"Well I don't have two heads so...."

So today I separated my plaster tape mold of my face from the plaster. I manage to do that without destroying the plaster tape mold so you get to see it now!! Just imagine it over my face.

Me and my plaster tape face, we are best of friends forever!

Adventures with Plaster Tape

Today I felt truly claustrophobic for the first time in my life!! I mean sure there's been those times where I'm like "There are way to many people in here. I need some fresh air." But never have a actually felt fear. I was kind of surprised today when some tinglings of fear was part of my reaction to my adventure with paster tape. Let me explain. I'm currently taking a mask making class here at school and it's really helpful when making a mask to have a face to model it on. So for the past couple of class periods we've been making molds of our faces which we will then fill with plaster of paris and then we will have the perfect model to make masks for our faces! Hooray!! The way you make the mold is essentially by covering your entire face (eyes and mouth included) with plaster tape, letting it dry, and then pulling it off. I don't have a picture from class but I found this picture online.






That's how it's done! We actually did it a little differently. That is, we covered the hair with plastic wrap so we could go back a little farther on the head. You also get to put vaseline on your face as to prevent your eyebrows/eyelashes/etc. from being pulled out (that would have been handy when I put latex and tissue on your face, huh Laura?).

So after my entire face had been covered except for my two nostrils so I didn't die, I began to be somewhat afraid. There was no need to be, but the fear was creeping up nonetheless. So in that moment I wondered if that's how my mom or grandpa feel when they are in tight places--that fear that prevents them from touring the Oregon Caves and such. I wonder...

It wasn't too bad though. Not nearly as bad as when someone comes at me with a needle....

The Power of Positive Thinking

First of all, I like to give a shout out to my wonderful family. I know I've done this a few times but you can never tell your family how much you appreciate and love them too many times right? Today I had a nice long talk with Megan (it was awesome just to sit and talk forever), and among other things I started to think of how grateful I am for my family especially since I can just sit and talk with them for hours. Times of change are coming. Megan and I are both graduating in April and then a new adventure will begin for us (scary but exciting!). Stuart and Laura are starting a new adventure of their own in the form of heading to California for Chiropractic school. I kind of miss having them around....especially since for the first time in my college career I have to keep track of quarters just so I can have clean underwear.... I'm really excited for them though. Mom and Dad, you rock my socks and even when we are so far away from each other, you still manage to keep me entertained :) Love you! And my baby brother is finish his associates. He's growing up :) Ha ha. Well the point is, I love you family and though times are changing, I'll still love you no matter what and we'll still find time to hang out I'm sure :)

Okay onto the second thought process of this post. As I mentioned, I talk with Megan for a really long time today and I came to realize something. I can be really hard on myself (it's an easy thing to do really) and it sometimes causes problems (i.e. stress, sadness, you get the idea). Then it dawned on me: I need a shift in my attitude. I always use phrases like "Will you read this to see if it really sucks that bad" or have mindsets like "I really need to lose weight so I can be beautiful." So perhaps my thoughts aren't like that verbatim, but I realized that part of the reason it's so easy for me to be hard on myself and fall into that occasional depression is simply because of the things I say to myself or how I phrase things. My roommate Sara was talking to me yesterday and mention how at one point when she was able to lose weight it was mostly because she changed her mindset. As soon as she started telling herself she was beautiful and came to believe it, she was able to lose the weight she needed to lose.

This idea popped into my head when I was telling Megan that she would have to read a story that I'm working on to see how much it sucked. I then corrected myself by saying something like "I mean so you can see how wonderful it is." At that moment, with that simple change of attitude/positive word choice I actually felt much better about myself. It was one of those "aha" moments where I realized that I'm the only one bringing myself down. No one else tells me I suck at this or that. In fact, other people have been telling me good things about myself, but I counteract it with my negative thinking towards myself.

So my main point is how completely awesome I am. Ha ha nah my point is mostly a message to myself to stop being so negative. And my advice to you is don't be so hard on yourself either! You are your own worst critic. Start viewing life in a positive way. You'll be a lot happier with yourself and your life in general. Give it a try!

Now it's time to do my homework....stay positive. Stay positive!!!

Night all.

Clifford and Thelma

These are my great grandparents Clifford and Thelma Murray. They were my subjects today for my digital scrapbooking efforts. I was trying to add a bit more to it but I couldn't make it work. This isn't so bad though. By the way, I survived the first day of classes. Yay!

Back in the Burg

I am officially back in Rexburg waiting to start a new semester (classes start tomorrow!). It's always a little wierd to make the transition back to school life, but it's going to be great. I just know it! I like my new apartment (it comes with dish network!) and if I ever get bored I have friends close by. I only have two semester left including this one! Huzzah! We'll see what happens after that! Well there's not much to tell right now. I spent a lot of time sitting around yesterday and I think the same thing is going to happen today! Oh and Mom, I know I tried to send you a picture yesterday via phone but now you can see it better. This is one thing I was working on yesterday:

The time is drawing near for me to leave for school. I was just reminde this morning why i'm excited to go back. I love the people there! I still have a bunch of stuff to do like packing and cleaning my room like you can see from the picture. So off i go to actually do something besides playing online games! Here i come messy room...right after i get some lunch.

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