Merry Happy. 2nd Edition: Photography

Cable Cars and Candy Bars

12:12 PM

This Christmas marked the third time Stephen and I traveled to California together. The first two trips were quick weekend-trips for a family reunion and our wedding reception, so we were excited that this time we would have a little more time to sightsee and show Stephen around. It worked out that we got a really cheap flight from Provo to San Francisco, so my mom, sister Miriam, and Tuva (an exchange student from Norway who is living with our family for the school year) met us in the city and we all spent the day there. As San Francisco is notoriously known as "Fog City," the views at our first stop, Coit Tower, weren't quite as spectacular as we had hoped. Fortunately, the fog burned off in the early afternoon, and it was a BEAUTIFUL day in the city.

Our San Francisco adventure included: soup and bread-bowls from Boudin, a visit to Lombard Street, an extremely entertaining man who took our picture on a cable car, street entertainers-including the one man band, free chocolate samples at Ghirardelli Square (where I ran into my good friend Noelle from high school!), seeing the buffalo in Golden Gate Park, "shopping" at Neiman Marcus, visiting all 7 floors at the Macy's in Union Square, driving through China Town, the Lefty Store on Pier 39, Fisherman's Warf, driving down Filbert Street, visiting the ~~pink~~ painted ladies ;), some delicious burgers and pizza from a hole-in-the-wall restaurant near Union Square, and the largest real Christmas tree I've ever seen in my entire life.

It was so much fun being able to experience San Francisco with Stephen by my side. It had be quite a while since I'd been in the bay area and it felt good to be back!

Until next time,

_ _ _

han

faith

Church Bells

8:50 PM

I've been kind of on a roll here with this blogging thing, so I figure I gotta keep it up in order to establish some sort of a habit. (I don't think that's a very sound theory, but I'm just going to go with it...)

I've edited some of the pictures that I took at Bryce and Melissa's wedding and was just bitten with the wedding bug and simply had to share the wedding joy with you all. :)
THEY'RE JUST SO CUTE.
(Bryce and Melissa, I mean, although I was pretty proud of some of the pics too. ;))

There is something seriously great about weddings. I've always enjoyed them, but now that I have my own wedding to reminisce about they're even better! I am so incredibly excited for Bryce and Melissa.

It was a perfect day.

PS Recognize that tassel hanging over the fireplace? It might look familiar from this post. :)

Friends

April Shower

8:21 PM

Saturday was the perfect rainy day for a bridal shower.

Chelsee's apartment and her vision (for the decorations etc) were PERFECT. We were both very pleased with how everything came together. We made the tassel hanging on the wall (with a little bit of help from our husbands ;)), it took some time but was actually surprisingly easy. Chels did most of the other decorating and I did the baking. I was a bit nervous about that since we wanted everything to be gluten free, but we found some great stuff! I used this recipe for the peanut butter cookies, Krusties Gluten Free Brownie mix (thanks Costco!!), and King Arthur Flour Gluten Free muffin mix. (Anyone else find it ironic that a flour company makes gluten free stuff?) Everything was easy peasy! And truthfully some of the best gluten free stuff I've ever had! The one problem was that when I made the brownies into little cupcakes the middle fell in...I wasn't expecting that! Luckily I thought to drop a dollop of cream cheese frosting in the middle and called it good!

So excited for this beautiful bride-to-be and her man who get married TOMORROW!

family

Sugar Plums.

12:07 AM

After a very exciting couple of days of travel (including a missed bus, a delayed flight, a missed layover, a debacle with finalizing tickets, and then a cancelled flight) Stephen and I were very happy to finally arrive at his parents' house Sunday night! :) I was amazed to see Stephen handle what could have been a very stressful situation with so much ease. I truly married a saint! (I was also extremely grateful for the generosity of my older brother Joseph who luckily lived close enough to where we were stranded that he was willing to pick us up and drop us off at the airport a couple of times, as well as let us stay at his house really last minute!)

Though that put this week off to a shaky start, tonight, while decorating the Christmas tree with Manheim Steamroller blasting in the background - it finally started to feel like Christmas! The Christmas spirit really came to life after a little Christmas Devotional, some Christmas songs around the piano, a family quintent of "Oh, Christmas Tree" on recorders, rounded off with the 4th annual "Sleigh Ride" Christmas tradition.

(The Christmas Eve before Stephen left on his mission, we decided to Skype with our families - his parents delighted us with their amazing piano duet of Sleigh Ride, and then my family "treated" them with a rendition of "The First Noel" on our chimes. :) Stephen made me promise that I would skype his parents on Christmas eve while he was on his mission "until I was engaged." I kept my promise ;))

Now bring on the sugar plum fairies!

Everyday Life

Stretch.

11:18 AM

I didn't think having a job was going to be an option this semester because of my crazy school schedule. For the month of November I will be going daily to Jordan School District and unable to work from 7:00 am - 4:00 pm.

BUT, when Stephen and I got back to Provo and real life started (we started talking about our budget)...I realized how much having a job could potentially help our newly-wed situation.

I decided to stop by the Media Lab in the library and and ask if by slim chance they were hiring. When I had been there a month previous (editing the video I made for our luncheon/reception) I overheard the employees talking about openings for fall. To my surprise, they were still looking to hire one more person.

With much love and encouragement from Stephen - I sent in a resume.

It was after I sent in the resume that I saw the job description posted on the BYU job's website:

"In your email please include how you would rate yourself in the following programs:
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Premier, After Effects, Audacity, Final Cut, and
Blender (or other 3d editing software)."

I literally laughed out loud - I'd only heard of a handful of those programs - let alone used them.

I realized then exactly how unqualified I was, and how silly I was for even applying. (Not to mention the fact that I can't even work from 7-4 during the month of November.)

That night I voiced to Stephen how I was feeling. He was completely unsympathetic. "Hannah. You are good at that stuff. I know you can do it," He said. (Rude.)

The next morning I received an email back from the supervisor that said, "I noticed you're a senior in EL ED, does that mean you're in practicum this semester?" (Oh great. I thought. Even if I'd had a shot at the job before I'm sure I won't now because of my crazy schedule.)

Miraculously, I was still asked to come in for and interview, and to my utmost disbelief - the following morning I was offered a job.

OH my tender mercies.

Am I intimated by what I'm supposed to be doing? Absolutely.
Am I intimidated by many of my coworkers who know far, far, FAR more than I do? Absolutely.
Am I intimidated by the film, graphic design, and advertising majors who frequent the lab? Absolutely.
BUT. Am I thrilled to learn about all of these incrediblely cool programs and expand the small skill set that I do have? Absolutely.

I am so grateful for this opportunity and blessing the Lord has given me to develop my talents.

I'm so grateful for Stephen encouraging me to do something that pushed me beyond my comfort zone. (It seems like he has a habit of helping me pursue my dreams - like when he gave me the courage to pursue Elementary Education.)