My Poor, Ignored Blog

Well helloooooooooo.

It's fall break! I have a minute to say hi! Hi!

Yeah, so, where does the time go? Last I checked it was August and I was frantically trying to get organized and ready to go back to school. It's now mid-October, and I'm already half-way through my first semester of graduate school. It's great! Super busy, but great. I pretty much work part-time, go to school and study. Mark works, makes dinner, does the dishes, the laundry and the grocery shopping. Hmmmm. I should have gone back to school a long time ago!



In spite of being very busy, I am enjoying my classes and learning a lot. Mark has been a huge help - I couldn't have asked for a more supportive, wonderful husband! Mark has been spending his free time keeping a wary eye on the stock market and watching some baseball playoff games. I spend my free time going to the gym and going to an occasional lunch with family or friends.

In other news:


In August, our friends Larissa and Shawn adopted a darling little boy! Five-month-old Christopher has already got those two (and everyone else) wrapped around his little finger! Check out those beautiful eyes!

On September 20th, Katie, Mark and I went on a hike up Mt. Olympus. It was so fun, but that was one hard hike! Well worth it, though. It only took us 3 hours to get to the top!

Last week, I had a the opportunity to go to the Body Worlds exhibit. It was amazing. I highly recommend it.

Fall break has been wonderful - I've been reading novels (Breaking Dawn, for one) and have been able to catch up on some homework. Mark and I took a trip to Wendover, NV last night. While Mark played Texas Hold 'Em, I worked on a scrapbook project. It was fun and relaxing. I know that these next several weeks will go by so quickly, with school and the holidays fast approaching. I will certainly try to check in at least a couple of times between now and winter break, but I'm making no promises! If not, Happy Halloween and Happy Thanksgiving! Ha!

By the way, the journal from my last post - I found it at Barnes & Nobel. It is currently sitting on the shelf collecting dust.

Another exercise in creative freedom

Have you heard about this book?


Wreck This Journal, by Keri Smith. According to the author, "It is about absurdity. A creation. Evidence that you exist. Using materials. Destruction. It is about FUN. Doing the opposite. Breaking the rules. It is about ideas. Getting dirty. Making mistakes. I'm going to ask you to make a mark and it's going to be messy. Don't worry about that. That's the point."

Basically, it's an art journal - a journal that's a combination of writing, scrapbooking, art, and photojournaling. This one, however, has a different twist. Instead of a staring at a blank page in your journal and wondering what to do/write/draw on the page, this book comes with instructions for each page. And most of the instructions have to do with "wrecking" the journal. For example, one page directs you to poke holes in it using a pencil (see below). Another instructs you to tear the page out, crumple it in a ball, and kick it around. It's all about being silly, playing, having fun, and not worrying whether or not you're going to do something wrong and "wreck" your beautiful art journal.

So here's my first page, filled with holes made with colored pencils. Really, it was quite fun poking all those holes. Mark even helped. I'll post more pages as I work through the book. Should be a fun ride!

Have a great week! L

A mini album, a layout, and a semi-funny story

I'm taking an online scrapbooking class at Big Picture Scrapbooking, and I wanted to share two of the projects I'm working on. The first is a mini album dedicated to my Grandma Gonzales. It's just a simple book sharing a few of the things that stand out in my mind when I think of her. Here are a few pages:

This next layout was an assignment to complete a layout in 30 minutes or less. This was pretty tough, considering the time frame included selecting the photos and supplies. (One of the objectives of this class is to let go of perfection and have more FUN scrapbooking.)

The photos are of Mark, on our wedding day, where he is posing as if he were climbing/hanging from some palm trees. It's kind of a funny story. And here it is: a few days before our wedding, we had seen some cliff divers diving from cliffs (of course) but then also climbing the trees on the cliff and jumping from even crazier heights. So Mark thought he would simulate the cliff diver's feats, from a safer height, on our wedding day. He almost convinced the photographer that he had actually made the jump from the cliff.

Okay, so it's probably funnier if you were actually there. And drinking rum-based drinks.

L

Happy 4th of July and Congrats

Just a quick post to say hello and happy 4th! Enjoy the hot day, the fireworks and family gatherings. I will be at work, in the operating room, taking care of patients who hurt themselves on the aforementioned fireworks!




Also, congratulations to Ashley, who is expecting baby #3 very soon - her first boy! Brooke hosted a shower for Ashley yesterday and it was so nice to see the family.

Have a fun weekend!

L

Wasatch Back Relay

This was a crazy, hot, freezing, exhausting, challenging, fun (yes, fun!) time! Our 12-person team, The Blisters in the Sun, ran 180 miles from Logan to Park City in just under 30 hours. Go team! Just to give you an idea of how we compared, the winning team won in about 17.5 hours. That's super fast. We were super slow. But we survived, and I think I'll try to do it again next year.

Van 1 Team Members: McCall, MaryEllyn, Pete, and a few others

Van 2 Team Members: Frank, Jason, Me, Tammy (our driver!), Sam, Brandon & Jody

Here's a hill I "ran" up. There's a small body of water just to the right of center...that's about where I started.

The big finish!

Happy Father's Day!

Check it out! Two posts in as many days. This most likely will not become a trend.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. I hope you enjoyed your special day. Mark and I had a chance to visit with our dads:

The DVD Mark is holding is titled "A Crude Awakening". It's about Peak Oil. I'll try to get Mark to make a post about the concept of peak oil for those who aren't familiar with it. It might offer some insight as to why oil is at about $140 per barrel these days! Have a great week everyone!

L

The past few weeks

Hello again! It's crazy busy around here. I was out of town the past couple of weekends. Where did I go? Let me tell you.

Two weekends ago, Mark and I took a trip to Capitol Reef National Park to celebrate my birthday. We traveled with some friends (Larissa and Shannon) and enjoyed perfect weather and beautiful scenery. Hiking, spending time with friends...gotta love it. I love being able to get away from it all by just by driving a few hours away from Salt Lake City. There are so many fun places to go right in our "backyard". One of our hikes was in Muley Twist Canyon - the desert plants were blooming, and it was all very pretty.

Another hike was to Upper Calf Creek Falls. Simply beautiful!


Last weekend, I went with Katie, Larissa, Shannon, Eileen and Grace up to Logan for the Little Red Riding Hood bike ride, an all-women's cycling event. Usually, this is a great time. Last weekend, however, was just a tad cold! I was so freezing! It ended up being quite miserable for me. On the plus side, though, our group did win the costume contest!

Today I attended a bridal shower for my friend, Hailey. She's getting married this August, and I'm so happy for her!


And next weekend is the Wasatch Back Relay! I'm so looking forward to this event...being over. Yikes. My goal is to survive.

Since I'll be starting school at the end of August, I'm planning the rest of my summer - a few weekend trips and some projects around the house. I'll be sure to keep you updated on these very exciting events!

L

And the winner is...

Three people were able to find the location of Petunia the Pig...she's located at 336 West Broadway in downtown Salt Lake City. So, Cathy, Debbie and Katie - I put your names in a hat and Mark drew the winner...

Hooray Katie! I'll get your stuff to you later this week at work! Thanks everyone for participating - I'm sure I'll do this again sometime soon.

L

Sketch This!

I wanted to share a card I made based on sketch #50 over at Sketch This!, which is a fun blog that offers inspiration for scrapbook layouts and cards. I wanted to use some new dinosaur stamps I recently picked up:

Supplies: stamps & patterned paper: Basic Grey; ink, ribbon: Close To My Heart; textured cardstock: Bazzill; font: Astonished, downloaded from the internet

L

Happy Mother's Day and a Contest!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms! (And moms-to-be!) Here's my mom with her Mother's Day gift...a little scrapbook with factoids about our family:

The scrapbook was a fun project I put together with some friends last weekend - a nine hour scrapbooking marathon!

Okay, so time for a little contest! Do you know where this sculpture is located?

Whoever guesses the closest will win a set of handmade greeting cards with some fun extra goodies thrown in. If there is a tie, I'll do a random drawing to pick the winner. Just leave a comment with your guess (or email me if you want your guess to be private: loripassey@gmail.com) and on Monday, May 19 I'll post the winner! Good luck! (Contest open to US residents only!)

L

Frontrunner

Mark asked me out on a date today - he sprung for tickets on the Frontrunner train, so we traveled up to Ogden for lunch and some window shopping.

He sprung for lunch, too - what a guy! This commuter rail just opened this past week and we both wanted to check it out. It's a pretty sweet ride. We ended up travelling with about 200 members of the "Red Hat Society" - they were almost as rambunctious as teenagers!

In Ogden, we walked from the hub to 25th street, a quaint section of town with various antique shops, cafes and clubs. We lunched at Peddler's, a fun little cafe with a bicycling theme. The tomato bisque was fabulous!



Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. Come back to our blog soon - we're going to have a little contest!

L

Key Bank Building Demolition

This is a bit old, but I'm experimenting adding video to our blog. This is from last August, when the Key Bank building was demolished as part of the downtown mall project. We had a great view from the roof of our building. Enjoy!

M

A Photo A Day in 2008

I'm working on a project, a photographic journal of my year. Taking one picture everyday - showing everyday-life stuff. It's been fun, but sometimes it's hard to come up with a subject to photograph. There's a link at the left to all my pictures so far (on Flickr), and you might see there are a lot of food pictures. On the days when I leave for work at 6am and get home at 8pm...well, that doesn't leave a lot of time for that "one shot" that sums up the day - and I can't really take pictures in the OR. So, I snap a picture of dinner! Anyway, take a look if you want. I try to update the photos weekly. So far, I've only missed one day. Have a good day - it's almost Friday!

L

National Jelly Bean Day

Did you know that yesterday was National Jelly Bean Day? Me neither. The whole Earth Day thing seems to have a larger advertising budget. And perhaps a bit more social awareness. Maybe next year, I'll campaign a little on behalf of the jelly bean. But for now, I do happen to have some of these...

L

School??

I was notified today that I've been accepted to the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Utah. Hooray! Now I just have to figure out if I'm actually going to do it! Ahhh, three years of school...how exciting does that sound? Exactly. But it's good news nonetheless. Here's the proof...nice picture, Mark.

L

RCPM

Went to a fabulous concert last night at the Paladium Club here in SLC. Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, a band out of Arizona and one of my absolute favorites. Who? Yeah, they have a relatively small fan base. Maybe you know the theme song to"King of the Hill"? That's basically the same band, formerly known as The Refreshments. As usual, Roger and the boys put on a great show with the typical high-energy that makes them so fun to see. I enjoyed the time with my sister, brother and cousins - thanks to Cathy, for driving; thanks (I think) to Kathleen, for the drinks!

L

Jumping In

Finally. Were we the last two people ever to start a blog? Okay, maybe not, but it sure seems like many of our family members and friends have blogs already. So here we are, ready to share our lives with...well, everyone it seems. Our goals are to entertain, inform and provide a truly meaningful blog experience for those who visit.

A format issue: Posts will be signed one of three ways: M&L = Mark & Lori - both of us reviewed, signed-off on, critiqued for grammar, spelling and punctuation, and agreed on content prior to posting. M=Mark's posts. L=Lori's posts. Actually, Mark hasn't seen a single word of this one, but I'm fully intending to use the combined "signature". I mean, I'm not taking all the blame for this.

And, for our first post, a photo. This is the view from our condo. Not today, thank goodness. It didn't snow that much the other day.

M&L