Student bluesss

A list of books I’ve been waiting to get to and would really like to get to:
The Birth Order Book (embarrassingly still waiting to finish it)
my Peru travel book
Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood
Brave New World
Clockwork Orange
The Glass Castle
The Secret Life of Bees
(As well as several other that aren’t even in my possession yet…)

TV shows I’d be down with getting into
Walking Dead
Mad Men
The Wire

Movies I’ve been wanting to watch:
A whole slew of documentaries
The Big Lebowski
Milk
Black Swan

All these things I want to do.. so badly. But at the end of the day I’m just so exhausted to add yet another thing to my plate. It sounds lazy… but being a student and having 3 jobs is a lot harder than what I was prepared for.

Hurricane Irene

Great news! Sara Semborski and I survived the hurricane. Between my whale and my life vest, I had enough buoyancy to keep us afloat- and that I did do.

We spent the night in our friends fortified house in Kensington with several other good friends. We made a total of 12 pizzas thanks to our members of Pizza Brain and played some vicious games of Killer Wink.

Despite some flooded basements and a few mildly flooded rivers (with the exception of Manayunk) Philly made it out ok.

My parents house, which is 2 hours further inland, did not do such a  great job of surviving however. A tree down on the house, a tree down on the car and electrical wires all over the yard. Thankfully, they are ok- but they actually wanted me to come home to safety instead of staying in the “dreadful” Philadelphia. Guess they should have come to the always sunny city instead!

I’m glad it’s over. I’m glad it’s sunday. As Joshua Grace stated in an e-mail this morning, “it’s a great day to worship God together.”

to do list for the following year

There have been a lot of things in my head lately about what I’d like to do in the near future. I figured I should finally put it all down and out in public. That way, if I successfully accomplish all things on my list, I cant be thankful that I had written goals and met all of them. I often think that if I say it out loud or write it out in public, it’s more validated, more true.

1. make cheddar cheese
2. hike to machu picchu
3. join the rock climbing gym on columbus
4. participate in a sprint triathlon next August
5. bike across the country… or at least half way (this is maybe on the list to do within the year, if not, at least in the next three) Ok, and if this doesn’t look like it’s happening at least bike to my parents house in lebanon from philly.
6. broad st run (obvi)
7. This fall, I’d like to participate in at least 3 5k’s.
8. Run the 8k during the philly run weekend.
9. get that tattoo i’ve been talking about forever
10. visit chrissy and meg in boulder, CO.

I have no idea when I developed this much interest in athletic hobbies.  but of course I don’t mind, i actually developed the interest! woop

What up packaging design

New Werk

The semester is over! Here are two pieces that were made this semester and one old favorite. Enjoy!

At the beginning of the semester someone said to me, “if you have time to train for a 10-mile run, then you aren’t spending enough time in the studio.” That statement deeply frustrated me. Out of determination and sheer will I worked 2 part time jobs, had work in 4 different galleries and shows, participated in and trained for a 5k and a 15k, won a design competition for the Fleisher Founder’s Award and made stellar work for all four of my studio classes.

I did all of that in one semester and I think I did a pretty awesome job.

Hobby Bobby summer springy plans

My coworker Rachel and I are starting a reading list between the two of us. She will buy half and I will buy half and then once we are finished, we will trade. It’s going to be a perfect plan. On Saturday, she brought me a whole pile; which is sitting patiently and glaringly next to my bed. I just want to get through all of them now! Oh why do all of my book piles pop up right around finals time?

Anyway, my spring and summer reading list includes Me Talk Pretty One Day, Water for Elephants, Playground, The Hunger Games (trilogy), Running With Scissors and  The Diving Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood. I can’t wait.

Tonight, my good friend Ally Kolodziey lent me her juicer. I’ve never tried this before and so when I first saw a thick, purple goo come out after I threw in an entire container of blackberries, I lit with excitement. Then I threw in carrots, then swiss chard and apples. I am so anxious to keep trying this in the next couple of weeks.

My neighbors and I have been working hard at the lot behind our houses and it has come a long way!! We are building raised beds to plants in for the summer- and ultimately turn the space into our backyard. This coming Saturday is dirt day and I just love the sound of that.

On Friday I ran to jeweler’s row for supplies (and managed to get 2 parking tickets in less than an hour…) when I came home I  organized my things and was happy to peer into this box.

Yesterday I ran a 5k with Ally and we finished at 27 minutes. My time surprised me, seeing how i usually do a 10 minute mile. Running has definitely become a new favorite hobby (as long as I quit getting hurt) and I’m also beginning to notice the spirituality in running. I wish I could see that in other hobbies, but their is definitely something incredibly unique about running.

God’s been really present lately and it’s so exciting to see this. Answering prayer and surprising me when I don’t even realize, it’s been a mind-numbing and humbling blessing. It’s relieving to make it out of the winter with God right there in the front. I hope the rest of spring and the summer continue to be this cheery and this spiritual.

In the split second between slicing my finger and throwing my saw frame I always think, “this is it. This is the time I finally cut my finger off. I’m going to go into shock in five seconds.”

Thankfully, it hasn’t happened yet. Just a tiny little cut that won’t stop bleeding.

Updates from the studio: the spring time.
Our jewelry production sale is next week! Everyone, come purchase wearable ART.

The laborious beginning…

So much silver dust. If only I was into saving back then.

The beauty of production.. and yes, it’s silver. I’m the idiot who finds precious metals more interesting than aluminum. hrm..

COME TO SALE.

The way I feel inside

This weather’s been a let down. Four days ago I saw a guy in shorts, t-shirt and flip flops (don’t get me wrong, I thought that was a bit extreme) and today I woke up to a car covered in snow.  If you tease us with spring, we are going to want it, so why take it away from us?

Here’s another teaser:
Come see these at the show this Friday at Tyler during our BFA show opening at 6 PM.

Aside from this show, I’ve still got other projects that need attention. The most frustrating one is for my CAD class.
Somehow I am supposed to make this work
by looking at this
I’m surprised I actually got it wired and on the bread board as much as I did. I am actually learning something! I can differentiate between r1 and p1 and that funny looking K sign quite easily. But I thought I was a jewelry major… why am I building electronics?

On a good note, my mom left me with this when they came to visit me for my birthday. The Y fell off, and it’s been weeks, but I just love leaving it on.

Studio update

Working hard to get everything done in time for my BFA show this Friday!

Aside from making all of our pieces look perfect, all of our stands must be cut, sanded and polished and made to perfection…. NOT fun.

Maybe a little hard to tell, but I’m taking up the space of four benches. It’s my favorite way to work!

I’ve learned from experience that when you think you have two hours of work to do, you actually have four. It’s because you break things and need to add repair time into your schedule. wahh!

 

And in case you didn’t know, this is a big deal! You need to be there!

Wintry mix

1. I had a really great birthday. I am finally 22. I promised all of my above 25 friends that I will really live it up this year, since I hated 21 so much. Really, I’ll enjoy it. I’ll be irresponsible and lazy and young and free.
My parents came to visit for lunch and we ate at Tria and had a great experience there. Though they are small, they do a lot with their space. I know of a couple small philly restaurants that could really learn from them.

2. I’ve been sick lately and it’s been lasting too long. I understand if a cold lasts for seven days, but this flu-like viral illness needs to leave my body. I’ve taken five airborne so far. I can only give my body so much Vitamin C and Echinacea.

3. Then again, this wintry mix/snow/rain has been lasting too long as well. This weather brought about an interesting controversy however between students and Temple University. From tweeting and facebooking, the argument made the news when Temple didn’t call a snow day like the rest of the city when we got hit with over a foot of snow. They’ve been trying to make up for it now by giving us two hour delays the second the sky opens up; i’ll take it, but a formal apology would have sufficed. This passive response is pathetic and most likely will only last a season. At least that’s what I think.

4. Dog sitting next week. I can’t wait.