Perceptions

"Perceptions are right 100% of the time." - Dad

Whatever I perceive about a situation is completely correct.  What you perceive about me is correct.  What the team perceives about the outcome of the game is correct.  Without the full knowledge or information on the situation, all you have is perception.  That is all that stands between you and what you see.

Becoming Sabrina

I grew up on Classic movies - Doris Day, Shirley Temple, Cary Grant, Debbie Reynolds, and Rock Hudson. I have been thoroughly polluted by the beauty and simplicity of old movies...and I LOVE IT!!!  One iconic movie I was particularly inspired by is "Sabrina" starring Audrey Hepburn. I love her love of cars, her simple fashion, her transformation, her honesty, and her love of travel.  

The French cooking school scene gets me the most excited. I have always loved cooking, especially watching my mom work magic, so I have always wanted to go to a professional cooking school. So that you understand my perspective, take a look at this home movie from inside my dreams (or from the movie "Sabrina").

  

I was able to fulfill that dream!!  For Christmas, my parents gave me a few lessons as the Salt Lake Culinary Center.  I took various classes, including Homemade Pasta, Superfoods, Souffles, and Knife Basics.

Homemade Pasta - included making Caeser salad Ravioli

This is my favourite instructor - Amy

Superfoods -- Salmon, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Greek Yogurt
and berry pie.

My absolute favourite class was SOUFFLES!!!!  Here is another recording from my dreams:

Now for the reality of what I was taught in the "Successful Souffles" class.  This class created my favourite foods of all the classes I attended.  I have recreated a souffle once since then, and it was just as I remembered.

"Collar" is an essential to a souffle...and it
makes you look fancy

Ramekins -- use for individual souffles

Chocolate with Berry drizzle

Pre-baking - - Sweet Potatoe
(MY FAVOURITE)

Egg and Spinach (this one looked the fanciest of what we made

Peeking between the collar

I haven't taken any other classes in awhile, but I have definitely made the foods I learned.  I have made the Greek Yogurt with Berries and Ganache pie a couple times, I make salmon all the time now, and I made a Sweet Potato souffle for my dad's birthday this year (and it got rave reviews).  I'm definitely glad I did it and, who knows, I may take other classes sometime soon.

Mission President Seminar 2015

Working with this bundle during the Mission President Seminar has been a blast.  We've survived another year of being displaced and relocated from our office.  We worked in cubicles, shoved in the depths of the dungeon.  AND WE HAD FUN!!

Hairy Fortunes

This is a post dedicated to the crazy that is ANNE'S HAIR!!! While deciding what to blog about, a friend of mine came in, sat down, stared at me and said "Can I shave your head now?!?!". She went on (for what seemed like forever) complimenting me on my hair. For anyone who knows me you know I do not do well with compliments; I get embarrassed and anxious. So, in order to get the good, bad, and the ugly of my hair-self out there, here's a hair post.

I'm digging in the archives for some never-before seen photos too.

(1989) Blonde peach fuzz

(1989) Birthday suit hair

(1991) We've got ourselves a blondie!!

(1991) Natural Shirley Temple blonde

(1992) blonde ringlets

(1993) Wild little blonde thing

(1995) Kindergarten.  Hair down to my waist.

Going brunette.  Soon after this picture, my

mom took me to the hair salon and had my hair

chopped up to my ears.

(1996) Short, brown, poofy, straight, fluffy from
here on out

(1998) Brown, wavy, and fluffy (curls went in
for hibernation in 1996)

(2000-2006) This sums up that time period!!
My hair was introduced to HUMIDITY in 1999, when we
moved to Ireland.

(2006) No shape and no layers = mushroom

(Fall 2007) Natural Arizona sun all summer
caused awesome highlights for the Fall.

(2008) Chopped it

(2009) 1st bangs.  Straightening those everyday
was insane, but I enjoyed the look.  

(2010) Chop + bangs

(2010) 1st and last dye.  The next section of my life was
hating the color as it grew back out to normal.

(2010) Meet the orange hair.  The main reason I hate
looking at my mission pictures.

(2010) In order to combat the orange growing out, I
continuously chopped my hair on my mission.

(2011) Developed the "wet-twist" to deal with craziness.
Makes good hair days last 4 days

(2011) No product, post-wet-twists.
FAVOURITE STYLE!!

(2011) Almost normal color.  This is ombre before it was cool

(2012) Fresh post-mission natural color
and style.

(2013) discovered "glamour waves"

(2013) "Glamour waves" almost an everyday occurrence

(2013) Employee photo

(2013) Curly meets Oakland, CA

(2014) Side ponytails are my go-to from
this point on.
THIS IS A FAKE POLICE PICTURE!!!

My hair is always a topic of comment
from my friends

(2015) Finally mastered a French Braid

(Summer 2015) I haven't had hair this long
since I was 5yrs old.

Quilting Adventures

Sewing has always been a part of my life! Most photos of me in our family albums are in a dress my mom had made for me and some were made long before I was even an idea. All the afghans and throws in our home were knitted or crocheted by my Grandma Lind (and there are MANY). Anytime something was torn or ripped or became too big or too short, mom could and did fix it. If I saw a dress or skirt I really wanted, mom would say "let's go make it" and we would -- even better than the original. My parents taught us to be thrifty and use money wisely. The lessons within that that I learned from my mom were to use skills to make things yourself and to make what you have last longer.

My first memories of me sewing -- I remember being 6 or 7 and my mom sitting me down at her Serger to do the edges on, what felt like, a bagillion tablecloths for the Ward Christmas party.  

There began my love of sewing!  

When I was 9, my parents gave me a Serger for Christmas.  I sewed almost every Easter skirt/dress, all of my PJ pants, and quite a few purses and bags.  My favourite thing was using my mom's sewing machine.  The machine she had purchased a long time ago and sewed on for most of her life.  And now, she has given that machine to me.  I LOVE THAT SEWING MACHINE!!!

It wasn't until after I got home from my mission, that I found my way into the world of quilting. My mom and aunt are HUGE quilters, but I shied away from it because it was "TOO MUCH!" for me (and not to mention it is an expensive hobby, if you want it to be the best quality product).

My mom whipped up this Christmas Tree
skirt in 2 days!!!
SHE IS A PROFESSIONAL!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas 2013, I got to spend in Pennsylvania with my parents.  Baby Brother spent most of the holiday with Chelsea and her parents in DC so I got to be an only child.  This trip, I wanted to have an ongoing project to do so I wouldn't just sit around and read everyday until my family was available to go do something.  

When it comes to projects with my mom, I have to prep myself for the long-haul.  Because my mom is an expert in every single aspect and facet to crafts and sewing, she has a very high expectation for the result to be done well and done right.  I inherited that from her, but there is also a diluted side of that in me that, when I really get wound down and ready to move on, I will cut corners (figuratively) so I can do the next part or just get it done.  This project I knew would have to nail me down to perfectionism. For a play-by-play, check out the full post. Here's the photo diary of the process:     

Ready to roll!!  Choosing the fabrics always takes the longest
for me, because I have a vision of the result and each piece
has to coordinate perfectly.

All cut out and ready to sew on
to the white squares

Applique means adding pieces in layers to create
a design.  Then you sew around the edges to
hold them on.

The quilting.  My mom has a long-arm quilter so I was able
to do this part myself.  A lot of quilters pay others to do this
step because it takes a lot of time and attention to detail.
You have to do this to the ENTIRE QUILT

FINISHED PRODUCT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

REWARDS!!!!!!!! I entered it in the Utah State Fair and won a ribbon!!

For a play-by-play, check out the post 

My next project is, what I call, a "REAL" quilt.  It involves cutting out strips and squares, and piecing them together to create a blanket to sleep under.

TO BE CONTINUED...

St. Memorial George Day

Memorial Day weekend marked my first time ever going to Zion's National Park in St. George.  My friend Terrance had never been either so we planned a day and went for it.

Since we wanted to get an early start in Zion's, Terrance and I decided to go down and spend the night with my aunt and uncle.  Jan and Frank took us on a lesser-known Petroglyph hike that night.  The area near their condo has a lot of little hikes and sites BYU has used for geological digs.  There is a lot of stuff just waiting to be found.  We started off walking up the standard tourist walking trail.  Then, Frank took us off-roading down among the rocks and cliffs into the hidden stuff you have to be an adventurous local to know about.  We saw some AWESOME history down there!!  Each Petroglyph we found prompted theories and questions about what the people were doing and thinking as they scratched the surface and marked the rocks.  Pretty neat stuff!  I'd never seen Petroglyphs in person (Disney's Pocahontas being my only source) so I was fascinated.

The next morning, Terrance and I got to the BIG GUNS --- Zion's National Park.  We decided on various hikes and just took off.  The park is closed to traffic so you have to take park-provided shuttle into the park, then pass through the entry gate, and THEN take another shuttle to the individual hikes and formations.  Lots of work, but well worth the waiting.  AND...it was nice to sit down and be out of the sun in parts.  I was surprised at how un-busy the park was on a National Holiday, but I wasn't complaining.  Of course the busiest hike in the park was Angels Landing (but you DEFINITELY will not catch me doing that one).  Other people on the shuttle who came from that hike said they could only take a step or two before having to stop because the path was so crowded.

It was really nice to wander and hike at our own pace, and just enjoy and take pictures any place we wanted.  The first hike we did was called the "Emerald Pools".  It's one waterfall broken up into three separate sections.  You walk under the first waterfall, on top of the second, then to the third..

1st section

1st section

At the second section, there's a little pool about ankle-deep at its deepest point and then flows out and over the rocks to form the first section (the one you walk under).  On this one, I lost my balance trying to walk over the pool on a log, and got one ankle full to last all the hot day.

between 1st and 2nd section of the waterfall.

2nd section -- here is where it flows over the rocks to
create the 1st section

2nd section -- this is right where I decided to dunk one foot

I think the last section of the hike and waterfalls is my favorite.  On this one, you actually hike down into it.  The rock walls open up to, what feels like, a little oasis.  There's a little beach on one side beside a lake, and on the other area there are huge rocks to climb on, and that's where there's a knee-high bundle of rocks with water flowing over them back down the mountain to the first two waterfalls.  My favorite spot of the day!!

That tree was determined to grow

From the shuttle

One of the other hikes we did was Temple of Sinahwava.  This was the easiest "hike" I've seen.  It was a paved walking road the whole way to a gathering spot.  You can get water gear and keep going through the river to the actual Temple of Sinahwava, but we didn't plan to do that.  The walk was nice and cool, but still really pretty. 

From the shuttle

Overall, the trip was AMAZING!!  I want to go back again soon -- maybe next summer!