{ Boba tea }

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Sometimes a surprise boba tea at 10pm from a sweet friend can make your day, even if your day was already great. Especially when you are under the impression that there is only one place with boba tea in Provo and that it is closed for the summer. Not so friends, not so.

{ Nicki the model }

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Pictured above in tiny scale is my friend Tim, who happens to be auditing a photography class at BYU this semester (note: in the picture, he is messing with his home-made light-diffusion box). Tim had a portrait assignment to do the other day and asked if I could be his model. I said sure, and voila; I became a model.

The original plan was to take some photos at a waterfall near our house, but we opted randomly for this field instead, and I am glad. It was so beautiful! And totally worth the itchy legs it left me with. Here are some highlight shots from the hour-long session.

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{ Nature at one of its finests }

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I love, with fervency, the beauty of white cows. Last weekend I went to a friend's wedding in Kamas/Oakley Utah, and I drove past a field filled with entirely white cows. Despite my running a few minutes late, I most definitely stopped to grab a pic before I continued on my way. So so pretty.

{ I love kayaking. And the 4th of July }

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I'm not sure I'm actually allowed to blog about events that happened almost two weeks ago, but I thought I'd go for it anyway. Primarily becuase 4th of July this year was killer. And secondarily becuase 4th of July this year was killer.

The 2009 holiday included climbing with my cute 15-year-old niece, escaping to a friends cabin for an evening (you're amazing Charisse!), kayaking in a mountain lake, having family in town, enjoying a picnic-lunch at Bridal Veil park with said family, and watching fireworks via the side of the mountain behind my house with friends.

My favorite activity of the weekend was, hands down, kayaking. Not just because it's outdoorsy, but because it is AMAZING! Now, I love being outside, and doing fun things (obviously), but kayaking is within my top 3 favorite outside-things to do. One day I hope to have a home next to a large body of water so I can start my mornings with kayaking while it's still still outside. So peaceful sounding, huh? And freezing at certain times of the year, I'm sure, but I think that's combatable.


< Thursday >
climbing with niece Megan and friend Katy


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My niece Megan and I at the mouth of Provo canyon before we went up to climb. Megany has recently become mildly adventurous, and when she comes out here for college in two years, I plan to help her become very adventurous. Baby steps.

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Babe-of-a-niece, Megan, climbing for her first time.



< Friday >
cabining and kayaking


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Me and Charisse at the lake we kayaked across in the Oakley mountains. I don't actually know if that's what the mountains are called, but Oakley is the name of town we were in, and those are the mountains the town is in. Either way -- beautiful setting.

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Chad trying to put together a troublesome oar. Notice the awesome face.

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Nicki Schmidt in the kayak. Could you imagine starting your mornings like this!? Oh man!

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At one point in the kayaking adventure we decided to make a kayak train for two reasons: #1 -- fun. #2 -- to tow Shirene's boat so she could do some triathlon-training swimming. This was the front of the train.

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This was the back of the train (my kayak was in the middle).

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And this was cute Shirene getting into the water to start her swim.

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We soon found out, as we were hauling the boats back onto the shore after we got back to the edge of the water, that kayaking in the shade in the mountains makes you freezing. So, we thawed out in the bath when we got back to the cabin.

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I think Shirene's lips were purple-toned for at least 20 minutes after we got back.


< Saturday >
4th of July picnic with select family members in town


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Driving up the canyon with my niece Jena (left) and our adopted family member Alaina (Jena's best friend)

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Storm accompanied us on the drive. Yes, she is wearing a yellow rain coat.

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Lovely tree we picniced under once we got to Bridal Veil park. Thank you shade tree.

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Jena relaxing on the picnic blanket.

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Me wearing Alaina's glasses for funness' sake.

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And the whole family on a bridge over the Provo River after the picnic. I should have gotten more candids.

From left: Alaina, Nicki, Alda (my sister's mission companion and another adopted family member), my sister Tracey and her husband Orin.

{ 3,700 miles+car+4.25 days = letterpress }

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I know it's usually just a catchy little prase, but me and Kates ACTUALLY drove half way across the country last week. Provo to Fort Collins, Co. to Chicago, Ill. to Ann Arbor, Mich. And back. All to retrieve my lovely, new tabletop letterpress! Turns out, shipping isn't recommended for these bad boys becuase cast-iron is brittle and often cracks or breaks in shipping. Hence the road trip.

You might think that driving for almost 4 days straight (no worries, we did enjoy Chicago for a few hours Friday afternoon, and we spent a couple hours in Ann Arbor) would be tedious, boring and unenjoyable, but no! I know...I was as shocked as you! The trip was surprisingly pleasant, and left me with far more new loves than I ever could have anticipated.

First new love: Fireflies They are the most magical little bugs on earth. I definitely pulled off to the side of the freeway at my first site of them to enjoy their glow-y bodies outside the view of the car. Man...what a great invention.

Second new love: Iowa My good friend, Amy, currently lives in Iowa for grad school. When she first told me where she was going, I never could have imagined what little gem this state is! It just so beautiful. Green rolling hills accompanied by a blue sky with whispy clouds. Tons of lucious trees lining the freeway. Not to mention decorated water towers everywhere (my favorite was painted yellow with a smiley face on in -- thank you Adaire, Iowa) and beautiful warm summer nights with a touch of humidity that I surprisingly enjoyed. And, it has fireflies.

Third favorite: Chicago To break up the 4-day road trip, Kates and I decided to stop into Chicago to look around since neither of us had been there, and it was only like a 45-minute detour from our route to Ann Arbor. When some of my friends heard we were stopping in Chicago they, without fail, said things like "I love Chicago!!" or "That is my FAVORITE city!" or "Take me with you!!" I can now see why. We may have only gotten 4.5 hours in the city, but it had all the charm of a big city (big buildings, big parks, lots of people, good shopping) without the dirtiness, smelliness or slight cold-shoulderness of other big cities. Plus, it's right at the edge of Lake Michigan! Totally enjoyable. We ended up just walking around, up streets lined with big buildings, through the "Taste of Chicago" street fair going on, around parks and through fountains and by statues. And I bought a water-filled glittery bouncy ball in the gift shop at the Art Institute of Chicago. Definitely a well-spent 4.5 hours.

Fourth favorite: Ann Arbor, Mi. Did you know Ann Arbor is charming? A cute little organic town with a brick-lined downtown, tall trees, fun shops, great eateries and a small-town feel? Totally true. And. Bonus; fireflies. Ann Arbor was the previous location of my press (it is now located in my garage) so we got to Ann Arbor, picked up the press from the nice man Tony, then headed downtown to eat dinner at Zingermann's, a charming Deli, bakery and store. Turns out we weren't hungry for dinner when we got there though, so we just ate some cheese samples, gelato and bought some baked goods for the road. On our way out of town we spotted a fireworks show that was part of the town's summer festival, and pulled over to the side of a fire-fly filled field to watch it and finish off the night before driving back to Chicago. Perfect way to end a pleasing evening.

Our trip also included a couple books on tape, a couple DVDs, a stop at Winter Quarters to view the visitor center, cemetery and LDS temple there, and two nights and a Sunday brunch with my family in Colorado. Not too shabby for a 4ish-day trip.

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The letterpress after getting it home. That skiddy-wompy "neet" card was my first attempt at using the letterpress. I have a feeling I'm only on the way up from here. For the record, the press (and it's extra components) fit perfectly into the back of the Subaru.

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Wind farm in Wyoming. Don't you think windmills are beautiful?

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View from a gas station in Nebraska. Also beautiful. Just not AS beautiful as Iowa.

NOTE: the midwest sells partially blended ethanol-enriched gasoline -- both better for the environment and cheaper (and just as fuel-efficient in my car). Win-win-win.

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Cloud Gate in Chicago -- it's the shiny silver statue that looks like a giant bean.

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The inside of cloud gate is hollow, so it affords cool reflective views like this.

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We may or may not have laid down underneath it to see what it looked like.

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Beautiful little boardwalk, oasis park in the city. It looked like a zen-garden walk, complete with feet-dipping stream. Katy's sister, Melissa (on Katy's right) met up with us for the Chicago-Ann Arbor leg of the trip.

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Katy taking advantage of said feet-dipping stream.

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Lunch -- Chicago deep dish, stuffed Pizza at Giordanos. They don't mess around.

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Candid at one of the fountains near cloud gate in Chicago. There were SO many people walking around to cool off in this fountain (mostly kids, but I think we fit in OK). We took a posed pic too, but I like candids better, so I included this random shot taken by a nice stranger instead.
From left to right: Melissa, Nicki, katy

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On the drive back -- the Winter Quarters visitor center.

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Winter Quarters cemetery (it was lovely)

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Winter Quarters temple...also, obviously, lovely.

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Other good news, I completed my laptop cover on this trip. Two 13-hour driving days made for some good crocheting time.

I am just realizing I didn't take any pics while I was with my family. Silly. Also, all the pics of Ann Arbor I took are on Melissa camera and I have yet to get them from her. I will post some if ever they get into my hands, just so you can see the quaint loveliness for yourself.

{ Best wedding video ever }

ildiko + aiden's sde // graydon hall TO from StillMotion on Vimeo.


One day, when I get married, my wedding video will look like this. Unless they cost a million dollars, then I will just have to pretend. Nonetheless, so worth appreciating right now.

The couple in the video is as follows:
woman= lawyer with a modeling career on the side
man= doctor who mixes music on the side

What the beautiful couple?

(NOTE: the song in the video is Into Your Hideout by Pilot Speed)