Trashion—Eco-friendly Jewelry

The other day I came across a site called Etsy, which promotes upcycling by selling trashion (etsy.com). Basically, someone with creative gusto turns something ready for the bin into something uniquely stylish and cool. I love it! I found out about this through my wonderfully amazing Dinner at Your Door authors, who graciously gave me a necklace made by an eco-friendly artist named Millie Hilgert (misscourageous.com), who is based out of Boise. Because I love my necklace so much, I am going to post a picture of it to go along with this post, but I'm too lazy to do it right now. (Done! Pictures now below.)



Isn't this inspiring? I can definitely see many of you creating all kinds of beautiful works of jewelry art like this! Get busy. Life is too short for only dreaming. (I hope that lit the fire under you.)

PS: Some of you may have noticed that I posted a similar entry on my Egypt blog. I'm torn. I don't know if I should keep both blogs up and running, and keep the Egypt one as a more fun informational blog that the whole world can see and this blog a more personal blog of Katie's deepest-darkest secrets. What do you guys think? Would you still look at both of them?

Silent Night

My blog is officially back up and running! It's been way too long, and I know you all have been missing me. Unless you had your fill of my Egypt blog!:)This is my adorable 15-month-old niece, Emma, at our family Christmas party on Saturday night. She's changed so much since I saw her a month and a half ago! I'm going to post most of the other Lindsay Christmas party pictures on Facebook so that more people have access to them and can say whatever silly comments they want to. Merry Christmas!!

Egypt

I'll be talking a brief haidas from this blog to devote my full attention to my new Egypt blog.I leave tomorrow morning with my friends Mandy and Lori to travel the world and hopefully will return with a wealthy doctor who I bumped into at the pyramids. Please stay in touch!! My Egypt blog is public, so go wild. :)

www.innaharda.blogspot.com

(Innaharda means "today" in Arabic. Today is your day to live!)

My Dad, the workin' man!

Today was my dad's first day of work . . . at his new job!! After being a self-employed actor and writer for the past 25 years, he's finally succom to the rat race. White shirt and tie, a daily commuting to Salt Lake, 8:00 to 5:00 p.m. work hours, but what about that steady pay check! This seriously is the start of a new life for my family.
A couple months ago the church called Dad to offer him a position in the audio visual department. He and my mom thought and prayed a lot about it. Dad didn't want to feel like he'd given up on his dreams, but I told him he's lived his dreams. He's done it all. This doesn't mean he's giving up. He's still going to publish The Baseball Box, and he's still going to make his screenplays into movies. It just means he's experiencing something new and something more stable (!) for the future. Well, he went ahead and interviewed, and they hired him. Dad is now a senior producer for the church, putting his creative juices and acting experience to good use in making movies. I can't wait to hear about his first day! (And Mom is so excited to have good health insurance now, she decided to go roller skating this morning!)

LOVE expects nothing.

"Eric Fromm has said, 'Love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.' The perfect love would be one that gives all and expects nothing. It would, of course, be willing and delighted to take anything it was offered; the more the better. But it would ask for nothing. For if one expects nothing and asks nothing, he can never be deceived or disappointed. It is only when love demands that it brings on pain." —Leo Buscaglia, Love

An Earring Tree at Last!

I step off the plane in Dallas (Sam, we stayed at Cyn's house!), get great hugs from my long-lost friends, hop in the car, and ask where we're going. Sam Moon, a jewelry store! A jewelry store? Oh but it is much, much more. It's HUGE and has hair bows and purses and necklaces and belt buckles (didn't it?) and earrings. Quite easily I bought a cute green leather purse (the first thing Em and I saw when we walked through the doors), a gorgeous ring (a style I've been looking all over for! Flat and tall with lots of little dark diamonds), and AN EARRING TREE! I finally found one. I've been wanting one for over a year now. My sweet Grandma Lindsay bought me a green metalic Christmas "earring tree" for Christmas last year. I should take a picture of it too. Gradma wasn't sure what an earring tree was, but she did her best. I just love the one I found. Doesn't it just make you want to buy earrings to fill it up?

Freshman Reunion

Looking at this picture, I doubt you'd know that nine years had passed since the five of us had all been together freshman year. We're eating waffles, with hot fudge and ice cream. I still have my "Hey I am 18" shirt on. No visible gray hair. Not much has changed at all!

Thanks guys for making our little getaway happen. I love how we can get together and we just pick up where we left off . . . seran wrapping Em to a chair or getting into some other kind of trouble.:) Too bad I don't ahve the bow pictures on my camera. Ha ha. I really need pictures from you guys, because this was the only picture I had where we all had our eyes open. Thanks for abandoning your spouses and children for a weekend! It was so worth it. I love you guys!

"On a rainy monday, I feel it inside me!"

Over the years you might remember me gushing, literally, about a Dave guy. I met him snowshoeing the second week of attending the Bair Canyon Branch almost three years ago, but I didn't get to know him until two and a half years ago when I went on my first trip to the Snake River. Dave was the first guy to throw me off my raft into the water, and every time we went down the river his raft was at war with mine. We got to know each other a little bit, but not too much right away. Then every couple months he'd come up to Kaysville from Salt Lake to visit his family, and he'd come to the branch. It was so funny seeing him right after the river trip, because when he spotted me he said, "You're the fighter!" I'm glad that's how he remembered me.:)

He's always been just out of reach with a girlfriend, but I've always come back to him, hoping. I can't believe it's been so long now! Every time we'd see each other we'd catch up on life, but he always had a girlfriend and was living in Salt Lake. I'd see him at church and in Salt Lake at institute and even at his work. Dave's the guy who I told you about last year who I ran into at REI when I was wearing my bibbed snow pants.:) Ha ha ha. He's seen me go through probably six different hair styles since January 2006, which got kind of comical. When I first dyed it black a year and a half ago and had it in a short choppy, messy style, we ran into each other up at the U. He said, "Oh, your hair's different. Do you like it?" I said yes, of course, and he said, "Good. That's all that matters." What a good guy. :) He probably was like, what's with this freaky girl who looks different every time I see her!

So Dave finally transfered to the branch a couple months ago, and then just about a month ago broke up with his girlfriend. We've been slowly getting to know each other better, which has been really, really good. He's not yet over his last relationship, which is just fine. That's all I'm saying for now. We'll just have to wait and see what happens!

(And, by the way, in the picture I was trying to hold a tough, hardened look, but I lost it right before the picture was taken. That's why I look like I'm grimacing. Ha ha!)

Your Input Please

I'm in need of a really good eye make-up remover and wanted all of your input! I want something that isn't so greasy but works really well. Please pass on your good experiences as well as your bad so I don't waste my money on something you didn't like!

Iz

This is the first video I've been able to post on my blog!! I've tried and tried, and it's never worked. Chelsea's here for the weekend, so she let me upload it to YouTube. I definitely need to set up my own account. Thanks, Chels! :)