Christmas!

We had a great Christmas! Here is a glimpse into the chaos:
Isn't it great when the biggest present belongs to you? I never dreamed I'd get something this cool! Thank you Keaton!

Our special ornament for this year was a chinese takeout box, complete with a fortune cookie that reads: "What good fortune to have each other." Every year we get an ornament from Keaton's family that has some significance for what we did during the year. I think maybe we go out to eat a little too much if it warranted an ornament!

What a cute hubby!

Hmmm...so I guess this means you liked the present?

School Update

So I just got my grades for the three classes I took this semester:
Eminent Authors (my Sherlock Holmes class) : A
Nature Writing: A
Excel: C+ (Its like, one credit. I probably could have tried harder, but I was busy writing hundreds of essays. Just happy to pass.)

Yay for me!

Playing Catch-Up

I don't know what has happened to me this season, but it feels like I've missed the whole lead-up to Christmas. I blame school. I really, really, really tried hard this semester, especially nearing the end. (I did the tabulations, and in the last four weeks of school I did seventeen units for my two online classes. Each unit had four essay questions, and I wrote about a page of essay answer to each question. That equals...well, around 68 pages of essay writing. Yikes! That isn't even including all the essay stuff I did before the last four weeks of school! The cool thing is, my professor wrote in his review of my work, "I've really appreciated the time and thoughtfulness you've put into your responses for this class. It's not often that I see such scholarly commitment in an on-line class. Thanks for all your extra effort." Say what? Me? Did you say scholarly? That is the first really positive response I've ever had from a teacher--most the time I try to fly under the radar unnoticed, and if they do notice me its because I'm not doing all the stuff I'm supposed to be doing. So its cool to A. actually try, and B. get something positive out of trying besides exhaustion. So, though now I only have a week to get into Christmas, I'm still feelin' all right!

On a work-related note, Wells Fargo is a sponsor of the Utah Food Bank and each branch was supposed to decorate a barrel for donations for a statewide contest. Because banking is boring and I happen to love art, I enthusiastically volunteered to paint our barrel on company time. (Who wouldn't?) Here are a few pictures of it:




It really looks better in person. What's really cool is that we won 2nd place in the state! (Price won first, but they cheated by decorating theirs as a stagecoach. Brown nosers!)

Well, that's what's been happening in the last couple of weeks. Hopefully I can get more Holiday-themed things up before Christmas comes and goes and I've blinked and missed it!

Wisdom from Thoreau

It's nearly midnight of the umpteenth night in a row I've been scrambling to finish the last of my essays as the semester nears an end. One of the classes upon which I'm laboring is Nature Writing. This evening, as I struggled to keep my eyes open, I came across a bit of wisdom by Thoreau, the man whose works I was so desperately trying to memorialize. He said, “Many a poor sore-eyed student that I have heard of would grow faster, both intellectually and physically, if, instead of sitting up so very late, he honestly slumbered a fool’s allowance.”
I couldn't agree more. Maybe next week.

Thanksgiving...Scenes from Grandma's house

I know its been a while since I updated anything...I've been spending all my spare time writing essays about Sherlock Holmes and the beauties of nature (yeah...a whole class on nature writing. Yikes.) But last week we went up to Grace, Idaho and spent Thanksgiving morning and afternoon at Keaton's grandparents house. Since I don't have any left, it was sure nice of him to share! There are so many little things to look at at Grandma's house, I couldn't help but snap some pictures!
This reads: "If you put off doing that which is your duty, it will then become a chore." Story of my life, Grandma. Story of my life.

Paula made everyone write to Logan...I wouldn't say forcibly, exactly, but she can be convincing!

I love the little things: Does anyone notice that one of the geese is wearing a special ribbon around its neck? Things like that get my imagination going...

Personality Tests

Lately at work we've been talking a lot about different personalities and communications styles. My manager recently had to do a presentation about the Merrill-Reid communication styles for a meeting, but he practiced on us first. I personally dig this kind of stuff...I think as a writer I embrace anything that "characterizes" me and the people I know. I can't explain it exactly...it's just, everyone has an idea of what kind of person they are, it's just fun to see it put into words. Of course, no personality test is 100% accurate seeing as how everyone is unique, but still, sometimes they get awfully close! It's important to point out that there is no "better" one, they all have their share of good and bad. Here are the Merrill-Reid styles:

Driver: · Objective-focused · Know what they want and how to get there! · Communicates quickly, gets to the point · Sometimes tactless and brusque · Can be an "ends justify the means" type of person · Hardworking, high energy · Does not shy away from conflict

Other Driver Personality traits:
__ PERSUASIVE
__ BUSINESS LIKE
__ TACTLESS
__ ARGUMENTATIVE
__ STUBBORN
__ COMPETITIVE
__ POSITIVE
__ CONFIDENT
__ BOLD
__ DOMINEERING
__ FORCEFUL
__ PRODUCTIVE
__ RISK TAKER
__ LEADER
__ OUTSPOKEN
__ DARING
__ PROUD
__ IMPATIENT
__ TASK ORIENTED
__ STRONG-WILLED
__ DECISIVE
__ SHORT-TEMPERED
__ INDEPENDENT
__ THOROUGH

*Does this sound like Keaton to anybody? Thought so!

Expressive: · Natural salesmen or story-tellers · Warm and enthusiastic · Good motivators, communicators · Can be competitive · Can tend to exaggerate, leave out facts and details · Sometimes would rather talk about things than do them!

Other Expressive Personality Traits
__ SOCIABLE
__ CHEERFUL
__ MESSY
__ DISORGANIZED
__ OPTIMISTIC
__ POPULAR
__ FUNNY
__ LIVELY
__ TALKATIVE
__ RESTLESS
__ UNPREDICTABLE
__ CONVINCING
__ LENIENT
__ EXCITABLE
__ HAPHAZARD
__ LOUD
__ FORGETFUL
__ CHANGEABLE
__ MIXES EASILY
__ INCONSISTENT
__ ENTHUSIASTIC
__ INTERRUPTS
__ PROMOTER
__ UNDISCIPLINED

...no surprise here, I was labeled "expressive" by every single one of my coworkers before I even got the results of the test! I wonder if that means I talk too much at work...

Amiable: · Kind-hearted people who avoid conflict · Can blend into any situation well · Can appear wishy-washy · Has difficulty with firm decisions · Often loves art, music and poetry · Highly sensitive · Can be quiet and soft-spoken

Other Amiable Personality traits:
__ LOYAL
__ GOOD LISTENER
__ PLAIN
__ FOLLOWER
__ WILLING
__ PEACEFUL
__ DEPENDABLE
__ FRIENDLY
__ SHY
__ TIMID
__ HESITANT
__ COMPROMISING
__ WORRIER
__ SUPPORTIVE
__ SUBMISSIVE
__ GENTLE
__ RESERVED
__ DOUBTFUL
__ AGREEABLE
__ RELUCTANT
__ PATIENT
__ SERENE
__ CONSIDERATE
__ GOOD-NATURED


Analytical: · Highly detail oriented people · Can have a difficult time making decisions without ALL the facts · Make great accounts and engineers · Tend to be highly critical people · Can tend to be pessimistic in nature · Very perceptive

Other Analytical personality traits:
__ LOGICAL
__ DETAILED
__ DEEP
__ HARD TO PLEASE
__ FUSSY
__ SERIOUS
__ RESPECTFUL
__ ORGANIZED
__ PESSIMISTIC
__ MOODY
__ WITHDRAWN
__ ACCURATE
__ LONER
__ PLANNER
__ PERSISTANT
__ SCHEDULED
__ SYSTEMATIC
__ CRITICAL
__ BEHAVED
__ STUFFY
__ INTROVERT
__ IDEALISTIC

I have to say, I've probably already decided what most of my friends and family are, but I won't say, I'll just let you decide for yourself!

Sexy Saturday...in pictures

Sexy Saturday (or "Fancy Female" day, as dubbed by a father uncomfortable with the word "sexy") :) was a blast! First we went to the Union Station and took a couple of shots of our earlier-arriving gang. Then, we walked to Roosters and spent a couple of hours just talking and laughing. It's always a blast to get together with the girls, this has become a staple for us...once a girl's been married for a while, she needs a little R&R with her pals! Posted here are the candids, for the real "portraits" go to the Envision Image blog!

Tagged

Seven things no one knows about me? Are you kidding? I talk so much about myself all the time, I don't have anything left to say. Well, here goes...

1. Since Carma already "outed" me on her blog about our long-standing love of the band Hanson, I guess I have to come clean. Its true. The summer of '97 was a glorious sunny cavalcade of jumping on the tramp, listening to mmmbop, and more jumping on the tramp. And more mmmbop. Oh, the joyous memories... I was forever converted to the way of hanson. And since they're almost the exact same age as me, I feel like I grew up with them. Now they're all married and have kids and stuff. Makes me feel really old and long for the days of sun and trampolines.

2. I'm addicted to anime. My husband and I are continuously searching for unknown shows to feed the addiction. Favorites are Ruroni Kenshin, Escaflowne, and Fullmetal Alchemist as well as movies such as Howl's moving Castle (I hate potatoes). I think what draws me to this mode of entertainment is that the emotions of the characters are so exaggerated, love and hate and sadness and fear are all magnified. None of that subtle stuff. Most people try so hard to keep their feelings inside, its refreshing to watch characters unabashedly blazing from one emotion to the other.

3. Unlike Carma, the straight A student, I have failed a class. Several, in fact. I seem to have a problem with doing what I'm supposed to do when I'm supposed to do it. (shrug) I'm one of those people who loves to learn stuff, I just hate having to jump through hoops. Worksheets were the worst things ever invented. I hate pointless things, so I just don't do them. No, this is not a good trait to have, but it's who I am nonetheless.

4. I am the worlds greatest procrastinator. When I know I have to do something, I'll get thiiis close to doing it, and then I'll distract myself with something else to avoid it. My story would have never gotten finished if I hadn't erased Spider Solitaire from my computer. In fact, right now I'm avoiding another immensely boring essay about nature and trees by writing this post. (see #3)

5. I laugh like Marge Simpson. This is something I've only recently noticed. If any of you hang around me sometime soon, try not to be embarrassed for me. Its unavoidable. I laugh after EVERYTHING. Even things that don't need laughs. I'll just start a sentence (laugh.) and then I'll start another (laugh.) It just never stops. (laugh.) The marge laughs come when I'm more bemused. Its kind of a sucking/nasal thing.

6. I love most kinds of movies, but please, don't ask me to attend one of those heartwarming sports-themed ones. I'd rather read the minutes of a rock-watching convention. No, there is no such thing as a rock-watching convention, but i might organize one if someone tries to make me watch a show about some down-on-his-luck athlete who makes a miraculous comeback just in time to earn the love of a winsome girl and make his dying father proud.

7. I would trade all the glitz and glamour the world could ever offer me for a quiet night at home in my jammies, cuddled next to my husband, with a cup of hot chocolate and an episode of heroes. I'll never understand the "party" scene that seems to suck the life out of the rich and famous. Keaton, Duncan, and a healthy dose of Hiro Nakamura and co. are I need to make me happy.

I tag Ann Marie! I don't know if you read my blog, but if you do this means you have to update yours!!!

Sexy Saturday!!!!

Hey thought I'd drop a line and let everyone know that we're going to be doing another sexy saturday on Nov. 10th because Carolanne will be back in town! Details are still pending, but seeing as how Carma and I are now "official" in our little photo biz, be prepared for lots of picture-taking! We kind of skipped that part last year, but no such luck this year! Get ready!! And if you have any suggestions for venues, give me a shout. Here is a basic itinerary:

morning: get ready
afternoon (approx 1-5 pm): shopping
late afternoon (5-6:30 pm): pictures
evening (6:30 on): dinner @ cool restaurant
late evening: fun actvity or movie

Difficult but Doable

I had to play piano in Relief Society today for the first time ever. When they called me to do it, my exact words were (groaning) "Oh, nooo." Brother Jensen didn't seem to bothered by my reaction, stating that the girl who plays the piano in primary doesn't play, either, and she doesn't have a piano. So I accepted, wondering what in tarnation they were thinking when my name popped into their heads in conjunction with the piano. Don't misunderstand, I play...if you can call pounding out my own little melodies playing. I just don't read music. You see, once upon a time a certain mother forced her daughter to take piano lessons from the ages of 6 to 13 (me). The problem is, I was good at 6 as I was when I finished, at 13. The interim years were spent begrudgingly going to a once a week lesson and exasperating a very patient teacher with my dismal facsimiles of what she played for me. (I always made her play it first, and then would try to mimic by ear what it sounded like. Eventually she caught on to my little game and refused to play songs for me until I attempted to read the notes. That's about when my piano lesson days came to an end.)

So, last week I spoke with the music leader, gathered a list of songs I would need to know, and began to painstakingly decipher the hieroglyphics known as music. I went into relief society today telling myself that I was going to make mistakes, and that I should just get over it and keep playing through. And you know what? Though I made mistakes...saying 'several' is being kind...I didn't do half bad. Afterwards a couple of the sisters told me I did okay and that it will get easier. An especially well-meaning sister (the previous accompanist, to be exact) told me that I did fine, but I just needed to remember that a dotted half-note needs to be held longer than a regular half note. I nodded and said i would try to remember. I thought about asking her what a regular half note was, but I didn't want to scare the poor thing. :)

Stephenie Meyer (author of Twilight) told a BYU audience that she felt that the dream she had that eventually became a full-length novel was God's way of telling her to get going. "It sounds a little odd to say you were inspired to write a vampire novel," she said, "I really feel like it was a situation where I had a talent that I was not using. I had buried it. And that was my kickstart. I was supposed to be doing something with this talent." That's kind of what it feels like. I have been focusing on so many other things, that the musical side of me has been basically buried while I concentrated on endeavors I deemed more profitable, like my art and writing. I guess that's the way it works. There's always something more we can be doing. Just as something gets easy, its time to grow in something else. Last sunday in gospel doctrine class, our teacher said, "Nobody gets stronger by lifting 1000 pounds on the first try. The trick is to start with something difficult but doable." I may hit the wrong notes about 3/4s of the time now, but who knows? Eventually it will only be 1/2 the time, and maybe someday I can add playing the hymns to the list of challenges I endured and, eventually conquered.

Brandon, this one is for you

After toiling through 26 fruitless pages, I decided to start my latest story all over again. (see previous post "road block") And, at Brandon's request, I'm posting my first page of the new stuff here, because he wants to read it and for some reason none of my emails to him are showing up! So, indulge me if you will, and if you've got a moment, drop me a line and tell me what you think.


Chapter One

My fingers scraped painfully on the stone as I worked with anxious energy to twist the rusted lock from its catch. It was cold; many of the neglected stones had fallen away from the walls, and tiny shafts of half-light filtered through the cracks left bare. Though I was thankful for the weak light, it brought with it the chill. I didn’t care much—I knew that there would be no other place I could rest, no other place to feel safe, than the room beyond this heavy door with its rusted iron inlay. This great door had been beautiful once, but like so many things, time’s slow decay had left it ruined. Still, it stubbornly kept its duty, like a weathered soldier wearily using the last of its strength to bar me from passing.

I bloodied my knuckles, but finally the lock fell away and I earnestly pushed my shoulder against the solid weight of the door, and it creaked open with a scraping sigh, as if the soldier had fallen and had passed from this life to the next. It was of no consequence to me. The door had served well, but the place it kept had long ago been forgotten. It was no longer required to protect it so mightily.

I should have better prepared myself. I knew that since the fire, this wing had fallen into disrepair, but my mind had still faithfully preserved it as it once was—a warm place, with billowing gauze curtains and colorful toys. As I stood in that dark doorway, those memories slipped away. All that remained of the high raftered ceilings and thick, protective walls were skeletal braces and scorched, blackened stones. The roofing had caved in on one side, letting in starlight and snow. It had gathered in the corners and drifted on the floor, thick and white and eerily shadowed where there had once been crimson carpet glittering with sunshine-patterns.

The fireplace was the only fixture that remained largely unchanged. The chimney stood stalwart, shooting up straight and tall through sagging eaves. I stood for several minutes staring into the black depths of the hearth, wondering how the fireside that had kept me warm and comforted me as I slept in my father’s arms could have possibly turned my childhood refuge into this ravaged void.

I tucked myself into a corner beneath the fallen-in roof out of the snow and wind. I could hear the groaning of the tired planks and knew that if there came a strong breeze there was possibility of my being crushed beneath collapsing walls, but I didn’t care. Let it all fall in on me.

I folded my knees beneath my chin and squeezed my eyes shut tight. Nobody was around to see, but I still felt hot humiliation as the tears scalded my cheeks. The undisturbed silence of countless years was broken by the sound of my choking sobs and the violent tremors that shook my body. Everything had been taken from me. Even my memories of this nursery-room.

There was a bitter chill. My sobs slowly quieted, the heat of my despair dissipating into unfeeling resignation. The numb stretched from beyond my frozen, bleeding fingers and my aching bones to my soul. I wanted to die. Perhaps I would. The thought comforted me, if only a little.

Instead, I fell asleep.


© Crystal Campbell Smith, 2007

Announcing Envision Image Photography

As many of you probably know, in the last year and a half Carma and I have slowly started to get into the photography business, starting small with a few weddings and now many family pictures. Its been great, and we've learned a lot more of technique and style in the last year than we ever knew before. The last step in the process was completed last week, when we recieved our EIN (Employer Identification Number) which allows us to really start officially acting as a business. How awesome is it to be 23 and own your own business! We still have some kinks to work out (our website is looking a little neglected) but we're ready to go! We hope to work into a broad clientele, so if you know anyone who might be interested in a session, let us know! Here are just a few samples of what we've done, but our Envision Image blog has a much more comprehensive sampling. (http://www.envisionimage.blogspot.com/)

Life is a Highway...in pictures

Life is a Highway

This weekend we went on a final "farewell summer" jaunt to Marysvale and Big Rock Candy Mountain. It was a blast but we experienced three whole seasons in two days (summer, fall, and winter. Maybe even spring if you count all the rain.) And no trip is without its hiccups! We had some trouble with the steering/wheels on the jeep and had to have it towed at like midnight from an Autozone in Draper! The best part about vacations (even just itty-bitty ones) is coming home. Especially if your home is warm, and dry...

Road Block

The other day I spent a good half hour waiting in line to get on the freeway. I'm kind of used to it--I'm beginning to think that I should start decorating my house in orange barrels, it would feel more like home--but I couldn't help feeling a little irritated. I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel, reapplied my lipgloss (a couple of times, I think), and peered into the windows of my fellow traffic-mates and tried to imagine what kind of people they were. (Most likely they were all the kind of people who get creeped out when the girl in the car next to them stares for twenty minutes.) After our tax dollars finished whatever it was they were hard at work doing, we began to collectively creep forward and move back into the normal manic rhythm of mid-day commute. But even after I was back up to full-speed, I realized that this standstill sort of feeling had been plaguing me for a good long while, only it wasn't a road block. It was the dreaded writer's block.

See, I have much the same problem with writer's block as I do with a traffic jam. Rather than find a solution to the problem (heaven forbid) I distract myself with all kinds of things, trusting that eventually the orange barrels will disappear and I'll be travelling full-speed with the best of them again. It's terrible. Starting up the computer only to stare at a blank page for five minutes and then spend thirty minutes watching more stupid youtube videos (see previous post) is as pointless as getting into the car, buckling the seatbelt, turning on the ignition, and then spending the next half hour wishing the dang thing would somehow move.

I've even started blogging to get away from it!

Oh, well. My blank screen awaits.

(Anyone who has a cure for writer's block, please see me after class.)

Something Extraordinary

Last Friday night, my husband and I were surfing YouTube with my sister, Carma, and her husband, Steve. We had already watched any number of silly YouTube videos—one about a racist dragon, another about a guy with bananas for hands—when Steve directed us to a video of a contestant from American Idol’s predecessor, Britain’s Got Talent. We thought it would be another joke; some poor bloke making an idiot of himself on television, with no understanding of his actual talent—or lack thereof. But this video, of an opera-singing mobile phone salesman, turned out to be quite different. This was an unassuming man, one of those people that we pass by on the sidewalk without a second glance. People like that…they sort of blend into the background of our lives, providing little more to color our days than a faded, nondescript wallpaper. This unassuming man, so ordinary, did something the rest of us would never think to do—he found the courage to step onto a platform in front of an audience (which included the likes of acerbic judge Simon Cowell) and sang. He sang his heart out. It was beautiful, it was moving…it was so beyond ordinary that it was hard to fathom how such a man could have gone so long unnoticed...that moment will stay with me, I think, till I die. It’s so easy for me to think only of myself, only of my failures and successes, that it was new and quite strange to feel the soaring triumph with him, without a speck of envy for his sudden stardom, without a single derogatory thought as to his unprepossessing appearance, without a single thought about myself. His voice and his courage to share it made him beautiful, and some of that beauty spilled over to me, and I only felt awe.
Years ago, when I was working at a grocery store, a disheveled man, most likely in his fifties or sixties, with old, spotted clothes and gnarled hands, came through my cashier’s line. He only had a few items, and he paid with his card. I handed him the receipt I needed him to sign, and he did. I watched him as he wrote his name, each letter made with careful, confident strokes. His signature was striking. He smiled as he handed the paper back to me. I don’t remember much else about him, but I remember thinking, here is a man who has found dignity in something so small as writing his name…
I wonder, if we looked hard enough, whether we could find in every “background person” some remarkable trait that makes him or her special, extraordinary. It is our exquisite individuality that makes us all so special. When I was watching Paul Potts sing, I felt much the same way God must feel when He watches us…with hope for what we can attain, with a surety of the good things He knows we can do, and the absolute desire to see us succeed.