Art and Life of Sarahjane Bernhisel

Warm Enough?

2012-01-12T14:06:00.000-08:00

Quick doodle of a little old lady keeping warm.

A few things I've been working on

2011-12-06T16:39:00.001-08:00

Here's a little bit of what I've been working on the last couple of days.

The first is a small quick study of my hunky boyfriend Schuyler, and all the rest are a few pieces of my final for advanced perspective. Enjoy!

Advanced Perspective

2011-11-18T11:22:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I know I haven't posted in a while (sorry), but here's some of what I've been working on in Advanced Perspective. Hope you like it!

Portfolio Update!

2011-05-20T16:31:00.000-07:00

Just updated my online portfolio--check it out!

finals blajshfajsdkhfd

2011-05-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

Here's one final out of the way...

Business Cards!

2011-04-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

Just got new business cards! Who wants to hire me?

weapons

2011-04-27T10:52:00.002-07:00

haha can you tell I'm a girl who has never drawn weapons before? I CAN

dragon-fly

2011-04-20T08:47:00.001-07:00

It's my little guy. Lookit.

Life drawings!

2011-04-11T15:21:00.001-07:00

Went to the California Academy of Sciences not too long ago, so I drew a ray and a couple other things, but the ray was my favorite. Then last Saturday was the bi-annual Costume Carnival at AAU--the theme being cowboys and aliens--had a lot of fun with those.

woop woop new illustration

2011-04-06T09:21:00.000-07:00

Had fun with this one!

Talons and Tea Leaves

2011-03-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

A couple years ago I found myself a part of the "Harry Potter Art Book", a compilation of illustrations to go with each of the chapters in the series. I was given chapter 6 of book 3, "Talons and Tea Leaves". So the art was due long ago, and quite frankly I didn't try. At all. It looks like a 10 year old did it, in no exaggeration whatsoever. It's that bad. So, because the book is going to be printed and then given to J.K. Rowling herself, I was going to be PRETTY embarrassed if all I had to show was that horrible illustration. So, I re-did it quickly, and that's what you see above. And there Professor Trelawney is, in all of her crazy glory. Needless to say, I'm much happier with how it turned out this time around.

woo self-portrait

2011-03-08T17:49:00.000-08:00

portrait for classssss

retro robot final

2011-03-01T18:40:00.000-08:00

for class! the final version of all those sketches you saw before.

2011-02-27T20:48:00.001-08:00

Refined character sketches for class--due next class is the final, so expect that soon.

character silhouettes!

2011-02-23T10:17:00.001-08:00

cowboy gone dead

2011-02-20T15:38:00.001-08:00

An unfortunate accident, I'm sure.

hurr

2011-02-10T19:47:00.000-08:00

stupid thing for class

Still alive, guys

2011-02-07T22:55:00.001-08:00

Well, I'm not dead yet. Just super busy.
So here's this dude with an octopus and a time piece.
I like imagining that his other leg is a peg.

Pardon My French....

2011-01-02T16:01:00.001-08:00

watercolor pencils and graphite.

Life Update for Fall and Winter 2010

2010-12-30T12:24:00.000-08:00

While I know this blog is mostly for posting my art, I figured I might as well actually post some stuff about my life, too. And I'll probably post some art, too.

So I hope everyone has been enjoying their holiday season! I know I have. Since I got back to Salt Lake City on the 19th, it's kind of been nonstop fun with family and friends since I've gotten here. The Bernhisel side of the family always seems to have some crazy event going on, and that's always a blast. I can't say I'm not exhausted, though. Already I'm dreaming of a few weeks in San Francisco where I can really relax with Schuyler, my cats, and my roommates and work on art, and see if I can find a job or sell some art.

I was planning on getting a bunch of artwork done on my computer while I was back here in Utah--but guess who is a dingus and forgot her tablet pen? That would be me. Oh well.

I'm so excited for this next semester. While I don't have my classes totally hammered out, I am most likely going to be taking Character Design, Advanced Animal Drawing, and MAYBE Landscape Painting, and a liberal arts class that is yet to be determined. If I don't take Landscape Painting, then I'll just take another liberal arts class.

As for my life before I came back to Salt Lake, the last couple months in San Francisco were crazy ones. Halloween was a blast as we had a small group of friends over for a party rather than braving the rain for the city-wide scavenger hunt which was the original plan. November came and went with getting a new she-cat named Yogurt, glasses for my horrible eyesight (finally! no more migraines in class), and me and Schuyler staying in San Francisco with Schuyler's brother Colin and his fiancee Laura and some friends all bringing stuff for a potluck Thanksgiving dinner, which was wonderful.

December was a month of craziness filled with shopping, finals, and stress, but now it's over with and I'm really looking forward to the New Year. So far I've been skiing with my family and a few friends once, and I'm really looking forward to being able to go again before I take off again on January 8th.

Other updates: My boyfriend Schuyler McAlister just started a Kickstarter.com project. His goal is to have $5,000 pledged by January 9th so that this next semester he can work on becoming a full-time professional blacksmith in addition to being able to build up his blacksmithing portfolio with larger projects. For a pledge of $15, he'll handmake an awesome bottle opener, for $30 you'll receive a screen-printed black t-shirt with his anvil logo on the front, and for $150 he'll make you a badass handmade utility knife. Since I last checked maybe thirty seconds ago, he's only $215 away from his goal. TWO-HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN DOLLARS away! Out of $5,000! Every little bit helps, so if you find yourself with some extra money, watch his video, then click where it says "Light My Fire: A Blacksmith's Portfolio" and pledge some funds.

I hope you all enjoy what's left of this year, and I wish you all the best of luck in the new one. Happy Holidays!

animal drawing (SUPER image heavy, sorry)

2010-12-22T19:03:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd finally post some of the stuff I did in animal drawing!

DONE WITH FINALS WOOOO

2010-12-21T15:10:00.000-08:00

Hey Folks, it's time to harass your eyeballs some more with my art from this last semester over the next couple-a days. On today's menu, here's my final in class work from my painting class, as well as my finals from heads and hands--the final is of my boyfriend, Schuyler, who you should help support with his blacksmithing endeavors at kickstarter.com!

NEW PAINTINS

2010-11-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

And since one post isn't enough...

2010-10-03T16:36:00.001-07:00

...here's some of my animal drawings!

And some studies from some workshops the other day!

August Sketches (yeah, I'm a bit behind)

2010-10-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

Now that it's good and October, I thought I'd share some stuff I drew back in August in my sketchbook; a Winnebago I saw in Union Square while waiting for my boyfriend to get off of work, my sister holding her little boy Carter while he napped, an octopus for my boyfriend (one of his favorite animals), a treeline in Yellowstone, and last but not least, a lovely drawing my second-oldest sister Natalie drew for me. It's quite lovely--she's never been trained as a visual artist, believe it or not. But she can arrange some awesome flowers.

by golly, it's a naked lady

2010-09-11T13:48:00.001-07:00

My second classwork attempt at painting the figure.

classes have started....

2010-09-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

Off to a good start.

random sketches

2010-08-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a heinously busy summer, hence the lack of updates. Anyway, here are some sketches from summer.

Can't wait for classes to startttttt.

the anti-croc

2010-07-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

I've posted this pretty much everywhere except for right here--so here it is.

My group art blog had a challenge: to draw ourselves as a villain.

The Anti-Croc hates one thing on this earth--Croc shoes. Nothing irks her more than seeing a middle aged woman waddling down the street wearing a pair of purple Crocs. Deciding to wipe out the wearers of these horrible holed shoes, she looked to its two enemies--fire and scissors. Hoping to scare the living daylights out of anyone who wears the shoe--learning through example, if you will--she pulls out her flame-thrower for the unlucky few who are about to have their brightly-colored shoes melted to their skin.

skiggity sketch dump

2010-07-03T18:56:00.001-07:00

Just some bits of randomness over the last couple weeks.

Felix here is based on a real guy named Felix who would come into the restaurant I work at in Salt Lake--he really wore those goggles all the time. Just one of my friends playing Magic: The Gathering. No big deal.

and some old sketches I've had for a while, but I forgot about.

me and my dog

2010-06-05T15:29:00.000-07:00

I've been homesick for my dog Aurora, so I'm glad that I'm home and can spend time with her. She's absolutely adorable--a Siberian husky and Bernese mountain dog mix. She was super excited to see me when I came home, so I drew this quick sketch of me and her. Try not to barf glitter and rainbows when you see how cute this is.

life update!

2010-06-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

I'll post some art soon, but for now here's a life update.

I'm back in Utah with the family for the next and a half weeks, and I am SO happy to be home. I had really been missing Utah a whole lot. I love San Francisco a ridiculous amount, but a change of scenery is always nice. I'll be heading back to SF on the 18th for summer, and since I'm not taking any studio classes over the semester (just dumb liberal arts classes, ugh), I'll have lots of time to work on personal art. Can't wait!

I was lucky enough to have a really fun weekend just before I headed back to Salt Lake--my sister Heather headed out to visit with some of their friends and her husband and kids--between the two families there were nine kids between the ages of three and fourteen. It was pretty much chaos the whole time, but loads of fun. The weather was also absolutely amazing on Sunday, so I headed out to Ocean Beach with my boyfriend Schuyler, his brother Colin, and two of Colin's friends, Mireya and Jason. Schuyler had made a grill himself a couple weeks ago over at The Crucible and wanted to try it out, so they ate grilled chicken and I had vegetables over the fire--so awesome.

academy of sciences

2010-05-26T00:41:00.000-07:00

I went to the California Academy of Sciences on Monday for my boyfriend's birthday (Happy Birthday, Schuyler!) with his parents who were in town from Arkansas, and took the opportunity to jot down some REALLY quick studies of some critters--didn't want them to wait for me for too long. Luckily I have a membership, so now that I have some free time, I'll be going there way more often.

end of another semester

2010-05-23T10:20:00.001-07:00

Well, fifteen weeks have come and gone, and after this semester, I am left as the best artist I've ever been, and I keep getting better. I am far more passionate about the work I am going to be doing for a living now, and I really can't wait to keep going with what I love. So, here are three pieces that kind of summarize what I've learned. Enjoy! (I apologize for the quality of the image on the last photo--I'm lazy and haven't taken a good one, yet, so the values really aren't so harsh and blown out)

woopwoop

2010-05-09T13:08:00.001-07:00

I hadn't drawn from my imagination in a while, so I drew these two. Jenni had drawn some obscene thought bubbles above the woman's head, but they didn't turn out in the scan. A shame, I say.

you guessed it: more schoolwork

2010-04-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

off to hawaii--oh, and here's some art.

2010-04-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd post some more stuff from my intermediate figure class and from still life painting--I swear I'll post some stuff other than things from school, eventually.

I'm off to Hawaii for the week with my family today--I won't lie, as excited as I am to go, I'm super sad about missing a week of class and workshops, not to mention missing WonderCon. Oh well. I'll be tan and I will have been swimming among turtles and you will have not.

workshop dump!

2010-03-13T11:05:00.000-08:00

Some classwork from intermediate figure drawing...first time in class we were allowed to use any kind of shading--this time it was ink wash.

Been going to a lotttt of workshops. So much fun. I've been deathly ill these last couple of days, and I didn't go anywhere except for class and workshops. I had to do something productive with my time.

february, classes, and camping

2010-02-28T23:21:00.000-08:00

It has been a good month, to say the least. Classes started up without much hardship, and I was quickly enveloped in what I was doing. My semester is intense. I have three studio classes, and each take up a significant portion of my time, not to mention attempting to go to four workshops a week. Workshops are essentially extra free classes that you can go to and draw live models on your own time and get extra help in classes. It's a lot of fun, and in just a few weeks, I can already tell that I have improved. It's a great feeling. My oil painting class is also tons of fun, and turns out I'm really good at it--last week we painted horrible bright colors and toys and my teacher was pretty happy that he had finally stumped me, but I got the hang of it by the sixth hour of class--I'll take some better pictures of my paintings, soon. My teacher invited me to go to Italy this summer on a study abroad to paint some landscapes, but I really don't think I have the funds to do such an excursion quite yet. Maybe next summer? Anyway, a bunch of new art is below.

As for my social life here in San Francisco, it's been a busy month. I've been attempting to leave my tiny little apartment as much as possible, though being rather sick (I got bronchitis!) for two weeks put a bit of a hold on some plans. Last week, though, I got to go down to Big Sur and go camping for my friends' Rich and Kevin's 23rd birthday along with our friends Henry James and Tauri. It was tons of fun to be out of the city and just enjoy nature, hikes, the ocean, and huge redwood trees. It was fantastic.

This coming weekend, I'm taking a train up to Eugene, Oregon, to visit my best friend, Anna. I am so excited! I've never been to Oregon, and I've never taken a train by myself--I took one in India, but that was under completely different circumstances. This one will hopefully be more sanitary and I won't have to pee into a hole in the ground onto the tracks below--I hear Amtrak got rid of that service a couple years ago.

a business proposition

2010-02-01T09:37:00.000-08:00

Would anyone be interested in buying some handpainted gouache cards or small paintings from me? I'm not sure how much I would charge for them yet, but I just want to see if people would be interested in helping out a poor student who needs some mon-ay. Spread the word!

random art

2010-01-27T17:35:00.000-08:00

I figured I'd post some of my final art from last semester and some character development sketches from this year, and a couple dumb digital paintings.

winter break

2010-01-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't written in this since November. I know I said I would update this more, but that hasn't worked out so well. For now, no promises on how often I am updating.

So...what's new with me. Winter break has come and gone, and I find myself back in San Francisco. I have a week until school starts, and I've been here already for about two weeks. It's basically just been one big vacation here without going to school. One bummer is that it has been insanely rainy, so I haven't gone out and about a whole lot. Last Sunday I did go on a quick adventure to Half-Moon Bay to get some brunch with three of my best friends, so that was fun...but as for extreme adventures, that's been about it.

Oh, and I went to two concerts...one with my friend Jacob and another with Jenni...I got a free ticket to the one with Jenni (City and Colour) because Jenni's friend Sarah was going to come up from Lancaster to go...but it fell through, but she already had her ticket.

I think this week I'm going to try to do some more fun things...I might go to Palo Alto to visit Carina's family, since I didn't get to at all last semester.

Also, a new search for a job has begun. Williams-Sonoma didn't need any more help after the holidays, so I'm woefully unemployed.

I'm incredibly excited for this new semester. I'm taking a Still Life Painting class, Clothed Figure Modeling 1, Intermediate Figure Drawing, and Narrative Storytelling. Three intensive drawing/painting classes will keep me busy Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 8:30 in the morning until 1:30 in the afternoon. I can't wait.

Winter break was fantastic, though. I was lucky enough to receive a trip to Hawaii as a Christmas gift, and of course got to spend lots of time with my family, which is always good. Jenni even came out to visit for a week, so I took her skiing up at Snowbird. The going was tough at first (after having to wade through ten feet of deep powder to dig her out) but at the end of the day, she was skiing down Chickadee no problem. Maybe next year I can take her on the big slopes.

I have a lot of reading to catch up on. I started and finished the book Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen in a few hours over break, and I have the newest Stephen King book to read, as well as Neil Gaiman's Stardust. Doesn't make me not want to buy every book in sight, though...I really need to get me a library card.

Alright, I'm off to start my day...at 3 pm. Don't judge me.

thanksgiving

2009-11-30T01:06:00.000-08:00

Well, Thanksgiving break has been a lot of fun, here in Lancaster/Palmdale with one of my best friends, Jenni. It's been nice seeing the town right smack in the middle of the desert about an hour outside of Los Angeles, I finally have a setting for all the stories she tells me, as well as faces for the names of her friends. It's dry, here. Really dry. Sagebrush and joshua trees everywhere....covered up by development and suburbia--as if it's a disguise. It's a little strange to see an empty lot of beautiful desert....next to a shopping mall where oaks line the road.

Thanksgiving itself was decent...ate delicious food at Jenni's aunt's house...it was nice being with a family. I got into a political "discussion" with her grandma's husband and his brother--luckily I could hold my own and explain why I am liberal, being hounded from three sides about my ideology in politics. Aside from that, it was great.

We went to Disneyland, which was the highlight of the trip...it included Jenni, myself, Deirdra, Lauren, and another Sarah, and it was incredibly fun. SO many ugly and fantastic pictures...we went on Space Mountain four times.

Back to home in San Francisco in the morning...I have class at 3:30. Luckily, it's a field trip to MOMA. My skin is dried out....and I'm getting sick. Time to have some humidity.

happy november!

2009-11-22T15:15:00.001-08:00

Oh goodness...November already? I'm a little freaked out about how fast this year and semester has gone.

I've been super busy with school...and now I have a job! I am a ~*~*seasonal associate*~*~ at Williams-Sonoma's flagship store in Union Square. I'm not going to be working much, but hey, it's something. I don't know if I'll get to stay on for the rest of the year, but here's to hoping.

School-wise, basically I have been drawing lots of naked men and ladies, and only barely a little bit of my own illustrations. But here is something to whet your appetite (beware of nerdiness, I'm making it into a profession, folks, so it's here to stay):

Also, remember to check out Nekked Bear Army for more art updates. Also, the first image is the rough draft painting of my full mandala I have to paint for color and design.

As for Thanksgiving plans, I'm sadly not going back to the 'Tah. Instead, I'll be going down to southern California to visit my roommate's hometown and family. I can't wait! I miss my family a bit though, so I am a little sad I am spending my third Thanksgiving away from home. It's alright though...I get to see them all in less than a month!

Some other fun things I've been up to the last few weeks.....hm.

Lord of the Rings marathon with Jenni, Andrea, Rich, and Terrance (extended versions, of course)
Went to my first concert by myself (Ben Gibbard!) and went to one of my other favorite bands with Jenni, Rich, and Andrea (Pinback)
Helping friends with various projects
Cooking and cleaning like it's nobody's business (Made my mom's famous enchiladas for Jenni...she wants me to make them again as soon as possible)
Enjoying when our friends Kyle and Fran have been staying with us
Watching oodles of TV and movies on Netflix
Attempting not to strangle my cat
Yesterday took Jenni to the California Academy of Sciences for the first time, then discovered a delicious Cajun restaurant on Haight

2009-10-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

ohoo, nevermind. Guess I am not taking the sketch bus down to L.A.

Plans got cancelled, so now I get to spend the weekend in the bay. A lot less stressful. I might be meeting my parents over in Oakland to go to Carmel-by-the-Sea with them to visit Mike and Tracy...hopefully that will work out!

Well, I'm off to Nick's Crispy Tacos with my friend Henry James.

2009-10-14T12:10:00.001-07:00

Hahaha, I just made my reservation for a bus ride to LA this Friday on a Vietnamese bus line. Check out how legitimate this site is. Xe Do Hoang Transportation

Don't worry, my good friend Andrea recommended it to me, and it will certainly be an adventure.

I'm going down there this weekend to meet my friends Mary and Cellie, and road trip over to Las Vegas. Once there, we're going to the University of Utah and Las Vegas football game! I can't wait. Then sunday I'll be back in San Francisco. I'm going to never want to go to LA ever again after this. I already spent last weekend there with my friend John for a concert, which was fun...but LA is so gross.

I'm determined to keep updating this.

2009-10-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

a few of my favorite things:

october.

2009-10-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

I miss my family today. I found myself looking at pictures and I made myself all homesick for everyone, especially my little nephews. I am loving San Francisco and am so happy being here with Jenni and the apartment and the kitten and my friends, but I can't help but be sad that my two youngest nephews are not going to know who I am, not really, for a long time.

I just need to get out, today. I've been cooped up in my tiny place for the last four days with homework and class...I might go to MOMA and Yerba Buena or Grace Cathedral and just sit for a while, maybe draw. I'm about to head out the door to go to Cup-A-Joe with Jenni. I'm going to read for a bit--I started All The Pretty Horses the other day. I love it.

Last weekend I went up to Crissy Field at sunset with Jenni, Anna, Hank, and Mike. Anna left to go back to Germany...I was sad to see her go. I have a friend to visit when I go to Germany, though! I also have a new friend in London, too--I met a random guy on couchsurfing and hung out with him for a day a few weeks ago when he was visiting San Francisco. I think I might go to Europe within the next few years--when I get a job here that is what I am saving up for.

Koji, the kitten, is absolutely annoying. But then he stares at you with those bright blue eyes and you just kind of melt. He loves scratching and biting EVERYTHING. And he's so little he still hasn't quite caught onto the idea of bathing himself fully, yet--so he quite frequently smells like ass. He loves sleeping in my hair. It's great when I am immersed in my homework and all of a sudden I have a kitten purring loudly in my ear.

This month is going to be crazy--it's the only weekend I am really spending here at home. Next week I am driving down to L.A. with my friend John for a Travis concert. The week after that I am going down to L.A. again (via amtrak) to meet up with Mary, drive to Las Vegas, and go to the University of Utah/Las Vegas football game, and then back again. That same week, my parents are visiting. The week after that I believe, is midterm. I think Cellie might be coming up and visiting at the end of the month sometime, too. It'll be a fun month....but crazy. Here's to October.

kitten!

2009-09-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

So, we weren't planning on it so immediately, but Jenni and I have procured a little black kitten in our tiny little apartment in San Francisco. His name is Koji, and he's a little fluffy vortex of energy. I can't go anywhere without him following me around--and he loves climbing about in my hair. He just meows pathetically until I pick him up, and then he b-lines it up there and snuggles in.

We took him to his first vet visit today (poor little thing) to get him de-flea'd and -wormed. He's still too little to get his vaccines, but we've made another appointment in a few weeks to get those done.

What it boils down to: we have a cat.

2009-09-02T12:23:00.001-07:00

Haha, I need to remember I have another blog. I suck at updating this.

But here is some art from spring semester from my figure drawing class.

And here's some art that I've just done randomly.

and that's it art-wise. I have some things in my sketchbook which have not been scanned yet, so I'll do that soon.

But I'm back in San Francisco! I'm all moved into my apartment with Jenni, and with some hardships (fixed by my roommate Jenni's wonderful father), we have a bunkbed from Ikea stuck together and I am completely in love with the place. We have bay windows facing the street and a fire escape, hardwood floors, a decent sized kitchen, and a claw-foot tub. Despite the fact it's a tiny studio, it's adorable and I call it home. I have posters hung up from Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie concerts, pop art of Bob Ross, a signed Hellboy print by Mike Mignola, and a picture of an old couple taking pictures in the bathroom taken by our friend Marta, and various other things which make it feel like we actually live here. Just a few things are keeping it from being perfect (we need some shelves in the kitchen, for one) but it's a happy little place. We have a futon which we plan to have countless visitors stay on. If you're interested--let me know.

Class doesn't start for me until the Tuesday after Labor Day. So I have a while just to hang out and enjoy myself. Jenni's friend from Germany, Anna, is staying with us for a little while. I've seen all of my best friends from last year (aside from the ones who have left school) and have already made a few new ones. I can't wait for classes. I still need to pick up some supplies--maybe that will be my project for the day.

After weeks and days of preparation, I'm finally back here in San Francisco. My parents and my sister Natalie (hauling Felix across the states with her-poor little kid) drove all the way to drop me off and help me move in. Natalie used her supreme organizational skills and helped us get squared away in the kitchen--I am so grateful for her. She took me "shopping" earlier in the week, to teach me how to grocery shop and get the best food for the best prices. I learned a lot, and it came in handy when we drove in Carina's car to the Safeway in the Castro. Also for my birthday, she gave me a little recipe box with a few of her favorite recipes, and enough cards to write some more of my own.

I miss my friends in Salt Lake, but it's the time of year where we all go on our own paths back to school: myself to San Francisco, Anna to Oregon, Peter to Chicago, Kevin to Seattle, Mary to L.A., Elliot to Logan, Jordan to Boston, Tucker to Colorado, and everyone else to their respective places during the school year.

At any rate, I'm back.

2009-06-11T23:55:00.000-07:00

I pretty much fail at updating here. My baddddd. I've been pretty busy. I am now home from San Francisco and am back in the great state of Utah. I miss all of my fourth floor homies at the Commodore, especially Jenni and Marta, but I definitely have love leftover for everyone else. The semester ended swimmingly: I received three A's and a B+. Needless to say, I am really proud of myself.

After returning home, I was quickly sent to work at Liberty Park (like I have been since I was around 12...my family doesn't believe in child labor laws), and took a short vacation up to Bear Lake for Memorial Day with the Bernhisel's. It rained most of the time, but that didn't stop us from playing barefoot soccer in the sand and having an excellent beach bonfire.

I figure I should post some of my art from this last semester--here is my final from my computer animation production class.

I had a strict 1:00 time limit, so sadly I wasn't able to elaborate on the story. But heyyy, it got me an A in the class. Natalie had me put this up so she could brag about me. I guess that's cool.

Here are some of my pieces from my perspective class.

And now for a random speedpaint of my friend Marta.

All of this was just put up on a new art blog my friend Alex Tingey put together with a few other friends. If you are interested, check out Nekked Bear Army. It's pretty neat. There's even a picture of me wearing chaps. Aw yeah.

springgg

2009-05-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

I love how nice the weather is, now! It's been a really good month, here.

I got a visit from my sister Heather and her family, and that was so much fun. My nephews are adorable. It's also nice being with people in the city who KNOW the city, since they lived here in San Francisco for three years themselves when Jared was going to dental school. When my parents come to visit, it's a little scary since they don't know the streets too well. I got to do some of the things I don't get to, normally, like enjoy delicious Mitchell's Ice Cream (I went with the Mexican chocolate flavor this time), go to the zoo, Crissy Field (and the Warming Hut), Nick's Crispy Tacos, and viewing the lovely herd of bison in Golden Gate Park.

As well, I took a trip to Ocean Beach a few weeks ago when the weather was around 90 degrees with two of my friends, Maura and Marta, and it was amazing. For those of you who have ever visited Ocean Beach, you would know that normally it's a horrible beach with flies everywhere, biting wind, and balls-cold ocean. Not that day! I felt like I was in Hawaii the weather was so perfect, except for the 50 degree water--that didn't change. The only bad thing, which wasn't even that bad, were the countless ladybugs that were harassing us. At one point I had about six in my hair, which we got a picture of. I sadly had to leave early since I had a meeting with my counselor in order to choose my new classes for fall semester, so I had a horribly sticky bus ride back to Market Street where I had to listen to a ragged old woman go on and on about her cat who had just passed away to another poor soul behind me ("and wouldn't you know it, we heard Jingle-Bells play twice from inside her carrier, when normally it would only play once! We knew he was saying goodbye").

Classes are going super well, I'm a bit stressed because of finals, but I can handle it. The only class I'm REALLY worried about is my computer animation course, since computer animation is slightly tedious, especially when you are only just learning how to use Maya. It's not so much the animation which has me worried--it's the rendering, which takes hours to complete. Hopefully I can get it all done by next Tuesday.

Recently, my friend Marta took some pictures of me for her makeup class (she's a photo major) so I thought I would share a little bit of my 80's glam.

,dhkgfdlshkfgl

2009-04-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

Hah, I guess it's time for an update. I've kind of been sucking at doing that.

Since my last update, I've had my midterms and spring break, where I returned home to Salt Lake for about 10 days. It was really fun getting to see everyone again, as well as traveling various places. I worked at Liberty Park Grill as a server for breakfast on the two weekends I was there, so it was nice to put a little money in my pocket--since I suck and don't have a job here.

I hung out with most of my best friends at least once, since it turned out that my break overlapped with the break the week before and part of the week after. So I got to see my friend Lindsay who is currently attending Boston University, as well as Kevin who is going to Seattle University, and Peter who goes to Chicago University. I traveled up to Utah State with Tucker to go visit our best friend Elliot for about 24 hours, as well as getting to see a few high school friends who attend up there. I hadn't been up to Logan in years, and the mountains were disgustingly beautiful, since at the time most of the snow had melted in Salt Lake. I came when the weather was wonderful--it snowed the day I left for San Francisco again.

The day after I returned home, I headed down to St. George for 24 hours, driving down on Thursday afternoon and coming home Friday night. It was tiring, but hey, I got a massage out of it and the chance to go on a really neat hike where my horribly old shoes had me slipping everywhere on slickrock. Pretty much thought I was going to die. I didn't, turns out.

After returning back to San Francisco, I got to have Anna, my best friend, come stay with me for the remainder of her spring break before she had to go back up to the University of Oregon. It was so much fun hanging out with her here. I was super sad to see her go. THOUGH since she was sleeping with me in my itty bitty twin sized bed, it was nice to have my own bed after. OTHERWISE she should have stayed here foreverrrr.

School-wise, everything here has been amazing. I'm improving rapidly in my classes, especially now that I have the motivation from the knowledge that I am coming back here next semester. I've figured out exactly what major I want to be (currently I've been in Character Animation, it's the default animation major, but that's not exactly what I am interested in), and that's visual development, which means I'll still be animating, but it will be concept art and animation combined, since my love for both is equal. So I'm really excited for the coming years. I can tell how much I am improving week to week, and you can visibly see it, as well. Midterms went well, and after some constructive criticism from my figure drawing professor Henry Yan, I've been able to pick up my skill level. Let's hope that keeps happening.

And...that's about it. I only have a month and a half left of my freshman year of college. whatttt.

school update

2009-02-22T02:24:00.000-08:00

Well, this semester here at AAU is going just swimmingly.

It's a great feeling knowing you are getting better at art each and every day--I guess that comes with seeing more ass than a toilet seat for one of my classes, being constantly covered in charcoal (apparently I was rocking a Hitler-stache for a few minutes in the middle of figure drawing last Wednesday), having carpal tunnal from repeated clicks and key-strokes while using Maya in computer animation production, as well as from being sick of drawing countless lines to countless vanishing points in perspective. And Art History is just...art history. Nothing too exciting going on, there.

I'm loving it, though--every moment of being here. Well, one moment I did not appreciate was my leg being grabbed at by a creepy homeless man on the street who was hiding behind a bus stop last week while walking home from dinner with a few friends--that was terrifying. But besides those few isolated incidences, this semester has been incredible.

I'm missing Utah again, though. Currently I've been in Palo Alto for the weekend staying at my friend Carina's house. We took a short day trip to Santa Cruz to drop Jenni off at UCSanta Cruz where her best friend attends, and while driving through those itty-bitty mountains I couldn't help but think that parts of it looked like a few of the canyons back in Salt Lake...though perhaps on a smaller scale. It's probably a good thing I'm coming home for spring break.

It's been pouring rain here for the last few weeks every couple of days. I have to walk to most of my classes this semester (it's a nice change--the school shuttles are over crowded and always running late), which means I have to walk in the rain carrying large drawing pads, or a heavy textbook, computer, and notebook. It's slightly inconvenient. Especially when it's paired with wind and umbrellas do absolutely nothing. Jenni and I took a trip up to fisherman's wharf since we were craving In-N-Out--we were soaked in a few minutes. Thank goodness for my green raincoat I bought last semester, and an umbrella that I had brought since Jenni forgot hers. My cousin Matthew came to San Francisco on a business trip this last week and he told me I was a wimp for complaining about the rain--then again, he lives in Seattle, so I suppose it can't really compare.

Speaking of Matt, he took me to dinner and treated me to the nicest meal that I've had so far in San Francisco. I promised I would display that fact for him for my family to hear about, so there you are. It was really fun seeing him and spending time with him, since the only time he is ever around in Utah is for family functions. Also a note to everyone else: if you are planning on visiting me at all, do it soon! I leave AAU May 14th, and I'm not going back next semester, so get on it.

I'm excited for a few things right now in the next month:
Finally going to see Coraline...whenever that will be.
Watchmen movie. You have no idea. It's one of my favorite books/graphic novels and it's looking like it'll be a great film. I've been excited about it since I've even known what Watchmen was. You can bet I will be at the midnight showing for this one.
Going home to Salt Lake for Spring Break.

Oh, and a belated Happy Birthday to my nephew Felix who turned 1 at the beginning of February.

and another OH!:
I got a twitter account, if any of you have one: http://twitter.com/sjbernhisel

Happy Birthday Anna!

2009-01-31T04:09:00.000-08:00

Today is my best friend Anna's 19th birthday! Currently we have been best friends since 7th grade when we met a fateful day in Ms. Savageau's shop class our first period. Since then we have proceeded to fill the other with a whole lot of stupid, and I am glad for it. I seriously would be lost without her if she wasn't always right there in my life. Even though we have gone our separate ways for college (she is currently attending the University of Oregon) we still make sure we stay as close as ever with countless text messages, Facebook, and Skype calls.

I miss her so much, I can't even come close to describing how much I do. For so long she has been such a constant in my life and she really has changed my life in inumerable ways. I am so grateful that I have her as a friend--to laugh about nothing, play "your team" with, call sickening pet names, share inside jokes, and be all around two of the most obnoxious people you will ever meet. We always joke how much easier our lives would be if we were lesbians as we are quite possibly soul mates--but alas, that is not so. And since our lives aren't that much easier, we are always there to help the other out in our times of need. I can't think of a time since knowing her where she hasn't been there to be my support.

I am forever grateful for her, and I love her so much--my little schmoopsie!

I also made her this wonderful piece of photoshop art--do you think she'll like it?

2009-01-24T21:18:00.000-08:00

So, here I am in my dorm room, just hanging out not doing much--considering going out and hunting for some food. Currently I am on my friend/roommate Jenni's computer...since the wireless internet here hates me for whatever reason. But I figured that my many fans could use an update as to what is going on with my life.

This last month in Utah I've been lucky enough to not have ANY responsibilities, and it had been great. Towards the end of it, though I got a bit stir crazy and wanted to go out and actually do things, like anxiously awaiting my new classes, wanting to travel, and get a job. I hate not having a job--it's really obnoxious. Once I get all my classes and everything in order, I'll be on the hunt for a job on weekends.

While the majority of my friends in Utah had to leave all over the country for school early in the month, I was able to spend a lot of time with my friends who were still in Utah. It was a lot of fun getting back in touch with some old friends, reminding myself every day why Mary is one of my best friends (can you say random trip up to Park City just to get out of the inversion--and grab some coffee? She's awesome), late night trips to Coffee Break or Greenhouse Effect with Aleks just to hang out with friends for hours and play cards or do crosswords, watching hours upon hours of Planet Earth, sleepovers with Rachel and Lindsay, a trip to Ikea with Natalie and Matt, watching my nephews play Rockband, and so many other things. I'm quite certain to say that this last winter break was one of the most fun memories I now have.

But yes, I finally have a roommate! Jenni was one of my closest friends from last semester, and since her roommate and our friend Claire left, she was left without a roommate, and since I didn't have one, either, we decided to move in together. We shall never sleep, due to the fact we both like to laugh at nothing, sing badly, make grotesque faces, watch movies, and play video games (aided by Jenni's brand new XBOX360 and Wii) at all hours of the day, as well as both having horrible sleeping habits. We are pretty much perfect for one another.

My classes start on Tuesday, and I cannot wait! I have a great schedule:
No classes Mondays or Fridays
Tuesday: 8:30-11:20am : Art History through the 15th Century
12:00-2:50pm : Computer Animation Production
Wednesday: 8:30-1:30pm : Figure Drawing
Thursday: 12:00-5:00pm : Perspective for Animation

This semester, my last at AAU for now will be a blast, I really can't wait to make the most of it. Sadly I'll be returning to Utah possibly permanently--I'll be getting my general education requirements done at the University of Utah, then transferring eventually to BYU in order to finish up my animation major. San Francisco and Provo are a little different--but I'll make it work.

2009-01-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

Being home has been amazing. I love Utah so much, and I didn't realize how much I had been missing it until I flew in and I saw the snow-covered mountains and just had this HUGE GRIN on my face. It's been amazing to hang out with all of my friends who also have left Utah in search of their education, as well as some old friends I hadn't seen in years.

Also I love being home with all my family--I love hanging out with my sisters and their husbands and my cute nephews. Carter and Felix have both gotten MASSIVE over the last four months, and it's so fun to play with them.

My friend Cellie stayed with me this last week--she moved with her family to Hollywood this spring and came back for a visit for New Year's. It was a lot of fun--only I'm pretty sure she got really sick of me, I can be pretty obnoxious when you have to deal with me for a week straight.

I'm in Utah until the 24th of this month, and then I'm back off to San Francisco. I'm really looking forward to the new semester and my new classes, but at the same time I'm going to be really sad to leave again. I am looking forward to living with my friend Jenni--we will never sleep. If you know me at all, you know my stupid sense of humor--and it's one that Jenni shares with me.

Well, I don't have much else to say, but here are some pictures of my art, as well as some fun times while being here in Salt Lake.

This was my final for my Analysis of Form class. Oh Clark Gable.

Hanging out at Tucker's house with Anna, Katherine, Julie, Elliot, and Tucker, and Lara.

Drive back from picking up Cellie from the airport.

Me and Anna on New Year's Eve!
Me and Lara on New Year's Eve

My three favorite girls everrrr. I look a little odd in this one.

Me and Harrison with our annual ugly picture!

Experimental Animation Final

2008-12-16T17:22:00.001-08:00

of finals, christmas, and whales

2008-12-14T17:36:00.000-08:00

........I needed a break from studying/drawing other things.

Anyway, besides drawing whales, I have been really sick for about a month and a half--which is not the best thing in the world. All I want to do is sit in bed all day and sleep, but alas, I usually make myself get up and go about my day as usual as unappealing it might be.

Final projects are all due this next week...Yikes. I'm getting really nervous about them. Hopefully I'll do well! I have two on Monday, one on Tuesday, and another on Friday--and then I'm DONE! I fly home to Salt Lake Saturday afternoon--and I am getting so excited. I'm hearing there is a ton of snow on the ground, so I plan to fling myself upon it the first chance I get. We've only been having some rain recently...and lots of fog. Doesn't quiiiite feel like Christmas for me yet, though I am sure that will change right when I get home.

new art and pictures

2008-12-04T23:35:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! I figure it's time for a real update again.

Ahhhhhh! Finals are coming up, and I'm stressing out that I'm not going to do well and all that jazz. I'm sure all will be well, though. I can do this! I just need to be really committed the next couple of weeks.

I come home on the 20th...so I'm really looking forward to that. I miss everyone at home, my friends, my family, my pets, my bed, my house, a KITCHEN, and the joy of blowing my nose and not having it be black/gray with pollution and smoke.

Thanksgiving was great, I spent it at my friend Carina's house (the girl in the picture on the left) in Palo Alto. We had some adventures in Half-Moon Bay and the area around there, which was great for me, since it's one of my favorite places in the Bay Area. Shame it was slightly marred by the appearance of an old man with dred locks in a thin white robe jumping like a dog in the waves....there was nothing under the robe so it didn't leave much to the imagination. Haha! Oh well. It was really nice to have a little vacation...even though the weekend before that I had the chance to go down to Carmel with my parents to visit with our friends Mike and Tracy at their house. It's been hard getting back into the swing of things, but eh, I'll manage.

So I was bored today after running a bunch of errands, and drew that picture in a few hours with some charcoal and on some craft paper. The imagery is a little strange, I know, but it goes with a song that I've had stuck in my head for months, called "The Crane Wife" by the Decemberists. I actually have it here on my blog, so if you want to listen to it, just scroll to it on my music player to the left, it should be there. But basically it's about a Japanese folk-tale where a man rescues a crane and fixes it's injured wing, and releases it. Later, a woman comes to the man's door, and they fall in love and get married. To make money the woman weaves beautiful fabric, but she makes the man promise that he must never watch her weave. He becomes greedy and wishes to see how she does it, and upon spying on her, the man watches the woman turn back into the crane and fly away. It's a sad story/song, but I love it just the same. So basically, my picture started out as a doodle and turned into this which is what was on my mind so yeah. I ramble.

Happy December!

elfyourself

2008-12-04T17:22:00.000-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Just some awesome dances me and a couple friends put together. You know, nothing too big.

hanging in there

2008-11-19T10:19:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I know you'll all be excited about this news: I have some more animations to show you! They're pretty iffy-quality animation in the fact I was learning how to do both a lip sync and a quadruped walk cycle, which I had never done before. The lip sync is alright, but eh. And the walk cycle I figured out more as I was progressing it forward, so the beginning struggles a bit. haha.

But yeah! That's the puppet I'm using for my final project in my experimental animation. Only for the final he'll have a monocle, top hat, and bowtie.

I figure there ought to be some more pictures of what I have been up to lately: I've been trying to remember to bring my camera everywhere! But I'm doing well, I'm really excited to see my parents who are coming to visit tomorrow (Thursday)! Seriously I can't wait to mooch of of them and take me to all the fun places I can't afford to go to otherwise! haha.

I saw the new James Bond movie: and I liked it--just not as a Bond movie. I wanted more gadgets, cars, and things that which make a Bond movie. It was pretty good though: it's worth checking out for sure. I love Daniel Craig so much, haha! He's reason enough to see it. But I saw it with my friends Carina, Jenni, and Jenni's friend from high school Dierdra. It was a really fun night, except for that I've been really sick lately and felt miserable after the movie. Also of course I ruin the picture with my face since Jenni took so many pictures which all were bad of Dierdra and Carina so I didn't smile in this one, and of course it's the one where both look cute and I look ...yeah. Not cute.

I also have a bad quality picture of my recent project that I did in my Analysis of Form class: another B! Which is really good, considering I did it pretty much the day before. I didn't sleep much that night, and still have the charcoal embedded in my nose and lungs. Neverrrrr again, it was awful.

I've found this fabulous Mexican restaurant that I want to eat at pretty much every moment. And it's cheap which is the best part. I got this huge Barbacoa/Chipotle sized burrito there for about $4.50. Awesome! When you all come to visit me, we're all going there in turn. I'm hoping I get to go there tomorrow when my parents get in....hahaha. I think all I think about is food because of the awful food here in my meal plan. Sometime's you'll be surprised and will get something really great, like when they have make your own burritos or ravioli or something simple: other times they go all out and it looks like puke and you don't want to eat another quesadilla for the rest of your life and it's a problem since you're poorer than that wino on the corner.

You see my predicament.

TIME FOR A NEW UPDATE!

2008-11-11T14:53:00.000-08:00

I know you are all dying to see what I do in my spare time...along with all of my homework. It's kind of understandable. I live an exciting life in San Francisco, after all!

Well, sadly I've found I am incredibly broke with this whole lack of a real job thing--I'm doing that ChaCha thing on the side but it's not great money. So here are some photo examples of what I like to do and that are completely free. (well, maybe not completely at times)

1.) Have awkward Skype chats with Anna and Elliot!
2.) ...draw myself?
3.) Do laundry with Jenni!
4.) Go get shakes at Lori's diner....not so much with those creeper eyes but shakes make everything better! (the eyes are a result of being sick and not enough sleep because of it)...yikes!
5.) Peruse the stores and never buy anything due to the lack of money
6.) Help Carina with her photo storyboarding class. The last picture is of me and Jenni duking it out with laser guns and lightsabers, but don't worry, I get myself out of that sticky situation eventually.

ELECTION 2008

2008-11-04T18:57:00.000-08:00

I'm really proud to say that I voted in this election. It's perhaps one of the most important elections in our nation's history, a huge landmark. Countries across the world see this election and the impact it will have on history forever, and we all wait to see what the outcome is.

As many of you know, I'm a liberal Mormon, and I don't find it impossible to be both. While my religion is important to me, I'm not going to let my religious beliefs get in the way of my political ones, or let my political beliefs get in the way of my religious ones. I believe that I can have both.

I'm proud to say that I voted for Barack Obama, however I'm even more proud to be a part of history, regardless of who wins.

I hope you all went out to vote, regardless of who you voted for!

EDIT:

We just made history!

Halloween 2008!

2008-11-02T18:13:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween to everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend, I certainly enjoyed the fact Halloween was on a weekend this year.

My first Halloween here in San Francisco was so much fun. It was absolutely crazy (don't worry--not too crazy). I went as Sherlock Holmes, though sadly my costume didn't work quite as well as I had hoped since it was really windy and my hat kept blowing off. So there's only one picture of me with it on, but I guess that's alright.

Our night consisted of going down to Chipotle and getting a free burrito! The deal was that if you dressed up like a burrito (i.e., wearing a piece of tin foil) you would get a free one. So myself, Chelsea, Claire, Carina, and Jenni all went down to claim our free burrito: it happened to be my second one for the day, but that's alright because we all know I could eat there or Barbacoa every single day. We also met up with some of Carina's friends from Palo Alto, and went to a free event over at AT&T stadium. That was fun, though there were lots of crazies about: including my best friend the hobo with a beaver tail for hair, as well as a man dressed as a giant phallus. Nice.

This weekend I went down to Palo Alto to visit my friend Carina's home: that was really fun. It was so nice to have a mom take care of me and give me a home cooked meal! That's where I'll be going for Thanksgiving, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Today I also got to see some familiar faces: My friends Ty and Emily from high school were in the city: Ty goes to another art school here in the area, and Emily goes to the U and came to visit for Halloween, so it was really fun to see them. I'm serious guys, if you are in the area, give me a call and I would LOVE to meet up.

That's all for me!

Pixelation Animation

2008-10-21T15:55:00.000-07:00

Here it is! Last Saturday my friends AJ, Alex, Andrea, Ben and I all headed north to Crissy Field so that we could shoot this animation--which took about six hours of taking each picture frame by frame. Pixelation refers to the animation of the human body in order to create effects that just aren't possible with live action.

A note about the video: there is sound, so if you'd like to hear it, turn my background music off by going to the left of this page and scrolling down, clicking pause on the little green circle music player things that I have.

neat updates

2008-10-19T03:01:00.000-07:00

SO my day was fantastic today. I got to go up north and see Crissy Field in order to shoot our latest animation project--human pixelation, which means you're basically animating the human body frame by frame. It's going to be amazing, and I can't wait to show it to you guys--it's currently being edited by some of the guys in my group, so it'll be fantastic. I was working with an incredible group who all love what they are doing, and it was a really fun experience, getting to act as well as direct and contribute ideas.

It was absolutely beautiful today--despite it being freezing cold and windy the whole time. The fog kept coming in and out, so I was lucky enough to get the above picture when the lighting was just right.

OH and I got a B on my drapery assignment! This is very good, and I'm really proud of it. The grade I'm hoping for in our next project is an A- or so---part of our grade is actually improving our work from each assignment, and I'm totally prepared to work on this assignment for MUCH longer this time in order to get the grade that I would like.

I am so excited for Halloween! I don't exactly KNOW what I am doing for Halloween, but I've heard some mentions of things going on, so we'll see how it turns out. But I'm being a girl Sherlock Holmes--and my costume is fabulous. My favorite part is the vintage tweed deerstalker cap that I bought on eBay. Can't wait to show it off.

Anyway, short update on school--and I guess I'm off to bed: I've seriously been running around all day, and am dead tired. Love you all!

actual post---not videos!

2008-10-17T01:46:00.001-07:00

For those of you wondering what I am doing in some of my other classes BESIDES my experimental animation class--here's my first completed homework assignment I had to do for my Analysis of Form class. The kind of crappy quality is because I took it with my phone--since I was lazy and didn't want to hook my digital camera up to my computer.

Anyway, done in charcoal--it's about 18x24 inches.

This was our midterm project---so let's hope I get a good grade on it! It took forever, and I'm happy with how it looks, all in all.

I'm continuing to love living here in the city--besides the fact I have no time for a job--and thus, no money. I have NO disposable income as of right now, which is not a fun experience at all. I've spent a good $100 on just getting film developed, another couple hundred on books and other supplies, and couple that with living in a place where every store you could IMAGINE is right down the street--it becomes a little hard to save money. Not to mention my frequent cravings for burritos at Chipotle.

So I'm missing my family greatly, especially when I was my youngest nephew Felix's photos from a professional photographer. I just wanted to hold him and cuddle him all day long.

SO family and friends who read this, come visit.

some stupid videos you should enjoy

2008-10-14T16:45:00.000-07:00

I love wasting my time looking at dumb and hilarious videos on Youtube--It's a favorite activity of mine! Here are some of my recent favorites.

My best friend Anna showed me this a couple days ago--I love this song, though I might just love this version more.

Hahaha this made me laugh so hard. I love lolcats.

My friend Parker told me that he had watched Troll 2 with some of his friends, and as I had never heard of it, he showed me a montage of the film. It was awful, but this scene is so bad---it's good? Worst line delivery of all time, though.

I could watch this over and over and over and over. It makes me laugh harder each time I watch it, actually.

Hahahaha this one kills me.

That's enough for now--as for updates in my life:

School is going well! I'm still super busy--not much has changed there. I make sure I still have lots of time for dumb Youtube videos, though! I have set up my schedule for next semester and oh man--I'm going to be even more busy, with 15 credit hours rather than just 12, like I have now. I'll be fine, though. I am able to keep myself sane after long days of class by watching Heroes on Mondays, and Project Runway on Wednesdays. Carina, Chelsea, and I are also watching the original Star Wars trilogy because Chelsea has never seen them before. I guess she has lived on an island her whole life, but still--never seeing Star Wars?!

Oh, and a couple people have been wondering my address while here--if you'd like to know it, send me an email at sjbernhisel@gmail.com and I'd love to give it to you. I like getting mail. (:

Alright, I'm off to work on some of my homework. About time.

hurrrr it is. No racial innuendos for those of you worried.

2008-10-06T22:08:00.000-07:00

My completed paper cut out animation.

It gets kind of choppy at the end but I'm okay with that!

I love school.

because I love staying up late

2008-10-02T04:04:00.001-07:00

Other character in my Rapunzel animation: I need to print and build him, and then I can start animating. Excitinggggggg.

It's late.

More "homework".

2008-09-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

This is my homework for my stop animation class: design a paper cut out character for a 30 second animation--mine is a rendition of Rapunzel. Each of the little joints is a separate piece of paper stuck together: or will be eventually. I drew all of the pieces to fit together on photoshop, and this is them all put together. The actual sheet just looks like a ton of random things on a page. And the page for the expressions is just full of faces with blinking eyes and moving eyes and such things. And I have another page just for the huge masses of hair she has.

The other character I have is a knight, but I haven't started on him yet---that'll probably be started tomorrow.

denali...

2008-09-24T20:45:00.001-07:00

My dog passed away today. I've missed her so much this last month--and haven't really felt homesick until now. She's been my best friend since I was 5, and I kind of don't know what it will be like going home without her bright blue eyes being there to welcome me.

She's been with me since kindergarten to 12th grade--and once I got a little bigger, she was always by my side, always there when I was upset, and even a couple of years ago when I had a really bad case of the stomach flu, she came and layed next to me in the bathroom floor. I'm glad I got to see her and really say goodbye before I left for college, but it doesn't make it hurt any less--it sucks being so far away.

Ugh it's not fair that the most loving and good things in the whole world never seem to live long enough, in comparison to a human life. I mean, turtles and birds--neat animals, don't get me wrong--can't even compare to a cat or dog--and yet they can live for 20-30 years, if not more. The animals that will let you put dumb things on their heads, pet them until you have more fur on your body than they do, snuggle up with whenever you would like, twirl around with, play tag with, tackle, play, and hug--not to mention the unending loyalty. And yet they're limited to such a short time on the earth. I'll never quite understand it, and the sadness seems almost not worth it once you lose them--but I know I will always own cats and dogs for as long as I possibly can.

Denali taught me so much, and I am so grateful for her. She was with me through the hardest times in my life, being the only one in my family who would always know if something was wrong. Having such a great animal in my life has left a huge empty hole--and I'll never forget her.

best dude quiz

2008-09-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

Quiz: How well do you know your ~~husband boyfriend~~ best male friend? Answer these questions about him and find out:

Elliot

1. Sitting in front of the TV, what's on the screen?
Scrubs, Heroes, occasionally the Office. But he is ALWAYS watching Scrubs. Always.

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
I don't think he would ever order a salad. But I'm pretty sure he likes ranch? haha

3. What's one food he doesn't like? Tomatoes. and FRYSAUCE.

4. You go out to a bar. What does he order? ha.

5. Where did he go to high school? Highland High

6. What size shoe does he wear? 11

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? He collects stickers to put on his guitar case, tickets of all kinds, coins (which are deposited into a large bottle and then taken to coinstar), guitars, various other things.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Heck if I know. I know he likes grilled cheese a lot, as well as cheeseburgers with bacon and barbecue sauce. He's really healthy, you see.

9. What would this person eat everyday if he could? I have no idea. I'll ask him. Technically this is cheating but screw you. But my guess is Bombay House. He's kind of obsessed with it. HA I was right.

10. What is his favorite cereal? Hm. He likes sugary ones since his parents never stock his pantry with them, I think.

11. What would he never wear? I don't know....I've seen him in just about everything. Including a shirt with himself on it. And fishnets.

12. What is his favorite sports team? I guess the Aggies?

13. Who will he vote for? Obama, I'm guessing?

14. Who is his best friend? Me, Tiffany, Tucker, other neat people.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? I have nooo idea. Probably be annoying. (:

16. How many states has he lived in? One

17.What is his heritage? Swedish. The Swede.

18. You bake him a cake for his birthday, what kind of cake? He wouldn't let me bake him a cake. His mom has to bake it. And it needs to be the one colorful kind--it's really specific--with lots of sprinkles.

19. Did he play sports in high school? Ran cross country and track, and of course ultimate frisbee.

20. What could he spend hours doing? Various things. Mostly goofing off, probably wishing he could be with his girlfriend, watching Scrubs, playing Wii, playing the guitar?

21. Does he belong to any men's organizations? Hmm I don't know about now at USU but he was in H.A.M. and various other club things at Highland.

More animation..

2008-09-18T23:23:00.000-07:00

All done by myself, no group this time. (:

The objective of these are pretty obvious, but in case you've missed it, the first one was to make a worm crawl across the screen, the second was to make a ball jump, and then the last was to turn a sphere into a cube.

enjoy~

2008-09-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

A stunning and epic beaver tail mullet.

Coming at you in front of the Jamba Juice on New Montgomery Street in San Francisco.

quiz thing

2008-09-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

I got tagged by Angela. (:

-----

High School: Highland High.

1. Did you date someone from your high school: Only one of them

2. What kind of car did you drive? : Ha.

3. What is your most embarrassing moment in high school? I don't get embarrassed easily. I even fell over while in my chair in Doug Tate's class one time in the middle of one of his lectures--and besides having a gnarly bruise on my calf, I just laughed. I'm pretty sure Emily Anderson and Anna Tingey were PEEING their pants when it happened.

4. Were you a party animal? Not really! I mean, I went to my fair share, but I never did anything to warrant "party animal".

5. Were you considered a flirt? Yep.

6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?: Ha, I took art.

7. Were you a nerd? : Oh still am.

8. Were you on any varsity teams? : Lacrosse and golf. Though golf was a bit of a joke. LOVED it though.

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? : nope

10. Can you still sing the fight song? : Pep Club ingrains every cheer, song, and whatever else into your brain permanently.

11. Who were your favorite teachers? : Doug Jorgensen, Rob Gardner, Ruthie Campbell, Terese Cracroft, and Pat Eddington.

12. Where did you sit during lunch?: Never anywhere constant. I'd usually be out for lunch with Mary or whoever else, but when I was there, I'd migrate to and from each area, wherever my friends were. Met a lot of cool people that way.

13. School Mascot? Rams

14. Did you go to homecoming and with who?: Yep. Once with Elliot and once with Tucker.

15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? I loved it, but I wouldn't.

16. What do you remember most about graduation?: haha since it was only back in June...But hmm. Probably how sad it made me to realize it might be the last time I would see many people until our 10 or 20 year reunion or whatever.

17. Where did you go senior skip day?: To the zoo with Danny, Barbra, Marshall, Cameron, and Emilio. Not even kidding. haha, I'm awesome.

18. Were you in any clubs? : Artifex, Arts Academy, BOND, Lacrosse (technically it was a club), Film Enthusiasts, Spanish Club, H2O and Snow, HAW Committee, Pep Club---I loveeeeed clubs. Especially BOND.

19. Have you gained weight since then?: Nope.

20. Who was your prom date?: I've gone with a bunch of different people (I'm counting Morp and other things too), Ben, Peter, Pete, Danny, Chris, Tucker (again)--and I'm pretty sure stupid stuff came up for whatever other dances there were, like I was out of town.

21. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion?: of course, I want to see where everyone is in their life.

22. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself?: I don't know. I didn't really screw anything up royally in my life or anything like that, like not making good friends or whatever else, and not getting good grades--but all I perhaps could've learned was how to dress myself well a LITTLE earlier than freshman year? Haha

I tagggg Anna if she sees this and Natalie.

neat

2008-09-12T20:44:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd put up a better picture of the people I've been hanging out with all this time I've been here--from left to right it's Claire; who is a fashion major, Chelsea; who is also a fashion major, me Carina; who is a motion picture technology major; and Jenni who is an illustration major. As you can see, we're pretty cute. Claire and Chelsea are the girls I met that one night at that crazy bonfire, and Carina is Chelsea's roommate while Jenni is Claire's.

Last night it was Carina's 19th birthday, so we all hopped onto the bus (muni is my new best friend--I need to get a pass with how much I use it) to Fisherman's Wharf and went to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. It felt like I was 10 or so--I used to be OBSESSED with that restaurant. It was really fun, though we didn't get to look around the Wharf very much. I'll have to head down there sometime in the day when it's not so cold and look at the seals and eat some crab and whatnot. Of course I want to do all of these fun things but I'm poor and don't have a job yet (I want to kind of settle into my rutine a little bit more) so I'll wait for my family to come and visit me so I don't have to buy this all myself. Yes, family who is planning on visiting me, I am using you and your resources. (:

I'm kidding of course (kind of), and actually cannot WAIT to see all of my family. The semester is already started, and with only 15 weeks of class, it goes by really fast--it seems like I haven't been here long, when in fact I've been here for quite a bit of time. Since I'm not coming home for Thanksgiving, I won't get to see everyone until December (my last final should be on December 19th). However, Carina has already invited me to come spend Thanksgiving with her since she lives about 45 minutes away, so that should be really fun.

Alright, I love you all and I'll update soon--my internet is down at my dorm so I haven't been connected as much as I would like to be. Currently in order to get internet, I have to sit at the end of my hall outside of my room in order to be connected to a neighbor's wi-fi since the bandwidth for The Commodore is used up every day by people and their XBOX live. It's pretty obnoxious. So my butt is numb from sitting on the ground--but eh, whatever it takes.

I'd like to say congratulations to Eden and Robert Cowart on their little girl! I'm so excited for them.

Speaking of babies, I miss Carter and Felix a little too much.

2008-09-11T18:23:00.001-07:00

This is what my homework is for Experimental Animation. It was a group project: using random objects we had to make a slightly coherent film of about 10 seconds.

I love school.

kind of homesick

2008-09-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been here for a bit over a week--and I'm adjusting nicely. I've figured out the names of the streets, gotten to class on time, and have made my dorm my home. I've gotten used to riding Muni, the meal plan, and not having my mom right there to take care of everything for me. I've made some good friends, smelled more pot wafting from every open door way than I have ever smelled in my entire life (even more than at a Jack Johnson concert), gone to a new ward, and have walked more places in these last couple of days than I probably had all summer.

Since being here, I have learned kind of how ridiculous it is to drive everywhere back home, and to depend on everyone else to give me rides to whatever else. I think I've gotten the hang of public transportation, and walking a mile or so REALLY isn't going to kill me.

I asked my mom before I left if she was worried about me--she said, "Not so much right now--but the moment we drive off--that's when I'll be worried. You're not as ready as you think you are," which is absolutely true. I had no idea what to expect when I first came here. I didn't quite realize what living on your own was going to be like--but I was so excited. And of course, I still am excited about the coming months, but I'm really missing my family, more than anything. A kid I met in my Analysis of Form class happened to be a new convert to the LDS church, so we decided to go to church together, along with another girl who I had found on Facebook. He bore his testimony in sacrament meeting, and was invited later by one of the members of the bishopric to their house for dinner. I declined the invitation when Dylan said we could come too, since I knew I would be busy tomorrow and needed to pick up some job applications while it wasn't hectic down in Union Square. But I thought about how you don't really realize how much you miss your family when for so long you take for granted having such a massive family to always be with at almost any moment, especially something as simple as a Sunday dinner. Today is Allison's 22nd birthday, and two days ago it was Ashlie's 24th--so tonight everyone will be over at my mom's house to celebrate. Not that I feel left out or anything of that extent--but I miss that kind of unconditional love you can only get when you are with your family.

Again, I've met some really neat people who I really enjoy being with--but going to the meal plan cafe for Sunday dinner isn't QUITE the same for some reason. I'm going to go to dinner in a few with Claire, Chelsea, and Carina, so I'm off.

Another San Francisco Update

2008-09-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

So I've met some cool people, though some REALLY awkward people too--but hey. Some is better than none. But I went to a bonfire down at Ocean Beach on Saturday night and this is how it went:

So starting off, everyone in my dorm who was going walked down to a bus station in order to get down to Ocean Beach. I was trying to find my friend Lyndsey, but I couldn't (turns out she left her phone at her dorm), so I started talking to these two girls, Claire and Chelsea who both seemed really nice and were both fashion majors. So after waiting about 20 minutes at the bus stop, our RA's decided to take us to another bus stop, since it seemed that one wasn't coming. By that time, some of the guys that all three of us girls knew hopped in a cab and went to the beach, and we thought it was a good idea, so we split the fare and went to the beach to meet those guys.

Upon getting to the beach, we found the guys, however, obviously those who took the bus weren't going to be there for a while, so we wandered in and amongst the bonfires, until we came across this HUGE one with a bunch of drunk/high forty year olds dancing to techno music with glo sticks and LED lights and twirling fire and all sorts of things. So Chelsea, Claire, and I are all peeing our pants, and we spot this guy who looked like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite busting a move. And then right next to him there was a guy in a squirrel suit? By that time we figured that was all a little too sketchy for our liking(the picture of the fire was the only one I could get without being TOO much of a creeper), and we hurried out of there. By that time I had discovered that all the guys with us were nice and friendly, however, they all turned out to be major druggies--which I'm not quite into, you see. So we finally managed to find our big group, and it was just awkward. No one was talking to each other outside of their own little cliques which had already been made, and yeah, I don't know, it was super cold and windy and was pretty miserable. So Chelsea, Claire, and I hopped on a muni bus with some people and headed back to the dorms--which was an interesting ride as well since two girls were on it who were falling down drunk and just OBNOXIOUS to the point where I just wanted to punt them. When we got off the bus at our stop, one fell down, and then the other tripped over her. I just rolled my eyes and kept on walking.

So since then, I've been hanging out with Chelsea and Claire a lot, which is fun to have some actual friends here.

The last couple of days I've mostly just been wandering around, getting my bearings of the whole place (I think I have Union Square and Chinatown all worked out, since I live right there, I've been walking down for one thing or another each day), and getting used to trekking up and down all the hills to get to where I need to be. Orientation was today, and I met a guy and a girl both in the animation program, Elaine and Keith who were both super friendly, so I might see them around, though they both live in apartments that are far away, so we'll see. So after orientation I headed down to the Utrecht supply store to get my stuff for my foundations class, and I talked to a kid in the ridiculously long line, and of course when I get to the front of the line, the kit I was trying to buy was sold out. So I paid for it, now I just need to go pick it up. I might do that tomorrow, sometime. I guess tomorrow there's a big tour thing, so I think I'll go on that just so I know where the majority of my classes are being held, since I seriously have no idea where Townsend and Brennan streets are--besides knowing they're really far away and that a shuttle is necessary if I'm going to be there on time.

Ugh I am so excited for class. I'm nervous, but I really am learning all of this stuff from the best people in the industry. It can't get much better than this. It's going to be a TON of work, but I think I'm ready for it. I'm fully prepared to put my heart and soul into everything, because the field I am going into, while in high demand, is INCREDIBLY competitive--say for a job working at Pixar--which seems to be my and everyone else I have talked to's dream. So we'll see. If I don't end up there--so be it. There are countless companies I'd be thrilled to work for, but I have a goal, and it's actually in sight, a real possibility for my future. I'm incredibly lucky to have this opportunity, and I'm not going to let it go to waste. I'm not going to go in expecting to be some hotshot who is better than everyone else--there's no way. Sure, I was one of the best at my high school, but it's going to be a completely different sort of deal here. I'm sure half of the class has never picked up a pencil, and I'm sure the other half will blow me out of the water. I don't quite know where I stand in terms of that--and I don't care. I'm just going to go in there to my first class on Friday and be prepared to do the best that I possibly can, always knowing that I can be better, and that if I really work at it, I will get better.

I can't wait.

Some other pictures from around the City:

AH I LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO!

2008-08-29T18:56:00.001-07:00

How weird is that?! My parents dropped me off this morning after driving fourteen hours to this city. I'm living in the Commodore dorm, which used to be an old hotel, but has been converted into living space. It is PRETTY neat. I have a minifridge which is probably the thing I am most excited about.

As well, my roommate is not here yet, so the anxiety as to who she is has not ended. I DO know however that her name is Yvonne. But that's about it. I've only met a few people today...I'm just really tired and haven't been feeling super good so my normally obnoxious extroverted personality hasn't picked up yet. I did however walk around town for a couple hours with a kid I met on facebook a while back named Paul...he's pretty cool. I'm actually meeting him for dinner in a few, which should be fun.

So I'm all moved in, and this whole thing is CRAZY. I can't believe I am here. It...hasn't quite set in yet? I was freaking out the most when I left Salt Lake and then again when my parents left me...but I've put up some things which remind me of home and my family and friends, so that's good and will keep me from being homesick. As well, thank goodness for Skype and MSN and AIM to keep me in contact with all my friends and family. Annnnd I've been texting all my friends like mad on my new iPhone, which is really neat and that I do recommend getting one if you have the means to.

This is so unreal that I'm actually here.

of all the things i'll miss family the most

2008-08-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

Haha, I put this (well, a slightly different and more quickly done sketch) on the back of Natalie's birthday card.

Why I will miss my family once in San Francisco is ALSO the same reason men will probably run for the hills once they get to know me a little better.

---

But honestly, one of the things that give me the most anxiety about leaving would have to be about missing my family. I'm going to miss my mom going off on a completely unrelated tangent about Kryon and the forces of the Universe and ancient advanced civilizations during normal conversation, my dad checking to see how sick/hurt I really am and deducing finally, "I've seen worse", laughing for hours with Natalie about "fart sniggle" or playing our favorite guessing games, watching all five of my nephews, especially Felix and Carter getting older, going to church with Heather and Jared whenever I'm tired of going without my entire family, enduring Ashlie's rants about how I shouldn't drink milk anymore ("Pustules! Pustuuuuuleeeeesssssss..."), and wondering what the heck the crap is that Allison has been listening to lately.

I'm also going to miss my animals rather a lot. I'm going to miss snuggling up to Moki at night, tackleing Aurora, and just petting Denali, since she's usually just so stiff now as she's getting older.

Ah, but who am I kidding. I'm going to miss my bed the most.

leaving.

2008-08-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

Another request by my friend Cellie. She's supposed to be doing thriller with a bunch of zombies behind her....but I got lazy and I suppose I'll finish it sometime later.

Elliot left today. I actually got really...really sad. I'm going to be a bit of a wreck when I leave, I'm sure. I didn't even really get to say goodbye to him since his parents wouldn't let him go out last night and I worked this morning. I was just kind of sitting there at the park and it dawned on me and I almost cried. And if you know me well, you know that I either don't cry at all--or I only cry when something really shakes me or something to that extent, and I only feel comfortable crying when I'm with family or by myself. I don't know why, but whatever.

Anyway, last night I went out to dinner with Anna, and then met up with Tucker later to hang out, which was really fun. I haven't hung out with just those two in ages, and I had kind of forgotten what that was like. We took a ton of pictures and were all just laughing so hard, mostly because Tucker looked like a creeper in all of them, except this one where he looks decent--slightly spacey, but decent.

sorry dudes.

2008-08-16T01:50:00.001-07:00

Sorry those of you who read my blog, my entries as of late have been only about me being anxious and excited and slightly scared about school: and here's another one.

Everyone is leaving--I think this will be the hardest for me, this whole part of growing up and moving out. Jordan leaves for Boston in the morning, Elliot leaves on Monday, Tucker on Wednesday, and many others all throughout this whole week.

Makes me really sad just thinking about it. For as long as I have known these people they've ALWAYS been there for me, whether or not we're as close as we used to be. And now physical distance is separating all of us. My core group of friends are ALL going to different schools across the country, save Emilie, Rachel, Michael, and Harrison who are at the U. Never before this have I felt the reality of this? I mean, I've had friends and will have friends who leave on their missions for two years...but that's just one at a time, it seems. Now it's all of them, and all so far away. I know I'll make friends at AAU, but I don't think they'll be the same type of friends. I might be proven wrong, but I won't have an Anna to laugh with for almost an hour over "hurr i'm a durr", or Elliot to go out and buy stupid yet awesome things like his gigantic pogo stick, Tucker to relate something totally random to computers or physics, Mary to tell me about her latest story idea, etc..

I have ridiculously intelligent friends. Friends who were the state CHESS champion, for goodness sake, friends who get into elite schools with scholarships, friends who if you give a problem to them, they'll find a way to fix it in a way which I would've never thought of. It kind of stuns me, in a way. I guess I am equally talented in a different sense in that I can hold a pencil or a paintbrush fairly well, but I really think I am going to miss the friends who aren't as right brained as myself and as suredly as some of my future classmates will be. I can't wait to see who my friends become, hopefully I'll be able to brag about them more than I already do--because I really am so proud of them, and how hard they have all worked to get to where they want to be.

It kind of made me worried when I spoke to my friend Connor who attended AAU for an acting major, but decided to leave because he wanted a more well rounded education and wasn't getting any better of an education in his chosen field than he would get anywhere else. He also told me that a lot of the classes will seem a bit of a joke at first, but the farther you get in and the more kids realize they either want to be there or they do not, it becomes more enjoyable. But while I am so excited for these classes where honestly all I am learning about is art and illustration and animation and perspective and all sorts of things, I really wish I could just buckle down and take a biology class, or take French seriously or something to that end, even a calculus class (I may not be great at math but I am fascinated by it). But honestly, most of my generals have been waived by my AP test scores and in that sense I'm not going to have much of a challenge, there, I guess I could take a couple classes at the U during the summer, one of those six week programs or whatever, take something else that I am interested in, as well.

Well, we'll see. Countdown of 13 days continues.

bad sleeping habits

2008-08-13T01:17:00.000-07:00

Haha, I need to start sleeping better.

But anyway, here are some pictures from the most recent Bear Lake trip. I invited one of my best friends, Rachel, up with me, and it was kind of ridiculous how much fun it was. We rented a boat and a jetski, as well as watched the Olympics, celebrated Heber's 7th birthday, and layed out on the beach. About half of my family was reading Breaking Dawn while up there, and I also got to see some cousins who have been off around the world for the last several months, so that was neat. I seriously didn't want to leave. I could go for a raspberry shake right about now, I think..

oh look.

2008-08-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

New layout? got some help from a template that I found somewhere. I like it enough, I guess.

EDIT:

You know, little bulbasaurs everywhere really make this layout much better than it was before.

new art..

2008-08-06T23:27:00.000-07:00

This is what I do in my spare time. Draw really random things in Photoshop. The bottom one is supposed to be my friend Jordan, a request. Yeppp.

August already?

2008-08-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

You Are One Of The Few Outsiders Who Really Understands Us - Fanfarlo

This blows my mind that it's already the beginning of August. This summer has been amazing already, and I'm not quite ready for it to be over. I've been to Newport Beach on my senior trip with some of my best friends--where we sat on the beach and played in the waves all day, went to Disneyland, walked to Albertson's rather a lot to get our vanilla bean frappuccino fix, danced on our wall, and snuggled in close quarters. I went to Bear Lake with my family where we hung out at the beach, layed out, played games, read, and took pictures pretending to be animals. And finally to Big Sky, Montana and Yellowstone National Park to hike to geysers and waterfalls, to fish, swim in the boiling river, play games, escape the termites, and look for wildlife. It kind of amazes me that already my last summer where I officially live at home is almost over. Part of me is incredibly excited to get out there--to be in San Francisco and to be creating art and learning about the stuff I truly care about. But the other part of me doesn't want to leave quite yet. I'm going to miss so much of my family's day to day life. It makes me really sad that since I'll be gone for such long periods of time, my two youngest nephews Carter and Felix probably won't recognize me anymore. I'll be really sad to be away from my best friends as they head all over the country to go to school. Anna's at the University of Oregon, Elliot at Utah State, Mary at Westminster, Rachel, Danny, Clara, and Anna Tingey at the University of Utah, Peter at the University of Chicago, Kevin at Seattle University, Jill at Puget Sound, Lindsay at Boston University, Jordan still at Brandeis, Tucker at Colorado State, Emily at BYU...It's going to be a crazy separation. I'm going to miss everyone so much. However, I am taking into account the fact I'll make plenty new friends--but they'll be a bit different. Hopefully not ALL of AAU's students are moody artists, fashion divas, weird drama nerds, or gay guys (I mean honestly...I want to date some guys..hahah). I guess we'll see. Maybe I could give ol' Scrappy a chance on the dating scene (couple of years ago my sister spotted a nude hobo sitting around on the streets of San Francsico--and dubbed him Scrappy).

Ashlie got back from Ecuador on the first, was in town for 20 hours, and was back on a plane to Mexico with Peter's family for their annual vacation. But while she was here we ate a ton of sushi, swam in the pool, and for dinner went to Costa Vida with everyone. There was this creepy guy in a chef's had with this huge scraggly beard and ugly patterned scrub pants, who was making balloon animals at the restaurant. It was rather strange--he would just kind of stand by our table and watch us or else stand reclusively in the corner. WEIRD.

So in today's news, I went up to Albian Basin with the Bernhisel side of the family to eat some breakfast and spread another part of my grandmother's ashes. She was an amazing skier and loved it up there, as well as always thinking the area beautiful in the summer, which it is. So that was really neat. After returning down to the valley, I had a family reunion with the Carling side of the family down at Liberty Park. It was fun seeing most of the cousins on that side, as well as meeting people I had never seen before.

Oh so this whole past week I've had strep throat...or some other kind of virus, not really sure. I'm on antibiotics so that took care of it for the most part, which is nice. But I still feel kind of gross. This is not relevant to anything.

I don't work for the rest of the week which is really nice, and then on Thursday I'm off to Bear Lake again with most of the Bernhisel family. I'm really excited. I'm also inviting my friend Rachel up--so that should also be super fun.

I need to charge my camera and upload my photos. I'm kind of a lazy person in this sense as I haven't done it in a couple weeks.

Eh, I figure it's time.

2008-07-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

I'd better update, since this journal is probably feeling left out compared to my LiveJournal, which is updated a lot, more just out of habit than anything. I've had my LJ for about five years, so I get to look back at all my sweet memories from Junior High and High school. It's pretty neat.

So it's sweltering out here by my pool (I basically live out here--I have been borrowing my neighbor's internet and my backyard has the best connection) and I am considering going for a swim. Or at least laying out and getting more tan, since hey, I might as well soak it up before I'm permanently wearing jeans and sweatshirts while in San Francisco and only see the sun from underneath lots of fog.

OH you know what is ridiculously entertaining? Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. My brother in law Matt went to school with Neil Patrick Harris who stars in this, which just seems strange? But anyway, it's a musical about a guy trying to become a villain while also winning the heart of a girl he has been seeing at his laundromat. Each or the three 15 minute acts (or episodes) were online for about a week, and was taken down last Sunday and is only available for purchase on iTunes right now. I loved the series so much I bought it, and can't seem to get the songs out of my head.

AAU and Bear Lake

2008-07-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

Lillian Lies - Youth Group

So this past week I've been up at my amazing cabin up in Bear Lake. The weather was fabulous, and it was so much fun. I got to be with my sister Allison, Natalie and her husband and their little boy, a few of my aunts and uncles, and a couple of cousins, and my grandpa. Normally we have way more people come, but so many people have been out of town or couldn't get work off. My parents at least got to come up for a day, so that was neat. We frolicked in the water for a bit, played Cranium, ate raspberry shakes, and layed out in the sun. It was wonderful.

So the day after I get back from Bear Lake, I headed to San Francisco for a short 24 hour trip in order to tour my future school for this coming year, the Academy of Art University. I couldn't believe how many buildings they have in downtown San Francisco, over thirty three. You would see one of their giant signs the moment you would turn onto another street. It was a neat experience. We walked pretty much everywhere, which isn't bad at all, steered clear of the Tenderloin district, and checked out Chinatown. On the tour we saw many of the facilities of the school, a couple of dorms, as well as the buildings for 3D animation, 2D animation, and illustration. I'm interested in all three of those fields, and they're all pretty related--so we'll see how it goes as my education progresses.

Needless to say, I'm rather excited. My dad and my mom obviously went with me, and they were both impressed with the school. My dad especially was, he exclaimed to me that he wished he had some artistic talent so he could go to this school. I told him that was because he had to spend so much time messing around with cadavers.

I love that city, and I can't wait to head out there in August!

(oh, and if you would notice the new picture I have as my banner for this blog: some original artwork by myself.)

HOLY crap. I just graduated.

2008-06-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry

I mean I knew I had...but it just kind of sank in. I never have to go back to Highland ever again. It's kind of bittersweet: I am so excited I never have to deal with the pettiness of high school politics, stupid administrators, and never have to sit through classes AFTER the main exams have been given. However, I wonder just how many of my friends in high school I will never see again. How I won't get to have almost daily conversations with Doug Jorgenson, and going to lunch with Mary nearly every day. I'll miss passing notes with Danny, decorating for Spirit Week, and the unending "Beltone"'s from Pat. I'll miss B.O.N.D., and Oppression Awareness Week, green "I love my administrators" sweats, and just laughing with my best friends.

I've had a really good high school experience. Great, even. From just entering as Allison's little sister to becoming my own person--learning how to dress myself decently and wear makeup, to making even more friends, kissing boys, and learning just how to use a wheelchair, cane, and crutches properly. From first picking up a lacrosse stick, and playing in my first golf tournament. I was an intern for the Inclusion Center, presidents of three clubs, went on a humanitarian trip to India, I was an academic all-state athlete, Sterling Scholar, and overall student of the month. I mean...when I think about it...I accomplished a lot in these four years. It kind of gives me hope as to what I might be able to do in the coming years of my life.

I don't know what is going to happen. I really don't. I'm praying I'll still have the same core group of friends in coming years when I am able to come home from school, I'm hoping that this summer something exciting and new and good happens, I'm hoping that I might stop being so skittish with my emotions, I hope that I'll be able to travel to Europe with Anna and Rachel one day, and I hope desperately that I stay happy.

AS FOR MY SENIOR TRIP:
SO Newport was amazing--I basically just got to frolic on an amazing beach all day with some of my best friends.

BUT THE HIGHLIGHT WAS DISNEYLAND UGHHHH It was just the girls (all six of us) and it was so much fun. It was like running around like little kids--especially Rachel. She made it a billion times better! OH and I got to play on a couple of rides with my nephews because they were in Newport and Disneyland on the same days, so that was super neat. OH So I guess Jared convinced little Heber to go on Space Mountain at the beginning of the day: and he sobbed the whole ride. Poor kid! I can imagine it being scary: you're in pitch blackness with swirly white dots everywhere and hurtling along! But oh man. He didn't go on any more big rides for the rest of the day, I guess.

It is sad in the morning not waking up next to Anna on our twin size trundle-bed, or Nate jumping on me or Rachel and yelling "MOOSE!" at the top of his lungs. Though: I'm not going to miss the farting of those boys! But we all had so much fun together. I finally got to meet Tucker's girlfriend Julie whom I ADORE because she's super cute and funny and someone who I would naturally be drawn to as a friend. But yeah--I loved getting to know the twins better--Sophie and Rachel just made me crack up the whole time. Neatooo. And it was neat: I think Tucker might be getting over his awkwardness with me, now that he knows I'm not going to be jealous or go crazy on him and Julie? I don't know, but he was acting fairly normal towards me after the first couple of days. So that was neat. Who knows if that will actually stay but now that I have met Julie and we both rather like each other he's not going to be like, "UGH DRAMA IF YOU MEET!" So....we'll see!

But I loved frolicking with Anna and Rachel (there were two Rachel's on the trip...if this is not making sense. One is a twin and the other is MY basically in every way twin) which was definitely the best part.

So enough of my rambling. All you need to know is that the house we were in was ten seconds from the beach, and that I'm now a bronzed beauty. Though not like Rachel...our resident Mexican.

Death Cab For Cutie!

2008-05-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

Cath... - Death Cab For Cutie

As I'm sure many of you know, Death Cab for Cutie is my favorite band in all of the land. And I'm a poet and didn't even know it. But this is beside the point. Anna, Kevin, and I all headed over to Thanksgiving Point to their concert! We waited in line for hours due to some technical difficulties, but when we finally got in, I snuck in and out of the crowd to snag ourselves a great spot.

But my goodness, it was so much fun. I'm way glad that I got to go, because originally I wasn't going to, but Anna called me and asked me if I was interested. Which of course I was--I was just down in St. George and wasn't sure I could make it up there in time. But luckily I was able to! It was my third DCFC concert, and I lovedddd it. I don't care what people say: I shall marry someone in that band. (:

bored.

2008-05-19T22:13:00.000-07:00

What was the first car you ever rode in?
My parents? I have no idea.

What is the first song you remember hearing?
uhhhhh?

What was your first favorite song?
"Just Can't Wait to Be King" I would sing it for HOURRRRRS

What was your first favorite band?
98 DEGREES AHHH YEAH

What was your first pets'/pet's name?
Molly

When was the first time you had to go to the hospital?
...no idea.

Where did you go on your first vacation?
No idea. Bear Lake?

Who was your first best friend?
Jill

Who was the first person you fell in love with?
Elliot

Who was the first person to break your heart?
nope.

-Lasts-
At what restaurant did you last eat?
um. uhhhhhh. Sawadee.

What was the last thing that bit you?
cat?

What was the last popup you got?
i don't get popups.

What kind of drink was your last ice cube in?
water

What was the last green-colored article of clothing you wore?
shirt

How much money did you get on your last paycheck?
around 100 or something.

What flavor was the last ice cream you had?
chocolate

What was the last TV show you watched?
uh

What was the last movie you saw in the theater?
Narnia

What was the last animal you pet?
I have NO idea. one of the many.

What was the last appliance you used?
microwave

What was the last thing you most regret doing?
nah

What was the last strangely colored food you had? What color was it?
.......I generally try to avoid strangely colored food.

-Favorites-
What is your favorite brand of popcorn?
no

What is your favorite kind of shoe?
flatssssss

What is your favorite shape? Why?
haha.....RHOMBUS.

What is your favorite part about the opposite sex? Why?
Cuddling. For sure.

What is your favorite artificial flavor?
watermelonnn

What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
Taco Bell. even though that NEVER happens.

haha

What is your favorite department store? Why?
eh

What is your favorite city?
I do love it here in Salt Lake. A lot. But I seriously am in love with San Francsico.

HOW FORTUITOUS THAT MY DREAM SCHOOL IS THERE!

What is your favorite television show?
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Heroes, Mythbusters, Friends, Desperate Housewives....yeah

Does anything explode in aforementioned television show?
Probably at one time or another.

But it happens in Avatar and Heroes and Mythbusters a LOT

What is your favorite flavor of cupcake frosting?
Chocolate

-Random-
If you wear them, what color are your glasses?
no. But I seriously need some.

What is your favorite Jelly bean flavor?
Grapefruit

Who was the last person you yelled at unnecessarily?
uhhhh no idea

Have you ever been a vegetarian? Are you now?
hahaha, yes to both

What is your favorite computer game?
haven't played too many computer games. BUT since you play KoL ON the computer then we'll say that....even if it is online.

What is one of the songs you are ashamed of listening to?
no shameeee like now. I'm listening to an Indian Folk Song about how all the Gods are the same god....hahaha. And yayyyyyy SITAR SOLO.

What is the strangest article of clothing you own?
my "If you think I did drugs to be this cool, THINK AGAIN." shirt. Only it's too big. ):

What is the most obscure and random object you've ever injured yourself on?
uhhhh.

Are mean people hot?
....no?

What was the last flavor of muffin you had?
oh i have no idea.

Do you like Ugg Boots?
Ew they are hideous.

Do you own any designer purses? If not, do you want one?
nah. I don't care enough to shell out that much cash.

Are you adventurous or cowardly?
adventurous.

Do you think you're a mean person?
I can be!

What would your personal Heaven be like?
neat!

What would your personal Hell be like?
filled with conversations with Kate and Josh and I would DIE. AGAIN.

Who had/has a crush on you? Is that disturbing or what?
ksdjlhfklasdfsdkjfhaksdlfkjasd don't talk about it

Do you chew your ice cubes?
yesssss

Is it fun to position gummy bears in provacative ways?
no.

I just eat them?

What was the last thing you hit with a hammer?
birdhouse when I was helping my sister with a scout activity.

Have you ever owned a rodent?
yes.

Have you ever intentionally gotten yourself fired from your job?
haha no.

How many times have you been suspended/expelled from school? Why?
no

What was the stupidest thing you ever got in trouble for?
my sarcasm.

What time will it be in seventeen minutes?
11:36 pm

What magazines do you have subscriptions to?
uh no idea.

What are you thinking about?
Just....about things.

Whoever wants to do this....do it!

springtime.

2008-05-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

what I am listening to:

I've decided I'll start posting what I've been listening to. Neat!

So last night was incredibly fun...albeit random. I went to west's Senior Ball last night kind of last moment...the kid I went with had his date flake out on him and he still wanted to go, so I was the backup date. He was super nice and fun to be around. My group was awesome too, seeing as it had Lindsay, Anna, Peter, Emilie, and Jordan all in it. So that was pretty fantastic at that.

But it was seriously so much fun--Pete (my date) was awesome, and we decided that we need to hang out sometime. He and Peter were so funny together at the dance and at dinner. So we also decided that Jordan is especially good at saying strange things right when people start paying attention to the conversation.

We went to Sawadee for some Thai food, and it was really good. I got some tofu larb and curry puffs which were delicious...though neither of those names sound super appetizing. I'm not a fan of leftover Asian food of any kind for some reason, so I let Jordan take my leftovers--and he texted me that it was delicious. So I'm glad it didn't go to waste.

We then headed to Spoon Me for dessert, which was delicious of course, and then we headed to the Capitol for the dance. It was pretty funny--since our Junior Prom was at the capitol and I was wearing the same dress and everything. Only this one was much more fun since people actually DANCE at West dances and we didn't spend the whole time waiting in line for pictures. After the dance we then headed over to Anna's and we watched Across the Universe and that was lovely. I want to live in a musical with a hot British man at the lead singing for my heart, you see.

So I'm outside right now, and our neighbors to the south are having a party. And it is LOVELY weather and I love itttt with the pool being open--although gross looking. Moki likes to sit on the top step since there is no water there and drink from it's leaf covered depths.

BUT NOT BEFORE I EAT ALL MY FROOT LOOPS

2008-05-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

Please watch, and enjoy this little jem of a rap video.

rock the lot!

2008-05-04T10:53:00.000-07:00

So last night my school put on a charity concert for an orphanage in Afghanistan, and it was incredibly fun. It was basically a social meetup of everyone from West, Highland, and East, while listening to some bands from our schools. The two best acts were from some of my good friends: The Won Twenties from East and Three Ways From Thursday from Highland. Elliot, one of my best friends is in Three Ways From Thursday--and they are SO good, only they didn't play any of their original stuff! I was pretty bummed about that, because their stuff really is great. My good friend Max was in The Won Twenties, as well as my friend Alec who I met with all my best friends back in 8th grade.

All in all, it was so much fun, a good beginning of the end of my senior year, and a fun break before all my AP tests these coming weeks. I'm going to be busting my butt to get all my AP Art done...I don't know how I'm going to manage this.

college anxiety

2008-05-01T22:31:00.000-07:00

So I'm fairly sure I injured my back again rather badly. Not exactly sure HOW but I have definitely taken to wearing my brace when I sleep and usually when I'm just lounging...which is hard because it is so uncomfortable I can't even stand it.

So in addition to my back injury, my insomnia hasn't gotten any better--which leaves me exhausted in the morning and I really feel like I'm falling apart at the seams, especially since I have all of my graduation and AP stuff to worry about---though that's probably small stuff compared to college.

Speaking of college, I was kind of freaking out about it, earlier. I was nervous when I found out that I'll be moving into the dorms on my birthday. How strange is that? My first day as a legal adult--there I'll be. Off in San Francisco and moving into my new living arrangement. It seems so strange to me. Part of me has been ready for this next step in my life since 10th grade--but part of me still feels so young, like wow--am I actually ready to do this?

I've always been fairly independent (not as much as say, my sister Ashlie who was taking the bus downtown to go shopping when she was 12 by herself), but this seems so foreign. I know I'll have my family there to help me through moving in (which definitely seems the scariest part) as well as a good friend there who can help me to adjust to my new life. I'm incredibly excited for the education--I wonder where it will take me.

So I know it will be completely bittersweet. I'll be on my way to completing my dream of becoming an animator--but leaving home seems strange. I'll get by, though. I know I can.

thriller---Indian style!

2008-04-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

...check it out!

Survey time!

2008-04-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

Does your last ex have a job?
Sure does. I work with him at both.

What were you doing before filling out this survey?
hanging with my family.

Last awkward moment:
...I am ALWAYS awkward.

How long have you been with your current bf/gf?
4EVA

What do you do when a telemarketer calls?
Usually hang up.

Name someone you know whose name begins with an A:
Anna!

Would you cry if you found out you got pregnant or got a girl pregnant?
Be like.....New baby Jesus? and if I got a girl pregnant I'd be...a little freaked out.

Have you been pressured to do anything recently?
TO CLEAN MY BATHROOM HOW DARE THEY

Do you think the concept of phone sex is stupid?
hahaha, yes. When I found out actual people do it I was like...AMAZED.

How many kids do you want?
4 or so?

Name something you wouldn't want to buy used:
tampons.

What makes you happy at this moment?
My family

What color are your eyes?
Greeeeeeeen

What side of the bed do you sleep on?
the right

Would you rather go camping or to a five star hotel?
Hmm. Both are always fun. Nothing is worse than a really crappy hotel, I swear.

When did you last cry?
couple days ago.

how many people have you kissed romantically?
Four. haha

What's your worst habit?
Cracking my knuckles.

If you could own a non-traditional pet what would it be?
TIGER. No wait. An elephant.

Are you okay with your ex being friends with your good friends?

lol they all are.

Do you find the "emo" trend annoying?
not for me.

Have you ever taken anyone/anything for granted?
Yes. Very much so.

Do you hate being alone?
Not at all. I love being around people--but I enjoy my own time.

Has anyone ever broken your heart?
Nope.

How late did you stay up last night?
2:00

What was the first thing you thought this morning?
UGH CONGESTION

What did you do last night?
Hung out with Anna, Rachel, and Elliot. We went to dinner and then played Super Smash Bros. Brawl on Anna's Wii.

What are you going to do this weekend?

Well, seeing as it's basically over..

Has someone of the opposite sex ever told you they loved you, and meant it?
yep

How's your heart lately?
okay.

What were you doing this morning at 7AM?
sleeping.

What were you doing this afternoon at 12PM?

leaving church.

What does the last text in your inbox say?
NO idea because my phone is upstairs.

How many red lights have you ran?
none

Have you ever cried while taking a shower?
not that I know of.

What was your favorite grade?
I LOVED 8th grade. Seriously. And Sophomore year.

Have you ever, in any way, been betrayed by someone you trusted?
kind of.

Are you happy with life at this moment?
I think so.

What was the last thing you ordered from McDonalds?
Ice cream. In JAIPUR!

How did your day start off?
BAD because I have really horrible allergies right now.

----

Okay Natal. Your turn.