Charise

Why do you live in Alaska?

2011-11-25T02:00:00.000-08:00

I get that a lot. I ask myself that a lot. Especially when it becomes freakishly cold for November (20 below 0) and my pipes freeze. And then...my pipes unfreeze, my car starts regardless of the weather, and I look out over my mom's garden and see this:

I start to question my loyalty to Alaska again when the winds are blowing over 50 mph and blow my back door open when it has a box of books and a couch rammed up against it, and it's open for about an hour until I finally wake up to my lilly leaves rattling. But then...I drive to Anchorage and the crazy cold morning is leaving me breathless (when I'm in a warm car - much less usual than my lungs seizing up in rebellion against 15 below air).

Oh. My. Heart. So stunning. And this picture was taken with my iphone, so imagine what it was like in person. Alaska's beauty speaks to my soul. Living near a Whole Foods and an Anthropologie also speak to my soul. But for right now, my soul is content.

Question for Deep Thoughts:

Should a journal be used for venting? If you keep it to pass to future generations, should you only put in uplifting things and vent elsewhere, or do you think your posterity will appreciate the candor and profanity - I mean humanity?

Mi Familia is Spanish for Huge Thanksgiving Dinner

2011-11-25T00:58:00.000-08:00

We are so used to these huge gatherings of 40-50 people that we still make enough food for that many people. We only had 17 people for Thanksgiving this year! It was a blast though. Lots of delicious goodness. I used 3 recipes from Our Best Bites: Caramel Apple Cider, Pumpkin Toffee Cheesecake, and Candied Coconut Sweet Potatoes. The sweet potatoes were dairy and gluten free, and so divine. The cheesecake was so very not gluten and dairy free, but also mucho divine. I made up a fruit dip as well, which has been named Heavenly Clouds by the Forbes. It had lemon pudding, cream cheese, and whipping cream (from scratch, of course). The Forbes were right. It was heavenly. I just figured out what my name for it will be: Heavenly Lemonly. That's so almost cool. Here's a video of the spread:

My Aunt Susan Woster flew up from LA for a week. She is so fun to talk to - well read and funny. Grandpa Carlson asked me, "Do you know why you are so beautiful?" I said no. He said, "It's because you smile at your Grandpa." I laughed because we tend to make faces at each other across the table throughout the meals. Those expressions are definitely beauty enhancing. I should teach a class to CoverGirl models. Because, you know, they are worth it.

Anyway, the night ended with a big bang. My mom bought a ton of fireworks from Houston, because it's not illegal to buy them there. Heh heh heh. So we had a huge display of sparkling colorful grandeur. We sang God Bless America, the Cougar fight song, the Kenai fight song, the Alaskan Flag song, and then started in on Christmas carols. Connie led the singing, except when Uncle Bill graced us with his legit Blue Christmas rendition.

I'm so very thankful for family.

Question for Deep Thoughts:

How bad is it for your septic system to use paper towels instead of toilet paper (purely hypothetical)?

It's a girl!!

2008-12-17T15:35:00.001-08:00

Okay, so we already knew she was going to be a girl. Frances Noelle Carlson was born yesterday morning at 10:09am in Soldotna, Alaska. Estelle is doing fine and so is baby. Scott said that she hasn't been crying much, and he's hoping she stays that way - all of us were pretty colicky, my mom says. You can check out their pictures by clicking on their blog, Scott and Estelle, at the right side of my blog. I am going home to Alaska Thursday, and am so excited to see Little Franky! I thought I had pinkeye, which would mean I wouldn't get to hold her for a while, but I'm pretty sure it's eyeritis because it's going away quickly without meds. I'll ask my dad to check before holding her. Anyway, I'll stop blabbing and leave you with this thought provoking thought:

Is it better to be a hypocrite (someone who says they are one way or will do certain things and then acts differently) than someone who admits their faults but doesn't change them? If the end result is the same, people get hurt? Just something I've thought on for a long time. Me being the admitting type.

Infamous Cookie Weekend

2008-12-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

Cookie Weekend! It starts Friday night and ends late Sunday. Over 20 kinds of cookies are made and Leslie makes over 30 bags and then some baskets of cookies to give away. People tell her that it's ironic that a Jewish woman makes the best Christmas cookies. We listened to Christmas music, too! How cool is that? Sorry the video isn't the greatest quality, but you get to meet Leslie, the mom of the house I'm living in, and the kitchen. It's really a great kitchen, especially for LA. The cookies above are double dipped peanut butter - dark and milk chocolate - delish! Saturday night the oven door on the top oven broke. Good timing, huh? We used a bungie cord to keep it closed, but it kept overheating so we had a hard time not burning cookies. A new double oven is being installed tomorrow - the last one lasted over 20 years, not bad.

Criticizing radical Islam? I'll see you in jail!

2008-12-05T01:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, it's not a law quite yet, but the universal law against criticizing Islam, urged on by Saudi King Abdullah, has already passed in a key committee in the UN by 85-50. The General Assembly is expected to pass this law, which would force countries like ours to change our criminal code accordingly. Saudi Arabia doesn't even have religious freedom, and we are supposed to go to jail for criticizing radical Islam?!

With the recent terrorist attack in India I was watching the news for days, wondering who was responsible. Why didn't the news stations tell us that the terrorists told Indian TV that they were protecting muslim interests? That the terrorists shouted, 'Allahu Akhbar!', while shooting people? That Turkish hostages that yelled, 'We are muslim!' were spared while the Christians next to them were shot? Umm, yep, I'm not totally sure so I won't announce positively that they are radical Islamist terrorists, in fact, I'm just going to tell the world that we don't know who is responsible but that the Pakistani government condemns the attacks. Why do I have to scrounge around on the internet to find these details that I should be getting from major TV news stations and newspapers?

And get this: Husain Haqqani, the distinguished scholar presently serving as Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S., wrote in 2006 about the group which sent the killers to Mumbai :
"The most significant jihadi group of Wahabi persuasion is Lashkar-e-Taiba (The Army of the Pure) founded in 1989 by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. Backed by Saudi money and protected by Pakistani intelligence services, Lashkar-e-Taiba became the military wing of Markaz al-Dawa wal-Irshad (Center for the Call to Righteousness). Saeed created a large campus and training facility at Muridke, outside the Pakistani metropolis of Lahore." ("The 'Islamophobia' canard after Mumbai", by Joel J. Sprayregen)

Poor Pakistan, poor Saudi Arabia, let's not criticize militaristic religion that wants to wipe out everyone who believes differently, let's be sure not to offend by helping them along. This doesn't mean that all muslims are radical or that all Pakistani or Saudi's are radical. I'm sure there are many Pakistani's who have criticized radical Islam. Of course, you can't ask for proof, because they are dead.

Walt Disney World!!!

2008-12-03T02:00:00.000-08:00

These pictures are a year old, but they are so much fun I had to post them. And since I am still fighting wakefulness, even with Nyquil, I have the time to post old pictures. We have sort of a family tradition going to meet Deven and Sharyn's family and whoever else is able to make it (Susan Woster, Hans Carlson, Teddy, etc) in Orlando, rent a house, and play at DisneyWorld. Hey Marcel, we should meet you and Candice there! His family has a condo in Orlando. Anyway, this trip was so much fun as we bonded with cousins. One of my favorites was a spa day my mom and Grammie and I had. To DIE for. A full body mud wrap = $#*, full massage = $&#*, eating lunch in only a robe with no make-up on and hair crusted with mud while hotel guests go on guided tours of the spa. . . = PRICELESS.

Dirty = Clean. Seriously. It's proven.

2008-12-01T01:02:00.000-08:00

I read an article in the Economist where studies showed that people who are physically dirty tend to have a more ethical view than those that are clean. It sounds like the scriptures, right? Where bad will be made to seem good. But this is cool! So people who are physically clean have an easier time rationalizing bad stuff. There was another study where a group was shown a few minutes of 'Trainspotters' which makes most people feel disgust and was then given the ethics questionairre. The group who watched 'Trainspotters' right before took a harder line on ethics than the group that didn't. This totally makes sense to me. How many of us have seen a scary movie or talked about people doing evil things and then felt a strong need to read scriptures and completely stay away from anything not cheerful, happy, or righteous?

This raises some very interesting questions about motive. If someone does something bad multiple times, how likely is it that they don't know it's wrong? And the further someone goes down a wrong path it's likely that what he/she is doing seems more and more wrong. I mean, in the studies the people weren't even doing something wrong themselves! They were exposed to others doing wrong.

Another question. If people who are physically unclean have a lower tolerance for unethical behaviour, does that mean that people in 3rd world countries or people who are camping have an innately higher code of ethics?

In another article in the Economist studies showed that people are much more likely to litter, steal, walk across grass they aren't supposed to if their surroundings are disorderly. For example, if there is a bunch of litter and graffiti on the wall, people were more likely to throw the flyer they received on their bike on the ground. What kind of impact do our messes have at home and work and school? I wonder if there is also a correlation between messy behaviour like being late, not going to church, eating crappy, not exercising and our other behaviours or other people's behaviors. Does this include pets? I wonder if this reasoning is why the military is so strict on cleanliness. If so, what a crack up it would be to find that the behaviour of officers and soldiers is more important than the bed being made correctly. Maybe what our military needs is someone whose discipline style is closer to Joan of Arc's than the average staff sergeant.

I think the same study should be done in regards to swearing, wearing modest clothing, etc. How interesting, hmm?

Post reading is optional.

2008-11-26T03:56:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends, of whom there are so very many, please do not feel obligated to read all of my posts as they are lengthy, wordy, and full of wit and wisdom. . . and long. I will not quiz you as to their content unless I am particularly proud of a pithy turn of phrase. . . or whatever. To quote Steven, if you say you looked at my blog I will not say, 'Prove it!'

Commuting. It's totally cerebral.

2008-11-26T03:24:00.000-08:00

After almost two months of commuting an hour every day (which for LA is REALLY good), I finally signed up on audible.com. Leslie, the mom of the family I live with, listens to at least two books a month and gave me the idea. I can't handle fiction books on CD, but AHA! books are great. I started listening to Thomas Paine's 'The Rights of Man'. Amazing. He's writing a response geared toward George Washington that is a rebuttal to Edmund Burke's book on the French revolution. Dang, the damage people could do back then with words. I find myself, after a particularly cutting remark on Burke, chanting, 'Served! Served! Served!' Burke seemed to think that individuals didn't have rights, that the English government didn't think they had rights, because in 1680 there was a revolution and the people signed away their rights and their posterity's rights. Good one. I'd go for that. Thanks great-granddad. :) Paine goes through Burke's book and points out all of the errors, omissions, and flat out lies. I love it when you get something like that, especially in today's society, because most of what I read and hear show a certain point of view until I read something that discredits that point of view and it makes so much more sense.

I was thinking that it might be this way for people who are converts to church. They are taught certain teachings their whole lives, and they aren't necessarily bad teachings, they usually make sense. And then they hear the truth and it just rings true. 'Aha! That's what I've been missing my whole life!!' :)

'Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell

2008-11-26T03:03:00.000-08:00

This man is amazing. Have you read his other books, 'The Tipping Point' and 'Blink'? These are some of my favorite AHA! books. You know, books where you're reading and you suddenly have a completely new perspective on something and your jaw drops and you say, 'Aha!' Well, I usually say, 'Oh my gosh, that is so interesting! I never thought of it that way!' Over and over I say it with his books.

One of my favorite points is that there is no such thing as a person being completely self-made, overcoming all obstacles on his/her own to achieve greatness. Timing is crucial. Lucky breaks are huge. For instance, it is rare for professional hockey or soccer players to be born in the second half of the year. They start programs while young, and the kids who are half a year or more older than the other kids are put in the advanced programs and so get more coaching and more practice, and it just snowballs. A large majority of professional athletes are born in the 3-4 months right after the cut off date of kids programs. So if you want your future kid to play hockey, plan some great 'together' time in the spring.

This book made me think of Heavenly Father's plans for us and how he sets things up so we have opportunities, but it's up to us to take them. All of the people who have been crazy successful are talented and smart, but they worked their tails off to get to where they are. This book also talks about the 10,000 hour rule - how it takes that many hours to truly become an expert on something. Bill Gates had 10,000 hours of programming in before his big break, and the Beatles had the hours before they went huge, and Mozart had 10,000 hours of playing and composing before he composed what critics consider to be masterpieces. How cool is that? Even child prodigies follow the 10,000 hour rule. So any of us can be amazing if we choose to work that hard - it may not follow that we'll have opportunities to change the world or for fame, however. While reading I was also reminded of a quote by Sun Tzu, a Chinese philosopher, who said, 'Opportunities multiply as they are seized.' I love that quote. And I love Malcolm Gladwell's books.

If conspiracies are crazy, call me crazy.

2008-11-26T02:47:00.000-08:00

But I'm not crazy, because I take medicine. :) I watched the movie JFK on TV on Nov. 22nd, the anniversary of his death. Have any of you seen that? Dang. Way good movie. I really didn't know anything about his death, except that in school we learned that Lee Harvey Oswald did it. And I should know better by now, than to believe the history we're taught in schools. I got online after watching this movie and started reading up on the movie's producer Oliver Stone, and his main source of information, Colonel Fletcher Prouty. Prouty has a book that he wrote with what he did and learned about from the end of WWII through Vietnam. I read quite a bit of it. It's a totally different version of history than I've read before, and I've read a lot of different books and articles. Part of me wants to be all skeptical like, yeah right, conspiracies that big don't happen. But when that much money and power is involved, it's pretty naive to think that it's impossible. I don't know what really happened - duh, most people don't - but I highly recommend the movie and/or Prouty's book. If only to learn about how our government found the magic bullet, capable of until then impossible feats.

From Work to Play

2008-11-26T02:42:00.000-08:00

You may think I'm magic, but I'm actually not. I'm just a great user of space. Pristine, uncluttered space at that. Within minutes I can alter this side of my room from a dutiful work area to a play area. You wonder how I can do this so quickly? I will never tell. Mwah hah hah hah.

Prop 8 = Rights to H8 those with different beliefs, apparently

2008-11-09T22:13:00.001-08:00

My church building is in the same complex as the LA temple. As I drove in today there were about 12-15 protesters walking away from the gate and about 7 protesters at the gate. They waved hello to me and I smiled and waved back. This picture is from when I was leaving church. It's at the front of the temple on the busiest street. This protest was very mild compared to earlier this week. People are blaming the LDS church. Blame has such a negative connotation. If we are a big reason why Prop 8 (anti-gay marriage) passed, then it's an honor.

People are so ignorant. The LDS church did not donate $20 million. Members may have donated millions, but there is no way to track that except by an anti prop 8 website that is trying to figure it out - no other religious donations, just members of the LDS church. LDS people are 2% of the population of CA and are absolutely entitled to their opinions, beliefs, and ability to vote accordingly.

I had a miserable experience in class on Thursday morning. During a break in class the girl next to me asked if we had heard about the lawsuit against prop 8. She said that 'they' said it would most likely be overturned. I said, 'Really? I read that it most likely wouldn't because it's already been tried in states like Oregon.' Then a discussion started about prop 8 where about 5 of us were talking. Everyone is talking like, of course everyone else agrees with me, because after all, this is an art school in LA. I wasn't blatant about my beliefs or anything. Then a guy walks in and starts railing against prop 8. I understand him being upset - he's gay and entitled to his opinion. It was when he started saying things like, 'They would rather see a priest rape a child than let gays get married' or 'They would rather see people die on the ground than let us get married' that I felt like I didn't have a choice. You know I love a good debate, but I seriously didn't want to get into this one, but I felt like someone needed to stand up for the other side. So I said, 'You know, I don't think that people were thinking about those issues when they were voting on prop 8.' He kept saying there was definitely a link between them. I said that there was no correlation, that there is no way a person can say that if someone voted for prop 8 they also are okay that children get raped and want people to die in Iraq. I said that it was a fallacy. He wouldn't let it go and said that people needed to be open-minded, and that even 40% of democrats weren't open-minded on this and that he is just so upset. I said that if you want to be open-minded you can look at this from their point of view - that many people have grown up with the Bible and other scriptures, that their church leaders have stated that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that we should understand their rights to their beliefs. I said that for many people it was a moral issue. Of course, I'm never allowed to complete a sentence without being interrupted a ton as more people came in at the end of the class break. I was getting dirty looks, rolled eyes, people shaking their heads at my 'bigotry'. This one girl said, 'It is NOT a moral issue! It's NOT!" I said, 'Yes, for some people it is.' She shakes her head like she can't believe how stupid and close-minded I am. Hello!! She's the one stating absolutes that are obviously not true!! Then another lady says, 'You can't legislate morality.' I said the entire criminal code is legislating morality. The gay guy says that you have to separate church and state and I said that church needs to be separate from government, but you CANNOT take morality out of government. He goes on about the priests raping children, and how he has a right to a family, and then class starts.

He starts crying. He wasn't trying to draw attention to himself. He was trying not to cry. I felt SOOO bad. My purpose in joining the debate was not to make someone feel that bad. After the class, like 45 minutes later, I go up to him and I started crying. I said I was sorry I let things escalate and that I just didn't want him to think that people that voted for prop 8 are gay haters or bad people. He said he wasn't mad and that he doesn't really believe that people are okay with rape or people dying. We then spent like 30 minutes discussing gay marriage, and he explained how there were precedents for being gay:
- Roman soldiers used to buy children and used them as prostitutes. Being gay was totally
okay for the Greeks and Romans. (Child rape - where have I heard that before?)
- Eve was created for Adam just to make it easier for procreation (I didn't ask him how it
would be accomplished otherwise).
- The Bible doesn't state anywhere that it isn't okay for people to be gay. He said there was
one line that said something about a man lying with. . . but it doesn't say a man shouldn't be
with a man! (I have no idea what version of the Bible he has, because it is VERY clear in
mine in 5 or 6 places that God says not to do it, that it's an abomination).
Anyway, you get the idea. I wasn't able to rebut anything that he said, he just talked right over me. So we left class as okay with each other, but the rest of the class thinks of me as the bigot who made the gay guy cry. How is it okay for him to totally bash on people and make wild assumptions but it not be okay for people to keep beliefs that have been considered truth for thousands of years? And I don't buy the whole, it's the same as women's suffrage or interracial marriage. They say to compare apples to apples. Don't make assumptions that people are going to rape animals if prop 8 doesn't pass. Okay, apples to apples, marriage has always been between a man and a woman. Even throughout history when polygamy happened (like with Abraham, King David, mormons, you know, really BAD people) it was never same sex couples. This is because marriage was instituted by God, not man, and it is used to strengthen families. No prop 8 people say that the divorce rate is so high, marriage isn't a big deal anyway, that there are so many single parent families that show that families can survive something different from the ideal. Studies and experience show that families with a mother and a father ARE the ideal for children. Just because people can't always reach the ideal doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for it.

I have vented enough for now, I suppose. I'm sure I'll have more as I continue to live in this liberal, open-minded place called LA, where everyone is welcome as long as you think the same way. I need to tell you, though, that the family I live with is very respectful of my views even though they don't agree. There are people like them out there. :)

Art Projects

2008-11-09T22:06:00.000-08:00

Hmm, yes, these are some of the amazing art projects I have done. As you can tell, I am going step by step. First step color wheel, next step tinting, shading, and toning colors, next step Mona Lisa. Or am I missing some steps? A word of caution: perfection is in the eye of the beholder, and the beholder should never look too closely as a matter of principle.

Zsa Zsa the hairdresser

2008-11-09T21:59:00.000-08:00

You may have seen these pictures on Millie's blog, but I felt the need to post them here as well. For the first time I gave someone a weave! Actually, it's the first time I've ever dyed anyone's hair. I didn't tell Millie that. :) There were moments when we were pretty worried it was going to look horrific, but the inch long roots don't show too bad! And the color is FABulous. Millie is lying by the pool at my house, hoping the foils will help reflect more light onto her skin. Wait, where's the umbrella drink?!

Pete and Becca Snedecor

2008-10-26T17:02:00.000-07:00

Pete and Becca Snedecor are in my ward in LA! And Millie is not. But she is wearing a gorgeous dress. Pete and Becca moved to LA this May after Pete graduated from BYU-Idaho in construction management. Pete spent the summer in 2006 with Scott, Steven, and I starting the log home. Working with Scott and Steve closely all summer deserves a medal. I now bestow Pete with the 'Order of the Bear'. This is appropriate as he spotted the first bear to ever walk across our backyard (that we've seen). He was acting all cool, like it was the same as a moose(which we do see ALL the time in AK), and said, 'oh, there's a bear.' We all freaked out and ran for cameras because it was a BEAR! And it was a big brown bear!! Then Pete realized he could get excited without seeming like a tourist.

Today was my first day in my real ward. The first Sunday I went to the Westwood 1st ward, and I'm in the 2nd. It has a lot of people my age actually, and almost all of them have recently had babies. I guess they had 22 babies born in one year. This is great! Classes should never be boring now. I need to update my kid-bribing bag for younger kids.

Bonding with the Maw girls

2008-10-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

I have some great friends in Kenai, but some of my greatest friends are Alyssa and Haley Maw. We hang out and go cayaking, bake cookies, go berry picking, ride and drive the lawnmower (before it exploded), make pies (Holly Maw and I did the crust, which miraculously turned out well even though we mixed it to death), and do pedicures. These are pictures of us doing a foot mask, which Alyssa hated, but was a good sport about. I think their favorite thing is driving the lawnmower, but I don't have any pictures of that. Gol' darnit!

I can see Russia from my house!

2008-10-23T22:38:00.000-07:00

Kidding! That's not Russia, it's Hope. Becca, Lacey, Steven and I drove up in the mountains in the town of Hope and took pictures of this breathtaking view. The blurry one would have been spectacular, but I have a problem called 'shakyhanditis'. It turns out that it's a terminal disease, meaning I'll have it when I die, and all the way up to my death as well. I need to get a camera that can help fix that.

Naked Picture

2008-10-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Quite the catchy title, eh? Yep, that's what we do in fashion design school. Draw naked people. From life. Kidding! Not until the 3rd quarter. :) Actually, regular people are 7-8 heads high, but fashion illustrations are drawn 10 heads high to better show off the clothes. I have never sketched before, so I am struggling with my fashion sketching class. I am improving however, from 2.5 hrs per drawing down to 35 minutes. We have to turn in about 20 sketches per week, learning new angles and poses each week. This is my 2.5 hour sketch. Crazy, I know. But my instructor said it was perfect, and she didn't say that to anyone else in the class! I refuse to think about the fact that everyone else probably spent a max of 15 minutes per sketch as it has no bearing on this topic.

Hiking Skyline

2008-10-23T22:25:00.000-07:00

These are from last summer, but are still on my camera, so I will share them with the world!! Or the few people who look at my blog. :) Becca, Lacey, and I hiked to the top of Skyline while it was sprinkling, and the top was incredibly windy! And so lovely - the view, I mean.

Homer: Future home to a design studio of Charise Marie

2008-10-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

Homer is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I am seriously thinking of living there part of the year (no, not the winter, probably road construction season). I would design different lines under my main Charise Marie brand and oversee my online businesses. I would sell my products at my favorite store in Alaska - White Earth Tile/Lazarette. I need to have Marcel design my logo. These are pictures from just before I left Alaska this September, and also from last summer when Chrystal and Mariah came to visit. We were eating at 'Fat Olives', an awesome restaurant. And my cousin Afton, one of my absolute favorites, is to my right, then Aunt Christine, Chrystal, Mariah, Lacey, Jess, and Becca is taking the picture. That was a way fun trip.

Seward in Summer

2008-10-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

Old pictures for you! These were taken this summer in Seward. Uncle Eric and Jennifer Woster had ridden their motorcycles up the Alcan from San Jose, CA, and we went touristing with them. Do you like that word, touristing? I just made it up, and I predict it will be in Webster's by 2020. Anyway, it was Uncle Eric's birthday. We went to Exit glacier. Isn't Alaska just gorgeous? And Millie and Lacey too, of course, especially in their superhero poses.

Madame Secretary

2008-10-23T21:51:00.000-07:00

I went to a book signing yesterday for Madeline Albright's 'Memo to the President'. She spoke for about an hour on foreign policy and answered questions, and then signed books. She is so amazing. I think I was the only Republican there. :) I think you can always learn from others, even if you don't agree with them. But in terms of foreign policy, I agree with her more often than not. I was standing next to some lady in the entertainment industry who is apparently somewhat famous. As we were waiting for books to be signed, all these ladies around me were asking her questions and stuff. I've noticed that people in LA are more starstruck, or more star hungry, than in other places I've lived. They were making a big deal out of this lady, and really, what was more special about her than other people? All I noticed was that she was SO fidgety during Albright's speech and kept messing with her incredibly ratted hair. But I must admit, if I was standing next to someone truly famous, I'd be so impressed and trying so hard not to show it. :)

Walking distance from my house - if anyone actually walked in LA, that is.

2008-10-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite shops in the world are less than a mile away - so, like, 15-20 minutes in traffic. Why don't people in LA walk? It could be faster than driving. Anyway, the above pictures are some hints and you can guess. What was that? Banana Republic? Shya right, that was so last decade. I live right down the street from Anthropologie!!

My bedroom

2008-10-23T14:06:00.001-07:00

As you can see, my scriptures are in a handy location. That's because I'm so spir'chal. And my sewing machine is all set up - except somehow I am missing all of my presser feet. Roar! You can also see my bolts of muslin, textbooks and such that I carry in my huge tote to class every day. And my rulers, and sketchbooks, and painting supplies, etc. But not my sister pictures. I leave that at home. My room also has a walk in closet, a TV/DVD player, and a bathroom with originial built in cabinetry. It's so awesome. I will take pictures of the rest of the house later.

Patternmaking

2008-10-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

My dress form is named Becca, as you can tell. This is supposed to be a size 10, but HELLO!, it's more like a 6, so I named it Becca. I am draping my front bodice basic block, from which I will use to create lots of variable patterns. It's my favorite class! I have a fun group: Carlos, from industry sewing, Hannah, and oops, I just forgot her name. We're really close, though. :) Our classes are in these big lofts in the fashion district in downtown LA. I love it! Our school security guards tell us not to walk alone, even during the day, and to have a guy with us if at all possible. Sounds safe, right? It doesn't seem unsafe during the day, with tons of people walking all over. But I will remain wary of bad guys, and keep my kubaton close, and my cell phone closer.

Industry Sewing

2008-10-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

These are the industrial sewing machines we use. The blond is Whitney from Portland. She likes my idea of rolly bags for design students.
This is in my industry sewing class. Carlos in to the left - we have patternmaking together as well. Here they are copying pattern pieces onto special paper. We are really starting with the basics, but that's okay, because I have never used an industrial sewing machine before and it's taking some time to get used to. The pedal is much more touchy, and it can go VERY fast. I'm also learning all sorts of little details, like what sorts of seams low budget garments have versus better quality and couture. Apparently you have to design with the type of seam and number of seams in mind - otherwise it may not fit your market.

2008-10-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

So this is where I go to do homework. Not really, I mainly do homework at home, but it is pretty cool. Maybe I'll run into Lauren from 'The Hills' there one time. Oh, be still my heart! At orientation we were told that MTV might be there from time to time, and that the floor where our sewing and patternmaking classes usually are is closed for filming. They wouldn't say what for, but I googled it, and Project Runway is being filmed at my school for half of next season before they go back to New York. So I'm pretty much a celebrity. . . Why are you laughing at me? I totally am.

I am the least fashionable person on campus. It's kind of fun actually. I'm thinking I might start adding really dowdy things to my wardrobe. And then I would be the next 'It' girl. Ugh! That's so how my life goes.

I will post pictures that I have taken later - I haven't even taken any yet! I went to an art fair on Saturday that was really fun. If only I had the space and money. I also went to help my ward send letters out to people regarding Proposition 8 - where CA voters are voting whether to add gay marriage to the state's constitution. I met people at a house in 90210 where the guy is my age and he has an online business selling 'gently used' Louis Vuitton stuff. I went to Stake Conference yesterday, and the building was gorgeous! I don't know when it was built, but it had a huge stain glass window and a lot of wood details.

I had my first LA carwash on Saturday!! It was amazing. For $16 they wash your car by hand, vacuum the inside, dry it by hand, use Windex on the inside and outside of all windows, use Windex on the outside of your car and rims, and wipe down the inside of your car. They even mopped up my floor, which hasn't been done in over a year. I LOVED it!

So anyway, I will take some pictures and post them for you to see. None of me yet, though. I just started at Gold's Gym in Hollywood with a personal trainer (it's part of their package) and am starting my LA transformation. From now on I will simply refer to it as 'le transformatione!'

My very first blog post!

2008-08-29T01:26:00.000-07:00

I love looking at my siblings and relatives blogs, so I must reciprocate. I will be adding more later - I have to find some pictures and stuff.