No longer brace face!

Okay, here are the pics...

Before....

AFTER!

09-09-09

I know, cool right? I think 9 might be my new lucky number. I went to the orthodontist today for a check up. (For those of you who don't know, I've had braces since November last) I had been entered into their monthly drawing for "excellent brushers" that is aimed at kids to get them to brush their teeth. The prize is $100 to anywhere you want. Great incentive for 12 year olds right? Turns out it is a great incentive for me too because I was chosen for this last month! $100 free dollars!!! I get a hundred free dollars to anywhere I want! How cool is that? Then on top of it, the orthodontist looked at my teeth and said "I think we're done here." I get my braces off tomorrow! I love today.

This school year has taught me a LOT about myself. I have made some amazing friends in the last couple of years who have expanded my vision of the world and helped me to see things in a totally new way. I've learned that I am a hardcore femanist at heart, and that makes me weird in such a "traditional" state. My political views are closer to Democratic than Republican. I had the amazing opportunity to be in DC for the Inauguration. I even had tickets, but didn't get in because it was full. Had that been the primary reason for my visit, I might have been very miffed, but I was actually there to take pictures of an inaugural ball. Here are some of the photos from my adventures in DC.

I just got back from a week in Denver with a group of students from school. We were on "Alternative Fall Break" which is a trip dedicated to learning about social issues and providing service to different organizations. We studied poverty, homelessness and social/environmental justice. We went to many organizations that are doing amazing things to help the community. The most memorable for me was the Women's Bean Project. Check it out, because it was an amazing experience! We also focused on art, and graffiti as public voice. We visited a place called The Spot where kids from the community could go after school and have an opportunity to learn art. There was some amazing graffiti on the walls! I took a few photos for a class assignment on color as abstract form. We talked with a couple of guys that have worked there for the past few years about the amazing things that the program does for the kids. I was heartbroken when they told us that they were being shut down because of lack of funding just the next day. So we got to see the place and learn a little about it, right before they closed. It's tragic that programs like this one that are doing so much good for young people are the first to shut down when funding gets low. Stupid economy!

Here is another one I've been working on.  Also dumb, but it's all I have digitally.  Seriously, one of these days I will have a digital camera.  Maybe.

So, since I really have nothing interesting to write about, I thought I would share the crap that I am working on for my digital imaging class.  The last assignment was to take our "favorite" color and make an image about it.  This is what I came up with. It sucks, so don't judge me!

So, I may have fallen off the face of the earth. Sorry it's been so long. I have been super busy with school and work. This is the second to last semester of college (at least for my bachelor's degree) and has been the worst one yet. I don't know how much longer I'll hold out, but until I completely colapse, I am going 110 miles an hour. I am working full time and going to school full time. On top of that I am in the photo club presidency at school (http://www.utah-pac.com/ check it out!), and leading a fall break trip to Denver where we are doing service and studying issues of poverty and social injustice. Now I may complain about how busy I am, but truth is I am enjoying it so much! I feel super lucky to have the opportunities that I do right now, and to get to interact with such amazing people through the things that I'm doing. Our photo club is probably one of the coolest organizations in the universe(mostly because of the people involved), and the Alternative Fall Break program is truely amazing! I am attaching a silly photo I've been working on for my digital imaging class. It is dumb, but I am finally learning Photoshop. Shhh, I know. I am a "traditional" photographer who still only owns a film camera. All you techies out there can jump in a lake! (Or lend me money to get the digital camera I really want)

So I was on msn.com today and found a clip of this guy named Matt who goes all around the world and films himself dancing. Sometimes he is alone, sometimes he is with other people. There was a short blurb of him talking about the filming, and when I watched the video, well...I am a bit of a baby, but it made me cry. Go check it out at www.wherethehellismatt.com. It's amazing!

So I have been terribly slack as of late. It has a little to do with the fact that I am in School for 10 hours a day after working 8 hours at my job. So I apologize for the rude lack of news/info. (Not that you were really wondering what I've been up to). Life is amazingly good lately. I am almost done with first term of the summer semester, which has me wanting to kill myself a little, and also makes me wish school could always be like the summer. A whole semesters worth of credit over in 5 weeks. It doesn't get much better than that. At least not at school. So things are very busy and if you haven't seen or heard from me lately, I am sorry. I will reappear sometime after June 18th. More later...

The greatest gift

I am frequently amazed at how much my life is enriched by those I love, both friends and family. God sure knew what he was doing when he sent them to my life. I am in awe by their examples of love, compassion, service and strength. If you are one of these mentioned loved ones, (i.e. family or friends) please know I love you with all my heart and thank God for you everyday. Yes, that means you. If you are reading this you have blessed my life and I think that you are here just for me if no other reason. My prayers and love are with you always! Thank you for all you have done!

So...School is sucking my will to live just a little. I'm so busy that I have neglected many things that I need to do around the house and in my yard. Everytime I go home I feel a little overwhelmed by those things that need to get done. On the plus side, I have a showing at a gallery later this month. The photo club at school has a show begining on March 21st at Art Space here in Salt Lake and as a member of the club I will have a few pieces in that show. I am including here a preview of what you will see.

Hallelujah and praise be! I lost my flash drive a couple of weeks ago and have looked for it everywhere. I thought maybe my cat Ziggy ate it since he likes to eat everything that he's not supposed to. But yesterday I got a call from the office at school, and someone has turned it in. It wouldn't really be a big deal, except it has all of my school work from the last year on it. Not really something that I can duplicate so easily. The most important thing that it has on it are the family pictures that I took in December. I would have killed myself if I didn't find it. I'll be picking it up at the office today and I'll post some of the pictures later.

For 2 days we had sunshine and warmer weather. (You know, in the 50's) I have discovered that I might have a little seasonal affective disorder. Mostly I haven't been feeling very upbeat lately, and then with the sunshine I was on a 2 day high. Now I'm feeling back in the dumps again. It's snowing and that sucks. Ah well. At least we have the mountains right?

Today I took some photos of Karin for my photoclass.  I'm not quite sure how to use them yet, but here are a couple of them.

I don't do this kind of thing

So, I am probably the most computer illiterate person of my age that I know, so this is kind of wierd for me to be doing. I figured this way I might actually record things that are important to me and things that are going on in my life. Not like anyone else actually cares, but I think it's cool to see my own stuff on the internet. Plus I can brag about my nieces and nephews since they are cuter than yours. Ha! It's really true though.