I am so excited!!!!!!!

My senior art show is having it's gallery opening tomorrow night. The past two weeks have been a crazy hodge podge of cutting, pasting, sewing, deco pouging, painting, and other random activities. Unfortunately, this has made little time for sleep or for seeing my husband. So although it's been fun, I'll be kind of glad when it is over.

I just finished writing the artist's statement that will be hung in the gallery. Each member of the opening has to write one. I thought it might be fun to post it on my blog for those of you who won't get to come to the show. I'm planning on posting pictures asap. Wish me luck!

Artist's statement:

"Before going to Kindergarten, I would spend most of my days at my Grandma Pierce’s house. Our normal activity to pass the time was to sit at her dining room table and have drawing competitions. The guidelines for these competitions were as follows: use crayon on paper towel, and draw monsters. So I spent hours trying to draw monsters more scary and spiky than those of my eighty-year-old grandmother.

Art ran through the veins of my family. My Great-Aunt Doe was a gifted photographer who painted her black and white images with pale pastel glazes. Everyone who grew up in Menard, Texas, had their first picture taken in her dining room, which is in the house I eventually grew up in. My father is perhaps the most artistic of the bunch; he is a carpenter, pianist, and painter all in one. And my mother and her mother are gifted seamstresses who sent me to school each year with two week’s worth of homemade clothes. Also, my brother had a passion for the written arts that was contagious, as is apparent by the poetry sprinkled among my artworks.

I grew up with very quirky, artsy people all around me. And I loved it. Art, be it visual, musical, or written, was a tangible presence in my life as I grew up, and thankfully, I lived in a town so small there was nothing else to do but art. I guess it is only natural that I ended up in a department that so many people look at with a skeptical eyebrow raised. When I am asked my major, and I reply with “art”, I always get the same response: “You won’t be making any money.” Yes, I know. But without art, without its acts of creating and of seeing the created and of continuing in the traditions set for me so many generations ago, life would not make sense to me at all."

Living is a stretch for me

As everyone knows who has ever taken an exercise science course with me, I am one of the two most inflexible people in the world (the other being Kayla). So in cross training Monday morning, I was sad to hear we would be doing a flexibility (or shall we say inflexibility) test. The teacher puts us in groups of about six, which meant for me that five people would be witnessing my humiliation. Sure enough, my score was literally a third of every other person in my group except for one girl who had a c-section six weeks ago. She only doubled me. Thus continues my life long hatred of p.e. courses.

What grad school does to a body

I just got home from a test, and due to cabin fever caused by the past two weeks of crazy weather, I decided to do an aerobics video. I asked BJ if he wanted to join me, to which he said no thanks. But with a bit of persuading, he agreed to do the toning section with me that comes after the dance portion.

So I did 30 to 40 minutes of working out and called BJ in for the 15 minute toning section. BJ smirked at first as we did light workout, but as it progressed, he said with a hint of confusion, "My legs are hurting a little." A bit shaken from the discovery that a woman's aerobic video might be harder than he thought, the video moved on to the stomach work out.

And then ten minutes later I hear: "My stomach's cramping and I can't breath" and "I think I'm going to die."

I've decided that BJ will be doing more aerobics with me.

Cursed be all cabinet doors and meditations on marriage

For the past few weeks, it seems our house has gone through three day cycles of clean, disaster, clean, disaster... Yesterday was a disaster day, but I couldn't bring myself to clean it again. So it remained a disaster until my sudden energy burst at approximately 7:30 this morning (a bazaar time for a night owl to have an energy burst). I ran around cleaning like Martha Stewart on Red Bull. That is, until a cabinet door sabotaged my rampage of domesticity. I was bent over cleaning, and when I stood up straight, I banged my head really ridiculously hard on the corner of the door. I walked crookedly into the bedroom, prayed I wouldn't die from strange concussion complications(keep in mind, 2007 has not been a kind year to me so far), and fell asleep for two hours. When I awoke, a sizeable knot had formed on my noggin. My brother said it is the air rising up in my head. BJ agreed. Jerks.

On the bright side, today was mine and BJ's 6 month anniversary. We ordered pizza and watched an old musical. I LOVE being an old married couple. Although I am still a total novice at this whole marriage thing, here are some things I've noticed about married life in the past six months:

1. Fights cool down significantly. Whereas we used to feel the need to state our positions and yell, we have now resigned ourselves to something like this:
Kalyn: (perturbed look)
BJ: (pleading) Honey, don't be mad at me.
Kalyn: Okay.

2. The greatest thing about living together is it feels like I got my life back. When we were dating, I was constantly driving here and there, trying to fit BJ into the openings in my busy schedule. Now he's just here. And I'm just here. Suddenly, I have more time to sew and paint and play the piano, and the best part is BJ is here to be with the me I never felt I had time to be when we were dating. In some ways, its like he is finally getting to KNOW me.

3. With time, excitement cools while you find yourself falling in love more and more. I always thought that butterflies in the stomach were synonymous with being in love. But the butterflies are getting more and more rare while, at the same time, I am finding myself staying awake some nights staring at BJ amazed that I love him more today than on our wedding day (and for the record, I loved him a lot that day).

When I told Mom our plans for our 6-month anniversary, she laughed and said we sounded like an old married couple. I actually don't think I mind being an old married couple.

An evening at the Gensic home which included an inept spinner, a lesbian, a formidable loser, a vicious cat, and me

Using the money Grandma and Grandpa Gensic gave us for Christmas, BJ and I got a pretty nice camera. The other night while having a game night with Josh and Allie, we decided to utilize this new nifty gadget by recording an evening spent with friends. So here is the game of life as played by Josh, Allie, BJ, and me with lengthy distractions by Tony.
The above is a picture of the spinner on the game of life. Incidently, Josh is handicapped when it comes to spinning spinners. This resulted in Allie, the game's technician, acquiring hundreds of thousands of dollars off of fixing the technical difficulty.

This is me and Allie losing a turn. Apparently plastic cars can get flat tires.

This is Tony distracting us. Oh, he's so cute, says Allie and I.

This is BJ prior to losing in a humiliating defeat.

This is Allie coming out of the closet. Josh took it pretty well.

This is Tony when he decided to bite Allie's sock.

This is Tony when he decided to never, ever, ever let go of Allie's sock (approximently one minute later).

This is Tony falling asleep while keeping a firm grip on Allie's sock. His perseverance is startling.

The long, long, long, long road that leads home

The past week has been eventful, both in good, bad, happy, and tearful ways. So here it goes.

Saturday we drove the thirteen hours to Illinois, and Sunday we went the 6 hours to Indiana to spend time with more extended family. I love seeing BJ's family, so we had a really good time. One of the highlights were when Grandma Gensic called my husband a dumb sh** because he kept buzzing her for saying illegal words in Taboo. We traveled back to Illinois on Tuesday, spent more time with the new Mom and Dad as well as Allison and Breandan (my sister-in-law and her fiance). It was really hard to leave Thursday, especially when Dad hugged me and whispered in my ear "You sure are good for that boy." That was definitely one of the highlights of the week.

After driving 13 hours Thursday to get to Abilene, we headed out early Friday morning for San Antonio (4 hours) so that I could be the Matron of Honor in Theresa's wedding. I know that the title makes this kind of obvious, and it's a bit sappy to say, but that was really, really an honor. I've been a bridesmaid twice before, but being a Matron of Honor was completely different. I had a lot of responsibilities, but it was nice being able to do something for Theresa. One of the other best moments from the week was at the reception when I got to do a toast for Sean and Theresa. I talked about how I had seen Theresa earlier in the day the first time they went out together, and I had given her the piece of gum she was chewing when they first kissed, which of course made me responsible for the whole affair. People laughed in all the right parts, and I managed to hold off the crying until the very end of the toast when I got sappy.

Although the wedding was beautiful, it was a hard day because I knew Theresa would be leaving for Kentucky in two days, and she did leave today. I'm so happy for her, but it's a little hard knowing she is so far away.

We went back to Menard Sunday and had Christmas with my family. I love spending time with them and had so much fun. But since I was so tired and it was so different having Christmas a week late, everything just kind of hit me: I had spent a Christmas away from my family, and me and Theresa are now grown up and married, and everything keeps changing. I ended up crying a lot. But I still managed to win a few board games.

Tonight at about six, me and BJ left Menard. I was driving, and about ten miles out of Menard, I hit a deer. A car had be coming in the opposite lane, and the lights had blinded me just long enough that I didn't see it. We were very blessed. We are all safe, and the car seemed to only have body damage. Hopefully, insurance will cover it. It was my first wreck, and I am still a little shaky. My family came and got us, and Bro drove us to Abilene in his car. BJ, myself, Tony, and Sienna are now all four safely tucked away, ready for a long night's sleep. And if you were counting, it was about 50 hours on the road.

The Yankees are com ... having me over for Christmas?

I'm getting a little bit nervous. We leave for my first Christmas away from home tomorrow. I love BJ's family (and my new family), but I know I will miss my good ol' biological fam. Hope I don't run up the roam minutes too much.

As soon as we get back from Illinois on Thursday, we will leave early Friday for my best friend's wedding. Theresa was my Maid of Honor five months ago(I can't believe it's been five months), and I will be her Matron of Honor next Saturday. I am so excited! But this could mean over a week until I get to blog again. (sad face).

On the brighter note, I just got my final grades in, and I managed to pull my 77 in Spanish to an A and maintained my 4.0. BJ is so irritated. He wants me to make a B or a C so badly he has actually bribed me with nice dates. Apparantly I'm missing out on something in life by always being so darn perfect.

But in a slight digression from my perfection, I received an e-mail today that I am on chapel probation. Apparently, they missed my exemption papers. I'll be fighting that battle when I get back.

It's official!

Well, it's official. BJ's a preacher for Nugent. And I'm a preacher's wife. God is funny.

But seriously, we're really, really happy. They're a great church, and it feels like home. It is all older people, except for one family with three ridiculously cute kids. The men were really nice when they asked BJ if he wanted to take the position. We both feel very honored.

The best part of the morning, though, was when BJ managed to fit the word diva into his sermon. Not only did he use the word diva, but he also used it has a descriptor for a prophet. That's right. Jonah's a diva.

Bad habits acquired in college

As we (when I say we, I mean my friends, family, and regular blog readers) know, Pierces are a little bit crazy. Just a tad.

So today, I was about to drive away from my brother's house where I park for school when he pulled up from giving his classes their final. I roll down my window, and he asks me, "What's ya having for lunch." I replied that I was having pickle flavored Lay's potato chips (my newest strange food item discovery that I quite enjoy). Bro chuckled and said that he was having Barbecue flavored Lay's chips. So we both went to our houses and had exceptionally mal-nutritious lunches.

A Decent Job

Finally, BJ has a job that is okay. I knew everything would be alright this time when after two weeks he was still saying "pretty good" when I asked him how his day had gone.

As I look back on the past five months of financial scares and horrible employment, I can honestly say I would not trade those months for anything. We learned a lot, and grew a lot closer. And now that there is actually money to spend on a blizzard from Dairy Queen, the ice cream tastes better than it ever did before.

Perhaps the most shocking aspect of our sudden contentment is that is blows away many of the truths I believed in concerning college. I thought that we went to college to get an education that would get us a job in a certain we would find fulfilling so that on our death beds we could say we did something. But what I've learned is that if BJ ends up being an electrician's apprentice for the rest of his life, that does not in anyway reflect on the value of his life. He is building relationships with his fellow workers at Watson Electric, and it's satisfying for him, and I love hearing the stories he brings home about those men.

It always bothered me when people looked down on manual laborers. My father is a maintence man at a nursing home, but I garuntee that he has meant more in the lives of those elderly people than almost any highly educated social worker. He has taken a job some might label insignificant and used it in a way that leaves me in awe and humbled.

So, yes, my husband is an electrician's apprentice with a Master's in Divinity. And I am so proud of him.

Yikes!!!

Today at work, I kept making a whole lot of mistakes. Why? Because I had just found out the exact date of my Senior art show: January the 26th. It is the first show of the year, and I am so nervous. This means no Christmas break for me. I will be working on art projects ALOT. But I'm excited. Or at least, I think I am.

Shame on me

I have great regret in announcing that I bonded with annoying English major guy. We found common ground in making fun of the education department. We were making fun of the posters in an old education department room where we have class. I feel so ashamed of my moment of elitism. But is was kind of funny.

The Pierce curse and a beautiful day

If you know my brother or read his blog (sharetheboredom.blogspot), then you know that there is a Pierce curse. Our family, for know particular reason, has incredibly bad luck (along with being so forgetful and absent-minded that we often bring the bad luck unto ourselves).

This week, I discovered that taking the Gensic name does not erase the Pierce curse. It is in my blood, and now BJ is suffuring because of it.

It all started Monday night when we decided to go buy our first Christmas tree and decorate our little apartment. We picked out a 6 foot Douglas Fir tree (it's georgous) and some really cool ornaments. Then we came home so excited we actually attempted singing Christmas carols. But, of course, when we got home the first thing that happened was BJ went to unplug the tree, and it blew the fuse to the entire front half of our home. So we immediately had to go back to Walmart to get a fuse.

Then the curse continued last night when we decided to go on a walk, and after two blocks, started getting rained on (with really, really cold rain.) Now, I'll admit we were pretty stupid to even attempt a walk in the first place since it was about 30 degrees outside. We turned back immediatly, got back to our front door shaking and shivering only to find we had locked ourselves out. We tried multiple ways of breaking into our home, and both thankfully and unfortunately, our house is pretty dang secure. So we went over to my brother's, called a lock smith, and paid forty bucks to get back inside.

So, why is their "a beautiful day" in my title? My most leastest, horriblest, awfulest classes was canceled this morning due to winter storms!!!!!!!!! I HATE Spanish. Also, I didn't do all my reading for a quiz today in Art History, but now my grade doesn't have to suffer. I guess maybe God was feeling bad about the whole Pierce curse thing, and decided to give me a couple of perks today!

Wedding pictures picked at random

Well, I got my wedding pictures in today. And they're georgous. And I've looked at them about a million times. And then some. Here's a few randomly picked among the number file names since I can't figure out how to see them before I download them. I know, I'm incompetent.

This is one of me getting ready. I love this one.

My family! I love them! I love this picture!

Oh my goodness! That picture is awesome, too!

I love BJ! I love wedding pictures!

Mmh, cake! Mmh, pictures!

On that note, I need to wake up in the morning, so I probably need to sleep as well.

Sometimes, I think I hate English majors

In my poetry class, there is this one guy who absolutely embodies everything that is annoying about English majors (for the record, I love a good number of English majors, including my brother and Kayla, but about forty percent of English majors are irritating). So anyways, this guy has never really been a fan of my poetry, primarily because it is understandable and not so lofty you have to have the author give a fifteen minute explanation to find out what it means. Tonight, we workshopped his poem. I actually understood this poem and liked it, unlike his last two (one of which was his interpretation of a Jackson Pollock painting translated into poetry. Now really? He didn't even use colors Pollock used.) But then he ruined this brief moment of me being a good Christian who likes English majors when he started defending his decision to not put an s on the end of a word that needed to be plural for clarity's sake. It's an s! Who care?

A story about Sienna...

...so you know it has to be gross.

The other day, Tony threw up in the office room. I gathered up all of my cleaning supplies to go take care of the mess. When I went back to the office, the puke had already been cleaned up.

Once again, dogs are disgusting.

Gotcha!!!!!

Well, BJ has really had a knack here lately for saying the wrong thing (take, for instance, my last post). Last night, he really stuck his foot in his mouth. It was great. Or at least, it was for me.

I have the reputation in our little household of being the messy one, and, granted, I have at times earned this reputation. So last night, BJ saw an opportunity to poke fun at my tendencies when he found a pair of my boot socks out on our dresser. I was getting in bed when he pointed at them, and I quickly said, "Oh, those are clean. I was about...uh...to put them up." He smuggly picked up the socks and threw them into my cabinet, at which point I smiled and pointed behind him. What he failed to notice when he found my socks on the dresser is that also occupying dresser space was a clean pair of his jogging pants and four pairs of clean boxers. Needless to say, he looked a little sheepish after that one. HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!

What ever made you think that would be a good thing to say?

Tonight I was trying on my bridesmaid's dress for Theresa's wedding to see if it needed alterations. I came into the computer room to model it for BJ. We were discussing what needed altered, and I mentioned how nice the dress looks in the chest area (it has some really pretty gathers). BJ's reply was "Yeah, for once it doesn't look too big." As a fairly self conscious A-cup, I froze. Then BJ froze when he realized what a stupid thing he had just said. Of course, he immediately started trying to remedy the situation be saying what he meant to say, to which I replied, "Next time you want to compliment me, don't try to be clever."

an old church and an old soul

BJ preached at Nugent again today, and it looks like we're in the running for the job. We really want it, and this time it isn't just for the money. This time, we want the job because the people are amazing. During the main prayer in the morning service, the man who was praying started thanking God for all of the people in the church who had been helping him out this week around his house with jobs he never thought he would need help with. Apparantly, old age is just now really starting to catch up with him. He became very emotional during the prayer, and so did the people of the congregation who had been helping him. It was refreshing to see weakness expressed and shared instead of hidden in shame.

I also had one of those wow-I-love-BJ moments today. BJ is a fairly unconventional guy: I mean, I had to warn my parents about his earring before he came home with me for the first time. And he's fairly technical and modern in that he built his own computer and keeps up with all the newest computer technology. Also, he's liberal and nontraditional on most of his opinions, ecspecially in the church. But, today, when he had a cold and kept having to blow his nose, he used a cloth hankerchief. The last time I saw a man use a cloth hankerchief was my Grandpa Pierce: my Dad is way too young for those. I love how in unexpected, random moments, I get a peak at a really old, beautiful soul in my husband.

Awkward questions

This past weekend was my best friend, Theresa's, big wedding shower in Menard. Of course, I was excited to go see Theresa and my family, so I had a blast. The only bad part was the very thing I knew was inevitable before I left Abilene. You see, I had an almost identical shower with most of the same people about six months ago, so I knew what everyone would be asking me this time around: "So how is married life?", or for those who are creative, "How's married life treatin' you?" I hate this question. It is so loaded. Everything about their expressions says: "Newly weds have a lot of sex. I bet you're having a lot of wild, crazy sex." And since I know this is what they're thinking, I feel really awkward saying "Married life is great" because what they hear is "I have a great sex life", which I do, but that is beside the point. This post is even getting awkward. I am going to end it now.