said moles in a mature manner.
He declared them 'most likely just fine' and left it up to me whether, just to ere on the side of caution, to have them taken away to wherever discarded moles go. Good thing for all that gearing up to be a mature adult; I chose to be daring and let him do his thing.
Maybe this seems small in comparison to what you have taken on in your life. I know I'm a wimp. But making the decision to get multiple shots and having a procedure involving words like cut, shave, pluck and suture is a big deal when you consider I am the same girl who was once willing to let a large piece of wood stay forever lodged in my shin. At the time I was sure it would go away if I just ignored it. There are incriminating tapes of this tear filled screaming fiasco. I should take advantage of being alone in my parents home to find those tapes and destroy the evidence!
I am the proud new owner of a bunch of new stitches? How many? I know it's the cool thing to have a count so as to gauge the coolness of the cut. I would tell you if I could look at them long enough to count them! I was lucky enough to change the bandages without passing out.
I'll be out of town when I'm supposed to get them out, I'm now working up the courage to do it myself.
Having such a gutsy nurse mom makes you wonder where I came from huh? What a sissy.

early am mush

When will I learn not to take Excedrin in the evenings? Never I guess, since I did and now I'm up and the clock says 2:30 and I don't want to believe it.

I just finished the movie Spanglish. It is for sure a movie weekend, I've been flying though them like you wouldn't believe.

I don't know how to tell you what I got out of the last little bit of that movie tonight. I tried just now, and a couple of paragraphs later I was scratching my head wondering what I was trying to say so I'll spare you the details and just tell you that the daughter in the end says in an admissions essay for Harvard that she is not defined by the possible acceptance into their school, but by the person she is because of her mother.

I could say the same thing for my parents. MY FAMILY ROCKS!! I love you all.

Spidey

Spiderman 3 rocked! But I am an easy to please critic, so don't take my word for it. I could have done with out all the cussing since half the audience were kids.

After seeing the second one with Ben and family I remember leaving the theater and talking about how the 3rd one wouldn't be coming out until Summer 2007 and it seemed like too long to wait! And here it is already.

I went to my friend Tera's wedding yesterday and shivered through the ceremony with everyone else trying to hear the Bishop over the wind. Crazy May weather! She was worried about it being too hot so being too cold wasn't even in the plans. Her wedding was the 6th one out of my friends this year and there are 2 more coming up before the end of July, is anyone else experiencing a crazy wedding season like this?

What do you think of the Sushicat cat? My weird name inspired some creativity for a friend who asked yesterday if he could create a sushicat and this is what was in my inbox today. Kind of like Hello Kitty's crazy chef uncle or something? I think he is working on a girl version too.

And I guess that is about it from the southern utah correspondent... I am off to pawn off extra cornbread on the neighbors. When I made it I thought 20 cupcakes sounded reasonable until I remembered I had to eat them all!

'The Wizard' is on Bravo!!

My mom will especially appreciate this story, and maybe some friends in Bountiful cuz it is a blast from the past for sure!! MDK, you'll remember my 'london' haircut right? I think that's what you guys called it?

I was hanging out with Laurie after a windy bike ride tonight eating dinner and watching TV when she flips it to her favorite channel Bravo to see if 'Work Out' is on. Shear Genius is on instead, another favorite of hers so we are watching this reality show about hair 'designers' when a familiar face appears. At first I thought it couldn't be him, he has a salon to run. But as I watch he just looks too much like himself not to be Tyson. The guy that chopped my hair off in high school and ended my modeling career! OK, a very melodramatic way of putting it, but it's my blog.

Laurie knew the story already so when I told her the little guy we were watching was the same guy she wouldn't believe me until his name was on the screen with SLC as his hometown.

So the story: One day I had long blond hair and on a fluke while I was working at the ski shop one night I decided to dye it dark brown myself when I got home. Of course it turned green and I freaked out crying like any girl would do. My mom took me to a salon to get it fixed the next day. It was now an ugly over processed brown but livable. A few days go by and Sunday I got a call from a guy named Tyson who I'd met at a Go See at the agency the week before and he said he'd gotten permission with my agent to use me in a hair show the following day. I know I'm not supposed to work directly with clients so this seems fishy but I go along with it because I'm young and gullible. I explained what I've done to my hair so he wanted to see me that night to do a pre color. I took my buddy Seth with me to his condo and he stayed there playing video games with some guy while Tyson and I went to his salon. It's already way late and by the time he is finished fixing my color and chopping a good 6" off of my hair it's probably 3 in the morning.

The next day for a Bed Head hair show he chopped my hair off even more so that it's now a long pixie-ish type thing that I know I can't possibly style on my own but what the heck right, it'll just grow back, no big deal.

Wrong. I went to my next Go See a couple of days later with a big time client from Tokyo and what do you know, she had picked my comp card in advance and as I talked to her she compared me with the me in my photos and realized I look nothing like them anymore. She called in an agent and everyone started asking a hundred questions about who authorized the change. Every one was pretty upset and you can guess that I didn't get to go to Japan.

Thank you Tyson. He did teach me a valuable lesson about tipping and I did do a few more hair shows for him. His buddy even took some fun (but not so great) head shots for me once.

So maybe I can't honestly say he killed my career before I ever had the chance to have one?

I was way too shy and never really into the whole modeling thing then anyway so it wasn't really his fault but 'what if' he hadn't lied to me that night and I had gone to that Go See with long blond hair like they like it in Asia. Who knows what could have happened. Ben would probably have that boat I promised him all those years ago!

I'm going to have to follow that show now to see if he gets eliminated. It's on right now actually!