VEINTI-SIETE DE FEBRERO

Happy Independence Day to my beloved DR!

De Diciembre in Las Caobas

(This billboard was my favorite because it was the best graphic design I could get)

De Diciembre in Las Caobas

(I snapped this from the little guaguita that took us to our first area. Plaza de La Bandera is on the main street of Santo Domingo, called 27 de Feb)

To celebrate, I spent an evening with my "hija", Hna. Sarie Carr. We shared stories and she showed me pictures from the rest of her mission (since I was only with her for her first transfers)... I miss the mission!

GOOD & HAPPY

I DREW THIS FROM INSPIRATION OF A POSTER
DESIGNED AND GIFTED TO US BY JON TROUTMAN
AFTER I'D SCANNED IT, BEN COLORED IT WITH HIS
NEW FANCYLANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MARKERS,
INSPIRING ME TO COLOR IT TOO.

The past several days have been peppered with some not-so-good things happening. I am weak because I let them get me down. I tend to think it's a little ok, because I can feel that I'm at least getting better. A bit. --AND-- I kind of think that's what life is about. Because the trick in life is to train ourselves to control our happiness, even when bad things happen.

To name a few (but not too many - or I will foil my plan to focus on the positive!) :

Within the past fortnight, the system on my iPod (that I use like a flash drive) magically and spontaneously corrupted, leaving all my school and design files impossible to retrieve, though I know they're there! Then a little more magic in Moab -- a 'now-you-see-it-now-you-don't' phenomenon: our camera, and all the million pictures on its memory card, did not come back with us. And I cannot fathom how it disappeared. My emotions and/or hormones have also taken me through a psychedelic magical ride through understanding unconditional love. Not to mention feeling like a failure in school. And through it all, disappointed that I could not let my great gratitude stop any tears.

Or maybe I did. I was grateful to have started the week reading Mere's blog, who included a quote I loved (I read it to Ben and he was all like, "I've heard that before", so maybe it's nothing new to you, but it means a lot to me, so up it goes):


He said there is a trick. It's too bad there has to be so much magic involved, but I'm determined to figure out all this magic so I can be happy. I've still had some beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed this past week, so I can't complain. If I could, I would show you the views we saw in Moab, or the fun we had at Pizzeria 712 with high school chums, or Ben's floral arrangement I mentioned before.

But I'm still aiming to be happier if the putt doesn't drop (when do I ever go golfing?) or if the beef is tough (not that I'm ever really picky about that anyway).

*Oh, and if anyone happens to have some old digital camera they don't use any more and would like to sell for moneys, let us know!

GREETINGS FROM MY ALL-NIGHTER

I drew this during an all-nighter of finals. It also happened to be a night of frustration and confusion apart from design. Have you ever felt this itchy sensation?

Tonight is not that bad. I just finished a bag of Peppercorn Ranch Sun Chips & my eyes are ok. It's 3am and it's just time for blogging now. Because I decided so. If only to tell of 2 would-be posts from last week:

{ picture of Ben's arrangment to be inserted here }

* 5 Feb 2009 marked one-half-year of marriage for Benjamin & me. I think it's a bit silly to celebrate months, but I love it anyway. Ben did the most perfect things: secretly got me flowers, arranged them himself, wrote & drew mountains on a most beautiful note - aesthetically and romantically. And part of his note said, "if you get this while I'm away, don't eat because we're going out to dinner, baby!" We went to Gloria's Little Italy in their new hott location at 1 East Center Street. The meal itself was a bit disappointing, but the gelato was great and the company even better. Thank you, Mr. Ben.



* 14 Feb 2009 was "Día del amor y amistad." Ben kissed me under Delicate Arch. You know, like the one on my home state's license plate. Don't worry--I'm from Utah and had never been to Arches National Park. Special thanks to Jon & Tallia for inviting us on their road trip. It was a great weekend escape from school and snow. We stayed at Desert Hills Bed & Breakfast, a great experience in itself. We spent one night in its 'entertainment room' where we selected a movie from their vast VHS library. The '94 box office hit: Speed. (Oooh, Keanu.)

FOURTH OF FOURTH IN THE FOURTH

I was tagged.

This is my first response to a tag. I know it took me a while, but thank you Katy.

Assignment: to post the 4th photo in of my 4th album.
Problem: I don't really have organized albums. At least not lately.
I kind of did pre-mish. So I'll show you a few that could qualify:

Fourth Foto From the album of the Fourth month in my only Foto archives (2005).
Because it was April, it was moving-out time from the Annex.
I took pictures of my roommates during our last night together--talking on the kitchen floor.
This is Elisa Thelys Bushman and I love her very much.

This is the Fourth Foto From the Fourth album in those same 2005 archives.
Who knew? Another fabulous roommate:
Abby Annette Lyman. I love her lots too. And the face she's making.

This is the Fourth Foto From the Folder of most-recently uploaded pictures.
This was from early December 2008.
Ben took this picture himself.
One day I came home to find Ben had spent some time
that afternoon searching local greenhouses for Paperwhites.
I didn't learn until then that this was a Knudsen Christmas tradition...

I love tag.

"You're it!" to the Following Four:
CALVIN, KATIE ANN, DEVIN ANN & MEREDITH AMELIA.

JUST PICTURE IT

Yesterday I saw a guy in semi-best dress, cleaning windows while holding a book. I walked by again & saw he was actually reading it while wiping the windows.

Today I ventured outside of the HFAC to the bookstore for the first time in a WHILE:
On the third floor, I dropped $85.39 on a power cord.
Then I remembered I was craving chocolate and, at the candy counter on the second floor, I spent $0.98 on a quarter pound of chocolate-covered cinnamon bears. (I like them thanks to Jenna.)
Then I saw an ad for 20% off on Sarasa pens. It's been a long time since I owned a Sarasa. I went downstairs and got it. They weren't even that much cheaper, but I was on a splurge roll.

*OH, here's a kicker: I used my debit cards on all those 3 separate purchases in the same store. The last girl at the register asked for my ID. ! ? What? I was surprised, and a titch annoyed. It's BYU. If anything, I should have been ID'd for the $80 purchase. What do you think?

And I no, I don't have any cool photos to go with this, but I really wished I'd had my camera to take a picture of that multi-tasking window wiper. Picture that in your head.