One More to add to the collection

Calphalon is frikin awesome. First of all just for registering for over $500 in calphalon products we received a santoku knife for free. Then if you buy over $500 in calphalon products one can receive a free $120 stir fry pan. OMG!!! We got it!! We bought a pot and pan calphalon set after our wedding and spent a lot on it but figured it was a great investment, especially with me loving food. Then we actually were registered for this pan for the fun of it and dang we just got it in the mail for freeeeeee! We also got a calphalon stir fry utensil safe for up to 500 degrees F. Hot dandy! eh?

Jessica's Project Space

So lately Jess has been working on her project... Thank goodness I'm not a clean freak hahha. But her models are coming out to look really good. I love her.

Portfolio Madness

For my interior Design Major, I am required to have an internship before I graduate; technically I can walk, and then complete my internship, but I have been looking all over Little Rock for one. I am wanting to Intern at an Architecture Firm, but with the job market the way it is, it makes it a little bit harder to find a job like that. So, I had an interview with Polk, Stanely, Rowland, Curzon, Porter architects, and I was very excited about this interview. They said that they didn't have enough work to have an intern, but they offered to still have an interview... which is good practice, and they would look over my portfolio and give me some pointers.
Now, making my portfolio was not a very easy task mainly because I didn't have any good ones to look at as reference. The ones my teacher had were ones that students left behind... I don't know how they got jobs leaving their portfolios at school; oh well, needless to say there were not good ones none in the right format etc. For my portfolio, I had to have an actual porfolio book that is at least 11x17. We were to display our work in it, and most people just take pictures of their boards and art and literally tape or glue them down on paper. They also take "nice" paper and put that on the pages to make it look nice. The only problem is that all of those projects ended up looking like a scrapbook rather than a portfolio. So, I had a lot of work to do to avoid the scrap book look. Grant was very understanding about the whole me wrecking the apartment and stressing over this whole project. It is a scary thought to think that a portfolio could be the difference in your getting hired or not. It is also very hard picking out which pieces to include and which ones to leave out.
The day before my interview my acutal portfolio book came in, and it was the wrong one, so I had to find a last minute different one to work just for this interview. I wasn't very happy about it, but there was only so much I could do. Then I went and had my interview, it went great. The interior Designer on staff there was so nice and great, but they still didn't have work for an intern. One of the partners, Mr. Stanely wanted to meet me, but he was in a meeting before and after my meeting, so that was a bummer. The only disappointing thing is that they couldn't tell me how to improve my portfolio. I was hoping that they would butcher it so that it would evntually after a lot of modification turn out amazing, but they couldn't tell me anything to change which is good and bad.
So now, I still don't have an internship, but I have a semi completed portfolio that still needs some tweaking,but I have one interview under my belt which is a plus. Also, making a portfolio is a requirement one of my classes so it is nice to think that I am ahead in that aspect at least.

Desks!!!

Right before our trip to Austin was Grant's Birthday. I eventually decided to get him a 24'' Flat Screen monitor since he always used mine, and there was a pretty good deal on a dell one. Well, once we each had our own Monitors, there wasn't much room to have duel monitors on a desk that two people share. Grant and I had been talking a while about getting a second desk since the desk that we had was one from Ikea which we were both completely satisfied with it, but it definitely got crowded. When we first got married, it was my desk with some of Grant's things on it, but once he got his desktop it became his. Now I wasn't against this, it was more of an observation than anything. I didn't HAVE to have a desk, I just used the kitchen table, but constantly having to clear off the stuff I was working on for each meal was a little frustrating. Needless to say, we decided it was time for a new desk. Luckily by the time we decided this, it was almost time to go to Austin for Fall break. We knew we wanted the same desk that I already had but with a different wood veneer, but this desk brand new was $85 with a $25 glass top. So, we didn't know if that was money we should really be spending right now. I was randomly looking at the Austin Carigslist since it has so much more stuff than the little rock one, and I found the exact desk that we were looking for used for $40. So once Grant got home from work I asked him about it, and we contacted the guy! He had not yet sold the desk and was an awesome seller.
While in Austin, Grant and Simon went and picked up the desk from the seller, and later that day I went to Ikea with Wilson and got the glass top which had gone up in price, but still cheaper than having a top custom made. So, we were very excited that we saved $40 on this desk! Woot! We ended up bringing a lot of Tanya's stuff to Austin including her bike, so, we just strapped the desk (taken apart) on the bike rack. Everything worked well, and we eventually set up the desk. Now our apartment in Searcy is very little, and our only goal is for everything to fit since making it look pretty isn't the highest thing on our priority list, but here are some pictures of the desks.

Here is my desk after Grant removed literally 96% of the stuff on the desk... his stuff. We both hadn't realized that so much was his, and we were laughing so hard since he had literally taken over my desk and made it his own. Sorry about how messy it is here, but we just wanted to post the pictures, and desks aren't ALWAYS clean.

Here is a picture of Grant's new desk. you can see the lighter color wood and the glass top. His desk also looks messy,but like I said we weren't going for picture perfect here.

Here again you can see his set up of his laptop with sitting next to his desk... maybe this is as close to dual monitors that he can achieve right now lol.

Here is where the problems have also began- chairs! I had a nice office Chair and so did he, but before we didn't have two desks so there was no point in having two chairs, so Simon and Austin were nice enough to house the other chair since they had the room. Well, right before we bought the new desk, Grant's chair broke! so, we have been sharing my chair and this papasaun chair stool with an extra cushion and two pillows... not the safest thing. So, everytime one of us is alone we are always claiming the chair.

Here is the beloved and much coveted chair. So Grant and I have been looking a different used desk chairs, but most are too over priced, and we don't NEED one right now.

UCA Tragedy

As some of you may have heard already, University of Central Arkansas or UCA where I attend had a school shooting yesterday(Sunday). I was not on campus since it was a Sunday, and I am not exactly sure what happened, but students on campus were told to stay in their dorms and apartments. There was a shooting where two students were killed, I don't know either of them, but I am praying for their families; four suspects are in custody. So far all we know is that classes are canceled this Monday, and please just pray that everything gets worked out. May God bless you all.

Austin Trip

So as many of you know, Simon, Grant, Julia, and I went to Austin for our Fall Break. This is a first for Harding, so it made it a lot of fun. We left for Austin on Thursday afternoon, and were there until Sunday afternoon! We thrifted a whole lot, went to Mueller to see a Wallace and grommet movie and the parks of course!!!! OH, and we went and saw Tanya and Wilson's beautiful new rowhouse. I helped them with some of the design of the inside,but nothing major. So here are some of the few pictures that we acutally took while in Austin!
Here is Simon pushing Mia around... I guess she was getting tired of moving the toy herself and sitting backwards is soo much cooler!

The neighborhood kids were very nice, but always wanting attention. Here is Tyrek showing off his mad climbing skills.

Simon supervising the play time making sure everyone shares... and he think

Mia riding all by herself.

Mia drawing some beautiful pictures.

Shoes are so much cooler than chalk!

When Simon and Grant first came out to watch Mia play outside, all the kids came running to come play since they were all wanting attention.

When Mia found out that Simon and Grant would watch and play with her outside she started to gather her chalk. It didn't matter that they were spilling out of her green bucket or that she had multiples of every color... she had ALL her chalk with her-enough said.

Julia helping Mia answer the phone... Mia would take a phone, and the rest of us would call it to talk to her, but she kept accidentally hanging up on us.

Mia talking with Simon on the phone.

Mia in her PJs playing in the dining room where Simon's bed was.

Julia helping Mia again with the phone.

Ally Looking scared!

Ally looking nervous because of Grant's creepy expression.

Ally Happy-ish with Grant.

Tagged by Sarina Grasham

Here's the rules:

Grab the nearest book.
Open the book to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your blog along with these instructions.
Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.
Tag five other people to do the same.

from object-oriented software engineering

"In addition, skills in plumbing, wiring, and roofing are needed to build a three-bedroom home, and inspections are essential."

So this is what grant pays Harding for... such amazing knowledge!!! :p

I tag Jill Robertson