Thanksgiving 2012

Christmas came early this year! Blake and I decided to get our camera before Christmas so we could document all the festivities.

Thanksgiving was really magical this year.  Eryn got home from her mission on Tuesday!  I am beyond grateful to have such wonderful in-laws.  Our families live less than a mile away, so we get to bounce back and forth between them.

In-laws: Jordan & Eryn

Seesters

Blake offered to cook the turkey this year!  He spent the past week researching how to deep fry a turkey and he totally pulled it off (it really freaked me out when the hot oil bubbled over...but nothing exploded!)  I never dreamed deep fried turkey would be so delicious.

I love his tiny bum!

I have felt a lot of love and appreciation for family this week.  I have also felt a deeper desire to simplify my life and focus on relationships, spreading some love, and enjoying the moment.  Life is really, really beautiful right now.  I am so grateful for the blessings and opportunities Blake and I have right now.

Also, this picture kills me... check the crotch on that leotard!

Kindness

Kindness 
begins
with 
me.


I have taught primary for the past year and a half- which means I never get to go to Relief Society.  I have a teaching partner now, so every other Sunday I get to go to R.S.  WOW  I didn't realize how much I missed it until today.  The lesson was so simple and perfect- Kindness.  



I have been allowing frustrations with recent district budget cuts, rowdy students, and a lack of efficient classroom management to turn me into a grump.  I have been especially crabby to Blake and my students.  Today I remembered that I get to choose how I act.  I can put the person before the situation.  I can be genuine.  I can be thoughtful.  I can try to be patient.  As Maya Angelou said, I can be "a rainbow in someone else's cloud".  I can take a chill pill before I overreact to the student who "falls" out of her chair in the middle of my lesson EVERYDAY and takes 5 min. to get back into it.

Blake and I had a really great talk with our Bishop today about tithing, forgiveness, and blessings.  He is a great example of kindness, and I'm really grateful for our ward.

Families R Forever

I love (and wanted) simple, honest photos but I'm so awkward when I'm in front of a camera and not wearing spandex.  Sometimes it's hard to be natural in front of a camera.  It's easy to be obnoxious and creepy in front of the camera, but being real is tricky.

 That's why friends who have nice cameras and a good eye for composition are amazing!  The Packards met us this morning and took some family photos (little kitty tit-mouse included).  It was quick, and fun to hang out with the Packards.   I really appreciate when friends are willing to share their talents/kindness. It's always inspires me and really makes me feel blessed.  Our engagement photos were taken by friends too- and we really like them much more than our professional bridal and wedding photos.

I love my cat.  I love Blake.  I love nice people.

I love the garage sale-ing  that happened after photos today.  Thank heavens for snow birds and retirement communities.

Thai Steak Noodle Salad- and the cream of the crop...Yeahhhhhh

Blake and I went to Huston's for our anniversary in May, on the recommendation of a friend.  Blake got the best steak of his life, and I got the Thai Steak Noodle Salad.  It was the greatest.  I've been dreaming of it ever since.  I finally decided to look up a recipe and make it!  

via Savory-Bites

I found one at Savory-Bites , who adapted their recipe from another website and so on... Anyway, this ended up tasting a lot like the original.  This recipe is really easy, and I think it tastes just as good without the meat if your into that sort of thing. Or marinate some chicken in the salad dressing, and grill it- that would be good!  

I played around with the dressing a little.  My version serves 4, with some leftovers...so maybe it serves 6.

INGREDIENTS

·         Dressing

·         3 tablespoon lime juice

·         1.5 tablespoons fish sauce

·         2 tablespoon water

·         2 large clove garlic, minced

·         2 teaspoons Sriracha or similar chile paste (how spicy do you want it??? Add more!)

·         1.5 tablespoon light brown sugar
1   1/4 tablespoon creamy peanutbutter

·         2 tablespoon neutral flavored oil (like canola or grapeseed)

·         ***I wonder what this would taste like with coconut oil??  Probably pretty great.

·         Salad

·         1/2 pound skirt steak or flank steak, or a similar thin cut

·         2 ounces udon-like noodles, soaked until soft in boiling water, cut into pieces if very long, and chilled

·         3 large handfuls of spinach

·         1/2 a large head of cabbage- shredded

·         3 thinly-sliced radishes

·         The shavings of one small carrot (lol sounds like a potion)

·         1 cup diced mango

·         1/3 cup seeded, diced tomato

·         2 thinly-sliced scallions

·         3 tablespoons toasted, crushed peanuts

·         3/4 cup chopped cilantro

·         1/3 cup basil

  

     Directions  as written by Savory Bites

     Mix all of the dressing ingredients together. Set aside while you are preparing the salad.  **I do this on low, low heat on the stove, to melt the peanut butter a little.

     Season the beef with salt and pepper and sear in a hot skillet (preferably cast iron) for 2-3 minutes per side, or until medium rare. What I like to do is sear the whole entire thing on both sides and then transfer it onto a cutting board. Let it sit for a bit before slicing it into strips. At this point, the meat will still be too rare for consumption so return it back to the skillet for some more searing.

     Let the meat rest for a few minutes, then slice it and toss with 2-3 tablespoons of the dressing.  Then cook to your heart's content.

     Meanwhile, prepare the noodles. The key is to not overcook them or else the texture will just get really mushy. After, rinse the noodles in cold water. Mix the remaining salad ingredients (except the peanuts) in a large bowl, add dressing, and toss in the steak. Mix until everything is well coated. Serve on a plate and sprinkle with the chopped peanuts.

    This stuff is soooooooo good the next day,  I ate it for breakfast.

Us and Stuff

Random photos from the past few months.

Vegas road trip for cousin's wedding...but no photos of anything to do with the wedding.  Forgot Blake's suit pants, so we (he) took an H&M detour. Buffets are not so great.  I'd rather spend a lot of money on one really good plate of food.  The buffet churros and soft serve were good though.

That's a 50 lb. box of almonds in the back seat.  Blake's uncle is some sort of almond lord in California.

New art for the walls.

 Trip to see my sister and her baby.  Fall break!!! 

 Fabric stores in San Fransisco. Cheap.  Found some great spandex for Halloween costume.

We walked to get some frozen yogurt, and made some Andy Goldsworthy-ish art.

The town she lives in is so cute.  I really fell in love with it, and this horse.  But seriously, I'm crossing my fingers.  Hopefully Blake can land a job somewhere in the area when he graduates.

Not pictured: lots of cooking (some healthy, some really unhealthy), dinner and a great catch up with Shanna, the really outrageous bros who sat in front of me on the flight who (every 10 min.) called out "water cooler" to their friend sitting 15 rows back.

Sunday Goods

These videos were a good way to start my morning and a new week (epic music aside):
 

I have been working for a long time to piece together my understanding of what womanhood is- especially what womanhood in the church is supposed to look like for me. This is one of my greatest questions and struggles. Sometimes (a lot) I get so caught up in comparing myself with other women (and men), that I end up feeling really bitter, or resentful, or super prideful.

 Why not just be inspired and motivated by the great and varied examples of womanhood around me? I want to accept and support every individualized version of womanhood, because we are individuals...and hating on, or being jealous of one woman's reality of womanhood won't bring me any closer to realizing the truth for myself. I have so many wonderful friends and relatives. They are all different and they all have different paths and purposes.

 I'm so grateful for the examples of strength, creativity, ingenuity, generosity, determination, compassion, self-love, selflessness...

 I'm especially grateful for the ones that are brave enough to share their failures and insecurities, because that vulnerability is beautiful and honest and it helps me to be more accepting of myself as a whole, imperfect woman.

 

Word Bednar.  "Everything that invites and entices us to do good, and to be good is from God."  So, maybe stop worrying about where the thought comes from, and start acting on it?!

old work

My mom got me to finally move the rest of my stuff out of her house.  I found a pile of my old college artwork.

I've been thinking a lot about creating lately.  I've been thinking about opening myself to inspiration, and acting on inspiration.  Even though I teach art, I have made very little art since college.  I mean, very little of my art, or art for myself.

Mostly, I am scared to create art, but maybe part of it is that I am interested in too many media. I don't practice and work in one area. I sew and dabble in crafts, but it's hard to have the courage and focus to actually create something meaningful.

  It's hard for me to sit down and even practice creating art.  I get a new sketchbook and it stays blank.  I often use the excuse that I don't have inspiration, I don't know where to start.

I'm taking small steps toward practicing and working. Working as a way to invite inspiration.  Part of that is showing and sharing my work, because that can be really, really scary.  So, I'll be posting more of my work along with more of my ramblings.

I'm enjoying these

1. I've been waiting for this to hit Blockbuster Express, and it did not disappoint:



2.  Now that I finally have vision insurance, I got new glasses! It's been three years since I got a new pair.  I'm loving these.

3. FALL BREAK! It's like spring break, but better, because it's in the fall (which I looooove).  I get to go visit S.F. and Natty.  I was seriously giddy when the final bell rang.

10-7-12

As I listened (well, listened/graded artwork) to conference today, two things really stood out to me.

 1. Today I got decided to keep a record of the things I am grateful for.  Be it great or small, writing the things I am grateful for may come in handy on the days I'm being a butt-head and not feeling so grateful.  So here goes- some of the things I am grateful for right now:

2. Acting on inspiration. Details later, sleep now.

Forgiveness / Storycorps

Blake's Art

Monster drawing found on my computer.

Wedding Dress

I finished the wedding dress I have been working on this summer!

Check out my "sister blog" for more photos/details.

On my mind...

Old News?

I started watching So You Think You Can Dance on Hulu. I know it's been on for a while, but I am brand new to this season. Some of these dancers are true artists. They put so much soul and truth into their performances. I particularly loved this one. Ok this song is awful, but he is so expressive. So cool.

indecisive

My desktop has been littered with photos like these:




I want a cut, but can't decide what would work best with my thin/fine hair and what I want to commit to.

Creating

I have been really thinking about creating and why I do and don't create.


(Helen Frankenthaler, color field painter)

A quote:

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.
C. S. Lewis

An inspiring story (I posted this once on my old blog, but I love it a lot so here goes):

Joanna Goddard, Blogger/Writer, A Cup of Jo

"When I was in my early 20s, I felt unmoored. After college, I moved to New York City by myself. My apartment had mice, I was very single, and I was so broke that I would skip getting tomatoes on my bagel because they cost fifty cents extra. I was trying to have my Mary Tyler Moore moment, but wasn’t sure how. Was this it?

"Then, one day, I magically stumbled upon the best advice I’d ever heard. In a blog interview, photographer Stephanie Congdon Barnes said: 'You can have the life you want.' It was just the encouragement I needed. You can create the life you want. You can figure out what exactly that means to you, and instead of getting caught up in an imagined rat race, you can work hard, grow in your career, spend time with your family, ride your bike by the river, eat too much spaghetti, have friends over for wine and cheese, go on vacation and take funny photos… I suddenly felt like it was possible. I could carve out the life I wanted. Ten years later, I remember those beautiful words almost every day."

Some projects:

Blake and I have been slowly getting our little house decorated and furnished. We got this Ikea couch on craigslist for $35 and I found some cheap fabric and recovered the cushions. I think I liked the fabric better in theory, and may re-cover them with something new later in the year.



Some family portraits I worked on while taking on-line driving school. I made one of myself too, but I need to rework it. The cat is a 100% rip off of an Andy Warhol drawing I love.


Working on a wedding dress for one of Blake's childhood friends- SCARY!

30 days of creativity

I found this great challenge called "30 Days of Creativity".

I have been making a lot of art this year- but it's all student based for school. I haven't had a lot of time to create. Scratch that. I haven't made it a priority to create...because I had plenty of time to finish all four seasons of Felicity. The real problem is that I just feel "stuck" I have tons of pictures of things I want to create but I don't. Part of it is fear I guess. Anyway, it's time I stop spending time collecting pictures and ideas of things to create and actually CREATE!

I like it, because it encourages you to create what YOU want to. There are really no guidelines...other than make or create something every day, for 30 days. I am setting a time limit that it has to take at least 30 min.

More details/inspiration found here.

I'm starting yesterday, because I actually created something and I want to start the challenge off on the right foot. I helped my Kristine start sewing a pair of pants. We worked on them for a couple of hours and will finish up next week. Here is the pattern we are using:


I altered the pattern so that the pants fit closer to the body and taper in at the ankle.

Family Expansion

The newest addition to the smith-hill family:

Blake got her (him?) for our one year anniversary. She is a spaz, but I am surprised and how much I love her. I always made fun of enthusiastic pet parents, but now I'm on my way to becoming one. I could not sleep the first night we got her, because I was nervous that she was feeling lonely and scared after being ripped from the comfort of her mother's teat.

It's good for me to be focused on giving love to another creature. For example, first year of marriage and first year of teaching- easily the hardest year of my life. I have discovered that I am really selfish, and pretty prideful and stubborn. These things really stir up a bitter and dark heart, and I've been wallowing in it! Slowly, I am getting to know myself better. I feel like I am beginning to understand (however minutely) love. Love cause me to grow...and there are a lot of growing pains. Growing is good. When I sacrifice my petty-ness (?) to do something for Blake, or my students or even my cat I feel so much better. I feel more alive. I feel more love and acceptance for myself.

Word

This is good to remember as I finish up the semester.

Thursday, May 10th

Tonight I went to the MJHS choir concert. Natalie is the director. It was interesting to see some of my art students in a different setting. I got emotional watching them sing and awkwardly dance to "I'm a Believer". It was so...raw? It was just honest, pure tween awkwardness and I felt so much love for these kids. I also felt old. I'm not the one up on stage anymore, I'm no longer the student. It's a scary and comforting thought.

I get caught up in jr. high sometimes, and I start acting like I'm one of the students (Ex: I get caught up in the power struggle, rather than taking control of the classroom. I get emotionally involved). That's when I get in trouble- when I loose my sense of purpose in the classroom. Tonight I felt so proud of the students. I remembered my focus and purpose in the classroom: To recognize and encourage student potential. To be a teacher that provides structured and spontaneous interactions with art.

March 4 2012