Puff, the Magic Dragonfruit.

A couple days ago, after navigating through my arch enemy (Idaho Falls, that is), my little sister and I successfully arrived at Winco.

It is a magical place.

And something magical happened, there.

I needed to take a photo reference that day of some kind of fruit or vegetable or very very simple object. My teacher for "media experimentation" means business. He is starting us out on what he refers to as the "killer assignment."

That's ominous.


Basically, we have to take a photo of our simple subject. And replicated. With photo realism. Using oil paints.

Yeah, I've never used oil paints before.

But hey, what's the point of being an art major if you're not going to push yourself to insane measures and come out the other end of it being entirely sleep-deprived and starved and smelling like paint?

....Oh, there's also the part about achieving things you never ever thought you could....


But I digress.

There we were in the store. And what is the first thing we see? A solitary cardboard fruit stand holding lots of THESE:

Dragonfruit.

I commented on the coolness of them.

Laura suggested I paint one.

Some random man with long hair warned us that they were filled with an "excessive amount of seeds."

Hmmmm....

And so grabbed one, I did. Kept it safely in the child's seat of the grocery cart, I did. Walked across the warehouse store with the original one in hand to swap it with a new one, I did (because apparently children's seats aren't exactly ideal for keeping dragonfruit in pristine condition).

Oh, and lets not forget the part where the random long hair "excessive seeds" patrol guy wrinkled his nose at my dragonfruit later when he saw it in my cart.

How could he not see the beauty of it? *tsk tsk* Some people....


Well, I have yet to begin the painting. But the underpainting (fancy name for the first step) is due on Wednesday.

Wish me luck.

As for the dragonfruit, it is sitting in my fridge. I am looking forward to opening it and seeing what is inside.

Probably excessive seeds.

In other news,
I am currently in love with this little spot right here.

Desk in front of an open window.
A warm, stormy breeze coming to visit me.
A tree in all its beautiful spring-time wonder.
And,
(you can't see it too well in the picture)
a rather impressive sky of clouds and bright white sunlight.

Needless to say, this is pretty darn refreshing after a long hibernation from the Rexburg-arctica winter.
(I think that name should become official).

Basically, I am high on life right now because it has just been so spectacularly beautiful outside!

In fact, Austin surprised me with a little "mini date" on campus today after lunch.

You see, he is taking an "evergreen identification" class.

And you see, I happen to love trees.

This makes for a good combination.

He took me for a stroll around the campus gardens. They are pretty much the best thing ever during spring time. So insanely colorful! Not to mention, they have LOTS of evergreen trees.

And so we walked along the paths (and sometimes off of them) so he could show me the difference between spruces and pine trees. And how this one kind usually lives for 4000 plus years. And this other kind has needles that are green on top but white on bottom. And how there is one that essentially has rubber branches that you can bend every which way and it does no harm whatsoever to the tree. And how one of them is called a dwarf and it bounces like jello if you give it a little push.

Have I mentioned that he is the man of my dreams???

Well, he is.

And maybe one day we will have one of those Christmas tree farms.

Or maybe just a jello dwarf on our porch.

(Sorry, babe, I can't remember the common OR scientific name for it. I was listening, I promise. But lets be honest, the words that stood out to me most were inevitably "dwarf" and "jello.")


I should probably mention right about now that the "warm stormy breeze" very quickly turned into the kind of wind that makes a tree bounce back and forth as far as a 45 degree angle from the ground.

So... I shut the window. And am excitedly awaiting the thunder storm :)


Now, for some other random business and tidbits:

1. I think the phrase/title "business and tidbits" has extraordinary potential. Any ideas?

2. I still have a few blog posts/topics (the "summary" kind that I had mentioned a couple posts back) that need writing. Or... maybe they need a good tossing-out-the-window-because-school-and-work-keep-me-insanely-busy-and-there-are-too-many-NEW-fun-things-that-are-happening-that-I-want-to-blog-about-to-worry-about-the-old-stuff-anymore.

Um, that hyphenated word was considerably longer than I had anticipated. And kinda makes me cross-eyed (there I go again with the hyphen). But I invested too much effort to suppress the impulse to hit the space bar between words and type a hyphen instead.

So it's going to stay.

As for the blogs posts... maybe I will try to do little (keep in mind this word is up for personal interpretation) posts every couple days. Then once a week I can have "Flashback Fridays."

Yup, that sounds about right. Stay tuned.

3. Yes. School started. And so did work. And so did the perpetual state of messy hands (paint, clay, charcoal... they are my constant companions). Suffice it to say that being back is everything I thought it would be :)

Which includes "really really hard."

But honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way! Lets hope that mentality lasts further than just the 2nd week.

4. I am taking piano lessons. First time in years. Boy howdy am I excited. I begin Thursday. But I am wondering what my teacher will think of my "artistically messy" hands... I'm sure some of the great classical composers must have had messy hobbies, too.

Beethoven probably gardened.

Mozart, I'll bet, liked to fingerpaint.

5. I have officially lost my train of thought. Probably because that train has switched tracks to "homeowork and chores and general responsibilities."

But hey, the blogging ride was rather nice while it lasted :)

Last but not least, here is a little piece of my life last week:

Feet up.

In my "messy" clothes (no, I don't wear them all day. Just when I have to. Which is about half the day).

Munching on a nice, cool salad.

And enjoying a brief brake after work, before heading off to the ceramics studio to make an asymmetrical pinch pot.

Yup, life is pretty much fantastic.

Life in the BYU-Idaho Married Student 9th Ward.... or something to that effect.

I am PRETTY sure that is the correct name of our ward.

But there are a lot of components to that. And it has changed a couple times.

The point is, we live in an apartment complex that is just for married students. And so is the ward. Which means our wonderful ward is all snuggly gathered in buildings 8 through 14.

Which I think is AWESOME.

And so I feel like blogging about it a bit. It won't be clever or witty or even amusing necessarily. Just some simple thoughts :) I figured I should start being okay with less-than-stellar blog posts if I actually am going to have a chance at blogging regularly with all the exciting craziness coming up soon here.

So, let the imperfection and blah-ness acceptance begin!!!

When we first moved in, we were a bit... reclusive.

But over the past year, it has been AMAZING to see how welcoming this ward is. Even though it is quite turbulent due to the fact that each 4 months the old semester ends, the new one starts, and a TON of families move out, and new ones come to take their place... it is pretty darn impressive how tight knit things can get in a short amount of time.

Visiting/home teaching is a pretty big deal here. And it works miracles! It certainly has in my life. Talk about an amazing network for blessings: You receive simple service and friendship FROM others, which inspires you to then be that person FOR others. And the love just FLOWS.

Lately with all the families moving out, we have had so many opportunities to serve! And hopefully more will come as families start moving in this weekend.

As far as callings go, it didn't take too long before our meager musical abilities became known, and we were called as the ward organist and choir pianist (Austin being the first, and I the latter).

Ahahaha that was an interesting moment, seeing as Austin had never actually before even PLAYED the organ. At first it was extremely stressful for him. But now he loves it, and is getting VERY good at it.

I have absolutely love being the choir pianist... even though for a good chunk of time we didn't actually have a conductor. Yeah, that was interesting. But we still managed to have some wonderful experiences :) And NOW, things are really getting pulled together! I am learning new songs left and right, and I am so excited that this coming semesters I am taking piano lessons. I think it will help me magnify my calling.

Well, CALLING(S), actually.

Because I have since also been called as the primary pianist as well as the relief society pianist hahaha Sometimes people will ask if it seems too crazy/stressful. Not at all! I absolutely love it. First of all, the kids in primary are just so darn cute and funny. Not to mention, they really test my skills when it comes time for one of them to signal us to sing faster/slower by holding up the rabbit/tortise signs. Or louder/softer with the lion/mouse signs. OR when they want to sing "head, shoulders, knees, and toes," faster and faster and faster....

Needless to say, it gets interesting :) But I really do love it so much. Not to mention, it helped me to get out of my stage of "I'm not feeling 100%, so maybe I won't go to church today, or maybe I'll leave early." As sad as I am to admit that I was actually IN that stage for quite a long period of time, having a calling for each of the three meetings got me to really stick to BEING there. And now, I am super bummed out if for some reason I don't get to go! Callings truly are inspired by the Lord. He knows what we need. Even if it is in the form of a musical kick in the bum.

We are probably going to be sticking around Rexburg for at least 4 more years. And very likely going to stay in this very same apartment. Seeing the way this ward can become like a family in just one year, I am just so stinkin' excited to stick around and see things grow and evolve and be able to spread the love!

Hmmm... that's all :)