Salt Lake Farmer’s Market and the Kimball Arts Festival

This was a really fun day our for us. Well, maybe it was a very Katie-centric day out for us, but Colin is always a good sport. We started out getting lunch at the Salt Lake City Farmer’s Market, which I had always wanted to try. It makes our little beloved Provo farmer’s market look like a dude selling knick-knacks out of the trunk of his car. We lucked out by coming near the end of the day. We bought some AMAZING fresh bread and had another loaf just given to us so that, “he could have a good home,” as the baker said. We paired it up with some cheese and fresh peaches, and pure heaven.

Heaven’s knows I love me a good troubadour, and there was one on just about every corner. They had some crazy band thing in the middle blasting 90’s grunge music. Nothing against 90’s music, it’s just the wrong Seattle music period for the setting. At least half of the market goers have hipster leanings. Try a little Fleet Foxes, or at least get a lady with a banjo! On second thought THE WHOLE MARKET IT FULL OF TRUBADORS! How about we nix those mammoth amps?

After the market we took off to Park City Utah for the Kimball Arts Festival.  It was awesome to see how many artists come out for the event. I would have taken more pictures…but people don’t seem to like you taking shoddy pictures of their work and posting them on your own blog. Go figure. I made Colin pull over the car so I could take a picture of this barn that I thought would look great in a sheep painting I am working on. Little did I know, when we got to the show, I spotted at least 3 paintings of the very same barn! Great minds must think alike.



My favorite parts of the day?
1. Looking at all the creations (obviously)
2. Petting the lump-of-a-cat that lives at Dolly’s bookstore (pretty sure I could live there too)
3. Sitting in the shade splitting a giant coke with my Colin. Don’t know why that part sticks out, but I remember it being particularly nice.
4. This crazy metal rooster. I automatically thought of my Mom. We had both read this blog post and it’s been a bit of an inside joke ever since. As a joke on her birthday I had my sister’s ding-dong ditch a smaller version on out family’s front porch for her birthday.

I love podcasts!

Since getting a smartphone, I’ve been listening to podcast during  my commute.  It makes my drive so much more enjoyable.  I used to listen to NPR, but the political news just made me mad and frustrated.  Now, I feel like I’m doing something useful with my time. 

Here are my favorites:

• LDS general conference
• Easy way to review the talks
• The British History
• Very entertaining speaker and fascinating topic
• Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
• Not chronological, but just random periods in history with intelligent discussion
• NPR’s Science Friday
• I love Science Friday, but rarely get to hear it because I’m usually at work when it’s on
• The History of Rome
• Self explanatory
• TED Talks
• “Ideas worth spreading”.  Kind of like BYU forums speeches.  Topics range from science to law to politics to art to programming to well, basically anything

Lessons in furniture building

For the past 6ish months I've been building a console table (thin table designed for placement against a wall).  Now it's finally done.  It's been quite an process, and very frustrating at times.  I thought I'd share some of the lessons I've learned, in no particular order.

Use good materials

Try to find good materials.  This doesn’t mean you need to use fancy wood like walnut or maple, the pine (or whatever it is) lumber at Home Depot works fine.  It's not always easy finding good pieces if you're trying to stick to a budget, but it can be done.  It may take a lot of rummaging through the 1x3 pile, but it's worth it.  Starting with good materials is so much easier than trying to fix bad. 

For this table, the grain and color on some of my 1x3s was different than the others, which I didn't think would matter since I'd be covering them with paint.  It turns out, however, that the paint stuck a little differently on those pieces.  Doing it again, I would have tried harder to get matching pieces.
Speaking of paint, if you are going to use spray paint, get the 2x coverage kind.  It really does go a lot farther  (further?) than the normal stuff.  Also, buy enough to begin with so you don't end up making several trips to the store.

And regarding wood choice, if it's going to be painted anyways and you don't care about seeing too much grain, the pre-painted boards are the way to go.  It's easier to find straight pieces without as many flaws than in the regular lumber, and it's not that much more expensive.

Measure twice, cut (hopefully) once

I know it's a cliché, but it's true. But don't just measure twice, check that you are measuring the correct length. Check your plan, it you're using one.  For this console table, I needed to cut a 1x12 for the top surface.  The plans called for two boards stacked on top of each other, with the bottom board 4 inches longer than the top.  Not paying close enough attention, I cut them both to the shorter length, necessitating a lengthy fix (because I’m a cheapskate and didn’t want to buy a whole new 1x12).  Part of that fix involved adding an extension and putting a 1x2 piece of trim all the way around to hide my fixes. The problem was that the table was just the right length to fit into nook in the living room.  With my fix, it became 2 inches too long.  Aaargghhh!  If only I’d measured more!

Don’t assume boards are square

I understand why “real” woodworkers buy raw wood and use a planer.  Dimensional lumber, (they type you buy at a big hardware store and comes in measurements like 1.75” x 3.5”) is rarely perfectly square or straight.  I found this out when attaching the legs to the top.  Make sure you have a good square and use it every step of the way. 

Finishing

A few lessons on finishing.

Use a pre-stain treatment when working with pine.  Pine (your standard 1x and 2x boards) is rather porous.  Consequently, if you are staining pine, the grain shows through very strongly, which you might not want.  In this case I didn’t want it, but forgot to test my stain on a scrap before applying it to the tabletop.   

Also, know what you want.  After making several trips to the store to find the painted we wanted and putting on the first coat, we decided we didn’t like it.  Sigh.  Back to the store.  As a side note, use a primer coat and Minwax Polycrylic for the clearcoat.  Apparently this will prevent the finish from yellowing as it ages.

Why it doesn’t matter

Locking my keys in the car made me realize, none of the previous discussion really matters for making furniture. 

Reading woodworking blogs and flipping through Fine Woodworking at the library made me feel like my table was crap.  I didn’t use dovetailed joints or fancy materials, didn’t patch up my mistakes well enough, didn’t sand sufficiently, etc.  Then, while waiting for Katie to pick my up after locking my keys in the car, I wandered around a furniture store looking for inspiration.  What I found was that “distressed” and “vintage” is very much in fashion.  Many of the items I saw had a lot of blemishes—and these were professionally made and being sold for big bucks!

$5 TV Table Make Over

Found this little table in a thrift store for $5. It had nasty orange marmalade looking glaze on it and lots of paint splatters etc. Colin tightened up the joints, sanded it down, and repainted it. It’s just a temporary table, but I’d say it’s a major upgrade from the rubber made box my plants used to live on.
Of course when I saw a brand new clone of our table at Wal-mart the week after for $8, I just about had a big-box breakdown. Was it worth the time and effort? Probably not. But I like it all the same.

A little Pintrest Lovin’: Gallery Shelves

Finally finished our long planned over-the-couch picture shelves.We made white ones for my parent’s at Christmas that were a little longer, but these fit just perfectly in our little living room. The frames are under-a-buck thrift store finds (DI for those of you in Utah). Everything got spray painted the same color.
The shelves themselves are inspired by a genius Ana White design.  Her Blog is like DIY crack. Colin has already begun to show early signs of a junkie. He’s coffee table, bench, book self, and half a console table (work in progress) in “Knock off Wood” Fashion. Next thing you know he’ll be squaring up the condiments in the fridge. I’m pretty sure that given enough screws and a pocket hole jig, he could conquer the world (or at least make it a bit more sturdy).  

Life’s a Happy Song

Yesterday Colin and I were listening to Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords be interviewed on NPR. Apparently his song “Man or Muppet” from the new Muppet movie has been nominated for an Oscar (awesome). We  sat in out garage and listened to him explain little known etiquette of Muppet culture. For example: one does not ask if the chickens can sing the chorus of a song because chickens—obviously  birds with innate dignity—do not use words. One must never refer to a time when a Muppet was say, a piece of felt, because a Muppet was NEVER a piece of felt. The whole interview can be found here:

I’m an easily delighted person in general—embarrassingly delighted. Often I’m delighted in a way that undermines my intelligence (assuming I have any) and makes me downright silly. That’s how I feel about the Muppets. I love those fuzzy little balls of sunshine and I am not afraid to say it!

I like to think when Colin wakes me up in the morning I look like this:

In reality, I’m pretty sure it’s more like this:

I was having one of the latter mornings when Colin put a Kindle on my night stand playing “Life’s a Happy Song” from the Muppet Movie. Even though, I’m pretty sure he was mocking me at least a little, I had an awesome day and went off to work with the little tune stuck in my head.  I even hummed it to myself during the day.  I know it’s dopey and I just don’t care.

Café Rio Dinner

Last night we did a grown-ups night out with our ward. It was a café Rio style dinner with the surprise version of the dating game played after. Somehow the game looks a little different played in person. Everyone seems more embarrassed. You’d think being on TV would cause you to be more red faced than playing in front of a group of friends, but maybe the point is that the only people who do this kind of stuff on TV are people with a high embarrassment threshold to begin with. Good times had by all.

Tis the Season

This was taken with the Ricks at Molbaks in Woodinville, Seattle. I don’t know why they didn’t kick us out of the store, but it was great fun. We Owl-ed on almost everything.

The End of Indecision 2011

I wrote earlier about Colin’s Job hunt. After months of flying coast to cost, applying for over 13000 jobs (ask Colin how he did that one day), checking out ever travel book in the library, living  out of boxes, we have finally made a decision (drum roll please) and we are going…

NOWHERE!!!

It seems a little strange and even disappointing to me at times that we are ending up staying right here in Utah for the time being. Neither of us are from here or have any family that lives here, so the fact that this is where Colin got his first post grad job is a little interesting. None the less, this job was the right pick and we are happy to have it.

It’s not that I don’t like Utah, in fact I have loved it here. I do have to say that it’s a bit strange that so many people who were born and bread here, are the most negative when it comes to living here. I’ve had several native Utahan's tell me it’s a nice place to live but not to stick around when I’m raising kids. Really? Was the experience that bad for them? What’s with the self-hate people?

Still, I can see their concern. My jaw about dropped to the ground when my grandma told me she thought I was picking up a Utah accent. I had to comb my words for what I might have said. Have I started dropping the ‘t’s? did I say Buh-en instead of button or mou-en instead of mountain? Did I mention melk (milk) or my pellow (pillow)? Did I say “oh my heck? Of course, this grandma has a thick Philadelphia accent, and probably shouldn’t be given any weight as a judge of proper speech.

Here are my other Utah worries:

Utah Hair:

This is the look on celebrities, and sorry gals, it still aint cute. I guess I know why it’s called the “beehive” state.

Sap:

Look, I’m a pretty happy person on the whole. I know it’s a lot cooler to be whiney and critical all the time, but well, life is pretty good and I’m pretty happy. In fact, I would say a naturally tend towards being sappy and sentimental. But what if Utah pushes me over the edge? What if I start loving lifetime movies, those pictures of smiling Jesus, and that little kid who “loves you this much”? What if I start referring to Thomas Kinkaid as a “painter of light”? This could be a real problem.


Becoming a human baked potato:

My people are a blend of all the pastiest peoples of earth (English, Irish, Scottish—all people who were made for the damp). The severe lack of trees in Utah might just tan my hide like an old leather saddle bag.



This blog is basically the summation of my fears:
http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/

Good. I’m glad I got that off my chest. Like I said, I’ve loved living in Utah so far and I’m sure I will find many more things to love as time goes by.

Now all Colin and I need to do is find a new apartment and plan two cross country Christmas trips to family before the year is out! Go team!

Things I’m Thankful For

“So much has been given to me; I have no time to ponder over that which has been denied.”

Helen Keller

In appropriate Thanksgiving fashion I thought I would talk about what I’m grateful for.  Here are just a few:

1. Thanksgiving and Holidays in General

There is something about the winter holidays that just gets me so excited. I think it may be the license we all get this time of year to be just a little more cheesy than usual. You may have to bear with me as a spew gouda. Wow, that does sound bad. Oooz? Shmear? why are all cheese appropriate adjectives so nasty sounding? Personally I find a good cheese quite delightful.

Christmas cheese.  See.  Delightful!

Because we were unable to visit family this year, Colin and I decided to go low key for Thanksgiving. Since we’ve been eating every. meal on the coffee table since September, I thought it would be a little silly to do a whole Thanksgiving spread just for us.  Instead, we went to an early showing of The Muppets (Colin’s all time favorite stuffed goof balls) and dinner at Cracker Barrel.

As a wax cheesy and sentimental today, there is no better ball of brie than The Muppets. I know they’re a fuzzy big eyed creatures perfectly designed to pacify and enchant your wiley toddlers. I know this. I know and I don’t care. Don’t adults need to be pacified and enchanted? Yes. Definitely yes.

2.This Guy

Before the movie,  we prepared to stuff ourselves with more candy than a piñata by going for a walk in the park (yeah, those equal out calorie-wise). At the first crunch-crunch of his feet on the pavement Colin got a look on his face that can only be described as sheer delight.  It started off slowly enough: crunch crunch drag drag crunch crunch shuffle shuffle crunch crunch kick kick KICK KICK KICK! In no time at all we we got the image seen here. Of course, there was no coaxing from me at all….

That’s what I love about this guy. He delights in the small things. Since he generally hates to be the center of attention, you wont often catch him making a big fuss and gathering a crowd. But if you watch closely he’ll show you all the fun and beautiful things you were missing all along.

That’s how he is with service too. I remember once I broke the zipper pull on the top of my purse and spent the next week or so slowly inching the zipper shut with my fingernails. One day I was sitting on the couch blabbering away in my usual fashion and as we were leaving I grabbed my purse, zipped it up, and headed for the door.  I zipped it up. I was halfway to the door when I had to do a double take. I had just zipped it straight across without thinking. Somehow, wordlessly, the zipper pull had re-appeared in perfect repair.

That magic thing that keeps things always working: That’s Colin.

The thousand times I’ve woken up covered in a blanket that I never grabbed. The magic stacked-and-wrapped sandwich in the fridge when I know I only have five minutes for lunch. The extra alarm clock that sounds just after I’ve shut mine off. The path shoveled in the snow to a cleanly de-iced car. All the suddenly working electronics, renewed library books, clean sink—it’s all him.

I’m thankful for him every day. Sometimes I forget, and he always finds a way to remind me.

3. Friends Like These

This is a little game of “spot the fakers”—a new baby shower classic

This is the closest picture I could find to all of us together. It’s a little bit of an older picture. Both the actually pregnant moms have 2 kids now. All of us fakers were just showing (pun intended) our support for the baby shower. The only one that’s missing is Stiffy, but he’s behind the camera. He was “showing” his support too—which I’m sure only further confused people looking at the shower pictures on facebook.  I would almost give my right arm to have a video of Stiff leading pregnancy yoga in his trendy turban. Sometime I will have to write about the “epic” parties we threw. This was definitely one for the books.

Every now and again you get friends in life where your relationship is so easy it’s almost a given. That’s what these ladies are like, no matter what happens or where we all move, any time we get together we instantly pick up from where we left off. Every time we get together we make each other fall on the floor laughing. Literally in one case where Abby and I broke my dorm room bed from laughing too hard.  I’m thankful for soft floors and storing enough crap under my bed to break a fall.

Some people collect red shoes. I collect red heads. Not weird right?

Here’s another friendly picture. This time of year I always think of these friends for the reason of one majestic beast: the turkey. Late one night when we and I were teenagers we headed to Sheets at midnight for Nachos ‘cause that’s just what you do sometimes. For some reason we had been making a ton of turkey noises and had this thought:

What if you made turkey noises all the time?

What if it was uncontrollable like laughing, shuttering, or sneezing?

What if you did it every time you got cold?

Thus the “cold turkey” impressions followed. It was one of those things that’s not really funny, but at the same time it REALLY REALLY is. Shortly to follow came the flirty turkey, pompous turkey, turkey-caught-in-the-act, and best of all the angry turkey. There are not words that can describe the roll-on-the-floor-ability of Emily’s angry turkey. Of all things this Thanksgiving season. I’m thankful for the angry turkey.  I may have recounted this story last year…and I will probably do it for every Thanksgiving to come.

4. Family

This is the Family 3-4 years ago at Thanksgiving. Yeah, we kind a fill a room. I think we were close to 30 people that year. My family has children and my aunt has five—add in grandma, children, and a few significant others and boom—thirty foot table has suddenly become a necessity. I’m pretty sure all the adults regress about 10 years whenever we eat together. Even now, Mom still counts the minutes it takes for the conversation to disintegrate into “potty talk”—“15 minutes. That’s a record!” It’s always faster if Robert is there. I can think of nowhere else that I would be that comfortable. I love my family.

With Colin traveling so much this year I have experienced something new: being home alone. I’m pretty sure it never happened to me before. I’ve always had family or roommates to keep things moving. What did I discover about being along?

I hate it more than sticking toothpicks in my eyeballs.

Alright, maybe not that much. But it still makes me wicked uncomfortable.

I should mention here that I am a particularly bad sleeper. I don’t mean that I am restless, I mean that I am sleep crazy. Usually for a few minutes after I wake up I am still acting in my dream. Once woke up completely startled because I thought someone had broken into our house and was watching TV (one of the three channels on our sweet 10 inch). I shook Colin awake and insisted that he go look. As it turned out we had left a DVD in the drive that had restarted a few hours after we left it. I also pulled a knife from our top kitchen drawer because I thought someone was breaking into our apartment (on the third story). What I’m trying to say here is thank you family for never letting me kill myself or anyone else in my sleep.

I love my big fat white family (pretty sure we’re not Greek).

Also, I love my grandma who sent me this picture one Thanksgiving:

You guys are the best. Happy Thanksgiving!