A Horrible Wife

I used to try really hard to make balanced meals, lots of vegetables, etc. Lately I have been doing a lot less cooking, it just takes so much time and I haven't made it a priority. So we have been eating more pizza and frozen food than ever before. I just went to the store and probably 90% of what I bought came from the frozen food section and it barely fit in our freezer. I keep telling myself it's just for a few more weeks, but I am scared I am starting a really bad habit. If Brandon and I are starting to look a little wider, now you know why.

Addiction Requirements

Brandon has been giving me a bad time lately because in the past few weeks I have watched almost 2 seasons of Smallville. Yeah, I know, who would actually admit to that? Cheesy lines, bad acting, but I watch it anyways. I just wanted to find a show that's not too trashy. And I don't have the patience for 24, you have to wait so long for a conclusion. Brandon teases me that I am addicted to it, much like my many many friends who have experienced the 24 addiction. However, I just want to clarify to anyone who might hear this rumor, it is untrue. I do watch hours and hours of Smallville, but I assure you it is not because of an addiction, but out of complete boredom. I have no one to talk to while spending hours a day with just paper and pens. I could become like Beatrice Potter and talk to my drawings, hoping they will come to life, but I am saving that for a last resort.

New Post

For those of you who have given up on checking Brandon's blog because he never writes anything, he actually posted a new one and it's really funny. I have watched the video clip close to 20 times now and I think I have all the songs memorized.

Saints in Ghana Art Show

Some of my friends from BYU are putting on an art show in the HFAC. Tomorrow night there is an opening reception from 6:30-8:30pm. They did portraits of people they met while they were in Ghana for 2 months. There are some really great pieces, so if you live in the area you should check it out!

Winter

One of the best parts about winter time is the gallons and gallons of Stephens Mint Hot Chocolate I will consume. Costco's 4lb tubs are the way to go. Tis the season.

Rocky vs. Rocky

Brandon and I have been on a Rocky Road ice cream trend lately. It is SO good. We realized there are some conflicting opinions however. I think that the best Rocky Road is BY FAR Breyers all natural. He likes Dreyers. Breyers has a smooth marshmallow creme instead of chunky stale marshmallows. And there are a lot more nuts in Breyers than your average rocky road (my favorite part), not only that, but they are chocolate covered. Brandon doesn't like the creme though and calls it goop. And he wishes it didn't have nuts in it at all. For something that we seemed to agree so well on, we are definitely at opposite sides of the rocky road fence.

Why every artist needs a studio friend... or at least a husband

Yesterday I was finishing up one of my last few grasshopper paintings for Brady Flies a Kite and Brandon asked me why one of the grasshoppers was missing one of his big legs. I looked at it trying to figure out if it was just on the other side of him and you couldn't see it, but no. It was just missing. I looked at the sketch and realized it had been there originally and then it didn't make it from the sketch to the inked version that got painted. Such a little detail. Luckily, there was space where it should've been and the paint was light enough I just added it on. Good eye Brandon. Conflict with employer averted.

Another Smell

All day long today I have been wondering why I smell like men's cologne. I thought Brandon borrowed my jacket, or some of his cologne just got sprayed on it by accident. Neither of these made sense. Then after I took my jacket off and still smelled the cologne I realized it wasn't coming from the jacket- it was coming from my wrist! This hasn't been confirmed, but Brandon must have sprayed my watch with cologne because I sprayed his with cologne. (although, I had a good reason to spray his) So the Sponge Bob watch that I have had for almost 3 years and won out of a cereal box, now smells really good. Maybe it's not the ideal smell for my wrist, but it could be worse.
And by the way, Brandon has a new watch. I gave him one for his first day of work at his new job. It came with 3 bands.

Not the Granddaughter

I work for this sweet old lady a few days a week and help her go shopping or go to the doctor, etc. It pays great and it sure helps keep some consistency to my ever fluctuating paychecks. Hazel is 91, so I wrap her arm around mine while we walk around to help her keep her balance. Everyone tells me how sweet it is that I am helping her and ask if I am her granddaughter. I say, no, just a friend. I never mention that I get paid to help her. It seems like it would take away from how cute and sweet of an old lady Hazel is. I feel a little guilty letting everyone think that I am just a kind girl that likes to help the elderly. But at the same time, maybe I am inspiring other people to go help the elderly around them.

Saturday Night Movie Pick

Last night Brandon and I watched Miss Potter. Even though she did some odd things, like talk to her paintings that would come to life. It was definitely a kids movie, but not as bad as Bridge to Terabithia. Although Bridge to Terabethia had that music video on the dvd that was really fun to listen to Brandon sing along with.
I enjoyed watching a movie about an illustrator. It was inspiring how she became so successful and her books are still in print today. Since she never had any kids I wonder who receives all those royalties now? Brandon thought it was way too dull though and said, "this movie should be rated R- for boredom. Kids should not have to watch something like this."

Video games move up in the world

Last night I was at Barnes & Noble and I read a chunk out of this book about the brain. There was a section all about how the brain handles pain and different techniques to deal with it. One recent study was done with video games. It said one of the most painful medical procedures is changing the dressing on a burn victim, so they took some burn victims and put those virtual reality games that cover your eyes and had them play while going through this painful process. The game actually helped people to have less pain because they were so focused on throwing snowballs the brain didn't think as much about the pain and therefore, you don't feel it as much if it's not thought about. And all this time I thought video games were such a waste of time, but now I know they actually have a useful purpose. Someday when I have kids and have to take them to get shots I think I will pick up a gameboy or something.

Fresh breath

Brandon bought some new toothpaste. Usually we get mint or lately we've used a lot of cinnamon, but this time he got Vanilla mint. It tastes like you're brushing your teeth with cake batter. It's kind of good, and still minty just a little ...different.

Everywhere you go

I don't if you're familiar with NBC's slogan, but we always hear it when we watch their nightly news podcast on itunes: Everywhere you go, there we are. I think they sound like they're stalkers.

Surprise

I was trying to help my sister rent Hamlet so when she reads it for her class it will be easier to follow. I called every video store I could find in Provo, Orem and Springville and they either didn't have it or it was checked out. (apparently everyone else in her class has the same idea) I was at the BYU bookstore picking up some art supplies when I noticed some people renting videos so I checked to see if they have Hamlet, and they had 2 copies! Who would've guessed?

So Smelly

Brandon's watch has been well used. Wearing it everyday, in the hot sun, while he's at work and everyplace else, it started to smell. It probably started awhile ago but we didn't really notice until Brandon would be sitting in class wondering what that smell was and lean towards his wrist to realize it was his watch. And then he came home and forced me to smell it too. It was bad.
He tried washing it several times and then my sister Heather suggested vinegar, like they do with stuff that gets sprayed by a skunk. We're not sure if it got rid of the smell or not, it's hard to tell because the watch now has an over powering vinegar smell. (eulgh!) We tried washing it with soap more and more, but it still didn't work. Then I tried thinking of other things that smell, but not as bad as vinegar. I saw Listerine, so I poured that on and scrubbed it in, trying to get rid of the vinegar smell. After that I tried spraying it with cologne. Now the watch has a compilation of smells that just don't mix. And I think the original smell is still lingering as well. As Brandon put it, his watch smells worse than a skunk.
I told him he should just wear one of my watches, but for some reason that wasn't a good solution either. I think we might have to do some shopping in the near future.

iMiracle

I was picking up my new ipod shuffle when the ear phones got caught under a board, which jerked the ipod out of my hand and flipped it straight into my brush cleaning water. I instantly snatched it out and dried it off. And it still works! Lucky me.

Not the brightest idea

On the way to the gym I ate 300 calories of a snickers ice cream bar. It was really good, but I did not need to do that.

Phone List

Somehow my phone number got put onto some Spanish telemarketing list. Every now and then I get a call from a number I don't know and when I answer it I hear a recording of someone speaking Spanish, then I listen just to see if I can understand them. I think they are offering me free gifts. Does anyone else gets calls like that?

Roller Blades in or out

I love roller blading. I especially loved at my old apartment complex many years ago where we would play laser tag on roller blades in the huge parking garage. Or in high school when we used to play tag at the elementary school by my friend's house. So I commented to Brandon that the parking garage by our apartment would be a great place to play tag on roller blades with a bunch of people. Brandon said that no one has roller blades anymore because it was a fad, like slap bracelets or leg warmers. I'm sure! Maybe people don't own roller blades as much anymore, but that doesn't make it a fad. It's not like it's uncool to roller blade.

Best Day Ever

This morning I woke up and knew it was going to be another busy day, and after a couple phone calls from art directors it was even busier. I have 4 art directors all wanting to see their illustrations finished asap. A couple are probably even hoping for it today. (ha!) At first I was letting all this pressure get to me and I was pretty stressed. Then I realized, I have all this work that I enjoy doing and people are paying me for it. This is exactly what I want to happen, if only every day could be like today! Suddenly, my day started going so much better. And I've had a lot of sugar, I enjoyed that too.

Lemonade

For the most basic lemonade, add 3T sugar & 1T lemon juice to a tall glass of water with ice. simple & refreshing.

Blog Mimicker

My friend Katy just wrote a blog about being able to walk to places instead of driving and she mentioned this cool site: walkscore.com where you can find out how walkable your neighborhood is. Provo did pretty good. One of the commenters mentioned another site: livingto100.com and this site has you answer a bunch of simple questions and then predicts how old you will live to be. I'm suppose to live to 101. I hope I can still paint at that point, otherwise I better retire with a lot of savings.

The Phone Call

About a month ago Brandon & I met a really nice couple while we were chaperoning a youth dance. We spent awhile chatting and at the end of the dance they said we should get together sometime and we swapped phone numbers. Well, we went on vacation and came back and thought it would be fun to invite them over for dinner. I asked Brandon to call them, thinking the number we had was the husband's cell and that would be more comfortable. However, the wife answered the phone, but luckily Brandon remembered her name because he had just looked it up in his phone. He said who he was, but it was clear she couldn't remember him, which made it really awkward of course. He told her we met at the singles dance, which I'm sure confused her even more and I whispered to him it was the youth dance. Then she remembered and was happy to talk to him.
Meeting new couples is too much like asking people to do stuff when you're single, getting phone numbers, hoping they'll want to hang out with you, hoping they won't forget who you are when you call, etc. You think all of that is over when you get married, but it's not. At least you have someone next to you to laugh with when you get off the phone.

Seattle & Rain

When I was at the grocery store it was pouring rain (again) the cashier was commenting on the rain and the girl behind me said how she loves it, it smells so great. And she added it was because she is from Seattle. Being from Seattle also, I don't think that makes me like rain more, actually less. I get so tired of gray skies and blurry car windows. I don't like how the rain smells either. How often it rains is one of the few reasons I wouldn't like to live in the Seattle area. (it's the rain & the traffic, otherwise it's perfect) I enjoy rain in Utah because we don't get it here very often. Sometimes I feel like Seattleites feel obligated to stand up for the rain to say they like where they are from. I love Seattle. I don't love the rain. Anyone else with me on this?

Obligated running

Today I was meeting my sister at the gym and I got all dressed, locked the front door, walked out, and realized I didn't have my keys. So there I was standing outside my apartment thinking about when Brandon would be home next. Since I was already in my gym gear I thought, oh well, I guess I have to go running. It was nice until the clouds pulled away and I suffered in that glorious afternoon heat. But at least my experience was better than the last time I was locked out of my apartment.

Hide & Seek

The other night we went to hang out with our friends and the 6 of us decided to play hide & seek for some reason. We had a lot of fun, but it really felt like we were 5 years old. Maybe that's what was fun about it. And it only took us 30 minutes to decide on the rules: lights off, eyes closed, if you're caught you help find, no base, you can't move once you're in your hiding spot. The funniest part was if you cheated and opened your eyes to watch the finding person swinging their arms around. Or Brandon impersonating someone finding.

Special Talents

At our little nephews birthday party a few weeks ago Brandon and his brother decided they wanted to kick the balloon on the ceiling. As you can see, Brandon was successful.

Good Eatin'

This morning for breakfast we went to this great place called Floyd's in Victoria. We ate lots of delicious food. Then we indulged in some really good ice cream for lunch and then on our drive home we were a little hungry and decided to eat ice cream again. And that's what I've eaten today. I love being on vacation.

Morning Surprise

We have had a great time vacationing in Washington. On Sunday we stayed the night at our relative's house and in the morning they left for work. We were going to get up and then head to Seattle. Brandon decided we should get in the hot tub as well. We had a nice time lounging in the backyard and I was headed inside to dry off when I couldn't get the door open. It was locked! And so was the rest of the house.
So there we were, soaking wet, locked out of the house and no one would be around for hours. And it started to rain. We went over to one of their neighbors that we had met before, but they weren't home either. Then we were on to the houses of complete strangers. I'm sure Brandon looked funny standing there in a soaking wet clothes. Luckily they were nice, he got to make a few phone calls and we were able to get in to the house. It was kind of a funny way to start the day.

Craigslist

Craigslist offers so many great things. For awhile I thought of it solely as a place to look for jobs and ignored the other features. I've learned to branch out though and am a more frequent visitor of their furniture section, free section (one day I know I'll find something cool), and whatever else sounds interesting that day. I've decided Craigslist is just like a Wilk board for the whole world. I've always thought the Wilk board was useful, and Craigslist is the same thing, just bigger and therefore, better.

Announcing...

On Saturday we were at our nephew's birthday party and Brandon said to some of our relatives, "I guess you guys are the last to know..." as he smiles at me and pulls me towards him with a pause just long enough for our brother & sister in law to look at us with excitement and say "no way!" "Really?!" and Brandon continues "...Yep! We got a TV!" Of course as a young married couple everyone likes to tease us about having kids. And not having a TV. I guess it's only fair we get to tease back now & then, right? It was really funny.

13.1 mile Results

I DID IT!!! I am so happy. I ran the Provo River Trail half marathon in about 2:25:00. So I accomplished my goal of less than 2 1/2 hours! Yeah, it's not a fast time. But it took everything I had inside of me and I am thrilled. I didn't walk at all, I just kept pushing myself. I was so grateful I didn't end up with serious foot pain, side aches, or shin splints like I feared. I was exhausted and was ready to collapse at the end, but that's what I signed up for.
Some highlights were: finishing, of course. What a relief. The last 2 miles were killer.
Also: I loved dumping water and/ or gatorade on my head at the last couple water stations when it was less shaded. I have always seen people do that on TV and thought it would be fun. And it is.
And: It was great to see Brandon at random parks throughout the race. I really appreciated his support and excitement for me to do well.
Last of all: There was suppose to be pancakes at the end, which I thought sounded gross after running and I said when I'm done with a run, I just want a smoothie. And they had them! There was Hogi Yogi smoothies, watermelon, & popsicles. I loved it.
I was surprised with the variety of people that were there. Anyone can run a half marathon, just try it!

Birthday Dessert

It's Brandon's birthday today and I've been trying to come up with lots of surprises for him. For dessert tonight I made éclairs for the first time. They are pretty simple. And delicious!

#1448

I have 2 days to train for the half marathon. It's all I can think about. I wasn't planning on running it due to a foot nueroma, but now I'm just going to give a try and see what happens. (they wouldn't refund my money, what else was I going to do?) I'll probably collapse. But I am going to get my full $30.00 memorable experience. And all the pain that goes with it.
As I was at the gym yesterday, doing some last minute preparing, I was thinking that maybe I'll write my name and Brandon's cell number somewhere on my bib or something, so if I collapse it will be easy to contact him. Then I realized that's exactly what those bib numbers are for. They are just trying to make it less obvious. They have you wear this large piece of paper on your front and back so if you go down, someone quickly scans the records and they can instantly start calling out for friends and family to go with you as they take you off in an ambulance. It's going to be an exciting day.

Car Chases

Tonight we are going to see Bourne Ultimatum. In preparation we watched the first 2 Bourne movies over the weekend. I liked the movies, but I wasn't really into the big car chases. (although, I'd watch more car chases than fight scenes) My opinion of a car chase is: dull. How many millions of car chases have I seen in movies in my life? What makes one more interesting than another? Yeah, maybe some exciting moves or crazy flips, but overall, cars get smashed, they drive like maniacs and sometimes they shoot at each other also. 15 seconds or less, that's what makes a good car chase. And fight scenes, 5 seconds, no blood.
"It's just my opinion, but it's true." -Jim Halpert

Hogi Yogi Run

Last night we played Settlers with some friends after dinner. Brandon creamed us, which he was very happy about. He commented on how he has been winning everything lately, since he won a few croquet games recently as well. Of course, no one wanted to hear how he was winning everything and we started suggesting other games that we could play so he would no longer be winning in everything.
The result of this conversation was a race between Brandon and Staci from our apartment to Hogi Yogi on 9th East. It's a little over a mile and since Staci is a frequent distance runner and Brandon never goes running we thought she would win. However, we didn't calculate in the fact that Brandon had a lot of competitive energy. And his legs are twice the size of hers. He had yet another win. I couldn't believe that at 10:00 at night we were watching these two race down center street. They both felt miserable afterwards, but it was impressive that they did it. Way to be competitive and entertain the rest of us.

Vacation Summary

Last week we went to California for a Miller family reunion, so I got to meet a lot more of my extended family. I decided they are just like my extended family, or anyone's probably. You have your cute kids, the sweet old people, the crazy relatives, the funny ones, the quiet ones. And we're the "normal" ones, of course. Or cool, you can classify us either way.

On our way down we stopped in Reno for a night with all the immediate relatives going to the reunion. Since it was my birthday they made a cake for me out of a stack of donuts. The funniest part was when the fire alarm went off from the candles at the hotel. It wasn't even that many candles. Probably my favorite part of Circus Circus was playing DDR (dance dance revolution) I even got Brandon to play and he creamed me, even though I am more experienced and more in love with the game than he is. Beginners luck. We'll see who wins next time.

After good times in Reno we spent a day at Lake Tahoe, which was beautiful! I got to swim my heart out in cool, clear water. What I love about swimming in a lake is that you don't have to stop and turn around like you do when you're swimming laps in a pool, you just keep going and going. I really want to swim across a lake sometime. I just need to figure out a way to do it without getting run over by a boat.

Then we were on to the reunion, which was full of camping, food, more swimming, card games, lots of family socializing, and the olympics. I never got a gold medal, but I did get a couple second places. Definitely not in the donut eating contest (bleh) but I did pretty good in the airplane throw and the water balloon toss.

Card fanatics

I'm a fan of card games. I played the speed games as a kid and I learned hearts later on in college, and love it. At the Miller family reunion I learned a new game, Blackout. We got their Thursday night and got to enjoy a friendly "pre-tournament" game. The next day was the real tournament, followed the day after that by the finalists tournament for those who qualified. yeah. This was serious business. It was a really fun game, although one family member, that I just barely met, got mad at me because I didn't understand one of the rules and kind of messed up a hand. (I was going to win it either way, I don't know what the problem was) I was creaming everyone in the first round, but lost it in the second round and didn't make it to the finalist tournament. I'll have to practice for the next reunion.

Shaved Head?

Brandon said he was thinking of shaving his head. I'm not so sure this is a good idea. I like his hair. I said I would photoshop him to look like he had a shaved head. I did the best I could. (it helps if you squint while looking at it) What do you think? Hair? No hair?

Plates

I just received a package in the mail from Cedar Fort: a whole pile of plates that I illustrated! So maybe you will see them in the stores somewhere. (I'm hoping they will be in stores somewhere, otherwise I will never get any royalties off of them)

Talent Show

We had a ward camp out this weekend. We didn't plan on participating in the evening talent show, but they were actively recruiting and I figured we could come up with something simple. Then I remembered how Brandon is a really good song whistler. I thought it would be fun for us to get another couple and just whistle a patriotic song. Brandon refused. He insisted that he would laugh and you can't whistle and laugh at the same time. (that is very true) Fortunately I remembered the croquet set in our car, with 6 colorful balls. So we performed couples juggling! We didn't do anything fancy like throw the balls to each other while juggling, but maybe that can be added to the act for next year. Or whistling while juggling.

(special thanks to Beth for providing this blog with a picture)

Moods

Typically I'm not a big fan of organizing, I don't know what to do with stuff and I especially have difficulty finding a place for papers. Today I suddenly just started organizing a filing box that we've had for almost a year that had piles of junk in it but now contains all those little green folders with labels like: Wells Fargo, Taxes, Contracts, etc. It happened before I even realized what I was doing.
I wonder what causes these "moods"? I don't mean things that are common daily, like being in the mood for eating ice cream or going water skiing, I mean the unique moods. They seem so unpredictable. Sometimes I'll be in the mood to just clean and I'll scrub everything in the apt. just because I feel like it. I didn't think it was even possible to get into a filing mood. That has never happened to me before.

Miller Smell

When we came home earlier I thought our apartment smelled pretty bad. Brandon said, "We just have a smell now. You know, like people's houses that always have a certain odor and everyone in the family kind of smells similar. We have our own smell now." He had a big smile like this was an accomplishment we had been working towards for a long time. I'm pretty sure we just need to empty the trash. I hope that's not "our smell".
The only people's houses that I've noticed with a certain smell are either incredibly filthy people who don't bathe, wash dishes, nor do laundry, (not us) OR people who have everything spotless clean, brand new stuff all the time, and constantly use air fresheners or candles (also not us).

Weekend adventures

We went with the Miller family to a cabin in the Park Cityish area. It was really nice and we had over 15 people staying the night. We had a great time. When we were driving up the long windy mountain road we had to stop suddenly because there was a moose right in the middle of the road! It just stared us down. It was huge. I was scared for a minute until it turned and casually trotted up the really steep mountain side and into the woods.
I really wanted to go running in the morning, I run so much better when I am away from home with new surroundings, and being in the mountains made it even better. Not everyone else thought I should go though and continued to persuade me that I would be eaten by a bear. Even though I thought this was illogical and less dangerous than driving down University Ave, I was definitely influenced by what they had to say. When I took off down the road for a beautiful run, every time a bird or chipmunk would rustle the bushes by the road I would jump and my heart would start racing. It was ridiculous, but really hard to not be freaked out. Needless to say, it wasn't a very long run.

Red for Yellow

So we bought a car. It's a 2002 Mazda Protege that we got from some guy in Salt Lake. I had never bought a car before, just my little scooter. I love my scooter. It was exciting and scary to purchase something that costs so much. I have a hard time spending money. We got a good deal though, and it's great to have.
It's kind of a bright car, don't you think? It sure makes our Honda Accord look bland. We're considering names, cars that stand out that much deserve some sort of nickname. Brandon said Old Yeller. My dad has a car the same color, (funny, huh?) and they call it Mellow Yellow (Mel for short). All I could come up with is fruit: Pineapple, Banana. What do you suggest?
And if anyone is in the market for a scooter, it's for sale on craigslist. (tear)

Salesday

Yesterday Brandon and I decided to venture out from looking at cars online and actually go to car dealerships to look at cars. We had to put up with a lot of salesman talk, a lot of things that they would say that didn't make sense, contradicted themselves, or just sounded stupid, to try and make a certain car sound good.
Some favorites were: the long shpeal about how awful Ford's are while looking at Hondas and refusing to sell one to his worst enemy, to 20 minutes later asking if we wanted to look at a Ford Taurus he has because Ford has really improved in the past few years.
Another: It's a little over $10,000, it's just $15,000.
After our fill of car salemen we went over to 24 hour fitness to check things out, and we got some "this is a great deal" "this is the absolute LAST day we have this offer" talk. However, we like the place, so we signed up. New gym membership for us!

Name Game

Every now & then Brandon and I will throw out names for our future children to see what each other thinks. So last night we started reading the New Testament, which has a nice genealogy list to start off with. After reading verses Matthew 1:4 & 5

4. And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
5. And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;

I asked Brandon what he thought of the name Salmon. He thought for a millisecond, "Salmon Miller, hmmm, no, I don't think so....... but what about Booz?"
Good thing we're not naming children anytime soon.

Running Dilemma

Almost a month ago I had a horrible 7 mile run in my half marathon training (Aug. 11th) and I haven't been the same since. My foot is really messed up. I'm guessing it's another neuroma, like what I had surgery on 2 years ago, because it hurts in the exact same spot. lame. If I run over 5 miles it is just torture. It would be so sad to give up on the race, but what can I do? Walk the rest of the race? I guess the 60 year olds always seem to pass me anyways. Maybe I could sneak in some roller blades?

The sad truth...

The sad truth is when you wash your ipod in the washing machine, it will break.

Parade Shmade

We have quite the 4th of July location this year. The parade goes right in front of our apartment and then turns to go down 100 S. I've always thought it was funny to see people make their parade territory 5 days before the parade, but now it's even funnier because it's right in front of us. Parades just don't seem like the most entertaining thing to me. I kind of wonder how many people stake out their spots because they actually think it's fun to see a bunch of high school bands and some guys walking around on horses? I think more people reserve their spots because of the element of competition, getting the best spot. That, and, everyone else is doing it.
That's my personal reason. It's the biggest holiday of the year in this neighborhood. They party from 6 tonight with games & BBQ, outdoor movies, and then crepes in the morning, then everyone watches the parade. So, like all the funny people with their chairs & blankets, we've got our spot too. And a little space left on our lawn if anyone wants to join us.

Youth Trip

I went on a temple trip with the youth in our ward last Thursday-Saturday. We went down to St.George. It was the first time I went a day without seeing Brandon since we started dating. Before I left I stuffed a large comforter under the blanket on our bed to try and make it look like I was in there and Brandon didn't have to feel abandoned. Only it is a really fluffy comforter and even though I tried to squash it down Brandon said it looked more like Shaq had crawled under the covers. I got to see a lot of historic places and do some fun activities, like lots and lots of pool time. The kids were funny, we had a good time, but it was nice to come home.

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unexpected slot machines: two cases

So I was at the Post Office the other day trying to buy a packet of postcard stamps, which turned into quite a challenging task. The line inside was too long to even consider so I had to battle with the post office vending machine. After a series of frustrating events and many tries to get the machine to accept my change, I was forced to use a twenty dollar bill, and the second I hit the button for my stamps I could hear the clanging of 19 gold coins spilling out into the metal change dispenser. Although it was annoying to get the pile of gold dollars that I didn't know what to do with, it was kind of fun to hear the money fall. It was like I had just won at the slot machine.

Ironically, a couple days after the post office slot machine experience we went to Cedar City for a basketball tournament. It ended earlier than we expected, so we went to Vegas. I had never been before, so it was fun to see what Vegas is like. We had a lot of fun, and as we walked around I was surrounded by slot machines, which kept making me think about buying stamps at the post office.

Art Exhibit: Bodies

While we were in Vegas we got to see a really great exhibit at the Tropicana. The exhibit was about the human body and it was so informational. They had bodies that were preserved and cut open so you could see how the body functions, and as you went room to room it would focus on different aspects of anatomy, like the digestive system, a developing baby, or the circulatory system.
For the circulatory system they somehow had an arm and various organs that were made of only blood vessels, they took out the skin, bones, muscle, everything else, just tons and tons of little tiny veins and arteries that formed the shape. 60,000 miles of blood vessels in each person!
They had a lot of smaller cases with different parts of the body, like lungs and smoker lungs. Next to that display was a big glass container for people to drop in their cartons of cigarettes. There was also an aorta cut open, one that was healthy and one that was full of fat deposits- disgusting.
Overall I was really impressed and reminded of the complicated, amazing bodies we have. So if you get the chance to see it, it's a little pricey, but well worth it.

The Pet Issue

Brandon really wants to have a dog someday. I say, absolutely not. I'm not really a pet fan in general, and I hesitate to say it because sometimes I think people are offended by this, but I think dogs are one of the most annoying pets there are. I think the only way I would ever allow a dog is if my kids were training it to be a seeing eye dog. And it stayed outside. And I didn't take care of it in any way. And we didn't buy it presents, Christmas or not. And someone bathed it at least every other day. Only in that situation would I consider, the slight possibility, that we might get a dog. And I'll take a dog over a TV.

Painting classes

I have a friend from high school that I ran into who became a photographer. Sometimes she teaches classes at Sundance. I think they are typically one on one classes, sometimes a small group. She said they could use another watercolor teacher and asked if I would be interested. I said, sure. Doing anything artsy at Sundance sounds fun. Then I started thinking about the kind of people that want to learn how to watercolor at Sundance. I pictured people like this:
And then I realized I don't usually watercolor like this:
This could be a problem. I better go practice painting roses and study up on Thomas Kinkade's watercolor pals.

Shipping

Isn't it ridiculous how the items you buy online cost just as much to get to you as they do to actually purchase? Or twice as much? I love that Amazon has some of my favorite illustrator's books for $2 or $3 instead of the typical $16 at a store. So it still makes spending $7 on shipping worthwhile, it just seems odd.
Has anyone ever ordered paint brushes before? I ordered some that came in a box that would fit 2 toasters, and all it had in it were 2 tiny little watercolor brushes and a couple of bags filled with air. Thanks for the air, what is that? The free gift with my order?

5k

I go running quite often. Almost daily, well, until the last week or two I've slacked a bit. So I dragged Brandon to come run BYU's 5k with me, which was an anti-pornography and abuse run. (Instead of wearing numbers we all had quotes about abuse, etc. and standing up for what is right, I thought it was pretty creative.)
Anyway, I know I am not a very fast runner, but I run 5 miles all the time, and it's not a big deal. 3 is even easier. Somehow, Brandon who goes running about as often as we have general conference, finished 7 minutes before me. And that's counting the 2 times he just stood in the shade waiting for me until I told him he should just run and I would meet him at the end. He said it was so much easier running a race than running by himself because it was really fun to keep passing all those people. I think passing people is fun too, but for some reason I just let everyone pass me instead. I guess I'm generous like that. Or just plain slow.

Nutritious, Delicious

This morning for breakfast we ate whole wheat crepes (we're all out of regular flour) with strawberry yogurt, frozen banana chunks and microwaved frozen strawberries. It was great.

America's Cure

There are two large problems that face the US. (well, lots, but I'm just going to talk about 2) There are too many overweight people and we rely too much on gasoline for energy.
So a few weeks ago I decided these problems should work together. Lots of the weight comes from eating too many calories (a.k.a. energy), so the solution: take energy from people when we eat too much and use it to fuel the country. Healthier people, with transportation- yeah! I have no idea how you transfer that energy, but it's got to be possible.
The funniest thing about it, I was just watching the news and they were talking about some cattle place that uses excess fat they cut off the meat they produce to fuel the factory. They're more than half way there! Now they just have to figure out how to use that excess fat without cutting someone open. I don't know about you, but I'm willing to eat more ice cream to fuel my car.

Top o the mountain

For Memorial Day we went mountain biking with some friends in Bountiful. It was so pretty, and really challenging. I wasn't very good at the uphill part. Or the downhill part. I only fell once though and it wasn't too bad. I fell into some large bushes and then hit a tree stump that kept me from continuing my roll down the mountain.
And check out my hair, I guess that's what a helmet does for you. I think that's the best whispy hair fro picture I've ever taken.

No bears...

...just bugs. Our beehive camp out on Friday did not include any bear sightings, however we did have piles of little silk worms falling from the trees everywhere. On us, on the food, the tents, just covered with them. A few managed to make their way home with us because, like I said, they were everywhere. And the black bugs and huge beetles were a little gross too. I guess they were spraying for bugs right after we left. Lucky us, we made it just in time to have a bug covered camp out. The campsite was really pretty though, so was the hike. And overall it was still fun, and it will definitely be memorable for the girls.

Cheers

Today I went to my mother-in-law's 2nd grade class in Salt Lake to talk to them about being an illustrator. I brought some of the books I've done and a few other little visual aids, like a pile of sketches and a grasshopper. But the best visual aid was the large drawing paper I pulled out and asked for requests of what to draw. I didn't do any masterpieces, but I'm not going to lie, I can draw fast. The kids were so excited and cheering and frantically trying to get me to pick them to decide what I would draw next. It was really fun. When I'm not doing very well on my art I should just invite some 2nd graders over so I can be motivated by their cheering.

Hazel & the toaster

I help take care of Hazel, a sweet 90 year old that my friend April used to work with. For mother's day her granddaughter sent her a new toaster oven. It was really nice and looked like it would work great. However it was digital and the most complicated toaster oven I've ever seen. Too much for a 90 year old, so we're going to exchange it for a normal old school one.
She has a great sense of humor and sometimes she says funny things. Like when she can't get the lid off jars because her hands don't function very well, she'll ask me to do it for her. And as I quickly twist it off, she says, make it look hard.

Mmmmm Dinner

Crock pots are the best dinners ever. You dump a bunch of stuff into a pot, and then it sits there and becomes nutritious and delicious and you only have to wash one pot. It's perfect.

Too close for comfort

So it was a beautiful Friday in Provo and Brandon was kind enough to not worry about watching the Jazz game, so we grabbed all kinds of supplies to go to a nice secluded area in a park to play chess and watch a movie on our laptop. It was dusk and getting pretty dark in the shadows of the trees as we were walking through the park. We got a camping lantern for Christmas that we had just rummaged to find batteries for. Even though we didn't really need it yet, I had turned it on and was carrying it out of excitement for having the new toy.
We were staring to the left while we walked so we could look at a large burrow in the bushes, when we heard a rattling noise and a hiss. We glanced forward and stopped suddenly as we looked down at the ground in front of us and the lantern lit up a large rattle snake coiled up ready to strike, right in our path. We were just a few steps from walking right onto it.
We were spooked. We froze, then I slowly backed away while Brandon tried to find something to throw at it until it slithered away into the bushes. Even though the snake left, we couldn't manage to lay our stuff down. If we hadn't had the lantern, I don't know if we would have paid much attention to the noise, we were in the woods after all, and the snake would have been hard to see because of the shadows and the long grass around it.We usually enjoy camping, but yesterday we couldn't even handle relaxing on a blanket in the woods. We had to go home to watch the movie.

Audible Commercial

As I have mentioned before, I love audible.com. I used to never read books. I enjoy reading, but I usually feel like I'm not being productive just sitting there moving my eyeballs- almost like TV but not nearly as bad. When I discovered that for $15 (or $7.50 if they're having a deal) I could get any book I want on my ipod, I thought it was a perfect solution. Hopefully now I won't be an idiot my whole life. I listen to books while I drive, paint, run, do the dishes, clean or whatever. I've gone from reading maybe one book since high school to having read 13 books in the past year including:
Freakonomics, A Short History of Nearly Everything, Mere Christianity, The World is Flat, Guns Germs and Steel, Collapse, Blink, Angels and Demons, 1776, A Walk in the Woods, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Screwtape letters, and I'm in the middle of 60 hours of Les Miserable, and I have Wicked waiting for me when I finish that.
I am a big fan of C.S. Lewis and Bill Bryson. So if anyone has some good book recommendations, I'm always looking for new books to check out.

Joy of Camping

I'm helping plan a Beehive campout that's coming up. It made me think about my beehive campout in the mountains in California. When it was really late there was a tent of girls still laughing and being crazy when they heard bears walking around our campsite. They heard the bears scratching on the big metal food boxes that each campsite has to prevent bears from getting into it. One of the girls in the tent felt like she was going to vomit, but there was no way she wanted to go outside with the bears. So she threw up ... in the tent. Then they all huddled close together away from the vomit and eventually went to sleep. D i i i s g u s t i n g. Glad I wasn't in that tent.

the solution is...

I usually keep a pretty good reign on my email inbox and archive daily to keep a nice organized 15-20 emails in my inbox. However, it has gotten out of control lately and I am thinking the best solution is to get a new email address. Wouldn't that be easier? Kind of like when your house is such a mess it would be easier to move. Or so many clothes are dirty you just want to buy new ones instead of washing the old ones? It's like that.

Boise is fun, believe it or not

We went up to Boise for the weekend for our friends' wedding. On Friday we had time to do whatever, so we went to the lake. It hasn't been warm that long, so even though it was pretty nice outside, the lake was still 54 degrees. I sat on the boat for hours watching my friends brave the cold (we at least had wet suits) so they could ski & wakeboard. Finally, after much indecisiveness, I too accepted the physical challenge and jumped in. Besides my fingers going numb, it really wasn't too bad. I couldn't do any great tricks or anything, I was happy just to stay above the water. Overall, it was a blast.

Pringles perfect match up

Brandon has such long arms he can reach a can of Pringles from sitting in the drivers seat, that are all the way in the back window of our Honda. And I can slide my hands all the way to the bottom of the can to get out the last hard-to-reach chips. What better way is there to compliment each other?

My husband is so funny

I was taking engagement pictures for some friends and I think Brandon was getting a little bored so he slid himself into the picture. It was my favorite one.

Ode to the perfect brown bag

For my birthday a few years ago, April and Marissa gave me the greatest gift ever. A brown bag they bought in NY. I loved it immediately. It was the perfect style, the perfect size, the perfect color, it was just meant to be. So years have gone by and I have dragged that bag everywhere. I always throw in my phone, my wallet, and a clipboard of paper (a.k.a. my sketchbook) and I am set for anything. It is getting holes and needs repair, which just gives it more character. I think I have been given more compliments on that bag than any other item I have ever owned. What excellent taste Ape & Maris have.

The all new illustration site

Thanks to some great help and support the layout was finalized and my website is complete. Here it is: rebeccamillerillustration.com
Tell all the art directors you know!

Costco Churros

They are delicious. Whenever we need to go to Costco that is the first thing that comes to Brandon's mind. One time when discussing with a friend how great Costco churros are, she mentioned that they really enjoyed them but they just didn't have enough sugar on them. I thought it was a little strange since usually you get sugar everywhere with each bite because it is so caked with sugar. Then I realized it was a joke. So if you haven't had one, you should try it.

First ER trip (picture included)

Here's the summary:
Saturday I went running while Brandon was at work and I locked myself out. I thought I could just slide the window open from the outside and climb in, but our windows are thin and old so when I pushed on it the glass broke and fell on my hands and gashed my wrist pretty good. I ran to my neighbors and banged on her door and she took me to the ER and Brandon met us over there. I've never seen someone look so pale. He had to step outside so he didn't vomit, which really isn't like him. We both survived the experience and now I will have a scar that looks like I want suicide attention, but really I just did something stupid.

Honda Accords aplenty

Honda Accords have got to be the most common car there is. We have one that Brandon has owned for a few years. When we were dating I never knew which car we were walking towards because his car looked like half the cars in the parking lot. So I memorized the first 3 letters of the license plate so I wouldn't look dumb walking to the wrong car all the time. And I still use that technique to this day as I try to find our car in parking lots.
Last night when we were leaving a friends house late in the evening we were walking towards our car from the side and there were two cars right next to each other that both looked like our car, but I couldn't see the license plate so I waited for Brandon to stop at one of them. He couldn't get the key in to unlock the door for me, but then it didn't matter because it was already unlocked so I just got in. As he walked around the car to the drivers side I noticed there was something different about the car. As he sat down we both realized it was not our car. We felt pretty funny as we laughed and jumped out of the random car and found ours about 6 cars away. So if that was your car we sat in, uh... sorry about that. We really weren't trying to steal it.

Deserted Island

Brandon and I just finished watching Cast Away. It brought up a discussion about which 3 items we would choose to have if we were going to be left alone on a deserted island. I chose fairly practical things like a really large swiss army knife, box of seeds for planting vegetables, and some kind of fire starting device. He chose a generator powered by pedaling, a TV, and a satellite dish. That way he can watch BYU games, and general conference. (that is exactly what he said) He is pretty certain those are the best possible choices.

Real Life Cartoons

Woodpeckers are one of those animals that I tend to associate with cartoons because they're not very common. I just picture this bright blue bird with a big floppy mane of red hair like Woody Woodpecker.
Another creature I affiliate more with cartoons than real life are fire flies. Growing up I thought they were fake, like fairies or something. I never saw a real fire fly until I spent the summer in NY. I was with a bunch of friends at Central Park and we were leaving just as it was getting dark (not a good place to be after dark, that's for sure) and there were tons of them, all these little lights floating around. Just like they show in Robin Hood, only they were real. I was amazed.
And by the way, we're looking into hiring a hit man. Not the normal movie kind, but more like the cartoon kind (only real) that shoot little woodpeckers out of the tree with a beebee gun so you can sleep past 6 in the morning. Let us know if you're interested.

so tricky . . .

When you go running it is hard to breathe without keeping your mouth open. But if your mouth is open then bugs can easily fly in.

Healthy Steps

I'm always trying to motivate myself to be healthier. I think it mostly comes down to my fear of pain from health problems that could come up in the future.
My latest plan is to take steps to gradually improve what I eat. The first step is writing down what I eat for awhile. It's pretty simple. I eat fairly healthy anyways, but it's no big deal if I eat some junk food. I just write it down. This is a great step. I think after I decide to analyze what I eat and start changing things, then it will be harder. One thing at a time.
So far I have noticed I really like hot chocolate, I don't eat enough vegetables, and I need to eat more whole wheat stuff. bleh
And just as a side note, when I came home from aerobics today I realized my pants had been on backwards the whole time.

teenage spazzes

YW basketball last night. I had no idea the YW are so crazy. And they don't stop talking for anything.
Their basic strategy was to run like 6 year olds after a soccer ball and then when the crowd is too intense they lob it into the air (without even looking) so everyone has to go running after it again- and hopefully their team runs after it faster.
And this cute little 14 year old told me how excited she was because this cute boy walked in right when she made a really great play. I'm not sure if she really knows what a great play is, but I'm glad she was excited about it. And then she informed me that she already knows he likes her. And she likes him. I had never met this girl before, but I guess she doesn't have any problem with shyness.

Fun?

I go and watch Brandon's basketball games all the time. He has some good friends he has played with since high school and they all play really well. So it's common for them to have games when they win by 20 points or more. It's really fun to see them win all the time.
Last Tuesday I played with a combined ward team at regionals. This was our first real game because when we played with the stake we never kept score and the teams didn't really matter since we were lucky to get 8 or 10 women out from the whole stake to play. So on Tuesday we had a good time but we were the ones that lost by 20 or more points. not as fun.

Vote for my website

I have been trying to come up with a design for a new front page of my website. These are the ideas I have so far. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Some of them might be hard to see because they are really small, just click on them to enlarge.

Juvenille

I don't remember the last time I checked a book out of the library that wasn't from the children's section.

More on bananas

I eat a lot of bananas. My mom used to buy a whole grocery cart of bananas when they were on sale because our family ate them so much (and froze them). And every time she did, people at the grocery store thought it was funny to ask her if she was raising monkeys. My goal is to someday buy enough bananas that someone asks me that too.


Here are some great ways to eat bananas:
And before you say ew, that is disgusting, you have to try it. (ie:#5)

1. chopped bananas with a little yogurt and a crunchy cereal like rice crispies, chex, or corn flakes. additional fruit like apples are good too.

2. peel the bananas, break them into chunks and freeze tons of them in ziplock bags. frozen bananas are delicious plain, or dumped into smoothies because they make the smoothies really thick.

3. Bananas are essential for any good smoothie: just add bananas, a cup or 2 of milk and maybe sugar or honey (and ice if they are not frozen). Or add to that a spoonful of orange juice concentrate and/or yogurt, preferably vanilla, but any kind works. Frozen strawberries and bananas are great combination also. And if you want to be really adventurous with your smoothie add a handful or so of fresh spinach. You get more vitamins and it doesn't really change the flavor of the smoothie but it will look green and gross but taste great!

4. toasted bread, peanut butter, sliced bananas

5. bread, ham, sliced bananas, grated cheese, cook it in the oven or toaster oven until the cheese is brown and it tastes SO good! (Some people prefer a ring of pineapple instead of the sliced bananas- weird, huh?)

6. lay the banana on its side and cut a v shaped trench and pour in chocolate chips and marshmellows in between the cut open banana. Cook in the oven until the banana peel is black and the middle stuff is melted.

7. mix bananas with canned pineapple, apples, pears, or whatever fresh fruit is on sale, with some strawberry yogurt. optional: add cool whip.

8. chop up bananas and put them in waffle batter, then make waffles. (I learned that from Ape)

9. banana crepes: eggs, flour, milk, sugar for the crepes, fill with bananas and either yogurt, cool whip, ice cream or frozen strawberries that you microwaved and chopped so they are more liquidish.

10. banana muffins or banana bread or bananas in jell-o.

Happy banana eating! I just decided I'm going to eat a #5 with maybe a #3 for lunch. And one more tip: don't leave bananas in a warm car. gross.