My Idea

Sooo, a few weeks ago I was browsing eBay - something I do quite often of course - and I decided to look up invitations, specifically for weddings. I got the idea in my head because I was sort of planning along for the future (ahem ahem) and wanted to see the options out there. While I was browsing, I came across a beautiful green and white invitation. I looked at the pictures on the auction and noticed the first name on the invite was "Fadia" - I thought to myself, "Hey! I knew a Fadia back in high school in Florida". So I continue reading more at the invitation and it showed her complete name! I was kinda in shock because I knew who it was that had the invitation. All of the info on it was from Florida too! So then I looked at the seller's info and it turns out she was my other friend from high school as well - her name is Annette.

Anyway - I emailed them both and am friends with them on Facebook. The point of all this though, is that all of my invitation research led me to think about it as something I might want to try. And then when I found out that Annette does it as a business, I really got inspired!

So here are my thoughts:

- I'm not terribly creative, so I asked Jill if she'd like to work with me on this. She's been wanting to start her own business type thing for a while and I figured we could work good together. She is the creativity and I am the business side.

- I've been doing TONS of research, from printers, to paper suppliers, to special software I can use.

- Chris and Ramin can make me a website when the time is right.

- Jill and I can make some prototypes and create some ideas before we start going. I am going to purchase some special software I found that is specific to invitations. Once I learn that we can create some samples to use on our website.

I'm kinda excited and nervous at the same time about this venture. I find myself constantly thinking about it and it seems so fun to me - of course thats if it succeeds. I plan to only do this as a hobby for the first little while, especially while I'm still in school. But we'll see how good we are at it and how fun it is for us. If we like it we can gradually ramp things up. I am so grateful I have a contact in Annette because she was able to provide me with some insight into whether this is something plausible or not. I think the Utah market is a perfect place for this because it is the fastest growing state in the US at the moment, not to mention all of the weddings that happen here ;)

If anyone cares to share, let me know your thoughts!

Grades

Well I'm kinda in shock right now because all of my grades for Fall Semester have been posted. They are as follows:

Contemporary Ethics (5000 level course) - B+
Syntax - B
Ancient Greek Philosophy - B

And the dreaded CS Engineering Computing - B

That's right!!! I actually got B's in all of my classes and I'm so pleasantly surprised that I feel so great. Everyone knows that this was the hardest semester of my life and to actually come away with B's is such a great feeling. I was totally settled on getting C's in the Syntax and CS classes because I hated both of them tremendously!

This gives me renewed enthusiasm for next semester. It starts on Jan. 12th and I've only got 3 classes to take - we'll see how they end up!!

Winter Wonderland

Today has been the first clear day pretty much all week. Christmas Eve was the beginning of a major storm that blew through - it was insanely windy! Christmas day we woke up to more wind and the power even went out for about 45 minutes. That is unusual for Utah because we can handle winter storms. Mom and Bob had a tough time making it over to our house Christmas morning because the major road to our house was closed due to the storm. They ended up making it and the power did come back on so all was well. Yesterday was more of the same storm. So here are some pictures of the aftermath. As you can see from the neighborhood shots, we've got quite a bit over here. It's not the most we've seen though in our neighborhood - last year's storm was worse, but that was in February or so. We'll see if we get blasted worse than this current storm!

The neighborhood park is in front of our house - lots of people out sledding today!

More sledders

This is the view from our back porch, you can see the piles of snow

This is the snow ON our porch...Belle has been having issues going potty since the snow...she just goes right on the deck :P We should shovel the snow hahaha

This is our shed and the big snow drift in the back yard. It's hard to tell but you can see all of Belle's prints in the snow - she runs around like crazy when it snows. She loves playing in the snow!

I wanted to share my Christmas decor with family and friends so here it is! I have never really been a fan of the traditional red and green color scheme, so I wanted my tree to be all jewel tones. Ramin is a fan of that as well. Our tree is small...we can fit a much larger tree in our house since the ceilings are so tall - we will probably buy a new tree after Christmas is over - the sales are good then. I am even contemplating getting a big white tree because the decorations will show up much better on a white tree. Anyway - here are the pictures! Enjoy :)

The tree of course

My Santa Claus

My flower vase, spruced up with sparkly decor

Ramin's Gator ornament

Ramin's ESPN ornament - LOVE this thing. It lights up and plays the SportsCenter theme.

Ramin's airplane ornament and our ornaments from Tombstone, AZ

Some of my random sparkly ornaments

Peacocks, feathers and sparkles are the themes of choice!

Chris' space shuttle ornament

A few of my special ornaments. On the far left is my Sleeping Beauty ornament. In the middle is Sleeping Beauty's castle from Disneyland and on the right is the Wicked Witch of the West - it lights up and talks!

This is our Christmas card collection

The stockings. We don't have a fireplace so something had to act as the hanging place :P

And lastly, the entry table.

Weekend in Florida

This past weekend Chris and I flew to Florida to celebrate my Grandma's 80th birthday. It was a great trip and it was fun seeing everyone, including Dad and Maria for a few days. Here are some pictures from the weekend. The pelican pictures were requested by Patti ;)

DOOOOOONNNNNNEEEEEE!!!!

Holy crap! I'm freakin done with ALL of my finals and this freakin stupid ass semester! :P I've been waiting and waiting for this day to come! I took my horrible CS final today and turned in my final materials for my other classes. Now I just have to wait and see if I passed the freakin classes! Not a big deal though cause now I get to go enjoy some time with my Dad and Grandma in Florida! Chris and I leave in the morning. I'll post pictures when we get back :)

One down - two to go

Took my Contemporary Ethics final today. It went ok. I'll admit, I didn't study as much as I probably could have. I wrote a 4 page study guide for it, but honestly, when there's 20 philosophers/theorists to know and remember, it gets kinda tiring. We seriously read over 20 separate articles this semsters. Not short articles either. Each philosopher had his or her own theory of practical reasons and morality. It's hard to keep straight who says what and who disagrees with whom. I did alright though. I'll settle for a B in that class :)

This weekend I have to write my 4 paper Greek philosophy paper and then finish my Syntax take home exam. Of course my most dreaded of all final exams/things is the CS final exam. That isn't until Wednesday but you can believe all of Sunday and Monday/Tuesday nights will be spent trying to understand that crap. I'll settle for a C- in that class - literally :P

One Word

The rule: Answer all of these with one word (except on the list 4 things).

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Your significant other? Ramin
3. Your hair? Dark
4. Your mother? Loveable
5. Your father? Intelligent
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? Work
8. Your favorite drink? Water
9. Your dream/goal? Graduate
10. The room you're in? Office
11. Your fear? Loss
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you're not? Rude
15. Muffins? Blueberry!
16. One of your wish list items? Sims
17. Where you grew up? Utah
18. The last thing you did? Dinner
19. What are you wearing? Soft
20. Your TV? Big
21. Your pet? Cuties
22. Your computer? Awesome
23. Your Life? Ecclectic
24. Your mood? Airy
25. Missing someone? Grandma
26. Your car? Audi
27. Something you're not wearing? Shoes
28. Your favorite store? TJMaxx
29. Your summer? Perfection
30. Your favorite color? Green
31. When is the last time you laughed? Evening
32. Last time you cried? Recently
33. Four places you go often? School, Work, Wal-Mart, Smiths
34. Four of your favorite foods? Ice cream, hamburgers, lasagna, salads
35. Four Places you would rather be right now? Here(home), Disneyland, Florida, England
36. Four people you tag? Anyone

What's Left?

Well, next week is the final week of Fall Semester - THANK GOD! I have been waiting for this week for months! The week after is finals week, but I only have 1 final to take that week - my Computer Science final on Chris' birthday! Go figure!

Here's the list of things I have yet to accomplish:

12/8 - Full day of work - Last argument outline for Ancient Greek Philosophy class
12/9 - Full day of work - 2-3 questions typed up for Ethics test
12/10 - Full day of work - Finish Ethics study guide that has to be turned in on 12/11 - Also, study for Ethics test on 12/11
12/11 - full day of work - Ethics final test & Prepare grad school folders
12/12 - Full day of work - Meetings with two professors for grad school recommendations - folders prepared
12/13 - Write final Ancient Greek Philosophy paper 4 pages, Work on and finish Syntax take home test (these are usually way harder than normal tests)
12/14 - ALL DAY - Study for Computer Science test
12/15 - Full day of work - Continue CS studying
12/16 - Half day at work - turn in Greek paper and Syntax test
12/17 - No work - CS FINAL EXAM (AHHHHHHHHHH)
12/18 - DONE - Fly out to Florida

Just Dance

When Jill, Steph and I went to the New Kids concert, this girl was one of the opening acts along with Natasha Beddingfield - her name is Lady GaGa. I know weird...but her performance was pretty awesome and I really liked her songs. So this week I've been hearing this song on the radio that I've totally falled in love with and I knew it just had to be her...and it is. Here's the song...there's tons of remixes of it but this is the version that I like the best. I'm gonna have to buy her CD.

It's the hap-happiest time of the year!

Jill came over the other day to take some Christmas time pictures of Ramin and I - we also took some pictures with Chris and the dogs. I've got some surprises with some of the pictures in mind so I'm not gonna post them all, but here are some fun ones we took :) Enjoy!

Interesting News Report

So some of you may recall my stint on the news when Fox came to visit the research lab I was a part of last year. It was in Dr. Drews' driving simulator and the news came when he released results of the texing while driving study. Well today, he released some more results and my old childhood friend, Shara Parker (now Park) was the reporter who covered the story. It's kind of funny because I'm sort of related to the whole thing since I was part of the lab for 2 semesters. Here's the link to the story - including Dr. Drews. (BTW, I'll be meeting with him on the 12th to discuss him writing a letter of recommendation for me to grad school)

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Done - ish

So it is now 5:50 pm and I have a very rough draft of 10 pages written. I think I'm done for a little while now. I'll print it out and hand edit all of it to make it more concise and clear. I'll take a break for 1-2 hours and come back to it again by 8 pm I think. Then I need to work on the Greek paper. I don't think I'll spend more than an hour on that since it's only 4 pages long and needs only a small amount of revision before I turn it in.

Need...to...do........homework

I've already had two days off from work/school so far thanks to Thanksgiving. So my plan for Saturday (today) was to clean the house and buckle down and write my 10-page Ethics paper. The cleaning part is done and has been done for about an hour now. I vacuumed the whole upstairs and mopped the kitchen floor and even cleaned the bathroom. I also have laundry going right now. I've been sitting at the computer for about a half hour now...just trying to get the motivation to write my paper. I've got the bulk of it outlined on my notepad paper. I just gotta do this. I'm gonna start now and see if I can finish it up in 4 hours and be done somewhere around 6 pm. We'll see...then I have to re-write my Ancient Greek Philosophy paper. That should take less time, I hope. So I'll post again at the time I've finished my Ethics paper. GO JENN GO!!

Walk It Out!

It's been a while since I've seen this video, but after hearing this song on the radio last night I was totally reminded! When I first saw this video I couldn't believe how perfect the song matched the dancing - you'll see. I don't care if you don't like rap music, it's worth watching cause these ladies are total divas and would totally fit in with today's hip hoppers :P

Car Ad of the Year

So true and so funny :P

Grad School Anyone?

I've settled on it.

*IF* I can get in, I will go to grad school for Instructional Design and Educational Technology at the U. It is offered as part of the Educational Psychology department.

Here are the facts:

- The program is only 2 years long.
- It's only 30 credit hours.
- In Jenn terms, I can finish it in 1 or a 1.5 years.
- The tuition is the same as what I pay now.
- Because it's a technological program, I can get eBay to pay for it.
- The classes are held from 5-8 pm.
- This means I can work like a normal person, during the day.
- When I'm done, I'll have a Masters of Education degree.
- With this, I can either continue on at eBay (we'll see) or I can most likely get a job at a school or school district designing educational programs (this seems more fitting)

If you want the full story of this program - visit here.

This is how I figure. I can either do this and get all of my schooling out of the way before I'm 30...I've be done by 2011. OR, Ramin and I can get married right after I graduate and pop a few kids out. Then I'd have to wait till their in high school or something before I go back to school.

It's fairly obvious what the logical choice is here.

All I need to do is:

- Take the GRE
- Get 3 letters of recommendation (2 teachers, 1 employer)
- Do all the applications and pay the fee

That doesn't sound like much, but it is. This program doesn't have any deadlines like all the other grad programs do - thank goodness. So I can take some time and prepare. Hopefully though, if I plan it all out right, I can start the grad program next Fall of 2009!

So....what do you think?

Please help me with my project - EVERYONE WELCOME

So I've sent emails about this and posted it on my Facebook - now I'm posting it here. This goes to anyone who stumbles across this page - if you can take 5 minutes of your time I would greatly appreciate it! Please follow the link below and answer 2 simple questions relating to morality and psychology.

Thanks!!

Click Here to take survey

Had a great birthday!!!

I wanted to say thanks for everyone who sent me birthday wishes!! I felt kinda crappy with my eye infection and it was nice to have everyone wish me a good day! It was a very good birthday and I want everyone to know that I appreciate everything you do for me!!!

(I threw in the LOL cat cause it's just funny :P)

Love Jenn

Troop Care Packages

My friend Lisa and her little girl Monique have started a new initiative - sending care packages to the troops.

Here blog can be found here - I've also added it under my blog links on the side of my blog.

Take some time to read it - it's a good idea!

Birthday Dacryocystitis

Beginning on Wednesday my right eye started watering for no apparent reason. I did not feel sick, I was only experiencing this weird watery eye. Thursday it got worse so I stayed home from work and school. Friday I made it to work but it was still watering and I carried around a tissue with me everywhere I was. Saturday was still bad but I still did errands and even met with my partner from school at the library for a while. She suggested that maybe I had a sinus infection and it was coming out of my eye. It sounded logical so I bought some Mucinex D and took it Saturday night. That night was awful...I woke up in the middle of the night with major pain on the right side of my face. It felt like my head was going to explode - I wanted to poke it with a needle to relieve the pressure. I moved to the couch to get more comfortable and I finally fell asleep.

Mom called around 10 am and I told her the problem and she suggested I go to InstaCare...I knew I should've gone earlier probably but I was hoping my eye would get better on its own. So Ramin took me to InstaCare and we waited for an hour...the doctor finally saw me and was adamant that it was not a sinus infection. Instead he suggested that I had dacryocystitis. Here is the official definition of it:

Dacryocystitis is an infection of the nasolacrimal sac. It causes pain, redness and swelling over the inner aspect of the lower eyelid and epiphora. It is often caused by nasolacrimal obstruction.

Clinical features

• pain, swelling, redness over the lacrimal sac at medial canthus.
• tearing, crusting, fever
• digital pressure over the lacrimal sac may extrude pus through the punctum
• In chronic cases, tearing may be the only symptom

I pretty much have all of those symptoms, including the pus, along with a constant headache...which I can relieve somewhat with IBuprofen. So far it's been 5 days with my eye constantly watering. It's kind of irritating. I'm going to take Monday off of work (my birthday) and see if it gets any better. We'll see where we're at on Tuesday. The anti-biotics I was given are to be taken twice a day for 10 days. I really hope they help and that this is my actual problem because if I have to live with my right eye always watering constantly, I'm going to be seriously pissed off. It's weird...I'll keep this updated with any progress.

I Time!

I Turn: 27 in 6 days! AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
I am: Ecclectic and eccentric and love many different things!
I think: About the future A LOT and I run through all the various scenarios over and over
I know: That I love my family and friends and am grateful for my time with them!
I want: To hurry and finish up school so I begin a new chapter in my life
I dislike: Having to work 40 hours a week
I miss: Elementary school and the carefree days
I fear: Losing one of my loved ones, including the doggies
I feel: Exhausted from work and school...but I must persist onward!
I hear: Some techno garbage music that the kid down the row is playing out loud for some stupid reason....there's like 4 of us in the building and he has to play his music....ugh!
I smell: This building? I must be used to the smell cause I don't smell anything
I crave: Sushi and nari! Orrrrr ice cream as always
I cry: ALL the time...but I usually do it when no one is around to see...except at the movies or watching TV
I usually: Carry tissues with me because I'm constantly blowing my nose
I search: For the meaning in life.....no just kidding....I don't really search for anything
I wonder: What will happen after I'm done with school....do I stay at eBay? Do we have kids? Do I go to grad school? If I do go to grad school when will the kids comes? General things like that
I regret: Not going to college right out of high school...I'd totally be working on a PhD right now if I was smarter back then
I love: Reading good historical fiction, scrapbooking, being creative (when there's time) and spending time with my family and friends (because I don't get to do a whole lot of it) and everything English and Victorian!
I care: About many things....sometimes too much
I always: Eat sushi at least once a week from Harmon's these days
I worry: About the future
I am not: Thrilled about my CS class, in fact I hate it
I remember: Practically everything (literally, just ask my mom and brother)
I believe: That there's more to life than what is here on Earth....we're here to learn some lessons
I sing: Only when the radio is on.....
I argue: Rarely. If I argue with Ramin he usually wins because I just give up...I don't like arguing - unless it's something I'm passionate about.
I write: In calligraphy sometimes - I need to practice that again
I win: I used to win everything! I don't think I've won anything for a while...Ramin seems to have taken away my mojo and used it for himself cause he wins everything now!
I lose: On occasion
I wish: For many things...but I'll never tell!
I listen: To classic rock and am proud of it damn it!
I can usually be found: Work, school or home - in that order!
I am scared: That I won't get to do everything I want to do in life and miss out on something
I forget: Only when I'm super overloaded at work or school, which is why I have a day planner and a huge desk calendar and why I make lots of lists!
I am happy: When I feel loved and appreciated

Forecast = Dismal

To me, this is not fun...to others, namely silly guys who like to snowboard (Ramin and Chris), this is a good thing :P

Too Cute!!!!

Chris snapped this picture of Belle and Lady a few weeks ago. It's just too cute for words...they really do love each other, no matter how annoying Belle is :P

Busy-ness

School is back in full swing after the Fall Break the other week. I'm struggling a TON in my CS class - thank goodness I have Chris to help me. I'll be happy if I get a C in that class - seriously. Syntax is just a joke....it's hard and silly to me...but I go everyday so I don't miss anything. My Ancient Greek Philosophy class is HARD ASS! The professor is nit-picky about everything and I have to re-write the paper I just wrote the other week (we all have to re-write our papers). Then my Ethics class is ok....I will have a presentation to do in the coming weeks, but my article to present on is rather interesting. It is called "How psychopaths threaten moral rationalism: Is it rational to be amoral?" THIS is highly interesting and combines both my psychology coursework and philosophy. Over the next few weeks I am going to be focusing intensely on school.

Hangin' Tough!

Ok soooo....I was a New Kids on the Block fan back in the day. Not as much as my friend Stephanie was though...she had the New Kids dolls, posters, bed set and videos. We always were around New Kids stuff at her house. One 4th of July - in 1989 - we went as a family to Sugar House Park to watch the fireworks. During that time though, there was also a Disney special on TV celebrating the 4th. Mom recorded it for me and I LOVED it. I played that tape over and over again. I remember so much about it. At the beginning it had all these model ladies dancing around to Madonna's Vogue and Chris even remembers some Ninja Turtle segment. And then of course, there was this segment below:



I cannot even tell everyone how much I loved watching this. I seriously would watch these two songs over and over again. My favorite song was always Hangin Tough. And honestly, this junk was cool back then. Seriously...you all know it was. And now watching it I can't help but laugh. I think Jill, Steph and I may have to hit up the New Kids concert in a few weeks at the E Center. :P

Lady's Surgery

Lady had surgery yesterday. Yes, surgery. They do have to put dogs under anesthesia when they clean their teeth :( I haven't normally called her teeth cleanings surgery in the past, but this time it was. She had 2 cracked teeth - her two biggest molars in the back and they took both of them out. She also had another tooth with a major hole all the way down. They took that out too. I'm not sure when she cracked her teeth - she doesn't eat very hard things at all. During her last cleaning last year she didn't have cracked teeth - we're thinking it just might be her old age. She is 12 years old. She came out of the surgery VERY well...we've done more extensive surgery on her before and she's come out very sloth like...this time she was up and about. She has to eat wet food all week (yuck!). She slept good last night but this morning she seems a bit in pain. She is sitting here in the office with me making weird moaning noises. I did just give her the anti-biotics and pain meds the vet gave us. She has to get both of those twice a day. I wish I didn't have to go to work and school today...Chris and Ramin will have to take care of my Lady.

Fall Time Fun

Ramin, Chris, Taylor and I all headed out to Kennecott Copper Mine yesterday. We only live about 5 minutes away from it now - literally. I hadn't been there in about 20 years I'd guess and it has definitely changed quite a bit. It was very cool to go up there and check it out. We also spent a lot of time in their little museum thing and I even got some souvenirs from our trip. It was fun stuff! After the mine we all went up to This Is The Place Heritage Park to go through the Haunted Village. It was fun too but we didn't get any pictures. It was a great fall weekend and a great day to be outside!

Ramin and I with the mine pit in the background

Chris, me and Taylor with the mine pit behind

One of the tires of the big dump trucks that they have

Chris and Tay with the big tire

Chris and Tay trying to lift the big tire :P

View of the mine - apparently it's 2.5 miles across!

Their big machine that scoops away at the mountain

Each one of these big huge trucks has 6 of those huge tires!

For comparison, that's what a school bus looks like next to one of those huge trucks!

Ooooh Ooooh - WANT

So everyone knows that Sleeping Beauty is my favorite Disney movie - this is true. But I have 3 favorite characters of ALL time - of course there is Maleficent:



And then Lady Tremaine from Cinderella:



And then there is the Evil Queen from Snow White!



As I attempt to build up my Disney villian-esses collection I search eBay a lot looking for awesome items. I ran across this item today that I'd never seen before! MUST HAVE! Family - here's an idea for a Christmas gift! ;)

Here is the scene from the movie where it comes from. It's pretty much the only scene in Snow White that I care to watch - I can't handle the rest of the movie :P