I HAVE A BAD HABIT

I always bite extra skin off my lips... which means the skin never has a chance to really grow easily & so there's always an extra piece I have to bite off. I tried once in November to stop. I think I'll try again for the new year...

SOMETHING NICE ABOUT BEN

As mentioned here, I haven't really posted much about my other half. And apparently when I have, the posts aren't nice things about Ben. This is a shame and UNintentional, because of course there are infinite nice things about Ben. Why do you think I've never had any other man? ;) Here is a prime example:

We both had long work-days today, and after picking me up at 5, we went straight to give the Mazda some new tires. While we waited we talked of our hunger & what we should have for dinner... (These work/break days have been full of eating out, eating fast, or eating at the Juárez home. It's been a while since we had a home-cooked meal in our apartment.) So we rolled into our little carport at 6, still undecided about dinner. I was tempted just to pour a bowl of cereal, but at the same time I wanted real food.

In a wishful thought-out-loud, I almost moaned on my way to the fridge, "I want... black bean soup."

I wasn't thinking of any certain recipe. I don't know if I've even ever had a black bean soup. But I like black beans and soup sounded yummy, and I said it all at once...

Before I knew it, Ben had it all out on the counter: cans of black beans, cauliflower, zucchini, red bell pepper, garlic, onion, and oil & water simmering in the pot. He boiled some chicken, and added the shredded pieces. I just cut the veggies and set the table while he did the magic seasoning. Not from any cook book. Not from any recipe. He just knew what to do. Right then and there on the spot.

Of course he didn't stop there, he warmed fancy bread in the oven & whipped (or blended) up a fresh smoothie with banana, strawberry & orange.

And that's what's nice about Ben.

OK, so it's not a Martha food photo, but at least you get the idea
of why we were so happy to eat healthy. . . all thanks to Mr. Nice Ben.

Ooh, and even more from Ben:
He took a better photo--just for this post.

ON DECEMBER 7, 2008...

...IT WAS OUR TURN TO HOST KNUDSEN DINNER.
BEN DECIDED TO HAVE "SOUP FEST 2008".
THESE WERE TAKEN WITH KOREAN KNUDSENS IN MIND.

ASHLEY SAID, "MAKE A SILLY FACE FOR DAD!"

EVERYONE TRIED TO BE HAND MODELS.

SEE JACOB'S SHOE

BEN TOOK A CAMERA TO THE DETAILS OF OUR APARMENT

AT THE BEGINNING OF DECEMBER...

LITTLE PALATE-CLEANSER BOTTLES ON THE LEDGE
THE LAPTOP - ALL TOO MUCH A PART OF OUR DAY

I LOOKED AROUND THE HOUSE, BUT COULDN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT THIS WAS...


LINOLEUM-CUT PRINT FOR A LETTERPRESS BROADSIDE FROM '06

BEHIND THE COUCH, IN THE CORNER, IS A BANANA TREE


BEN LOVES HIS TURNTABLE & I DO TOO


FRONT DOOR HINGES... HOW MANY TIMES PAINTED?

FRONT DOOR PEEP HOLE!

PAPERWHITES FROM ABOVE - JUST BEFORE THE FIRST ONE BLOOMED
LAMP MAN FROM ABOVE
LAMP MAN FROM BELOW
BABY BEN ALARM CLOCK
CLOCK FRIENDS
CHIME CLOCK FROM KNUDSEN HOME

I'M BACK.

Hi everyone.

There haven't been any 'endless hours' of free time yet even since finishing finals, but I DID finish! And I DO have at least a bit of blogging time. I finally got to do some Christmas shopping YESTERDAY... and right now at work (Law School again), since I've been through all the admissions mail & entered the info & filed away, I can post all that I would've posted. And I can tell you the outcome of some of my projects, eh?

• joytoeveryone.com has been a hit. Over 120,000 visits from 145 countries. People leave really nice comments on the blog. Someone even made some parody already on YouTube. It was really good to learn how to work with many different committee members, and it was nice to participate in something with such a pure purpose. We were gifted some copies of the DVD/card. Some of you might see one in the mail, but the rest of you can see it here:

• oliviation.com is live and kicking. You can go visit it on one condition. You may not use Internet Explorer to view it. IE is dumb and won't read my coding so it won't work. Use Firefox or Safari for a more usable experience. This is by far not exactly how I want my portfolio site to look like, but it's something. I owe much thanks to Calvin for his dear counsel, teaching, advice & time to help me finish this. I love my family! (You may see updates of the magazine re-design & Blade HQ re-design there under the "See what I do" tab...)
  
• In some "spare time", I quickly designed a card to accompany a lithograph print as part of the gift/Christmas card sent out by the Department of Visual Arts (one of the departments in the College of Fine Arts and Communications, who sent out the DVD above for their gift/Christmas card.) It was letterpressed beautifully by Rob Buchert of Tryst Press:

The print is a lithograph after a 17th-century Chinese painting by Mark Graham and was printed by master lithographer (is that even a word?), Wayne Kimball.

• Our Puppetry teacher was so nice to allow for an all-day presentation for BYU's Mask Club count for our final! I didn't have to worry about anything for that class during the rest of my intense projects. I'll miss that class. It was a nice 'break' and creative outlet. I also learned a lot! See our first 3 presentations HERE. And here's a blurry picture from our class show number, "Stone Soup." I'm the baker up in the little house. The poor traveler below is sitting on my longboard for easy-moving below the low stage...

• I liked the direction of my book jackets for Just So Stories, but it will still need refining over the next months, and I already have ideas of how to do so. For now, these are the documents... as if the jacket were unfolded with the back on the left, spine in the middle & front on the right... (got that?)

(If you haven't read those stories yet, you really should. The Armadillo, Leopard & Elephant stories are my particular favorites...)

As for everything else... it worked out. I'm still alive. Trying to tidy at home & maybe even put up some Christmas Decorations. I actually got to put lights on the banana tree on Saturday! FUN. Anyway, Merry Christmas, bloggers!

DEFINING THIS BLOG

This has potential to be a long-y. And perhaps has potential to offend some. I hope no one takes it personally... these are just my feelings. ;) (Intrigued yet?)

I returned from my mission to find that everyone and their dog had a blog. I soon caught on that, at least with a bunch of my friends, it was a common newlywed thing to keep everyone updated on their new life--especially if there was a new baby included. Except it usually wasn't the newlyweds updating everyone. It was typically the girl. It was the girl telling about what the two of them were doing and how they were feeling. I thought about how if I were to do that, I think it would be pretty biased. I decided then that, as I was getting married soon, I would ensure that I was telling about my thoughts, my favorites, my feelings on my blog. And that if anyone wanted to know about Ben, they could learn from him so they could get it straight-up. Ben was just going to have to start his own blog. For the time, I was proud to get back to my blog--one I began back in '05, and somehow abandoned by '06. And it worked... especially since I wasn't really married yet.

But then two important factors hit me... well, one is a factor and one is a moment. I'll start with the moment. It happened on the very morning of our wedding. Kurt invited our siblings to stand at the mic and give whatever mini-speech or words of love they desired. I think Katy was one of the first to stand & I loved what she said. Of course I can't remember it exactly, but it was something like,

"...and we love Olivia because she tells us what Ben is thinking..."

or

"...because she tells us about Ben..."

or

"...because she tells us what Ben doesn't."

You get the jist/gist. It hit me: it was true. And this brings up the "factor": Ben isn't going to start a blog. (Believe me, I asked.) It's just not him. It's just a fact of his personality that he isn't the most open; most outgoing person. Of course, if you get to know him, he doesn't remain quiet all the time. He certainly knows how to carry on a conversation. And he can talk about very interesting things, and throw in amazing jokes that you can miss if you're not intelligent, or have a good sense of his humor. ;) That was one of the first things that tipped us off that we were a good combination. To this day, Ben says one of his favorite things is when I laugh at his jokes. It's something he wrote to me on a birthday card long ago--something about how I'm a "tight" girl, because I laugh at things "when other girls would just get mad." Now, I'm sure he meant that in the best way; not like I would laugh if he made some dirty joke! He wouldn't make a dirty joke like that!

Anyway... so no offense to you women who hold down the fort AND a good updating blog. I'm just a prideful person, and wanted my own blog. The url, afterall, is OLIVIAinprovo... but I've been humbled. (Thanks, Katy!) I think I can do this. Ben is certainly a big part of OLIVIA. And as a service to at least Katy, I'm happy to update the world on him too. Even right here. And, in an effort to avoid me describing his feelings, I'll try to pass off Ben-post by Ben himself so you know it's legit. Because we all know he probably won't be commenting or posting to tell you all if I report something with a bias.

So, welcome to the new "I HEART PROVO"... about what Olivia AND Ben are doing in Provo. (I guess I'm going to have to check if he really 'hearts' Provo too...)

THE COOL THING ABOUT STAYING ON CAMPUS ALL NIGHT

IS THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO LUG YOUR BACK PACK ALL THE WAY HOME & BACK. YOU CAN JUST LEAVE IT IN THE NEW CUPBOARDS IN THE STUDIO BECAUSE THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE GOING TO NEED ANY OF IT BEFORE WAKING UP IN AN HOUR...

(I tried to find some positive things about the crazy lifestyle...)

thoughts from dec 9

i'm glad it's at least sunny. it's freezing cold, but it's possible to feel warm with the bright bright sun.

sun chips taste 10 times better when you're really hungry.

my jaw hurts & I feel like I can't open it.

how is it that one day the periodicals lady says i can't check out magazines, then the next day, another periodicals lady says 'ok, but only for two hours,' then the next time, a periodicals guy says, 'sure, yeah, take them for the whole day.' ... ? ... i think i hate inconsistency.

i've continually maintained my gmail inbox at 1000 unread messages for the past 3 or 4 days.

i am freezing inside the HFAC

joy to everyone never ends

adrian buys us yummy truffles from the MOA (made by some utah company). i love truffles.

TAKING PICTURES OF PEOPLE TAKING PICTURES

So I have this favorite spot in the studio. It's been my favorite since before school started. I wondered if there was a way I could 'dibs' it. But there wasn't. So sometimes I sit there, and sometimes I don't.

But since most normal people don't come to the design studio over a holiday break, I get to sit here as much as I want. The fun thing: the holiday break seems to be THE time for taking family pictures for the next holiday. It was quite entertaining to watch the different photo shoots out "my" window that looks out onto the sculpture garden (named after my great-grandma!).

It may be creepy, but I had fun taking pictures of them taking pictures, and I was really mad when I didn't have my camera because I probably saw about 5 times as many... My favorite was when the Mom was the photographer & set it up all herself...