All posts by Paige

Kitchen Table + Mini Boats = $1,000,000

Other, ,

Do you ever hear about an invention or design or product so random, yet so cool, it just makes you happy to be part of the incredibly creative human race? Josh and I had one of those moments last week.

On Sunday we had some couples from our ward over for dinner; the menu consisted of baked potatoes, salad, and rolls. As we struggled to pass all the dishes, platters, and bowls around the table, I brought up the lazy susan that sits on the table in my parents house, the one I grew up with. (If you don’t know what a lazy susan is, follow the link and learn real quick.) Then one guy told us all about a table he had seen in the Philippines – a kind of different spin on a lazy susan, if you will (ha, no pun intended!). He described it as a big regular square dinner table, but with a big hole cut out of the middle and filled with a container of water. You could then place all the dishes in the water, and if someone opposite the table needed the rolls? Why, just shove them across and they’d float on over!

Awesome, huh? We all thought it was pretty cool. (So cool that I’m writing this blog post now). And I wanted to include a picture, but I couldn’t find one online (how would you Google for that, anyway? “Kitchen table water center”? Nope. “Kitchen table pass dishes water”? Nope. If you have any suggestions, let me know). Anyway, since I couldn’t find a picture, I drew one up real quick, for visual learners like me (and for you, Mom, because I know how much you love diagrams).

So here’s an isometric view:

And even an arial view:

So we hope you enjoy this awesome invention as much as we did. Whoever thought of it is a genius. Maybe we’ll even own one some day. If we do, I think we should fill the container with goldfish…um, maybe. But I could see some definite potential disasters if you combine a kitchen table filled with water and a family of kids.

Personal and Professional Development

Just Life, Other, ,

So the new job that I have is pretty much amazingly awesome and my dream job. (Well, anyone who knows me really really well – though maybe Josh is the only person who knows me this well – knows that my real dream job is to make fake food, like this stuff, but my current job is definitely right up there.) I feel so lucky to have landed such a great job so soon, and it really is great; I get to write, organize, help make an awesome product, and work with fantastic people.

Part of the awesomeness that is my new job is the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Workshop, one of the premier writing conferences for authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults. The members of the writing department at my work are going this summer, and I’m excited! Excited and nervous… Though I can’t wait to learn more about writing and how to be a better writer, I’m a little nervous because I’ve always just considered myself a writer “wanna-be.” What if I’m way lacking in skill and experience compared to the other workshop members? What if it’s humiliating? What if all the other writers laugh at me? What if … what if … what if? But I guess I can’t keep asking myself “what if?” If I don’t take a risk, how will I ever improve? So…here’s to personal and professional development and this coming summer’s conference! I’m looking forward to it, so wish me luck!

Josh the Photographer

Just Life, ,

So just in case any of you didn’t know, Josh is quite the awesome photographer. It’s something he’s been into since high school, and he’s won local and state awards for pictures he’s taken. He’s even had a picture bought by the New Era!

Anyway, I was going through old pictures and put together a random collection of pictures Josh has taken, some recent, some older. So just in case you haven’t seen, check out his work! Yeah, he’s awesome. :-)

WE’RE GOIN’ TO DALLAS!

Big Events, , ,

That’s right, we’re Texas-bound this summer! And why? Because Josh got an awesome internship there! He was looking into several places for a summer internship, but his top pick was Pariveda Solutions, an IT consulting firm based in Dallas, Texas. And thanks to Josh’s impressive resume and his great interview skills (but Josh says mostly thanks to helpful people in the firm and lots of blessings), he was the one intern selected from BYU to go! We’re super excited for the adventure ahead.

So details: the internship is June 21 to August 20, just about 9 weeks. Josh will be training, learning, and even visiting clients for the internship. (For all of who who don’t know what IT consulting is – ahem, like I didn’t before Josh explained it to me – basically it involves helping other companies run their information and technology stuff better.) He’s looking forward to learning a lot and trying out consulting first-hand.

And thanks to more awesome blessings and very nice employers, I’ll be lucky enough to work remotely while we’re in Dallas, hooray! That will be an adventure, too, but I’m excited for it. So all of the pieces are falling into place! Well, most all. Does anyone know of a cheap, already-furnished apartment in Dallas that will let us rent for three months? ;-) So, we’re not sure exactly how housing will happen yet, but we’re working on it.

So we feel very fortunate and very excited. And we’ll be able to visit our family in Texas over the summer! So often, Josh and I just look at our life and say, “How did this awesomeness happen to us?” We really do feel extremely blessed and we’re loving life. Stay tuned for updates about our hopefully successful housing search, and we’ll see you in Texas this summer!