dawning of the age of...

You may or may not know about my obsession with Aquarius, my beverage of choice in Japan (it's basically delicious Gatorade, with grapefruit undertones). With vending machines on literally every block, paired with Japan's heat and humidity, Aquarius became my addiction.

When I came back to the states I had to say goodbye to my beloved drink. But today, on this dreadful day of structure's exam grades, Dan surprised me with 1000 ml of Aquarius! He found it two hours away in Beaverton (...and no, he didn't drive to Beaverton just to get me Aquarius)

Dan loves it too...

...if only we could be consuming it at Arashiyama.

wishin you and yours....

a happy st. valentino's day.
make it a good one.

loving leisel

As I have expressed previously, I love having artsy friends!

Yesterday I came across my friend Michelle's etsy shop, and purchased one of each print! If you don't know Michelle, I will sum her up in two words for you: Beautiful and Gifted. She really is a fantastic artist, and a bombshell to top it off.

Anyway, back to her etsy shop, so she made a bunch of cards for Valentine's Day...but what I saw when I logged in were prints to hang in my unborn children's nursery!! This one is Dan's and my favorite (only $11 for an 8.5 x 11), and $2 per card:


I am generating such a wonderful collection of original art, and it makes me so happy.

Doppleganger

Apparently it's celebrity doppleganger week on Facebook. I don't think I have one, but here is a list of some I have heard over the years.

Dan says Zooey Deschanel, I don't think any. What's your vote? Check out the super cool poll to the right!

one of my favorite things about architecture school is....

being surrounded by creative minds! I like to pretend that I am creative, I am training myself to be a creative person, but honestly, it doesn't come naturally to me. I like math, most of my dreams are pretty ordinary, and I think very concretely (though I am fighting this tendency).

Architecture school though, I am surrounded by imaginative types, people whose minds think abstractly and differently. This I love.

This past weekend some friends from the program put all the art students to shame with an installation in the art gallery here. Triple Point- an exploration in paper. Dan and I decided to immerse ourselves in this creative process and help with the installation.

process


creators

completion

john

nico

tyler

update...

We've been busy...Dan making plans for his future career, me teaching at school and church, working and learning.

We rearranged some furniture with the help of a good friend.

I want to start working toward my Young Women's medallion.

PRI now offers a gluten free crust

My studio group is designing/building a bike shelter for a local community school

I purchased a new Google phone, and finagled a savings of $250.00

I got out of jury duty

We made masks for a masquerade. Dan said he didn't want help with his, and clearly he didn't need it.

Be prepared for sporadic posts. I'm an unreliable blogger these days.

current covets

I know I am blessed with more than I will ever need, but I want want want....


Does anyone know where I can find this clock!? I saw it on the opening credits of a Sundance show (ecoTrip) and knew I had to have it. I even emailed the network with this screen shot asking where they found it. So any of you have an idea?

Also...I want the new Mac Magic Mouse
I have just about convinced Dan to let me splurge, I am rationalizing this indulgence by the fact that I will pay no tuition this term and will earn two separate paychecks on top of apartment managing.

I clicked on a link of old blog posts (notice to your left), and found such a good string. Click here.

I like this series of posts because some are random, some serious, some funny, but most especially its a snapshot of a turning point in my life...not knowing what do to after graduation, Dan and I get engaged, I go to Cambridge, Move to San Diego, visit Dan in London.

And watching these videos made me miss our Utah friends so badly. Yes they are cheesy and weird, but I love love love it!

2009: A retrospective

2009 was a great year, I would say. I suppose though it could have been a bad year, it all just depends on what I choose to highlight. So let's make it a good year, here are some positives:

We traveled to some fun places

#1: JAPAN! I don't think I will ever be able to articulate how amazing this trip was. My dream in 2010 would be for Dan and me to acquire work visas and move.





#2 Vancouver, BC. Another great trip, this time a to a place a little closer to home, but still over the border

#3 My parents visit Eugene, we visit Crater Lake


#4 Trip to the shire
#5 Las Vegas and Coronado for xmas....visiting the Wild Animal Park
Other highlights:
Learning to screen-print and watercolor
Dan serving on the jury for a murder trial
Nicole getting engaged
Working for two professors
Eating lots of great vegan food
Exploring more of Portland
Making new friends
Indoor soccer team
Building bikes

And now for a decade retrospective (pardon my memory, it's late and I don't feel like thinking too hard)
2000: high school
2001: high school
2002: high school
2003: Graduate high school
2004: Get baptized travel to Italy, Switzerland
2005: Study abroad: France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, UK,
2006: Meet Dan. Move to San Francisco. visit Germany, Austria
2007: Graduate college, move to Boston, move to San Diego, road trip from NY to Utah. Travel with Dan to London, Paris, and Edinburgh
2008: Married! Costa Rica, St. Louis, move to Eugene, start Architecture School.
2009: see above
2010: ?

Wishing you and yours a great new decade!

I often lament that kid's toys just aren't made the way they used to be. Wooden blocks and lincoln logs have been replaced by too much plastic and scantily-dressed big-eyed dolls. Today however I discovered a toy that I know I would have obsessed over. Let me preface it with this.

When I was somewhere in the range of 8-10 years old, I created a drum kit of pots and pans...now this isn't your ordinary kid banging on the pot with a ladle, I had two pie tin symbols, tupper ware toms, and I even bent a hanger to create a working foot pedal, these pieces were all arranged properly on my Foosball table. For a few years, I begged my parents to let me play the drums and eventually they agreed to let me quit piano and bought me a real drum set.

K... so the toy Dan got for xmas this year would have been/is currently right up my ally.

Beatles Rock Band for Wii

We played for 3 hours today

Hit the jackpot in vegas

Not the megabucks jackpot, but the jackpot of cool stuff at my parents house. An enormous collection of books from the late 19th century. My great-grandpa's (pop pop's) pass port , and an amazing collection of letters.

One such letter is described as follows: "Letter signed by the Patriarch of Constantinople to Christo Milonidi (pop-pop, later to become Chris Millson)-Christ has Risen! And giving permission by the Church to go to Mt. Athos for prayers and to study the Orthodox moastic life"

repeat...

If you recall this post a month ago (though you should because nothing much has been posted in the interim) after our review in Portland Dan and I stayed in an awesome hotel, ate great vegan food, and had a nice night out on the town.

Last Thursday we relived the experience.

review in Portland (by some of the top firms in PDX)

awesome hotel in the Pearl

upon returning a 50s/60s theme party awaited us.

The term is almost done and I cannot wait for break! I can't wait to spend 24 hours a day with my one true love. Sometimes I am dumbfounded at how supportive Dan is of my school schedule, he is incredible and selfless and handsome and gush gush gush. Come the 13th, off to Vegas then San Diego to feel the warmth.

Last week, Dan and I had our dancing shoes polished and prepped to see Raphael Saadiq in Portland. It was a big deal, tickets weren't that cheap, it was a school night, but it was going to be so worth it.... Canceled! So disappointed, but because I had already planned to take the night off we had a special little date night. So what did we do instead?

Rollerskating in Springfield...the rink hasn't changed since the 70s, and it happened to be 2$ Christian Rock music night! Didn't quite make up for our loss, but definitely helped ease the pain.

busy weeks make for great weekends

We had a great weekend after a very busy week. Dan served on the jury for a two-week murder trial and I had midterms. Here's the weekend run down:

We had our studio review in Portland,




After which Dan drove up to meet me, we rented a room at a super cool hotel.



We then got to spend the evening with lovely Anna and Daniel


Top it off with terrific vegan breakfast, temple trip, and Saturday night bowling with the Cahoons

Halloween

As you can see from my previous post, I have been keeping busy, which means I have had no time to anticipate the great holiday that is Halloween. It is the waiting that makes holidays so special, and this year Halloween just snuck up on us.

Dan and I were in the studio Saturday night, when at 9:30pm I said, enough, let's go celebrate. Obviously we hadn't prepared, so we were costumeless, and we really didn't feel like going to party. So we decided to go home, put on a homemade outfit, and walk to the grocery store to buy ingredients for pumpkin cookies.

We very well could have pulled a fast one and worn our outfits from last year, but what's the fun in that? So Dan came up with a brilliant idea....to put on your clothes of one color and say you are that color!

Behold...mustard yellow and purple.

The best part is that these could potentially be real outfits, and we could potentially be a weird couple that likes to coordinate, so our response to the several, "what the hell are you supposed to be" comments was...nothing, we don't dress up for Halloween. Hahaha. Oh i love being married to Dan, I have learned the fine art of doing things just for sheer self amusement.

spreading myself thin...just how i like my pancakes

Some of you may be curious about my previous post on the excitement of graduate school opportunities, so here is some of what I was referring to.

I am currently working with two professors the first job is trying to streamline the department with using online portfolios, and encouraging students to begin getting their work online.

The second job I started last week and it entails doing some research for very interesting projects. In a nutshell, we are looking at LEED certified schools, measuring classroom performance compared to traditional, older school models. My professor is working on a few other projects as well, but I will talk about those later when things start rolling...basically it's a lot of interest in "green" architecture which I is great b/c that is why I came to Oregon.

I am really excited to be working with both of these professors, they are fantastic and I respect them both immensely, and to top it off they are both paid positions.

Also, as per encouragement from a professor, I am submitting a paper to the National Solar Conference. It is for a project myself and three other students worked on last Winter. We basically studied water trombe walls and how effective they would be for passive heating.

Also, next term I will be a graduate teaching fellow, I am really excited for this opportunity because I would like to eventually teach. GTFs at UO get all the perks...free tuition, a pay check, and health insurance.

...and on the side I am heading up Public Relations for the AIAS UO chapter.

So that's it, a lot of neat opportunities outside the normal classroom setting. The downside is personal time is now really limited, but I figure so is my time here at school, so better take advantage.

Today I was minding my own business, cutting chipboard for a model, when all of a sudden someone behind me mentions something interesting. So I quickly turn around to look, and while my body turns, my cutting hand does as well, and slices right through my finger, taking out a good chunk.

I drew a sketch of what I thought my finger would look like after healing so I could show Dan without removing my bandaid (It's the bottommost sketch).


That may be slightly exaggerated, but its still ugly.