America’s Next Top Model

I have recently become addicted to the show- America’s Next Top Model. Luckily for me they plan old episodes so I can watch past seasons. Here are some fun real life America’s Next Top Model pictures I took of Sandra last night.  She was very fun to photograph. I mixed up the end product to fit the picture. Enjoy.

    

  

Homesick

Thoughts as recorded on August 19, 2007

 

A friend asked me the other day how I was doing. I told her I feel like a little girl who has gone off to camp for the first time….homesick.

I’ve made some significant moves in my life (from Utah to Taiwan, from Taiwan to DC) and I know that with time I will come to love Arizona, but right now, in this first week I MISS DC and all my friends there. I have had times when I want to cry cause of the pain in my heart. I made such wonderful friends in DC. Any loss is hard, even if you make the choice that causes the pain. I feel a longing for the people and place I love so much…I am homesick.

 

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) – Cite This Source home·sick       /ˈhoʊmˌsɪk/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[hohm-sik] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation

–adjective

sad or depressed from a longing for home or family while away from them for a long time.

 

[Origin: 1790–1800; home + sick¹ ]

Good byes

My last two weeks in DC were full of friends and food, as I have said my good-byes. I will really miss the people who I have deep and meaningful relationships with. Here are a few pictures of the good-byes.

Lunches

     

Dinners

        

Parties

       

  

Just plain good-byes

   

Mixed Feelings

As I get ready for this big change in my life- leaving DC after 6 great years to go to Arizona- I have mixed feelings. Since I made the decision to leave I have felt-

 

Surges of excitement vs. waves of sadness

Anticipation for the future vs. desire for the present

Ready to make new friends vs. not ready to leave my current ones

Apprehension about living in the dessert vs. longing to stay in DC

Eager for the new opportunity vs. reality of missing my job, ward and friends

Things I am going to miss….

After living in the DC area for 6 years it has become a part of me. These are some of the things I am going to miss when I leave….

 

Warm rain- I love when it rains and it is warm and sunny.

Thunder- Thunderstorms are amazing here

The National Gallery of Art- My favorite place in DC

Jazz in the Sculpture Garden- a people watching haven

Tompkins- my 2^nd home for the past 5 years

My front porch- I love sitting on the porch

Humidity- I am sure people think I am crazy but I like humidity

Indian Food- Channa Masala, Saag Paneer, Tandori and Naan!!

Indian Dance competitions- Raas Chaos, and Bhangra

“Ya Man”- and my Jamaican co-workers who say it!

Weekend trips to New York City

All the Trees- especially the GW parkway

Crystal City Ward- who are like my family

The Monuments- Jefferson, FDR, Washington, Lincoln etc….

The Capital- my favorite building in DC.

And my friends- you know who you are J

Andrew Mellon and the Hermitage- Tour #7

My thoughts have been on art lately. Every year I research and give a tour on an interesting topic at the National Gallery of Art. This year it is Andrew Mellon and the Hermitage.

The topics of past years have been-

2006- Highlights

2005- Portraiture

2004- Hudson River Group

2003- American Revolution

2002- Impressionism- the first exhibition

2001- Renaissance

 

Andrew Mellon was a very wealthy and influential man. He was born in 1855 and died in 1937. He was a banker, financier, and industrialist. He served as Secretary of the Treasury under three presidents and ambassador to Great Britain. He was also an avid art collector. In 1930-1931 he acquired his most spectacular purchase from the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. This tour is about Andrew Mellon, the Hermitage, the works of art he purchased.

He acquired 21 paintings from the Hermitage, these included rare works by Jan van Eyck, Botticelli, Titian, Raphael, Anthony van Dyck and Rembrant.

         

     

A picture of the Hermitage Museum  

  

A picture of Andrew Mellon in 1933

I will be giving this tour to friends in the month of July. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about this great man, the paintings he collected, the artists that painted them, the Hermitage and what prompted them to sell these masterpieces.

The Work Place

A friend at work asked me to put down my thoughts about SEAS. While this isn’t exactly the same there are some great similarities. Click on Strong Bad to enjoy…

FRED

 

I have been thinking a lot about technology today. I have a companion for 8 hours today- FRED. I am having a capsule endoscopy and therefore I get to wear FRED (a transmitter) around my waist for much of the day. (FRED is my name for the device. I thought since we were going to be together all day I should name it.   I have been having abdominal pains so my gastronologist ordered a capsule endoscopy for me.

Technology is so AMAZING. I have a disease called puetz-jegher and have had many tests on my intestines. It is incredible to see the progess in the technology in the past 20 years. In the past if the doctor wanted to see my small intestine I would have to have a regular endoscopy. Endoscopies are quite amazing, but invasive and incomplete. The doctor puts you to sleep and sticks a tube with a camera and snare on it down your throat. For as far as the tube reaches (which is about 8 feet) the doctor can take out polyps (growths) with a laser snare, but as you may well know the small intestine is very long…20 feet in fact!

With this new technology the doctor can see all of my small intestine and I can go to work and type out new blog entries. It is so cool!!

First, I get electrodes put all over my chest and abdomen, then I swallow a camera shaped as a pill, then they send me off to go about my day with Fred and 8 hours later I go back and they take Fred away and process the pictures. Can you believe it? The things biomedical people do. I love engineers!

Technology is AMAZING and I am so grateful for the advances that happen all the time, things like FRED make me happy.

lawnmowers

UPDATE

Guess what? I got another lawnmower. It was only $10 at a yard sale at a house a block over from me. Crazy, I know. Here is what the lawnmower graveyard looks like now. How many do you think we can collect?

 

 

Do you think about lawnmowers? I would guess not. It would seem to me that only people that have trouble with lawnmowers would spend the time thinking about them. Most people I know don’t have yards and therefore don’t have lawnmowers either and those that do have one most likely have one that works. Unfortunately at 905 20^th Street we do not have a lawnmower (s) that work on a consistent basis therefore I think about lawnmowers more often than I think is necessary or even healthy.

Let me tell you a good thing about winter– You don’t have to think about lawnmowers and or mowing your lawn. During the winter months the grass stops growing and there is a break from the constant worry about mowing the lawn. It is not that I mind mowing the lawn, actually I enjoy mowing it gives me a good workout. You may think, “Sara, you get a workout from mowing?” YES, Yes, I do. We have a big yard and it takes a couple of hours and some good physical exertion to mow it. It may be wimpy but it is true.

Once the winter over and spring comes so does the grass… and in our case the bamboo shoots, the purple flowers, and the fret over lawnmowers.

My roommates and I rotate mowing the lawn and this week is my week. How I am going to mow the lawn has been looming over me this whole week taking more than it’s fair share of time in my thoughts. When am I going to mow it? Is it raining? Is too hot? Do I have enough time tonight? These are some the questions I have asked myself this week but the biggest question is– do we have a lawnmower that works?!?!? The answer is no.

Right now in our back yard we have a little lawnmower graveyard going. We have three, yes THREE lawnmowers sitting in a nice row in the back….all dysfunctional. There is a black one, a green one and a red one. The black one was here when I moved in two years ago and it worked very well the first year. That was back when mowing the lawn was enjoyable and I didn’t really think about lawnmowers, I just mowed, like normal people. Then it broke. (By the way what do you do with a broken lawnmower? Do you put it out with the trash?)

After we realized that the black one wasn’t going to work we got the green lawnmower, I can’t even remember where we got it from or mowing the lawn with it. Must have been a lemon when we purchased it. Oh well, on to the red one…I used the red one two days ago. It had issues then (it sputtered and had some white smoke coming out of it) and not so surprisingly tonight when I went to mow the lawn it just wouldn’t start. Right now the lawn is half mowed. It’s a nice look. I think it will be trend soon to have half the lawn short and the other half long. That reminds me of the beginning of the spring when we waited too long time before we made the first cut. (We were searching for a lawnmower.) One time I borrowed a lawnmower from the neighbor a couple of blocks away. I’m sure it was a sight to see me pushing a lawnmower down the street. When we finally did cut the grass it took about 5 hours, several days and at least two different people to complete the task. While I was mowing one section I looked down and the grass was up to my knee, not kidding. We let it get a bit out of control. I really think I could have lain down and a person walking down the street wouldn’t have been able to see me.

We got a great deal on the red lawnmower. Maybe that is why it now only a few months later doesn’t work. We should buckle down and buy a new lawnmower. It is really hard to invest that kind of money when you rent and don’t know how long you will be living in a certain place. The red lawnmower worked for a little while but alas; it joins the other mowers in the graveyard in the backyard. And I keep thinking about lawnmowers and how I am going to mow my lawn.

Obsessions

PHOTOGRAPHY

I have 4 cameras. I guess that is a little obsessive. I have a Pentax K1000, a wonderful fully manual single lens reflex film camera. I have a Canon A2, my 2^nd camera and my first intro to the fine world of Canon. My current “baby” is a Canon 20D, a digital SLR. Those are my three professional cameras. I also have a Casio that I carry around with me everywhere I go. There is rarely an occasion where you can find me without a camera. My obsession (hobby) has turned into something more and I have my own business and website, jarviephotography.com. I enjoy taking pictures it allows me to express my creative side and gives others a glimpse of the world I see.

 

CARS

Since moving to DC I have started to notice cars. I can now identify certain makes of cars and even some models. I wouldn’t say I am obsessive but I do have what I call “car crushes”. My first car crush was the Volvo S70. The second was a BME330xi in metallic blue. I love BMW’s blue, it is my favorite color. When people ask me what my favorite color is I say blue, but what I really mean is BMW metallic blue.  I still have strong feelings for this car but have added a couple more cars to my car crush list- Audi A4 and Volvo S40 and the VW Passat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

INDIA

When I was little girl I saw a picture of the Taj Majal in a National Geographic magazine and since then I have always wanted to see it in person. For the last couple of years I have become fascinated with
India it’s food, culture, dance, movies and people. I have been to every activity on GW campus hosted by the ISA (Indian Student Association) and or SAS (South Asian Student Association). These events include Navatri, Dwali, Bangrha, Raas, and Holi. I even took a class at GW with one of my Indian friends called Feminism and Indian Classic Dance. During that class I read the Ramayana. I also read the Bhagavad Gita to learn more about Indian religion. My favorite actor is Shahrukh Kahn. I have often thought that I could be vegetarian if I had Indian food all the time. I love Indian food, especially Naan, paneer, and channa. I hope to some day visit the country that has captured my attention.

For a little taste of Indian music

http://www.123musiq.com/KAL%20HO%20NAA%20HO.htm

then select Ka Ho Naa Ho

 

READING/BOOKS

I read everyday. I don’t believe people when they say they don’t have time to read. I make time. My goal is to read at least 52 books a year, an average of one book a week. I have done this for the past 5 years. I have a little book that I record all the books I read into along with some of my favorite quotes from the books. The library is one of the best-kept secrets. People know about it but do not take advantage of the great asset it is. I have started collecting books and have a small collection. This is where you start to see some of the obsessiveness come in. I have my books card catalogued. Yes according to the Sara Jarvie System. I went to a store and bought library cards and everything. It is a little over the top but I enjoy knowing what books I have and if anyone wants to burrow one they have to check it out. Right now my books are one the bookshelf in this order- top is foreign (except British), next shelf is British, the middle shelf is American, the next is children/young adult, and the bottom shelf is religious. My favorite genre is young adult literature. I have a goal to read all of the Newberry Award winners. In
Taiwan with the limited books to read I started reading Harry Potter and fantasy. I think JK Rowling is brilliant and I am anxiously awaiting book seven. Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow are two of my favorite books, even though they are Sci Fi. I will list my current top 10 list, in no particular order

 

 

Les Miserable (a beautiful book about love)

Pride and Prejudice (was my “comfort” book for many, many years)

Ender’s Game/Ender’s Shadow (amazing parallel Sci Fi novels)

Harry Potter (My first introduction into fantasy, so fun)

To Kill a Mockingbird (great book about human nature)

Wild Swans (a historical novel that taught me about China in a wonderful way)

The Giver (an amazing look at life)

A Single Shard (Taught me about Korea, love and friendship)

John Adams (showed me that biographies could be interesting)

The Chosen (brilliant book about relationships and orthodox Jews)

 

MUSEUMS

My obsessions with museums started at BYU. I went on a humanities tour of
Europe the summer between my junior and senior year. We went to most of the great museums of Europe like the Galleria dedlia Ufizzi, the Musee du Louvre, and the National Gallery in
London. I saw works of art that I had studied in my art history class. It was wonderful and amazing. Living in DC is great because I am surrounded by museums everywhere and most are free. I have been to most of the Smithsonian museums and made it my goal to visit all of them this year.

I have a top 5 list of US museums-

1. The MET
2. The National Gallery of Art
3. The Frick
4. The Isabella Steward Gardener Museum
5. The Art Institute of Chicago

Besides have a top five list of favorite museums I also collect the books that tell you what work of art is in the gallery and information on the work of art. These are some of my favorite books. Another thing that is fun about art museums is researching and giving tours. I have done 6 tours of the NGA, that is an average of one for every year I have lived in DC. I have done a Renaissance, Impressionist, Hudson River Group, Colonial American artists, and a Highlights tour. I enjoy researching different genres and giving tours to people. I feel that museums are so much better with a tour. The work of art can be beautiful but when you know something about the artist or the painting or sculpture it starts to mean something. One more thing about museums, I have been to the MET every time I have been to NYC. No matter how long I am in NYC for I make it a point to visit the MET. It is so enormous that I after visiting around 10 times I have only still seen a fraction of the museum.