Award

A few weeks ago I heard another spread of mine won a Merit Award from the AIGA 100 show. (American Institute of Graphic Arts). Yay!
The article was designed for LDS Living Magazine and is about untraditional holiday traditions. It's rather ironic this won—initially the client completely FLIPPED out when they saw the illustration, they hated it. (I art directed, I'm not the illustrator.) But all I can say is trust baby, trust.

Click Image to view larger.

Scarborough Renaissance Festival

We had a great time this Saturday attending a Renaissance Festival. It's a permanent location only open a few months out of the year. Upon entering it's quite the scene. Actors in costume mingled with visitors in costume; then those of us who are too nervous to dress up could be found in our street clothes. I felt a part of me wishing I had a costume. (You know, you all have it, that secret side of you that wants let go, get dressed up and go out in public. Well, this is the place for you.)




We watched a Carillon bell performance set to pre-recorded background music—base and percussion. The performer was a little over dramatic but I could hardly blame him. According to him, his is the only traveling Carillon performance in the world—mainly because Carillon bells are usually found in bell towers as permanent fixtures, as they are very heavy. If I remember correctly, this entire instrument weighs over 5 tons. Impressive.

We listened to several pieces, among them were Carol of the Bells and another famous Requiem piece—sorry, having trouble remembering which one. I can't get Mozart's Requiem out of my head, and I know that's not the right one—but it was fun to watch the musician (carillonneur) pound away on the keyboard (baton console).



One of the last activities we attended was a joust. Unfortunately the King and Queen were not in attendance, they were busy playing human chess.


There was a lot to see and do, so if you have a Renaissance fair close to you, make sure and go.

Spider Pet

This is our new pet, Mr. Big Legs—sort of. He's trapped between the screen and the window. I noticed him about 5 days ago and we check on him all the time to see if he's still around. I'd like to let him out but he's a feisty little guy. He rears up when he sees us coming and sticks his manly front legs up in the air. According to my "resources" he's a jumping spider . . . so, do YOU want to come and let him out? I couldn't get a good shot of him with my camera so HERE and HERE are where I found the ones below. His green fangs are awesome!

On the right is a great "action" shot of him jumping
at the camera!

Ripe for the Pickin'

On a whim, we decided to stop by the farm again—and this time a few rows of blackberries were ripe for picking. (I wish I had appreciated blackberries when I lived in California, they grow wild there. Yum yum.) So, although they were $4.00 a lb. we went for it anyway.
The stick I am holding here, helped to push the vines out of the way. Adam was especially glad for it, he had no idea blackberry vines are prickly.

We Live Here

Back to Provo housing? No way! I'll take this anytime.

You must come and visit just to try out
the pool and hot tub area.
There are even speakers around the pool.

Catch and release pond—
although I doubt there's much to catch.

Here's our door on the second floor.

This is what we see when we walk out
the front door. See that window?
It's supposed to be the master bedroom.
Facing the porch? Yeah right.

So, we put our bedroom in the office.
It's small, but all we do is sleep there anyway. I love the double doors.
We made the other room our office.

And this is what we see out most of our windows.
Not bad eh? We didn't get the big porch I wanted
but we decided the view was worth it. Other windows
in the complex face another building.

Picking Strawberries

It's strawberry season! Adam and I went to Gnismer Farms in Arlington and picked 12lbs. of fresh strawberries. Although it was hot, we will both be doing it again. There's something to be said about working for your food, and a lot of somethings to be said about buying local. . . .
Our Favorite Quick Strawberry Treats

Sweet Strawberries and Cream
Slice enough strawberries for your breakfast bowl and pour cold french vanilla coffee creamer over the top, stir gently and eat. Best if strawberries have been chilled first.

Healthy Milkshake (Makes 1-2 servings)
This recipe is made to taste, so feel free to vary quantities depending on how you like it.
1. In a blender add two hand-fulls of fresh frozen strawberries.
2. Add about 2/3 cup of plain flavor soy milk (you may need to add more if mixture is too thick when blending).
3. Add about 1 Tbsp lemon juice and 2 Tbsp of sugar or sugar substitute.
4. Blend and serve immediately.

Tip: Lemon juice is key--if the flavor of the shake tastes a bit flat add a little more.

Goodbye Utah

Saying goodbye to Utah was a bit scary. Utah feels friendly and familiar because I grew up there. So, though I don't like to admit it, saying goodbye a second time was a little weird. I will miss the mountains, they made me feel safe. Kind of like a guardian protecting the valley.

Adam waves goodbye from the front door
of our basement apartment.

Anna waves goodbye.

We rented a 22 foot Penske moving van. Initially, after each bounce, we winced and wondered which of our most valued belongings was getting broken. You know the feeling. But eventually we figured everything was broken so why sweat it.

After being jostled around in the cab for several hours, Adam exclaimed, "We're gunna be bobble-heads by the time we arrive!"


Adventure recap:
Filling up with diesel among the truckers, we felt both cool and sheepish. Our large van was nothing compared to the big rigs. But it was fun to pretend like we knew what we were doing.

At the end of the first day we didn't take a turn wide enough and damaged a car in the parking lot. The owners couldn't have been more civil and the matter was cleared up the next morning, paid for in cash and each of us going our separate ways.

While driving we saw: Several hitchhikers, four dead dogs (all in New Mexico), one armadillo, a state trooper up-close, several oil pumps, and a herd of single hump camels.

I can't tell you the story behind the camels---but the state trooper pulled us over because he thought I wasn't wearing my seatbelt. I figured he missed it because my shirt was the same color and told him so. He came to my window for a better look and declared in a Texas accent, "Ah, mightah missed ut." So we went on our way, and that was my first encounter with Texas.
And after 27 hours we finally arrived in flat, humid, big, Texas. Our bounced brains had quite enough. We were grumpy upon arrival (sorry family) but things were better in the morning. We've spent the last few days unpacking and locating our favorite stores.

Don't ask me how I feel about it yet. . . . I still don't know which way is North.