emo gibberish

here is a detail of my 'emo' painting for class before I painted over it. It's been fun to work on but honestly I'm sick of probing my emotions to come up with anything. The replacement lacks a preconceived emotion but I'm sure I'll be able to come up with some gibberish to explain what I was feeling when I painted it. Art school wasn't a complete waste.
Kolob reservoir! I love this place. I found this in my stuff yesterday. My funny sketch doesn't even begin to show what that morning looked like. I'm sure my memory doesn't even due it right. The trees were lit up and reflecting off the motionless lake. Everything was frozen and still and the sky was the perfect blue to make the aspens look even bolder.

This was my view from the back of my truck as I woke up early one super cold morning in early september with my dogs. The pups and I got up early and hiked for miles. Kolob is 4000+ feet above St. George and the drive is my number one favorite road in Utah, maybe even anywhere. Finding this sketch and thinking about the place did not help out with how much I want to be down there right now.
Thank you Cari! She asked her mom to get this for me to take home. I've been holding onto it not wanting to waste it by just drinking it. Tonight was the night. 'It's like melted heaven.' {or aloe vera minute maid}

after the presentation...

We presented our ADA projects today {or yesterday I guess now} and there is always this giddy relief that settles in after we have worked on these massive projects. It is such a high to see the finished project, and to be able to present it in a way that feels comfortable and effortless. {huge accomplishment as I've mentioned before!} The time spent thinking through the space has helped me present in a more deliberate way. Everything has a purpose so I can talk about those things that got me excited about the space so I don't have time to remember to be scared of being in front of a group of my very judgemental peers.

Our client: An elderly couple retiring to St. George. The concept: We designed each space around Minerva Teichert paintings {check her out if you don't know her already}. Southwestern inspired colors, comfort, and easily accessible to someone with limited mobility.

Design wise, maybe not a stretch in the way you may think, but it was a hard thing to pull off for both of us since we both love to design with blues and southwest is the farthest from my personal style. We specified La-z-boy furniture, and focused on being ADA compliant in a stylish way. I'm in love with the kitchen and the master bdrm. Neither space is pictured here bc my photos didn't turn out well, but my next favorite part of the space was the outdoor living with the giant fireplace. As I was saying, giddy sets in after these presentations. Dodo is our fav place to unwind after class and the waiters probably pull straws to get out of taking our table. We laugh too hard, and ask too many questions about the menu and linger way after dessert has been licked off the plate.You can't see the tears, but this is the face that goes with laughing until I cry. Jaye was killing me with her lazy eye.

relaxing won't last too long, we start our final project now. Nothing too big or extensive... just designing a 500 square foot home including every detail top to bottom. Floor plan, spec binder and any way to present the concept as we see fit. Oh yeah baby! Small spaces are my absolute favorite to work with!!

timeline

20 Years Ago

• Jackie's mom sat her down next to me on a bench outside the first day of second grade, Merci Mme Sloan
  
• Ben was called to Korea on his mission, a move that would change our family culture and logistics forever
  
• I was a daffodil in Alice in Wonderland and had a witty line about a tree's bark being worse than it's bite.
  

10 Years Ago

• I thought I knew everything
• drove my parents crazy and a big ford truck
  
• won a scholarship to the Art Institute of Seattle and SVC and subsequently moved to VA
  

5 Years ago

• I was extremely tan and golfed/hiked/went boating almost every day
• moved to Korea
  
• got married
  

3 Years Ago

• my painting biz was taking over my life. I painted before and after my other job and on weekends. I painted in my dreams.
• when I wasn't painting I was walking/running Gibson and Max and keeping them from digging their way to Asia in the backyard
• all in all, working my tail off
  

1 Year Ago

• first semester of the design program
  
• working for the installation company booking travel and goofing off with nate and chris in the backyard
  
• hiking a lot around the hills behind our house. Even in the snow.
  

This Year So Far

• working on my 4th semester at the BC {3 to go!}
• wished a hundred times Seaira and those guys lived closer
• loved and lost but feel like it was worth it completely
  

Yesterday

• I worked and went to school {rinse and repeat}
  
• finished our ADA project for Studio tonight
• discovered a yummy salad at Rumbi {wish I knew the name so I could recommend it}
  

One Year From Now

• will be a month away from graduating
• will not feel like I do today
  
• will be one year older and wiser too...
  

thnx lady

I've had the pleasure of being paired up with my friend Adrienne on a couple projects this semester and I have loved the extra time I get to spend with her.

Her husband, Sunny, is serving in Iraq and she warned us at the beginning of last semester that some days she just might not be herself. I have yet to see her ever be anything less than amazing.

We had to work on our project most of the day today but we made the most of slaving on the day of rest. She made cookies and dinner and has pink water that I crave when I'm not at her house. My poor next partner in Studio will just never live up to my spoiled expectations. thnx lady for making my day so great.

home sick

yuck. I called in sick today and now I'm missing my friends at work and thinking if I'm going to be laying around in my room all afternoon at the very least I could be somewhat productive and work on my studio project. Taking a picture of my markers is as close as I can get without wanting to, well, you know.

speaking of friends at work: This is Jenna and me. No, I'm not delusional in my yuckiness. I meant to say Jenna and me. We're both Jenna and we get a kick out of it. She's the cool one that can dance. And I'm the other one who looks like a praying mantis when I mimic her moves.

I work with the coolest group of girls. Yesterday I joined the elite club of 'crying over a moment' at work. I'd heard the other girls talking about this happening with the brides when they find 'the dress' but it hadn't happened to me yet.

This is how it went down: A girl came in to pick up her dress and she tried it on before she left so she could pick out a veil to go with it. She asked me to go get her fiance from the waiting area so he could help her decide and as we walked back towards her she turned around from the three way mirror and flashed him a gigantic smile. He was floored! He could not stop smiling/laughing/staring at her and she glowed under his attention. I stood back and enjoyed the moment and didn't realize I was crying until I felt a tear leave my cheek. Satisfying in the way any good chic flick. They've known each other for years, grew up together and look like twins {ask Caty -pictured below- she asked them if they were!}

and speaking of home sick. I am. Official notice folks: I'll be headed your way as soon as school gets out. time for some rollerblading, hiking, dog walking r&r. Is it April yet???

strong chin, my dear

"go home and drink a large glass of water and take a bunch of those pain pills immediately because you are going to need them!" - coming from the new dentist I picked on google at whim yesterday and went to see about having my teeth cleaned.

Thank all my lucky stars he wasn't talking to me when he said this. I hadn't even laid eyes on him yet but the conversation going on behind the wall was freaking me right out. I was filling out my new patient info and considering my options for escape. Last name? Should I just stand up and walk out? Social? I'll just tell them I just realized I already went to the dentist today, silly me. I have never been a fan of the dentist {who in their right mind ever has been a fan or the dentist?} and this was not soothing me into thinking this was going to be fun. One time I looked forward to getting a root canal because I was sad about moving home from Korea and thought the real pain would feel better. That makes me worry about my sanity, but I've never thought it again so I think I'm ok.

I didn't get my chance to bolt because he came out and wished that man luck with the massive amounts of pain he was about to feel, then ushered me in through the room he had just vacated to my own room of impending doom. I tried not to notice all the bloody gauze pieces littering the tables and floor around the empty chair. If I hadn't seen the traumatized looking man walk out, I would have though he had died.

My new dentist saw me looking at this and told me he'd never seen anything like it in his 30+ years of practice. He'd had to reconstruct the mans mouth after taking his wisdom teeth out because a bunch of bone had unexpectedly come with one of them making the top of his mouth a big gaping hole. Oh.my.goodness!!

Are you still with me?

At this point I was giggling. I didn't know what else to do and in his own way he had completely calmed me down. He's this tiny little man and has that good doctor way about him where I probably would have giggled and gave him 'high five' had he told me I was in for the same treatment. I learned later that he frequents the rave scene and likes to go to techno dance clubs. What a cool old man dentist right?

I'm a sucker for adventure and this felt like one since the whole experience felt unreal up to this point. The office is a throw back to some era not anywhere a contemporary to this one. Maybe early 70's? I dunno, but it was shabby cozy and after finding out I didn't need any fillings and was merely there for a friendly cleaning I felt like I could hang out all day.

Especially when by some divine means he may have stumbled onto the root of my migraines. Yes, that is what I said. It very well could be my jaw! "The only thing keeping your face from getting distorted is your strong chin my dear." More to come later if it works out. I don't want to get overly excited about it until I know for sure.

For now, that is my story about my cool new dentist, almost dying of fright, sticking it out and very possibly finding an answer I've been looking for with every other kind of doctor for the last 7 years. A dentist? Who would have thought?

breath of fresh blue

I have so missed my sunday walks! For whatever reason I haven't been going and today it was sunny and warm {if 40 degrees is warm}. Warmer. so i headed out with my trusty friend. because if there aren't pictures, did I really go on a true walk?
sundays are beautiful things. just when I've had enough of being with myself and my thoughts a sunday comes along and refreshes everything so that whatever has been on my mind gets a little perspective.
putting on my boots and choosing the sidewalks that haven't been shoveled was just what I needed today. almost falling in the water was a bonus.

I have 2 projects in the early stages and I've need inspiration for both and I think I found some out there playing today. Too early to say but at least I have more direction than I did. I'm excited about a Bauhaus Theory project where I get to paint an 'emotion'. The hard part is picking an emotion. The even harder part is creating something that actually shows the chosen emotion. Color is major. Can't wait to work on this, it is a nice change in pace from the color boards and projects with pretend clients to please.

clear skies! shh, don't let the smog know.

i love this face

Valentine's Day is upon us. I like this holiday. I've liked it since the school days when making the box to put the cards in was as much fun as receiving the card with a tiny piece of candy stuck to it. I like all the hearts, pink and red and the way it brings out the best in the way we show our love for the people in our life.

I love the beautiful flowers. And the chocolate covered strawberries...ooooh! The strawberries....but my favorite part? The hug that came with them.

More than a holiday, I just love the every day. When a look through a window at the starbucks can make my heart skip a beat. I so much rather be surprised by special unplanned moments that come with real life. That is what this girl craves. Every day love. The kind that doesn't fade or go away at the first sign of trouble. Those are the times I live for. The times when life feels real and it takes my breath away.
I love this picture of Bearded M. He has this way of looking at me that melts my heart. Those big brown eyes of his are amazing.

He is off swimming with sting ray somewhere in the great blue so I can rave about him and not worry about feeling silly about this public display for a week or so when he gets back and reads this. I've never asked him how he feels about me writing about him here... I don't think he'd mind.

The man couldn't be cooler. He is my favorite. I can laugh and cry with him and I'm getting it that I can trust him with my heart. Goes without saying that this is a big deal. I love that he is willing to understand me when I don't always get it myself.

We met more than a year ago. I have a vivid memory of the first time I saw him and the thought I had that I wanted to be his friend. I used to give him candy so he'd be my friend in sunday school.

He asked me out in October and our first date was the coolest. I walked into a wall. Straight up walked right into it and laughed it off because he might as well know that I'm a dork.

He is incredibly talented and works with such devotion. He has the reputation of being the nicest director any of his crews have worked with. His sense of humor is so unique and fun to be around. I know his dreams will come true.

He loves dogs. Need I say more?

YES! But what? I'm gushing and it's sick, but it's valentine's day so if I can't do it on this day of love when can I?

the good and bad back up

the good. all those files I thought I'd lost last week? Didn't! Computer guy showed me where he hid them from me on my very own computer. They were there the whole time. Just not where he'd told me they'd be. Aaauuuh, relief.

the bad. i'm still using my blog as an excellent excuse to not deal with the task at hand. I'm struggling my way thru a poorly directed autoCAD class and so I'm trying to guess how to use this ultra complicated program to draw Grandma's kitchen floor plan.

but, things could be much worse. All I'm doing is trying to figure out how to work the program and the girl sitting in front of me in the lab has been crying for the last hour {seriously!} because she just lost all her CAD files for a giant project she has due soon. Lesson learned: back up back up back up back up....

glad I got a hard drive for valentine's day. mom & dad, you know the way to my heart.

if you give a mouse a cookie

My blog should be called 'another distraction from studying' because that is what I should be doing but I'm finding all kinds of things I'd rather be doing, blogging is just one of many. Like this project I've been stewing over. I picked this paper up a couple weeks ago at the art store {good times Bearded M, remember?} with good intentions but the only time I want to work on it is when I should be doing something else... Snoopy wandered over and dared me to stay inside instead of go play with him in the snow. He almost had me, but I resisted. We played just the other day, he knows I'm usually up for some fun.
After taking my laptop to the computer wizards last week I've been dreading looking at my back up discs I made of my pictures from the last 2 years. The solution the wizards came up with was to wipe my computer and start fresh. So I lost everything due to misunderstanding about who was doing the backing up of things before this took place. {How was I supposed to do it if I left the thing with them?!} Luckily I'd backed up my images last week before I took it in. I didn't think I could handle it if I'd somehow messed it up and the images weren't there. Imagine my horror when I put the first one in today and it said 'blank disc'. I seriously had to blink back tears. January-June 2008 are gone. But the other 7 0f 8 discs are just fine so I can get over the loss of just a fraction.
so my internship is turning out to be pretty silly, though I enjoy it completely. I love to organize, so 6 hours a week of organizing endless amounts of fabrics and other materials isn't all that bad. I'm located at the heart of the place so plenty is going on around me to entertain me as I play in the library. I can also take whatever I want so I'm well stocked with fantastic textiles for upcoming projects. I like the people and have fun shooting the breeze with the residential designers but as for the commercial exposure I was hoping for? Not happening. A lot is going on there and I don't blame them one bit for not having much time for the intern. Lucky for me I know most internships work out this way, I was just hoping for greatness. 9 weeks left, something could still happen. I have to give a presentation at the end of my internship to show what I learned. So far, I've taken a lot of pictures of piles of fabrics. I'll come up with some fancy way of showing what I did.

Oh, and as for the title of this entry. It's my favorite book of all times about distractions. Read it. The mouse is adorable.

Hawthorne Elementary

For my Modern Furnishings class we had the assignment to teach a school class about an element of design. I am still unsure as to what this assignment had to do with furnishings...but I digress.Art was the best and easiest way to go about doing this project. And yes, I worked in U2 to the conversation and they loved it.

Cut up some pieces of paper beforehand, talked with them a bit and then we got right down to it and let them go to town.
This girl was obviously getting the idea. That is her and her dog.

It was fun teaching a subject that I can get excited about. Teaching English was fun for a minute but wasn't really my thing. Once upon a time I thought I wanted to teach art and it was a blast hanging with these kids and seeing what they came up with.
If I learned anything from this assignment I learned that if design doesn't excite me in the end, teaching art could be a backup plan.

Piasa Screen

I presented my 'innovative' project last night for Studio. I was the happiest about being able to talk about my board/concept without shaking or forgetting what I wanted to focus on. It's been a problem in the past. Either that, or I'm so exhausted from all nighters leading up to the day that I don't care at all about presenting in a way that lets anyone know I even care about what I did.
The Piasa room divider was designed by Emilio Godoy of Mexico City and it's the bomb cuz it is woven beech wood and is bendy allowing it to rotate and curve into any form desired. I put it in this 's' shape so I could put a $5000 desk in one alcove and a seating arrangement by Le Corbusier in the other, making my dream office/studio a place where I can meet with clients in one area while keeping my work area private so I can let things get as messy as my OCD ways will let them get while in the midst of a project. The seating area to the left is anchored with a jute rug and a fantastic oriental screen brings in that hint of Asian influence that I crave in most any space I've designed. {Frybaby recognized it as the one Awesome brought back from Japan and it now resides in the front room.}
This happy little flower has been keeping me company while I've been in my room rendering, gluing, stabbing myself with my x-acto knife, et al. {oh the blood! yick!} I like this flower. I just smiled at it over there in it's cute tea cup. It's the perfect color.
I hesitate posting a picture from work.... in no way am I sending any kind of signals, vibes, whatevers by posting this picture. Read that again if you don't believe me. We were unbelievably slow at work on Monday and this dress has been catching my eye ever since it was put on one of the mannequins with a beautiful brown sash. I haven't liked this dress and never saw it on anyone until it was displayed and I couldn't stop looking at it. We got our 09 dresses last week and I can't remember their names. Our creative director doesn't make it any easier by giving them tough names. So I tried them on because it helps distinguish them from each other. This one I have on is an 08 dress {Ventola} and if I had to pick a favorite, this is it hands down. But with a different color sash {cranberry? black? hmmm?}
I'm taking my laptop to the computer doctors today. Wish us well. Vista is my nemesis.

the power of persuasion

I've passed bath n body's ad for their latest scent a few times now and I smirk a little and question the power of persuasion. Does it really make someone feel more hopeful while wearing this potion on one's skin? I got online this morning to check the ingredients to see what could possibly be used to evoke such an emotion... sunshine maybe? bits of childhood wonder? Nope, essential oils and green tea. Sounds optimistic to me.

UPDATE: I stopped in on my way to class tonight to slather myself with optimism. I thought initially it smelled like air freshener and I wished I had time to wash it off, but it isn't so bad now. The consensus from the three people in class I just shoved my fist in their faces is that I smell 'yummy'.