I'm Marci- I'm sophisticated (haha okay, but not really). I can pretend it pretty well though! These are absolutely fabulous. They are fun to walk in and they make a lovely clicking sound with every step I take. I can run in them, i can jump in them and they sure as heck look good while I do it. I wear them when I want to feel tall and feminine.
These represent the girl (or woman, if I dare go there) in me. I know you all probably see me as a crazy kid that just goofs off and runs around but there is more to me than just that! I love to dress up. I love to feel pretty. I like to look taller and skinnier (as result of high heels). Shoot, I love it all so much that I wear high heels to school at least 50% of the time. I've worn them so much it has now become a standard that people hold me up to. Just yesterday I wore tennis shoes and people commented on my lack of dressy shoes.
I love these shoes because they make me feel more confident in everything I do. Though I realize not every woman's chosen type of shoe is the high heel, I think we should all dress in a way that we can feel confident and ready to take on the world. We should dress in a way that demands respect and shows other people who we are. Though these do not show a number of different sides of me, they do show the girly-girl in me and I think that is an important side to see.
I'm Marci and I'm sophisticated!
oh and let me just put in a plug for high heels.... they make you look better when you learn how to walk in them and rock them. i don't care how tall you are or how much they hurt your feet... suffer for beauty and walk with confidence!
I'm Marci- I've gone country (look at them boots). These were a great investment. I wear them at least once a week and I LOVE them. Three years ago, these were far from anywhere on my shopping list. This summer they were sitting right on top. I can wear a pretty summer dress with them (not now, in October, obviously) or tuck some jeans in and go more casual. They, of course, add a couple inches of height and that's always a bonus. I wear them on days when I want to look nice but not wear heels. I wear them on dates. I wear them to church. I just love to wear them.
These represent a side of me that has recently developed. As mentioned in earlier posts, I have been experiencing some changes and cowgirl is one of 'em. Right now I am sort of a cowgirl wannabe but maybe someday I will gain the real title! I love country music. I love to "get a little gravel in my travel" and drive big trucks on long back-roads. I love horses and will usually jump at any opportunity to ride them. Something else of importance: I especially looove cowboys!
I feel like these boots represent a side of me that wants to live a country life. Wake up to the sunrise. Send my kids out to grab the chicken eggs. Go tend to my horse. Take care of the new litter of puppies. Feed the pigs. Work the day through and at the end, sit on the porch to watch the day fade away with the crickets chirpin, a warm summer breeze and the sweet smell of country livin' in the air. You can't tell me that doesn't sound like a fun life to live.
Don't judge a book by it's cover. Right? Would you consider shoes as equivalent to a cover? Because, if they are, I think it'd be safe to judge me by my cover. But really. Take a look into my closet. I might admit, I have a LOT of shoes. Tall ones, short ones, bright ones, pretty ones. You name it. According to my father, I probably have a lot of ugly ones, too. Anyways, recently I have just been thinking about who I am and how I could adequately define this. I concluded that one could learn a lot about me and who I am by my shoes... over the next few weeks you will see some of my personal favorites :)
Wowza, aren't they a sight? These are a happy pair of Keds. I wear these on days when I feel extra sunshiny. These are my casual shoes; the shoes I wear when I seek comfort. They're for the days when I choose not to listen to my mother's classic advice, "suffer for beauty." They often accompany an outfit full of color.
These represent me as a kid. I am such a kid. I have so much energy and I love to run and skip and jump. I get distracted easily. I love to laugh out loud. I believe what people tell me because I like to believe they're good; so, in other words, I am gullible and naive. I can't control myself when someone puts ice cream in front of me. I cry when I watch Tarzan. My legs are slathered in bruises because I still can't walk without tripping and scraping up my knees. I ask too many questions. I cover my eyes in the scary parts of movies. I talk too loud in church. I still make funny faces for pictures.
Wouldn't life be a bummer without fun Ked-y Kidness? Why wouldn't you still skip (even if you have wait until no one's looking)? Why wouldn't you let your mind day-dream? Laugh at the silly stuff. Let your imagination blossom. Practice sharing. Love unconditionally. Why? Because it's FUN!
I'm Marci- i'm a nerd. Though I think I've known this a majority of my life, it really hit me a couple of days ago. After spending two hours with my Plant Identification team, I was walking through the Chemistry building humming while letting my mind wander. It wasn't until I saw others giving me some odd looks that I realized that not only was I humming unnaturally loud but I wasn't even humming a song; I was humming a part I played in band on the contra-alto clarinet in High School. So really it was a series of loud low notes. After that I reminisced on how much I actually missed band.
A day or two later I was playing capture the flag with a bunch of people and while Katie Packer and I were stuck in jail we took note of the surrounding trees. Engrossed in our conversation, we discussed what family we thought the closest tree was part of. We were throwing out terms like "flattened petioles" and latin rooted words like "Salicaceae" while the others in jail stood and stared at us not exactly sure how to feel about the conversation.
Later that night I had a full on discussion about fruit with someone I had met only five minutes prior. We discussed the perfect peach and how others had no idea what they a fresh peach tastes like if they have only had them from a store. We expressed our pity towards those who haven't had the experience of freshly picked fruit. Then we both acknowledged the fact that we had never had such an extensive fruit conversation with a stranger before.
I like to stare at quail crossing the street and count their chicks. I like to sing primary and Disney songs. I like to learn. My best friend is still my mom. I have Friday nights when I would actually prefer to study or sleep than be social. I liked marching band. I still have dolls, stuffed animals and children's books all throughout my bedroom. I am a nerd. Sometimes I think it's a little embarrassing that I can't hide these little quirks about me but then I realize why should I? I am taking a stand and telling you and everyone else to embrace yourself. Embrace your inner nerd because chances are the person standing next to you has an inner nerd waiting to go crazy. Love your inner nerd. Be your inner nerd.
i'm Marci-i'm transitioning. School has started. A couple of weeks into school and the whole mindset has still not kicked in. After my summer of work and family i'm trying to re-incorporate other aspects into my life. Like sports. And friends. And sleep.
First day. Always exciting, right? Well, at least for me it has been. I was thinking about my first day of school outfit well over a week in advanced. High heals or cowgirl boots? Believe me, it was a big debate. If you're interested, I chose high heals and rocked the boots later in the week. The first day of school was like one big reunion. I saw all of my major friends who did crazy things all summer long. In one of my classes everyone said what was most fun about their summer. India. Cambodia. Swam with Dolphins. Really? Catching quail wasn't even comparable to all of their awesomeness! But that's quite alright.
At the end of the day I am ashamed to admit that I was suffering. After a summer of spoiling my feet in comfortable boots, high heels were very unfamiliar. They chewed up my feet. This may take a while to get back into the swing of my high heel wearin' days.
Not only did my heels (and then my boots) give me aches and pains throughout the week but I also started sports again this week and they did a number on me! I went running and played basketball and volleyball and soccer and golf and boy was it refreshing! My body aches and the blisters are many but man is my heart happy! Shoot, I even have a blister on my thumb from golf! Whenever I was bored I was able to find a group of people doing some sport and it was fabulous!
Me holding a trapped ring tailed cat! Such a pretty animal!
After a week in I discovered that I was going to miss a bit of school this semester. First I had a mandatory camping trip for Mammalogy. Wicked awesome. We camped up in the Stansbury Mountains (which was actually surprisingly beautiful for being in western Utah) and trapped mammals for the weekend. I was required to miss school to go camping and catch some mammals! Not perfect for me or anything.... but anyways we caught lots of rodents and a couple of other things including a ring tailed cat! Too cool! Not only was this camping trip super fun but it reminded me, once again, how much I love and often miss my cozy little bed. With lots of warm blankets. And seven pillows. And my mattress. Oh and I was reminded of how stinkin' hilarious the people in my major are! Once I got back I was reminded of the stacks of homework I had. Catch up on readings. Write some reports. Ya know, the usual. I'm not too stressed besides the fact that OH YEAH I am leaving a couple of days for Denver, Colorado.
Yes, Denver. One might wonder what a little girl like me would be going to Denver for? Oh ya know, I am just attending a four day hunting workshop. (I know, right?) Yeah. I am literally going to learn about hunting for three days. Then on the fourth I believe I am actually going to do it. Me- with a gun- pointing it at moving things- and trying to hit them. Yowza. I see failure in the near future but I suppose that's good for the pheasants? Anyways I am not completely sure about how I feel about this opportunity but it's apparently a great learning experience with great networking opportunities and looks good on my resume. Oh, and not to mention that they will be providing FREE food for four days of my life... it better be good. If you don't already know I, like most other college kids, am extremely enticed by free food (unless it's Little Caesars; I despise the stuff).
After these weeks of school skipping and crazy opportunities I am planning on officially sinking into my normal school life. 17 credits. 10 hours of work. 5 intra-mural teams. Plant ID team. Oh, and did I mention I am going to try to publish a paper with a professor? Ha and on top of all that we CANNOT forget the social life. After a summer of trompin through the desert finding my little quail I feel like there may be some added stress with this new schedule but hey, that's what college is all about!
So folks, whether it be your feet transitioning to some unfamiliar shoes, your muscles transitioning to some new activity or your brain transitioning to a whole lot more thinking it's going to be hard work and maybe a little pain but why not embrace it? no point in hatin' it if you have to do it anyways!
this summer has been... interesting to say the least. yes, i am homeless. i live out of my car. my trunk is full of my clothes and my backseat is full of the other miscellaneous stuff one needs. i have gone to six different wards in the past two months. i sleep on various couches or even sometimes in my car (my mother had a fit when she heard about that). i haven't slept in a real bed since... mid-April? and yes my back feels AWESOME. As result of any discomfort suffered from being homeless i have saved a lot of money! This, my friends, was the plan.
don't get the wrong idea; i'm not homeless ALL summer. i'm only homeless when i am not working. work provides me with a trailer home down in the Mojave desert and boy is it LOVELY. i share this little trailer with two other girls, Jenna and Quincey. this trailer is connected to some generators and when those are going we can get electricity and air conditioning but unfortunately we are only allowed to run those about two hours a day. normally our trailer is lacking in electricity, running water and any other convenience that requires outside connections. that's okay though because we all really like to camp and this is just like sleeping in a tent but just with harder walls.
in the Mojave, for anyone who is not knowledgeable about this particular part of Utah, it is not unheard of for the temperature to surpass 120 degrees during the hottest part of summer. unfortunately i haven't had the pleasure of experiencing that heat yet.
our little camper
our trailer is in Lytle Ranch which is owned by BYU. this ranch is right next to a game ranch and so sometimes we see hunters and cowboys around. Lytle is located in a large wash and because of the tiny river running through it we are able to have a small orchard and some green grass. the orchard has pomegranates, pears and peaches along with other trees i haven't identified.this has been heavenly because it reminds of my home-town paradise.
the view while walking towards the orchards.
it is hard to walk through the ranch and not see tons of little critters scampering about. i'm sure that will change as it continually gets hotter but for now i see lots of cottontails, jack rabbits, lizards, deer, birds and sometimes coyotes and kit fox. there are also chickens and some dogs on the ranch! the rooster likes to perch right outside our trailer and call "happy birthday!" luckily i don't wake up to much besides my alarm so i don't get bothered by him.
Shadow is a big ball of energy and never fails to entertain!
Oso is literally the model dog for Doug off of the movie "Up"... big, fat and always happy to see you.
during the work week we don't get to spend a ton of time in this little Mojave oasis. we usually wake up early for work. sometimes when we are feeling super ambitious Quincey and i will wake up earlier to go running. this usually depends on what time we have to leave the ranch for work which varies depending on the job we are doing that day.
i came into this summer thinking i would be doing telemetry all the time. (telemetry is tracking animals wearing radio transmitters using a receiver.) i was wrong. the first week at Lytle we built the traps to catch the quail. because water is not very common in the Mojave, quail visit man-made water entrapments called guzzlers quite often. we build our traps around these. we make the entrances little funnels into the fence and the quail can't figure out how to get out once they get in.
Jenna, Quincey and i building our quail trap!
once we had some traps built we could start trapping and processing quail. to do this we scare the quail into a smaller cage connected to the larger one. we then close off that smaller cage and take it to the truck where we weigh them, put a radio collar on them, put little bands on their ankles and take a blood sample. then we release the little buggers! sometimes when i'm frustrated with a quail because it is trying to get away while i'm processing it i just randomly start laughing. honestly, who really ever has the chance to get upset about something like that??
we got the birds into the smaller trap and i'm bringing it to the truck!
Quincey is putting on the collar!
One of the first birds we processed.
usually when we are checking traps we ride in our giant truck (i feel like it's giant when i'm driving; it's a GMC 2500) but when we do other jobs we usually ride on the four wheeler and the rhino. this part, seemed a dream come true. who gets to drive these all summer long? ME!
Quincey is behind us on the four wheeler.
one day we got to do a special job because they needed help doing a burn on experimental plots. we needed to start the fire early to avoid the heat and wind so we woke up at 4:30 am. by 4:40 am i was running around with the dogs and singing and laughing as the others stared with glazed eyes. we finally got up to the plots and the others were awake. the professors and our ranch manager were very nervous, the fire fighters were very relaxed and we were very excited. the fire fighters were so relaxed about it that one of them was talking on the phone to his wife while setting bushes on fire. it was all pretty relaxed until the fire reached a joshua tree and would cause a couple of floating embers. though it wasn't nearly as intense as it sounds i was still very excited to be a fire fighter because i remember being little and dressing up in my Dad's fire suit dreaming about being a fire fighter.
this is us in our fire get-up right before we started!
we were the "flappers" and controlled the fire if it got outside the exclosures
a joshua tree catching on fire
the week after that we started telemetry. to do this we got all dressed up in our desert garb including the snake gaitors and fanny packs. (now i might mention that seeing me like this was my own little nightmare. a fanny pack... really??) we scoot on over there on our four wheelers and rhinos and start up our receivers and go through the frequencies to find the birds. once we find some frequencies we just start walking... and walking and walking and walking.
hard at work
we often have to climb mountains to get signals for the quail.
every couple of months we get to spend three days trapping small mammals. when i say small mammals, i mean rodents. we catch wood rats (eew), kangaroo rats and some varieties of pocket mice. to catch these we set out traps with bird seed in them the night before. so we don't bake them we have to wake up at five to start processing the rodents. to do this we weigh them, ear tag them, check their gender and whether or not they're pregnant (if applicable). then we let them go.
i learned a very important lesson on the first trap i checked; never try to catch a rodent by the tip of it's tail. this, my friends, is the moment after learning that lesson.
this is a kangaroo rat being weighed
if you don't check the traps quick enough they roast in the little ovens.
bummer dude.
another job we do for a couple of hours a week is repair/finish the experimental plot fences. this requires riveting, patching fence and pounding in poles. don't. be. jealous.
on occasion we get a little distracted. but that is only on very very rare occasions. this time Quincey had the brilliant idea of adorning her face with indian war paint made from the soot of the burnt area.
because the Mojave desert gets so hot during mid-day we have a siesta from about 1-4. during the free time around the ranch we usually read, write in journals, lay in the river or sleep if at all possible. on occasion we even wander the ranch. this has proven to be very entertaining. on walks i have found deer trails, abandoned shacks and a couple of really cool old vehicles. there are so many pretty and interesting things to be seen!
this truck really couldn't get any cooler. old, green and rusty, it sits right by a corral waiting to be photographed and appreciated by all who encounter.
this looked like some sort of fire truck. there was a big tank and a hose in back!
this bus looks like it crashed and was just left there. now it is built into the fence so obviously they're okay with it being there.
on countless occasions i laugh at what i am doing. while most college-age girls spend their summers serving people in restaurants i am tromping around in a desert. when i return to Provo after a long adventure in the desert i feel like i just woke up from a long dream. i mean, really, would i really NOT be freaking out if i was holding a rat by the scruff of it's neck? i honestly can't be cool with being pooped on repeatedly by birds. yeah- must've been a dream.
i'm Marci- i'm changing. last post was like six months ago... oops. in that post i believe i acknowledged a change in my major? if not, i am majoring in wildlife and wildlands conservation. i repeat: wildlife and wildlands conservation. 70% of the time that i recite my long major name, people get a confused look and ask me to repeat myself. so for the 30% out there who didn't need a repeat, forgive me. as result of my chosen major i have had to take a variety of interesting classes, have befriended some very different people, picked up some new hobbies and have had some bizarre jobs.
who would have thought that there is a class titled "intro to soils" and that it is accompanied with a three hour lab? how about that class "living with plants"? the "properties of range land management"? it's really entertaining to get my class list the first week of school. sometimes i sit in class and look around and wonder... what on earth am i doing here? i am going to class to learn this? in no way am i complaining, just admiring the humor in my current position.
heating up a soil in my soils lab!
this is me disecting a shark in my biology lab.
because i am surrounded by a variety of hicks, rednecks and farmers i have had a shift in some of my opinions. the first day of my classes after i had switched my major provided me with the first test. camouflage. anyone i saw in it was automatically overlooked by me. i couldn't stand the stuff and was appalled that people wore it outside of activities that required it. they were probably a bit thrown off by a tan little blond showing up to "intro to soils" in heals and skinny jeans every day so i suppose we all had to make adjustments.
now I see camo and it catches my attention. i automatically wonder if the person wearing it is in my major and if they like camping and hunting. I still have not ever worn camo as a fashion statement nor have i purchased any. and I don't think I'm close to that stage either. phew. i think they have learned to accept my outbursts of high heals and crazy clothes as well.
one of the first people i met from my major was a hunting redneck from Montana. he asked me to take notes for him while he went to Montana to shoot an elk and this proved to be a little shocking. after agreeing to take notes for him and as he was walking away i yelled, "don't kill anything!" it was mostly a joke but partly not... i thought hunting was unnecessary and a little bit silly. i didn't understand the culture or the hype. after eight months of exposure, i have seen the light. actually I have tasted it. have you ever tasted elk? bah, it's fantastic. hunting no longer falls under the "weird" list of hobbies. not only did i find that many things that are hunted taste better than store bought meat but i that it has many other benefits. those are for another post, another day. now, finding someone who hunts actually gives them some bonus points in my book.
this is me with a fish i caught (okay i had a little help!)
another big BIG change is... drum roll... i like country music. it is a recent development. i listen to it voluntarily and sometimes even sing along. for those of you who have known me for a while know that this is pretty much a big deal.
a popular accessory in my major is a pocket knife. at first I thought it was crazy that all of these people surrounding me were carrying these weapons in their back pockets around at school. it wasn't until i was eating lunch with my friend Chris and he used his pocket knife to pick his teeth and then later watched as my friend Chelsea picked her nails with her pocket knife that i realize they do come in handy. when i got a free pocket knife from my employer i finally felt like i was a real member of my major.
i have had jobs (2 different ones) relating to my major this year and they have proven to be quite different. i believe i have talked about getting the first job in previous posts but not about what i actually did. the first job i worked two levels below ground and, for the first half of the semester, counted and measured preserved fish.
the second half of fall semester i sorted and counted insects. i measured fish and counted bugs to see the effect mosquito fish were having on chub. very exciting. lets just say i got a lot of confused looks when i was dressed up nice and talked to people about my job.
after fall semester my first employer ran out of funding so i had to find another job. this job was almost equally as easy to come by. i talked to a few professors in my major and after emailing a resume and a good recommendation i scored another job. this job was a little different in that i did a lot of errands for the professor. it was also two levels above ground instead of below. that was nice. for a little while i was cutting elk and deer teeth to age the animals. that was pretty cool. this also provided me with my summer job as well.
so all, do not fret. i am still me. i still plan on wearing high heals (or whatever else i want) to campus on a regular basis; i just might have some extra accessories like a pocket knife and an ipod full of country music. you want to find me? i practically reside in the MARB and WIDB. just listen for the faint clicking of heals and it will likely be me (lets just say you're more likely to find a girl in chacos than a girl in heals in those two buildings). i still laugh loud (possibly even more than before). in fact, i am still the smiling, random, hyper girl i've always been- just with a few more quirks than before.
overall i think this year just showed me a different way to live life and a different type of people. experiences this year have made me a more accepting person, and the people that surround me in my major have made me nicer and happier. this year has just brought out a side of me that has always been there. the outdoorsy-natury-hike a mountainy side. change has brought me closer to new people and has taught me many new skills. i highly recommend it.
i'm Marci and i'm changing.
oh, can i also add that i have also acquired an attraction to a man in cowboy boots and some good levis?
