knitting

I've been knitting at work this semester.

I started this project last Spring and I'm probably not even half way finished. It will be a scarf for one of my friends when I'm all done with it. The plan is to make it super long. Like Dr. Seuss long! I'm very excited. It has a few holes but I don't mind. It's my first project and I didn't feel like undoing it to fix it.

I have found that knitting can be very meditative for me. It's a great way to keep myself doing something while watching a movie or listening to music or chatting with friends. 

Enjoy!

New Years Resolutions

I usually don't like when people talk about holidays and plan for them/decorate etc. when there is still another holiday to celebrate before that one arrives! (Example: when Christmas music is playing and stores are decorating for Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving!) But today I'm going to write about New Years resolutions and what I plan to do for next year.

A few years ago I had a friend that told me she was challenging herself to work on a new resolution every month of the year. Instead of working for a few weeks and then giving up...this would be a way to keep things fresh and to keep motivation. Also, I think it is a great way to incorporate multiple things into your life without overwhelming yourself. And then, if you like what you did that month you can keep it up and if you didn't...well, at least you tried something new!

So this is my plan as of now:

January: Go to at least 1 yoga class a week and start meditating

February: Work out every day for at least 30 minutes (to get myself looking good for my birthday in March!)

March: Wear makeup/do my hair/dress nice every day (maybe I'll do the 30 for 30 challenge!)

April: Learn to cook basic meals

May: Hoop for 30 minutes a day

June: Plan accordingly and ride my bike as much as possible.

July: Explore 4 new places in Missouri that I have never been to

August: Finish all projects that I have started. Sewing or art.

September: Eat nothing but whole foods 4 days a week

October: Do random acts of kindness

November: Sew something new each week

December: Bake and bake and bake and give and give and give

All year long:

*Post at the start of each month what my goal for that month is, then check in and write a few sentences each day or few about if I did it or not*

*Keep trying new foods as often as possible. Start to incorporate them into my daily menu*

*Make at least one new craft a month and blog about it*

*Save money for the first half of the year so I can visit my sister in California!*

*Read often*

*Knit often*

*Learn to embroidery*

*Learn to crochet*
*Be more active in supporting and participating in my local the theatre/music/dance/art community*

I'll probably add more later! This is a great start though, I think :)

Enjoy!

Boston

I'm not sure why, all of a sudden, I feel the need to blog again. But here I am so here we go.

The summer break was interesting. Enjoyable, stressful, challenging and short are a few words I can think of to describe it. But one of the best things was going to Boston to visit my sister and nephew. 

Picture time:

Somehow I ended up leaving without getting a picture of all of us together.

I had a wonderful time. I've never been to a city as large as Boston before. I think my favorite thing was all the walking and riding the T. And all the beautiful old buildings too!

Enjoy!

Final Picture

Here is the final picture of my clay/plaster project of Founders Park:

Have a beautiful day :)

Enjoy!

Photo Update

Hello hello hello!!!

I have pictures of recent happenings that I would like to share!

First:

Remember the cabinate that my mom and I started working on a while ago. Well that was probably the only day I worked on it. She did the rest of the sanding, staining and decorating the inside. I feel bad that I didn't help more but she did a wonderful job!! I love it so much :)

Here is the inside:

The cherry color from the wood bled through onto the paper but I'm okay with it. I kind of like it like that! Gives it more character. 

We used tissue paper and mod-podge for the inside. 

Next is pictures of my clay/plaster project that I told you I was working on. 

This is the picture that inspired the design:

Founders Park just behind where I work and go to school. I love this park.

This is the clay before I poured the plaster:

I had to carve the oposite of what I wanted the plaster to look like. It was kind of hard to work backwards. 

This is the plaster after it was poured, dried and taken off the clay:

All that's left is to clean off the rest of the clay and patch the cracks. It is currently in 5 pieces but my teacher said that it was an easy fix. I will post another picture of what it looks like this Friday when it is being displayed at Art Walk! 

I also made Easter cookies:

They look a bit strange but they were wonderful!!

This is where I found the recipe.

After I explained that they were green because of food coloring and that they were supposed to look like Easter eggs hidden in the grass people warmed up to the idea of having one and didn't regret it! :)

This is a picture of some of the arms that I told you about:

 There are a lot more that we are putting up today. I'll take more pictures :)

This one is mine:

It is braided hemp wrapped around the arm. I love it!

I have a few more that will be put up today. I'm so excited!!! I love having my artwork displayed.

That's all for now.

Enjoy!

Update

Everything went well for the first weekend of the show. One more show next Saturday then we are done! I have a raincoat to make this week and only one arm left to paint. But it is gonna be the hardest one to do. (Thankfully I have a great teacher who's gonna help me!!)

I'm working on art walk stuff this week during work so I should get all that done no problem.

I've been eating way too much candy and junk and soda food lately. Being at school for the play for 6 or more hours at a time makes it hard to eat anything of true substance. I'm gonna really try to get better about that this week. I also wish it would stop raining so I could be outside some! I wanna ride my bike and go for long walks and lately (not only have I not had the time) the weather hasn't been doing what I want it to do :(

On Friday I helped the Fine Arts Department at the school picnic and got a funky sunburn. My nose started pealing this morning. That's the one thing I really don't like about the sun. You can get so unexpectedly burnt.

I have plans to make this dress once summer starts:

Source

We used this pattern during the play for the wedding dress. It was so beautiful that I had to get the pattern for myself! I can't wait to make it and wear it :)

Enjoy!

AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!

Haha! The next three weeks are gonna get crazy up in here.

"Why's that?" you may be asking. Well this is why:

I have an art project that needs to be finished (needed to be finished a few weeks ago. woops!) this week. And by this week I mean today. Wednesday by 3pm at the VERY latest. Also in my art class we are plaster casting our arms and hands and we each have to make about 6 of them. I have 5, some of which need to be patched up, and I need to do the 6th. Then they need to dry for at least 24 hours, be sanded down to be smooth, then each one has to be painted after different artists. Every arm that is made and painted needs to be different. This all has to be done by April 30th. We only meet in class 3 more times before then.

Okay, that doesn't sound so horrible.

But I'm not done!!

I really need to practice some for my piano class. We are getting to the point in music theory where I always get lost and can never figure out what the teacher is saying. It becomes gibrish to me. So I gotta figure that out.

Then there is my costume design class. I have three weeks to make the most adorable rain coat I will have ever seen (if it all works out right!). Again, not so bad except for when you take into account that EVERY NIGHT next week will be taken up doing stuff for the costumes with the school play. Opening night is April 29th. We still don't have everything we need yet, more shopping is to be done. Organizing and labeling too. Then the next week will be spent getting ready for the Student Showcase for First Friday Art Walk here at OTC. It is the most stressful Art Walk of the semester.

Recap:

This week - 2 art projects, sewing my rain coat, doing some last minute costume stuff for the play

Next week - Play rehearsal/run through every night, opening night on Friday and shows on Saturday and Sunday too

First week of May - more painting for art, more sewing my rain coat, setting up Art Walk.

After that week I will have one week of normal classes then a week of finals.

THEN IT'S SUMMER TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No me gusta on the next three weeks!

Me gusta on the whole summer thing :)

Wish me luck as I take on mucho work-o.

(Don't worry, it will all be done with a smile on my face because these are all things I love!)

Pictures that make me happy:

Something for me to remember for the next few weeks:

Enjoy!