Tracie's World

Had a super fun team-building activity this afternoon with the folks from work. Usually you say the words "team-building event", and right away you think of something where you have to overshare with everyone, or overcome your fear of heights doing something like a ropes course. Thank goodness this was not one of those.  After a terrific group lunch, we met up at a place called "Painting With a Twist". The idea is that they host you, provide paint and canvases, and expert help, and everyone in the group paints a picture. The twist is that you all paint your own versions of the same picture, so you end of getting to see the same painting from several different perspectives. I'm fortunate to work with a group of people who have all been with the company for many years, and we all know each other really well and have a good time together. We painted, we snacked on cookies everyone had brought, and listened to tunes, all while working on our masterpieces. Her...

Last week, my brother's family and I got to go see a special new exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art. The exhibit is titled "Sacred Gifts: The Religious Art of Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hoffman, and Franz Schwartz".  The works in the exhibit come from a series of paintings each artist did on the Life of Christ. They're paintings we're very familiar with as Latter-day Saints, as we use them in manuals, and copies in our buildings. But to be able to see the originals is a very special treat, as they are considered national treasures in heir home countries, and are not generally loaned out. It had been a long time since I'd made a visit to BYU, and even longer since I'd been to the museum. But it was exciting to go. We went on a Saturday, and it was of course, packed. So it wasn't quite as reverent as I'd hoped. But it was so awesome to see these paintings in their original form, and mounted and lit as if they were in their actual home setting. It was all l...

Now that I have a Family History calling, I decided it was time to get back in the game, so I signed up for this year's RootsTech Genealogy Conference. Sponsored by FamilySearch, the Conference was meant to showcase what's new in the world of Family History, the many ways technology is changing how we search for our ancestors and tell our Family stories, and get you fired up in general. And for me, it did all of the above and then some. People come from all over the country and from around the world to attend the 3-day event. There were anywhere between 5-10,000 people in attendance.  Here are a few of my personal highlights: Day 1 Woke up that morning and as I was running around and getting ready, I remembered several times that I wanted to get something I had to give to a sister from my hometown, who I knew would be attending the conference.  Years ago, I had found an old issue of the Improvement Era in an old church library, and in that issue there was a picture of h...

Ever since I moved into Tracie's Holladay Inn, I've been looking for a nice framed picture to hang over the stairway.  That space is probably at least 12 feet high or more, and it just is screaming for something nice to hang on it.  But alas, I haven't found anything I particularly liked. At the same time, I've been looking for a really cool picture of the Salt Lake Temple. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any that have just taken my breath away. So back a couple of weeks ago, just after ringing in the New Year, I kind of sat pondering on this again, and I had what I considered an absolutely brilliant thought. A sudden stroke of inspiration, if you will. I was looking at the most recent Conference issue of the Ensign, and all of the awesome photographs that were in it, when it occurred to me that I could cut out a bunch of said photographs, from that issue and from the other old issues I had around, and I could use those to take care of the empty wall. And that nig...

I've always been a bit of a news junkie. I think it's important to know what's going on in the world. But over the last few years, I've become increasingly disgusted with national and global politics, and the constant stream of the world's worst, to the point that I mostly avoid it. But here's the thing. I'm still a news junkie. So what does one do when they have a thirst for knowing what's going on but they can't stand knowing what's going on?  For me, I've come to realize that I need to seriously avoid any of the so-called "News" channels. No FoxNews, no MSNBC, no CNN, no Nightly News of any variety. AT ALL. Nothing where there's a plethora of talking heads that aren't really saying much but are being snarky to each other. And definitely nothing true crime.   I read the Yahoo News Headlines, but as far as actual articles, I only read the fluff ones - sports, entertainment, health, cooking. I read both local papers, (al...

Here we are, a few weeks into January, and I feel like I haven't had time to breathe long enough to post an update. Not that I haven't had plenty of time. But the workdays have been so full, with lots of things happening at once, that I find I've needed to come home and take a psychological breath, so to speak. My brain just gets overwhelmed. As good as we women are at multi-tasking, it seems that in this day and age, with the speed of communication happening at what feels like Warp 5, and everything and everyone wanting to be your Priority 1, sometimes you just can't keep all the balls in the air any longer. And that's the time when you need to take a break and have a frosty. Case in point: This past Monday. I had spent the day fielding questions from colleagues, scheduling meetings, responding to a plethora of IIBA chapter emails, and had been handed several new projects. And a few personal things had come up that had me worried. Like Martha of old, I was "...

December 2013 is almost on it's way out.  And what with all the Holiday Festivities and other end of year items, what a whirlwind it has been. Here are some highlights: December 5th - Tracie has new windows installed (in 19-degree weather!) December 7th - The CBAP Exam (which I have already covered in detail) December 8th - Tracie is interviewed by Family Search missionaries (all about Indexing) December 12th - End of Year HOA Board Meeting (where we are verbally abused by one of the owners) December 13th - Department Luncheon, followed by Tracie ducking out of work to go Christmas Shopping. December 14th - Ward Christmas Party December 15th - Music and the Spoken Word and MoTab Christmas mini-concert (Thanks Annalyn!) December 17th - Annual Mammogram (Tracie gets manhandled by a mammographer with severe halitosis). December 18th and 19th - Major Ice and Snow Storm, and hour long commute (uphill both ways!) December 20th - Christmas Dinner and...