17 in 2017

I’m in awe of all the beautifully packaged 2017 recaps. I can’t quite keep up with the month by month break downs and such, but here’s what I can give you. 17 things that happened in 2017:

  1. Sledding in Liberty Park

IMG_92112. Enjoyed a burger at a VIP Hires party

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3. Read some books

  • Seance, John Hardwood
  • Turtles All the Way Down, John Green
  • When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi
  • Madam, Will You Talk?, Mary Stewart
  • A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’ Engle
  • Ready Player One, Ernest Cline
  • Once and for All, Sarah Dessen
  • Maybe in Another Life, Taylor Jenkins Reid
  • Idaho, Emily Ruskovich
  • A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman
  • The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin
  • Snotgirl, Bryan O’Malley and Leslie Hung
  • iZombie Vol 1: Dead to the World, Chris Roberson and Michael Allred

4. Saw a few Sundance movies 

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5. Marched for Refugees 

6. Continued to pitch ideas, including:

  • Numerous Christmas rom com plots – Hallmark & Lifetime call me!!
  • Bachelor Dad – The same process/living situation/activities as the bachelor, but instead of women living at the mansion it’s all of their dads and the bachelor must pick a spouse based on his rapport with the Dad.
  • Unimportant Elf theory – The nun Buddy’s dad takes books away from during his opening scene if in fact the same nun that put’s Buddy in his crib at the beginning of the movie. The orphanage is in financial ruins because they once LOST A BABY. Also, note this theory has no bearing on plot and would not change anything.

7. Moved to a new apartment 

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World’s best moving crew [plus a few others not pictured]. We have amazing friends.

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8. Went swimming

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9. Did not burn my eyes out during the eclipse 

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10. Made these things 

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My grandparents home of 45 years flooded during Harvey and they had to move. We made this book of favorite memories for them as a tribute to their time there.

11. Ate this food

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Prettiest plate award: Stoneground

Including these local desserts:

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Sidenote: Is Top Golf who I am now???

These out of town eats:

These state fair gems:

And this Cheesecake Factory Retrospective:

12.Got a Lagoon Season Pass

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13. Hung out with my Mom after her ankle surgery

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14. Had a cousin Thanksgiving with the Nelsons 

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15. Attended multiple birthday parties for cute animals 

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Ziggy at his fiesta

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Merriweather at her spec-CAT-ular, spec-CAT-ular Mulan Rouge party

16. Watched as many Made for TV Christmas Movies as possible 

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17. Witnessed the Galmour and Romance of Oscar de la Renta at MFA Houston 

My aunts Jan and Dianne went with me to this while they were home this Christmas. This exhibit was beautiful and had audio commentary by Andre Leon Talley [aka ANTM Cycle 14-17 judge]. This is the dress I picked for me:

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Annnd that’s it. Here’s hoping 2018 brings good things to us all!

Currently: Having a nice lazy day after a late night NYE game night and hot tub celebration

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I took time out of my busy schedule of dog cuddling/ whispering:

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Always up for quality Ziggy time

and saw Lion King at the Eccles theater! They were doing discount rush tickets, so we decided to try our luck. It turned out to be a great decision. We got amazing seats for half the price and had a lovely night [despite air conditioning malfunctions].

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I had never seen Lion King before and it was a great experience. The costumes, dancing, singing – everything was so well done. Basically, I was in love with show – and with the theater itself. The design is gorgeous.

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This is looking straight up at the ceiling.

This doesn’t even show the detail inside the theater. There are these great light fixtures on the balcony ceilings along with a starry night effect on the main ceiling.

I especially loved going out on the balcony and looking over the city lights at intermission.

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PRO TIP: Make friends with the spotlight guy and he will show you all the best places to take pictures. Not kidding. Thanks Steve!

Another highlight of intermission was the concession stand. All the treats were delicious and a tribute to the best Salt Lake has to offer. The cookies were from Ruby Snap and the gummi bears were from Cummings.

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Hopefully I’ll be back soon!

Currently: Back in the thick of my Harry Potter reread. I’m on book 6!

Grey Skies, Silver Screens

January and February are often grey and cold here in Utah, but thankfully I often find myself warm and cozy in a movie theater during these winter months. First, the Sundance Film Festival comes to town [I was lucky enough to see four movies this year!] and then before you know it, it’s Oscar season.

This year was no exception and in honor of the Oscars two nights ago I made a few prints to represent the best picture nominees. I wish I could say I have a print for all of them, but I ran out of time before the ceremony. Personally my top two best picture nominees recommendations are LaLa Land and Hidden Figures. Both are movies with a lot of heart that I can’t wait to watch again. I also really loved the selection of live shorts nominated this year.

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Arrival

Arrival is the story of linguistics professor Louise Banks is tasked with interpreting the language of the apparent alien visitors [pictured above, although in the movie it is always black]. It reminded me of Interstellar in the best way possible.

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La La Land

If you haven’t heard of this movie, I’m not sure what’s happening and I’m worried about you. Please go watch it. Emma Stone’s character, Mia, makes this logo for Ryan Gosling’s character, Sebastian, who wants to open a Jazz club.

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Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures is the story of a team of African-American women mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the US space program. This print was inspired by one of my favorite quotes from the movie. Katherine says this after someone implies they are surprised NASA would let women work there.

“I will have you know, I was the first negro female student at West Virginia university graduate school. On any given day, I analyze the binomial levels air displacement, friction and velocity. And compute over ten thousand calculations by cosine, square root and lately analytic geometry. By hand. There are twenty, bright, highly capable negro women in the west computing group, and we’re proud to be doing our part for the country. So yes, they let women do some things at NASA, Mr. Johnson. And it’s not because we wear skirts. It’s because we wear glasses. Have a good day.”

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Hacksaw Ridge

Hacksaw Ridge is the true story of WWII American Army Medic, Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people, and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.

Currently: reading Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It’s basically a “choose your own adventure” paperback for grownups, which has been really fun.