I've pretty much been lame at updating this, I can't keep up two blogs. So basically all I do is now at my other blog www.artatchinn.blogspot.com so go there for everything from now on....basically.

It was my birthday....

I know my birthday was a week ago...BUT it was so great I have to share. My dashing husband kept me in the dark about what would go down on my 25th birthday. I asked him SO many times..."what are we doing what are we doing?" But he played it off non-chalantly as if he were too busy and that I shouldn't expect much cause he had lots to do with school, work, etc. So I was ready for a chill day.

1st trick- David told me he had to work the morning of my birthday and he couldn'

t get it off. So I woke up expecting

to make myself a breakfast worthy of a 25 year old. However when I walked into the kitchen I saw a lovely plate of breakfast waiting for me on the table and my husband dressed handsomely sitting on our couch. That morning he had gotten dressed and kissed me goodbye while I was in bed so I thought he had left! Smooth.

2nd trick- When I asked for a napkin while eating my yummy breakfast, I found a CLUE inside! It started me on a fabulous scavenger hunt.

3rd trick-Well the 3rd trick was really all the clues he had hidden around town...and me trying to figure them out. One was in the library, on one my brother's door, but they weren't all that clear. One of them read "Ask the sister of your uncle, but not your aunt." I was a little confused for a few minutes there...honestly what would you think if you read that? Well if you don't know what that means I'll help you...call mom. He even got my mother in on it. Awesome.

4th trick- I thought the scavenger hunt was just for fun, but at the end of the rainbow of clues was a pot of gold that read..."at 4:30

pm go to massage envy for a 1 hour massage." Wahooo! I have only had one other professional massage in my life and it was heaven. So at 4:30 I got pampered and figured that was it.

5th trick- I had asked david to have people over for cake or something, but he said we'd do it another day cause finals were coming up, it was the end of school etc etc. I accepted that. However at 7pm my little sis and her hubby showed up. I thought they just felt like stoppin by to say happy birthday. But then Ryan says...are we late? Late? late for what? It didn't dawn on me until other people walked in our door that david had pulled off a surprise get together with my friends and family.

He seriously lied, I mean tricked, me all day long. It was an awesome birthday. Thank you dear husband for showin'em how it's done.

new website

I have wanted to start a website for my artwork for a long time. The whole idea was exciting but intimidating. I wasn't really sure how to start or what to do. My twin brother (and my mother too) got me started!! The best part is Todd has done all the stuff I didn't want to. My site is still under construction. I haven't been able to upload pictures to it from my computer and I can't figure it out!! Hopefully I'll fix it soon so my website will be officially in the works. Check it out =)

www.rachelchinnart.com

lists

What have I done with myself lately? Honestly I don't know. I don't know how today is Thursday. Or how tomorrow is Friday. I cannot stop the fact that I will be 25 next week (along with my twin Todd, sometimes I forget =) I have so many things on my to do list. It's actually more like my "want to do" list. It sometimes tends to take over my need to do list. There are lots of lists in my life. They help me make things happen!

I made a list last year for things I wanted to do while 24. I actually completed most of them except "take a cake decorating class." Still need that one. Big on my list was making art. Lately I haven't gotten to much art making. That is on my need and want to do list. But somehow when I come home after 3 classes with hormonal 14 year olds, I am pooped and tell myself..."self, later today after you chillax, you should do art." Then later comes and I instead think...what's for dinner? where's david? etc etc.

My life is a simple one to be honest because really those are my questions at night. I don't have kids, yet. That means that unlike my mother friends, I do not have to think..."where are the wipes? why won't they stop crying? and what the heck made their diaper smell like that?" So my days feel kind of selfish sometimes to be honest. I do what I want when I want pretty much. Surrounding me are young mothers walking their children, playing at the playground, watching their kids eat dirt. Cute. I remember writing in my journal in high school about my future plans and where I thought I'd be at 25. On the list was...go to byu. Check. I think following that was...have 2 kids. Well I'm fresh out of those! I am almost 25 and although I am not a mom, I am a wife. Check. That is high on my list. I love him. One day we'll be parents. Check.

We have a new couch and its name is Awesome!

So recently I just completely changed our living room. It's one of my new favorite hobbies to constantly change our house, I'm sure it's driving David nuts. I sold our old entertainment center, bookshelf, and our couches. We used that money to buy some new stuff and I am quite pleased. After much debate and online shopping, we decided to get this slammin' couch from IKEA (one of my favorite places on earth). It is a sofa bed AND the chaise has extra storage underneath that is full of blankets right now. It's SOO nice to be able to lay down on the couch! Our others were both basically love seats and I got tired of them really fast. Cheers to our new comfy couch! She is awesome. (here ya go mom!)

After a long weekend of sewing while sitting on a rock hard ottoman, david's quilt is finished and my butt is sore. The quilt turned out pretty dang huge, but that makes it all the more perfect to snuggle with. It took up my entire living room floor and somehow I mangaged to quilt it all together without a quilting square which means that it is not perfect and DEFINITELY homemade looking, but I'm glad that project is done! check off my list!

and other good news...new stuff on the art blog

got skills?

Jessi had given me this orange shirt that I wasn't sure what to do with. I wish I would have taken a before picture, but I got too excited to start working that I skipped that step as I often do. Anyway I cut these balloon sleeve type things off and cut off a few inches from the bottom, re-hemmed it and used the extra fabric to sew on a bunch of little flowers! I'm pretty siked with the transformation. Thanks jessi for the donation =) It's not perfect looking, but I like the whole handmadeness of it. Now I feel a little more empowered to make this stuff for our future little ones...hopefully girls so I can make lots of cute stuff!!!

Teacher time

I forgot to mention.... I have a real job! not subbing anymore. It was a tough situation cause I had already kind of committed to this sub thing, but I got a job offer at a junior high and I have been teaching there for one week now. I had to take it because of course the permanent sub thing was going to end and then I'd be out of a job again. I was blessed though to be offered this one. It's actually really perfect. I only teach half day so I'm done around 11:30, my classroom is huge and we have a HUGE budget, and I have an office! Also I had always heard horror stories about teaching junior high, but I love it. These kids are great so far. It's nice to finally have my own classroom. =) Ah how nice to have a job. Phew!

welcome 2011

It's 2011 already?! ! So far in 2011 I have...well? I have been looking for a job! It's weird to be jobless and have so much free time with no homework to worry about. I've tried to keep myself busy. I am now the proud owner of a "project runway" sewing machine (the whole project runway thing makes me feel cooler) and I did some sewing I've been dying to do! We now have pillows on our bed and I fixed our curtains, fixed a whole in my pants, and I have other big plans for my new slick machine. Thanks to mom and dad for the graduation money to help fund my projects =)

oh it's so beautiful! it works like a dream! I never knew I would get so excited over a sewing machine...what have I become.

It hasn't all been "summer" free time, I am going to be a permanent sub for a girl I know who is having a baby soon. It's teaching art at an elementary school and I might get her job next year, schwing. All about networking. And finally we went to go see my paintings at the Springville Museum...we went twice and it was closed. Oops. My fault.

And yay I have started to train for the marathon this summer. ahhhh I'm so excited.

Playing house

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Our pretty star got cut out of this image, oops. Although our tree may be small, it makes our house feel like Christmas! Since school is out, and I am SO glad it is (cause I don't have to go back next semester), I have been playing with the house and doing some painting (update on the art blog).
This is where I've been doing my work. Welcome to my tiny studio! If you can't tell, this is a kid's table. Ha! I found it by the dumpster and grabbed it thinking I might use it...It doesn't really fit with our house or me, but because our green ottoman is small too...it might just work! After sitting here for a while my back starts to hurt, but it has some kid's name written in crayon on the top, so I don't mind messing it up!

This is my favorite corner of our house, yes I have a favorite corner. One day I arranged our books by color and I love to look at them! I know I'm a grown up, but I love playing house!

Give Thanks

So we had a gggrrreat thanksgiving break, wish it wasn't over. On thanksgiving day, david was getting everything set up for the turkey and asked where the 4 gallon jug of peanut oil was that we had bought on tuesday. I didn't take it out of the car cause it was HEAVY. Unfortunately, that meant our oil turned into a solid block of ice, as close as oil can get to ice. I didn't think about it getting down to below zero at night. Oops. Our oil took a nice hot bath for a while until it was ready to use....It was about 20 degrees outside, but that didn't stop todd and david. They were so worried about dangerous flames that they lowered the turkey down on a broomstick. There were no fireworks, would have been exciting though.
We ate with some friends and todd and kristi. It was awesome! Everyone contributed and I am thankful for all of them!
The boys and their broomsticks.So I am dumb sometimes. I've been feeling a little sick in the mornings. On Friday when I went to work, I was feeling really tired and wierd. A little numb actually and dizzy. I actually fell asleep for an unknown amount on time....at work. Well this morning I did the same thing. After taking the same medicine I took on thursday...it suddenly dawned on me my symptoms might be being caused by the medicine. I finally noticed the big moon on the label and the little words that said "night-time." I am such a dork for taking drowsy medicine in the middle of the day. I kept falling asleep at church and had to give the lesson in relief society. By then, I was feeling it. I crashed at home after laughing at my stupidity.

Cause to celebrate

Last Sunday was david's birthday!!! For several years, Mark has been making David a doughnut cake. Apparently it's a tradition they adopted from the cartoon Johnny Bravo. This was my first time trying to make this. It's usually made in a circle cake pan, but we don't have those so I tried it in a pie pan. It worked for the most part. However the last layer completely crumbled when I tried to take it out. So I mixed it with icing and sculpted a doughnut out of it. It tasted good...mostly. Well David liked it so I guess that's the most important thing. Happy birthday to David!!!! He is the best man on earth.

Rewards

I feel bad about my last post, I sound pretty cynical. I was just having a bad day. So I think I should share a rewarding teacher moment to make up for it.

My students did these blind contour self portraits and then chose a color scheme to water color them. They turned out pretty awesome so I set up an exhibition in the school hall. I had to choose 4 from each class to display because of limited space. One little boy's painting I thought was awesome so I took it to display of course. I handed back everyone's paintings and this little boy raised his hand with a concerned look on his face. I came over to him, he asked where is painting was. I told him I thought it was so beautiful, sincerely, that I wanted to display it in the hall for everyone to see. He agreed that was ok. As I walked away I saw a HUGE smile light up his face. I found out later that day this boy has had a hard time in school. He has some learning disabilities and hasn't really been recognized in school. My heart warmed up knowing that a simple thing like choosing his picture could make him so happy. This is his painting, he's in fifth grade.

AHHHHHHH

So sometimes I get the urge to do something drastic to relieve me of this stress. I've been in control of the classroom for a few weeks now and every day is different. Some days I come home ready to conquer the world and others I feel like the world is caving in. It's pretty much a flip flop from day to day. I can't decide either if I'm just stressed and hormonal or if I'm really not liking this. At first I thought, oh these kids are so cute how wonderful. And now I'm frustrated a lot. It's mostly my fault cause I haven't figured out how to manage 6 classes a day with 45 kids in each class with many in each class with ADD, learning disabilities, English issues or whatever. Plus I'm starting to really dislike the school system.

Ok this all sounds bad. Really there are some rewarding things I've seen so far. Some have just done some really wonderful art. It's a great feeling for them to grasp a concept. I also love that elementary students always say "hello mrs. chinn!" when they pass me in the hallway. So among all the craziness, I can find some things to smile about I guess=)

and here's jessi's painting: (also on the art blog and facebook I think)

no talking in the art class please sir

I feel like I should update. This week was craaazy and no signs of slowing down. This semester has no speed limit. I'm student teaching at an elementary school with a great man. He is super smart, knows ALOT, is wonderful with kids.

However those kids I'm teaching are to die for cute. I always imagined teaching upper grades, but I love the little kids! and they are so creative! I've already noticed boys draw aliens, lightning, explosions, and things eating people. When you ask them about their pictures they tell you incredibly detailed stories about it. I laugh inside.

I finished the painting for Jessi and Ryan wedding present. I'll post a picture later. One goal for myself: update art blog. I kind of stopped using it. I've got another commission from a friend for a painting. The more the merrier! more yes! I need more!

Stained glass biz

I just finished my stained glass class. I'm thrilled to have learned how to make it! Although I cut myself almost every class, I think I'll keep doing this. I just need my own soldering iron =) These are my projects, the colors aren't very accurate, but just imagine pretty colors. I learned how to make pendants, which means our christmas presents are already done =)

tribute

3 years ago today I was a fresh naive missionary entering the MTC excited and totally unaware of what was coming. The next year and a half was the best time of my life. So I've been thinking about all the things I learned in my service as a missionary. I am who I am today in great part because of this incredible journey. So...some valuable things I learned...

I learned Spanish and Papiamento

I learned how to love people I didn't know

I learned to love people I didn't like

I learned to work even though you're dead tired

I learned to follow the Spirit even when you're not sure why

I learned to give comfort even when it makes me uncomfortable

I learned to hate contention

I learned to rely on the Lord first

I learned to love the scriptures

I learned to talk to strangers!

I learned to make delicious food

I learned you are strongest when on your knees

There are so many other lessons learned from the incredible 18 months I spent among the islands of the Caribbean. I think about the people there every day. I still think about moments, good and bad, from the mission. I wish I could see their faces again and hug them tightly. I am so grateful that I decided to serve. Aside from deciding to marry David, it was the best decision of my life.

Speaking of David...he is in El Salvador. This opportunity came up suddenly and I immediately told him to do it. We were a little hesitant cause he had to pay his own way, but it's worth it for preparing to apply to medical school. He's with a BYU venture company called 2ft. prosthetics. They go to struggling countries to provide a cheap alternative to expensive carbon fiber prosthetics. They figured out how to produce a prosthetic limb for only 20$ using PVC pipe. Amazing. So David is gone for 2 weeks with them really as their spanish man. He is the only in the group that speaks the language, so he's doing lots of translation. I'm alone until August 1st and being without him for one day has already made me appreciate what he does around here. I have taken him for granted.

Oh and he took my camera with him, and it's already been stolen. Oh well.

June rocks

The month of June rapidly flew by and soon eclipse is coming out! (which is the culmination of my summer experience...and the colorado trip). This month was very busy with the Utah Valley marathon, my praxis exam (teacher certification), my huge research paper, our one year anniversary, and a visit from my mommy!

I know it's late but I had to do a tribute to my wonderful husband of one year. We've been together for a total of 6 years so here are 6 things I love about you.

1. You prop the door open for me when you know I'm on my way home.

2. You eat my bad cooking graciously and tell me it's delicious.

3. Dr pepper, pizza, playing golf, and watching football make you a happy man.

4. You scratch my back when I don't ask for it, and sometimes when I do =)

5. You are such a good sport when I make you do things you don't want to do...like shop and eat vegetables.

6. And your number 1 priority is me, your wife, and making me happy.

I love you babe. Here's to many more years of a rockin' marriage!

disclaimer...we are drinking welch's white grape juice in our private balcony hot tub at our park city resort

Happenings

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We've been busy bees lately...the utah valley marathon is finally over. Last weekend David got hardly any sleep and was working all night to make sure the marathon happened. We were up really late on Friday night cutting hundreds of bananas and oranges for the runners. There are so many things that go into events like this that people don't think about. Next year...I'm gonna run it! David sounds like he'd like to run it next year too =)

I've also had the pleasure of doing some wedding stuff with Jessi like seeing her try on dresses! It's hard to choose because she looks perfect in all of them. Jessi got the beautiful Kirk genes. At first I was a little freaked out to think my little sister is getting married, but now it just seems normal. I got a video of him proposing but you can't really hear anything until we cheer at the end, but it's worth watching, it's sweet =). They're so beautiful together it makes me sick, they're gonna have super cute babies.

My friend Lauren commissioned me to do a painting for her little sister's graduation present. I'm really happy with how it turned out and am anxious to do MORE paintings for people who will pay me =) So if any of you would like a painting...I'll do whatever you want, you can email me and we can talk about prices =)

So I did one of those little video things that has what we've been up to lately, AND "the proposal." In their video he is singing to her, you can hear faintly singing sometimes, it was adorable. All of us were perched in a horse trailer nearby so jessi wouldn't know we were there. She was very surprised, not by the proposal, but all the people watching her.