It's starting to look like a table!

So when I was working at BYU, my boss had lots of different responsibility hats that he wore. One of them was "moving crew," especially in the spring and summer terms. When we needed to make room for new faculty or student labs, he'd take apart the desk/cabinet furniture and put it back together in its new office or space or in the arrangement the faculty member requested, etc. When I began working there, I asked him to teach me how to do all of that. So pretty soon, we would have jean days and I would help him take apart and put together Steelcase Series 9000 furniture. I got to be pretty handy with the drill and he'd even ask me to take on projects solo. I know it's silly, but I was quite proud that I could do it. I liked being more than just a nerd behind the desk. Making this table has brought back a lot of those good memories...so I have to say: THANKS SO MUCH AL!!!  This is just ONE of the small ways I owe you!

Me and a drill...lots of fun!

This last week, I spent a few hours here and there, not much progress. Then on Saturday I spent all morning and some of the afternoon on it. And now, I'm VERY proud to say...It's looks like a table! The next parts will be finishing the drawer box with the drawer guides and one final drawer and attaching the top of the table and shelf on the bottom. Granted that seems to be small in comparison to what comes after that... filling, sanding and painting.

This is the front of the table...

The table is much bigger than it seems in the pictures - it'll end up being 5' across, so there will be lots and LOTS of sanding and painting to come. But I'm hopeful that in the end, we'll end up with something that will go with the furniture we have in our bedroom. We're thinking a Target Ebony finish with a little distressing...a very little. Our furniture has it, but you can't tell from the picture on the site.

...and the back

Anyways, it's definitely not perfect - as Mark told his brother, "It's pretty level," which is true...But it's been a fun project and I can't wait until it's all done! Check out Ana's website for lots of plans and ideas and lots of help for those of you who might not know how to get started. This is the first project that I've done that's like this and Ana's site was very helpful. I pored over the different comments, posts, and even spent time recreating the table plans on Google SketchUp so that I knew for sure what went where and how the steps progressed. Over the top, probably, but it helped me feel confident enough to try it out in real life. 


My fingers are still crossed that it all turns out ok!

Update with Pictures

After a four month hiatus, it's time to update the blog. Here's a quick look at what we are up to...

First, we continue to live in Katy Place Apartments. For the two of us, it has worked out well. We have plenty of space, it is fairly close to campus, and located in a good part of town. It has been a good place for us to begin our life together and we plan to stay for another year. One very nice perk of the apartment complex is that it connects to the Katy Trail which is a great place for a walk or a run. Below are pictures from our morning walk. Just a few hundred meters from our apartment the city just completed a wetlands project. 

Lots and lots of geese. I think they are pretty however Daniela warns me that they are mean and will attack it I get too close.

This weekend marked the beginning of a project Daniela has been planning for a couple of weeks. She is a big fan of Pinterest and found this console table that she wants to build. As a bonus, I was able to go to an auction this weekend and pick up a circular saw for $15. And yes I did have to watch a couple of YouTube videos to make sure I knew how to use it.

The cut sheet that Daniela created. On a side note, we took a Strengths Finder test, Daniela's top strength: Responsibility. It really is true. If you want to understand Daniela - that is the key. She is displaying it during this project. 

We'll keep you posted on our project's (mostly Daniela's -- I'm her not so skilled helper) progress. Finally as most you know this is my second semester teaching an undergraduate finance class (Finance 2000) in Mizzou's business school. This past week my students took their first exam. The following is an actual exam answer. It demonstrates that despite my best intentions, I am not getting through to all of my students. Kudos to the student for at least trying...

"To value a company means to really care about a company and to put your trust and loyalty into it. This is important because if no one ever valued a company it would have not character or essence..." - Despite being responsible for making me smile and laugh, it received 0 points.

Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving and Christmas was spent with our families. Sadly, I didn't take many pictures because we were too busy having fun with them!

Thanksgiving was spent with my family in Utah. I had not seen them since my wedding festivities in January so this was a great time to catch up and find out what's been going on back home. It was wonderful to spend time with my family and visit with friends. I do miss you all but thank goodness for technology! Phones and the internet make the distance much easier to handle.

Courtesy of my wonderful friend Ashley - thanks Ash!!

Christmas we spent in Missouri with Mark's family. I love getting together with all of the nieces and nephews. They are all around the same age and are such good friends. It is such fun to watch them all play together! Kinda jealous. Mark's parents got us a Christmas tree and a slew of beautiful ornaments to decorate it with. I can't wait until I get to play with all of it next year! (They also got us an electric blanket and it is the most wonderful thing ever. There is nothing better than getting into a nice warm bed when everything around you is COLD.) This year because our apartment needed a little more Christmas cheer to go along with our stockings and stocking holders , I decorated a little 3' tree. I made some of the ornaments and, overall, I was quite happy with how it all turned out. Thank you Pinterest for the inspiration.

We had a gift exchange between families and we had the Funks. We watched the kids so that Abe and Emily could go on a date together and we made the kids their own little craft easels. I hope they have as much fun using them as I had making them. (Thanks Pinterest....again...)

Ok...Maybe Miss Hannah had more fun with my shoes...

Santa Fe Part 3: Balloon Fiesta

So...the hiatus was all due to the abundance of pictures from the Balloon Fiesta - too many to pick from! I kept looking at picture after picture and picking more and more pictures and postponing the post longer and longer...so, sorry, the hiatus is entirely my fault. 

Anywho - Balloon Fiesta - lots of fun! We woke up early early in the morning (4 am) and drove from Santa Fe to Albuquerque to see the morning glow and mass ascension at sunrise. There was a long caravan of cars all with the same idea. The beauty of waiting in line with all those cars and actually getting into the arena was that you could see the balloons up close and personal. We saw the whole process: the laying out of the balloon on the ground, the filling it up, and finally the take off! The crew that we observed were from France. The Balloon Fiesta is an international event so people come from all over the world, which means hundreds and hundreds of balloons all filling up and taking off at the same time. It's absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! 

Filling the Balloons up at Sunrise - beautiful morning

The sun balloon in the middle aka "Lady Sun" is the balloon that belonged to the French crew we observed

All lined up ready to go...

Santa Fe - Part 2: Los Alamos

As part of our preparation for Santa Fe, Mark and I read the following book: 

109 East Palace - a story about Robert Oppenheimer and the nuclear bomb project at Los Alamos.

Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jim took us to visit Los Alamos... and what was a surprise to me (which is really sad to admit to) I believed it was going to be a deserted town. (Kind of like the Japanese internment camps in Delta - don't bother going... There are only foundations to look at.) Much to my surprise, Los Alamos is still an active lab and the little community is still going strong. They had a museum which was great to go to for the sole fact that they had life-sized statues of Oppie and General Groves. After reading about them, seeing them in even in plaster form really made them that much more real to both Mark and I.

This was taken on the drive up. It's a beautiful sight, but at the same time, it is amazing to me to think about what it would have taken to go up the mountain in the 1940s without the convenience of modern engines and roads. Not to mention how those scientists must have felt to get to Lamy, NM and see the "nothingness" of the desert landscape in stark contrast to the California and New England landscapes they came from. 

There are a few events that took place in Santa Fe, and we had the chance to visit them as well. Here is the actual office at 109 East Palace - the front office for the project. Obviously, the office no longer exists, but it was so fun to be there!

And lastly, La Fonda - This is where Oppenheimber enlisted the help of Dorothy McKibben (a Kansas City native - woohoo!!) and the story story begins. History coming to life. I loved it!

Santa Fe - Part 1

At the end of September, Mark and I were very lucky to spend the weekend in Santa Fe visiting with his Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jim. It was a fantastic trip because it had everything you could hope for - wonderful company, beautiful sights, relaxing moments, memorable events.

I had never been to Santa Fe (or any part of New Mexico). Therefore, my first impression of Santa Fe was "Oh wow! It's like being in Utah!" followed later by "Oh my goodness - it is SO DRY out here!" Santa Fe is definitely one of those towns with personality and it was fun to be there. Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jim showed us the town and treated us to some great places (the Bishops Lodge and Pink Adobe) and we loved spending each afternoon chatting with them on their veranda as the sun set overlooking Santa Fe.

Santa Fe is known for their Pueblo-style architecture. As Aunt Margaret said, you have 10 different brown colors to pick from when you paint your house and you get in trouble if you don't use one of those 10. Yet people still put their personalities into their homes and I loved seeing the contrast between the green of the trees and the periwinkles, turquoise, and reds of their flowers, chilis, and painted door and window frames against the brown of the adobe.

This is where we went to brunch (my first ever brunch experience) and where we also had our very first taste of Buffalo meat - and it was DELICIOUS!!

Their art museum

This is the main plaza...vendors sell food, there's a bandstand that hosts free concerts in the summers, and there are people who sell jewelry along the sides of the roads. There are lots of little shops around the area if you really want to get into the Santa Fe spirit and buy fringe, sequins, and cowboy boots (which Mark almost did - I did not take pictures of this, but we did almost succumb and bought some Lucchese boots like theses ones). There's a really great small town feel, which is really interesting since as a State capital I would think it would have more of a bigger city feel. (And yes, that is Mark looking back.)

And of course we have to share the view from their veranda ...breathtaking!! We are both big fans of the view. :)

Teaching?! - Finance 2000 with Mr. McMullin

One of my dreams in life has been to teach. Though, I've always wanted to make more money than what teachers normally make. So my idea was to go out into the world, hopefully make money in business, and then transition into teaching. This fall, my dream arrive early...

As a third-year law student, I had applied for a TA position for business law. With my application, I included my resume and outlined my business background as well as my love for finance. The reply to my email was totally unexpected. While the business law TA position was mine if I wanted it, the instructor they were planning on teaching a section of Finance 2000 had fallen through at the last moment, the e-mail asked if I would be interested in teaching the class. My answer: absolutely!


Though I was very excited about this unique opportunity to teach finance to business minors, I was also nervous. Here was an opportunity that I had dreamed about. Yet in my dreams, it always happened when I was older, with more experience, and a proven track record. Here I was young, poor, and for the most part unproven. I was scared that I would fail - that I would either not like teaching or even worse, not be good at it. 


A month in, here's my take. It's harder than it looks. Especially teaching a class for the first time. It takes a lot of time to prepare for three classes each week. Especially as a rookie, it is impossible to wing it. Yet it is very rewarding. I like having an audience. I like being able to share what I have learned. I like how in preparing lessons and teaching the material to others, I learn. And perhaps my favorite part is seeing the light bulbs go on.... There is a lot of that in finance. For most of their lives they have heard about assets and liabilities, stocks and bonds, and now they finally know what those words mean.


Based on my experience so far, I would love to continue teaching part-time in the future. If anyone has thoughts on how to make that happen, please share them with me.