the best surprise

this would be my work desk while i try and sort out which posters go with which order. 107 posters to be exact. mostly due to this surprise post by nie nie last week. i wish someone had been around to hear my yelp of excitement when i saw that link. but, alas, it was 3 am and only my shiny laptop and my magazine assignment were keeping me company. but i couldn't have asked for a better christmas surprise. i love that lady.

in other news, i desperately need a haircut and color. but i feel like sitting in a chair for three hours to pretend like i am still a blonde is a little much.

also, i spent six hours making monogrammed soap last week. oooooooh the adventure. but definitely worth it when my bald professor told me he heard it contained a miracle cure for baldness and was using it diligently and saving the other half for my other bald professor.

mike turned our gingerbread house into a barracks. he also grated the chimney with a pretzel ("no creepy old men will be popping through our chimney"), mounted some weaponry to the roof, and caged a chocolate santa in the front yard to ward off other... enemies? mike is too awesome sometimes.

and now, i will finally start catching up on all of your blogs :)

wish lists

i have some very talented friends. and if anyone needs some unique christmas gift ideas for this year, let me give you a few...

adorable treasure hunt necklace from kat's store katch1

rose drop necklace, also from katch1

panda bear hat from rachael at her talk2thetrees shop

aspen necklace from rachael's treetalker store

and hopefully kendahl re-opens her pomegranate & pink shop soon because she has amazingly cute hair accessories :) anyone else have a store i don't know about? i'm always looking for new products to drool over.

posters! again.

new prints and a new promo. go team.

hooray for another poster giveaway!

i'm giving away two posters on simply utah today (and they have a bunch of other great giveaways too!) maybe you should check it out. it might help take your mind off of the great blizzard of 2010 ;)

www.simplyut.com

a saga

me. my byu student id card.

we are not friends.

because, really, could you be friends with something that had a picture of you looking like this?

i suppose it's my own fault. but, the photo plus the fact that the card never worked, for anything, made me resent it a little.

i have watched longingly as all my friends used their id cards to do magical things. like clock in and out at work. and get in the letterpress lab all on their own without banging on the door for ten minutes. i even witnessed them buy ice cream from the vending machines. ice cream! a swipe from the card, and the possibilities were endless. oh the envy.

last week, i finally took action and found out that my card had been reported lost/stolen. so i reported it un-lost/stolen. and then i ran straight to the vending machine! naturally. i bought that little cup of creamery ice cream. and it was glorious.

ten minutes later, i received this email in my inbox:

alas, i knew it was too good to be true.

it's all a giant bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuur

i swear i took this picture two days ago. in reality, it was two weeks, and the leaves are all brown and fallen now. how can it be the middle of November already? i wish i could hit the pause button for just a day or two.

tangent: i have a proposition for all the law makers that complain about people never getting out and voting. idea: put daylight savings to a vote. i promise you people will get out to nullify losing an hour of sleep in the spring/daylight in the winter. and maybe make your "i voted" stickers have a giant picture of harry potter. that would do the trick.

tangent numero dos: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGIE! can't wait to see you guys in a few weeks :)

11310. and counting.

photo with the iphone. i will dedicate some other post to my absolute adoration for that magical little box.

two weeks ago annie and i did a very mini bridal show. le chateau invited us to be one of their "preferred vendors" (so fancy, eh?) for a catering event they put on. naturally, we were more than happy to show up with some of our invitations and hit the food tables up multiple times. we also met the most hilarious wedding vendors. it felt good to swap crazy wedding stories with them, like we were all a part of some secret club. it also made us a feel just a little bit more official. like we're not just two sister-in-laws that yell "oh! pretty!" every time we see new paper samples.

tonight we're eating hamburger helper. i don't know, but my initial impression is that a talking glove isn't very trustworthy. i fought back the urge to say "and please bless that this freeze-dried meal isn't cancerous" when we prayed. keeping our fingers crossed.

and now, modern family. love wednesday nights.

sometimes, i get emails like this from my professors

please note the *seahorse training at the bottom.

despite the pressure, lack of sleep, and forfeiting of everything else in my life, i really love the design program. i would recommend it to everyone, but there's only 15 chairs in the classrooms and then i wouldn't have a seat anymore.

they better be good for your heart. not much else going for them.

today we finished the back-up's back-up box of cereal. plain cheerios.

that's the truest indication of how busy life has been lately. it's a sad day when you actually finish all the plain cheerios because you haven't been grocery shopping in... awhile.

lots to post about. but i have a few projects i'm dying to finish first. (christmas cards. dayna's posters! the latest invitations, etc.) don't give up on me yet.

joining the club

a gift

*edit - they removed it so you can't play anymore - sad day*
i was shown this.
and was amazed.
so i am passing the love on.

go to: physics.byu.edu (browser has to be firefox)

once on the site, press the following:
up arrow
up arrow
down arrow
down arrow
left arrow
right arrow
left arrow
right arrow
b
a

and you should be rewarded with this:

feel free to play it once. or twice. or for awhile.
(if it doesn't work exit out of the browser and try again - and it does have to be firefox)
who else is excited that conference weekend is finally here? so excited!

no man is an island

poster giveaway?

poison ivy.

SPOILER ALERT
sorry to everyone i already ruined this for...

thursdays are the best night of the week for me. i finish classes around 7 and get to go home with the knowledge that i only have to work 5 or 6 hours on friday before that blissful feeling of eternal weekend begins. have i said how much i love working part-time yet? this is the first semester in a few years i'm not putting 40-50 hours in a week at a day job and it is BLISS. i am as chipper as mary poppins most days. except i can't whistle.

the past few weeks though, my beautiful thursdays have been a little bit... tainted.
i blame her.

(shudder.)

but after last night, i don't have to hear her mean little voice ever again.

all is right in the world.

finders keepers

my mom gave me a box full of random stuff awhile ago. mostly old art stuff. i shoved the box in the back of the neon and promptly dragged it around the state of utah for a few months because the only time i remembered about it was when we went grocery shopping and needed the trunk (which always made mike really happy). i finally dragged it out of the car on saturday. here's what i found:

alot of really bad photos from a b&w film class a few years ago. but for some reason, i find them kind of nice now. so i very artistically hung them crookedly with masking tape on my wall.

and guess what else was in the mystery box? these lovelies:

who knows how long they have been there. did i eat them anyways?

yup.

and were they delicious?

yup.

because we're cool like that

six years ago, mike and i went on our first date. to homecoming. his friends made him ask me, even though he denies it. but that's ok, because now we have this little gem to preserve for generations.

oooooh the awkwardness of this pose. my sneaky / nervous glance at the camera. mike's swagger. the high-waisted-before-it-was-fashionable skirt. and the asian background? still a mystery, since the theme was "a long time comin'", country twang and all... go vikings.

just wait until i find our prom picture...

mondo mondo

huge fan of mondo on project runway. but i can't get past it... anyone else see the resemblance between him and the boss from the incredibles?

huge prayer in my heart right now that ivy goes home this week. please oh please oh pleeeeeeeease send her away!

Lexi's invitation

remember that preview i posted a little while ago? well her invitation is being featured on onewed's savvy scoop blog today! you can check out the link www.onewed.com/blog/savvy-scoop if you so desire.

if you want to see the reception (trust me, you do!) you can check their wedding video out at http://www.vimeo.com/14832813.

some things just need to be shared

remember awhile ago when everyone on facebook was doing those doppleganger things?

well.

tonight i re-discovered mike's results. (i took screenshots to preserve the memory)

for your viewing pleasure, his top three matches...

the girl from slumdog millionaire won the #1 spot, followed by...

"queen latifah!?! now that's just wrong."

my result was emmy rossum, which is neither funny nor accurate.

may i sell you a poster?

i packaged and shipped some posters today. sorry for the overload on this lately, the packaging was just something that i was really excited about (i might have gone too far... opinions are welcome - also, ideas on making the site more visually appealing. photos maybe? i'm stumped).

www.avintageposter.com

my 5 year old self would be so disappointed.

on tuesday i made the mistake of forgetting to pack a lunch. ohhhhhhh what a mistake. i went to the vending machines and debated between peanut m&ms and a lunchable. in a rare moment of logic, i decided that a lunchable was potentially more healthy / filling.

um.... has anyone eaten a lunchable lately?

for some reason the rubbery cheese and slimy ham just doesn't do it for me like it did when i was seven.
which led me to create the following...

foods that have lost their magic sometime between age 5 and now:

playdough ice cream
hi-c
fruity pebbles (when i eat these i swear i feel new cavities forming before i'm finished)
squeeze-its
ring pops
corn dogs
bubble tape
spaghetti-o's
those gummy hamburger things
twinkies
fun-dips
pop rocks
funyuns
mcdonald's chicken nuggets
(feel free to add to this list)

all foods i begged for and was rarely able to have because my mother loves me, truly.

it's kind of ironic. now that im finally able to buy all the junk food i want, my taste buds have decided to connect to my stomach. it's a cold, cruel world we live in.

observation

school is good. it is teaching me things. like observing.

these are my saturday morning breakfast observations. translucence.

observation is a funny thing. a learned thing. once you start noticing details you become more amazed by them. and then grateful for them. and then humbled by them.

and then you realize that you have a long way to go to become a really good designer. but that's ok. it's what life is for, right?

baffled.

things that confuse me {the ultra condensed list}


no, pandora. it does not make sense for me to "heart" a coldplay song and then have you select slipknot as the next artist.


why is the lowest setting on my mixer still high enough to flick food everywhere? our walls could be some sort of organic testament of our diet. but, never fear, i clean them.


people that spell other people's names wrong on facebook... pretty sure their name is on the top of the page...


is there a way to roundbrush your hair without getting the roundbrush hopelessly stuck on your head? also, i feel sort of dumb whenever i say "roundbrush". this is a brush, and it's round, so i guess it's a... roundbrush.


michael makes kool-aid in excessively large amounts. after a month i dump it down the drain. and the next day? a bigger batch of kool-aid finds a home in our fridge. baffling.


i watched a couple change their baby on campus the other day. while they were walking. it was fascinating. and gross. but i followed them just to see if they could do it. they did. i couldn't help being impressed.


fact. ivy is still on project runway. ugh! i want to punch her little hyper face sometimes. but i am not a violent person. (i take it out on our alpaca pillow).


blogger. the layout tools tend to do the opposite of what i want them to. OR they look fine until they publish and then CHAOS. it's such a pleasant surprise.


the end.

the day we almost bought iphones

let me start at the beginning.

i wake up early. too early. about a week ago i was filing away all of our transactions in mint (favorite hobby) and i had been thinking about what i could get mike for our anniversary next month. looking at our budget again, i had an idea.

i went into our bedroom at 5:45 and kind of shook mike awake. i got a semi-grunt, so i said "mike, what do you think about getting iphones for our anniversary?" he half opened one eye to look at me, and then he lifted up the corner of the covers and said "welcome to my bed." he was a little delusional. and then he started patting me on the back and saying "you've had a grand idea, sara" over and over and over.

the problem was that i wanted to wait until october, and mike wanted it two months ago.

finally, last night, he convinced me i needed the sheer joy and happiness the iphone would bring. and i needed it now. so we drove to the store. and walked in. and it was packed. we waited. and that's where it all went downhill... because as we waited, i kept hearing snippets of the conversations around me:

"activation fee is $36 per line"
"yeah, the new iphone is only $199"
"oh, you will have to pay the cancellation fee for that"
"yeah, we add the data plan of $15 per line to your $49.99 monthly plan"

and that, x2, meant all i heard was $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and that it would cost us a million and five dollars to buy those shiny little things.
plus i kept seeing dave ramsey's head floating around with a disappointed look, like i failed him.
and then i started to panic. possibly hyperventilate. and just as it was our turn at the counter, i made mike leave the store. i chickened out. worst wife ever.

so... yeah. i guess you don't get points for almost buying an iphone.

"it's good to be loved by martha. even if she is a felon."

i saw this today. and my heart stopped beating.

martha. freaking. stewart.

i kind of feel like laughing, because the way annie and i do things is, well... funny. we assemble invitations at midnight while we watch the bachelorette. we have business meetings at arby's. i photograph the invitations in my spare bedroom lying on my stomach or standing on a stack of textbooks and usually on my lunch break. but don't tell martha :)

i still can't even believe it.

we were so lucky to get to help out with lauren's wedding. thank you lauren!!!

a vintage poster

well folks, here it is, avintageposter.com

and, because i am shameless and need to spread the word...

a new side business to the side business to the real job

i have been working on a new little project lately. one that was heavily influenced by otter pops. the site should be re-tweaked for the umpteenth time tonight (should i ever give deadlines? i never keep them. sometimes i wave to them as they roll on by) but hopefully my next post will be one announcing it's official debut. i just got a little anxious. hence, this post.

check it out here: avintageposter.com

chef mike

the other day mike offered to make lunch for us. and he did. complete with his and hers mambas.

an example of true genius

order this sleeping bag and you officially don't have to worry about bears when you go camping.

from eikoishizawa.com. credit to artsy jana for finding nifty stuff and sharing.

minty

ever heard of mint?

it is on my top 5 list of things i cannot live without. free-budgeting tool. complete with pie graphs and bar graphs and lots of colored things to look at.

it's simple. all you have to do is create an account and enter your bank(s) information. (no worries-it is totally secure). mint will pull all your transactions from your accounts into one convenient little spreadsheet. you can file away each transaction in it's proper category (rent, groceries, entertainment, etc.) and set your own categories too (ice cream splurge, j. crew sales, unnecessary camping equipment, etc.). and set your monthly budgets. mike and i have been using it for over a year, and while it has kind of turned me into a budget nazi, but it has helped us save a lot and cut things out that we didn't realize were adding up so fast. plus you don't feel as guilty about spending money if there is a budget for it. well, most of the time anyways.

highly recommend it. mint.com.

retail therapy

i used to love shopping. empty my bank account and not even think twice about it shopping. but after mike and i became we and the bank account became ours things changed. the money i would have spent on shoes became the money that should be going to our IRA.

even though i am pretty sure i will die or the second coming will occur before we ever reach the blessed age of 59.5 and see that money again.

but. now instead of buying clothes when i need them or when there is a supremely awesome sale, i can't do it. can't. can't. can't. (that was for you ang. and barry.)

i fill up an online shopping cart. i enter my checkout information. and then there is that confirm payment button. oi. aaaaaaaaaaand exit browser.

this week, i am mourning these lovely items. so close to buying them, and now i am regretting it. a little. at least my unborn children will be able to go to college? but the ruffles...