Real Life vs. Renderings

Junior year of design studio we did this design project for Jennifer Post (shown below)



She has her own design firm in NYC, and does amazing work. We designed an entire pre-war apartment in Paris in a couple of weeks. This was my second kitchen I had ever designed. I used Zebrano wood, one of my favorites.

Here is what it looked like below:



I know, the hand rendering isn't one of my best...but it was with my most HATED Prismacolor markers and YES the floor is WAY too dark. Looking back now, I laugh at what I knew about kitchens. Basically nothing...I just did what I thought looked the best. Turns out this kitchen is completely incorrect (in terms of production) but we'll pretend it is all good.

I also used manufactured wood on the door of the powder room of this project, and I still to this day want this door in my future home.



Fast forward 3 years. I was asked to design the Roth Display at the Roth Showroom on Foothill. It was a pretty fun project and even though I didn't get to pick the appliances....I got to do Madagascar Zebrano wood. Pretty funny that I look back on my past projects and I tend to stick with the same type of materials.



I thought this was pretty ironic. Look how hauntingly familiar it looks compared to my rendering....

So if you are ever at Roth, give the new display some lovin'! (Blow it a kiss from me:)

A New Challenge

Alright, let's just say everything happens for a reason. With that said....today was our first official day of teaching our CTR 6 class. Exhausting pretty much sums up the entire three hour block of church. It didn't help that I have been sick for the past six days, but I wasn't about to leave Zach alone to start off our teaching career. We read through our lesson about three times, studying what we would do and say. We came up with a few fun activities and some clever topics of discussion (for six-year-olds). We set up our classroom all nice, of course I re-arrange the chairs in a more "pleasing" manor and Zach displayed our wonderful illustrations of the sons of Mosiah and Ammon and the Lamanites. We were ready.

Then walked in three 6-year-old children.

Two little boys, Joshua and Thomas. No fear at all, they talked away and probably didn't realize they were dealing with BRAND new teachers. Then walked in Brooklyn, accompanied by her adorable mother. Her mom told us she was VERY nervous to meet her new teachers. Then she left. Brooklyn was extremely shy, and took a while to even start answering simple questions.

Fast forward 25 minutes. They did NOT care about missionary work, nor did they care about the lyrics to "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission". Playing the Wii and their friends/teachers at school were the hot topics. I was struggling. Every line from the lesson I conveyed was being interrupted by the words "Mario Kart" and "This kid at school...".

Zach stood up from his chair and started talking about Ammon teaching the Lamanites. He told the story perfectly, and just as these little boys and girl would understand. I was amazed. They were silent for the 5-8 minutes the story took place. They all looked up at him in silence and truly listened to everything he had to say. Just when I thought I couldn't love him ANY more, he showed me I could.

Sharing time was worse. They were confined to their little chair and could NOT be still or quiet. Darling Brooklyn, who wasn't feeling well, asked to sit on my lap. I let her, knowing she had to warm up to me. She soon became comfortable and rested her head on my shoulder as she sang the words to "I Love to See the Temple." It melted my heart. It made the previous hour and a half totally worth it.

Zach is going to be a fantastic father, and I will pray EVERY night that my little girl wants to sit on my lap and rest her head on my shoulder. That would make everything...perfect.


The end.

What's Been Consuming My Time....

BUNK BEDS!!!

I know it is insane....

This project I am working on in the Heights at Red Ledges has a custom bunk room with 5 bunk beds. I know it sounds crazy, but it has been taking days and days of my life to figure out how we are going to build these things. I have to say though...the design turned out pretty awesome. Take a look....



Wall 1. Has 3 beds total, secret compartments, drawers, and bookshelves.



Wall 2. (Profile Elevation) Shows the cute drawers below the beds and the planks that surround the bunks.



Wall 3. The solo bunk elevation. Has drawers, the planks, and hidden "secret" spots.

It is basically a mix between a pirate ship/fort/bed. These took me FOREVER to re-design and draw, but I think they are actually going to work.


Sleep tight little fort/pirate children! :)

Our Yard....

Well, it is almost time for Zach and I to start making decisions on our yard. When we bought our house, in our agreement they told us they would landscape our front yard/lawn. SO, I have been stewing over this for some time. Zach doesn't really mind what we do considering he is scheming up a way to pay one of our sweet neighbor boys to do all of the yard work for us. Not a bad idea, but I actually love landscaping, and think I could really get into yard work.

This is what we have so far for the front and back:



Steel planter boxes.



Grey river rock.



Concrete pavers with grass/rock between. Can't decide yet. I guess either way they require work, whether mowing over them or pulling weeds out of the rocks. This will be in the front AND the back.

In the backyard I want....



a Pergola. Not WHITE, but I want it made out of steel. And not right off the house, but more in the center of the yard. This is where my dad comes into play. Can't WAIT to see how that turns out....but it will not be for quite some time. I want to put solar shades on it as well to keep out the buggies and the sun at night....



This movable indoor/outdoor fire pit which I am having a LOVE affair with. This is my favorite thing of ALL. I wouldn't take it inside obviously...but I would take it all over the yard.



And this furniture....but probably not in orange. I am not much of an orange person...but maybe. It will go under the pergola. I want the dining table too so we can BBQ! Zach's favorite thing of all in the summer!

I think I am even more excited about our front and back yard than the actual INTERIOR of our home. A lot of this stuff is actually really low maintenance, which is just our style. Wish us luck in all the crazy adventures we have in store with all this work.

AHEM.....in your face.

Once upon a time I was in my father's office, on his computer. My mom wanted to see something on our blog, so I pulled it up on his computer to show her a picture. I believe it was of our trip to the Bahamas. My mom couldn't pull our blog up on her own...she's barely getting the gist of attaching files to email messages. If you read that, I am sorry mom. I really love you, but I speak only the truth. I was showing her the photos and in my rush to get home, I left the blog up on his screen. Since that time, he is now an avid reader of our blog.

Fast forward 2 weeks.

One night, I worked late and was STARVING. I told Zach I would just pick up dinner on the way home. As I am about to walk into the restaurant, my dad calls me. He says, "What's up?" I replied, "Just getting Zach and I dinner." He says, "Haha, you're MAKING dinner right....? Are you at Cafe Rio?" I replied once more with vigor, "NO, I AM AT COSTA VIDA!" (Most of you know that they are exactly the same restaurant with different decor.) So...he was right. I am not exactly Susie Homemaker. But I DO cook. Seriously. Not an enormous list, but I have mastered a few dishes that both Zach and I love. Pride is in proof:

Dish 1:



Baked Manicotti, which I MADE TONIGHT DAD!!!

Dish 2:



Beef Stroganoff with egg noodles

Dish 3:



Chicken Parmesan

I have have mastered (but don't have photographs of) feta and spinach stuffed chicken breasts, chicken stir-fry, beef tips in gravy over rice, and lastly...Italian chicken with rice pilaf. (Ok, the rice pilaf is uncle bens from a box, but still.)

I am not super wife, but I can cook....7 dishes. I better kick it up a notch before I have kiddies.

New Calling....

Zach and I are ecstatic!!! After 5 months in our ward, we have been called as the teachers of the CTR 6 Class! We have nieces and nephews that are and around this age, and we are just so excited to get to teach them. I am also glad that I get to spend Sunday School and Relief Society with Zach. As corny as it may sound, I am most excited about meeting them and getting to know them all. I think it is a calling that was sent to us for a specific reason. Mostly everyone knows that Zach and I are not planning to have babies for....a while. At least 4 more years. Not because we don't want them or don't want to be parents, it is just because we want as much time together as we can possibly get before we are full time parents. Don't get me wrong, if we get pregnant before that time, it will be wonderful and we'll be so excited, but until then....we are enjoying every minute together. I think we were called as the teachers of this class to prepare/excite us about being parents. I LOVE babysitting our nieces and nephews and I know we will love every minute of this together. I feel like we're both a proud Aunt and Uncle. Besides...how could you NOT want these sweet faces as your nieces and nephews....

















(Missing baby #3 from Chad and Rachael, and Tommy and Andie)

So They Say...

Someone once said, "You know when you are doing well at work when your social life goes up in smoke." I believe it. I wouldn't say I am doing WELL, but extremely busy. That's what you get when you don't go ANYWHERE but from home to work each day. I have been working consistently from 8:30 every morning until midnight. The only time I am NOT working is in the car on my WAY to work, when I am sleeping, and when I eat. That's it. Poor Zach. We've been eating garbage this whole week because I haven't had time to cook ONE thing. Zach texted me today at work and asked how work was going. I replied with a picture message:



It may not mean much to anyone else but myself, but this is my life right now. STACKS and STACKS of plans and specs, multiple cans of Diet Coke, and my planner that is ATROCIOUS! What does it mean when you run OUT of lines on your hour to hour schedule on your planner? It means you ADD stickie notes with other things to do, I guess. My next photo looked like this:



I've consumed more Diet Coke in the last week and a half than I did in the whole month of February. Pretty sure that statistic is correct. Sometimes I think...."Wait, I thought school was OVER!" I swear I thought once I graduated my days of no sleep were going to be gone. I was SO wrong. Zach said today, "I miss your blog posts, you're way too busy." So this post, again, is for him. Thanks for running and getting us a thin crust Domino's Pizza, Diet Coke bottles, and even chocolate ice cream at late hours of the night. I swear we will eat HOME MADE Manicotti as soon as I am done with all these projects. OH, and I love you, and that's enough for me.


-Katie