Hope?

What do you hope for?

Runaway TP

I saw this on Pinterest and just started laughing. This is me. Mouth wide open...hollering...trailing toilet paper as I run! [Insert Tarzan holler here.]

Source: weheartit.com via akeena on Pinterest

Hello, Mormon!

Hey! Guess what? I'm a Mormon! What is a Mormon?

Well, for starters, not this:

Big Love [HBO television series...umm, have you ever watched this? I haven't.]

The Witness [Harrison Ford lives with Amish people and ends up falling in love with one. We're not Amish. We have electricity and phones.]

or this: Children of the Corn. [Really? Children of the Corn? We like to keep canned corn in our food storage, but really?]

[Thanks for asking though.]

Here is a little clarification for the questions that are out there on who and what "Mormons" are:

1. Mormons belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We call ourselves "members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." "Mormon" has become somewhat of a nickname or catch phrase to identify members of the Church.

2. We do not practice polygamy - men are married to only one woman. There is confusion with the reports you hear of the Texas polygamists, which is understandable. The Texas polygamists (and any other polygamists) are their own faith - they have no connection to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1998, President Gordon B. Hinckley, former prophet and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, made the following statement about the Church's position on plural marriage: "This Church has nothing whatever to do with those practicing polygamy."

3. Not sure where this got started, but members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do not have horns. (Unless you look at my little sister when she gets mad... ha ha ha...jk.)

4. We are not any type of clan. We are a religion. We are Christians.

5. So, what do we believe?

Jesus Christ
Our beliefs are centered on Jesus Christ and his teachings. Our understanding of him and his teachings, leads us to try to live more closely to the way Jesus Christ taught.

Because members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe in Jesus Christ, they have strong families. Because they believe in Jesus Christ, members are hard working and successful because they believe in an honest and hard days work. Because they believe in Jesus Christ, they help people through humanitarian efforts.

Word of Wisdom
We do not drink alcohol or coffee. I have no problem being around people who drink alcohol or coffee, as long as they drink responsibly (out of safety and courtesy for everyone around them). I am not forced to not drink alcohol - I have chosen not to drink alcohol or coffee. We do eat meat and sugar. We try our best to eat healthily as to take care of our bodies and not get sick - just like anyone else would.

Bible
You may wonder if we believe in the Bible. Absolutely. We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. It is another testament of Jesus Christ (see below). We read them both; we study them and live by the principles taught by Christ and his apostles in both books. I know that both of these books are true - they testify that Jesus Christ was and is.

The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. It is also a record of God's dealings with the people who lived in the ancient Americas. Prophets of the Lord engraved the original records on gold plates. On September 22, 1827, an angel named Moroni—the last Book of Mormon prophet (also the gold statue seen atop almost all LDS temples) -delivered these records to the Prophet Joseph Smith. By the power of God, the Prophet Joseph translated the record into English.

Proposition 8
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been in the media a lot lately because of its stance on gay and lesbian marriages. This is a tender subject for many, and it deserves respect when being spoken of. If you have questions about the Church's stance on gay and lesbian marriages, and why the Church has taken such an active role in this subject, I would refer you to the Church's web site.

The Huffington Post put out a great little quiz to see how much people know about Mormons. Take it here if you're up to the challenge! If you have more questions about Mormon's and their beliefs, shoot me a comment and I would love to talk more about it. Or, visit this web site for more information.

Smeagol vs. Princess

You may remember a hilarious commentary on iPods that I posted from my sister's blog last year. Well, at the time, she was serving a mission in Russia. Times change, and she is now HOME. Guess what that means for you and me? More hilarious blog posts. Visit her blog for some awesome laughs, but in the meantime, here's a sample post from her blog:

My nephew, Jarret, plays a little game with my brother, Trevor (whom I affectionately call T-rev), in which they quiz each other on which animal could beat the other, eg:

Jarret: "Hey, Dad, who do you think would win in a race? A killer whale or a T-Rex?"
T-rev: "Gotta be a T-Rex with those huge legs. Who do you think would win between a jack rabbit and an ostrich?"
Jarret: "Daaaaad. An ostrich, of course."

Thus, I pose this question to you based on this picture I stumbled upon. Who would win in a fight: Smeagol or Princess?
Comment and let me know.
*I apologize. I..........................couldn't help myself when I saw this picture.

Modern Family

My little sister introduced me to Modern Family. I may or may not really enjoy watching the show. Who's my favorite? Hmmm. It's a tie between Phil and Cameron.



Phil: "Act like a parent, talk like a peer. I call it 'peerenting.'"

Phil: "I text. LOL: laugh out loud; OMG: Oh, my gosh; WTF: Why the face?"

Cameron: "Yes, I've gained a few extra pounds while we were expecting the baby... but that's science. You can't fight it."

Cameron: "There's a fish in nature that swims around with its babies in its mouth. That fish would look at Mitchell's relationship with his mother and say, 'That's messed up.'"

A working clock?

Which room in an office would you think to be one of the more important to have a working, and correct, clock? Your cubicle? No. The board room? Maybe. Break room? You have a winner!

You know... you want it correct so you can get back to work on time, or so you don't take too long of a break, or so you can get to your next meeting on time. What a depressing thing to think about while you're in the break room: the end of your lunch break. Live that ten minute/ one hour break up to the fullest! (You can sense the sarcasm in this post, can't you?!)

I walked into our break room today and looked at the clock - oh, don't worry, it's either five hours fast, or really, really slow. I think the person who set it like that was shooting for the "five hours fast" option.

Enjoy your next break!

Cute idea for Monday

I needed a few cute things to get me going on this Monday morning...

Source: i-do-it-yourself.com via Ayie on Pinterest

This is just pretty... love that color.

Source: blog.ecoetsy.com via Ayie on Pinterest

I love anything that is going to make organization prettier.

Source: designspongeonline.com via Ayie on Pinterest

Awesome.

Perfect day for a wedding...

Today I attended the wedding of one of my best friends, Addie! Another best friend, Breanne, was married about 10 months ago. This picture is Addie, the beautiful bride, Bre, moi, and Bre's little sister, Alyssa. It was such a fun day (and the weather was incredible), and Addie was such a gorgeous bride! Congrats, Love!

The girls...

The friends... 

Dinner at IKEA

My night was made because I ate these little pretties:

at IKEA. They reminded me of Germany. Swedish meatballs, yes, but they tasted like a regular meal in Germany. They even served lingonberry jam with the meatballs. 

[Yuummm!]

My darling little sister got the meatballs too... but she didn't finish her plate. Guess who did?

That's right. Mmmmmeeee.

Aren't they cute? Lil' sis and mama. 

And yours truly...

Old and new...not borrowed... kinda blue...

The story starts about 20 years ago when my mama purchased two oval, oak-framed mirrors. They hung on the wall all growing up, but for the past few years, the mirrors have been collecting dust in a dark closet. I asked my mom if I could adopt them, and this weekend, I gave them a new look. The frame below is just one of the two - I did the other frame a different color and will post that one later this week.

1. Meet the frames: (cost = free)

2. Sand the heck out of the frames... no more finish left on these suckers. 

3. Paint the base color. I already had my color combination picked out, and purchased basic acrylic paints from the craft store. (On sale for $0.79.) 

4. Let dry. Sand edges and hammer, whack and chink away. I raided my dad's tool box and found a hammer, but this handy little thing (in the picture) was exactly what I needed. It was sharp on the end so I was able to just shave chunks out of the wood. (Don't be afraid of messing with the wood...it's actually quite fun, and it gives the frame a lot of character.)

5. I got this crackle stuff from the craft store...it was just a couple of dollars. After the orange paint dried, I painted the crackle lacquer on top and let that dry for an hour.

6. Then, paint the final color on top and let it dry. Voila! I chose a fun aqua blue/ turquoise and brushed that on top... not a very thick layer. I wanted to let the orange show through. The crackle helped, but I rubbed some of the blue off as well. Then I took a burnt umber brown and rubbed some of that on to give it a stained look. I sanded some areas down to let more orange show through. 

I love it - super excited with the way it turned out. I really like the look of hanging it horizontally, not vertically. Anyway... hope you enjoyed it. I've got another one coming soon! 

Just have to give a shoutout to my mentor/ tutor, Wendy from Sawdust. I had the end image in my mind of how I wanted these frames to turn out, but she helped talk me through the between steps. She does this kind of stuff all the time and is so incredible at it! Check her out!

Mirrors and Banana Bread

Happy Friday! Has this week gone super slowly for anyone else?

2 things:
1. You know how I said on yesterday's post that I am a little noncommital when it comes to craft projects? Well... I've got some pictures for you on my FINISHED project!(Coming Monday...) Think old, oval, oak-framed mirrors, gone fantastically vintage/bohemian! (Squeal!) I'm so excited how they turned out...and proud of myself for just doing it.

2. Oh funny:

I (home)made some delish banana bread two nights ago and flipped on the TV to find some noise to keep me company. Oh, hello America's Next Top Model! I literally had to stop stirring because I was so distracted by these wanna-be models trying to walk on treadmills, in four-inch heels, while wearing designer, definitely-hard-to-wear, dresses. And all in an effort to test the ability to stay composed. Oh heavens... I was laughing my head off. Tripping, lunging, straddling... pure awkwardness. And if I was doing it, I'd be just as awkward (if not more), and by the end, surely would have been flat on my face.

Today...

Didn't Brigham Young say that once someone turns the ripe age of 25, he or she is a menace to society? Crap. Oh well. I'm turning 25 today. Ummm. No stopping it. Isn't this the age when you're supposed to stop getting zits or something? That sure would be nice. I get to (legally) rent a car now. Road trip to Cali, anyone? I'm almost completely financially stable. (Thanks Mom and Dad.) My biological clock hasn't totally run out of batteries. Not too many wrinkles, yet. (I'm forming smile lines, however.) Only five years away from turning 30. I have a great job and amazing friends. I'm pretty stinking lucky. My 25th year is going to be awesome.

Things to stay tuned for in AE Jones' 25th year:

1. Move into a new house...coming in August
2. New roommates and social scene... coming in August
3. Fantastically remade matching set of blue-framed mirrors...coming soon (I'm not committing to a date on this one...I have commitment issues when it comes to finishing projects.)
4. One trip to a new place...I just pulled that out of no where...but I'm already excited.
5. A new cell phone...coming beginning of July...could it be time for an iPhone?

Moon Collection

A few favorite pieces from my new favorite collection: Moon Collection

I love these two... could wear them with jeans or a pencil skirt...

I prefer to wear skirts that come to my knee, and because I'm 5'10", it's a little 

harder for me to find skirts that go to my knees... so for those of you who

 are shorter, please enjoy this darling dress for me. 

love. love. love. Could even pair this with the tan jacket above. 

Jobs...

First off, may I just say I love my job? I love my job. For the past couple months, I've been working on a project to publicize a new movie. Up to this point, I had never worked on any kind of publicity other than book publicity. The film biz (I think I can say "biz" now that I'm in the biz) is kind of different. And wow, did I learn a lot with this project. There were a few times where I felt like I was drowning in "I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing-and-I'm-going-to-fail-at-this-project-and-lose-my-job." Have you ever drowned in that? Good. I'm not alone. But, it all came together, beautifully, if I may say so myself. I work with some amazing people who made this project what it was. We had our big premiere event last night, and today, the movie releases in select theaters in Utah.

If you're interested, you can watch the movie trailer here or read a news article about the movie here. (We got live coverage for the 5:00 p.m. news, and had an interview taped for the 10 p.m. news.)

Palette combos

Are you constantly looking for great color combos for design projects? Well, I have a fun resource for you. I just found this fantastic blog on Pinterest and am now hooked. Kuler and this blog are now my best friends. Welcome to Color Collective.

Enjoy!

...of the world...

Is this not so awesome?!

I would sincerely, sincerely love to do this in my home. I might rework it a little bit and do stencil words on a large piece of canvas, then hang it up over my couch. That way, if I wanted to move the piece around (from bedroom to family room and back again), I could. I really enjoy moving my furniture around and changing up the feel for each room.

Source: notonthehighstreet.com via Ashley on Pinterest