Girls.

Today was good. I don't have much time to write about it at the moment but I wrote a little tribute to all my lady friends here. Feel special because you are!

Then look at my friend Lindsay's blog to see the design she made for our geeky Twilight tshirts.

Thanks everyone for the blog comments and kindness and love you show me. I appreciate you all and am trying to get in the habit of letting you know that more. Hopefully I've made you feel as special as you make me feel :)

Do I sound like I'm drunk on love right now because I think I am. :)

Etsy love: Art

Christmas is getting very close. It's time to get all your Etsy stuff ordered so it'll be shipped on time to get here for the big day!

I could spend a LOT of money on art from etsy and some day I will!

Here's some faves:
I can't wait to have a kid to decorate it's room with some of these.

Fun and colourful little picture: The Little Mermaid from Serpentmandalas

Lovely Ducky by tuttistudio's - The little guy looks exactly like our Cambi. *tear* I want it!

Gorgeous colours and whimsy: High Hopes by Robert David Bretz from Paintallnightstudios.

One of my absolute faves. I love those rosy cheeks: Stella of The Sea by Marisol Spoon

This one's a classic and I love it: Keep Calm and Carry On from BluLima

Another fave that I know Stuart would hate: November Rain by BlackEyedSuzie

My future baby wants this: Framed Birdies in a Pear by Joom

There's plenty more where that came from and there's something for everyone!

Let's talk about Social Barriers...

I'm as guilty as the next person when it comes to building and maintaining social barriers. I think it's human nature  to label people. We look at a person, judge them and then put them on their little shelf. It's probably something to do with the laws of attraction.

I'm not really used to cliques. In high school I was the kid who floated from group to group but always had a home base with a few closer friends. I don't like being tied down because it's expected for a person to stay in one category. I don't like being tied down because I like a lot of different types of people and just because someone's part of a certain group doesn't mean I'm going to like them any more or less than someone with another label.

When I got married I was happy to have an eternal best friend. Then I found myself in a new place with no friends but him and a girl needs a friend who she's not sharing a bed with. Category: Newly wed and foreign.

I was very blessed to eventually meet someone else in my exact category at that time and taught her all sorts of wrong American-English.

Then we moved to Rexburg where the main categories involve length of marriage, number of offspring and student status. It was pretty easy to fit in at first because the ward was new but as time went on friends started reproducing and we didn't. People moved on physically and mentally leaving me behind. New people moved in which meant new friends. The longer it went on the more tiring it got but a few golden friendships were made and survived the cold winters. We ended up in the category of Old Timers and I think people automatically thought us, old timers don't need more friends because we've been there so long. That's wrong though.

I've never had a problem being friends with people who have kids. I find it to mean a lot if person with a kid or two will take the time to let themselves be friends with me. It means a lot. It is easier to be friends with people who don't have kids because it's easier to schedule and make plans at the drop of a hat but I like just hanging out. In my experience everyone likes to have fun, I'd like to be put in that category with the rest of the world, no boundaries - well, some because I only want good clean fun.

Now we're in another ward. We're not newly weds, we don't have kids and we're older. I'm hoping to break down some social barriers and become friends with people with kids. We're grateful for the friends we already have who have welcomed us so warmly.

On the sign as you enter our town it says "No room for racism", my sign would say "No room for cliques". haha. That sounded like a political voting speech or something. Vote Laura for Mayor-ette!


What I've learned is this: we categorise people unintentionally but when we don't feel we can fit in we categorise ourselves. If you want to be friends with someone then do it. Don't whine. Just do it.

Here's to pure friendship! Young and old unite!

California and I are friends.

I like it here. I've mentioned before how living in California is a cheesy dream come true for me. Most people who dream of living in this country will have dreamt of living in California. Hollywood, Disneyland, Baywatch, Beverly Hills 90210, Top Gun, California raisins, palm trees, beaches, sunshine... Who wouldn't want that?

I'll tell you who - Stuart.

I had to work a lot of magic to get Stuart to "apply to just one school" and making it be a school in California instead of Oregon took a bit of work too. Now though, Mr. I'll-Never-Live-in-California is singing a different tune. This sunshine is just what he needed after four long years in Idaho. He's been wearing flip flops the whole time we've been here - and needs a new pair because they really stink. No winter coats needed here!

We like it.

Edited: The darkness within.

Something I think about once or twice a winter is how being on a different continent the daylight is different and I have to admit it's a little trippy how much it effects me.

In Scotland when the clocks go back the nights get darker around 4pm-ish and the mornings are darker, not pitch black but duller until about 11am. The grass tends to be crunchy and frosty in the morning and you can pretend to be a chimney really well by puffing big clouds of cold air. Often I'd walk home from school and get in when it was really dark - thanks to my good friend Sam I never got mugged because he'd walk me all the way to my back gate. I'd get home and there would be a glow from the kitchen window which would be all foggy from the inside because of something delicious my mum was making for dinner in her green apron. Often soup with crusty bread. Heaven.

In Idaho the nights get dark around 6pm and the mornings are light around 7am-ish. Is that right Rexburg friends? The mornings seemed blindingly bright due to the knee high snow. I loved that though and then the glow from the street lights at night as the snow fell, twinklingly. I miss that a little too. I could create the same fogged up window by making soup for Stuart getting home from school.

Here in California the mornings are light around 6.30am-ish and the nights draw in at 5pm. I'm getting used to it and I can't really complain :)

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Today's been crazy. I almost was about to fly out of Oakland in a couple hours to spend the weekend with Wendy/Blue Lily and be her photog assistant at a wedding tomorrow. The excitement and then upset of not being able to go due to tiny details has left me with a throbbing headache. It was SO close... :( I don't want to talk about it.

Um, so I mentioned I'd post some crafty Christmas gift ideas here today but my head is hurting so much I need to go take a bath. Anyone looking for brilliant and cheap ideas though should make Martha Stewart their first stop (and then tell me what you find), I love it there.

Today is brought to you by the letter "E".

(This post needed a picture and this is all I had. Did everyone have a good Halloween?)

Education is very important. Up until now structured education has not been for me. I left high school liking the idea of getting in to textile design but now having the confidence - or grades - to go for it. Time went on and I started learning things on my own; valuable lessons that more school would teach me to seek after. I got married to a very clever man who loves to learn from books and teachers and even gets excited about it. Me, no. I don't enjoy being in a classroom. I don't enjoy being told what and when to learn. I'm like a bird. I don't like being caged up, I like to fly free... That's a beautiful image right there.

When we moved here and Stuart started school it became very obvious that money was going to be tight. Tight like a noose. Strangling us to death. This is where we're meant to be so we can't let a little thing like extreme lack of money get in the way. Then a friend started a company and I did some designs and thought to myself,  "I like this. I want to be able to do more than just this AND these are good skills for my photo editing too. I want more!"

Within no time - as in I applied for more info and the phone rang 15 minutes later - I was enrolled in school. It took me 4 days to get all my paper work sorted and entrance exams taken. Seriously. I decided and it happened.

I'm really excited to get a degree in Graphic Design. It's going to help me a lot with the skills I need to be a better designer and photographer. My advisor, Erika has been amazing and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about adding her as a friend on Facebook. Yeah, she's been that great! She's called almost every day since last Monday to talk to me through the process and encourage me. It's been a really wonderful experience - until today.

Let me just say that being able to get an education online is a huge blessing for me. There's no other way that this would work with my lack of drivers license and my lack of discipline - when I told my dad I was doing this the first and only thing he said was "You're going to have to discipline yourself." Thanks dad. No-one knows more than I do that I'm going to have to work hard on discipling myself when it comes to getting work done. I enjoy being distracted, it's practically a hobby.

Anyway, the enrollment process with Western Career College has been like a dream until today when I got a call from another admissions advisor who's main goal was to have me start school next week. The next term starts next week and is only one class which is easy peasy. And that's fine. If this was the start of any other term I'd have gone for it. November though is my birth month, Thanksgiving, New Moon, the busy month before Christmas. December brings finishing cleaning and organising the guest room for Andrew and Jenna (yay!), entertaining Andrew and Jenna, maybe a little holiday if we go to pick them up from Bakersfield, Christmas prep etc.... This month is not a good time for me to be starting school and on top of that there's personal issues.

Megan (the admissions girl) really didn't seem to listen to me when she asked why I wouldn't start next month. She thinks/thought it was my fear holding me back and asked four times, "What's the worst that could happen?"

I'm not sure if it's a new change that's come over me or what but if I say "no" it means "no". When Stuart says "no" it means "ask two more times and I'll cave." I do not have patience or time for people who don't accept it when I say "no" and I was pretty damned close to shouting at this poor girl.

So that last time she asked "What's the worst that could happen?" I let her know. The worst that could happen doesn't affect me in the slightest. The worst that could happen is that I unenroll myself faster than I enrolled myself and it would be her fault and I'd be sure to let Erika know that. She wanted to know what's going on in my life that she can help with. Um, no. There's nothing in my life a stranger can help with especially not a stranger who cuts me off mid-sentence and is bullying me into something I don't want to do. I wish my issues could be solved over the phone with someone I've never spoken to before - I really wish that!

I'd still recommend Western Career College to anyone - just watch out for that last admissions call!

I'm not afraid to start school. I'm really excited. Any other month and I could start next week. November is a busy month around here. I'm looking forward to learning and filling my dusty brain with some new knowledge.

If I started school next week it would be before my 25th birthday. I know it's not really a good reason to put off an education but I need 25 to be, and will make it a very special year.