Two-Zero-One-One

I've done this for a few years now and I thought I'd continue the tradition...

This past year was an unforgettable one with memories that I will cherish forever. Rather than bore all of you (or the 2 people that actually read my blog), I'm going to do a year in review with pictures :)

In 2011 I have....

Spent numerous hours completing art projects for my minor. Here is one of the projects...I replicated a Kandinsky painting. 

Visited one of my good friends in the hospital after she gave birth to baby Emmett

Spent hundreds of hours laughing with this chicka while we lived together Winter 2011 semester.

Taken my first drawing class and completed this sucker for the final project. 

Gone on a weekend trip to Vegas with some friends.

Spent some time with Alex and his sister up in Idaho one weekend. And also took this high quality photo.

Been in one of my best friend's wedding. Also, said goodbye to my longtime friend & roommate, Linsey for a year and a half.

Said goodbye to my family for a few months while I lived in Europe.

Visited Sydney in Paris with Brittany before I headed over to England.

Been amazed by the size of the Eiffel Tower

Seen this infamous painting in real life (see first photo)

Traveled across the pond over the England and fell in love instantly.

Met these amazing folks (along with others) and had a blast exploring Europe with them.

Waited in a 7 hour line to see a Wimbledon match. Oh, and also tried the amazing strawberries and cream :) 

Visited the lovely Ireland (also fell in love with Irish people.)

Seen Wicked in LONDON :) 

Worked with these amazing people and gained a greater appreciation & knowledge for Interior Design.

Spent my last few days in England with my mum & sis. Unforgettable memories.

Made a pit stop on my way home from  Europe in Houston to visit my family.

Rolled a 3-wheeler on a cabin trip with some friends. (Picture taken BEFORE the traumatic experience)

Gone to conference with some old friends.

Attended my first Murder Mystery while having my voice completely gone. So fun.

Ditched a date to go to a BYU game with one of my best friends.

Volunteered at the Utah Food Bank with my co-workers.

Celebrated Brittany's birthday with life-long friends.

Annnd last but not least, my family and I gave my parents a makeover for one of their bathrooms. Thanks to Laurel and Kevin's handyman skills, it turned out really awesome!

Here's to another great year! Bring on 2012 :)

Determination

Last night I had a chat with a good friend about how I've been having a hard time being determined. Being determined to set and achieve goals. Being determined to read more than a verse of my scriptures each night. Being determined to eat healthy, resist the chocolate. I've just felt like I'm having a hard time progressing. And we all know when we are not progressing, we are digressing.

I know I want to be a better person, but I'm really having a hard time being determined and achieving each goal. Church today was really amazing and I felt like we talked a lot about our potential and how great of potential we all have. I guess I just wanted to put down my thoughts and also, ask my {2} readers, what you do to achieve your goals? How do you not let laziness overcome you? I don't necessarily feel lazy in my daily life...I stay fairly busy with school, friends, family, church...but I feel lazy in the fact that I don't feel like I'm progressing in life.

Any advice??

Dating

Since I've been back in the land of Utah, I have been forced to be back in the dating world. (London was a good break and I enjoyed time just hanging out with girls and not worrying about boyzz). I've had a few comical experiences that have forced me to make this list of no-no's in dating.


Dating Don'ts
1. While on a date do not tell the girl you are with that she was your last resort
2. Do not go to a restaurant and decide it's too expensive and that we have to go somewhere cheaper. Cheap dates are fabulous, but when men point of the high price tag on all food items it leaves the date ordering a side salad and feeling horrible.
3. Talking about ex-girlfriends and how they screwed you over is not good first date convo material
4. Doubling with your sister and talking with her the majority of the time leaves a very bored date (and unimpressed)
5. Showing your date model pictures of your sisters (and commenting on their beauty) is a little weird...
6. First date + Ward parties = Awkward date. period.
7. No need to tell your date how you've been turned down 300+ times, we all have secrets that we don't unfold at the beginning.
8. Don't sit on your date. You may suffocate them.
9. Mama's boy is hot but on a first date talking to your mom for half an hour is kind of odd.


In the past two months I may or may not have had all of these occur on a first date. Oooh dating, how I will be glad to be done with you some day in the future.

What have I been doing the past two months???

As I am approaching my final week at my job I have been thinking about everything I have learned. I don't think I could express how grateful I have been in participating in this experience of a lifetime. I have made excellent friends and have come to thoroughly love interior design. For posterity purposes I am going to layout a few randoms about my internship.

• My boss, Helen, is brilliant. I was incredibly intimidated by her and she made me shed a few tears at work and she may have yelled at me near fifty times but she has taught me so much. She has an eye for design like no one else. She adapts herself to each client and is able to create lovely interiors (and exteriors). 
• The first week of working I was optimistic about working there. I was going to try my best and just deal with a crazy boss. Then the next couple of weeks I began to hate it. I could never do anything right and Helen was never satisfied. I continued to work hard and do what I can to please her. After a few weeks, boom, she changed overnight and liked me. She liked what I was showing her in my design ideas and she actually offered me a position. This was truly amazing. Now it wasn't smooth sailing the rest of the time but I have come to really enjoy working there. 
• I really love interior design. I love helping client's in deciding their paint color, the fabric they want to use, the flooring, the different furniture options. (p.s. we do what is called bespoke furniture, which means the furniture will be made to the client-from start to finish---AMAZING!!).
• Tea and coffee are served ALL the time. People are so weirded out with my decline every day. But I'm okay with it :)
• The UK does not teach English well, nor computer classes. The emails I receive are so poorly written and spelled. Also, people "peck" at the keyboard when they type. HOME ROW PEOPLE! My coworkers are amazed that we can type so fast. 
• The few different vocab words...such as: hoover {vacuuming}, trousers {pants}, full stop {period}, rubbish {garbage}, uni {college}, biscuit {cookie}, carriageway {highway}...just to name a few.
• Ethics are not applied in the work environment. One thing that really bugged me. I will be glad to go back to a company that is honest in ALL of their dealings.

This experience has literally changed who I am and who I want to become. Sounds corny but I have learned soo much. 

This was at the beginning. I didn't really fancy everything chosen for this client but we were given all the material and made it look presentable. 

The same client as above but for her bedroom. This one I thought was classy. We spent so much time and put in so much work looking up all sorts of different types of designs for this client. Good thing she dumped us. :)

This is the office. Pretty cluttered eh? Yes, I was dying. We did a bit of organizing but man it was stressful being in such a cluttered space.

The other part of the office, aka the "showroom". This was a little more presentable...All of these walls are filled with fabric books, carpet, paint, and wallpaper books {this is not picturing near as many books as the company owns}. My first day my boss said, "go familiarize yourself with the fabrics and wallpapers". We literally had to sit there and memorize ever single fabric in all the books. Needless to say I was a little overwhelmed. I surprised myself with how much I actually retained.

Best Friend

My best friend, Linsey, is going on her mission next week. I'm sure I've mentioned her before, seeing as though we have been best friends for quite some time and have roomed together for the last three years. I just wanted to give her a little shout out before she left.

This post is going to sound cheesy so get over it. But this girl is amazing. Not only is she involved in and exceeds in so many different things (taekwondo, photography, singing, clogging, percussion, volunteering, and lots more), she is one of the most humble, loving, non-judgemental, smart, gorgeous person I know. I honestly don't know where I would be without her. I specifically remember this one time freshman year when I came home one night extremely frustrated, and worried about who knows what and while I was complaining, she had gone in our room and put up little notes of encouragement and for the next week she was continuing to ask how I was doing. This has happened numerous times and she has always been there for me. She has always been the "more-liked" person within our roommates because she is always so nice and forgiving. I look up to her in so many ways.

I have seen this girl grow and progress so much this past year as she has been preparing for her mission. She truly is going for ALL the right reasons and the people of Argentina are going to be blessed by her presence.

Although, it is going to be weird not having her here, I am so happy and excited for her.

These are only a few photos among the hundreds of weird pictures between the two of us. We even have a video made of all our weird photos....

Love you, Linsey Spinsey!!

LONDON

I am here in London town!!! It's such a beautiful city filled with fabulous architecture, museums, shops, and many many other lovely things. I got here last Saturday after a week in Paris. Before I talk about London I want to share 8 things I learned/noticed about Paris

1. The Eiffel Tower is MUCH bigger in person. And gorgeous lit up and sparkling :) Probably one of my favorite parts.
2. The underground metro is simply amazing. You can get anywhere and the stops are literally on every corner!
3. The little baguette shops are so cute and we got at least one pastry every day....;)
4. The Mona Lisa is a bit smaller than I expected. However, still very cool to see it in person.
5. The Pompidou Museum had a whole chunk of the art that I have studied in school. Nothing better than seeing the art you have studied or replicated in person.
6. Trying to skip down a few set of spiral stairs in tight pants is not as glamorous as it sounds. It may cause a ginormous rip down the middle of your pants and a few passerby's giggle.
7. DO NOT book a trip to London a few days before departing. The ticket may cost over $200. I learned this the hard way.
8. There are so many cute little parks in France. Almost everyday we made a stop in a gorgeous garden or park. So fun to enjoy a nutella crepe surrounded by lovely manicured gardens.

We had a blast in Paris. Sydney and Ben were so gracious to have Brittany and I stay at their flat during our vacation.

After missing my train to get to London and waiting in the station for a few hours, I made it to London! I got in and dropped off my bags and went into the city. My first impression of London was coming out of the Tube station seeing a naked bike ride parade. Quite the first impression! Haha it was quite different but we had a good giggle out of it.

I've done some sight seeing, still have TONS more to do, but mostly been focusing on getting settled and learning my new internship position. I am working for an interior design shop called Helen Reed Designs. It is NOTHING like I expected. In a good way :). Some days I kind of feel like I stepped into the movie The Devil Wears Prada, because my boss is kinda similar :S, she is a bit nicer though. It's been a little bit of an adjustment but ready or not here I come! This is going to be an experience of a lifetime and I am very excited about learning and growing. I miss home a little bit, some times more than others, but hopefully I will get used to being on my own in due time. I am off to go out with some friends but I will post pictures later.

Congrats if you made it to the end!!

Finally

The time has now come my friends. I could not be more excited/scared/nervous/anxious/thrilled to be going to London. This has been a long time coming...The idea of doing an internship abroad came into my head about a year ago and went undergo in December. Since then, I have had so many ups and downs about this whole thing. Between the cost, not finding out where I am working until three weeks before, visa shtuff, hours and hours of phone calls, school lectures and prep courses for going abroad, and many, many other things, this has been a LONG time coming.

Needless to say, I feel so blessed to be able to be in the position to participate in this experience. I know this will be such a big learning experience and I am ready to start on this big adventure.

Wish me luck!!


P.s. I am making a pit stop in Paris before I head to London. Anyone want anything from the Eiffel Tower? ;)