weekend endeavors in Iowa

I went to Iowa State University this past weekend, and let me to you that was interesting.

Iowa is SO different from Illinois.You just drive for 6 1/2 hours and you definitely see a whole different place.

There are a lot of Jesus signs. We stopped at Iowa 80 (The World's Biggest Truck Stop) and there was a t-shirt that read:

WARNING! Exposure to the SON will prevent burning! Revelation 20:15.

(http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-45907335170532_2029_3622215)

I nearly died of laughter when I read that. If you're religious, great, awesome. But to me, it just seems a little outrageous. I actually almost bought the t-shirt to hang in my room...but I felt that my very Catholic parents would look down on their atheist daughter having that in her room.

Another favorite..you just have to see:

Pretty great right?

ANYWAY that wasn't even the half of it... the creepy darkness. The SHEEP. So many sheep!! Just the smell of the where we were... it wasn't too bad because it was winter, but seriously smelled like farms constantly.

The coolest thing I did was glass blowing. I had always wanted to do this since I had gone to teh Science and Industry Museum and had seen it done. And one of my friend's boyfriends was in the ISU Guild and we got to make our own glass. I blew a bowl. (what a funny statement).
Glass blowing is extremely hard to do but very enjoyable and I can't wait to get my bowl when my friend comes home. So here are some pictures of the process:

The ISU Gaffer's Guild.. where the happiness took place.

The explanation of what goes on in the Gaffer's Guild ... the colors...the formation..ingredients yada yada yada.

This is me using forming the glass you have to create a bubble within the glass. And then you have to keep it warm so when you start to form the shape you want ... then you get to shape it.

Me: Creating a hole within the piece while he rolled it to stretch it out.

yaaay the work of Mari.. her mug (I don't have a picture of my bowl.. hopefully will soon!)

I want to do glassblowing again...but at least it's off my List of things i want to do before I die!