When it rains, it pours. And when it rains fire, one will inevitably get burned at some point. In the midst of all this fiery rain, I’ve forgotten that water also falls from the sky. Water that has the power to lessen the wildfire around me. I am thankful for:
- A job that pays me.
- Friends who listen.
- My family.
- All my guy friends… they take such good care of me.
- Sunshine.
- My home teacher.
- My roommates. I’ve formed some great friendships over the past month.
- The Atonement.
- My flip-flops.
- My dog.
- Sunsets.
- Smiles.
- Love.
Life isn’t so bad when you take it piece by piece. It’s the small victories that make the difference.
[RACHEL]
Filed under: life... | Tags: bonfire, engineers, firewalking, fun!, weekend
Sometimes, when you go to a bonfire with an Engineer who knows a lot about heat transfer, you end up doing crazy things like this… because you know about heat transfer too, and it just makes sense, dangit!
I really did walk across hot coals.
So yeah. Completely unscathed… although some of my buddies did end up with a few blisters. I just got a mysterious purpley-brown spot on the side of my foot, and even though I scrubbed the shizzle out of my foot, it’s still there.
It was an awesome time out in the canyon. Just a little group of guys and girls playing Frisbee, eating dirty chips, eating clean chips, intentionally and unintentionally flirting, roasting marshmallows, playing with fire, and peer pressuring each other into walking on insanely hot coals. At midnight, it started snowing, so we called it a night. Yes, it was great. Bonfires with engineers are fun.
[RACHEL]
Filed under: School, food, life... | Tags: acorn squash, cooking, drafting, School, tired, winter, winter squash
Let it die, buddy…. That’s all I’m going to say about the situation at hand. Let it die.
This week I learned that drafting in Adobe Illustrator SUCKS. Yeah. It’s bad. I also learned that AutoDesk Inventor is an amazing program. If I ever meet the man who invented it I will kiss him on the lips. That program would have saved my skins had I known about it more than 24 hours before my project was due. I kind of lost. Oh well… you win some and you lose some… that’s life. In this case it’s sleep lost 
Winter is here… and it’s only October. I am a little sad about that. It is ridiculously cold outside, and it kind of reminds me of the midnight escapades to the swimming pool back in childhood Christmas vacation days… or maybe bodysurfing in the coldest water you could possibly imagine. Cold or wimpy? Probably both. In any case, I’m not emotionally ready for the wool pea coat collecting dust in the back of the closet.
There is one thing I am happy about that has to do with cooler weather… Winter squash!!!! Sure, it’s sad that zucchinis and yellow squashes getting increasingly nasty as the season ends (had my last zucchini for lunch today), but winter squashes are a nice move towards nutty, savory, cozy dishes that are so nice to eat as the weather gets freezing. Consequently, I had my first taste of winter squash this week. Amazing. Bought myself a little acorn squash, halved and gutted it, then rubbed it with olive oil and sea salt. After, I stuffed it with a mixture of diced onions, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, mozzarella cheese (would have used Parmesan if I had it), panko bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, and mushrooms. Chicken would be a nice addition but I wasn’t in the mood. Baked it for an hour at 350 and it was absolutely heavenly, especially paired up with a side of brown rice. If I had a picture, I’d post it… but believe me it was amazing. It was like an angel. Sorry that I’m not in the habit of snapping shots of my cooking creations.
Dying to try out a butternut squash risotto… and it might just get a mention and a photo later on. Yeah, I love winter squash.
[RACHEL]
mmmmm...
Filed under: School, life... | Tags: communications, creativity, design, function, graphic design, imagination
In my Print Publishing class, I have to make a book. I took on the task of writing it as well… thought I’d get it out there. This is the intro…
If engineers are the reason the world hasn’t fallen apart yet, then designers are the reason why it looks so good. Design is everywhere we look. It’s in places as obvious as the magazine on the coffee table, and as subtle as the palm frond in the backyard. I think that God was on to something when he made everything to look the way it does- He made things beautiful in addition to functional, and then he blessed us with imagination. He gave us the power to take what He has made to enrich our lives with both function and beauty.
Imagine for a second, a world whose objects both natural and man-made were created solely with function in mind. Also imagine that the genius of Scandinavian design, which skillfully and artistically celebrates function, does not exist. The world we’d be living in would be one without imagination. Would our flowers look beautiful? Would they just be blobs of pollen for the bees to feast on? And what would the bees look like? Would I be wearing hot pink boat shoes? Probably not. I venture to say that there would be some type of thing protecting my feet, but it certainly wouldn’t be hot pink boat shoes. On that note, would hot pink even exist?
Life is a design. I am a design. I was created by the dictates of God and my DNA. That is why I look the way I do. Every morning I wake up and decide how I want to appear and thus feel. I choose my hairstyle, my makeup, my shirt, shoes, pants, and accessories. If I want, I can look like a skater. I can also look like a teacher, or a librarian, a goth, or a runner. I can also look like an easy-going 21-year-old who’s brave enough to wear hot pink boat shoes. Believe it or not, there is rhetoric in the clothes I wear, the shoes I choose, the way I do my hair, and the expression on my face. I am a design. I send a message. My clothing choices can make me appear smarter or not, authoritative or not, playful or not, attractive or not… this list can go on forever. My visual choices help others to feel that message I have created.
Design allows us to make emotional connections to the things we see. Line, color, shape, balance, rhythm, space, unity, and texture all work together to create a visual experience. They take straight information and make it real and beautiful. They create a feeling for the viewer to take away in memory.
[RACHEL]
