SCHOOL IS OUT FOR THE SUMMER

In effort to make my major less of a mystery I thought I would share a few pictures of projects I have worked on this year. The class that is best documented is "studio". I have studio every semester but each class has a different focus. My first semester we worked in small scale windows. This semester we worked with mannequins to prepare us to work in large scale for third semester. I learned more about mannequins than I ever thought there was to know. We covered styling, striking (making a mannequin stand, there is more to it than sticking a rod up its bum), how to best choose a mannequin to sell a garment/product, the process that goes into creating a single mannequin, and much much more but I don't want to bore you. Now some people might call this playing with large dolls... and they might not be too far off.

Assignment 1. We were asked to choose a holiday then expected to style our mannequin according to the holiday. My partner Andy and I chose mothers day. We went with a fifties theme and made her a pregnant housewife.

Sorry about the not so good photos. My professor was taking all the photos and I don't have the disc from her yet.



Assignment 2. Iconic people in history. The challenge of this project is to really make your mannequin become a person it was never meant to be. This assignment is the biggest production of the semester because it is displayed in the main lobby of the school for all to enjoy. I had a lot of fun working on it one because it was really a team effort. After each of us finished styling our mannequins it took a good seven hours to strike about twenty of them on the runways. We had quite an array of icons. Eve (as in Adam and eve), Mr. Rodgers, Amelia Earhart, Audrey Hepburn, Houdini, and Bob Marley just to name a few. I wish I had pictures of the whole show.

My partner Jeaine and I did... any guesses?



Hopefully you can tell by the photos, but we did Pocahontas. The accessory design department gave us two entire suede skins to do with what we want. We sewed a skirt out of one of the skins then made the top out of feather trim and hemp. Most of our Pocahontas inspiration came from the movie A New World. Beautiful movie, you should check it out.

Who wore it best?


Assignment 3. Style a mannequin to sell a perfume. For all the projects we work in partners. Display in the real world is never really a one person job. During the random drawing for who works with who my name was pulled out last making me the odd man out. One girl dropped out so we were uneven. I was excited to be by myself because that meant that I got to call all the shots. During this project I realized one good reason of why she has us double up. Mannequins are extremely hard to handle alone. They are very fragile and are made up of multiple pieces that can fall off and break. Usually one person holds the mannequin as the other dresses, but not this time for Hillary. It was definitely a balancing act but I learned a lot.

So I had Anna Sui Dolly Girl Bonjour l' Amour perfume. I knew I wanted to somehow make a mannequin doll like but had to find the right one. I came across this old shabby all white mannequin that I thought would work, then my professor told me that I could paint it. I researched the Anna Sui image and came up with this.

Here is the before when I had already started painting the lips...
And the after...

My Second Experience With a Bull

While only a select few of you know about my first run in with a Bull, I will say that this experience was quite different. It was our friend Lyndee's birthday this past week and for the celebration we went to Johnny Utah's. I can only describe it as a fancy place to get in touch with your hick side. It's claim to fame is that it has the only mechanical bull in Manhattan. I wasn't so sure if I was going to ride but when I found out it was free I was pretty much sold. We just had to sign a waiver. It was more fun than I could have anticipated. Lets just say I showed that bull who's boss and I'm thinking about becoming a professional.

Nervous Hillary

Lovin it Hillary
I love this picture of Jordan

Happy Mothers Day

I Wish a Very Happy Mothers Day to all the Wonderful Mothers in my Life!

To all my sisters I want you to know how much admire and look up to each of you. You have all raised such amazing children and I wish I could always be around them. I am so thankful to have three examples of amazing families so close to me. I love you all!

And to my Mom I would like to give a special shout out.

What I love about you...
-Your drive and passion for life inspires me. You are always getting what you want out of life and encouraging me to do the same. You have never made me feel like I couldn't accomplish something that I really put my heart into.
-You have so many talents. Musical, ability to teach, flawless design taste, artistic, knowledge on many different things, gardening, and cooking just to name a few.
-You have a magnetic personality. I haven't told you this but My friend Dana loves you. You met her for maybe five minutes, but in those five minutes you made a huge impression on her. I think you gave her a hug and told her she was welcome to come to Park City and stay with you and Dad anytime. You were just being yourself but Dana was amazed by your kindness. This is just one example of many where people want to be around you because you make them feel comfortable.
-You have laid a solid foundation for our family and continue to help us all build strong upon that foundation.
-You do so many things to help our whole family get together. And you are always going here and there to visit each of us. This makes the distance between us all seem a little shorter.
-You let Jenni and I just be weird. Not to go into too much detail but you are pretty good at being weird too. I will never forget that night we spent laughing, dancing, singing and talking on my apartment floor here in New York.
-You made five years living at home with you and dad when my siblings were gone and graduated relatively painless. In fact I am thankful for those years. I think we got to know each other really well. Not that we didn't already.
-You are spontaneous. One of my most favorite memories is when You Dad and I went out snowshoeing at night. We couldn't let freshly fallen snow and a full moon go unnoticed.
-Some of the best decisions that I have made in my life, I made because I had the sense to take your advice... thankfully. You are always in tune. I owe my trip to Europe to you. You came to me with the idea of getting out and exploring the world like I always wanted at a time when I could feel my perspective on what life had to offer narrowing. It was the jump start I needed.
I really could go on forever, I am not just saying that. You are an amazing example to me. People already tell me that I am a lot like you. I think that is one of the greatest compliments someone could give me. Thank you for making life truly enjoyable. I love you!

My New Job

I have started a new job at James Perse on Bleeker street in the West Village. So far it is proving to be a smart move from Anthropologie. Anthropologie was fun and I am thankful that it could be my first job in the city, but the only thing I will miss are the people I got to work with. I did not even use the discount that much. I have now worked five days at this new job and I already feel pretty comfortable. I like the overall atmosphere of James Perse. Very laid back. We do get the occasional customer who acts like they own the store but for the most part people are pretty down to earth. That is if you consider buying a fifty- five dollar t-shirt down to earth... maybe not. Anyway I am very appreciative to my friend Dana who basically got me this job. She trusted that I would not make her look bad and recommended me for the job. I'll do my best to not let her down. All in all it is a great job while I am in school and they are giving me plenty of hours for the summer so I can stay in the city!

I did not take these pictures but it's the front of our store none the less. Our theme right is northern California.


A few fun things about the job.
-Dogs love the store and we love the dogs. I get to give them treats and we always have a bowl of water for them.
-Free clothes and a great discount. If you want gifts from me tell me what you like. We have mens, womens, kids, and baby. Check out the website.
-I get to make a fool out of myself in front of celebrities. Quick story. We were very busy and I was just tidying up the showroom when I noticed that Liv Tyler was in the store. I told myself to be cool. It looked like she needed help so I asked her if I could help her with sizes. She said, "well I am looking for this one scoop neck t-shirt." I replied, "oh it is over here, do you know what size you are looking for? one, two..." (we have one through four in shirt sizes) "Oh no, three." then she said something about being pregnant and motioned to her stomach. I said "how many months do you have left?" She looked at me and said loud enough for all to hear, "What? I'm not pregnant." All eyes were on me looking at me like I was a fool. Whatever, she confused me. She was extremely nice though and bought a lot of t-shirts. And it just so happened that our playlist played two Aerosmith songs back to back while she was in the store. She just sang along.
- Its in one of my favorite parts of the city, the West Village. We are right next to Magnolia Bakery and one my favorite eateries, Westville. I take anyone who comes to visit me to Westville. It's a tiny place, it's not pretentious and it has delicious food.

Boston

I have so much blogging to do and i do not know where to begin? Mom and Dad asked that I at least post pictures. I can do that. Lets start with Boston. Sadly there are not that many pictures of Boston. Well Richard took some good ones, but I think I only got my camera out once. I get caught up in the moment. We had a wonderful time. It was nice to get out of New York for a few days and just breathe a little. We noticed immediately that Boston moves at a much slower pace. It wasn't too hard to adapt. One of the greatest parts of the trip was being able to spend time with Aunt Leslie. She is a lot of fun. She is a great tour guide, an amazing hostess, and a wonderful Aunt. She has a talent of being able to have a substantial conversation with you on every possible topic. We saw and did a lot in the short time we were there. We visited little Italy, Beacon Hill, Boston Common, Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum, Concord, kind of did the Freedom Trail, Harvard Square, Celebrated Leslie's birthday with Jim and Jen, saw The Counterfeiters (a movie), Ate great food, walked Newbury and Charles streets, saw a little of Michael and Becky, and basically let ourselves get lost. Okay so maybe I looked at the map a few to many times.

Notice the steam? It was laundry steam it smelled good and kept me warm.


Richard loved this scull and crossbones...


And I loved this Donkey.
Make way for Hillary

Wild life flocks to Richard and I. Alright, mainly just squirrels and raccoons, but it does happen alot.


Supporters of Harvey Dent for Gotham City. We got free buttons and and stickers. I wore my button and it confused a lot of people. One guy felt a kinship with me and flashed me a vintage Nixon button.
The one picture I have with Leslie in itAnd the only one with both of us. On the bus headed home


Thank you Richard for a wonderful trip! You are a great travel buddy.

Tagged

11. 1. Best thing I cooked last week.
I'm having trouble remembering my meals last week. I think I ate a few to many Amy's Indian frozen dinners. Oh yeah Richard and I made a delicious taco salad. While shopping for the ingredients I almost ran into Bobby Flay.

2. If $, time, and babysitting were no object; where would you go and with who?

I would go to Ireland. It has been on the top of my list since I was a little girl. I would go with anyone who's up for an adventure and who likes to eat their way through places. So, really if you want to go, lets go!

3. Last time I cried.

I don't know if I want to admit the exact time. I go through times when I don't cry and I let things build up and then it all comes pouring out.

4. 5 things I was doing 10 years ago.

- Eleven years old, oh man I can hardly remember. I think I blocked a lot of things out of my mind from this stage in my life. I was in middle school, we all know how wonderful middle school is.

-Anticipating my twelfth birthday. The age we could get our ears pierced and graduate from primary.

-Stealing clothes from Jenni. Why do young girls think that when they put on a shirt that goes to their knees, that somehow they can get away with looking like it might belong to them?

-In all seriousness, I can't remember anything. Thus the importance of journal writing.

5. 5 things I was doing 5 years ago.

-Sixteen years old, a junior in highschool.

-Pushing all the limits I could with my parents

-Realizing how many things we could get for free in Park City. Meals at nice restaurants, ice cream, sledding on the ski runs at night, hot-tubbing at the hotels, etc...

-Here is an embarrassing confession that not many know about. We Started a our own version of Jackass for girls... minus all the disgusting stuff they did. We called it Lipstick...lame, I know. Lizzy got a camera for Christmas so Kaelyn, Becky, Melanie, Karen, Lizzy, and I went around the city doing stupid things while filming.

- The infamous valentines date where Hillary found nasty little hairs on her food after she had taken a bite would soon occur.

6. 5 things I was doing 1 year ago.

-I had just completed the application process for FIT, and was waiting anxiously for an answer.

-Working at Ty Loyola Design, and filling in free time with three other jobs.

-Last weekend I would have gone to Ben Kweller, this weekend I would be going to see the Shins

-Re-reading Harry Potter number five then six.

-Sending Melanie off to China, and liz and I were getting ready for our road trip to California.

7. 5 favorite hobbies.

-cooking/eating

-walking/running/hiking

-reading

-messing around on photoshop/illustrator

-Travel

8. 5 places I've been.

-Provo

-Orem

-Salt Lake City

-Bountiful

-Farmington

9. 5 favorite foods.

- Cheese. I'm talking the good stuff

-Bread with olive oil and balsamic

-Chips and guacamole

-Indian

-Kashi Heart to Heart and Autumn Harvest. I can't believe I almost forgot these. Maybe its because I am ashamed. They are not necessarily my favorite, its more to the level of an addiction. What do they put in that stuff?

10. 5 favorite memories.

That is a hard question, there are so many.

- Camping in Capitol Reef years and years ago, with the family. Some of the best hikes, orchards to pick fresh fruit, Butch Cassidy stories, and the usual sibling banter.

- Driving around with friends trying to find trouble, talking, and singing along with good music.

- Being at the hospital when Janelle and Ayden were born.

-Waking up in a cloud in Gimmelwald, Switzerland

-Stocking raccoons with Richard on one of our many walks. Walks with him in general are good memories.

Recap

I realize that when I don't frequently update by blog, I get overwhelmed and don't even know where to start so I put it off even longer and life just adds up. Vicious circle. I will just do a little review of the last few weeks.

Dec 18th
My Mom and Sister arrive in New York City. The fun began as soon as they showed up at my door. We talked girl talk into all hours of the night. It was the perfect beginning for one exciting week. I was out of school and got work off so it was vacation for me too. I love when people come into town because it gives me a chance to break away from my normal routine and appreciate what the city has to offer. Thank you to all who made this trip possible.

The first picture of the week. We are trying to train Jenni to keep her eyes open when the flash goes off.
West Village
On our way to see Wicked

Most of our pictures were taken at arms length. We took maybe 20 of these. Jenni either has her too closed or too open. Shes getting better.

On the Brooklyn Bridge walking to Grimaldies, my favorite pizza place. This was one of my favorite nights. That might have a little to do with the fact that Richard (on the far left) was with us.
Richard, I put this one on for you.
It would not be Christmas in New York with out seeing the tree at Rockefeller Plaza

Dec. 22nd
Saturday night we fly home to a very full and cozy house. When we arrived everyone was asleep so it was very quiet but when Sunday morning came everyone crept to the kitchen form the various corners of the house. With six grandchildren it was the exact opposite of quiet. Thats when it started to feel like the holidays. When I think of home I immediately think of the kitchen/family room. No matter what time of the day, if you want to be around someone, go to the kitchen. And with my family always expect interesting conversation. I'm not sure what it is but it seems to me that snacking plus being around people will always equal some type of debate. This is one thing I love about home. Now my mind is on a roll thinking of things that I observed this Christmas.

1. Brad and I shared food really well this time around. Jenni claims that Brad and I got in open fight over food in the past, but I am guessing it was more like I was annoyed with Brad but kept it from him and told Jenni, and Brad did the same and confided in Jenni. But I think we have come up with a solution when it comes to both of our appetites. Make a lot of food.
2. The best way to be able to get a nap in the day is to quietly disappear.
3. If you want a grandkid to behave, hand them over to Grandma or Grandpa. You know you love it Mom and Dad.
4. There are so many things that I think of that people would not what me to share.
5. Its so easy for me to get up in the mornings when everyone is around. Even if I am only running on five hours of sleep I have to get up for the fear of missing something. Thats the youngest child in me.
6. If you want to enjoy dinner, put the kids to bed. Thats for the parents, I am totally okay with the kids being around for dinner.
7. If you bring cheese out of the fridge to snack on there is a 75% chance at least two people with join you. If you take out Brads salsa there is a 100% percent chance everyone will show up in the kitchen to take part and It will be gone in one sitting.
8. Jenni and Brad need activities. I am already starting a list of activities for the next visit to guarantee us zero down time. And I will not even think about going to hang out with my friends.
9. We did not play cards this Christmas. Hmmm....We did not really have problems with being competitive. Are these two tied together? Looks like the train game might have to be the only game we are allowed to play when we are together.
10. Why does everybody hate to be the last one up that has to turn off the lights? When we decide to go to bed we always race out of the room so we don't have to get stuck with it.
11. We are learning how to discuss politics a little more rationally, either that or I wasn't around for that fight.

I could probably go on forever. Hope I did not hit any soft spots with anybody. Bottom line is that I love you all. I love the little things that give life to our family. It is so wonderful to watch our family evolve and change as each of our lives take course. As crazy as the holidays can be, I wouldn't want them to be any different. Thank you to everyone for keeping in mind why we are all here together, and working hard to remain close. Thank you to Mom and Dad for helping us understand the value of family, and for laying such a firm foundation. Miss you all and I will see you soon!