great news.... I think

Here's my big announcement.....

I got a job!

This job is in Ogden, Utah and I'll be teaching photography and graphic design at Weber High. Ahhhh Crazy! I'm excited and overwhelmed and scared and stressed and I think I'm happy..... It's a big step from waiting tables that's for sure. Utah wasn't my desired place to live, but I'm thinking of it as a stepping stone.

Thus saying, my next month will not be relaxing. It is going to be crazy all filled with finals, certification, moving, [first actually finding an apartment], saying goodbye to family and great friends, finding at least something to teach these young minds, and at the moment finals for R. Luckily we are taking a week vacation to Newport Beach, CA where we can relax and actually wrap our head around this new thing in our lives.

I was check out one of my favorite person's blog and saw this. Loved it.

Things you need to give up

check it out

you'll be glad you did

here are a few of my favorites...

Give up holding grudges. – Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness.

Give up setting small goals for yourself. – Many people set small goals because they’re afraid to fail. Ironically, setting these small goals is what makes them fail.

Give up letting your thoughts and feelings bottle up inside. – People are not mind readers. They will never know how you feel unless you tell them.

Give up trying to control everything. – Life is an unpredictable phenomenon. No matter how good or bad things seem right now, we can never be 100% certain what will happen next. So do you best with what’s in front of you and leave the rest to the powers above you.

Give up focusing on what you don’t want to happen. – Focus on what you do want to happen. Positive thinking is at the forefront of every great success story. If you awake every morning with the thought that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and you pay close attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.

just take a look

at my man.
he's beautiful.
but in a manly way

Who knew that you could get
looks + brains + laughs
in one person.

Story purely for amusement...

I always here stories about R as a little boy. So cute. So smart. So out of control. One of my favorite stories is when R was around 3 or 4 he was being baby sat. Obviously he did something naughty because the babysitter sent him to his room. Ryley, being the devious person he is wanted to get back at her. He opened his window so it looked like he ran away, but he didn't leave. He then proceeded to take all the toys out of his toy box. He lined the bottom with his favorite blankey. And then he laid inside, putting all the toys back on top of him, and closed the lid. The babysitter came in and couldn't find R anywhere. She called his parents who came home and they all searched. After 3 hours his mom finally found R sound asleep in his toy box. What 4 your old come up with a plan so brilliant and executes? It makes me so excited + scared to have kids and see what kind of trouble they get into.

What color is your Soul today?

The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.
-Marcus Aurelius

I found this info online today and it made me think and ponder and smile and question how I live my life. I want my thoughts to be bright and colorful and vibrant. Do you?

Here are a few thoughts from Marcus Aurelius

go here to read more and smile

“Life is opinion.”

“Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.”

“Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life.”

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”

So ask yourself: what color are your thoughts today? Are they bright and bold and full of hope? Are they reds and greens and cobalt blues and golds? Or instead, are they a flat muddy brown? The color of your thoughts (your mind) will determine the color of your soul (your feelings) and your soul will determine how you live. So live bright. Create. Avoid muddy brown at all costs. Watch the stars and run with them. That’s what I plan to do.

A thought for you Friday

a businessman was at the pier of the small Tuvaluan island when a boat with a fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were fish. The businessman complimented the Tuvaluan on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The fisherman replied only a little while.

The businessman then asked why he didn't stay out longer and catch more fish? The Tuvaluan said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The businessman then asked, but what do you do with the rest of you time? The Tuvaluan fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a nap with my wife, Puna, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitars with my friends; I have a full and busy life."

The businessman scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and I could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats; eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. You could sell directly to the processor and eventually open your own cannery. You would need to leave this small fishing island-nation and move to Australia, then LA and eventually New York City where you would run your expanding enterprise."

The Tuvaluan fisherman asked, "But how long will this all take? To which the businessman replied, "15 to 20 years." "But what then, sir? The businessman laughed and said, "Thats the best part! When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and make millions, flying around on your own corporate jet!" "Millions, sir? Then what?" The businessman said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing island where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a nap with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your friends."

The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, "Isn't that what I'm doing right now?"

-Author Unknown

I was thinking about lots this morning, life in general, traveling, working, budgets, what I wanted to post about. Then I came across this story and thought. "This is what I want in life." No less. No more. This man has got the idea. Now we just need to make it happen. 

story and picture found here

Happy friday. Do something wonderful

crazy week

Finals week this week. But you say "why Chelse, you're not in school silly." Ahh yes I am not. But R is. And that means that during finals I am too. R has a million projects due in 3 days time. only 96 hours until all is due. It's going to be one crazy sleepless week. But do not worry. We are going to indulge ourselves for a week afterwards and it's going to start with the Bijou Market. I am so excited to attend and one day can only hope that I'm the one selling instead of buying.

work horse

It has been a crazy 7 days. Turns out working 2 jobs every day gets old rediculously fast. There is a reason I haven't been blogging and today it goes like this.

7:00 alarm goes off Hit snooze until 7:30. Wake up. Fly through the shower, dress my little self up, kiss R goodbye, and run out the door at 8:10 flying to Madison High to teach art.

8:15-3:30 Work work work, but this is happy work. I actually enjoy this work. I am teaching graphic design, ceramics, watercolor, and yearbook. During the day I give demonstrations on how to paint and how to make pots. I try to help/motivate students. I boss students around and make them be quiet. I try to help 7 students at once with photoshop. It's great.

{during this time I do get 1.5 hours for a lunch break and prep hour in which I drive on home to see R and get some stuff done. Today I ate lunch and cleaned out entire apartment sweep mop dust toilet except for the dishes... I'm hoping R gets the message. I load the car with my work clothes for job numero dose[2] as well as a bin full of dirty laundry that I'm taking to my mother's since we have no such wonderful amenities in our shanty. I then race back to school for my last class.}

3:30-4:40 I fly out of school locking the door behind me. Jump in my car and drive 35 miles to Idaho Falls. First stop mom's. Load the laundry. Eat some of her candy. Change my clothes and leave for Carino's.

4:30-10 or later Now I am not a respected teacher, but a disrespected waitress. Here I paste on my fake smile and walk/run my butt off. I get by because I have some great friends I get to chat with during the night. Thank goodness for that! Since I am the closer I make sure all the other servers do their jobs, wait for everyone in the resturaunt to leave, and come back to R.

10:45 and on I will stop at mom's to throw my clothes in the dryer, get home and jump in the shower to rid my body of garlic, and find R. He might be at his families since his sister, Ashley, is up for a visit. If so I'll head over there and party as much as my body will let me. If not I will hopefully finish cleaning the kitchen. Before bed I must finish preparing for the next day of class because I spent my prep time cleaning my house. This invloves downloading/editing pictures and painting.

Finally I get to crawl into bed with R, get my feet rubbed by his feet. Get my arms hugged by his arms. Fall asleep.

I'm hopping next week will be less crazy

oh what do you do in the winter time

Today was my sweet day off. And you know what I did... lots of happy things. I'll tell you all about it.

I woke up to the sunshine falling on my pillow with no alarm. I rolled over to see the time. 9:30. Right when I decided to get up and going R came home from class and slid back in bed. I couldn't leave then. We lazily laid and slept for another hour. I then tried to get up, but R wouldn't let me. I didn't mind. It felt wonderful to just lay and talk and laugh. We finally got up andR went back to class and I started to paint. I finished my long over due painting that I've been working on. If feels wonderful. It's a little winter wonderland for chilly February. Let me know what you think of it.

As soon as I got done R came home again. Yea. I'm so lucky. I decided to forego my insanity workout and get dressed and go out with my man. Ryley gave me a Holga camera for Love Day and I've been itching to go shoot some film. There's something more exciting about film cameras. I love the wonder and excitement to see what you're pictures will turn out like. We drove around Rexburg. It was sunny which made my heart smile, but because it is Rexburg the wind killed the warmth and made my fingers ache. Thank goodness for car heaters!

for those of you wondering a Holga is a plastic camera that gives off a very different look then regular cameras. Hopefully I'll get some film developed and posted to show examples

I then went to drop off R at school once again, and I headed around Rexburg. I stopped at a little boutique which just moved it. It's actually really cute but way to expensive for me buying trendy clothes, but it was fun to look. Next I went to the Cocca Bean, a wonderful cupcake shop, to buy cupcakes for my dear mother because it is her birthday today. Happy birthday my favorite woman! Lastly I had to stop in at Porter's to check out art supplies. I finally decided to go for it and but this HUGE canvas I've had my eye on for months. It's a 50x50 inch canvas which is so big I couldn't even fit it in my car. We're going to have to get a truck. AHHHHh I'm so excited to see what will end up on it.

And now I'm home. I have about an hour before I pick R up from school. He's coming home early because his little brother, Hayden, is going through the temple for the first time. We are so excited for him! I've been thinking about it all day and remember the day I went through the temple for the first time. I was so nervous but my heart has never been so full. It is going to be such a great experience and I'm so grateful that I am a part of this family and get to be there with him.

All in all a pretty good day. I hope you all had a good one as well.

I've spent my last hour stalking other people's lives through their blogs. Some about home decor, some fashion, some telling long and funny and frustrating stories about their lives. It makes me feel connected to people in a way. Connected to people I don't even know. It's comforting. But another part of me gets done and thinks to myself, "Chelse. What are you doing with your life. What could you possible blog about? Could you ever write more then a paragraph in your blog and have it come out slightly interesting?" I feel like that answer might be no. But guess what, I'm going to try to do it anyways. I want to because I want to prove to myself that I am happy and that I have hobbies and that I matter.

Sometimes I get so caught up in what I HAVE TO get done such as my dumb job, paying bills, making dinner, cleaning the house, running errands and blah blah blah. Don't get me wrong. I save time to blog and to do art and to see R and sometimes friends too. I do enjoy my life, but I think I could do a better job. Sometimes, well most times I end my day thinking "If I wrote or told anyone about my day today they would fall asleep of boredom." That's never a good feeling. This is why I'm going to try to be so good at actually writing about ME and what I'm doing and what I'm feeling instead of Hey look at these cute shoes. It's more for me so don't feel obligated to read. And because this night has turned a bit sour I'm going to write about 5 things happy...

1. I don't have to work tomorrow!

2. I went to a play called Doubt this evening. Our friend Seve was the main man and did an amazing job.

3. I got to catch up with my newly prego friend Jules, Seve's wife, at the play. She's someone I've really come to love and is one of the most real people I've met.

4. I had time to work out today doing Insanity which believe me is definitely insane, but is showing me the results I want.

5. As soon as I'm done with this post I'm going to change into my favorite big men pjs, get a HUGE bowl of ice cream (with chocolate sauce) and watch the late show or start my new book or just lay and do nothing because I deserve that every now and then.

Recently it seems like everyone I know is having a hard time.

When I was in high school my father died suddenly in a car accident. I don't think there's a feeling anything like knowing the person you love the most is gone. I didn't think I could get through the pain every day, but I did.

Recently one of my best friends and also my bro-in-laws fathers both passed.

I feel blessed that I know what they're going through so I can sympathize, but it's also horrible because you know just how terrible they're feeling and there's nothing you can do to fix it.

They are going to have to be strong because breaking down is the only other option.

My heat aches for them.