A word or two about negative energy.

A polite letter to Negative Energy:

Dear Negativity,

I would really appreciate if you could get out of my life. Okay? Thanks.

....Oh, and one more thing, Negative Energy...

I would appreciate if you would get out of the lives of my students too.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Miz I

House progress

I've been meaning to blog these photos for a while, but I keep having other things to say. We have moved into the house, and the painting is finished AT LAST.

I will take a video tour of the house once everything is in it's place, and then you'll get to see what we've done. Our mismatched furniture certainly won't do the place justice, but whatever... It's alright with me.

Here is how things looked as of about a week ago....

Mary the Masking Tape Queen:

First Day Teacher

I started my student teaching on Monday at Hillcrest High School in Midvale. Things are going well, I am slowly becoming more comfortable, and getting to know my fellow teachers. I love it that I have already been mistaken for a student several times, both by teachers AND the student council. Hilarious. The SBO's (student body officers) snapped my picture on the way into school, just like I was a student. They are getting me an ID badge to prevent this from happening in the future. I can't have hall monitors running me down!

My dearest friend Mary graciously woke up to take this picture of me at 6am on my way out the door. She was sleeping over due to homeless week at BYU**. She also generously allowed me to borrow that cute pink top.

Enjoy!

**Homeless week is a strange, annual phenomenon that occurs when the summer student housing contracts end a week before the fall ones begin. Many innocent students are forced to find a place to store not only themselves, but also everything they own for a week of being homeless. Highly inconvenient... Especially if you are from out of town.**

Rockin' Vegas

Last weekend was my first out-of-state wedding shoot down in Las Vegas. My business partner and dear friend, the beautiful Jessica Bateman and I made the (quick) trip together. We left Friday morning in my shiny rental car, and arrived at about 5 pm.

We checked into our hotel, the Fitzgerald on Fremont Street in downtown Vegas. It is a pretty standard old-time vegas-y hotel with a giant smelly casino inside, a couple of theaters showing child star has-beens, a buffet, bar, and steakhouse on the second floor, and about 38 floors of rooms (not including the 13th floor. Don't go looking for it. There isn't one.)

If you aren't familiar with Fremont street, it is a pedestrian-only street that is completely covered by a giant canopy-thing that lights up with a neon light show three times each night. They call it the "Fremont Experience". Unfortunately, we hadn't turned our clocks back an hour, so when we went out for the show, it never started. After heading back to our room with intentions of going out later, we promptly fell asleep. Wow, we really know how to rock a Friday night in Vegas ;)

Fremont street holds some pretty interesting memories for me, though. It was on Fremont street, at the tender age of 14, when I saw my first staggering, blubbering, bottle-in-paper-bag-holding drunk. We were in town for my cousin Beverly's wedding, and my dad HAD to see the light show. I believe he had seen it on some travel channel, and after the reception he drug us out there for the 11:15 pm showing. I remember my mom being horrified by the gentlemen's club adverts, but I don't remember anything except the drunk guy. I remember him so clearly, I can even recall what he was wearing. (big, worn green flannel jacket, dirty dirty jeans, brown shoes, black hat.)

Nine years later, Fremont street hasn't changed much. Still full of people staggering around with drinks in their hands, and still smelling very strongly of cigarette smoke. It was still pretty fun, though. We treated ourselves to a nice dinner at a steakhouse in a neighboring hotel, and perused the offerings in the shops. Really though, if you are poor, don't gamble, and don't drink, there really isn't much to do in Vegas. We took a few cheesy snap-shots, held tight to our purses, and lost a few weirdos in the crowds.

I felt a little bit like I was in a Where's Waldo page, though. You know what I mean? Every where you look there are strange characters doing strange things. If walking Fremont street were a Where's Waldo page you could have fun looking for:

1. A show girl dressed entirely in feathers shoving an old man's face into her cleavage

2. Two girls in basketball shorts and wifebeaters fightly loudly over who used the other girl's razor and shampoo (complete with shouting posse)

3. A man staggering around zombie-style dressed up as dead Elvis

4. An Austin Powers impersonator sneaking into other people's photos

5. A large group of sorority sisters walking in a line, loudly singing Katy Perry songs

6. Much much much more.... every where you turn.

Enjoy a few pictures of our adventure:

that showgirl is totally posing, and I was pretending not to notice. ha ha.

Well, I must go. My honey is waiting for me in bed.

I definitely do not want to keep him waiting :)

Lots going on....

Sorry I have been a little bit of an inconsistent blogger, but we have been very busy. Things we've been doing:

1. Paint paint paint paint... AND MORE PAINTING

2. Photographing a wedding in Las Vegas

3. Looking like a weirdo walking around Vegas in modest clothing (and liking it).

I also have lots of pictures showing the work we've been doing on the house. It is coming along nicely. I FINALLY finished the cabinets, and now we are moving on to the other rooms. Hooray! I think now that the cabinets are done, things will be moving along muuuuch more quickly. Check back for photos. I have to go to work now, but I promise to post some soon.

We are moving and I'm excited about it.

Most newly weds (us included) can be compared to gypsies. Every so often, you pack up what little you own and attempt to make a new home in another place. We have been married for a year and a half and this will be our third move. I am definitely the most excited about this one, though!

Look at the beautiful house we are moving into!

Here is the Kitchen:

We are going to paint the upper cabinets yellow, and the beadboard inlays in both upper and lower cabinets will be a creamy white. The walls in the kitchen and the wainscoting in the breakfast room will also be the same creamy white. The walls in the breakfast room will be the same yellow as the cabinets. It's going to be adorable! Here is a closer look at the breakfast room:

Isn't that little built-in adorable? That is a little mirror on the bottom shelf! So cute! Also, hello little adorable BUILT IN FRIDGE! So retro, I can hardly stand it.

Below is the little hallway. I like to call it "The Vestibule". It is just way way too cool to be called a boring old hallway. Pfffft. It has a built-in dresser and cupboard, as well as a little built-in table for the telephone to sit on (I didn't get a picture of it though. Next time.) It also has the little trap door for the laundry shoot down to the basement, where the washer and dryer are. Genius!!!

The Vestibule will be painted a beautiful pale blue. It will really brighten up the space, considering it is in the center of the house and does not have the generous natural lighting like the rest of the house. P.s. aren't the lighting fixtures in this house THE BOMB?! Totally art deco. I'm in love.

Here is the Master bedroom. My cousins put in nice new carpet, so that is definitely a plus. We are painting the walls a lovely robin's egg blue. I think it will look fantastic with our dark wood and iron bedroom set. Also, of course some new window coverings are in order.

The bathroom needs some serious TLC, but unfortunately, we don't have the $$ to do an overhaul. Plus the original tile is so charming. (Why don't our new homes have this much personality anymore?!). The walls above the tile will be a light green to set off the tile better, and I think I will get a black shower curtain to bring in the black tiles as well. The toilet doesn't match the sink and toilet, but oh well.

Here is the office/idontknowwhat room. My grandparents used it as TV room, but I want our couch to be in the front room, and I cannot bear to separate the TV from the couch. Sorry. We like to cuddle when we watch movies.

The walls in here will be a lovely milky white (same as the kitchen). The carpet is also coming up, and you can see the wood floor beauties!! Wah wah wah!

Here is the front room. These pictures really don't do it justice. It has a beautiful vaulted ceiling, and yes it is covered in gaudy wallpaper, but you can only ask so much of poor college students. The wallpaper is staying for now, but we will see what happens next spring ;) The old old old carpet is coming up as well, allowing the wood floors to really shine! I don't think the wallpaper won't be so bad if it is not contrasting against the green. Also the ceiling in this room is wallpapered GOLD. It looks like gold leaf. I will have to get pictures for you next time. Also, please note the little music room off to the left. My grandma's grand piano used to be there.. but now I don't know what to do there. Suggestions anybody?

Last on our little tour is the dining room. It is in between the kitchen and the front room. It also has the wallpaper still, but again, the carpet is going. Hurrah.

There is also a HUGE basement, but it is in pretty bad condition, so maybe I will take some pictures once we move in and we've organized a bit. It still has a lot of my grandma's stuff down there, but I hope to organize it better and consolidate it into a smaller area. A list of the other rooms downstairs:

1. Bedroom #1 (where Nathan's band will practice. It also has a mideval mural of a princess and knight on the walls right now. My cousin's kids slept down there, and we're contemplating keeping it. It's actually quite cute, and adds a little interest to a dark basement room :)

2. Bathroom (not in working order.)

3. Kitchen (not in working order.)

4. Laundry room

5. Large food storage pantry with built-in cupboards and shelves.

6. Large furnace room (my grandma had a clothesline in here when I was a kid.)

7. Coal room, now used as a holiday decoration storage room. Yes, this house is that old that it has a coal room. You know, to store the coal to heat the house? Of course, sillies.

8. Large family room with fireplace.

9. Bedroom #2 just off of the family room.

This is simply the most charming house I have ever seen, and I am thrilled to be moving in! They really don't build houses like they used to. There are so many cool little features and so much personality!

Although, the man that built this house was such a perfectionist that he did commit suicide after it was finished.

Dang.

Yes, this house is that cool.

Sunday Picture of the Day

Taken by my nephew on the 4th of July 2009 at the Pleasant Grove City fireworks show.