Home Sweet Home

I'm home for the Holidays and spending quality time with my family. It's a stretch to keep myself busy in Rexburg so I have a feeling that I will be discovering lots of new books within the next few weeks, as I am already on my third. It is nice to have a break from the chaos of the world, and it's especially lovely to be with those I love most!
I'm obviously no longer accustomed to this extreme Idaho cold!

Heavenly

I feel the need to express the gratitude I have for this beautiful temple in Oakland. Every Thursday night is Young Single Adult baptism night. Perhaps my favorite night of each week.
Sheesh.... Talk about stunning!

Curtain Call

As requested by Marilee Jean here is a display of my project from the weekend: full length curtains! They have been greatly needed for a good two months now because my neighbors in the rear can see directly into my window whenever they are enjoying a meal in their kitchen. It makes the whole privacy situation rather annoying, so curtains are a fine solution. The fabric is a little loud, but with everything that's going on in my room, it's expected. Britex Fabrics is now one of my new favorite places. Five floors full of all the fabric you can imagine.

Antique Addict Meets Urban Ore

Last weekend my magnanimous roommate, Aaren, and I hit up a marvelous salvage yard in Berkeley called Urban Ore. I thought I had reached heaven! I could have wandered around in there for a good couple of days. It's completely full of cheap, beat up antiques, perfect for d.i.y. projects. We escaped with my car filled to the brim with some amazing items. My purchases are as follows:

My 1950's coffee table before










and after I got my grubby little hands on it. A touch of red paint and some decoupage techniques can bring a beat up piece of furniture back to life like magic.















My new plates to add to my mismatched dinnerware collection.











And last but certainly not least, my new antique Singer sewing machine.... that works! It's a rare beauty.


I highly recommend searching for a salvage yard near you. It will provide you with fantastic, cheap finds, and bonus... it's eco friendly. It doesn't get much better than that!

A taste of Brilliance

This is what I get to do daily here at SFCD, thanks to Alex.

YouTube - "Careless" (Excerpt) by Alex Ketley

Bombastic Book Dos

The

Bombastic Book Club

of San Francisco has come to a mutual decision on the next book we will be delving into:

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

by Jean-Dominique Bauby

Although this is only our second book I must say that I am appreciating my membership in this book club. I am expanding my literature choices beyond my Jane Eyre-like romance reads. The newfound knowledge is fantastic, but the meetings are perhaps the best part of the club: A night with my best gal pals in San Fran discussing books, life, dance, and eating homemade pumpkin bread, courtesy of Puff!

Tag from a fellow Textface

I have received a tag from Mrs. Eeliram Killpack. The objective is to list 6 random facts about myself. Here goes:

Un- I love to parallel park. Crazy, I know. The satisfaction brought on by a superb parallel parking job is a beautiful thing. I love squeezing into a tight spot and fitting like a glove.

Deux- One of my biggest pet peeves: Those obnoxious rip-out magazine subscription forms that are practically overtaking magazines these days. They make it difficult to keep the magazine open and they always fall out. I despise them! I must go through my mag before I begin reading and rip them all out. If I don't, they can ruin my whole magazine experience.

Trois- My grandma gave me her wedding ring for my 16th birthday and I wear it each and every day of my life. It's lovely.

Quatre- My most recent obsession is Oikos Honey flavored Greek Yogurt. I must have at least one every day.

Cinq- I can't sit still. Literally. Every time I sit down I rock back and forth without noticing. I get called out on it quite frequently. (ahem, Mrs. Miller.)

Six- Today while I was writing in my journal I stopped to think for a few momentos about what I was going to write and I began chewing on the end of my pen, as I so often do, and it exploded in my mouth! My tongue, teeth, gums, and lips were completely blue! It took about 3 long brushings to get the blue out. My hands are still stained blue. Moral of the story: stop chewing on pens because ink doesn't taste too good and it's hard to get out.


Your turn Melissa, Jenna Kay, and Ria.

Preserving the Divine Institution of Marriage

Sweet Elder Ballard has asked that as young adults in the Church we do all we can to use the technology we are so familiar with to share our position, as well as God's position, on the issue of preserving the divine institution of marriage.

To trifle with marriage is not according to Heavenly Father's plan, and yet, men are taking it into their own hands to determine what is the correct definition of marriage. This November Californians will vote on a proposed amendment to retain or alter the institution of marriage within California. Even if you do not live in California please help in any way possible to keep marriage the divine institution that God intended it to be.
"The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity." -The Family: A Proclamation to the World-

Vote YES on Proposition 8 everyone!

http://www.protectmarriage.com/

http://www.preservingmarriage.org/

Great Anticipation

I must verbally express the excitement welling up in me for General Conference that will be taking place in approximately 3 days time. The opportunity to listen to words of God from the mouths of his prophets... What a blessing! I'm also looking forward to watching this blessed event in the comfort of my lovely sister's living room, spending quality time with her, her little bun, her 3 dogs, and my mom. The weekend cannot arrive fast enough!

Book Club Member

My roomies and I are starting a book club! I've invited my fellow conservatory dancers to join and my roommates are inviting a few friends, so we're going to have a nice little group. My darling roommate, Britt, selected our first book:

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman.

I've never before been a member of a book club, but I've always wanted to. I guess some dreams do come true.

For you, Mrs. Ercanbrack

Here's a constructing description as well as some more pictures of the contraption above my bed just for you, Melissa:

Step 1: Saunter into your backyard or a nearby field and and gather up a group of stray branches.

Step 2: Cut many 3 inch wide strips of tissue paper in the color of your choice. Lengths may vary.

Step 4: Twist the strips of tissue paper about every inch and a half.

Step 5: Cut squares of green tissue paper and glue your long (in my case pink) strips of tissue paper to the center of the green squares and twist to form a peak in the center of the green square.

Step 6: With a hot glue gun, glue all of the green peaks to your branches in any desired location.

Step 7: Cut strips of tulle according to the number of branches you have- I recommend white if you have a white ceiling so they won't really show- and tie the strips of tulle to center of the branch so it will balance properly while hanging.

Step 8: Stick a thumb tack through the top of the tulle strip and tack to your ceiling!

I hope this description is clear. Just shoot me with any further questions. Happy d.i.y.ing!

Laughing Lotus

So I've been a yoga fan for quite some time now, but I've never experienced it like the yoga offered at Laughing Lotus. I'm convinced that this is the cutest yoga studio in all the world. There's a studio in the West Village in NYC as well as one here right in the heart of San Fran.

This is not just any old yoga. This is FLOW YOGA. Often in yoga class I get a little bored when teachers have you hold poses too long. I'm a tad on the fidgety side so flow yoga is just what I need. You're moving the whole time and there's a fantasitc playlist in the background for your eardrums to enjoy... and not that gross yoga music that some places make you listen to. No, this is actually good music.

The yoga experience that I'm looking most forward to will occur on Friday night: Midnight yoga with live music! My roommate and I are itching to check it out. This is like a little yoga fairytale!

I Heart S.F.

San Fran is amazing. I've only been here a week and a half but it already feels like home. After 4 hot years in Arizona and 4 steamy summers in NYC I'm still trying to get used to the cold. Don't think that just because I'm in California I'm basking in the California sun... no, no... there is California weather, and there's San Francisco weather. To survive in San Francisco weather you must be bundled at all times. At least I finally have an opportunity to wear my many scarves that I love so dearly.

I love my house and the majority of my 5 roommates. Being right on top of one of the many hills here I have a sensational view from my bedroom window that includes a large San Francisco valley, a Nordstrom, and the Pacific Ocean. What could be better? Maybe being able to see directly into the window of an Anthro at all times.

Not only am I living in one of the greatest cities in the US of A but I am also in the presence of two of the most brilliant dancers/teachers/artists in the world: Summer Lee-Rhatigan and Alex Ketley. I can't begin to express my gratitude for the blessing it is to be one of the 14 dancers that gets to work with them each day. Talk about inspiring!

Each day I wake up finding soreness in my muscles and bruises all over my body, thanks to Alex, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Life is grand here at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance!

Go Roddick!

For my last night in the Big Apple my lovely mom and I were able to attend the US Open! My mom has been an avid tennis fan for many, many years and as I grew up watching tournaments with her, her love rubbed off and now I am obsessed. We had a tremendously fun time.

From our fantastic courtside seats we witnessed Lindsey Davenport get creamed (bummer)

but then we got to observe the cunning Andy Roddick play a great match and triumph on his birthday. Of course, that was after he threw a temper tantrum and broke 2 of his racquets because he wasn't playing too well at the beginning of the match.

Despite the fact that we suffered through two rain delays and didn't end up arriving home until 3:00 a.m., it totally rocked! Unfortunately I have to watch the rest of this grand slam from the comfort of my own home.

Sad News

Someone has made an offer and is buying my lovely Tucson condo. There are so many precious memories in that place. The "College Mansion," as Logan called it, will no more house the previously inseparable duo: B. Hendi & E. Baum.

I have to return to Tucson in a couple of weeks to pack up all of my stuff, which is going to be quite a painful feat. In memory of the terrific sanctuary of Elle and Bec:

There were many evenings spent in this front yard reading, watching movies from Casa, talking, washing cars, doing cartwheel races, etc..

There is absolutely no way of trying to explicate the time spent within these colorful walls. 3 1/2 years full of memories!

Arts and crafts were obviously a significant occurrence in this house, as mostly everything was either homemade or handpainted! Home decorating is a major obsession of mine.

Many, many sleepovers in my bed. I think we even slept 5 people in there once!

As I am moving to San Fran in a few weeks I can directly relate to Jojo from the Beatles song "Get Back" :

"Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona

For some California grass."

I'll Miss You!!!

New Blogger!

After many days of admiring Marilee Jean's impeccable blog I decided to jump on the blogging bandwaggon. I know that I will spend far too many wasted hours on here because I am merely extending my obsession with journals and journaling to the World Wide Web.

To commence what I'm sure will be a plethora of oddball posts I must say why I love NYC.

First and foremost is the fact that I can purchase fresh flowers weekly because a bouquet of flowers in the Big Apple is only approximately $7-$12. It's fantastic! My current bouquet: yellow daisies.

I am slightly obsessed with the West Village. Yesterday I spent a large portion of the day in the West Village and Chelsea.

I added to my already tremendous journal colletion by purchasing a gem at one of my favorite stores on planet earth, ABC Carpet and Home. (the center one is my most recent gem.) I spent almost 3 hours in that beloved store!

I love all of the one-of-a-kind shops in this city. Yesterday I moseyed on into one of those ritzy boutiques in the West Village where they pick out things they think you would like and practically force you into trying them on. Then the mirror is outside of the dressing room where the sales person is waiting to tell you how "fabulous" you look. Well, she weaseled me into purchasing this stunning Taka top. Oh well, at least it's pretty.

The unique bakery's are endless. I went into an adorable bakery/shop called Three Tarts where I found my first plate to begin my mismatched plate and dinnerware collection (once again, inspired by Mare.)

I could go on forever with the millions of reasons why I adore this amazing city.

Thank you, New York City. How blessed and grateful I am to know and love you!