Happy Labor Day - Year One

Because it is Labor Day and the typical celebratory food for such American holidays is the American hamburger, Jeff and I decided that it was best to dine at Whataburgers. The burgers there are gigantic and perfectly appease the taste buds that crave American cuisine. Pre-hamburger feast we plotted out our master plan for the day:

1) Adventure through Dallas for all types of supplies - paint supplies, camera supplies, stuff-your-face-supplies etc.
2) Find legit graffiti
3) Photograph the legit graffiti
4) Take a stroll by the lighthouse
5) Home for Family Home Evening

Below is the graffiti art that we found today:

Minus One was a Dallas graffiti artist that recently died from unknown causes. The wall we found is a tribute to him from his fellow taggers.  You can read more about it here: http://www.wfaa.com/entertainment/Dallas-Graffiti-Artist-Mourned-Through-Public-Art-132028183.html

Nothing says "Happy Labor Day" like a burger, graffiti and a sunset by the lighthouse :)

Ghettocaching

Ghettocaching [get-oh-kash-ing]
noun 
the outdoor sport or game of searching for ghettos by driving slowly through dark and poorly lit areas of town or using Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates posted on the Internet if you're unfamiliar with the area

In my photography class we've been talking about our first project - the self-portrait. We have to submit five finished images and ever since we got the assignment my noggin has been going crazy. I've been brainstorming and doodling in my Hello Kitty idea notebook and one of the things that I realized I desperately needed in my life was some good graffiti. I have seen beautiful works of art and ultra cool stuff in the ghettos and downtown areas of LA, Austin, and Hungary and while all of this is fabulous,  it does not help me with my project. If I wasn't a muggle I would simply apparate to the XXI District in Budapest and take my self portrait there, but since I don't have those kinds of skills we had to do something else. My sweet husband and I decided we needed to participate in a little ghettocaching. Since moving to Rockwall I haven't seen anything super ghetto or any graffiti, but we were determined to use Jeff's tracting senses he'd acquired from the mission to find something; anything. And that something was found on Industrial Blvd:

These taggers are nice and sweet. They decided to wish everyone a Happy Halloween a month early and even added a jack-o-lantern face on the first letter. We were on the verge of loosing hope for our small and perfectly clean town, and then we found this stuff. There were a couple of other ones and those will be pictured below. I was pleased that we found something in our little town, but I think we can find something better and without railroad tracks. We like ghettocaching so much we're gonna head up to Dallas and check out some stuff by real taggers manana. If you'd like to play along, grab a camera, bring some water and ghettocache in your local area :) Don't forget to post your pictures so we can see them!

*Please imagine the accents on any and all of my foreign words. Most of them will be spanish or hungarian.

**Please also note that on yesterday's post I meant to say "Angel Moroni" and not "Captain Moroni". I just don't know how to edit on this blog thingy and don't want to risk deleting anything... ~*BoMproblems and RMproblems*~

I think I'm Turning Japanese

Happy three day weekend everyone! We celebrated the festivities with an Asian food night. Jeff and I like to try new foods and different foods, so dining in the Orient was the theme this weekend. We ate delicious Lo Mein noodles and egg rolls. For dessert I introduced Jeff to the fabulous Pocky Sticks. I ate these all the time when I was a kid and loved savoring the chocolate flavor by eating them exactly one stick at a time. It was fun to celebrate together and he enjoyed them. We also had Coke Zero because that's totally Asian too. Right?  ^_^

We also celebrated with a trip to the Dallas Temple. We have a monthly temple date and this was a great start to a new month ^_^ (Today I have to use the asian smiley face in honor of Asian food night).  This sweet old lady took the picture for us and then I tried to get a good shot of the temple. Those spires are so gigantic. Can you see Captain Moroni on the top?

Once a Lion, Always a Lion

Wow, it's been ages since I've last posted. Hmmm..since March I have lived in the anatomy lab, sequenced grasshopper DNA, learned to play some tunes on the ukulele, lost my car, eaten a foil dinner, cut my hair, biked at critical mass, found my car, moved back to Austin, cut my hair again, went to a hockey game, traded my pants for skirts to become a missionary, learned Hungarian, moved to the great land of Hungary, rode on a train, ate kaposzta, taught english class, cut my hair again, saw castles, flew back to Austin, got engaged, married my best friend, became a Richards, had a tea party, transferred schools, and became a...lion. Hmm... De Leon > Richards > Lion... Well, once a Lion, Always a Lion.

So yeah. :) This week was the first week of school. I traded in my BYU blue and gold for some....oh wait, blue and gold. Heh, looks like I can keep the clothes in my wardrobe after all. So, I think I pretty much upgraded from the BYU cougar to the A&M-Commerce (note the commerce, because we're different) Lion. Lions are intense. 

We've had some interesting assignments from my art teachers. My painting teacher told us to bring in 20 images next week so we can gather ideas for our painting projects. He said to just bring in images of things that capture our eye and well, after sitting in the library for two hours pouring over Anthropology I took a break, walked over to the shelf and grabbed a random book, flipped open the pages and found this beauty: 

Ok, I know what you're all thinking, "Oh my gosh, seriously? Nina, those are gross!" But let's be real, blood cells are sooo cool looking. And these are healthy. I have recently started a photography class, so hopefully my pictures will look better than this one. In real life they were really quite lovely. Just tilt your head to the left and you'll see what I mean. 

Internship

Got an internship today! So cool!!

Also, I read today in my medmicro book that there's a "carina" in your body. It's almost my name. :)

One more thing, held a heart and a lung a week and a half ago in anatomy lab. I haven't been to lab in so long :( i think i'll hang out there this weekend and I'll throw in a dose of grey's anatomy.

Quote of the Week

"It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome"-William James

Home