The One with the First Chapter of Breaking Dawn

Sorry I've had a one track mind lately. Twilight. Twilight. Twilight.

I was all stressed this morning about when and where I would go to read the first chapter of Breaking Dawn. Would the BYU Bookstore have it? What about Wal-Mart? Target? The bookstore in the mall? Would they even allow me to read it without buying it? Stores aren't even open 'til 10, should I go then or wait until after the rush? What if there are no more copies after the rush? Luckily I don't have to worry about all that anymore.

The first thing I did this morning was check amazon.com and sure enough, the cover was posted:
What does it mean what does it mean!? A large white queen with a small red pawn in the background...I hope it means Bella turns into a vampire.

Next, I did a search of Twilight to see if anyone had any ideas about what the cover means and I came across a website where someone had actually posted the first chapter. It will probably be removed because I don't think it's legal to copy text like that and post it on the internet. I'll probably have to remove my link to it, too. But of course I read it and I read the comments below it and this one fits me perfectly: "Crap. I shouldn't have read that. Now I'm gonna be all hysterical again with the countdown. I've just started to try to be normal again, yet I read this and now I'm morphed into twilight Kaylee (Paige) all over again. LOL."

It sounds really promising. If everything continues as it should, my hopes and dreams for the series will come true.

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The One with Spoilers

Please do not continue reading if you do not wish to know about a project I made to be published in the upcoming Holidays idea book, my feelings about the first chapter of Breaking Dawn or the amazing LOST finale...

1) I try to post something at least once a day, but sometimes more important things get in the way. I got home from work last night and had to make something for my other work. I can't show a full-on picture of the project because I'm not allowed to and unfortunately I won't be able to post a finished project pic until about September. But, here are some sneak peaks of the thing I made last night.

2) I looked at Stephenie Meyer's website this morning and was directed to the Entertainment Weekly website where they have an exclusive short excerpt from the first chapter of Breaking Dawn. Read it yourself here.

My feelings about it? I'm a little disappointed because Bella is not being very cooperative with how I want her to be. She should be in heaven because she's engaged to Edward. In this excerpt you find out that she's driving around in a new, fancy, tinted-window car, her black credit card is burning a hole in her pocket, she thinks everyone is staring at her and she thinks her engagement ring is drawing attention. (By the way, I googled "black credit card" because it's the second time I've come across that term in two days. Click on the first "black" to be directed to a snopes link where you can find out about the real black AmEx - very interesting!) If the rest of the first chapter doesn't get more positive I'm going to cry. Bella Bella Bella. Be happy!

I think reading the entire first chapter of Breaking Dawn tomorrow (ahhh!) is going to be more harmful than helpful with my obsession.

3) LOST. OMG. That was the best two hours of my life! I laughed, I cried, I got goosebumps. Pretty much every emotion the human body is capable of feeling I felt last night. Desmond and Penny were reunited - yay. Claire showed up in the middle of the night at Kate's house and was visiting Aaron - I screamed out loud, so scary! We finally found out who was in the coffin from the season finale of last year - Jeremy Bentham a.k.a. John Locke - curious. Ben successfully managed to move the island by crawling into an icy pit in the center of the island and turning a wheel - WTH? Who comes up with this stuff, it's great! My favorite lines - Locke: If you kill him every one on the boat is going to die! Ben: So? - LOL.

I still have many many questions. Who is Jacob? What is up with Jack's dad and his relationship with Jacob? Where is Clair? What's Jeremy Bentham/John Locke's story? Is Jin alive? Where did the island go? Did everyone who was on the island get moved along with it (like Juliette and Sawyer)? What is the whole Mr. Charles Widmore deal? (I hate Alan Dale by the way, he's been in so many TV shows/movies that I love. The X-Files. The OC. 24. The new Indiana Jones movie. He can't just be bouncing around from character to character...grrr.)

I need to contact my brother and ask him what his thoughts are. He predicted this season would be flashforwards - correct. He believed Jack's dad had something to do with Jacob - correct again. It's like he can see the future of Lost. Maybe he's tapped into Desmond's skills.

Hope I didn't ruin anything for anyone!

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The One with My 23rd Birthday Pictures

I rarely take pictures of myself, but I thought today would be a nice day to commemorate so I asked Chris to snap some photos on our deck. Here I am as a brand new 23-year-old. I can't decide if I like black & white or color photos better.

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The One with "It's Your Birthday!"

Happy Birthday to Paige! Yep, today is her birthday. I wanted to wish her a happy day and tell her how much I love her and how happy I am to be married to her. Malipayon nga Kaadlawan! And many more...
"Go Shorty, it's your birthday. We gonna party like it's your birthday....."

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The One with Allie's 15th Birthday

Today is my little sister's 15th birthday! She totally stole my thunder. My birthday is tomorrow. Apparently there's nothing better to do in late August... But in all seriousness, Happy Birthday Allie!

I was 8 years old when Allie was born so we've never gone to the same school or even been in Young Women's together. It's only been the last couple of years that we've started having common interests - clothes, boys, shopping, scrapbooking... In fact, whenever I go home I always wear her clothes because they're cuter than mine.

My very own mini me.

Love you Allie!

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The One with Indiana Jones

You know you're sitting too close when you can count the pixels on the screen. There were five billion, seven hundred and sixty two million, eight hundred and fifty five thousand, three hundred and eighty two.

I give the new Indiana Jones movie a 7 out of 10. I think George Lucas was trying to push the Star Wars themes a little too much. But I really like that they brought back Marion from the first movie and Shia LaBeouf is my favorite.

Oh oh oh. During the 20 minutes of previews I had a mild heart attack! I saw the Twilight movie trailer on the big screen! Such a huge upgrade from my 15" laptop. How many days left? Too many...

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The One with the State Quarters

I have been collecting the state quarters since they first started coming out in 1999. I can't believe it's been almost nine years! Where has the time gone? I don't work in retail so I find most of the new quarters when we exchange bills for coins at the laundromat. I'm missing the Oklahoma quarter, so if you find one before I do, I'll trade ya. Only four more quarters then I'm having this thing framed.

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The One with the Wall O Photos

My Dad got me three of these cool wall o photos from Urban Outfitters for my birthday so I filled them with my favorite pictures from London. There's no wall space left in our house except for in the Pet/Scrap room so that's where they're hanging until we move some day. I'd like to fill the entire wall with photos and I certainly have enough pictures to do it. I think I have over 20 gigabytes of pictures (mine and about 7 other people's) from London.
Please ignore the camera flash, this room is always dark and the picture is all grainy when I use my camera inside.

Since I'm about 4 years behind in my scrapbooking, this will have to do until I get around to scrapbooking this time in my life.

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The One with the Student Teaching Flashback

I went back to Pleasant Grove High School this morning (where I did my student teaching) to say goodbye to my favorite class. It's funny that this group of students turned out to be my favorite because the very first day I met them I was terrified. They were loud, rowdy, disrespectful and mean. But then something happened. I gave a lesson about Conceptual Art, a subject I'm very passionate about, and they really got into it. Some of the students came up with amazing projects:

This girl made a t-shirt with hand prints and words in different languages all over it to resemble how we are "owned" by our parents, the bank, the government, etc.While giving his presentation, this student would block out his words with an ear-splitting horn. It was all about censorship.
This student filled a tape sculpture of himself (made in a different class) with things that represent him and even went so far as to put food in the stomach area and literature in the brain area. It was a physical representation of "what is on the inside is what counts" and how you can't know everything about someone at first glance.This student had the most brilliant presentation of them all - not to mention she made it up on the spot. She walked around the classroom and as she was talking she drew arrows on post it notes and put them on the floor. We were all entranced by her movement and what she was doing so we couldn't take our eyes off of her. She made the conclusion that art is all about a reaction. She certainly got a reaction out of us by making us watch her walk around the room and wondering what the heck she was doing. It's true, sometimes artists just want to get a reaction out of us so they'll make obscene artworks like earrings out of baby fetuses or cover a skull with diamonds.
So this morning I showed up right as first period was ending and the halls were packed. When I walked in the door the teacher said she had to go to the bathroom so I sat in her chair like I used to. It was funny to watch the students filter in. About 90% of them did double-takes after looking at me. Then they smiled and said, "OH HI MRS. EVANS!" Since Ms. Christensen wasn't there, they assumed I was the substitute. I chatted with the students and it was fun. When Ms. Christensen didn't show up after awhile I thought she wasn't going to come back - which would have been fine and actually pretty funny. But she did come back and I talked to the whole class for awhile about what I've been up to since they last saw me in December. I told them they were the only class that I came back to see, which was the honest truth. They felt special. I said good bye and went back to work.

I'm glad that Sari (Ms. Christensen) and I keep in touch. She makes being an art teacher look like fun. If she hadn't been my mentor, I probably wouldn't want to be an art teacher some day. Thankfully that won't be my last time at PGHS, I get to go back to pick up my tiles that I glazed.

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The One with Some Things You Didn't Know About Me

Some of these are more like confessions...

1) My ears are slightly crooked. It drive me nuts when I'm wearing sunglasses. They're tilted.

2) I have a disease called Hyperhydrosis: excessive sweating, often present on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, face, and armpits. Luckily my face and armpits aren't too bad. It's my feet and hands that give me problems. I ALWAYS wear socks and I struggle writing because my pen slips out of my hand. I don't own flip flops or open toed shoes because I'd have to go sockless. When I was little my piano teacher called me Sweaty Betty. Luckily, when I saw this shop while walking the streets in London:I didn't feel so bad about my nickname any more.

3) I listen to hard rock. Bring on the screaming, yelling, guitars and double-bass. I've tried to phase it out of my musical library because I know it's not good for my soul, but I can't help it. I went to noisy local band concerts in high school and now I'm hooked - for life. My favorite rock band is Linkin Park (pre-Minutes to Midnight which blows), followed by (in no particular order except alphabetical) Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Deftones, Finch, Papa Roach, A Perfect Circle, Rage Against The Machine, Staind, Story of the Year, Three Days Grace, Thrice, and Tool. I am a country girl at heart, but when we moved to Washington when I was 10 I got made fun of so bad that I stopped listening to it for a few years. But I will always love Trisha Yearwood, Shania Twain and Faith Hill.

4) I had a little rebellious stage my freshman year of college when I painted my nails black and got my upper ear pierced. These are actual pictures from this weird time period. I felt guilty about the piercing after a few months and took it out. And I've decided my nails look horrible with any color on them except white tips.

5) I am a neat freak. Everything has to be organized, clean and put away at all times or I get cranky. My closet is organized by color.

6) I have Triskaidekaphobia - the fear of the number 13. Lots of bad things have happened to me surrounding that number so now I'm honestly and truly superstitious.

7) When I see any kind of road kill, my heart aches. I wanted to be a veterinarian from when I was about 5 until 18 because I love animals so much. I took a chemistry class at BYU and failed miserably so I decided that wasn't the route for me. I still have a soft and tender spot for animals.

8) Chris and I are going to name our first son Fox after Fox Mulder. Hopefully he grows up to be good looking enough that he can pull it off, otherwise I'd feel really bad for him.

9) I was a Harry Potter fan long before it was popular. My Grandpa gave me the first book to read for my birthday in 1999 (it came out in 1998). The fad started a couple years later.

10) Movie theater popcorn gives me headaches. Just the smell of it is nauseating. Even thinking about it!

11) Red is my absolute favorite color and I can remember exactly when it became so. I was babysitting with my friend Courtney in 2001 and the lady's phone was the most vibrant color of red I'd ever seen. I fell in love instantly. This is a picture of my freshman dorm room. Count how many things are red.
Today I have a red phone, red wallet/planner, red camera, and if iPods came in red and weren't engraved with U2 stuff I'd have one of those, too.

12) I have more hair on the left side of my head. It's very obvious when I put it in pigtails, which is never.

14) I wear Mary Kay make up exclusively and have been since I was a freshman in college. It's the best make up in the world and lasts forever. (You'd think I was a consultant!)

15) The only time I've ever had stitches, besides after operations, was when I was about 7 and I went out to the garage to get something from the freezer and a gallon of apple juice fell on my head. I just remember it was very bloody.

16) I have a scar on the bottom of my left foot in the shape of a half circle. I was about 4 (?) and was chasing my cousin around the Christmas tree. I stepped on an ornament and it went up into my foot. I just remember it was very bloody.

17) I've never broken any bones (knock on wood).

18) I have never been pulled over when I was driving (knock on wood). I have been in the car when it's been pulled over, but I wasn't the driver so it wasn't my fault.

19) I've read the entire Work and the Glory series three times through.

20) I have no idea what my natural hair color is. I've been highlighting it, bleaching it blonde or dying it dark brown since I was in 7th grade. Once I even put red streaks in my hair and some kid said it looked like a snow cone...

21) I wore colored contacts in 9th grade because I hated my poopy brown eyes. Some days I wore green contacts, but mostly I wore blue. How shallow was I?

22) Is my favorite number and has been since I was in junior high and I don't know why.

23) Is how old I'm turning next Wednesday! Wink wink nudge nudge :)

24) I get a lot of inspirational ideas as I'm falling asleep. Luckily I can remember them when I wake up or I'd have to keep a notebook on my night stand.

25) I have a hard time sitting still and doing nothing like watching TV (except LOST of course). I can watch a lot of movies in one day, as long as I'm doing something at the same time like scrapbooking or cleaning or editing. So I guess I don't "watch" a lot of movies, I "listen" to a lot of movies.

26) I have been an ebay member since 1998. Yep, that's a whole decade.

That's all my weirdness in a nutshell.

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The One with Widgets

I have just discovered Widgets. How cool are these Twilight movie and Breaking Dawn book countdowns? Actually, they kind of make me depressed. 73 days is so long until Breaking Dawn. 205 days until the movie! I absolutely cannot wait that long.

Would you give up 73 days of your life for it to be August 2nd? I have a lot of plans between now and then, BUT, I desperately want to know the fate of Bella and Edward... It's a toss up.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

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The One with the Home Made Bookmarks

I was looking on the Design Crush blog and found this super easy, super neat, super cheap idea. Although, if you're like me, you don't even need a bookmark cuz you read the entire book in one sitting... I'm not planning on repeating that ordeal when I read the Twilight books again, so these bookmarks will come in handy.

Take an envelope that's doomed for the trashcan and cut off one corner (or all four) at a 45 degree angle. Doodle whatever you want on it. Slide it onto the corner of the page you stop at to bookmark it. As soon as I check the mail today I'm going to make me some of these. I'll post pictures of my bookmarks as soon as they're in existence. If you make some, email me pictures and I'll post them too.

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The One with Eclectic Frames

I found this idea of a photo montage in a magazine once upon a time. When we first moved into this apartment I went to a few thrift stores and found a collection of empty frames for real cheap. We also received a lot of frames as wedding presents so this was an easy way to make the most of them. This is the frame collage in the bedroom. The largest center piece is an original artwork by Chris' high school art teacher Mr. Sarmo. It was a wedding gift and it's the coolest pen/ink drawing ever. Now that I see this picture everything looks a little crooked huh? I'll have to go straighten out the lopsided frames. I like how some of the frames don't even have pictures in them. A couple of the pieces are mirrors. My favorites are the gaudy gold frames - they totally don't match with the rest, yet they do... This is the collection above our kitchen table. This is more wedding/engagement picture themed. A couple of the frames are still picture-less. I like adding a random colored frame here and there like the green frame. It adds a nice twist.

So, if you have a bare wall in your house and you don't know what to do with it, try making a photo collage. It's easy to do and you probably have tons of frames/mirrors sitting around and taking up much needed space. And visit a thrift store to pick out some frames to add a pop of color and interest.

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The One with Magic

Thanks to my friend Tasha for forwarding me this puzzler.

1 - Grab a calculator
2 - Key in the first three digits of your phone number (not the area code)
3 - Multiply by 80
4 - Add 1
5 - Multiply by 250
6 - Add the last 4 digits of your phone number
7 - Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again
8 - Subtract 250
9 - Divide by 2

DO YOU RECOGNIZE THE ANSWER? (If not, make sure you are pressing "=" after each step and retry.)

I know this is probably a simple math problem. You put in all the numbers of your phone number so it's not like the calculator "guesses". It's just a matter of adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying to get your phone number. Still, it's a fun trick.

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The One with Skipping Christmas

Here's another book review:

3. Title & Author: Skipping Christmas by John Gisham (177 pages)
Genre: Fiction-Comedy
Completed: 4 May 2007
Summary & Review: The Kranks, whose only daughter will not be with them for Christmas, decided to put their money and time to better use by forgoing Christmas altogether and going on a cruise. They face extreme opposition in their attempt to skip the holiday and end up scrambling to rejoin it once their daughter surprises them with a visit accompanied by her Preuvian fiancee who couldn't wait to see a traditional American and Krank family Christmas.

The novel is much better than the movie Christmas with the Kranks and had several passages that made me laugh - especially the sections with Mr. Krank at a tanning salon. Grisham was clever with words and astute with his observations of some of the silly things about Christmas in American.

Rating: 7.5

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The One with Home Sickness

I moved out to Utah in August of 2003 to go to college and haven't lived back home since. Some students move back home for Spring and Summer terms so for about about 4 months, but I've always had a job that I couldn't afford to leave for that long, or when Chris and I first met I really didn't want to leave him :) One plus to staying in Utah during those 4 months is there's noticeably less traffic.

My family lives in Redmond, Washington. There is nothing like a sunny day in Washington.
There are times when I miss my house, I miss my room, I miss my cat. I miss the trees, the rain (maybe not so much the rain...) and Redmond Town Center. I miss seeing my family every single day.
I wouldn't trade my life right now to be back in my teens, living at home. But I am very glad that we're going to spend a whole week in Washington this July!

Things I Want To Do In Washington (in no particular order)
- Visit the cabin in Lake Wenatchee
- Eat Thai food at Mae Phim in Seattle
- Hang out with Bri
- Eat at Fat Burger
- Eat at Thai Ginger
- See an IMAX movie in Seattle
- Go to the top of the Space Needle
- Sea-doo on Lake Sammamish
- Visit the EMP
- Go on a walk around the neighborhood
- Go to Pike's Place Market
- Do a session at the temple
- Ride on the zipline in our back yard
- Visit my dad at Google and eat until we're stuffed
- Eat Mikey's Brooklyn Bagels (mmmm)
- Say hi to Malm at Yuen Lui
- Show Chris my high school
- Drive to Carnation and see what there is to see
- Go to a concert at the White River Amphitheater

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The One with Paige's Project - Part II

I posted Part I on April 21st and I'm finally posting Part II. That's because this project has taken a nightmarishly long time to complete! In all my time of bookbinding, I have never had a single book take this long.It all started on April 5th when I went up to Salt Lake City to hang out with my cousin while Chris went to Priesthood session. We ate dinner then we went to the Gateway mall so I could drop my wedding ring off at J.Brooks Jewelers where my aunt conveniently works to get it cleaned and dipped in rhodium (it looks brand spanking new!) We stopped in the most amazing (and overpriced...) store in the world - Anthropologie. I saw these tiles in a clearance basket and wanted to turn them into book covers. Mark Pollei (a BYU bookbinding expert) once said, "As long as it has holes, it can be turned into a book." I asked my dad if it's possible to drill holes through tiles and he said yes I could using special masonry drill bits. So I went to Home Depot and bought some tile/glass bits.

Once at home I went through all of my scrapbooking papers and picked out sheets I thought coordinated with the covers. See the picture above for my selection. Then I went to work drilling holes through the tiles.

Let me tell you - it takes time, patience and man power to drill holes through tile. I'd say it took about 20 minutes to drill a single hole. Not only that, but my cordless drill lasts for 15 minutes. I have two batteries, so I could get one hole done at a time before I was out of juice. And, both of my drill bits were dull after drilling only six holes. I went back to Home Depot, returned the dull drill bits and got new ones that were supposedly better (they're not).

Unfortunately, both of my tiles broke after drilling about three holes through each. There went $8 and lots of my precious time... I asked Sari (the high school teacher I student taught with) if I could stop by her classroom and make my own tiles. She had the genius idea of putting holes in the clay tiles before they was fired. Duh Paige!

But my heart was still set on using the same tiles so one day while Chris was hanging out with his best friend Carlos they went up to the Gateway. I made him go to Anthropologie and buy six more tiles. Extras just in case they broke again. This time, with more patience and care, I successfully drilled four holes through two tiles without breaking them. Yay!

Next, I cut all the pieces of paper to the right size and poked holes in the creases for binding. I didn't have the right colored waxed-linen thread so I looked through my ribbon stash to see if I had a suitable alternative. I found some blue colored string that matched and waxed it myself. I thought I had just enough.

I spent about three hours binding the book, only to realize that I didn't have enough thread. I took the whole thing apart and wallowed.

I asked Chris to go to the BYU Stock Room to buy me the right colored and right amount of waxed linen thread. They weren't open for another week so I had to wait. Once I had the thread I just needed to find the time to bind the book (again). Last weekend was no good, I was reading the Twilight books like a mad woman. I'm still up in the clouds over Bella and Edward. I need to see a therapist because I think I'm obsessed.

Finally I found some time last night while watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3 to bind my book. I didn't use signatures, just single folded sheets, which made the book really fat.What am I going to use it for? I have no idea. It's just pretty to look through.

Also, I did go to Pleasant Grove High a couple weeks ago to make my own tiles. I went back after they were fired to glaze them. Now I'm just waiting to pick them up and I can make another book. I post all my books on paigebooks.googlepages.com

And that's my story of this project.

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The One with "I'm Famous"

If you go to your local scrapbook store, craft store or whatever, look for the June/July 2008 issue of Paper Crafts and turn to page 29 and what do you see... ME! It's not the most flattering picture but it's still pretty neat to see myself in an advertisement. That's even my very own handwriting!!

This is supposed to make you want to go buy the new Spring & Summer line by American Crafts. Do it. Do it.

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The One with the Twilight Series

Why haven't I blogged in the last couple days? Because EVERY SINGLE SPARE SECOND I had I was readingandand
I have heard about these books before - mostly on my friends' Facebook pages they say this is their favorite series. Then Sarah and Marlene at work always talk about them. Alisha told me about them once upon a time. But I just don't have time to read, and frankly...Vampires, really?

Sarah brought in her copy of Twilight on Friday for me to take home. So, Saturday afternoon, after I finished cleaning all the cages and the apartment, I grabbed the book and sat out on the deck to indulge. And boy did I ever indulge. I literally did not put the book down until I absolutely had to at 6:30pm when we were sitting in the movie theater seats and the lights went out. We saw Iron Man - great movie, I highly recommend it. Then as soon as the lights went back on I was back in business.

I finished Twilight on Sunday morning then had to find someone with the second book so I wouldn't resort to breaking the Sabbath and buying it at Wal-Mart. Luckily my cousin Maren had it so I picked it up and started New Moon. I started at 2pm, took a break to eat lunch at the Warners for a few hours, then I sat on my couch and read from 6pm until I was finished at 11:30pm. I did not get up once those entire five and a half hours. Not to go to the bathroom, not to eat, not to change. There was nothing to distract me from the world's best romantic thriller.

All I have to say is: if Bella doesn't change into a vampire by the end of the 4th book that's coming out in August, I'm going to DIE!

(PS - this is why I have a hard time reading. As soon as I pick up a book, I cannot put it down and other things, more important things, get put on the backburner...)

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The One with Paige's Genius Idea

I love these letter stickers by Making Memories and use them on practically every single project. I'm almost out and the big problem is I can't find them in stores or online anywhere! This isn't even the right picture of the exact product I love, they're that rare. Sooo... I made my own, for free, there's a ton more of each letter, AND, if I ever run out, I can just print more!


First, in Microsoft Word I typed the alphabet, one letter repeated per line. Then I copied the page into Adobe Illustrator and changed the font to Times New Roman. Next, I expanded all the letters so they became objects instead of letters and so I could move them around individually. Then I moved each letter up and down for a more ransom look. Finally, I printed the sheet on sticker paper. Now when I need a letter, I just cut it off my sheet. Genius! :)

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