A design student overview.

I finally decided to stage some projects I have done in my quest to become an interior designer. Thus far in my schooling I have had the fantastic opportunities to express my design tastes and techniques from rendering perspectives to creating design concepts and putting together material boards. I feel so blessed to be learning what I have so far. Catching up to this dream to design has been an awfully amazing adventure so far!

simmons.design

Ahh.. Venice.

The hubby and I took our official first road trip this last week. ( driving down to st George for our  honeymoon doesn't count because it wasn't over 10 hours. To be official road trippees you must go the distance... Like Hercules... But we're getting of subject)
So we packed on up our clothes and magnificent cooler and were off to the beautiful city of Venice California! It was a long drive.. and we took an unpleasant stop in Vegas (I don't know if its just us but the ol viva las Vegas is a dump.. Elvis is probably turning in his grave) can't imagine what it is going to be like in the future...
On a lighter note, after about 4 more long hours ( seriously the longest trek from Vegas to California... Death valley.. literally...) We were at the beach being greeted by the beautiful ocean! We immediately hunkered up to our little studio apartment we rented for a few days, changed in to our bathing suits, and went to fight the waves! Bradlee was so excited! He hadn't been to the ocean since he was a wee lad, and it had obviously been long overdo!
We went out to eat at the very cozy candlelit cafe ( where they give you a blanket if you sit on the patio, which encourages lots of cuddles)... And enjoyed our first night falling to sleep to the sounds of the ocean. In a word, it was bliss. :)
And then came the real experience of vacation in California. The next day we got severely burnt ( not a smart move on our part, always wear sunscreen!)...
That definitely made our trip complete. We layered ourselves up with aloe, ate a gigantic pizza whilst dancing to piano music... We've got class. ;) and said goodbye to Venice..
To finish up our trip we dropped by the st george temple.. a designer's dream! This particular temple was the first temple finished in Utah, and it still has some of it's original furniture inside.. oh my goodness I went bonkers! Bradlee had to dragme out of there! It was beautiful. And the perfect end to a perfect first road trip with the love of my life. :) gillian.simmons

Our Wedding Day (sounds cliche, but it was magical...)

Ok, time to join all the other bloggers out there and talk about the Simmons' wedding day. More or less I want to say what a wonderful husband I have, and as it nears about a year since our first date (in two days) I'd like to tell our little love story here in the blog world. 

Bradlee asked me to marry him on a Saturday night at the end of June last year, we had been dating since May, and couldn't wait to spend the rest of our lives together! He asked me to be his "last first kiss" while he was on one knee on our beach up at Pine View, and I said yes. We decided on October 18, 2012 to be our wedding day, I never really thought about which season I wanted to be married in when I was young, but Autumn was just perfect. 

We called up the Salt Lake Temple and decided that a 9 am sealing would be just dandy, (we didn't think it through, I probably would have liked it to be at least 10 am, but we were just too excited!) I could not sleep at all the night before, waiting in anxious anticipation... Apparently Bradlee slept like a baby. The ceremony was beautiful, our sealer was such a cute old man. And afterwards we took many a picture on the temple grounds...

Might I add that I redid my hair about 4 times that morning... I eventually just through it back in a side bun and it came out quite nicely. Happy day. 

We continued the day by going to a magnificent luncheon put together by Bradlee's parents, where all our family and friends gave us marital advice. All their comments and beautiful testimonies were so special to us, we are truly blessed with wonderful people in our lives. We finished up at the luncheon, got an afternoon breather, and headed off to our reception. This was the most rewarding for me. Though a lot of the credit goes to The Castle in Layton for the beautiful venue, I like to think all my hard work finally paid off. I made all of the groomsmen's boutonnieres, the centerpieces, my aunt made our SUPER cute cake, had to go to a couple thrift stores for frames, made the bridesmaid's hair pieces (with the help of little sis) plus we found the bridesmaid dresses on sale (booyah), and we created our own sign in book on Shutterfly. It was a TON of work, but we pulled it off and saved a lot of money doing so! Plus it put a unique twist on our wedding, and I just couldn't live with myself if we didn't do things our own original way.  :)

There was dancing, cutting of cake, and eating of cake, and a TON of greetings given. We didn't get the chance to taste of our own delicious chocolate fountain and many a fruits given at our reception unfortunately... too many people loved us... they should warn you about that before you get married....
It was a blissful day that ended in a magnificent night, everything went as planned! (besides the hair disaster) I wish I could go back and marry Bradlee again. I held on the the memory of our wedding day for the longest I could!!! And it stayed fresh in my mind for a LONG time... unfortunately memories fade in our poor impotent human mind. that's why we scrapbook. :)
I love everyday that I wake up next to my best friend and soul mate every morning
(especially his morning chinese man smiles)
I love that we are forever a family, eternally bonded to one another in this new and everlasting covenant that our Father in Heaven has provided for us.
(... and I'm SO excited to bring darling babies into this covenant)
I love that no matter what he will be there for me
(even when I'm a tear-stained messy baby girl when I'm sick)
I love that we say I love you a million times a day
(... seems excessive, but you wouldn't believe how awkward it is if we don't say I love you enough... we can sense when were low on our I lu you's... It's our superpower)
Ultimately, I love my life with him.
I know that people say that we'll get out of this "honeymoon stage" and that the newlywed glow fades... We don't believe in that, no matter how many taunt and tease us for kissing "too much" and that we say I love you "too much", we will always want for more! Because love it ultimately a choice. While other couples choose to lose their flame, we choose to keep it alive. :)
mrs.gillian.simmons

Charitable Chair

this spring i am participating in the wonderful Charitable Chair Event here at Weber State University.

As you can see, it's a pretty legit event. Me and my darling friend Kristin partnered up to get to restoring our antique chair. We got on ksl.com and searched for antique furniture (finding some for sale for $300!!) that was a BIT out of our budget, so we modified our search and found this little keeper:

isn't she a beauty?! we saw so much potential in this little gal... we discovered that she was made between 1900-1920, in the shaker/french provincial style. (shaker because of the rush seating and simple legs, and french provincial because of the curving detail on the ladder-back seat) so we leaned more towards the French when thinking of her name, so we called her Cosette (due to the recent release of the classic Les Miserables (2012) in theaters).
so we divided up the labor to get this girl all shined up and ready for the ball. we started by stripping off all of the old rush seating to stain her. after Kristin sanded and stained it, she handed it off to me and my wonderful husband to figure out how to reapply a new rush seat......... did I mention we couldn't find someone to redo this rush seat? the closest person was in Colorado (we're in Utah).... so we were in a bit of a pickle...
my husband and i aren't the type of people who just let others get the job done anyhow, so this really did work out perfectly. we were up for the challenge. we took weeks studying off and on about rush weaving a seat properly, and what kind of rush we should use, and how to still love each other under the stress of finishing this little bugger. (yes, we have back problems, and this reflects in our ability to work on a project for a long period of time) but we were each other's cheerleaders and kept a positive attitude!! once the rush arrived from Peerless Rattan (a cute little family located in Michigan who have sustained a business selling rush and cane weaving supplies since 1903) it took us one half of a day, a partial late night (my husband forced me to stop working and go to sleep because i was starting to get crazy project eyes and mumbling to myself), and another half day to finish! Here's the work in process:

isn't she the most beautiful thing you ever saw! 

she will be professionally photographed and auctioned off at the BIG event!

we're so very excited.

we'll keep you updated on how the even goes and how she turns out!

simmons.design