Birthday woes

So I made my students some chocolate frogs for their birthdays. It took me hours.... I have a student who has a birthday over Christmas break so I went to get him a chocolate frog.... AND THEY WERE GONE!?!?!?!?!?! I'm soo pissed! My frog molds are missing as well as the extra chocolate. Good thing I think I know what student is responsible. That's what I get for trying to be a nice teacher. LAME.

Cute, easy read

So I just finished the book, literally ten seconds ago. I love the Robin Hood legend so this was fun for me. Not only was it an easy, relaxing read but Springer makes you feel like you are there. This book was easy to "fall" into. I highly recommend it to my bookworm friends & I'm excited to get the next in the series from the library!

Thanksgiving!

I can't believe my 5 day break is already over! But it's been fun back at work so no real complaints today... except Parent Teacher Conference is tomorrow- ugh. Anyway... Wednesday we went over to my mom's & had Thanksgiving with her & Randy & uncle Jimmy, Juilianne & Johnny. The food was yummy as usual!

Then we played Carcassonne, one of my favorite games. I wish we could have stayed all night but Evan had a LAN party to go to up at Ben & Sarah's. I came in 4th place in DOTA out of the 10 guys that were there.... and they've all been paying for a long time too! YAY! Then I attempted to get some sleep but as we all know, Evan is the loudest person on the planet, so that didn't happen until they were done with games around 4 am.

Dues to lack of sleep I was totally trashed for Evan's parent's Thanksgiving. I made some yummy yams! After dinner we had planned on playing games but I ended up taking a nap. 

Friday we went to Nordstrom rack which wasn't as crazy busy as I thought it'd be. I also went to Allen's camera. The black friday/cyber Monday deals were very disappointing. I was hoping for 50-75% off like in years past. 20-30% was pretty normal this year. Sucky. I also took pictures of the Farnsworth family, which can be seen on my erinimaging.blogspot.com page. Then Evan & I went to Winco...if you ever need spices GO HERE! I got 4$ worth of bay leaves for 13 cents in the bulk section. Yes, 13 cents! Then we watched a movie with the Malembourgs.

Saturday...uh, Oh ya! The BYU/U game. We drove to some rinky dink little town to watch it with his friends. I worked on editing pictures. There were WAY too many people there & no where to sit & watch the game. From what I did see, it was a good game & BYU didn't embarrass us too badly. Then we went over to the Knutson's for MORE yummy Thanksgiving food & we played games. It was really fun getting to see my extended family.

Sunday--- finally time to breathe! Slept in, went to church, came home & made a DELICIOUS dinner! Butternut squash soup, Shallot Chicken with an Orange/Honey Mustard/Pomegranate Sauce, and Poppyseed Salad with Pomegranates, Cinnamon Walnuts,  & Parmesan Cheese. mmmmm I should have taken photos but it was sooooooooo good I couldn't wait to eat it! Then we put up Christmas decorations & watched Christmas movies... pics coming soon of the decor.

Anyway, how was your Thanksgiving?

Fall break & Our yard

Well, we came from from Thailand with a lovely surprise.... our yard had sunk & washed away in a flood... here's the progress we've made so far. This is pretty much all that I did alllllll fall break... in the back yard (with the three trees) we finally got the flower bed cut away... and now we're tired :)

This is Halloween, Everybody Make a Scene!

My decor. Crappy pictures, I know. They were from my I phone & I didn't take time to make them look awesome, sorry.

Fun date

Evan & I went on a fun date a few weeks ago. He took me to this sandwich store that had HUGE sandwiches & then we walked around the church  museum downtown & went to the old deseret bookstore. They had a very cool fountain out front too! It was fun being a tourist in my own city :)

Great Grandmas

This summer I got to go visit with my great grandmother. I miss her homemade barbie clothes. I miss waking up in her creeky old house to the sound of the wood stove & the smell of corn meal mush. I miss playing games for family reunions at her house. Most of all I miss her stories. She has dementia & can't remember who I am but she still looks & sounds like great grandma. I got really close to her before her brain stopped functioning properly. I had an assignment in college to write letters to our oldest relative. I'm so glad I did because I got to hear all kinds of fun stories from her in those letters. Her shaky but still beautiful cursive made me feel special because she took the time to write them herself. I remember one visit where I went up to visit her with my grandma & she took all day to make a special lemon meringue pie, just for me.... I don't like lemon meringue but it was still yummy. :)

Makeup HELP!!!

So I have been enjoying the wonderful Bobbi Brown tinted moisturizer for years now, years! My skin has never looked or felt better. I didn't feel like I had makeup on, it gave me enough coverage without looking caky, it lasted 6 months-a year, etc. By all accounts it was the perfect makeup...then they jacked up the price over 10 bucks. Ok I could totally justify 28.99$ for wonderful makeup, but 40$?! Are you freaking kidding me?! So now I am on the quest for new foundation. Trick is, I HATE the feeling of makeup on my skin, but I have dark circles & other funny tones so I need some type of coverage other than a loose powder (which can also look too caky, I'm an artist, I am picky about color & texture). I spent an hour at Walgreens trying to find something that remotely mimicked human skin (I am NOT a pink piggy or a yellow leopard or a hershey bar!) and I found something I thought I could live with for 15$. I can feel it on my face, it looks somewhat caky & I now have 5 zits... usually I'll get one a month in a bad month. HELP ME FIND SOME FOUNDATION PLEASE!!!

What do you wear? How much is it? Where can I try it? Luckily Walgreens has a 100% return policy- whew! As does Nordstrom... so I'm looking to buy from a place that will let me return it if I hate is since I'm so darn picky. And please don't suggest Mary Kay. While I LOVE their eyeshadow, the rest burns my face & causes breakouts. I have sensitive skin.

I'm thinking of going to Nordstrom tomorrow to try mac's tinted moisturizer, or the bare minerals stuff.. is that a good idea? They're around 25$.

I am willing to pay no more than 30$ for my foundation.

Thailand, Cambodia & Vietnam

Trip is back on! HURRAY! We are leaving end of July (around the 23rd) and coming back the end of the first week in August. I AM SO EXCITED! But also, I am definitely not happy about two things... ok three...

1- NEEDLES! I have to get a BUNCH of shots & take malaria medicine- YUCK
2- Giant Bird Eating Tarantulas... they're everywhere!
3- Monsoon Weather means lots of rain& it might be too dangerous to go to Phukat, the top beach in the world! BOO.

But hey, who can complain right? I get to take AWESOME PHOTOS!!! and I get to go with my hubby & a good friend! Hurray!!!

Right now I have been looking up everything we need to do, like visas, shots things to avoid first, & then I'm going to plan the fun stuff. So I'll keep everyone updated.

Also, i just bought an old fashioned metal trunk from the DI for 3, yes that's right 3 dollars! I am going to fix it up to use as a studio prop. Oh I'm so excited! I also got a few more things to work on as far as that department goes, but it'll give me something to do while Evan is on his "man-cation" if my friends are too busy working or something. EXCITED!!! Well, not that he's leaving me, but excited for projects & Thailand & taking cute photos of babies & AWESOME post-card-national geographic worthy photos of South east Asia!! WWOOOOWHOOOOOO!

Now I just have to buy one very special lens & I'll call it good... too bad it's $1,000! But that's only if I want autofocus, which I kind of do since my sight is getting worse... it's only $300 with out it because I can get a non-brand lens...

Thailand

Boo

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_4888.html

Where we were...

I know a lot of people tried to get a hold of Evan this weekend... but I don't know if a lot of people tried to get a hold of me because they didn't leave messages....

:)

We were backpacking in Havasupai. This was my second ever backpacking trip! Although I like the idea of backpacking, walking from one place to somewhere new.... I think I'd like backpacking Europe & sleeping on real beds better. I love hiking, I love camping... but when I go backpacking I miss my foam bed or air mattress that I usually get to take camping. After a 10 mile hike it's really hard for your body to recuperate on a hard ground sleeping surface. However.... I love the adventure that comes a long with backpacking! Despite sleeping poorly & some minor injuries (I sprained stuff, it's pretty normal for me really, I'm a clutz, this is how I can relate to Bella Swan... sigh, anyway, I'm veering off subject) we had a BLAST! The water falls are AWESOME! I will be posting photos soon. I want to edit them so that they look the way they did when I was there. I didn't want the extra weight of my nice camera that would allow me to change the settings... so I was stuck with a lousy point & shoot. Thank you photoshop!

Food--- uncle ben's pre cooked southwestern rice with canned chicken all wrapped up in a tortilla-- YUM! This was my favorite meal of the trip!

Anyway, I'll post photos soon!

Bummed

So yesterday I was really excited. I've been working REALLY hard at work to be an awesome teacher but I've been feeling like no one cares or notices. Then yesterday I got an email from a guy at the district saying congrats on winning teacher of the year.. blablabla... At first I thought, wait, this has to be an April Fools' Day joke.. but nope, it was a legit guy at the district. So then I got excited!

But then I remembered there were two Erin J>>>>>n's working at my district. I only slightly thought that maybe it wasn't me. Mostly because I WAS busting my brains out trying to be awesome AND since it was a guy who worked at the district he should know better then to send something like that to the wrong person...

I was wrong. Found out today. This is after having a really bad night last night & having a week of disappointments. I feel like going home & crawling in to bed but I can't. I'm here at work & I get to put on a fake happy face until 2:45.

Good thing it's spring break at 2:45!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sick... Again

So what did I do this weekend? Well I went to a wedding, baptism & baby blessing. I got to go laser tagging with JUST the fam- SOOOO much fun! I want to buy those guns & do this in my neighborhood! I also took pictures of some adorable little ones.... but after a whole weekend of running around in the freezing cold on very little sleep, it's no wonder I woke up several times last night with a sore throat. Luckily, my students can watch movies today & just work on projects!

But what should I do while Evan goes off to play with his friends tonight?

A) Watch a chick flick
B) Read a good book
C) Write a good book
D) Paint--- probably won't happen- requires too much energy
E) Wallow in Self Pity
F) Stare into the Abyss
G) Solve world hunger- Tell NO One!
H) Jazzercise
I) Dinner With Me
J) Go to Bed Early...

Hmmm, :) So many options. I wanted to go visit my mom so I wouldn't get lonely but now I'm stuck at home & into forced relaxation. This'll probably be great for me since I've been so stressed out lately at work. Now I can be a couch potato & no one can say anything about it! :)

Anway, What do you think I should do???

Need? Want really bad? Same thing...

Ok. These dogs are ridiculously expensive. But if anyone out there knows where I can get one for the price of a normal golden retriever... that'd be awesome. You can't show them so they really shouldn't be this expensive. I have grown up with golden retrievers. They are highly intelligent & very love-able dogs. Yes, they shed & yes, they are HUGE. BUT....I've been looking at dogs for the past year & I still keep coming back to this breed. They make excellent family pets, do great with kids, protect you when your hubby's out for the night, they don't bark a lot like other dogs, and if you keep them groomed their shedding can be kept under control. They also can live outside & be perfectly happy. You can play frisbee with them & go running with them. They also will come sleep by you & watch movies with you. They are awesome dogs.

I have also grown up with dachsunds.... little yippy annoying, very cute, but annoying, not well behaved dogs. Labs are too jumpy. I've had two. I just don't like little wimpy wiggly creatures. Call me weird but that's how I feel. Anyway. Just thought I'd share...

Johnson's Jolley Summer Plans

Yes, I am already dreaming of summer... Ahh the camping, fresh air, photo ops, and great hikes! We are hoping to travel internationally again, possibly Thailand.. but there's one thing I'd LOVE to do back here in the states.... Go to Yosemite, the Redwoods, Oregon Coast, Seattle, Beaches around La Push & the Olympic National Forest.

Now I know what you're thinking--- TWILIGHT FREAK---- but actually a more accurate term would be SCENERY FREAK. After watching Twilight (which I will admit, I have read the books, they're not my favorite- I'm still a die hard Harry Potter/LotR Fan) I fell in love with, no, not Edward, Jacob or anyone else in the movie, but the SCENERY. I would LOVE to photograph the majestic mountains, wild coastlines & the quiet rain forests that were found throughout the movie. Now my only problem is figuring out if Evan will put up with me stopping 5,000,000,000 to snap "that perfect photo"...

Oh well, a girl can dream. Here's some photos of the places I want to go, just so you too can dream of going to these beautiful places... Sigh...

Digital Baggage can make you sick- when you lose it...

I feel sick, not from a bug or any type of viral infection. Nope, I feel sick because I had an awful no good very bad day. Here's why...

Genius me, decided that my laptop was running toooo slllooowww, so I decided to copy all of my files to a new external hard drive... it took hours and hours while I waited for things to copy over (being an art teacher & a photographer you tend to carry around a lot of digital baggage) & then I went through, triple checked that everything had copied, even to the point where I checked that the file sizes were the same.... ejected my hard drive as I was supposed to, doing everything I knew how to do correctly... then I deleted the files on my desktop. No biggie right? Plus, I have another external hard drive & my husband's computer where things were triple backed up- sure if I lost any info I'd lost the newest documents but I had already made sure they were on the external hard drive.

So, when I sent my files to the recycle bin it said that the files were too big & did I want to delete them permanently. I said "sure" they are, after all, triple backed up...ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

So, I plugged in my external hard drive yesterday to get a power point doc I was going to show my students & guess what? HALF of all of my work documents were NOT THERE. So I thought- no biggie, I'll just go home during my prep, get on Evan's computer & get it then. ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Yep, you guess it. They were NOT backed up like I thought... so I checked our home server & my other external hard drive where I had gotten the documents from in the first place...... again. EMPTY

WHAT THE)#*$)(#&@)$&)*#%&*(#%&)*#&!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Luckily, Evan was home & helped me get a recovery program. Then, 36 hours later....

Most of the files are corrupted. My life for 5 years of gathering resources, fixing my curriculum & power points... gone. Good thing I still have most of the stuff for the classes I'm currently teaching!!!!!!!!

BUT- I lost all of my design work I spent hours on during Christmas break for my photography business.. that makes me want to crawl into bed & say %&@)#*%&@#$)*(&@$)&@#$)*&#@$%*&@#%)&!@$)(&@#$)(*&@#%)*&@#%)*&@#)&*#)%(*!@$(*!@$)(&*@#$)*&@#)$%&*!@)$&@#$)*&!@$)(&!@$)&#$*&#$%)(&!@#)$(&!@#)$*&!@$)(&!@$)*&!#$)*&!#$*&!#$%)(&!$)(&!@#$)(&@#%)*&@#%)&*%*&^)@#*_(&&%&$%()@)(*

Because I might as well have gone on a fun trip, rather than waste all of that time trying to make my business look better so that I could get more clients & make more money & improve my portfolio. F.

So I've decided that I'm not going to worry about it. I still have all of my personal & professional photographs because luckily, those did not get deleted. The rest can go on the back burner until I freaking feel like spending hours on stuff again.

I just want to also say thank you wonderful husband for helping for several hours trying to recover all of that stuff & thank you Pro Digital Photos for still having my DVD case images on file & emailing them back to me. & Thank you Lord for allowing me the opportunity to learn how to keep a positive attitude when I choose not to listen to that little voice before I do something stupid... several times...

Life today

Good thing # 1
Forgetting about a bad day at work by coming home...

Good thing # 2
Chocolate truffles from France. Don't worry Evan, I had two. I am WAYYYYY below my sugar allowance for the day & am being careful. For those of you who think Evan is a controlling husband- don't- I'm hypoglycemic & don't want to get diabetes so he helps me, mostly because I asked him to.

Good thing # 3
Leven Thumps

Good thing # 4
YOGA- no running today, the air is still leveled at DEADLY- creepiness...

Good thing # 5
Cooking a yummy/healthy dinner with my new AWESOME pans! Thanks dad!!!!!

Good thing # 6
Watching "How I Met Your Mother"

annnndd lastly

Good thing # 7 -the best-
Getting to see my hubby when he gets home!

Resolutions Schmesolutions

Every year I do this & every year I fail... kind of. I am doing MUCH better that I was 5 years ago at eating healthy & taking time to get the things done that I want to, so that's still progress right? SO instead of NEW New Year's Resolutions, I'm going to stick with making progress on the old. Curious? Here you go!!!

~ Learn to cook something new that's AMAZING & a keeper recipe
~ Finish writing my book-- this one I REALLY want to accomplish this year. I figure if I work on it a little each week I can have it done, the only problem is, like art, writing requires you to be in a certain "mood" or else the end result is crap.
~ Finish my Christmas Quilt- this one is 6 years in the making... oops
~ Start doing yoga & running again- SOON! The running thing requires not freezing temperatures & the yoga thing requires time. :) Which is something I should have now since I'm only teaching 4 different classes
~ Pass the Praxis, first time taking it next month I think! Keep your fingers crossed that I pass the first time! It's a $180 test! GULP!
~ Get back into the habit of reading my scriptures daily
~ Monthly temple trip
~ Doing daily chores again. I started teaching two night classes & got out of the swing of things.
~ Complete two paintings I can be proud to  hang in my house, this will probably be a summer thing.
~ Get a portfolio ready to apply for a Master's
~ Find a Master's program that will let me teach high school & still get my degree. I'd like to stay away from online & Art Education because my eventual goal is to teach college photography classes
~ Finish the basement & backyard? These are maybes depending on money, but I'd love to get my lighting studio all set up downstairs.
~ Photograph two additional weddings this year... anyone know someone looking for a good photographer??? :)