it was a party!

just to give you a heads up, this post is gonna be packed with photos.

consider yourself warned.

anyways.

about a month ago i was given a calling in church.

home enrichment committee.

wanna know my first thoughts?

"awesome. i never go to home enrichment, that's why i'm getting this calling. this will teach me a lesson."

and it certainly has done just that.

my roomate megan and i are on the committee together so almost immediately we put on our thinking caps and started to plan the upcoming relief society birthday dinner.

we wanted a fun night, celebrating all the sisters in our wards birthdays.

we wanted to the night to be as laid back as possible, so the girls could just come and enjoy themselves.

...

and can i just say, I LOVE MY CALLING!

it was so much fun.

( can i be a party planner when i grow up? food, decorating, invitations, whats not to love?)

not going to lie, during the prep time the week of, i was like

how in the heavens is this all going to fall together?

oh and to add to this little pre-party anxiety...

the season's biggest (and only) snow storm decided to come at 5 o'clock that night right as i'm about to drive to the church with 125 cupcakes in the back of my car.

visions of slamming on my breaks and having cupcakes fly everywhere kept dancing through my mind.

i'm happy to say that didn't happen. 

the night was a success and we had such a good turn out!

here's 

a few, 

a variety,

a couple, 

a glimpse,

ok, ok, ok,

a 

MILLION

of photos from the evening...

{fun little invite i made.}

{thank goodness to our roomates for helping us whip out all these cupcakes.
cake boss, watch your back,  YSA 45th Ward is headed your way!}

 we made a photo booth for the girls to take 

pictures with their roomates. 

complete with some hilarious props.

(my roomates and i may or may not have gotten a little carried away...)

{girls of apartment A206}

{janna & i always get asked if we are sisters...}

{typical us}

{a few of the elders quorum who served us dinner. bless their hearts}

{karah & myself}

{mustaches}

{megs & i, my partner in crime for the event}

Please Read!

Hello fellow blog friends..

I need your help, click here. Vote for Sean & Paige. Paige and I went to high school together. She is such a sweet girl and actually one of the toughest people I have yet to meet. This story definitely deserves your vote!

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kids say the darndest things...

lately at work,
i have had so many funny stories involving kids.
i thought i'd share a few.

story number one:
so one night at work, i decided to rearrange a few furniture pieces on the sales floor. normally, one of the boys would help me, but they were busy in the back unwrapping new pieces, so i decided i would try it by myself. the sofas and arm chairs moved like a dream, just glided across that floor almost effortlessly. i got to the dining area of the store and decided i was going to move a buffet piece. well, it obviously was much heavier than it looked and me moving it turned into a real failure. i was wearing a pair of shoes that had zero traction and the piece was so heavy that as i tried pushing it forward, it remained firmly in place. and instead of me moving it, it moved me. i kinda giggled, and thought to myself "haha.. good thing no one saw that one." i was wrong. as i turned around, a little boy walked towards me (probably around 4 years old..), he looked up at me, put his hands on his hips and in a lecturing manor exclaimed, "you do know that if you want to move furniture, you have to have muscles?" not going to lie, i was a little offended, but it was hilarious, who was i not to laugh?
after all, he did make a very valid point. 


story number two:
last month we had a bunk bed set up in the kids section. it was adorable, and at the top of it there was a pirate's mast, so it appeared to be a pirate ship. i saw a mom and her two young daughters checking it out, so i wandered over and asked the mother if she had any questions pertaining to the bunk bed. before the mother could say a word, the youngest daughter (probably age 3... going on 21) chimed in...
little girl:"you know we really like this bunk bed, it looks a lot like the one we sleep on at grandma's, but this one just isn't going to cut it."
me: "and why's that?" (trying not to laugh)
little girl: "pirates are just not for little girls."
me: " you are exactly right! that's more of a boy thing, isn't it?"
little girl: "well yes, but actually, my mother is expecting a baby boy in 3 months, so maybe i need to learn to like pirates."

story number three:
one night as i was walking towards the kid's furniture section, i noticed a few kids sitting in the play chairs that they had lined up in a very straight line. in front of them, was another kid standing up behind a nightstand facing them and talking to the kids that were sitting. as i got closer, i overheard the kid standing up saying... "and i know that this church is true."
hahahaha, 5 little kids had taken it upon themselves to set up "church" at downeast and were playing primary. too funny.
i don't think i was that creative when i was that age. 


story number four:
saturday at work, a dad was walking around the store with his little boy in a stroller. while his wife was shopping he decided to take a breather on one of our sofas, like most dads do, and the little boy was still sitting in the stroller. as i walked up towards the cash register, the little boy, who didn't even look like he was old enough to speak, LOUDLY shouted, "HEYYYYY GIRL!"
everyone around the register got the giggles.

oh kids.
they say the darndest things...

cowgirls don't cry...

but apparently,

interior designers pass out.

IN MY DEFENSE...

Let me tell you that over the past 3 years, I have taken at least 3 different friends to the 

Emergency Room and I have been perfectly fine.

{the story}

So early Thursday morning I got a phone call from one of my friends telling me that my dear roommate Karah, had gotten in an accident at work. She had been training a horse and something had gone wrong, and the horse had fallen on Karah. He told me he'd pick me up in 5 minutes because we needed to meet the ambulance at the hospital. 

We get to the hospital, and the EMT's wheel Karah in.

 As usual she's her happy, humble self. 

She was SO polite. 

She kept saying thank you. Yes ma'am, no sir, despite her circumstances.

They get her all set up on the bed, give her some meds,

 take down her information, and then let us in to sit with her.

Karah starts explaining the series of events that had lead to the ambulance ride.

As I listened, I couldn't believe it. 

I just kept thinking,

"Good gosh this girl is tough..."

At this point, I was perfectly fine, in fact, I felt fantastic.

Little did I know what was about to happen...

As she goes on with the story, the nurse comes in and takes the blanket off Karah's leg.

And that's when I saw it..

it was nothing like I had expected.

Let me repeat: NOTHING LIKE I HAD EXPECTED.

I didn't even know a leg could look like that.

(I won't go into great detail, or let things get too graphic,

due to the fact that I don't want this blog post resulting in an injury...)

And then

my hands started getting super clammy,

my heart started racing,

my vision started blurring into glitter,

I turn to my friend Megan and said

"Dude, I feel so weird, I better get out of here."

As I go to stand up,

the nurse screams at me,

"GIRL, SIT RIGHT BACK DOWN. YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE! 

YOU ARE BRIGHT WHITE."

Next thing I know, I'm in a chair with my legs propped up.

Drinking water.

Karah looks at me.

"LISH ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

(Talk about embarassing.

I felt like a complete idiot.)

That awkward moment 

when you go to visit your critically injured friend in the hospital, 

and  yet you're the one that passes out.

Not cool. 

But I'm glad to report that after

a quick surgery,

one night in the hospital, 

and a week later...

Karah is making a great recovery.

I have not even heard her complain once. 

She broke her leg in two places, dislocated her ankle, and tore some ligaments.

In a couple of weeks, she'll be back to her self.

And the thing is, 

I guarantee she will jump right back on that horse.

You go girl!

Cheers to better days and happy healing! 

NOTE TO EVERYONE READING THIS: Unless I am your last resort...maybe don't call me if you ever need me to pick you up from the Emergency Room! 

hallelujah

hallelujah 

and praise the heavens.

my very last fall semester is officially over.

and i am overjoyed.

(to say the least).

I still have two finals to take, but my project is out of the way.

All semester we have been working on our Senior Capstone project,

 which is designing a 22 floor W Hotel.

 Floor plans, perspectives, materials, and all the fixings.

It's been quite the task!

If you haven't ever heard of The W Hotels, click here.

They are incredibly classy. 

Each hotel is branded specifically based on the city it is built in.

(It's on my bucket list to stay at one someday. 

When and Where have yet to be determined, but it will happen.)

Our project is based in Salt Lake City. So we had to pull all of our inspiration directly from SLC.

I took my concept quite literally and based my concept on the actual Great Salt Lake. I did tons of research on the formation of salt and how it forms in pools and layers that are created.

Kind of neat.

Here's a bit of the process...

Concept/ Inspiration Board
Two images are actual photos of the lake in it's frozen stages.
My color scheme and concept of layers and depth are based of these two photos.
(P.S. I can't get this image to rotate, I apologize.)

Line drawing of corridor.

3D View of Corridor in it's beginning stages.

Bird's Eye View of Guest Suite.

Here's a poster I presented last Thursday to 6 visiting designers. This is my board for my Lobby, Reception Desk, and Grand Staircase. It still has a few kinks that need worked out, but by the end of next semester this project will be COMPLETED. I will also have all of my computer rendering images done, for now, I have just hand drafted the majority of them.

This studio class has taken a HUGE amount of my time. 

But another class I enjoyed taking this semester was a drawing class I took for my art elective. 

It totally got me out of my comfort zone. 

I started working with charcoal, which  I have never ever used. And I'm not going to lie, it is quite difficult. Here are some of the projects I did for that class.

3D Perspective of boxes. 

Portrait of a fellow student.

This was suppose to look like the New York Skyline, and it doesn't.
Epic fail.

It's been a fun semester, but stressful.

Glad it's over.

Lastly,

couldn't end this post without this picture.

Gosh, I love my job!

Another productive night at work! I had way too much fun riding around the store with the clothing manager's daughter, and amongst all the fun, we ended up selling a few of the scooters. I'd consider it a successful night!

yum.

I COOK ALL THE TIME.

Hypothetically speaking..

(Hahahahahaha.)

ok, who are we kidding?

I haven't cooked in ages...

between school and work, I usually roll in a little too late to cook; 

so it's either cereal or who knows what for dinner.

AND

usually it's this huge joke to my family about me cooking....

But Mother, you'd be proud! 

I cooked today.

I was doing some pinning on Pinterest and found this lovely site.

Honestly.

SO STINKING DELICIOUS.

Excuse me while I go finish another slice.

Try it, I dare you!

(P.S. Who would have thought Cilantro was so dang good on pizza?)

today.

Today,

 I'm thinking of this lady.

 

It's been 14 years... (Go to Link).