Back to the Future.

I guess it goes back to the day we moved here.  The actual day we moved in is unclear because it was a process to actually get into the house after the renters took 10 days to move their stuff out and two more to come and get their dog.  But in the beginning days of this house we met our new neighbors who turned out to be my old friends from High School.  We all stood out in the street and laughed our butts off for over an hour.  It was like I never left his place.  Now all my frequent Timp High flashbacks have given way to acceptance.  I just live here now.

But last night I was on Facebook waaay too late as usual and I saw my friend Shawn's photos from his High School days in CA.  They are golden 80's evidence.  He has the best bleached out Mohawk ever.  There is one where a crazy looking redhead in a sailor hat strangles a monkey in some jungle themed Sadie Hawkins portrait.   If you have access, you gotta check these out.  I woke up this morning and went right for the Year Books I had just put into our new bookshelves.  I can't put down the one from 1987, my freshman year. 

I am looking at people I haven't in years.  Like Lincoln Sheranian.  Was he gay?  He was so pretty and had lots of gorgeous girl-friends.  Not that I care to know, I'm just speculating.  I still swear in 1995 when I was in London I saw him on the tube.  Patti Bennion was hilarious and fearless what ever happened to her?   And didn't we all used to looove Josh Forrest?  Heidi Hall looks like she wants to Columbine the lot of us.  Who was Stacie Jacobsen?  She looks like a total rocker.  Lisa Harward was so beautiful and she and Stephanie Whitlock used to ask to see my clothing sketches and were really complimentary about them.  I adored her.  I heard she died in a car wreck in the canyon after she graduated.  Ohhh, Sean Peterson.  I was in love with him forever!  First day of 7th grade I was sliding along the wall to class.  You know, walking with my shoulder to the bricks.  I came around the corner and nearly ran into him.  He said, "Hi Amy" and I honestly nearly threw up.  I could barely say hi back and couldn't get out of there fast enough.  And then hated myself every day for years for not being cooler.  Jon Callister liked me in 8th and his friends told me I just had to like him back.  I heard Sean liked me then, too.  One time I dropped Jon off after taking him around on my scooter and ran into Sean by his house.  I took him for a ride and finally talked to him.  And I was so bummed after all of those years of liking him so much that I was kind of "with" another boy and couldn't like him back.  Jon totally lost interest and liked Melody Warner which I didn't blame him for.  She was cute and cool.  And it didn't occur to me to even try and see if Sean liked me still.  I just was sure that ship had sailed.  I had similar issues with Andy Buckles.  I was just sure that ship had sailed because he dated one of my good friends.  But how cute was he?  I should have hit that.

There is an actual picture of Rod Ash at the Homecoming dance.  This dance was such a big deal to me.  I had met Rod's best friend Don at the cemetery the summer before High School started.  He was a grave digger.  Don the grave digger we called him and my girl friends and I used to think he was such an anomaly.  We would go up there looking for him.  I remember consciously thinking that I didn't care about being cool in school if I could be friends with interesting people like Don.  Don found me at the Homecoming Game and introduced me to his friend Rod.  It didn't take long to see that no one was as unanimously considered popular as Rod, not in our school or any other.  At that Homecoming dance, the first dance of the year, the first song, Rod came over to me and said, "Howdy Sailor wanna dance?"  And the girls I was with almost passed out.  Rod was my first date.  Years later at AUM rush we had to make a swim suit out of like six inches of fabric with no needle and thread and then we had to walk into a room full of Rush Masters and Sigma Tau (Frat brother) leaders with spray bottles.  They would ask you questions and you got soaked if they didn't like the answer.  They asked me who was my first date and other things, but someone asked me where I was when I first kissed Rod Ash, if he was a good kisser.  And I said I didn't ever kiss Rod Ash.  Or Don Terry.  And everyone just sat there stunned and confused.  They ushered me out pretty dry.

At AUM I became friends with Heather Heileson.  There was not a girl in school cooler then Heather and I'll tell you why.  Someone had started a landslide of public negativity about Heather that lasted all four years.  She knew about it for the most part, but she sort of existed on a whole other level.  She was so funny and so smart.  I admired and respected and adored her.  She became a doctor and married a man that thought she hung the moon.  I hope with my whole heart she is happy.

In the Seniors there is DC Wright who I would have married had he formally asked me after his mission and Mike Butterfield who should have kissed me when we were drunk in the rain at Hyde Park in '95 but wisely refrained.  And James.  James William Connelly.  Jukes Bapaloosa.  He looks so handsome.  I haven't seen his face in years and years.  I tore up or burned every picture I had of him.  I had to.  I don't think there ever was a boy more sweet and kind to a girl then James was to me.  And I don't think a girl was ever more devoted then I was to him.  I can still break wide open if I think about it too long.  After we broke up, Malcolm Moody, Eric Larson and Jim Melo were there to pick up the pieces and talk for hours, take me biking and climbing and are still among my dearest and most loved friends. 

All of these years spent with these people.  I know that the consensus is that if High School was the best time of your life you must be a giant loser.  I guess I'm a total has been then.  It was the best time of my life.  Without question.  And I'm seeing that now that I'm home.  I think it was God's plan for me to have a blessed social experience because everything at home was an absolute train wreck from the time I was born.  I'm grateful for these people and that they are still around and I still know them and I'm back here.  It's a big reminder that God wants things to be fun and easy for us.  I hope my kids have the same beautiful crazy messed up moments I had.  I hope Aidan is friends with the Rod of his school and Bella makes Homecoming Queen by three votes.  I hope Aidan sneaks out to meet his friends at Denny's and Bella makes out with a crazy older boy at a Halloween party in front of everyone.  These moments make us smile through paying the bills, the nights cleaning up toddler barf and filing insurance claims after wrecking the car.  At least, they do for me.  

Who the heck is Martha Chadwick?

Spring 09. the "A"s.

It takes a long time to go through fashion shows on the internet after Fashion Week in NYC. I have only just made it through the A's. I will give you the highlights according to me. It should save you time and frustration, not having to hit the "next" arrow over and over and over and ov...

So let's start with a newbie. I am not so far familiar with the work of Amanda Wakeley. But I found her things to be pretty, wearable, and clean looking. She should stay away from swim, though. But almost everything else was lovely and she used a color I love that my mum and I call Monkey Vomit Green. It's like an olive drab. And everything she showed made sense, which is a huge must for me. I have a real problem with designers that have a show that makes it look like they sketched the first three looks after watching a Tarrantino film and then the next following a gypsy wedding and the last bunch while visiting an Aunt in Winnimucka. I like it when someone has a cohesive plan to their show and knows what they want and goes for it.

I could recant all of these comments in the case of the Antoni and Alison show. I think they got high and watched Dirty Dancing. So they knew what they wanted and had a cohesive theme and boy howdy they went for it. But in this case that's unfortunate. The stills show unhappy, nearly embarrassed girls in ugly hawaiian catastrophes holding fruit and ukeleles on a yellow stage decorated with a left over drop from the local community production of South Pacific. I am sure this was all kitschy and intentional. And that's even worse.

I also hope to never see a show by Armand Basi ever again. If you like dressing like a Goth/Punk 80's pop Genie, he's your guy.

Anna Sui. I have a soft spot for her. I always have. Even for a while there when she seemed to have lost her way, when she thought that boho was never coming back and she had better succumb or lose her business. I love those years for her because as soon as she saw the light at the end of the repression tunnel she got out her pen and drew up the best stuff. Those boots she's been showing lately are fierce. This season she has some similar boots again and also the cutest ankle ruffle shoes on the planet. I heart them in white. It wasn't all perfection though. She lost her way a few times from the rocker indian theme and tried an outright spanish bullfighter bolero look with a lace stacked hat and all. Ugh! And the snoods were spread waaaaay too liberally around. I thought they worked on two girls with the most 30's inspired looks and no where else. She had in my opinion the BEST models and the BEST hair and make-up hands down, though. So even on the looks that seemed too contrived I found I didn't care so much having the pretty faces to look at instead. This is why she's genius. She didn't forget that's the whole point of the model. Her shows are blissful.

Then there are design houses like Abaete that I don't at all enjoy. And I know they have a following, but I am no part of it. Some people really like severity, or Alexandra Kotur wouldn't have clothes to wear. I kid. Sorta. But I think stark really is for a limited audience. Not many women want to look like a cubist painting. And if they do it's a mood they soon get over. Like Proenza Schuler. It seems like a fun idea once and then you wear it and wonder why you just feel...off. But never do in Temperley. Because at the end of the day most of us just really want to look like pretty girls. I think it's why Rachel Zoe resonates with women and her girls do, too. Fashion has been stuck for too long without the breezy sexiness of the LA influence. And it is needed. New York is the fashion capital of the world but it's not the breezy/fun capitol. And it shows in what it bleeds out of it's designers a lot of the time.

Bless the girls that bring the fashion sunshine. And now off to the B's...

The Latest Issues.

So what happened to the last three posts you may be asking yourself?  I deleted them about an hour ago.   A month ago I went through and I took care of a post and some comments I left behind, Sopranos style.  I do this.  I kill my darlings.  Why?  Because I have raging insecurity when it comes to blogging about myself.  I write stuff and then later in a weird moment I decide people will think I sound smug, or full of myself or self obsessed or self righteous.  I am afraid I am about to anger/frustrate/offend someone I can not see.  So I stick to reading a lot and saying little.  Out of fear.

I think fear is self obsessive, self indulgent and smug.  Being afraid of what people will think and trying to control it is futile.  Besides, even if I have ten people I can't see judging me for the things I say "wrong" I can count at least three people I now consider friends that I have met through this blog.  And those people are a part of my day now and I really enjoy them and they don't seem to be easily offended.  Which is a great trait in a friend.

And really, I like blogs about people.  I read one tonight about a girl who lives in NYC and is a Mormon actress.  Her blog was like, momoninmanhattan.blogspot.com  I think.  And she is just lovely and she talks about herself and the people she works with but I never thought she should just shut up and stop talking about herself!  Isn't that the point of a personal blog?  

I think it may be interesting to people who know and don't know me to hear about my job, about the fights I get into or out of, teehee, and if I am acting a little full of myself or sound a little self interested couldn't someone big just forgive me that little foible?  Sure they could.  Right?  I dunno.  But I am awfully tired of trying to keep my trap shut all the time just out of fear.  Aren't you?

I am just not cool.

Here is a list of things that are or were huge and I will never be into, thus making me not cool.  

1.  Twilight.  Why-It was written for teens.  And female Americans have lost their collective minds over it.  Sigh.  

2.  The Lord of the Rings.  Why-It's full of stupid contrived words.  I couldn't make it three minutes into the film with all that narration.  Blah, Blah,Blah.  And when she stops talking...Hobbits.

3. Star Wars.  Why-I liked the first two.  Isn't that enough?  And more made up stupid words, like Padiwan.  What is that?

4. Pretty Woman.  Why-The scene where people are NOT nice to her in the store but then she gets to go back and tell them "Big Mistake"?  Why do people STILL talk about that scene?  And-She's a whore and she gets the handsome rich guy in the end!?!

5.  Julia Roberts.  Why-See #4.

6.  Harry Potter.  Why-Because so many people could not stop talking about it for so long.  And again, it's meant for kids!

7.  Molly Ringwald.  Why-She is getting good reviews again for this new show she's on.  I watched a scene.  She sucked THEN and she sucks NOW!  Did you buy her as the prom queen in Breakfast Club?  

8.  Tom Cruise.  Why-I was right all along!  He is weird and I always knew it.  All my friends loved him but it will never, ever happen for me.  Even if this Hitler movie fixes his image.

9.  Jennifer Aniston.  Why-She seems nice but she dated John Mayer and she just isn't pretty.  She's not!  Nice hair and boobs don't mean you're pretty.  And-I hear first hand she's a blaizoid.

10.  The Gap Inc.  This includes Old Navy and Banana Republic.  I know it's a weird thing.  But did you know the original intent of Old Navy was to replace Kmart?  It was geared specifically to Kmart shoppers.  Banana was a cool outdoor store at one time.  Remember that?  Gap sucked all of the life out of it.  Like a vampire from a stupid teen novel.

That's my list, and you don't have to agree with me.  It's just one gal's opinion.

Rocky Mountain High

So we are going to Boulder for a wedding this weekend.  And then I have a pre-production meeting in SLC Monday, prep day Tuesday for a shoot Wed for Elmira Business School.  And then Brett and Jenny will do a photo shoot with Ty in our yard and they are totally letting me do art and stuff.  And then I have another shoot for Left Turn but I'm not sure who the client is, Novell?  So there's that.  And I REALLY have to stock my depleted kit.  I want to meet Amanda and take her to thrift stores while she's here in Utah.  I'm committed to talk to Bron who is being so kind as to learn me about REAL film make-up, and who is in town for a limited time.  And Aidan starts school Monday and I have a stack of his registration papers.  I have to book the temple for our wedding but my recommend expired so I have to get an appointment to update that.  I have to still get my new IDs for the I-9 so I can finally get paid from HSM.  And I have to prime and paint and plum the new bathroom vanity.  And call about our medical insurance.  And fix the windshield chip.  And teach Sunbeams.  Visit teach..?

I can't do any of these things now so I'm going to bed.  I have a cold.  But I get to see my family, so nothing will stop me from making my husband drive all the way to Colorado in the middle of all of this.  Some things are just more important.

Salt of the Earth.

It was nice to go back to the City today.  At the car dealership they didn't charge me for labor so my bill was just 2.00 for a tail light bulb.  That was just the beginning of a great day.

I went to the Designer Fabric store.  They are having a step down sale.  Starting in July the fabric just goes more and more on sale.  This stuff is normally 40.00 a yard.  IT goes to like 20 then 10 then 5 and 4 and 3 then after Aug 11 the fabric takes it's final step down to 2.00 a yard.  I bought some today for 3.00 that matches my living room perfectly.  27.00 for wool living room curtains.  

I went to Decades.  If I had a wider readership I would not be breathing this name out loud for fear it will become too picked over, but I pretty much know who tunes in here.  Decades had about fourteen dresses, six hand bags, a wool coat and a tweed suit I really wanted to buy.  Cornflower blue beaded dress I was in totally love with?  32.00.  I didn't have enough cash, sadly.  (And isn't a beaded dress a bit much for a pasture wedding in the Colorado mountains?  I'm still thinking about making a dress of my creme eyelet wedding tablecloths.  You can wear off-white to a wedding safely, right?  Maybe not...)

I got donuts and Pepsi at Wayne's Corner Market and he told me a funny story about his wife having kids every 20 months to the day, to the hour!  All born at one in the afternoon like clockwork.

I went in to Cosmic Pictures and got a pleasant surprise.  Backstory:  I felt suddenly inspired in Legoland to sell our house.  Until that point I was totally certain this was the house we were supposed to raise our kids in and felt forced to make it work.  But I could suddenly see that selling it would pay off all our debt and leave a bit for a down payment and fix up the next one.  I thought of the house on the corner of Timpview Dr and 3950.  Just west of our current house.  It was designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright.  I love it.  I get it.  It functions.  I can see my family there.  I can see friends over.  I get this house and it gets me.  My friends own it.  I'd love to give money to people I love.  BUT- others have told me they tried to buy it and my friend didn't want to sell.  I called him a few weeks ago and left a message and he didn't call me back.  I left him a note.  I really had little hope but knew that if this was a real feeling, this feeling that this was supposed to be our house, that it would work out and I didn't have to keep calling him.  I let it go.   

So I went to Cosmic Pictures   And there is my friend that owns the house.  I've not seen him there in all of the four years I've been with them.  And since it was a surprise, I wasn't in my head about saying anything stupid or wrong, I just asked if they would want to sell us their house.  He said they used to want to keep it as a rental but he's tired of working on it.   With them not living in the same town, he can't just stop by and do the work.  And they would use the money to put toward their other mortgage.  He seemed to be excited to do it.  But he has to ask his wife.  He's a good man.

Now, keep in mind I don't feel like this was my idea.  I just downloaded the concept.  One minute I'm hanging out and the next minute I have this plan completely formed and already there in my consciousness.  The next part of the idea is to call the realtor that sold us our house.  At the time he told us that if we wanted to turn around and sell it, he had a friend who fixes and flips homes that was really interested.  We told him no, but he brought it up a few times so I know he was serious.  I remembered this and totally feel like it's worth investigating.  (Unless you want our house...)  If it all works out the way I see it we will be out of this house without our doing any serious work to it and into an adorable house, in the same neighborhood, on the same street, in the same school and ward, with a lower house payment and all our debt...gone.  (Other than the mortgage, of course.)  Can I get a booyah!?!  

Oh, and the gas extender we've been trying totally works.  (Unlike the last one...)  If you want some, we are trying to get more free samples.  Brett just made a web site so others can order it, too.  (I'll post it's address once I remember what it is.)  So I don't feel guilty going to the city.  And that's great because Decades has layaway...

My Mommy is nice.

My mom took my kids over the weekend after my last shoot.  For three days, she had them.  So Brett and I worked on the mold rooms and took loads to the dump and DI and watched a movie that made me cry and tried to get pregnant.  It was a good rest and I actually am happy to see my kids and even happy to resume work on the house this week.  (Thanks in big part to all of your VERY kind words.  You guys really healed up a lot of self pity with your awesome comments!)  Mom bought the kids some new clothes to go to my cousin's wedding which is a big help because heaven knows when it comes to dressing my kids, I tend to over think it.  We are super excited for the Thrills shows at Sundance!!  I'm excited also to finally see the last batch of Cosmic and Fueld commercials I have worked on.  This year has not been as over jammed with work, like some others, but I have worked on some of my favorite shoots, ever.  And I am still watching my girl Christina on HSM Get in the Picture.  I sewed her outfit (sewed her into it even) and she was very nice.  VERY.  I am hoping she goes really far, if not all the way.  (I do think I know who wins, but it's staying in me till the end!!) 

And girls, lets start a *itch and stitch!  Declare your availability for next week.  I'm hosting, which means Coke Zero and Powdered doughnuts for all!  I am so very happy to be able to finally have people over and not worry about mold spores.