two posts in one day..

...has to make you wonder what I could possibly have to say that is so important.

And then the second question is probably why do I show you a picture of a dirty tire in the snow? {anticipate my friends}

Let me set the scene up for you a little:

After class tonight I drove home in a headache induced fog. {talking about Form for 3 hours will do that to anyone} I was almost home, just about to turn into the circle and then into our driveway, usually one swift motion for me. Autopilot at this point. For those of you who haven't been to our house, we live on a steep hill. Steep enough that when it snows I can't get home unless the road has been plowed recently.

I hesitated at this point. There was a car coming towards me from the opposite direction and slightly behind the car I saw what I thought was a bike crossing the road towards me at extreme speed. I couldn't see clearly because of the oncoming headlights mixed with headache so I came to a complete stop in the road letting the biker have first dibs on the space he wanted to occupy so I wouldn't hit him.

I lost him in the shadows for a second. Then not even a foot away from my front left bumper THAT TIRE bounced off the pavement and soared over my car!!!

Totally stunned....what the.....did I just....oh my heck! Not a bike!! A full grown TIRE! It was straight out of the crash sequence in a movie, miscellaneous crap flying around. I could fully enjoy the moment {replay in my head a couple of times to get the full affect} because I wasn't realizing it was a loose tire after it had pounded in my car.

I drove up the road with the intent to find wild hoodlums but because of my slow response I knew it was probably a lost cause. {and what would I do if I found them? 'Hey man, cool experiment, but could you maybe not endanger those around you with your antics next time?' I'm just not the confrontational type...unless provoked. Not too provoked at this point since my car was still intact.}

A couple getting into their car one house up the street actually saw the whole thing happen. They said they saw the tire come flying out of the dark and thought for sure it'd hit me.

Of course I had to go find the tire {three houses down} and take it's picture.

All in a days work.

midweek random banter

after my class this morning I heard these guys before I actually saw them. They were laughing and joking and splashing water all over the brick path below.

It'd be fun to be a window washer for a day.

It's wednesday here {and there, unless you're my folks and then it's thursday}, my favorite class is tonight. Two more days until the weekend.

I had cereal for the first time in a month this morning. It was wonderful and glorious and I could have eaten it all day long.

The Police are coming this summer and we're going to be there. Sweet.

Planning summer things makes it difficult to concentrate on the here and now. In my head I'm already camping, wearing flip flops, and laying on the grass, eating {insert here a plethora of summer-ish snacks}

I have a serious case of spring fever. Yes, the obvious game. Just pointing it out in case you haven't caught on from the last few posts.

let me leave you with a parting thought {we have a manufacturer who does this at the end of conference calls}

"Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your
Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy
of what you shall at last unveil.
The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak
sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg; and in the highest vision of the
soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities." - As A Man Thinketh

lost and found

a rainy sunday has me convinced spring is just around the corner. I'm not saying it's not going to get worse before it gets better, but I can almost say I've survived the impossible with all ten fingers and toes.

Each time I had the urge to move North, winter stood as a glaringly obvious nemesis. The one dark, wet, nasty thing I could not convince myself was bearable. But I'm noticing small hopeful clues that it is almost over. Those flowers {possibly daffodils?} that are the first souls daring enough to attempt to broach the subject of a new season. I saw some on saturday and wanted to hug them. Thank you daffodils.

Camel and I went to a fireside tonight. I felt like taking studious notes. The subject? The differences between men and women. A vast subject I'm sure. I won't get into it, but consider myself enlightened.

Things I loved about this week:

• raises {oh yeah baby!}
• almonds, peanuts and raisins
• missing jewelry found. The second ring I'd lost in two weeks. This one meant more to me {thailand/ben/kwona} It made me sick when I realized it was gone.
• excel - remember the horrible way that class began? not so bad after all.
• Jacob {no. not the werewolf, Nephi's little bro, he's a stud}
• sushi and chillin with bry
• Grandma. I've been making a habit of going to grandma's house after my wednesday night class. She is fun to chat with, she feeds me and this week I noticed this little gem in her DI box. But why? Because no one will wear it she says. Wanna bet Grandma?

the name game {yeeeah}

midterms are behind me at last. Last night rocked and the one this morning was a blast. The questions would go something like this:

Leron Gytiss moved to the avenues recently, he loves the color violet, hates his 12' ceilings, the room faces west. He has beautiful antique furniture and hardwood floors. He is 32, single and loves to entertain. What color scheme would you create for him? How would you approach his concerns about the ceilings, how would you make the furniture work with his more modern sense of style and name the color scheme and sell it to him.

Naming color schemes is totally fun. It can be anything you want it to be. It just has to sell your client on your ideas. It gives the room a mood and helps them understand the room you are visualizing and creating for them. Soho Loft, Cabin Fever, Retro Funk...

Want to give it a try? These are mood pictures I've found to use on a project for that class. And I'm completely stumped. Zen is overused but I'm looking for something like that. Something along the lines of calming, oasis, inviting. Online thesaurus isn't helping much.

Wish me luck. It's high noon and time for my performance review at work {and hopefully a raise.} They've put me off for a month, should I ask for back pay on that?

gestalt theory

gestalt theory -the minds ability to organize chaos.

I'm going to give you a little design 101 because I'll kill two birds with one stone. I'll have something new and interesting up on my site (if you consider this interesting)
And if I can tell you about it in a way you'll understand then I'll ace my midterm tonight. Yes. I'm pretending that blogging can pass as studying.

{feel free to just look at the pretty pictures if you know this will bore you to tears}

There are 6 basic principles in design. Not rules but merely guidelines {one more reason why I love design, it's subjective and limitless}

Harmony unifies a design, tying everything together, it is all about unifying the relationships between the other principles and elements involved.

Variety brings interest and vitality to the room, created by using different textures, colors, patterns, etc. Two ways to use variety are contrast and elaboration. Elaborate the details, contrast in colors and texture create visual excitement.

Balance is distributing visual weight in the design. There are three different types of balance:

Symmetrical - easy to identify with mirrored images and the focal point at the center of two equal parts.
Asymmetrical is created by equal points of interest that aren't identical. Radial balance radiates from the central point.

Rhythm is the beat of the design. Created by repitition and lends to the harmony of the room. It also sets the emotion of the room.

Proportion is relating one object to another object to the whole. Are you still reading? Did you catch that? Let me give you the equation to clear things up (a + b is to a as a is to b) Got it? Good. :) Not everything about design is color and textiles. The best proportions are found in nature. The Greeks were obsessed.

Dominance places significance to the different parts of the room. Emphatic, dominance, subdominance, subordinate.

And there you have it. Sorry if you are now in a coma. I included pictures to at least give you something to look at if you didn't want to read.

a few of my favorite things

things I loved this week: {random order}

sugar cookies and conversation hearts

snow days at school and cancelled IT class for valentines day

game night with jackie and jeff

surprise flowers of my very own {my room resembles a flower shop}

dinner cooked by super cool, good looking guy

shooting guns

rummycube blowout {it's a tie now, but not for long}

minimal homework and easy midterms to look forward to this week

long distance phone calls ~ love u mom, dad, ben

sunshine and long walks

my friend cupid

Has it already been a year of blogging for me? I went back to the beginning to steal this image from last years post and couldn't believe how quickly this year has flown by. What should we do to celebrate a year+ of blogging? I don't know either..If you remember from last year I have a thing for Valentines Day. I can't help it. I don't know where it comes from and it'd be like trying to hate meg ryan movies or stop eating candy to kill my love for the day.

{craving sugar cookies with pink frosting and red sprinkles} Saturday Bry {formally known as RC1} and I were getting ready to leave his place and I was sniffing at his pretty roses {yeah, this guy has flowers at his house, cool right?} He had a brilliant idea to share them with me since he'd be in sunny california for a few days and wouldn't be able to enjoy them. YEA!

I know this might sound rediculous, and I don't know if he believed me when I told him this either, but sharing flowers with me is almost better than getting them on purpose. Why? Just because.

AND, you might think it was pure madness and I probably committed all kinds of violations in the world of flowers by cutting down long stem roses to fit in my little glass vase, but I did it and love it anyway.

First thing I see in the morning, last thing I see at night. {thank you bry} I had no idea I was such a sucker for flowers.

PS anyone else having a problem with spell check? It's been a week since I've been able to use it, and you are probably all suffering. apologies.

wallpaper

my color theory class is getting more fun by the minute. We just finished up talking about how to make colors. The assignment above was to demonstrate if we got it that colors are harder to mix than realized (obviously I got the point since my red isen't even close) and now we're moving on to more exciting things like creating professional color boards and designing rooms with mechanical color schemes. Have I mentioned in the last five minutes how much I love school?

a sunday poem

Prophetic Passing

I imagine he's running to Marjorie now,

Yes, running, not waving his cane.

I see him embracing his father and mother

While they keep repeating his name.

I see him now meeting his forebears,

Brother Brigham and Joseph are there.

Sweet reunion of prophets, united by service

That only such noble men share.

I see him embraced by the Savior

While Father says, "Good and well done.

So faithful in stalwart endurance, I welcome

"My noble, most excellent son."

I then hear the ripples of laughter

As he says the reception's just fine,

But he hopes that he'll get an assignment or two

Since there's no need to waste any time.

I can hear his clear voice in the stillness

At the close of this sweet Sabbath day,

Have faith and move forward — there's work to be done.

President Hinckley would want it that way.

Anna M. Molgard

January 27, 2008

(thanks Kim for posting this, had to share!)

feed the birds

Do you guys know me well enough to know that it was a completely normal event in the life of Lofey to find myself Friday night in the ambulance bay at the VA Hospital taking pictures of pigeons?
Well, if this does come as a surprise, you must not know me as well as you thought.

When one of our installers - I'll call him Alex - (because that's his name) isn't out traveling for us, he is some kind of animal control guy. He traps or relocates skunks and other "pesky" (his word, not mine) animals when they take up residence where they are unwanted.

Such is the fate of these dirty birds. They are messing up the ambulances so he's been called in to do his thing.

That is where I came in. I took some measurements for him so he could order spikes for the ibeams. Shot a couple pics to go along with them just in case, and I was on my merry way $20 richer.

It brought back memories of the golf course when I was the resident relocater of unwanted creatures. I've caught bats, horny toads, lizards big and small, spiders, and even a few mice in my day. I'd get a call over the radio 'the restaurant wants you to come inside, there's something in there making people scream.' Those were the days...

Ash Wednesday

I really want to cook, and then eat, something with this in it. (it's rosemary, not just random bush for those who didn't recognize this yummy plant)

I really want to own this, and have the kind of weather I wouldn't have to wear 7 layers with it. Is it spring yet?






This is the board at work. It is directly across from my desk. (I wish the wall it is on was a different color. The pink undertone in the beige paint drives me batty.)

Have I ever told you what I do here at my job? Probably not.

Part of my job is getting our installers to the project, get them rental cars and hotels as needed, then get them home again. Sound easy enough? It is. I won't tell you about the times it isn't.

pinklove

Saturday was a beautiful, perfect day for a wedding and Sarah looked drop dead gorgeous. My favorite part of the celebration was the ceremony. (close second was the Lion House rolls)
I'm not sure Craig will like me sharing this (sorry man) but the guy showed some serious emotion and I loved it. I'm so happy for my friend and her new husband.


It was a big day downtown with President Hinckley's funeral going on next door. It was neat to be there and see the crowd of people showing up to pay their respect. It would have been nice to join them but I felt like I was in the right place. As he would have said 'Carry On'.





Sarah had a shawl thing she was wearing for about 3 seconds before she insisted on taking it off. Said she was dying of heat. She's crazy! It was freezing out there!!!

simpsonized

because I have nothing better to do than Simpsonize myself right now, I spent the last few minutes playing here. It's pretty fun. You should definitely go spend some valuable almost weekend minutes there simpsonizing your bad self.

(Can you tell I need a weekend? I NEED a weekend.)

I wish I could figure out how to download the full body shot, my shorts/shoes are my favorite part about this whole 2d experience.

Dude, you can accessorize!