Best 80's Cartoon?

Hey, Everybody! So I have recently undertaken a number of new projects. The first one is the upkeep of this blog. The second is making a Ghost out of cheesecloth for Halloween. Its always been my favorite holiday! Anyways, it's drying right now and as soon as its done I will put a couple of pictures on here to show you how freaking cool it is! It's really simple to make too. Anyways, the third project is more out of curiosity and goes along with the blog. Its a Poll!! Anybody can vote and its completely anonymous. The first one is Which is the best 80's Cartoon? I know there were a ton of them but for the four that are listed please vote! And, if yours wins I will post a video or maybe even an entire episode of it on the blog for everyone to watch! So get voting. Its just right over here -------------------> on the right side of the blog.

I finally finished my online portfolio!

I am just excited that I finally finished my portfolio - I just have to blog about it! Feel free to check it out and let me know what you think I even had to dive into a bit of scary JavaScript.... that was pretty much the toughest thing I have ever done (not really :) ).

You can check it out here!

Sudoku

I am just playing around with the blog at this point and seeing what is possible. So, in an effort to keep people checking out our blog, perhaps even when we are not posting, I have posted a Sudoku game on the right side under "Stalker List". I played it and its not bad if I say so myself. So if your bored check us out!

I am soo in.

Ok everybody I finally added myself to the contributors list. So now when I post something it will say me and not Aimee. Just FYI!

CHATROOM!

Ok Everybody here is a code based chatroom. It is located in the upper right hand corner of the blog page and is called "McDaniel's Living Room". I figured the blog was not a blog without a chatroom in which anybody on the site could talk to anybody else on the site in real time! Pretty Sweet hu? Well I thought so anyways. Enjoy!

Adventurers...

Anyways, Aimee and I have decided that we need to spend some time getting to know Utah more. So, last week we decided to be adventurous and go explore two things in Utah that we had never been too. One was the Golden Spike Museum and the other was the Spiral Jetty.

For those of you who don't know what either of these two are. The Golden Spike museum is
located at the spot that the last ceremonial spike was driven to mark the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. This Spike joined the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads together on May 10, 1869.
You know it’s funny how the whole thing transpired. The government offered the company that could build the first transcontinental railroad a lot of money, not to mention that every other mile of railroad that they built they could own ever other square mile of land touching the railroad on both sides. This was great encouragement for the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific. Both built like crazy and met in Utah. Actually, neither railroad wanted to join together because that meant that they would not get the complete grant that the government offered, nor as much land as they would if they each built straight to the coast, so they actually passed each other and continued building. Fed up with the fighting, Congress declared where and when they should be joined. Pretty cool hu?!

Anyways we also went to see the Spiral Jetty. It’s a giant spiral built off of the North Coast of the Salt Lake coast. It was built by American sculptor Robert Smithson in 1970 during a drought with black basaltic rock, but after it was built the Salt Lake rose burying it with water for nearly three decades. Everybody just about forgot about it because of this and the death of the artist. Years later in 2004 the Spiral Jetty re-emerged because of a drought and everybody was like, "WTF where did this come from?" I'm sure a couple of loons were like, "Aliens!!" LOL.

It was a cool site. The Salt Lake is still very low, We walked out about 50 Yards to even reach the water. I believe you can walk out to Antelope Island from the South Shore. Which by the way there was an old anchor out there a while ago and I intend to go and get it! :)

Anyways, we plan to continue this tradition of exploring Utah for as many weekends as we possibly can. Its amazing, you live somewhere forever and you never go see anything thats there! We will try to keep everybody posted.

Catch-up...

Wow a lot has happened since we last updated our blog. First, I want to defend myself and say, we have been too busy. LOL. But if I did I would be lying. Second, I would like to recap what has happened over the last 6 months. I am however, going to break down what has happened into a few sections so that its easier to follow. I will be re-capping everything since I have plenty of time right now.


OOOooo I just remembered all that we are planning for October! We bought 6 Big pumpkins that we are going to carve and design for our Halloween party! Its going to be awesome! Costume Party with friends, with fun games and activities and the classic scary movie going on in the background on our projector. Last year the party was a huge hit! We played all sorts of games and just hung out. Anyways, we just bought some shrunken skull's that grow when they are soaked in water for a few hours. It will be both a great decoration and a great prize! Costumes... Aimee and I couldn't decide what to wear for Halloween so we are leaving our options oh my head feels like its been through a can opener. I actually decided to update the blog because I ran into an old friend's (Brittany) mom at JoAnn's. I felt kinda weird cause its one of those times you feel like crap and you run into people. We bought ourselves skin colored unitards...I have been wanting this for a while. It will be great for my flasher costume HAHAHA. Also we are going to airbrush some muscle definition on them and can use them for our He-Man and She-Ra costumes or our Adam and Eve costumes. Either way it will be great. I was going to be Captain Moroni and Aimee was going to be Rainbow Bright for Halloween this year but I think we will keep those in the bedroom. We decided to go as Adam and Eve. It will be fun. I need to go find a HUGE leaf!! But yeah so that's what's new with us, I think. I always forget something.

So anyways, I know all of you are wondering, "Where have you two been? What have you two been up to? Well that brings me back to my reason for writing this blog today. So here we go in chronological order.

First I left my job at Target. The management there was getting really crappy and I never wanted to work there forever. So I spend the whole next semester (which was my last!) focusing on school and finding a better job. So anyways my last big project in school was to write a full blown business plan for a company that was going to go international.


So my team and I choose to do a timeshare/hotel in Croatia. I believe over the course of the semester and countless hours researching, analyzing and planning we had a polished business plan of around a couple of hundred pages. Research included of course. Needless to say, we aced the class. I finished the semester and instead of walking I decided to take off to Washington D.C.for a week or so to see the sights! I told them to just mail my diploma to me. :)


Throughout the summer Aimee focused on taking care of a few HUGE projects she had going. She was doing a whole website redesign for a Non-Profit Organization called Operation Kids and for a company called RW Smith Brokers, who are a broker's broker.

Operation kids, has been one of the large contributors to the rebuilding and reorganization of schools, parks, community places in New Orleans and elsewhere. They are a fantastic organization and I would recommend them to anybody. Aimee and I have donated money to them as well.

And because of me and Aimee's hard work we have been able to pay off her car and all our debt. We have planned a trip to Los Cabos, Mexico. This will happen October 18th - 28th. Its going to be such a blast, we are going to go para sailing and snorkeling, swimming, scuba diving, dancing, eating..etc.. you name it! I'm going to love it so much!

Creative Streak Saturday... and Beyond

So, I know its Thursday and the title says Saturday, but I've been a bit busy with Jason's homework... yes, I have been doing his homework - at least for his International Marketing class's trade show.   He's in a group of 4 people, and for this assignment, they had to find a product that is/was sold internationally and market it for the US.  At first Jason totally hated the product they chose, but now we both want to buy one (considering they are no longer being made, it might prove to be a bit difficult).  Introducing the BMW C1 (as displayed by a little of my fancy footwork):

Pretty sweet, huh?  I really had a good time doing it. There is also a brochure and some business cards that go with it, but they aren't all that much fancier. This is just the 2' x 3' poster we had printed for the show that was Wednesday.

I also got a call on Sunday to design a flier for the Youth Conference for my ward.  It turned out pretty darn cute, if I may say so myself:

It was a great opportunity to me to use my talents for the church. The other project I was asked to do was a small handout for the YW Beauty Night - which was a HUGE success, I might add. I haven't had that much fun with all the girls since Girls' Camp!  Here's the cover:  (cute, huh? Very Spring-y)

So, at least my week so far, has proven to be productive - and fun!!!  Now I am planning on starting my new website design... again.  Hopefully I can have it laid out by Monday.  I started taking a database class (courtesy of the amazing Nik!) that is helping me with the backend of everything for the site.   Yipppeee!! Progress!!

Oh!!!  Congratulations to Alyse and Mike - they had their baby boy today!!!  Hooray!!!!

Getting Back into Real Life

Well, we have been back from our Nebraska/Kansas trip for 2 weeks now.... boy, time is flying! Nothing is really new.... though, we really wish we were still on vacation.  The funniest thing is this pic of my mother-in-law actually using her sewing machine in the back seat of the car while we were driving! (This is for you Les and Marg!):

The trip was really good for me.  It was fantastic to see my sisters-in-law and to get a break from the computer.  It was great to step back from my computer and 

see that there really is more to life than web design.  Like I said before, I am starting to sew and knit. Still working on knitting project #1, but I have sewn an apron and I made a "creative/collage board" thing. Here's some of my stuff from the last 2 weeks:

Practice project #1:  It's supposed to be a bag that stands up open, but... it was 7:30 in the morning, and apparently I can't read directions that early in the morning.  I didn't even notice that it was all wrong until it was "finished" and Jason ask

ed, "is it supposed to look like that?!?" Doh!!!!  I'll try again later....

My Reversible Apron:  (cute fabric, huh?)

My pride and joy for putting ideas together:

I am hoping to start using this blog to the benefit of my creative skills.  I would like to start posting a new "creation" of some sort every week. That will keep me (hopefully) more motivated and keep my skills up.  It might be anything from a new website or graphic to a painting or knitting project.  We will just have to see.  I have a whole list of things that I would like to do.   Its been really nice to get out of my comfort zone and play around a bit.  I am lucky to have a husband that really wants me to work on these things and develop my skills.  We will just have to see where they take me from here.  

To be honest, I have to give away my sources of inspiration for most of my new projects and ventures.  The first individual has had the greatest impact on my "new" thinking: Heather Bailey.  If you have never heard of her, you need to.  She's pretty much amazing in every way. The next is Erin Harris - she's like Martha Stewart only more "home grown".  Love it.   Martha Stewart, on the other hand, is also becoming a hero of mine.  :)  

Speaking of Martha, I am designing a website called WannaBeMartha.com.  It will be a lot of fun and give more people more opportunities to share their knowledge about anything crafty, home-y, or whatever to people.  I am also creating a shopping cart to go with it so there is opportunity for selling homemade stuff: like knitted socks, baby clothes, cheesy reversible aprons, etc.  I think it will be fun!  I will post a screenshot when the design has been laid out in Photoshop. 

I have to go to bed... Prince Charming is getting sleepy.   'Night!!!

Hangin' in Nebraska

Hey all! It's been a month since I have posted! I am such a bum! :) Well, as the title indicates, Jason and I are hanging out in Nebraska with Jason's sister, Leslie. We have been here for 2 days now and are absolutely loving it. We left Friday night and drove all the way through and got here Saturday morning at 11 - Whew!! We were very happy to FINALLY get here.

Leslie just had a beautiful baby girl and this morning we blessed her: Amelia Elizabeth Marie Terry. She is absolutely beautiful and SO sweet! She is only 6 weeks old and weighs just about nothing! Here's a picture of her:


Isn't she beautiful!  She actually looks a lot like Jason... she's definitely got some McDaniel qualities!  

Well, I am stepping out of my comfort zone again.  Now that I am learning to sew, I figure that I should continue to broaden my horizon... so I am learning how to knit.  I NEVER thought I would learn how to knit!  But, I am working on my first project ever.... one day I will be as good as Leslie at it, (BTW, she is seriously amazing when it comes to sewing.  She made me a pair of socks that are the most comfy EVER!).  We will see how it goes. She showed me the coolest website ever for knitters:  www.ravelry.com.  You should at least check it out - even if you don't knit.

Wednesday we leave for Kansas to see my other sister-in-law, Margie. She also had a baby and I have only seen pictures of her:

Cute, huh!  We are really excited to see her!  One the way to Kansas we are going to be going through Omaha to see the temple and the Visitor's Center where there is a Walter Rane exhibit.  I am pretty stoked about that!

We are having a blast - the vacation have been very needed.  While I learn to knit, Jason has been playing his usual computer games.  I am really glad that he is relaxing - school and work are playing their toll and we are SO excited for him to graduate this August.

Well, that's all for now!  I have got to get back to my knitting!!!  Ha ha!!!