I hope they Call me on a Mission...

We are still hoping for a foot or two of growth ;)

My little Brother Grant Goes into the MTC today to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He will be serving in Ventura, CA. I couldn't be prouder of him, although it is going to be hard to not see him for so long.


He is the little guy in the yellow shorts.... this is how I like to think of him... as that little red hair kid that stole everyone's heart with how cute and full of energy he is.



Just to name a few reasons why he is so great....

1. He is willing to try new experiences and wants to share those experiences with others. When I was home a few weeks ago I took him out for sushi and he convinced me we had to try the raw oysters at the sushi bar.... I did it because he was so into it, it made me excited too..... although I think I will not need to ever eat those again (for the record he loved them)


2. He is ready and willing to help when needed. Over Christmas we ran out of room in our freezer and grant helped us retrieve our frozen treats from the yard ;) Grant is my go to guy when I need something... and yes that does mean that I often ask my 19 year old brother for dating advice... and somehow his advice always makes the most sense, and makes me feel great!


3. And of course let me not leave out the fact that he is a Second Degree Black Belt and basically I have to say how amazing he is because, "he could kill me with his little finger and not break a sweat doing it"... no I am serious, he has been sure to remind me of this whenever I threaten to kiss his cheek.



Good Luck Grant you are going to do great! I love you and am so proud of you!

Sneakers

Sometimes life gives you little gifts that just make you smile. This week at work I was cleaning up the old e-mail campaign archives and came across this image.


A memory came rushing back to me. I was in my freshman year of the photo program at BYU. Part of the requirements were to take some basic core level art classes. Several of which were drawing classes. I can sketch a bit and can do some line drawing illustrations, but have never really considered myself someone who could draw really well... which is silly when I think about all the years I wanted to be an "artist" before I discovered photography... not really sure how I was planing to do that or what I was planning to do in that role.. but I knew I loved to create things and could see things in my mind before they were realities.

Anyway these classes were sort of really hard for me. I did well, but didn't really excel. One class in particular I struggled with. Observational drawing. This class was brutal and the teacher was so exact in his execution. Sometimes I would wake up in the night in a cold sweat from dreaming of him standing behind me while I drew. He was the type of teacher who would say at the start of a semester "You all start out with a F and work your way up" not the other way around. I like to think I grew on him (but that might be my positive optimistic attitude taking lead of my memories).

Most of my classmates were so supportive. They would tell me that I was a photo major and to just get through the class and you will be fine. But I wanted to be so much more than fine. I wanted to do well, really really well. I worked so hard in that class. I drew and drew and drew... and the improvement was pretty minimal... but I kept drawing.

This teacher sometimes would come up to me and say, "These are terrible, you should scrap it and start again, you can't manage to salvage that, the proportions are all off" and so I would. I did everything he told me to, I wanted to get it all just right. My final project for the class was to draw anything I would like to.... But what?

I'm not sure why, but in the end I settled on my roommate Emily's hiking boots. I worked for days and days on that picture. and on the final day of the class I walked up to the teacher for my evaluation (bracing myself for the blow). After looking for a while at my work, he looked up at me and said... "A on shoes, B in class".

I almost yelled "WHAT!" at him, I was so suppressed.

He looked at me for a bit smiled and then said, "Now, you never have to draw again and can go and just take your pictures."

I must have been on a high from doing so well on the final assignment, so I was feeling confidant and said to him, "But I like drawing."

His response, "Well they are good shoes."

As I turned around to leave I looked back at him and said "Who knows maybe one day I will get paid to draw some shoes?"

And this teacher, true to his form, and attitude from the whole semester, stopped smiling and looked at me earnestly and said "Dear, how about you just focus on getting people to pay you to photograph some shoes."

I was too happy to have survived that class to be offended by his comment. In fact I had completely forgotten that story until the other day when I came across that sneaker image.. In which I combined shoes I photographed and yes I shoes I drew.... and I was paid to do both.

Because it has been one of those days

The Vedar image is by Alex Brown, Featured on 20x200.

Regrets I took off my friend Holly's blog. Yeah, I blog borrowed :)

Nauvoo Temple

I went here today...

Bonjour

Once upon a time, some very cute and very clever girls went on a road trip to the far away kingdom of Montreal. Upon climbing Mt. Royal they discovered life to be full of fun, whimsy, and dance. They frolicked there for a while.....

From a Scrap of Paper

Every once and a while I can't help but think to my self... "I can't believe I am getting paid to do this?!" This last catalog for work was filed with so many moments like that. We created these sets built entirely out of paper. The only "real" items were the products we were featuring. The Studio at work was like something that I dream about. Piles of paper, paint, glue, and tape. There was more crafting than I could handle!

We had to call in a little help because there was so much to do. It was great work and great fun! I love working with so many creative and talented people. There were so many moments where we were like... "How do we build a couch out of paper?" and then we would talk about it.. go get some boxes and just dive into construction. There is something so very, very satisfying about starting with an idea and then working and watching it become a reality.

Here are some of the sets we built.... These still make me grin from ear to ear!

If you want your own copy you can go to the UncommonGoods website and request a catalog (if you want them autographed that might cost extra ;)

Happy Anniversary NYC

Today is my 4 year anniversary in New York City! The pictures in the video are a random assortment of some of my favorite memories (with some of my favorite people) in this city... there were far to many to fit in one video!

This is for you NYC.

Love,

Me