Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas

I am not a huge fan of the holidays. In my mind they are chaotic, too commercial, and too rushed but I always try to do some holiday activites to capture what I can of the season. Here is a look at the festivites of 2010.
 First, we went and saw the lights at Temple Square.




Next, dinner with friends.

Then, Christmas Eve dinner with Steve's family.


And giving the perfect gift to two Star Trek nerds.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Rivalry for Charity




My work held a food drive this year in hopes of rasing over 500 food items. To make the food drive more competitive, four teams were created; U of U, BYU, USU, and "other" schools.

The two week competition got REALLY competitive and donation boxes were even "vandalized." The "other" schools were in the lead for the entire two weeks but come the final day, U of U was only 10 points behind. I and a fellow coworker decided to round up some money from our fellow U of U team members and make a run to Walmart. We entered the store with $134 in cash and left with 233 food items! In the end, U of U was the champion of the "Rivarly for Chartiy" and we beat the "others" by 150 points.

Final point totals were:

UofU: 943
USU: 508
BYU: 152
Others: 765

All together, my office donated 2,368 food items and cash (which is pretty cool for an office of 30 people).

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Wednesday's Thought of the Day

A random thought crossed my mind today that forced me to think about being five years old but the thought was all very relevent to the present.

A box of crayons; colorful, fun, and intimidating. Everytime I look at a box of crayons, all I want to do is open it and begin coloring, create a wax work of art, but I can never manage to open the box. It never occured to me that the reason for my hesistation has everything to do with creative opportunity that resides within a crayon box.

It has come to my attention that a box of crayons is not only a child's art tool but a box of crayons is a creative outlet. There is so much opportunity for expression in one little box that I become overwhelmed with the prospects of failing to create. I am usually not someone who finds creativity difficult but a crayon seems too powerful for my mind to handle. Crayons are the medium of innocent minds who are free to think boldly and dream big. Upon looking at a box of crayons, I don't feel qualified enough to grasp the powerful medium in my hand. I am afraid I won't do the crayon justice. 

Well, my new years resolution will be to open my box of crayons and explore all of the creative opportunity and dreams that have been residing in my 5 year old self.

Happy coloring!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

December Fog

The week after Thanksgiving, there was a beautiful day filled with fog and mist. Unfortunately I was ill prepared for the rare weather and I did not have my camera on me . . . but I did manage to get a few cemetery shots on my phone.


Next time there is a fog filled day, I vow to be prepared and hope to produce some photos with better "mood." A photo shoot has formed in my head already: a trip to the city cemetery with my camera and a model dressed in Victorian era clothing.