Ho Hum

Alright, folks. About time, eh?

It's been a while since I've written last and I don't really have a decent excuse. I won't claim it's because I've been busy because the few of you reading are thinking that I, still having a life lacking in relatively large responsibilities, don't even know what busy is. You're probably right. I don't have kids, a full time job (yet), and I'm not going to school (right now). But somehow I've found a way to occupy my time with stuff. Namely a boy, among other things. No worries, I'm not completely slacking in my duties to my own and others well being, I'm just having fun.

First things first. Finals:

Ahem- I mean final. I had one. Yup, and it wasn't like all the finals you most likely took. But I tell you what, it was challenging enough for me. And guess what? I'm not even going to post a picture of it (it was a drawing for my f-art class) because I didn't like it. But, I'll post a picture of my "personal project."

Let me do a little explaining first off. Last summer my roommate went to Africa with her mother (who is an educator) and others to help get a school up and running for some of the youth there. I know, she's way cooler than all of us. But while she was there, she took close up portraits of all the students. The pictures are amazing, and caught my attention so I decided (since our personal project could be whatever I wanted) to draw a picture of one of the little girls.

My professor suggested that for my senior project (that all art majors have to do) I should make a series and draw a bunch of the kids. I told him it was a good idea and that I'd probably do it but left out the fact that I'm not an art major. Oops.

Vacation:

So my fam decided to take a vaca and after putting them through a guilt trip, they consented to letting me tag a long.

Pretty much all I did was sit on the beach, eat a lot of food, and buy a lot-o-stuff.

So that's Danielle, my little sister parasailing. I got to do it too, and it was absolutely amazing. At one point a big old pelican decided to fly along with me, it was incredible being so high up. Not too far into my adventure my bottom fell out of the "seat" that consists of a large strap that you sit on (don't ask me how this happened). So needless to say I eneded up with the harnass digging into my inner thighs the whole time. Don't worry, friends, my journey was not thwarted by this inconvenience. I still consider it one of the more cool things I've done.

This is us shopping. Yeah, Erik actually bought one of those. It wouldn't fit in his luggage though. Continue viewing pictures to see why not.

Look what we found on a boat ride!

ahh....

Like father like son.

Wait...

There ya go, cal. I'm thinking this blog is just becoming a convenient spot to post pictures. I lost my facebook picture posting drive. Alas, here I am.

Obviously there are many more pictures to testify of the amazingness of this vacation. I'm really grateful I got to go and spend it with my fam. They're pretty OK.

Okay, one more thing. I officially put my two weeks in at Bath-&-Body Works today. "We're going to miss you, Alison." -Mindy

Yeah, whatev.

This last couple months I think I worked 4 or 5 times. The only thing that I'm going to miss (besides Kirstin but she quit too) is the 30% employee discount. Sure, it was an easy and relaxing job, and I always came away smelling splendid but my weekend nights just weren't worth the 30 dollar pay checks I was getting. You understand.

Instead I am going to be working-o-lot at my other job. My boss made sure I stopped calling myself a "secretary" because I'm the "administrative assistant" and I got a raise to go along with it and I have another raise pending. I'll probably get it in June. Don't get me wrong, I aint gonna be nobody's suga momma, I've got plenty I need to pay for and plenty to pay back.

Over all, in regards to my job I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed. Twice a week I'll be driving down to Mona along with what I was doing at the provo office to be the administrative assistant down there because someone decided to have baby. Then today I was voted in to the Focus program to be a guide. Now, this is the job I wanted in the first place. I originally wanted to work directly with the kids as one of their mentors, not be thrown into the office like because the big 2-1 hadn't hit yet. But apparently the program is in a huge need for another staff so until I'm 21, I "helping out." Got it? Rachel (one of the supervisors) just said that they'd hide me the day of audit so we don't get in trouble. I'm down with that. I just wasn't expecting it. And this said audit is coming up in May. We've been preparing for this audit since January, but now that it's so close my boss and I are scrambling trying to make sure everything is perfect. It's slightly intimidating knowing that if something goes wrong during audits, it's probably because I didn't catch it. I really don't want to mess up.

So it's pretty exciting and great that I get to have to many more hours, but it all just came at once. I was expecting to be eased into it. But it's good. I need the practice of being responsible :)

Llamas, Body Surfing, and "Love Spit"

So Saturday I went to the Hare Krishna Color Fest. I tell you what, wow! It was color-ific! Every Year the Hares kick off spring by having a color fest... they do this by throwing colored chalk/powder stuff on each other and smearing it into their faces and clothes. Genius, I know. There were a few llamas that graced our presence (or did we grace theirs?), and also some sweet Indian music and dancing. At one point in the evening we all sing a "song" that goes like this:

"Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare"

And that "song" is repeated over and over again, kind of like a chant. It's catchy, and really easy to remember. Jess asked Mike what it means, and he said it's probably:

"I sell my soul, I sell my sould

Here it is, here it is,

Take it."

I don't know, really that seems extreme, but Mike was convinced. It didn't matter to me, I was just enjoying the atmosphere :)

There's this guy that took hundreds of pictures with a real nice camera, and he gave everyone permission to use his pics... http://jarviedigital.com/OtherJobs/08/holi-o/ SO, I'm gonna use his pics since they are a little better than mine...

The explosion of colors starts when they light the witch, and burn her down.

That's the witch! They burned her.

Then the colors fly!

It's amazing, isn't it? You going to be there next year, Cali?

And what would a festival of colors be without body surfing? No, really, you tell me.

If you couldn't tell by the lack of quality and creativity, this is me (with my camera)!

Check it. I have headband-head!

Pretty sweet, eh? I'm still blowing pink snot.

And completely off topic... My roommate is amazing. Look what I found sitting on my bed when I came home last night...

Cute, huh? And just for reference, that's "love spit" there below smiley's mouth. I wasn't sure, I had to ask Nat. hehe.

Bloggers Block

Turns out I forgot how to blog...

But spring is in the air and from my bedroom view of the swimming pool there are currently 4 sun-bathing girls out. I thought it was kind of chilly... But hey, sun!

As of late, I've been having a grand old time... Drawing pictures, eating food, going on dates (surprise!)

hmmmm...

Meet Jeff. Jeff is a nice young lad.

He likes playing the guitar (thanks Geoff), snorkeling and lacrosse, and he can really appreciate a good bon-bon. Pretty much he's great.

And last nigth we went on an excellent date and ate some delicious food... Like at Rodizio Grill which = soooo good.

We took some pictures too...

I didn't get the memo we were't smiling.

Maybe one day we'll both be smiling in a picture :)

Sooooo, this wasn't much of a blog, but more of a picture posting par-tay. At least it'll tide the fam over until I can think of something great to blog about.

must have done something right

"We should get jerseys cuz we make a good team

but yours would look better than mine cuz you're out of my league."

I'm just sayin'...

Done and Done

Yeah, I don't really know what it is either, but it's DONE! (It took me a while, I'm a slow drawer). Just a silly assignment that professors make you do to step outside of your drawing comfort zone. It definitley wasn't something that I usually do, and I am sure my roommates can attest that it also wasn't an assignment I necessarily enjoyed... but I got to practice patience and learned how to make surfaces reflective-like. Woot! Oh, and I wouldn't suggest magnifying this because when I take the flash off my cam the picture goes kind of blurry. It looks better in real life, really.

Now that that's over, the new assignment is to invent an idea of something and then draw it. My roommate said I should invent a gaydar (horrible, I know) ...except it has to be something practical-that could actually be invented-any ideas??

bears love kids with honey on their heads!

So my dad started a blog. It's great, really! I didn't know he had such great writing skillz... Anyway, he has one of those music things on it and when I entered his blog Dean Martin started singing "On an evening in Roma." As I am sure it is the same for all of you, hearing certain music brings back strong memories and feelings of what ever the situation or time was when I had listened to it. Ok, that sentence was horrible, but you get what I mean (hopefully).

Over the summer I lived in Wyoming and worked at this small resort called The Hatchet. It was located about an hour north of Jackson Hole (and any grocery store and lets face it- most civilization) in the county of Moran. Yeah, I didn't actually live in a "town" because it was so rural. Which was kind of good, because I lived in some of the most beautiful country. Our apartment was smack dab in the middle of a mountain side. I actually saw a black bear off the side of this dirt road a couple miles away from the apartment once. He was cool, just stood there waiting for me to go pet him or slap some honey my head. Luckly I didn't have time to do so because I was running late for work and forgot my honey.

No, I didn't get a picture of Mr. Bear, but the Mr. Buffalo(s) were kind enough to pose for me :)

So this was the first time I had really lived away from home. Lets just say I got a little home sick :P Thank goodness my friend Becca joined me a month into the summer. I really don't know what I would have done without her! The only thing we had for entertainment at the apartment (beside books and each other) was her lap-top (free of internet), the 1st and 2nd season of F-Troop, and the entire collection of the Dean Martin Variety Show.

The nights I didn't work or go into Jackson (which was usually Sunday) we'd pop in good ol' Dean-o. He was like comfort food, yum! F-Troop is pretty hip-hoppity too, if you catch my drift. I don't really know what that drift is, but I liked it. And I like Becca who, by the way is in Hawaii(!?) on a mission!

Whoa!? I'm not sure exactly how this picture got here . . . ahem . . . er . . . next! (tee hee!)

That's better :) The lovely Becca Sue Jeppsen and Me on a freaking amazing horse ride. We made it to the top - but not entirely free of harm. I lost hold of Dancers reins once and he trotted (at quite a good speed, mind you!) into an ample course of large trees. The crew was amazed I stayed on the horse because I broke off quite a few colossal branches with my body. Yeah, it hurt real bad, but I survied that near-death experience and learned I have a body of steel. Watch out, foo!

Whelp, I've got nothing else for ya. That's all folks!

Oh, P.S. I cut 6 inches off my hair... woot!

Booty Shakin' Grandma and a Steel Guitar

Recently my grandma has been in and out of the hospital for various reasons but she is doing much better now, thankfully. But amidst all these sicknesses, surgeries and hospital stays, she has lost a whopping 37 lbs. Yeah, that's a lot!! She looks good, and she says she feels good too. Yesterday I went home and visited her and Donald for a little while and the very first thing my grandma did when she saw me was lifted up her shirt enough so I could see her very own and brand new jeans with pockets! In all my grandmothers pant wearing years, she has never owned a pair that had actually pockets! She put her hands in front pockets and said "See, I have pockets like you!" and then she turned around and shook her bottom. Tee Hee! It was the cutest thing I've seen in a while.

I don't know if her new found youth has come from losing so much weight, or from recently getting re-married (at age 80!) but I like it!

Here's some pictures for ya

Yes, that would be my 80 year old grandma doing a booty dance. She makes me happy :)

The next adventure at grandmas house was listening to Donald play the steel guitar. I asked him to play a song because I've heard so much about it. 5 songs later he took a bow. He really is good, though! I was impressed with his ability to play all these old westerns without looking at music. My grandma just sits back and quitely sings along.

Donald, jamming away on the steel guitar.

I didn't know what a steel guitar looked like till yesterday, so here it is folks!