The Mundane

When I was growing up, I always went to lessons.  There were piano lessons, voice lessons, ballet lessons.  My parents always believed in helping us to develop through lessons.  At the time, I wasn't all that concerned about seeing results.  There were many things in my life where I could measure progress, I was in school after all. 

Out of school and staying home, it's harder to see completions and clear results.  Day after day I do many of the same things.  I clean the kitchen, I cook meals, I care for Leo and myself.  There's always the mounds of laundry and the house perpetually needs cleaning, because we live here.  There aren't many clear cut finishes to things, they just continue on forever.  There will always be laundry to do.  We will always need to wake up the next day and get ourselves ready and exercise. 

I think this is challenging.  I'm one who likes to see clear cut results.  To say, I completed a degree or planned this many conferences is concrete.  There is something concrete that is completed that just doesn't happen when you clean the kitchen day after day.  The kitchen's just clean and it will most likely be messy again in a matter of minutes. 

So I ask you, how do you stay motivated to do the things you can't see results from? 

With spring, I always think of setting new goals, of trying to be better.  One of mine is to sing more and to develop my voice.  It's one of those things that if I practice today, I will not see a drastic change tomorrow but if I keep practicing it will improve.  It's just a matter of getting there.

I think that it is these mundane things we do day after day that make all the difference.  If we exercise over time, our bodies will become stronger, my voice will become stronger and I will gradually improve.  It's just staying motivated to do it day after day in between. 


What do you do to stay motivated?

The One About Pageants.

My cousin Alaynah just gave up her title as Miss Saratoga Springs.  Alaynah was crowed last year and for the full year has done volunteer work.  She spent most of her volunteering time at the local library (another cause I whole-heartedly support).  When I saw her at Christmas, she was a confident high school senior.

I hope they'll forgive me for posting her picture.

I wish that I could have been there to support her.  There are few things I enjoy more than a pageant.  

Are you shocked?  If you really knew me, you wouldn't be.  Pageants get a bad rap, I think.  There are so few opportunities in your life to practice, put your best foot forward and then perform.  I love to sing and don't get to really be on stage like that anymore.  So much preparation goes in to making you look and present yourself in the best way possible. It really is full of lessons for the rest of your life.

I did my first pageant right out of high school and continued every summer for the next few years until I got married.  I never competed in any really large pageants (although, I placed in the top 10 at the Days of 47 pageant), I never had aspirations to be Miss Utah, I just liked participating in local programs.

There are two real reasons that I loved my experiences competing in pageants.  

 There is something about being in a beautiful dress, all made up with rhinestones that makes me feel beautiful.  Participating in pageants gave me a lot of confidence in myself.  I guess acting like you are beautiful and confident somehow makes it true.  After the pageants, while attending community events, I'd put the crown on my head and I was somebody.  Somehow, when I took the crown off, I still felt beautiful and like I was somebody. 

The second reason, is that it was something that my mom and I would do together.  We'd work for the weeks before putting together costumes and dresses.  We'd talk talent and interview questions.  It was so fun to design dresses, to shop for necklaces and heels.  We had the best times preparing together.  I always received a lot of support from the rest of my family too.

We designed this one together and mom made it.

Those experiences in pageants were some very formative ones for me.  They gave me so much confidence and belief in myself, something I still carry today, even though I don't have too many opportunities to wear beaded gowns.

I am so proud and happy for Alaynah.  I'm so glad we share pageants too.

Strawberry, Mint and Pinwheels

I have never been much of a party thrower.  As I've written before, I'm more of a good food/good company person, few frills.  This time, however, was special.  My good friend Jamie recently adopted a baby.  Yay!  Another friend, Sarah, and I got together to throw her a shower.  We may have gotten a little carried away. 

Sarah, me, Jamie and baby Veda

A couple of weeks ago, I went to girls night out with some of my mom friends.  Most had ordered a cocktail and I wanted to order a fun drink too.  So, I ordered a mojito, without the rum.  It was fresh and light and I wanted to recreate it for this party and to make it a slushy.  Heber calls them Mo-Mojitos, you know Mormon Mojitos. 

Here's the recipe I came up with.  Strawberry Mint Mo-Mojitos
2 1/4 cups ice
3 fresh mint leaves
3 fresh strawberries (I'm sure you could substitute frozen)
2/3 cup Diet 7 Up
3 tbs. Limeade Juice Concentrate (straight from the can from the freezer section)
2 tsp. Sugar

Put all of the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until it's a smoothy texture.  Add more mint or sugar to taste.

 Here's some of the decor from our pinwheel themed shower.

Ribbon Mobile

Pinwheel Mobile

A little graphic I put together.  Let me know if you want a copy.

It was such a nice evening.  And the Mo Mojitos were a hit.

Leo and the New Bike

I found a bike for Leo this weekend.

I volunteered for a big consignment sale this weekend at a local church.  I never thought I would be a person to buy things second hand but he grows so fast and we can splurge and buy things that we wouldn't otherwise.

For the past few days, I thought it might be fun to try to find him a tricycle.  Can you just picture little Leo on a bike?  Well, I fought off the mobs to get this little beauty for $10.  It needs a little work, but Heber spent the day in the garage fixing it up (he loved that).  It will be bright red when he's done with it.

When Leo came downstairs and saw the bike, you should have seen his sweet little face.  It was this combination of joy and disbelief that this bike was his.  He just loved it.  I can't wait to see how he likes it all spiffed up.

In St. Peter's Square...

A new pope was elected yesterday.  I have been avidly listening to all of the news about this.  I am excited that they selected a pope from the Americas.

I know what you're thinking already.  No, I'm not Catholic but he is the leader of 1.2 billion followers.  His is a position that has influenced the world for millennium.

Oh, and because of my dad, I've always been interested in Catholicism.  There wasn't a vacation that we didn't take in a mass at a church, just for the experience and to see the beautiful and diverse buildings. There is no denying the huge impact their faith has had on the world.

I remember when Pope Benedict was elected.  I happened to be living in DC at the time and was watching then as the black smoke rose above St. Peters Basilica. 

There was a time that I was in that square.  I looked at the window where the announcement was made and craned my neck to see the paintings that looked down on the Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel.  Mom, Loni and I were having a Roman Holiday and it was one of those surreal experiences.  There are moments in my life that I never thought I would have the opportunity to experience.  It's like that moment when you are looking into the Oval Office or seeing Ephesus, it's a once in a lifetime deal.

Me in Saint Peter's Square

In ruins in ancient Rome

For forever, I had wanted to go to Europe and especially Vatican City.  I wanted to see the places and to be there.  My parents always valued travel, for this I am truly grateful.  They thought it was an important part of our development to see new places and I can say that my perspective on the world and on myself has been very deeply impacted by travel.  In my little family now, we have continued this tradition of seeing new places.  And I only hope that it will impact Leo as deeply as it did me.

Celebrating.....

It was my birthday last week.  Heber gave me a dremel for my glass toolbox.  He loved picking a tool out for my birthday and I love being able to quickly clean out my beads.  Leo helped wrap it.   

We celebrated with a weekend of fun because a birthday should be a week-long event.  Heb and I had a date in Old Town (pretty much our favorite place to go).  And we went to Annapolis, which was supposed to be a balmy 50 degrees but was very cold.  We called it early and headed home. 

It was a good low key birthday.  Would you believe that Leo took a 3 hour nap on my birthday?  Best baby ever.  Which meant that I got to make these. 

Bad Luck

I love libraries.  There are few things that are better than looking through the shelves and finding a stack to bring home with me.

Going along with that, I've had a bit of bad luck lately.  Mostly with library books.  The other is that I burned a whole in my shirt at glass this week.  I was so disappointed that I'd actually worn a shirt that I liked.  Bah.  There is totally a burn mark and hole.  Oh, and we had to replace all of our brakes at the same time on our car.  Awesome.  

 Back to the books though, I lost an audio book right after Christmas.  It fell right into the pit that was January.  Lots of things fell down that hole but most were not nearly so expensive.  I went to the library to fess up to the loss, which was incredibly embarrassing on it's own, and they told me that it would be $75 to replace it.  $75.  Really.  I didn't even listen to the whole thing.  Made it through one disk and was bored.  For that I have to pay $75.  At least it could have been a really good read, but alas.

I got online to find another copy so that I didn't have to pay the $75.  I was able to find a $25 used copy.  I'm hoping they'll accept that, otherwise, it's more money down the drain.  I have literally looked everywhere.  There is no place that it could be.

This was on the heels of the "water damage incident."  I like to read when I do my hair.  It's long, it takes a while to do so I read.  Of course I flung my hand and into the toilet it went.  It's at that point you wonder it you fish it out (because it's a library book), do you refuse to touch it and leave it be (because it's a library book)?  I fished it out. 

Epic fail.  Right?  How do you return a book like that?  "Well, I..um..dropped it in some "water."  What did I do?  Well, I ordered another on amazon and transferred the perfectly good library labels to the new book.  I then returned it without saying a word. 

Please don't tell the library on me.  I may never be able to go back and I really like that place.  And don't tell Grandma Barbara, she was a librarian for years and will have far to much experience with this. 

Also, you can stop laughing about the book in the toilet.  I'm going to go hide in shame now. 

The Hot Shop

Do smells remind you of memories?  Whenever I smell things burning, I think of fireworks in Grantsville or sitting around a campfire in Logan Canyon.  It's filled with good memories.  That same smell will now remind me of the hot shop.

For Christmas, Heber gave me a class in the hot shop, which is the full size glass blowing studio.  We are talking a kiln filled with hot glass sitting molten and fiery hot at over 2,000 degrees.   It's large scale rods handled with both hands with the possibility of making vases, cups, bowls.  

I have done this once or twice before but never week after week like at this 6 week class.  It's a slower process then expected in many ways.  Larger projects take a longer time to build up the heat to work the project.  The other unexpected is how much I enjoyed taking it slower. 

Glass is becoming less of a mystery.  Watching glass react to my actions or being able to tell when there is enough heat to work it is endlessly fascinating to me and I'm actually getting better at it.   It has become a real passion in my life (as you can tell from the blog).  I've been thinking about passions lately, they bring a lot of joy to my life.  It's one place that I can see myself progress and develop.  


Here's some of the projects I made.  It's just too bad I didn't get a chance to have a picture of me doing it.

Dr. Moretti

I was in the glass studio this week and Carol, one of my friends, said that she'd left work early that day because she had an appointment with "Dr. Moretti."  Moretti is a kind of glass.  I had one of those days this week too.  One where you just need to get away from your routines and do something else.  I don't know what it is about the end of February but it's dreary and depressing but I needed a change.  My "appointment" was in Maryland. 

I've been dying to go to the ribbon factory store for ages.  Multiple people have raved about it and so I wanted to check it out.  The problem was that it's an hour and a half away and I have a pretty wiggly 15 month old and didn't want to try the drive by myself.  

I woke up that morning and just decided that I was going to go.  So we threw on our clothes and went.

It was everything I'd hoped.  I bought way too much ribbon.  I may be stocked for years but can I pass up 100 yards of grosgrain for 2 dollars?  No.  What about the spools you buy in the store at 10 for $1.  Oh no.  It was awesome and I'm going to be making ribbon items to my hearts content for a while.