How To:

I get incredibly dry skin when I'm in Utah, especially when it's on the brink of winter storms. So I looked up some ways to prevent & treat dry skin in winter conditions.

PREVENTION

1. Avoid caffeine, smoking, and alcohol. They act as diuretics and are guaranteed to suck you dry!

2. Increase your water level. Drink up! Make sure to drink at least 8 glasses of pure water a day to keep your skin and body properly hydrated. Drink more if you’re super active.

3. Add oil to your bath. Add a tablespoon or so of almond, jojoba, olive, or hazelnut oil to your bath water after you’ve soaked for about 5 minutes. By soaking first, your skin gets plumped up by the water, then by adding the oil, it will seal in the absorbed moisture.

4. Protect your skin from the elements. Wind, sun, heat, cold, and dry office and airplane air can quickly cause or exacerbate the condition of dry skin. Apply a moisturizer before exposing your skin to these moisture-sapping conditions. A lavender, rose, or German chamomile aromatic hydrosol sprayed onto your face, neck, chest, and hands helps to keep your skin wonderfully refreshed and hydrated.

5. Limit hot water contact. Avoid long, hot showers and baths, especially during cold weather, as they dehydrate the skin. Warm showers and baths for a short duration, though, are beneficial to dry skin. Also, limit bathing or washing you face to once a day, usually right before you retire. When you arise, apply a bit of herbal facial splash or toner, or spritz your face (and body, if it needs treatment as well) with an aromatic hydrosol and you’re ready to go.

6. Increase EFAs in your diet. Chow down on cold-water fish, walnuts, and flax seeds, all rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which can help replace moisture in dry hair and skin. Also consider adding evening primrose oil to your diet. The author takes one 1300 mg capsule daily–or every other day, depending on her body’s needs–and she reports that her skin just blooms! Flaxseed oil is also beneficial–1 tablespoon is the standard recommended dosage.

7. Use humidifiers. They work wonders in restoring healthful humidity to your dry home or office environment.

8. Use only gentle cleansers. Avoid cleansers such as deodorant soaps and harsh abrasives. These can cause your skin to feel like a dried-out Thanksgiving turkey. Use a moisturizing soap, soap-free product, or a gentle, grain-based cleanser.

TREATMENT

1. Try a non-petroleum jelly product available in health food stores.

2. Perform these treatments as often as 3 times per week:

Exfoliate. This should always be the first step toward healing dry skin. Dead skin cells can, over time, build up and become unresponsive to lotions and creams. In order for your moisturizer to do its job, you must first get rid of this dead barrier. (look in our Channels for lots of great facial and body scrub and exfoliating formulas).

Moisturize. After you’ve exfoliated, you’re ready for moisture. Apply your favorite moisturizer to your face and body, or try good old vegetable shortening. (Shortening is typically made from 100 percent soybean oil and it soaks in rapidly–if you don’t apply too much, that is!) The author usually puts on her flannel gown and socks after applying shortening and goes to bed. She guarantees you’ll awaken with gloriously soft, smooth skin.

Moses with the Devil Whale; Velour; October 17, 2009

Listen to them HERE! They never not put on a good show.

I have been real terrible at uploading Moses photographs, and Teej- fellow band mate, often gives me friendly reminders to edit & upload. And I now decided that for each show, from now, will be in different duotones so I can tell different shows from the next. For any photo-gurus out there, duo-tones are really beautiful and make each photograph unique. I use duotones a lot on people, but never have I for a show. The idea came to me when I saw these from Kjersten...a photographer (and sister of him) living in Portland. She also captured it with the smoke, which usually makes me run away from the stage, but she made me think that maybe I should stick around and photograph it next time when it smokes. So thanks girl.

Silky? No.

If Drew could have it his way, I would be wearing silky tops, similar to this one above, everyday. He thinks they are very nice on women...but I am more of a cotton, "comph" type girl. Sorry Drew. But I try...like when Alexis & I went up to the outlets in PC, I tried my hardest to try on as many as I could so I could be in a position where I would actually buy them...but I just couldn't. And I'm glad I didn't buy THIS one because EVERYONE owns it. Kinda funny. I sent this picture to him because he really should approve of everything I buy since he's the one that sees me my clothes more than anyone else. ...information you probably didn't need to know...but I thought I'd document it because we laugh about it all the time.

May You Always

Drew's old co-worker gave us a mix of Christmas tunes last year, and I ran across this... for some reason didn't spot it last year. Really funny! It's almost more funny if you can hear his voice, so you can always click below, while you read the monologue.

{As the holiday bells ring out the old year, and sweethearts kiss, And cold hands touch and warm each other against the year ahead, May I wish you not the biggest and best of life, But the small pleasures that make living worthwhile.

Sometime during the New Year, to keep your heart in practice, may you do someone a secret good deed and not get caught at it.

May you find a little island of time to read that book and write that letter, and to visit that lonely friend on the other side of town.

May your next do-it-yourself project not look like you did it yourself.

May the poor relatives you helped support remember you when they win the lottery.

May your best card tricks win admiring gasps and your worst puns, admiring groans.

May all those who 'told you so', refrain from saying, "I told you so."

May all the predictions you've made for your first-born's future come true.

May just half of those optimistic predictions that your high school annual made for you come true.

In a time of sink or swim, may you find you can walk to shore before you call the lifeguard.

May you keep at least one idea you can pass along to your kids.

For a change, some rainy day, when you're a few minutes late, may your train or bus be waiting for you.

May you accidentally overhear someone saying something nice about you.

If you run into an old school chum, May you both remember each other's names for introductions.

If you order your steak medium rare, may it be so.

And, if you're on a diet, May someone tell you, "You've lost a little weight", without knowing you're on a diet.

May that long and lonely night be brightened by the telephone call that you've been waiting for.

When you reach into the coin slot, may you find the coin that you lost on your last wrong number.

When you trip and fall, may there be no one watching to laugh at you or feel sorry for you.

And sometime soon, may you be waved to by a celebrity, wagged at by a puppy, run to by a happy child, and counted on by someone you love.

More than this, no one can wish you ...... Happy Holidays}

Recorded by Harry Harrison Written by Larry Marks, Dick Charles

Elise is grateful for:

Drew and how much he loves her.

Her dear family and how much they love Drew.

Her testimony of all things true.

The ocean and the way it greets her when she comes back.

Her health as well as her husband's.

The Capener's because they make Utah feel like home.

The sun and it's light!!!!!

Drew's love for music, for it reminds her of her love for photography.

A good song to sing-a-long to... loudly.

And....last but not least...

BLACK FRIDAY...which this year will bring a GREAT steal at Target to get the game Balderdash she's been talking about for years.... !!!!! And 4am Urban Outfitter shopping...knowing that no one that shops at UO will actually wake up at 3:30 to get their bums to the spectrum and shop there...but she will.

Jon Ball

{photo by JON BALL}

A family moved into my parents church/ward I think in the beginning of 2007. They had small children, and moved from Idaho. He was a photographer, and this was a time when I wanted to do nothing but photography. So I attached myself to him and his business. He took over -Phillip Stewart Charis Portraiture- in San Juan and reinvented it as much as possible. Thankfully, he hired me as a secretary/assistant and I got to see what goes on with with their large format cameras, how he poses, and how to set up shoots. Jon is a great, influential photographer and I wish I could have stuck around after graduation just to learn more from him. He inspired me to one day switch over to JUST photographing with film (very hard & challenging to switch over). I just found out he is moving back to Idaho with his growing family, and am so bummed because I didn't get to say goodbye! I'm sure I will see the Ball's again someday.

Anyways, I just heard of his BLOG. It's a diary of his family, and an ongoing collection of BEAUTIFUL images. You will all see why I admire him so much.

He also did some wedding footage of us outside the temple with our family- shot with a Super 8 film/video camera. It was so cool he did that because we didn't even really research any videographers because my main focus was on the photography. So when Jon offered, I couldn't have been more grateful. And I am so thankful NOW because I have it to always look back on.

3 tablespoons for every cup of milk.

I love this time of year (really in San Clemente) because of the new changing weather, and the times spent INSIDE with cozy PJs, hot cocoa, and good company. It's really so nice. This was taken a few days ago when we were so busy sitting in our office, slaving away on our lap tops to finish deadlines. I thought hot cocoa would cheer us up. It most definitely did!!

This will be my first Christmas ever away from my family and I'm okay with that. I love the Capeners, their home, and their company. Hopefully, we will get ski passes, and instead of snowboarding like I know how, I will try skiing- never have before. Not even behind a boat! So that should be interesting. And I am, okay I admit it, excited to have a snow filled Christmas morning. There. I said it.

MOSES opening for Joshua James

Up in the Salt Lake area and have NOTHING to do tomorrow night? This is where you should be. 8pm SHARP! 21 and over.

Blast from the Past

Grandma Donna anyone??? I totally look like her!!

Wait no, THIS is Grandma Donna for sure.

Alexis is so dark skinned, she fit well with these ones.

A few nights ago, we got together with Andrew & Lexi and we watched 500 Days of Summer, drank the best hot chocolate, and then, 'yearbooked' ourselves. We decided that this is the new photo booth.

WANTED

These, are really what I want, so so badly. But $600 dollars really isn't in this winter's budget. (when really it should be if I'm braving another 5 months of storms, right?) If any of you stumble upon up-to-the-knee or below, or both, you just let me know, okay?! :)

Locked Out

My large format class, Mondays & Wednesdays, is a very hard and difficult class. For the first half of the semester, all we studied was technique, and barely touching the camera to learn for ourselves. Well, now we are in the second half, and we are only using the cameras, barely learning technique. Anyways. Mondays are lecture days, Wednesdays are critique days (where we turn in a matted 11x14 silver gelatin print and get critiqued on it so we can improve.) This is such a hard class because A. we are learning about a completely new camera, if you don't know what a large format or 4x5 camera is, google it, B. this is the first time with this professor who has a completely different style of teaching than the others, C. he is an 'expert' in black & white so our images have to be impeccable before we show them, D. there are only so many dark rom hours, with a LOT of students in our class using it at the same time, so it's hard to get mats cut right, prints done on time and E. he doesn't have any mercy. This class is definitely the reason I decided to just get my B.A. instead of my B.F.A.

Well, last Monday, I was so tired I couldn't get up to go to class, because I had just gotten home from California late that night, and had to clean the house (it's usually clean before we go on trips, but this time Drew didn't come with me), unpack...all of it before going to class. It's kinda a ritual I HAVE to do before continuing with life's schedules. So I DIDN'T go to class Monday, but I of course went on Wednesday, with a print and everything. My professor made a comment like this: "You know, there IS class on Mondays...". The few of us that didn't go kind of shook our heads, like "whatever" and continued. Well today, is Monday, and I came 6 minutes late. 6 minutes LATE! And I come, the door is shut, and these doors automatically lock, and so I knew I would have to knock. I did, and I looked in the slot, and everyone was doing stretches, you know like they have you do in grade school to wake you up and to come out of your sugar low? Yeah, they were doing that. A few of them looked back, and shook their heads and mouthed "sorry, we can't open it". So here I sit. I don't really know why I am still sitting here, I guess in the back of my mind, I am hoping that my teacher will have to run up to his office, and in the meantime, HAVING to converse with me so he can at least feel sorry for my kind soul, and know that 6 minutes late is not bad, I still woke up at 7 to get ready for the day, and I STILL want to be a great photographer. It's too bad I have to pay my so-called-dedicated-to-us-teacher to lock me out.

{ I would really like to expand on my thoughts, but knowing some of my classmates, they would most likely forward this to my professor, just so I could get yelled at about my blog post, so I will keep them inside me. }

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Jessie's was yesterday. Hope it was a great one!!!!! (this was the first photo I ever saw of you...I think it was your facebook profile when I first met you/Drew. I love it and it's totally you.) See ya tomorrow night!

Mitch's is today!! Just look at him, such a great dad & husband to his three beauties, and brother. Love him so much!! See you guys this next weekend! (can't wait we are so excited!)

Baby Bird

Drew likes to call me this: "baby bird" and he's been calling me "bird" for quite a while now, but recently, he wrote me a note that added the baby in it. I love it!! Below are lyrics I came across while listening to her (my new favorite).

Oh my Mama

She gave me these feathered breaths

Oh my Mama

She told me use your voice,

My little bird

She said sing sing sing sing sing sing melodies

And she sang sang sang sang sang sang melodies

Oh my Mama

She did give me fancy feet

I'll be dancing on

And I'll tap tap tap my toes

Into those creaking floorboards

Oh my Mama

She took my little hand and held on tight

Oh the Mamas

Give the waters of their wells

Oh the Mamas

Give the babies this very dirt we're walking on

Oh my Mama

She gave me these feathered breaths

And your Mama

She gave you those feathered breaths too

And when the sky drops all those feathers

And when the birds sing in the morning

I'll be a mama

I'll have a daughter

I'll be a mama

I'll have a daughter

And I'll give her melodies

I'll give her melodies

(repeat)

And she'll be

My little bird

And then she'll fly

She'll fly

after a few text messages and comments, NO I AM NOT PREGNANT! haha! you all wish right??

Moses

I am in the middle of editing tons of photos from Drew's band- Moses. We did band photos a few weeks ago, and I also shot some from their last shows. So soon, I will do short bios of everyone in the band, so you all can see who is in it, and so everyone can understand how amazing this band really is..(if you have not yet seen them live). The band is really starting to become family and that's exactly what needed to be done to make the music good.

Until I make a real post about them, here is this that Drew recently did for the Daily Universe (BYU newspaper)

CLICK HERE to read article. It's short.

Drew is going to continue to finish the record, come the end of November. We look forward to it being finished in Marchish, and going on a tour sometime short after. Exciting right?? To stay tuned in on his shows, just look to the right. His next one should be AMAZING. Not only is it going to be with Joshua James but it's in an unbelievable venue. Drew & I saw Deer Tick there recently, and were blown away by the comfortable-ness of it. There were church pews that sat people like people sit in movie theaters. We couldn't decide if it's an old church, or an old movie theater. If you click on that Deer Tick url above, I'm pretty sure that main photo they have up there, is from that show. The stage is massive, there is TON of seating, lots of places to stand, and a few tables to drink/sit at.

Our Halloween of 2009

I obviously wasn't ready for the click. Thanks Andrew for the warning...now everyone's photos are better than ours. Haha. Just kidding. Can you guys tell who Drew is??? I hope because he is super excited about it. I am Meredith Grey. Duh.

These are the results from Halloween night... our good and dear friends, Andrew & Alexis hosted an amazing dinner & party. A 3-course meal, each course introduced with a scary description of it, themed, dance-able music, and friends to laugh with.

The Hosts- I totally just stole all these photos from her blog post...sorry lex!! I just had to! These better-than-polaroids were taken with their instax camera (that I also purchased, but a mini one so I can travel with it.)

Obama & Palin aka- Jake & Kim

TEEJ

Kaneischa "the cholo"

And the one & only, Cait & Mark. Guess what they are...

After we finished socializing, eating yummy food & desserts, a group of us watched The Sixth Sense. Okay this is a secret of mine that I never told anyone, but every time Drew & I are somewhere and end up watching a movie (which is really never)...or want to go rent one or anything... The Sixth Sense ALWAYS, without a doubt, pops into my head, and inside, I am BEGGING to watch but I never bring it up. I just hadn't seen it in forever and I remember loving it so much. So anyways, I was very glad that got picked over this Mike Meyers movie Drew wanted to watch.

And this above, my friends, was at our other good friend's house Andrew & Elyse's. Couldn't you tell Drew just loved being "Dick" Simmons??? Haha!!!! We had a blast just getting to sit at a dinner table and catch up. Then, we played BALDERDASH! One of the BEST games ever. Thanks guys for a real nice night.

Happy Hallows Eve!

Happy Halloween!

These photos were from this last conference weekend. The girls in Drew's family went to the fair up in Salt Lake while the boys went to Priesthood. This is one of the reasons I love living in Utah. During the holidays, there are really fun things to go to like haunted houses in every city, cool boutiques and fairs...never see these things in Orange County.

Isn't the last shot so funny? Riki & I were dying.

HFAC

I get to see this view everyday when I'm at school and trust me, it gets old. Drew gets to see it every minute of every school day. His graphic design labs are to right of this frame.

shot with a 4x5 camera for a development assignment.

In my arms

use the truth as a weapon

to beat up all your friends

every gink, in the armor

an excuse to cause offense

and the boys

from the hallway

callin' out your name

and your love will find them in the end

you were restless

i was somewhere less secure

so i went running to the road

and so of this

the long list of places i was

i quit my ramblin' and came home

cause maybe i was born to hold you in these arms

maybe i was born to hold you in these arms

use your saints

and your mantra

and your things to keep you calm

if you stay with that a**hole

he's gonna do you harm

as a voice

singing loudly

on the radio, just for you

and good fortune would find him in the end

maybe i was born to hold you in these arms

maybe i was born to hold you in these arms

maybe i was born to hold you in these arms

maybe i was born to hold you in these arms




These are not Drew's lyrics. They are Glen Hansard's on his new album, with his new band, The Swell Season.

Oops.

I read another one. I know, I know, how can I be complaining of how busy I am when I make time for a novel..? Well, I seriously read in line, on my way home from campus (which is like a 6 mile walk...not really though) and in between classes with short breaks.

The Pact, is also a gem. I have always been a very passionate and emotional person, and this book reminded me of it. I felt like I was in this book and wrapped up in all the passion involved. If you feel like you can take all of it in and truly soak it up, then I suggest you read this, but don't if you don't like to read of love & tragedy. That's right folks, it's a TRAGEDY!! Remember Romeo & Juliet ? Similar story (which by the way is one of my favorite movies...but so is Moulin Rouge and Titanic..ha) but with real life. I can't really say I can relate to Emily in the story, but I can relate to the love that she and Chris have.  I don't want to give anything away. Read it!!! And tell me what you think. Shoot. I should start a book club. 

ps. I'm sorta bummed I never studied english further after high school. I think I really would have enjoyed it.

pss. I hate the cover. Gosh Jodi, let me help you out. (her last name pronounced as: PICO) I was almost embarrased to read it on campus for people to see the cover.

psss. This was one of those books for me that I didn't even realize that I was finished within a couple of days. All of the sudden today, I had about 50 pages left and was shocked because I read it so quickly. Definitely a page-turner.

GOT MILK?

This is what I found one morning when I went to go eat breakfast. I knew there wasn't any milk when I woke up, but Drew didn't. So he put this in there either to warn me, or to save it until we did get more milk. Sorry my love. The fridge will forever be stocked with 1% if you promise the cereal will remain stale-less.

We painted all of our rooms in our house (this was a while ago but I am terrible at photos that are not commercial work). And I may repaint our bedroom to a completely different color, or a lighter shade of the teal/blue color we have now.

ps. Drew wants everyone to know that he really never has his shirt off. It just so happens that when he does, it's always during a blogging moment.

Happy Birthday Drew

It was my love's 24th birthday today. 

I hope it was the BEST! 

<3,

your bird.

Book Worm

Something I am very grateful for, is the way my mom raised me to LOVE TO READ. Growing up and now to this day, my mom reads almost everyday. She is known to be able to start and finish a book a day. Well, she and I must have the same taste in the style/genre because she just hands over all of her novels, and I love them! I was thinking about the road trips we would take as a family, and most of the time, my sibilings and I were either sleeping, or reading. My mom would go to the library the day before our trip, and have a bag full of mystery (remember goosebumps?), fiction, non-fiction books..the works. Sometimes, she would even be reading a book that I've been dieing to read, and she would just give it to me the day after she started, cuz she was done!

I'd like to say that I love to read biographies, or autobiographies, and non-fiction books, but that just puts me right to sleep. I've tried it...blah. I love to use my imagination and find reading books much more fun than watching movies. And that's a lot for me to say because my favorite thing is to curl up from the longest day of my life and watch a movie...with treats by my bed.

I have been wanting to start a book club, but when I think about it, it will be quite a piece of work to organize it, and be the leader of the pact, so I kinda just wait until other people start one. I have yet to join one, but maybe sometime soon, my friend Halen will. But I am also afraid of starting book clubs that will not consist of reading fiction books. It's the 'fun novels' that keep me away from movies and my nose in books. And they keep me less stressed out during a school year that I know will just burn me alive if I don't stay focused. So that's what I did these last 7 days. I photographed a wedding in Thousand Oaks, and I knew I'd be on a change-flight schedule both ways, so I brought this book my mom gave me, Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult. I finished it this morning and wow, I am so saddened it's over! It has been an intesnse school week, especially since I missed a few days, but I didn't feel so stressed out because I had this book to read every night and in between classes and waiting a red stop light.

So Mom, thanks.

Here's my recent (last 8 months) that I've read.

A GREAT read. Especially if you enjoy court trials. Read this in a few days while driving to and from California. I wish this cover was better. Even the physical copy is pixelated a tad.

This was also a great read. I learned a great deal about the Amish and their culture. She writes so beautiful in this one and when I finished it, I read the last part where Jodi answers people's questions. And one of the questions was how she knew so much and what the research consisted of. Well, she spent one week on an Amish farm with an Amish family. Which is crazy and you find out how crazy it is once you read this. SO READ IT!

Jodi Picoult is a mastermind. I LOVE the way she writes. Well, I just love authors that write so naturally that's it's like she just gets it. She understands the world around us, people and relationships they have, and she has a little bit of sass in all the books she writes, well atleast from the two above that I've read. And also what I love about her style, is that she uses a lot of facts in her novels. She will talk about history, and events that have happened within a few years ago, not decades ago. So I can sorta relate. And it makes me feel comfortable knowing that most of what I am reading is not just a waste of time (because it is fiction and some people look down on that); I'm actually learning.

This was a 'fun novel'. I'm not going to lie, I bought it last winter, thinking that one day I would become the best knitter around (forgetting I'm in Provo where everyone knows how to knit). But I enjoyed it and found myself laughing a lot during it's reading.

I bought this without even reading the back of the book, purely for the amazing photograph, it's color palette and the title. It's a depressing book that's full of things I hope never happens in my lifetime.

a funny story about when I bought Daniel Isn't Talking:
We were with our friends, the Holy Hendricks, and in Vegas of all places. We stop at this thift store, maybe it was a Savers, and because I get extremely overwhelmed shopping, especially at thrift stores, I go to the front where the books are set up. I look for a few books that I can read while on the trip because my camera's manual book wasn't exciting enough. I found Daniel Isn't Talking and The Atonement. And I got another one but I forgot what it was. Well, the three of them were still shopping, so I organized (cuz I am organizer nut-case!) the front, right section of the library bookshelves in the thrift store..by author. And we found there are a LOT of Romance Novels by the same female author, and a LOT of James Patterson (which by the way I read a ton in high school).

Cuz I had a bad day..

Today, I had THEE MOST STRESSFUL DAY OF ALL HISTORY. And really, I made it more stressful on myself than need be, but that's how I am. I am a perfectionist at best, and today was not the day to be perfect at anything. I was telling Drew how it felt like I was watching the world revolve around me, and I was trying to revolve the opposite way because seriously EVERYTHING that could go wrong today, did.

But when I finally was ALMOST done with the day, I came home on my bike and saw this and knew that I could finally take a deep breath. Isn't he a beauty?

I'll be in LA this weekend photographing a wedding. If anyone is up my way (Thousand Oaks), let me know and let's hang out!!

MOSES IS HERE!

My cute hubby is playing yet another show. This time, it's with his new revised (AMAZING) band called MOSES. It'd be really great to see any of you at the show this Thursday at Velour at 8pm. You will hear music you've never heard before that is on their record (coming this Spring). SEE YOU ALL THERE!

And I'll be there (more motivation to come) doing a lot of this:

Where is my head?!!?

Last night, I had this TERRIBLE dream. Drew & I were living with my family in our old house in Laguna Niguel (which by the way, all my dreams are set place in), and my parents adopted this 12 month Asian baby. The baby was nice to everyone, and of course everyone loved him because Asian babies are the cutest, but when he and I were alone, this baby would talk to me in an adult voice, and tell me he was going to murder me, and all these crazy things. Well, it went on for a long time because no one would believe me that this baby was on a killing rampage and I was his next target.

I woke up maybe 6-7 times during the night, worried it was real, and because of this, I think my day was a little off. Here are the weird things I did today....

1. We woke up at 9:01 (or looked at the clock by then) and I hurried and jumped up so I could make it to the gym (while checking out garage sales before then). My pilates class (I thought) started at 9:30. ( continue on to finish this thought on #4 )
2. We bought a little table (for our printer under our desk) and I wrote the check. Well, in the line on the check where I write out the amount, I wrote "Two dollars and..." but in the box where I wrote the numbers, I wrote $4.00.
3. On my way to the gym, I realize I wrote that, and was embarrased because I know the kid (Chris Crosby) that I wrote the check out to.
4. I show up to the gym and look at where my class is supposed to be, and there are people doing serious steps moves. Then I remember my Saturday pilates class that I've been going to for a year is at 10:30 and I have never forgotten what time it is.
5. I typed my name "Elyse" to conclude an email. That's what motivated me to write this post.

Grey's stinkin Anatomy

"Back in May when last season's final show aired, every place in New York City was empty. You could get a table at the best restaurants." entertainmentweekly

You guys, I'm not just a fan of Grey's Anatomy. I am ADDICTED. Addiction isn't a good thing. In fact, we are taught in church and in the scriptures all the time how we need to stay away from any form of it. I just can't with Grey's Anatomy.

I started watching it in the middle of Season 3. My mom had been watching it every Thursday, and one Thursday in high school I just sat and watched it with her. Ever since that Thursday night, I have been hooked. So now that season 5 was done, I realized, well I hadn't ever seen Season 1 & 2! Did I miss a lot? Well, Heather starts telling me that Taylor somehow saw the last part of Season 5 finale, and wanted to know why everything was happening that way. Basically, he was hooked and all it was for him was one Thursday night. Luckily, his sisters had all the DVDs previous to season 5, and they started watching from the beginning. Yes, I did borrow them. And yes I continue to watch them (I'm on season 4, even though I've seen it all, every minute.)

My justification: editing photos. I sit there, spending hours and hours and hours in our home office, in the dark, editing, burning discs, emailing, deleting, saving, blogging...the list goes on...so why not watch my favorite TV drama while doing this? (If any of you know the show, you know that when I say 'drama', I'm not using the word lightly.) I almost dread the day when I am caught up, again, and have to watch it week by week, and not whenever I please. And I am also hoping that ABC doesn't randomly stop the show in the middle of the season, and start back up at the end of the season. That was weird last season.

See the face of Meredith up there? She looks so happy and content and satisfied and comfortable...that's the face I have when I watch. Except half of the time I am either crying with joy, or traumatized and sad about the person that just died in OR2.

Now that I am 21, here are 21 things I love.

1. All green lights from point a. to point b. (especially when I am rushing, big time.)

2. Getting unexpected mail.

3. The idea of starting a book club.

4. Filling my saturdays with a gillion errands and not being tired by the night time to play.

5. Having my camera with me when it's one of those times I should have it.

6. Seeing a puppy.

7. Running into a friend that you can't stop talking to.

8. Greeting Drew after a show of his and kissing his sweaty face.

9. Re-runs of Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

10. Scenes in movies like in Home Alone when McCully is setting up all of his harmful tricks.

11. Dancing with Drew and forgetting to shut the curtains. Then laughing about who probably saw.

12. Feeling a breeze in Provo and pretending it's an ocean breeze.

13. Great, GREAT restaurant service.

14. Being suprised. 

15.  Waking up already snuggling. 

16. Going to the beach without having to get back at any certain time.

17. Reading a book you can't put down.

18. Seeing a really funny movie when you expected it to be bland/typical..

19. Surfing.

20. Grey's Anatomy and not feeling guilty spending my time watching it.

21. Drew's jokes.

What are some things that you love?

Neiman Marcus

So I got this email, and instead of forwarding it, I will just post it on my blog. It's a story of how Neiman Marcus ripped off this lady and she is getting revenge by telling everyone she knows their chocolate chip cookie recipe. Read on.

{My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe In

Dallas, and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are

such cookie lovers, we decided to try the 'Neiman-Marcus cookie.' It

was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe, and

the waitress said with a small frown, 'I'm afraid not, but you can buy

The Recipe..' Well, I asked how much, and

she responded, ' Only two fifty - it's a Great deal!' I agreed to

that, and told her to just add it to my Tab.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman-Marcus

Charge was $285.00!

I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads

and about $20.00 for a scarf.

As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said,

'Cookie Recipe-$250.00.' That was outrageous! I called Neiman's

Accounting Department and told them the waitress said it was

'two-fifty', which clearly does not mean 'two hundred and fifty

dollars' by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase.

Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my money

because, according to them, 'What the waitress told you is not our

problem. You have already seen the Recipe. We absolutely will not

refund your money at this point..'

I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statutes

which govern fraud in the State of Texas . I threatened to report them

to the Better Business Bureau and the Texas Attorney General's office

for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, 'Do what you want. Don't

bother thinking of how you can get even, and don't bother trying to

get any of your money back.' I just said, Okay, you folks got my

$250, and now I'm going to have $250 worth of fun.. I told her that I

was going to see to it that every Cookie Lover in the United States

with an e-mail account has a $250 cookie recipe from

Neiman-Marcus...for free. She replied, 'I wish you wouldn't do this.'

I said, 'Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you

ripped me off and slammed down the phone.

So here it is!

Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of.

I paid $250 for this, and I don't want Neiman-Marcus to EVER make

another penny off of this recipe!

NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (Recipe may be halved)

2 cups butter

24 oz. Chocolate chips

4 cups flour

2 cups brown sugar

2 tsp. Soda (baking)

1 tsp. Salt

2 cups sugar

1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)

5 cups blended oatmeal

4 eggs

2 tsp. Baking powder

2 tsp. Vanilla

3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream

the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with

flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda . Add chocolate chips,

hershey bar, and nuts. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart

on a cookie Sheet.. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Makes 112 cookies.

PLEASE READ THE RECIPE AND SEND IT TO EVERY

PERSON YOU KNOW WHO HAS AN E-MAIL ADDRESS!

THIS IS REALLY TERRIFIC!!

Even if the people on your e-mail list don't eat sweets send it to

them and ask them to pass it on. Let's make sure we get this

ladies $250.00 worth. Enjoy the cookies, they really are good.}

Your hands.

This photograph doesn't do justice about how much I love Drew's fingers/hands, but he would NEVER let me just photograph his hands (let alone blog about it). So I found this beauty to prove to you all. He has the really square tipped fingers that are so beautiful ! They are rough from guitar playing and always really clean. He'll kill me that I'm about to post this. Whoops!

The funniest video you will DIE OF LAUGHTER!

You all have probably seen this. I am always the last one to see you tube videos, but man is this thing not the greatest?? I come home from the jacuzzi (while staying at the beach house) and Drew is watching all these 'cat' or 'kitty' videos with his little sister that will blow your mind! Just type in anything with those two words and you will find some classics...and reasons why I prefer dogs over cats.

My family is the cutest!

So I have been here at the beach house with all of Drew's family and it's been a blast! But every second I can get by myself, I utilize by editing the 3 weddings that I had here in California. I am almost done with Kim Devine's (now Muai) and came across this really cute photo. Isn't my family the cutest? I told them to go 'cheek to cheek' because that's what my mom always said to us growing up... and that's why Micah man is touching his cheek. 

Her photos will be up on my blog and on the proofing site on the 18th of August. So stay tuned on my photo blog!

San-o

Okay so the only day my dad comes and photographs us surfing, it's small, but I thought these 3 were kinda fun. It's Drew. {i think you'll need to click to enlarge}

Photos from our anniversary trip

{To see more photos, go to my photo blog}

{CPK to get my favorite lunch...BBQ chicken chopped salad}

{on our balcony!}

{This photo above is of the elevator from the very small parking garage and there was a sign saying that if we stand in that area, we will most likely get cancer. so I always stood far away...cuz I am just like that. Oh and birth defects. Yeah right!}

I love you Drew. Can't wait for forever.

Happy 1 year to us!

We are about to get in the car and head down to the gas lamp district in San Diego to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. Hooray for us!!!!!!!!!!! We'll get back to you with photographs and I am sure some stories. 

up to date

{us at bon iver}

Hi everyone that views my blog. I am terribly sorry that I neglect the internet, well not the internet because I am really on it almost 24/7, but just blogging. Sometimes I just don't want to do it. Like writing in a journal. I know everyone goes through phases. Anyways..a little update..

1. Drewbie and I leave tomorrow morning to make a drive to California and will be there until August 15ish. We are VERY excited. It's almost like we never go down there, when we really go almost every other month. 1st week will be strictly weddings and bridals for me. 2nd week will be nothing but the beach and relaxing. The 3rd week will be our 2nd honeymoon (our 1 year anniversary) and the 4th week will be hanging out with the Frame side of Drew's family down on Beach Road. Did you know that Drew grew up going to this beach house in San Clemente?? It's insane. I wonder if we ever bumped into each other or were in even at the same place at the same time without even knowing it.

2. Drew plays a show tonight, a fundraiser. It's terribly weird because EVERY show he plays, we always are going on a trip, mainly road trips the day after his show. It's really strange.

3. I am starting to really want to paint more rooms in our little home. It's killing me. Oh and I want a puppy. Two things I probably won't be able to have.

4. I may or may not want a baby.

5. Got a thing in the mail telling me my license is suspended for a month starting the 27th of July. And I got pulled over the day AFTER I got it. So I started bawling when the cop pulled me over because first, I didn't know what in the world I did wrong, and second because I had just gotten that notice. So I thought if I get a ticket now, will it be suspended for a year???? He let me off because he felt so bad for me and is going to figure out why it's suspended because from my records, it doesn't show any reason why it should be that way.

6. Love my new hair cut by Laura Hendricks, and miss her terribly.

7. Been getting sick from eating red meat. Does anyone else get sick (like indigestion & heart burn) ?

8. Happy Birthday my dearest Heather Florence!!!! Hope it was a blast!!!

9. Can't wait for finish my second roll of color film. The last time I shot color was in high school and let's just say I wasn't the best at it. So this should be interesting to see my results.

10. I am most def. over photographing Drew every day he records. I have up to day five but I just don't have the energy for it anymore. If I had my camera surgically connected to my eyeball, then maybe that would be possible. So yup.

11. If anyone wants to play while we are in California, we plan on doing a lot of it. Like Kate H. and my sisters Su and Julie, and the Dyers..(you guys still in San Diego?) and well anyone that's down there that we haven't seen in FOREVER!

Recording: Day 2

Getting some shut eye.

Oct. 13, 2007

This was the first day that Drew saw me, sadly, I didn't see him. John Vanderslice came to Maestro's Gelato Cafe where I was working after a show and I served him chocolate chip gelato (straciattello). Luckily I managed to climb on a chair and photograph this on my cell phone. There is Drew on the left side. Look for the curly blonde hair. And I think that's Trevor sitting behind him?

A week and half later, I officially met Drew and then we became besties.

Recording: Day 1

Tuesday July 7th

{ I am really bad at printing photographs for our home, or journal, or books or anything, so I will be posting photos of every day he records on our blog and maybe one day I will make our married blog into a book so I don't have to print any photos. I think it's cuz I print so many of other people's photos that when it comes to me, I get bored of it. More to come!}

Drew's Record

Hello hello!! So I have been wanting to blog about this for quite some time now, but wanted to wait until it was in the making. My dearest is currently recording to soon produce his own record!!! This is his life's dream and it is really neat to see him actually fulfilling it. No joke. He started Tuesday officially in the studio and will keep going until it's perfected. Drew feels lucky to be able to do it first, with the help of Joshua James, an amazing musician and friend of ours, and second, to do it before school starts. He has been saving up from his shows and graphic design projects.

So this is gist of everything that's been happening and will continue:
- 16 months ago, he started recording demos, scratch tapes of the potential songs that could be on the album. That consisted of 20 songs.
-Once the songs were chosen or narrowed down for the album, then they became rearranged and really perfected. Since then, he has wrote some truly amazing songs that I can't wait for everyone to hear.
-Now they are in the studio. Joshua has hired professional, extremely passionate musicians to be on the album, like the drums, bass, pedal steel... They will finish in 2 weeks with all and each separate track from each instrument.
-It will get sent off to L.A. to get the tracks mixed together.
-Once that's done, it will be sent to get packaged (the art work and cd covers and cd cases).
-Come December, hopefully it is finished. Cross your fingers!

I am pretty sure that is everything that is going to happen. Drew is gone so when he comes home maybe he can correct some of the above information. I will keep you all updated with photos of every day he records.

Stay tuned!

(in the meantime, I will be at a wedding with Jonathan Canlas, working on photos, updating my photo blog, registering for classes, going to work, being with girlfriends, watching 2nd season of Grey's Anatomy (because I totally missed out on it!), pilates!! and the temple.)

Why was 10 mad 7 ? Because..

7 8 9!

Happy Birthday Mom!

If I had a photograph of you, I would totally put it up, but since you hide from the camera at all times, I don't have one. But look at this beautiful family you made!!! :) I love you and hope you have the best birthday!!!

So sorry

for my absence. Lately, Drew, John, Laura, and I have been doing a lot of this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

As you can see from the last image, I think we are slowly convincing the two to move down here with us. Of course by then we will be done with college life (i'm mentally graduated) and ready to be Southern California residents. {images complimentary by GOOGLE}

Go Team GO!

So my family has all of the sudden become really into sports. Well, we have always loved sports like surfing and baseball, but not to where my parents went to every game and bought us all the gear and...etc. I do think it's really great because it keeps the kids busy but I am sorta bummed because I was always floating around every single sport there was, besides golf and tennis. I seriously was on either every sports team you could, or took private lessons for a while, until I got bored, or my mom talked me out of it. Drew & I play tennis as much as we have time for, and I LOVE IT!! I seriously am addicted. I could play it all day (unless the sun hasn't come over the mts. just yet). I am kicking myself for not even trying when I was younger or in high school, but now is my time and I am enjoying every minute. So to refuel on my lack of sports in my past, we go to my siblings meets, tournaments, practices, scrimmages, and games.. sometimes my Dad will even buy us hot dogs & chili fries!!

My dearest has a beard and has now for a couple months. I think he is darling but can't really remember what he looks like before he had it!!! Probably 5 years younger. He is one lucky duck, he doesn't have to shave until Fall semester starts. This is a celebration amongst the Lundquist men.. they don't grow much of any hair. Let's all congratulate him.

Sandwiches

{taken when we all went to the park for a picnic eating these marvelous beauties}

There are these sandwiches that have sorta been in my family, well, ever since Lindsay started making them for us ALL the time. My mom began to love them and my sister Melissa, and now I love to make them! They are so easy and the yummiest sandwiches you could ever eat. No joke. I am not much of a sandwich person and will only eat sandwiches are certain places.

1. Tina & Vinces (San Clemente, on Del Mar St. - it has the italian flag on the outside of it)
2. Quiznos- (Franchise, the Italian Sub, Regular, YUM!)
3. Kneaders- (Utah, Turkey Panini)

But above all of those, I would eat this sandwich every day if I could.

The ingredients and prices (if bought at costco):

1. Havardi Cheese: You can buy it by the slice or block. Personally, I prefer the block but to be on the cheap side, the slices will do just fine. $4.00
2. 1 Small Baguette(s): 1 baguette is perfect for 2 people with hungry bellies. Buy fresh. $2.00
3. 3 Tomatoes: $4.00
4. 1 jar of Pesto: $5.00

5. Mayo, no substitution.

6. Basil leaves: (not found at costco, look for them at health food stores like Sunflower or Trader Joes) $3.00

If you buy the baguette at Costco, it comes in pairs so make a lot and put in the fridge for a later time! It won't be fresh 3 days later, but 2 days max is still pretty good for a later lunch. 

"Texas, I'm gonna mess you up."

Welp. The trip to Texas was of course a success. It was cool the first 2 days, and as they would say in Texas, BLAZIN' HAWT the last few days. My cousin was a beautiful bride with her cowboy groom and all went really well! I will post their photos on my photo blog in the next day or two. After the wedding was over, we made our way over to Canton, Texas. A small city, but yet very large. Read about it on Drew's blog. 

ps. Drew's blog is sorta new. It's about his art & ideas. Not a lot of people know about it...so maybe you all should!! :)

Planes, trains, and automobiles

I love to fly. I love it so much that I would rather fly than drive, even if it's an hour flight. But never again will I knowingly fly with Southwest Airlines. I got to know Southwest VERY well the past weekend because I went to Texas with one stop, and to California with two stops. 

Pros:

-They are always serving you, asking you for refills or more peanuts.

-Once the plane lands, you are literally up and out of the plane 3 minutes later. No hesitations.

Cons:

-It's first come first serve. So if you book your flight first out of everyone, your boarding pass will say "A#1". That means that you get to stand in line first and pick your seat when you literally walk on the plane. But if you get C#5, well, you might as well already know that you will be sitting between Mr. Large and Ms. Cougher. You just gotta know that and brace yourself for it.

-No outlets to charge anything. Like if your lap top dies on you, sorry, nope.

-The stewardists (i know that's not what you're suppose to call them or spell it) are always making jokes about crashing!!! Okay what the heck. Now I am PETRIFIED of flying in the air again. They are always saying, okay everyone, don't freak out, but we NEED to be our seatbelts on ASAP. The pilot gave us multiple warnings in two minutes. HURRY! 

-No option of first class seating.

Deciding where to sit: So say you have group A. Well great. You have a lot of open seats to choose from!!! So now the decision comes to, do I want to sit in the isle so people don't want to sit by me because I am already blocking their entry? But no way do I want to sit in the isle because half of the time I am getting bumped into by the peanut & drink women or getting looked at by creepy men...OR do I want to sit by the window because I know for sure no one will sit in the middle and I can have my space. But no way do I want to sit by the window because I have a bladder the size of a peanut and do not want to wake up the snoring man to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes. 

**On one of my flights, I had group C and was nervous walking on the plane because I knew for sure it'd be full. Sure enough, it was and my only two options were sitting in between two big men next to the side exit or sit in the very far back in the middle of a huge family. I chose the men. Not one word was said, I didn't have an arm rest, and the seat in front of me was really far away so I couldn't use my try to rest my lap top. 

**Then they give you the option to move if you are sitting by someone you don't want to sit by. Okay AWKWARD. "Hi, um there is this woman will really annoying kids, can I be reseated in the no kid zone?"

What I will give them credit for is their humor. They use it in the airport and the plane to make people happy. Check out this video for proof.

Southwest Airlines Flight Announcement from SusanB on Vimeo.

Sam Beam did it once again. He released an album called Around the Well-- a compilation of songs that didn't make his records or soundtracks and are basically demos, plus two of his most popular (Trapeze Singer & Such Great Heights.) The guy is a GENIUS and I was very glad to purchase this album just moments ago :) I heard about the album I think from watching Grey's Anatomy's season finale, but I could be wrong. It was some dramatic chick show. And I heard the song "Waitin' For A Superman" (originally by The Flaming Lips.) Then I googled this song to figure out how I missed this Iron & Wine song and how it's not on my ipod. Now, I am in heaven.

{taken during a very long day of shooting my cousin's wedding}

Hi Drew, I miss you! I had a lot of fun with you while in Texas and was so sad to say goodbye. But it won't be long until I leave California and we will be back together in Provo riding bikes, eating way too much food all the time, playing tennis, going to the red box at Smiths, and dancing around our little home while feeling bad for all the victims of hearing the loud rap music. Until I get back, I will hopefully be seeing & catching up some old friends (hint hint), catching up on my sleep, and catching waves in the ocean. 

Love,

your bird