frame wall

In an attempt to make our apartment feel more like home, Travis and I have been on a decorating kick lately. And since we're poor and have way too much time on our hands, we decided we would go to DI and other thrift stores to buy old stuff and refinish it. We just finished our first project and it turned out so cool!

So we went to DI and bought these frames first just to test things out.

$1

$1

$3

We then bought spray paint from Michael's. Each time we bought it we used a 40% off coupon that Michael's has every week. I Googled "Michael's coupon" and found it. The website allowed you to print as many copies as you wanted so we printed a ton. We bought the Krylon spray paint, which is originally $5.99 a can. That price with 40% off came to be about $3.60 a can. Since the coupons always say "One coupon per customer per day," we could only each buy one a day so it took a few days to get all the colors we wanted. We ended up with six colors - cherry red, sunrise yellow, ocean blue, purple, leaf grean, and pumpkin orange. Once we bought the colors we began to spray paint.

We bought a tarp at Lowe's for about $2 and put it on our balcony and sanded and spray painted the frames out there. This picture shows the frame flat on the tarp; we later realized that that didn't work because the tarp would stick to the sides of the frames a little bit and pull the paint off when we lifted it up. So we later switched to putting the frames on cans and then spray painted them (which resulted in all our cans of food to be covered in paint so thick we almost can't read the labels. But hey, at least our cabinets are more colorful now!)

After painting that first frame red, I went back to DI on a quest to find more cheap, cool looking frames. I had $20 cash and I wanted enough frames to fill up a small wall in our apartment. I ended up with all of these!

Total, I spent $23 dollars on everything here! However, in the final project I did this time, I didn't use that big octagonal mirror on the side. That cost $10 by itself, but it was worth it (for another project coming soon!). That means all of the frames besides the mirror only cost $13 put together! 14 frames for $13. Crazy.

To decide what color we wanted to paint each frame, we measured our wall and recreated the space on the floor. After playing Tetris to see how we wanted to arrange them in the space, Travis made an Excel spreadsheet, Google image'd pictures of frames in the colors we wanted, and we played around with the colors on that. He is so brilliant! After painting, this is what we came up with!

Then to hang them up, we started at the top row and just eyeballed the spacing all the way down. This is how it turned out:

(This picture is so much bigger than the others because it was taken with Travis's phone and not my small, dinky one).

We love it and keep staring at it in awe and the best part was that even though it took a while because the frames required lots of coats of paint, it was very easy! All in all, I'd say this project cost about $45 ($18 for frames, $21 for paint, $2 for tarp, $3 for sandpaper). Now that we have the colors of spray paint, we're going to reuse them though. For example, the octagonal mirror we didn't use - we are going to take the mirror out, tape off the gold outline of the frame and spray paint the middle part of the frame with the cherry red color and hang it in out bedroom to match our red and gold bedspread.

Next we're working on painting our bedroom furniture (dresser, bed-side table) shiny black. We bought a chest at DI for $10 (I think?) and we've already painted it black, just need to add the finishing touches and when I go down to Arizona again next week, my mom and I are going to make a cushion to go on top of it :)

give me some more arizona sun

I got back from Arizona a few days ago. To say that this trip was planned for the most perfect time possible would be beyond understated. Right before coming home to pack for my glorious spring break from work to visit my family and friends in AZ, I got fired.

Hold up.

Rewind.

What?

Yeah, fired. It sucked. I was so embarrassed and discouraged and down on myself. Strangely enough, though, I was relieved. In the midst of "Wow, I am unemployed," I was crying half out of sheer joy. Teaching preschool was not my "thing." It's not just that though. Ever since I began working at Challenger full time, moved up here away from my family for the first time, took on a full load of online classes, I've felt like I was slowly slipping under water until I reached the point where I was suffocating. I was miserable during a time that should have been one of the happiest of my life. I was under so much stress between working full time at a job I wasn't very good at, trained at all for, and didn't even like and being a new wife and student. I lost myself in all the stress. Old feelings of loneliness and isolation that I never really dealt with came back full force and knocked the wind right out of me. There was not even enough energy left in me to spread thin. The worst part was that my wonderful husband who is absolutely the best thing in my life right now felt that he lead some role in my unhappiness, when really he was the only thing helping me hang on.

So, like I said, a trip to the land of the sun could not have been better timed.

The night before I left was Travis's mission reunion for the Russia, Samara mission. A few of Travis's mission buddies pooled together and raised enough money for President and Sister Davydik to come over for a week from Belarus, which was truly amazing. The reunion was so fun, and the Davydik's, the Bennets, and Elder Roshetkikov (sp?) of the 70 all gave incredible talks which were translated almost flawlessly. It was so fun to see all of Travis's mission companions and old roommates. Then a bunch of people came back to our place to play our Kinect that we bought ourselves for an early birthday present. Jesse, Corinne, Andy, Makenna, Nate, Kylee, Jacob, Justin - it was so great having you all over! I love you guys. Then Andy and Makenna crashed at our place and we stayed up late talking and they are so great.

My plane left early the next morning though (8:00...) and I landed in AZ about 9 and the fun began. The weather was amazing and my dad picked me up and we drove home with the windows down the whole way mmm. He took me back to my parents house where he, my mom and I sat on my bed for an hour and just talked and hung out. My mom and I watched the new design show she's obsessed with that I'm now becoming obsessed with too and taught me all about how to use coupons. I hung out there and Nolle came over with my Grandma and we played with the puppies (I mean BEASTS gosh they're huge now) all day.

Then I went to lunch at RA with my dearest friend, Amanda, and we caught up after what's been WAY too long. It's crazy to me that even after barely seeing each other for 3 months, she still understands me better than almost anyone. I guess being best friends with someone for 8 years gives you that wonderful advantage.

Jaimee and Noelle dragged me to some scary movie that night, Insidious, which really WAS scary but it was also really lame and I screamed like a child the whole time and they laughed at me but that's usually how it goes. Mark came too and it was awesome to get to know my future brother-in-law better. He is a really great guy and he and Jaim are perfect together.

Sunday was General Conference so of course we all slept in until 11, customary in the Jenkins household. We made brunch and watched about 45 minutes before my mom and I got fed up with how everyone else was asleep/snoring so we called it quits. We just hung out the rest of the day and lazed around. ("Lazy Sunday, wake up in the late afternoon" ha....) Sunday night I spent the night at Jaimee and Noelle's.

All of Monday we watched Vampire Diaries while Noelle worked on her art project. It is AWESOME. Way better than Twilight; new favorite show. I just wish we had got all caught up so I could start watching this season's episodes, but we will. Then I spent the night again.

Tuesday I took my cousin Victoria out to lunch. She is so cool. I wish we were the same age so we could have been best friends in high school because she has got it together. It sucks that we didn't grow up closer because she is a beautiful, smart, funny girl. But I'm just glad we're becoming good friends now. Later that day I went shopping with Jaimee and my mom at Scottsdale Fashion Square (why can't there be one up here?!) and discovered H&M and fell in love! Considering that I had just gotten fired and should be running on severe confidence lows, I daringly bought only the kinds of things I'd always wanted to wear but never had the guts to buy before. That seems silly, but trying something on, that on any other day you would feel totally self-conscious in, and rocking it is a great feeling. (Pictures to come of these daring outfits).

Wednesday Jaimee did my hair and my mom's. Her little salon is so cute; I love sitting in there and looking at all the peacock colors and feathers. My hair turned out so good but it's still not exactly where I want it to be yet. I think it's because I don't know exactly where I want it to be yet. I'm loving these i-tip extensions though and will replace some when I go down again in a few weeks (eek!) I love long talks with my mom and sisters. My family is just so amazing and wonderful. I am so blessed.

Thursday Travis drove down after his morning class. He is so wonderful to drive all day by himself so I could come down a few days early. Staying at my parents house without him was really weird because it brought me back to when he and I were doing long distance. At times, I kind of forgot I was married (not forgot about HIM) because it just flashed me back to a year ago's phone calls and webcam chats and "I miss you"s and "I wish you were here"s. I missed him a ton, but I didn't even realize how much until he was on his way down. He pulled into the drive way and I ran out and jumped into his arms (it was timed perfectly, movie-style) with my arms and legs around him in a full-body hug squeeking, "Oh! Oh! Oh! I love you! Oh! Oh!" Then my dad started to walk out and Travis practically dropped me on my bum. Thanks, babe!

It was so great having the family all together! Saturday, Travis and I busted out the old ping pong table and after getting frustrated (correction, after me getting frustrated) because the wind was blowing the ball everywhere (making me even worse), we moved it into the entry way, which is the best place for a ping pong, table, anyway. My family played all day and it was so fun but Travis is the undisputed champ! Mark brought his boys over later and they are such great kids and are so cute. My mom babysat baby Oscar later while Jaimee and Mark took Ben and Cecil to see Hop and Oscar is the best baby and so cute. Then my mom, dad, Travis and I and Oscar met them at In N Out after the movie but we got there before them and it was funny because people were looking at me thinking that was my baby haha. We went to Yogurtland after and then back to my parents house to play the Game of Things for a bit until it was too late and everyone had to leave.

Saturday no one could really decide what we wanted to do. Everything is so expensive. So we all just hung out and Mark brought the kids over again and we all played ping pong again and my dad made the most amazing Asian marinated pork chops in the whole world and wow they were so good. I hope that someday I am half as good of a cook as he is. He just has an amazing talent! Then we played Game of Things h-core style. We busted out a whiteboard to write everyone answer's down (mostly to help my mom who kept getting the rules mixed up!) and it got pretty racy. The best time though was when almost everyone wrote the same hilarious inside joke answer and we could not stop laughing/crying/hyperventilating. It was epic.

When Travis and I drove home the next day, I was so sad. It was hard to come back to real life knowing that real life would be so different. Living up here is hard because Mesa still feels like my home no matter where we go or how long we're here. I guess Arizona will just always be my fairytale land I can escape to.

writing about writing

I am on a quest to become a "blogger." I don't know what has sparked this. Perhaps starting to write a bit again has brought some itch to the surface. I was reminded by something I heard a friend say a few years ago: "My fingers are possessed by the will to write." I used to be like that. Words were just so big and so powerful I couldn't contain them.

WHAT HAPPENED?

I think part of it was that I used to think poetry was my "thing." I've had this unfinished novel that has the potential to be great stuffed in a drawer for years with well over 200 pages written, but poetry was my forte. Or so I thought. Nothing like a poetry class to squash that dream. It's not that my teacher or even having to create in a structured environment stifled my creativity. Nothing just ever came, and I can honestly admit that my best piece of writing was a parody on the 3 little pigs that modernized the Big Bad Wolf to a 1920s gangster. And my sister was the one who thought of that idea (It turned out very good though I must admit...) Maybe it was because within that structured environment there were suddenly all these rules for what I had always viewed as a medium of free expression.

Yes, I know writing has rules and have learned some new ones over the years. Adverbs suck, write about what you know, most rhyming is cheesy unless you're a rapper then it's great (no, that's not right...). I understand. But ever since I began writing I was all about breaking the rules. Not in some attempt of fruitless rebellion against my junior high and high school english teachers. More than anything it was an effort to write how I speak. Formal, academic writing is a personal pet peeve. I use slang when I talk; I speak in fragments; why should I be a different person on paper than I am live? So this whole regimented poetry thing was just not for me.

On the other hand, I thrived in my Creative Nonfiction class. So awesome; take it if you get the chance at ASU - ENG 217. (Professor Camille Newton rocks). Writing about myself and my experiences was so easy and refreshing and being (almost) completely let loose while at the same time being equipped with so many new tools of expression - exhilarating. Even producing work that was not my best left me in awe of a freshly new discovered talent.

The problem is though, I don't want to just write. I want to be read. I kept a journal pretty religiously for 2010 and I still write down for myself my most private thoughts. But for goodness sakes, I want someone to read my material besides my husband and mom. So in an attempt to scratch this itch I'll blog obsessively about...random? Probably. Oh well.

I think this itch also has to do with the fact that I've decided to double major in Print Journalism and Education when I get to BYU. Hooray!

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wisdom from dad

Each of us makes his own weather, determines the color of the skies in the emotional universe which he inhabits.

- Fulton J. Sheen

I got a letter from my dad a few weeks ago. I opened the envelope to find a half sheet of paper with this tidbit of wisdom typed up. No "Hi, how are you?" or even a "Dear Cozette," coupled with a "Love, Dad." He offered no explanation of where he found this quote, who Fulton J. Sheen was, or any kind of normal letter-writing behavior. Yet in the lack of explanation, of colloquial small talk, I realized that although sometimes I forget, my father knows me better than almost anyone. He may not be the person I tell all my problems or chat up with my girl talk, but he understands the way I think and feel.

During junior high I started collecting quotes as a kind of hobby. I wrote anything I deemed worth remembering down in a spiral bound notebook with Napoleon Dynamite on the cover which my sisters gave to me. I carried it around everywhere, whipped it out during movies, conversations, school. I added to my collection over the years with higher quality journals and a Quotes section in the Notes application on my Blackberry. One time while rifling through my parents books and stuff in their office, I found a small green book with gold outlining on the cover. I flipped it open and found pages and pages filled with my dad's scrawly, impossible-to-read lawyer handwriting that scribbled out quote after quote after quote. Some were funny, others inspirational, many were from Sherlock Holmes novels. And I realized we had never really talked about quote-collecting and this was a trait and habit I had inherited unbeknownst to either of us. Now that I come to really think about it, the book that first sparked my interest in quote collecting was called "Wisdom from Dad," a father's quote journal published by his son after the father died. It was arranged topically, filled with quotations from presidents to prophets, anonymous proverbs to what the author called "Dad-isms." Coincidence?

In one sentence, my dad addressed what hours spent on the phone with other family or friends, or Facebook chats, or talks with Travis on the couch or in bed during restless, stressful nights could sometimes only help to achieve. In one sentence, he established not only pathos but ethos by relating to me in a deeply personal way that I've used as a medium nearly my whole life - written word.

I am the kind of person who truly believes, "it's the thought that counts." Not as an excuse for a lame present or unfinished presentation, but as a quality that is just as important as what is physically given. One of the best presents I ever received was a book of classic American poetry, a journal, and a pen from a dear friend. In that small bundle, the flattery and excitement came from the depth of understanding this person had of me rather than from the gifts themselves.

Although my dad may have merely sent this short letter to suggest we begin a new pen-pal tradition, his small token of affection resulted in much more. In a period in my life full of change and turmoil and feelings of one of the few things I truly fear - inadequacy - I needed these words of wisdom. During times of adversity I often look to my parents' examples for the will to carry on. They have overcome unbelievable trials and pains and have come through scathed but strengthened. Hearing their stories, however, I often put their abilities on a pedestal. I would never suggest their struggles were somehow easier to bear than mine, but sometimes I catch myself thinking that they were able to deal with them because my mom and dad are just better, stronger, more faithful than I am. And even though I know this is not necessarily true, I still fear sometimes that I will never rise to their level and become a person that my children and others will revere and respect as much as I do them.

In one sentence, my dad not only demonstrated that he knows me better than I ever thought he did, but that he does because he has faced similar trials and has used this wisdom to aid in overcoming them. He knows me because he has walked where I'm walking and seen what I'm seeing and felt what I'm feeling. In one sentence, he has empowered me to become who I want to be right now instead of waiting for something to change or get easier.

This morning was just one of those mornings. Even though I slept for way too long and was no longer sleepy, I woke up so tired. Exhausted from the day-to-day stress, loneliness, and uncertainty of life right now. Getting out of bed seemed too big a feat. I was already conquered by anxiety and sadness by 7:02. A lack of physical sickness forced me up and to work where I could just feel a dark raincloud hovering over me, drenching me in the blues. As I fought through my melancholy mood, I remembered this quote, the feeling of overwhelming emotion as I read it for the first time and my choked-up voicemail on my dad's cell later that day expressing my gratitude and appreciation for this small but very influential gesture of kindness.

Remembering that, I decided to paint my skies blue and sunny, and I was happy.

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Weekend

This has been a sports-filled weekend. Travis finished filling out his March Madness bracket on Thursday, in which he has Louisville and Kentucky playing in the championship game. He made me fill out a bracket about a bunch of teams I know/care nothing about, so I based my decisions off of which school had the best uniforms, mascots, a cooler name and cutest players. #3 seed Syracuse is the winner! On Friday, Travis's brothers Matt and Aaron, came over to watch the games. Travis and I made dinner - chicken tenders dunked in Asian Zing sauce (I miss you, BWW's...), salad with carrots, cucumber, peppers, and cucumber ranch dressing, and homemade guacamole with one part mashed avocado to one part mashed peas (amps up the flavor, color, and nutrients to add peas. Also gives you 2x as much guacamole for less than half the cost).

After a RIVETING (sarcasm, but only a little) 6 hours of whiplash from switching from basketball game to basketball game, I hit the sack leaving the Mark boys to their male bonding. During that period, basically all of Travis's hopes of winning the Mark Family Tourney were squashed when Louisville surprisingly lost to Morehead (which, if I was creating my bracket purely on the names of schools, I may have had Morehead going all the way. Instead I listened to Travis who said there's no way a 3 seed would lose to a 14 seed...) So, Travis is basically done. To be honest, I never had a chance. Nicole is killing all of us in the 99.4th percentile, and that's that.

Yesterday, after sleeping in until almost 10, the grocery store, errands, and Travis's DB appointment, he made ME dinner! Broiled salmon and mashed potatoes - Dad, you would have been proud. We watched The Proposal (hilarious. And Travis admitted it was "a good movie." Ahem - not "chick flick." "Movie." The difference between legit and...not). We got ready and headed to Karson Wood's house for UFC 128. It's become such a tradition in our relationship, it seems silly now that I even tried to refuse to go because I didn't want to intrude on "boys night." It was really good to see him and Justin Smith again, and the fights were alright I guess. Some guy with corn rows and I swear is the older version of one of my preschool students beat some other ugly guy in the new-to-the-UFC Bantam Weight 135 lb. division. Then Jon "Bones" Jones fought Shogun Rua (who could very attractive minus the unibrow). Jones wore Shogun down, threw in some very cool back handed elbows and punches, which of course Justin complemented with jokes about how that's the same backhand he uses to hit his girlfriend with. Good ol' Justin. The fight was called by TKO, making Jones the new champion. Rashad Evans came into the octagon for some stupid WWE style drama courtesy of Joe Rogan: "Ooh you guys are such good friends and train together blah blah. You said a while ago you'd never fight but now there is nowhere else to go since you're the next contender for the title." To which Rashad replied, "Well I guess you should never say never!" I half expected some midget to jump in and start talking trash. Blah blah the end of that.

Today after church we keep trying to watch movies On Demand but our stupid DVR thingy is broken and Travis is talking to the Comcast support lady who keeps making small talk and calling him "Trav" (?) and we are trying to watch "The Blindside" (continuing our sports/Sandra Bullock weekend). Later, dinner with Teri and Spencer, maybe some homework, maybe a little lesson planning, probably another movie. Typical sunday.

Coming up: April 1st - Russia, Samara mission reunion with President and Sister Davydik, flying all the way from Belarus thanks to the Davydik fund that's been growing for a year and a half. Oh and President and Sister Bennett will be there too. Andy and Mikenna Winn are going to crash at our place that night and Travis is super giddy about it.

April 2nd - GOODBYE UTAH, HELLO ARIZOOOONA! I'm flying down to AZ for Challenger's Spring Break and will be there for a whole week. Travis is driving down the following Thursday to be there for the weekend. I'm SO excited to see my family and friends and enjoy the beautiful AZ weather. 13 more days!!!

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New Hair

I've decided to dye my hair darker blonde for a change (because I haven't had enough of that in my life lately...). Which color do you think would be good?

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And... What about ombre hair? (Dark on top, lighter on ends..)

I need help! Your input is greatly appreciated!

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Romantic

I found this on MSN.com. Apparently, supposedly, some guy's girlfriend moved across the country so he and his roommates, who are in a band called The Daylights, wrote this song and filmed a video and posted it online hoping that it would somehow get to her. Kind of strange, but, oh well. The video is a little weird visually and kind of distracting, but the song actually is way good. Watch the video. Then listen again with your eyes closed.

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