Amateur Artist

I am an amateur artist. Not a particularly good amateur at that, but I like to try. It all started when my dad got a sample set of water color paints, the kind preschoolers use including the shedding brush. My mother had grown some beautiful flowers, I think they were sweet pea blossoms, and I felt the unusual desire to paint. The picture below is my first attempt at painting since elementary school.

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. Fortunately, the subsequent attempts have not been photographed since they are not as good as this one. After the startling discovery that I actually enjoyed painting, (I am most definitely not the artistic child in the family) I went out and bought some real art supplies not preschool quality. It’s fun even though I’m not that good. Well I found out from very artsy-fartsy people that watercolor is one of the hardest mediums to work with so I was looking for something else to try. Pastels kit, including pastels, workbook and technique book, on sale at Borders? Why yes I think I will buy that. I’ve been having more fun with pastels because it is WAAAAAAAAY easier to correct mistakes with pastels than watercolor. Pictures you ask? Alright here is today’s project. I’m fairly happy with the way it turned out, since it is very close to what I envisioned.

And here is where I paint … in the middle of the living room :D

Well that is all for this post. Enjoy the Art!

Keep on keeping on

Well I don’t really have a lot to blog about but since I love to read other people’s blogs I figured I should blog more. I was going to try to write about my brother but I can’t today so I’m not going to. Ok there is some exciting news, I have a job interview! I’m very excited. It’s as a SLPA in Phoenix elementary school district so it’s pretty close. Any encouraging thoughts/prayers are welcome this Thursday ath3:00pm

Other less exciting but still kinda cool is that fact that I conquered the GRE (test to get into grad school for those of you who don’t know). Much studying and stress was involved but overall I’m happy with my scores. If you or someone you love has recently taken it you should comment with their scores so I can see how I did compared to real people. I’m not going to post my scores here because really they don’t mean much to anyone who isn’t a grad school registration person.

Aaron started school yesterday which is exciting to me but less so to him. He’s taking 15 credit hours: 4 upper division computer classes (I haven’t the foggy-ist what they are called even though he has told me multiple times) and religion 100 (internet class that looks pretty easy). Aaron cut his hours at work down to 25 a week so that’s great that he doesn’t have to try to work full time and go to school full time. He is still loving his job and I’m loving that he’s home all the time.

Ah, I forgot something every exciting! I gained some weight! Now, I know that most of you are probably slightly disgusted with that statement made with enthusiasm but I’ve been trying for YEARS to gain weight. At 5 feet 9 inches and 125lbs, I was a little too skinny for my taste and frankly my health. I’ve had some yucky health issues over the years and ! part of it was not having enough fat reserves but it’s hard to build fat when you use all of the calories you eat everyday. It was a terrible cycle. But after approximately 4 years I finally have gained enough weight that my body is starting to be happier. I now weigh about 140 lbs! Woohoo!!!

Lena Can Cook!

The title of this post is a throw back to the days when I would watch cooking shows with my mom on saturdays while we cleaned the house. There was a show called “Yan Can Cook!” He was a funny little asain man. Anyways, since I’ve been finding housewifery unfulfilling I’ve been trying new hobbies such as decorating. Well decorating costs money so I was looking for a cheaper alternative (and something that I’m better at) and Aaron suggested cooking. I do like to cook, really I just like to bake desserts but it’s time to broaden my skill set. During my “Only Girls Colorado Trip” we played Iron Chef and one team made lettuce wraps, really, REALLY delicious lettuce wraps. Thus with my new inspiration to try cooking I decided to go Asian. I looked up recipes so I could make sure to have all the ingredients and plan accordingly. Well of course I find out that cooking is expensive too! At least till you have a strong base of ingredients. Now I have all the asian ingredients I could ever need. Last night’s adventure was curry and veggies with rice. Pretty tasty even though my apartment still smells a little like curry (it cured the weird apartment smell though, overpowered is probably the better verb, so I’m not too upset). This morning’s adventure was homemade biscuits! Here are some pictures:

They were actually very delicious, I am excited that they turned out! It’s good to know that Lena Can Cook!

Jobless

No Aaron has not lost his job, thankfully, but alas I am still jobless. People say that being unemployed is a full time job and it is! I send out my resume to at least 3 places a day. Right after graduation I had some very promising interviews but didn’t get either job. That was in May. It’s now August. So I decided to widen my job search area. No longer am I looking solely for a job as a Speech Pathology Assistant now I’m hunting for any job working with special needs children. Preschools, daycares, respite care. Nothing so far. Now that those avenues are also looking bleak I’m searching for anything. Do you know what I do since I have A LOT of free time? I clean our house, I do the laundry and I’ve started decorating our apartment. I’m not the best decorator, in fact I’d go far enough to say that I’m almost a bad decorator but with the help of sisters and sisters in law it’s happening. Nothing is done yet so there are no pictures but when it’s done I’ll post lots. Ok blogging world it’s now up to you to help me find a job. Networking is key so anyone out there that knows of a job in Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert or Phoenix let me know. Thanks everyone!

P.S. I’m scheduled to take the GRE (test to get into grad school) in two weeks and I just realized that blogging is a great way to practice writing. Woohoo!

Graduation and new jobs (at least hopefully)

I found this draft from a few months ago so I figured that I would post it.

So I graduate one week from tomorrow and I am VERY excited! Aaron and I are also moving to a much nicer apartment here in Tempe. I can’t really decided which makes me more happy. Walk in closet or no more school? Hmm tough decision. I’ll tell you next week. There is actually even more exciting news. Aaron started his new job consulting for Kodak Gallery. He gets to work from home, which was a great excuse for him to buy another computer

. Not just any computer, a 21 inch Mac computer. It cost a pretty penny but fortunately for us we have been very blessed financially. I, on the other hand, am still looking for a job. I got my license for a

Speech Language Pathology Assistant but since it’s a relatively new certification not many companies even have that position. So I’m a little stuck but I’ll figure something out. Bettijo Hirschi created a very beautiful card to send out kind of like a christmas card/graduation announcement combo deal.