and Finally.... Introducing...

John bought me a tortoise for Christmas! I was so so surprised! Isn't she the cutest thing ever!

This is Shelli our newest addition to the family! Welcome little girl!

Annie and her Shelli


In her new home

Holiday Pictures.. only three

Our Tree on Christmas Morning


Ebi


Mom got a Killer Electric Guitar!! Rock On Mom!!


Despite my being sick, we had a great holiday!!! Here are three pictures highlighting events!

Happy Reamer Day!

We Have Been Married Six Months and We are Still Going Strong!


Six months ago today John and I stood on top of a beautiful lava cliff with the ocean crashing below us and vowed to love each other forever! That moment seems like a dream somehow and I can't believe that it has already been six months! Happy Reamer Day! I wish we were back in Hana!

Holly Jolly

We hope that everyone had a very happy holiday!!

I know that I have been a slacker with our holiday postings! I hope to have pictures up soon! I will also be introducing our families new addition!! Check Back Soon!!

Wisdom from the Dalai Lama

"In the West, you have bigger homes, yet smaller families; you have endless conveniences -- yet you never seem to have any time. You can travel anywhere in the world, yet you don't bother to cross the road to meet your neighbors...I don't think people have become more selfish, but their lives have become easier and that has spoiled them.
They have less resilience, they expect more, they constantly compare themselves to others and they have too much choice -- which brings no real freedom."

The Suite is Sweet

Our apartment (John and I call it the Master Suite) is fully outfitted for winter holiday!! Our first Holiday Season as a married team. GO TEAM REAM! Happy Holidays!

Toasted

I have the good fortune of experiencing only mild mishaps in the kitchen throughout my amateur career as a foodie. I have couple of nasty scars from burns. I have a small reputation of burning croutons.. oh yeah, and there is that time when I cut the top of my thumb off and had to get it sewn back on. The point is that besides my mistakes, I keep working to be creative and cook up yummy eats. This weekend John and I had my parents over for dinner. Being only mildly hungover, I thought, "I'm a professional amateur, I can make a simple, yet impressive meal no problem."

I started by cooking my favorite thing, dessert. Rocky Road Brownies. I got the brownies made no problem. They were beautiful. Now time for the topping: Marshmallows, almonds, semi sweet chocolate. check! Ready to melt.

I put my concoction under the broiler and sat on the ground in front of the oven to keep an eye on it. I turned the pan around a few times to ensure that all sides were browning evenly. I closed the oven and turned to get my pot holders to pull the perfect brownies out quite satisfied with my job well done.

As I opened the oven.. FLAMES came pouring out!! After closing the oven and wondering what to do... I opened the oven again convinced that I had hallucinated the whole thing. I was wrong.

The flames were even bigger now and beginning to climb out of the oven to the stove top! I heard myself yell to John: "JOHN! HELP! FIRE!"
Then I burst out laughing. I laughed and laughed and laughed. The marshmallows were fully engulfed in flames. I had flaming brownies! Through teary eyes and doubled over laughter, I saw John grab the brownies and run outside! I was absolutely no help as John risked his life pulling the flaming brownies out of the oven and running outside! (did I mention that we don't have a fire extinguisher!?)

All ended well for us. No burned down house, no injuries. But I am sad to announce that the brownies did not make it.

The rest of the dinner turned out yummy and not burned. Thank God. John even saved the day (again) by making another batch of brownies... without the rocky road topping this time!

Kitchen art.. food gone terribly wrong!

Finals Are OVER!!! Now I can breathe!

I have been frantically making myself crazy finishing up this semester with all sorts of crazy tests and papers!

For prosperity sake, here is a list of a only a few topics that I have been researching, testing and writing about this week!






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Twinkle Twinkle

You know how I feel about lights! I couldn't resist posting this one!

If Only I Really Owned My Own Walls

I thought this project was a great one!! I needed to post it right away so I don't forget about this for our own home office (when we get one)!! Thanks again to Martha for the plethora of great ideas!


Wall Calendar How-To
We chose 4 shades of paint to make our calendar. You can use as few as 2 shades for a checkerboard pattern.

1. Paint entire wall with store-bought black chalkboard paint; let dry for 1 to 2 hours.

2. Mark the perimeter of the calendar with a pencil (to accommodate 8-inch squares, ours measured 48 inches high by 56 inches across).

3. Using painters' tape, mark off the B squares according to the diagram below.




4. Make B paint by mixing 4 parts black chalkboard paint with 1 part homemade white chalkboard paint. Paint B squares. Remove tape. Let dry about an hour.

Now That is What I Call a Loft!

I try not to get caught up in the snobbery of material stuff and the importance of price tags. However, this place is worth mentioning (and a place that I could call home)! This is a rare glimpse at a NYC loft where the antique furnishings cost more than the space! A mission that is nearly impossible to do with the pricey New York real estate market. Leave it up to an investment banker turned designer to suceed admirably! Thomas Hays, you have fabulous taste!

You Don't Just Have to Dress a Wall in Paint These Days

From the Sunset Ideahouse. This is so masculine, architectural and designy! I love it!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like..

It's cold. It's snowy.. yet somehow I feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

HAPPY REAMER DAY!

Pencil Bench

I found this online today and had to post it! Pink Pencil Bench! What will they think of next!
From Boex / 3D Creative Solution

A Nice Message from a Stranger's Mass Email

Yesterday I received the following mass email from my Wilderness Society friends. Below is a special Thanksgiving message from Bethine Church. I found it sweet and touching and encompassing a true model of what Thanks Giving should be. I wanted to share:

First, some information on the author:
Bethine's perspective reaches all the way back to the passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964. Idaho Sen. Frank Church was a towering champion for that landmark legislation. Bethine is his widow and was part of that campaign with him.

She has worked for decades to help protect America's wilderness, as a member of The Wilderness Society's Governing Council and as a founder of a small land protection organization in Idaho, the Sawtooth Society. Her group continues to thrive. So does Bethine, who lives in Boise and says that she is "getting ready to celebrate" her 85th birthday in February. Her Thanksgiving message to you is below.


A Thanksgiving Reflection on Wilderness
By Bethine Church

When reflecting on the blessings that have enriched my life, I sometimes register these gifts at random, as though going through a file drawer of important things too rarely visited. Thinking of one always suggests others.

When that happens, wild places are high on my list. There is so much cement and blacktop, so much noise, in our lives! It is a blessing to be able to see places as God made them. I grew up on a ranch in Idaho and these special places were the backdrop for our lives. They have continued to be. When Frank and I were courting, there was a meadow near our ranch, right on the edge of the White Cloud Mountains. We would camp there and simply watch the stars as stars are meant to be seen.

That is an experience almost unattainable today but for protected wild places. Unless we fight to preserve them, our children and grandchildren will have that much less to be thankful for.

And that leads me to another gift for which I am thankful: the millions of Americans who rarely get to visit these places but who nonetheless rise up in defense of wilderness as both special place and vibrant idea. This is an act of generosity and faith. Surely, it is also an act of thanksgiving.

When Frank was working to guide the Wilderness Act of 1964 through the Senate, many of our Idaho neighbors said, "Oh, wilderness is just something for easterners, for rich people, not for us." They were wrong.

It is gratifying to see how Americans use wilderness today - as families, even toddlers, with backpacks large and small! That has been the case in our family, too. We've rafted together down the River of No Return in what is now the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. Those experiences strengthened our family and left our children and grandchildren a priceless legacy: a love of unspoiled places.

And as I sift through my little file cabinet of blessings, I am thankful for you and other Wilderness Society activists. We have a saying here in the West: "When you see a turtle on top of a fence post, you know it didn't get there by itself." We could not have come as far as we have come in our wilderness journey without you - without your willingness to act, without your generosity, without your commitment.

As I celebrate this most American of holidays with my own family, I will be thinking of you and yours. Thankfully.

It's Chilly Out There

With it getting colder, John and I decided we better set this season's cold weather fashion trends. If you have questions about the following styles please contact us. We wouldn't any fashion victims out there messing this look up!

Happy Monday

This week is a short week! I have cut back homework and work load, and there is going to be lots and lots of good food! These are only three tiny things on my very long list of things I am grateful for! Happy Monday

TGIF

"Honey I'm home I Just Have to Park the Boat"

I love this house! The owner converted his house boat to this liquid living space! I would love to call this place home! How about that floor window inside the house to look down into the water?! Yes Please

Ilumination

I love interesting light fixtures. I am fascinated with them. Light is so important, both literally and metaphorically. I think that my interest in light began when studying the importance of light and illumination in painting. For example, North Renaissance painting uses light as a symbolic reminder that wherever there is light (streaming through a window of a church, over a figure etc) their is a presence of god. God = light. Although I find this symbolism quite lovely, I must say that does not correspond with my interest in light fixtures. But the principle of light giving life, meaning, comfort or something bigger and brighter (pun intended) is something that I find very interesting and important. Light effects everything for happiness to what lives and dies.

How that light is translated in an artificial way into an interior space by an artist or a designer for inner illumination is why I am always drawn to light fixtures. Here are a couple that I was recently drawn to!


Bathroom rope light. So artistically designed! I love it!


This is made of pipes and Swarovski crystal! I love the mix of industrial parts with chic sparkle! beautiful

Happy Monday

The art of Kiku

um ok

Yesterday in one of my classes we discussed contemporary artist Matthew Barney. Barney is what we could consider a local boy from our own neck of the woods of Boise Idaho. He boasts a successful life of being a high school star athlete, a model for Ralph Lauren and Isaac Mizrahi, a drop out med student, married to crazy swan lady Bjork and a famous artist and performance artist that claims that Vaseline is among his favorite sculpting materials. This All American boy is more than all American. He has some pretty messed up images floating in his head. His ten year creation of conceptual film, Cremaster, is a contemporary creation myth that leaves any viewer questioning, "what the hell does it all mean?" It is surreal, absurd, and quite narcisistically promoting how amazing Barney himself thinks he is. He is not alone. Barney is the IT guy right now in the art world. But the question always looms, does he have any long lasting power. We'll have to see.

What interests me more about Barney is an idea he poses about growing up in the area that we did. Barney looks at the Rocky Mountains as a sort of literal and psychological wall that for people living by is difficult or nearly impossible to penetrate, conquer and jump over and leave. It does seem true that people who grow up in this area and in the giant Salt Lake Valley seem to stay forever. Why is that? Psychologically, could the looming mountains act as a wall to the east that gives us a feeling that we can't get over it? I have always felt that the wall of mountains acts as a screen, a sort of protective tool that keeps certain ideas in and other ideas out. It can be penetrated, but it is not easy. Could this same idea apply to people? I think so. Even more interesting, the people, most notably artists, that are from this area and do escape and climb over the wall seem to be very radical. Barney is THE perfect example of that! Maybe you have to be really radical and daring to leave and if so, is there any room for you if you ever want to come back? Is it even possible to really return to any sort of home after you have left?

These questions haunt my thoughts today. Will I ever leave? Do I really want to?

What has Annie been up to?

What has Annie been up to? It's a good question to be sure. I feel like I have been really busy, but as John and I laid in bed last night and watched Ratatouille with sleepy eyes (we both ended up falling asleep) I couldn't help but question why am I so tired from being so busy when I obviously have enough time to watch a kids movie (which I loved by the way)? **I might note that watching movies hardly, if not never ever happens on a week night.

The first reason is of course to be watching a movie on a weeknight is that I am slacking. I do in fact actually have plenty of stuff to do, namely lots of homework and research but I was so tired that I just couldn't get my strained eyes to do any type of intellectual work. Hmmm.. the questions keep on coming.

Well, I guess I'm going to have to blame it on daylight savings time (I feel like I have been out of town and trying to get back on local mode), work, work, school, more school and I am out of excuses!

Anyway.. here are a couple of things that I have been up to (warning: content may bore you out of your gourd!)


This is a flower arrangement I did last Friday for a lecture at the museum about Hindu Temples in Southeast Asia. I was pretty proud of myself for how this beauty turned out! My thanks to Jane for the inspiration!


Ok, this is one of my old friends at the Museum. He is a medieval figure from Europe that I have gotten rather attached to (no joke here)! I worked for a couple of weeks one and one with the museum's conservator on this guy to learn the proper ways to protect him!


I had to create a mount for him and then find a way to secure him to the mount. He was actually quite complicated to mount properly in order to protect him without putting stress on any parts of the object that could possibly cause it to break or crack in the future. I ended up using a thick brass wire to hold the object in place on the mount. Once I had the brass twisted and contorted how I needed it around the figure, I matched the colors of the object and painted the brass with archival paints so that the mount would blend in with the object and not distract the viewer!



This is how he turned out! Yesterday I finished up the piece by placing him in his plexi glass case. He is ready for the collection and also (sadly) no longer needs my assistance! I have been working on this object for over a month and am somewhat sad that he is completely finished and I have to let him go! I learned alot from working and conserving this peice!

Spooktacular!

Here are a few pictures of our Halloween!