Things I Am Thankful For

Thanksgiving is coming up, and let me tell you I have never been more excited than I am this year. The food is going to be amazing, the company is going to be great, and most importantly, there will be no school from Wednesday to Sunday. Wednesday. To. Sunday. That is a nice, LONG, break. Of course I have all sorts of things I'd like to get accomplished over this break, including but not limited to getting all of my holiday presents figured out/designed, getting my portfolio website up and running (long, long overdue!!) relaxing a lot, catching up with my family, and getting ahead on all of my homework.

But let's face it. Probably what's going to happen is I am going to eat way more than I should, sleep a lot, and lay around my house and just enjoy my break. Because it appears that the minute I step into my house I am struck with crippling laziness, I wanted to take a moment now, before the break even begins, to talk about what I am thankful for:

1. The new job I just got. (What? Yes! It's an internship and I am incredibly excited)

2. My computer, Sophie. We've had kind of a rough year, she has been in and out of the Apple store a couple of times, but she's been a good friend. I spend a lot of my life with her, and hey Sophie, I just wanted to say thanks.

3. This girl:
My mom and I took her to the Christmas Parade here in my city, and we had so much fun with her. She is so sweet and so much fun. My favorite part was when we were walking back, and I'd turn around to make sure she and Mom were with me, and every time she'd give me a really big smile like she was psyched to see me.

4. My family. I keep realizing how lucky I am to have a family I love and enjoy spending time with. As I get closer and closer to graduating and (maybe) moving away, I keep realizing how great it is that they are so close. I'm really excited to spend the weekend at home.

5. My birthday this year. I know I just talked about how great it was but seriously: Best Birthday Ever.

6. Coffee. Some days, when I can't really wake up, I'll lay in bed and think about my cup of coffee and that will be enough to motivate me to get up and embrace the day, and not just sleep through all my classes.

7. My life. I really have been sitting here racking my brains for more things to add to the list, and honestly, I think just about everything should be on this list. I have so many fantastic people in my life that I am not even going to list them all here, because I'd leave someone out and that would be bad. I am really excited about the future, but I'm still loving school right now. I live in a great apartment, and I get to do a lot of fun stuff. What more could a girl ask for?

I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!

Six Months

Six months ago (well actually more like seven now, but I've been thinking about this post for a while), I was in a bad place. Certainly nothing to complain to anyone who has ever experienced real adversity, but I was not feeling successful at my chosen career, (ie no job in sight), I was lonely, and I had a hard time seeing the bright side to anything. As I quickly made my way through all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls (it's not like I had lots of plans with friends or a job to get to or anything), and complained to my mom a LOT (thanks Mom!) she finally cracked one day and basically told me to sack up.

I handled that with my usual grace and charm, as you can imagine, and though the conversation was resolved nicely, I didn't hang up the phone feeling much better. The thing about what my mom says though is that I can't stop thinking about what she says after I've stopped talking to her. The other thing about my mom is that in the 21 years I've been alive, she's been wrong maybe once.

I was sitting in my room that night (alone. Watching Gilmore Girls. Can you see the theme?) and I thought about how one of my friends six months previously had just broken up with her boyfriend. She had been somewhat alienated from her friends, and after that happened she was completely awful to be around. She acted like nothing in her life would ever go right again. Six months later it looked like everything had turned around for her. She had a great group of friends, a new boyfriend, and she was doing spectacularly at school. (She'd also ditched me as a friend but WHATEVER) Six months is not that long, I said to myself. I can change the things I don't like about my life in six months.

Six months later it was my 21st birthday! Elizabeth and my aunt Diane came down to help me celebrate, and it was really just magical. We went out for drinks at midnight the night before, and the day after was lazy and nice and relaxing. It involved shopping and a nice brunch (brunch is quickly becoming my favorite meal). We had a delicious dinner, and limoncello was involved. I am obsessed with limoncello, probably because my mom makes it and it is AMAZING. On Saturday I had a birthday party. Almost all of my friends were able to come, and after hanging out at my apartment for a while, we walked to the bar right up the block and had all kinds of amazing drinks. I didn't end up going to sleep until 4 in the morning. The next day, Elizabeth had to leave and I was giddy for the rest of the week because it was such a success.

I didn't think about it until later but it was almost exactly six months after I had talked to my mom. Six months of doing things outside my comfort zone, of really making an effort to reach out and be friendly and approachable (the curse of shy people is that they seem standoffish and bitchy half the time), and here I am, with a LOT of people I really enjoy spending time with and I am busier than I have ever been in my life. It was hard at first to make the effort when I would have felt a lot better staying home and watching tv, and it was hard at first feeling like I was the only one making the effort and nobody else reciprocated, but eventually my efforts paid off and people started calling me too.

But the other amazing part about this is that I'm not afraid to be alone any more. At one point being by myself seemed to be a reminder that somewhere out there people were doing fun stuff without me and they didn't want me there. Now I am happy by myself. I don't feel left out, and I know that if I really want to do something social I have the confidence to do something that I might not be exactly comfortable with.

In six months you can do anything!

Three days until my birthday!!

..Not that I'm counting or anything.

I just wanted to point out something incredibly exciting that happened to me last night. I went to my favorite coffee shop and posted to twitter that I was there and it was my favorite in the rain (they have a twitter account, how awesome is that?) and then a couple hours later I came back to this on my computer:
WELL CHECK THAT OUT! Even though some people tried to convince me they were just being polite and they 'respond to people all the time with stuff like that ' I am going to go ahead and be excited about that.

Plans for This Weekend

It is my fall break this weekend. A lot of people for fall break go on vacation and whatnot, but a) I did that last year (I went to D.C.) and it was super fun and definitely within the realm of 'good college experience' so I'm not feeling like I've always missed out, PLUS I hope to be going somewhere for spring break so I'm going to save my pennies and get stuff done here.

Also, I'm feeling increasingly behind and scattered in almost every aspect of my life, so I'm going to take this weekend as a calming break where I can get it together and maybe feel like I really have control of at least one aspect of my life. That's reasonable, right?

Side note: What should I be for Halloween? I am completely out of ideas and the Halloween Bash's theme (party in the laboratory) is lame and doesn't necessarily have to be obeyed because dude seriously?


THINGS I AM DOING TODAY

>>Clean apartment.

>>Finish weather and climate homework

>>Finish icons (I'm not sure how much I should say about this but let me tell you I am drawing a set of icons for something and they are going to be baller.)

>>Go hiking.

>>See Zombieland

Hello Hello

Things I am Currently Obsessed With:

• Shows (of the musical variety) - I went to two (two!) last weekend and they were both amazing and just reinforced my goal to go to a lot more shows this (school) year.
  
• Slouchy boots – Especially these slouchy boots. Seriously.
• My birthday – It is in 12 days. 12. I have always been a big proponent of celebrating a birthday as thoroughly as possible, but this birthday has the perfect storm of being on a Friday (and I don't have class on Fridays), being my 21st birthday (and let me tell you I am the youngest senior in my college and definitely in my major) having Elizabeth coming to visit me for it, and having talked about it so much that everyone is looking forward to it just so maybe I will shut up about it.
  
• Cheskers – Cheskers is a game that David and I (but mostly David) invented where you take a chess board and chess pieces and then you play checkers with it. We tried to play with taking away the forced jump rule but then there was a road block so that didn't really work out. Part of the fun is making tiny paper hats for the kings and also when you're in a coffee shop and people are staring at you because you are a) talking smack really loudly and b) playing chess wrong.
  
• Screenprinting – I love screenprinting. I just learned how to do it but it is AMAZING.
  

• that is a really great video of the screenprinting process. I especially enjoy screenprinting when, after putting emulsion on my screen (a process that was significantly harder for me than featured in that video) and letting it dry (something that takes hours of time), I went back to my school's screenprinting room to burn my design on my screen and spend a lovely day screenprinting and it was gone. Gone! Because someone stole it. Don't worry though, I left a scathing note. That will really show them.
  
• Taking videos – I don't do a lot with them usually but there's something about these random captures of life that can take you back instantly to a completely different place in my life. I love it.
  
• The phrase 'California Light' – I think my dad made it up, and even though initially I was like what, Dad, you don't know what you're talking about that's a dumb thing to say. ( I think part of this was because he just kept repeating it over and over again and refused to explain what he meant) I am finding myself repeating it far more than is necessary.
  
• Making t-shirts – Screenprinting means making t-shirts and I have so many ideas for shirts now it's crazy.
  
• Plaid shirts – Especially on boys.
• Crazy bikes with super bright colors – There are a few of these on campus and they are amazing.
  
• Kids my age who wear helmets – Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one and then someone else will cruise by just like me, wearing a helmet. And it's awesome.
  
• Soup – It has gotten marginally cooler here and all of a sudden I'm dreaming about cream of broccoli and this really great beef chili one my mom makes mm mmm mmmmm.
• Cardigans – As usual. I lost my favorite cardigan and it was horrible and sad but I managed to find one exactly the same except it's black instead of navy blue. While that's not really as great it's a good reminder to KEEP TRACK OF MY STUFF.
  
• Procrastinating from my work – Not that that's what's happening right now or anything.
• Pumpkins
• Homemade pretzels (MOM, I'm looking at you!)
  
• My favorite coffee shop in the fall.
• Driving – But not just any driving. Oh no. Driving a manual. Because I learned how to do that. And even though I still tend to shout a lot when I'm driving. (I do that when I'm driving my car too but it's usually out of frustration not terror that I'm going to kill someone) I still feel really badass cruising around and shifting gears without the assistance of my car.
  
• Skinny jeans
• Wooly blazer type coats that are deep blue/purple and having big collars.
  
• Salsa dancing
• White ink on white paper
• Avocado
  
• My cousin's new baby. He is so sweet and beautiful and calm.
  
• My cousin's old baby.
  
• Reading. I need to do it more but I haven't found a lot of compelling books recently.
  
• Coffee.
  

Oh, hello my beautiful friends.

It has been a while since I updated and that is because things have been C-R-A-Z-Y basically ever since school started, and when I do have free time it is most likely spent laying in a heap on my bed rather than doing anything productive. Aaaand since I have to go to class like now, I'm just going to give you a couple of pictures without any explanation and a promise to do better next week. (Hey do any of you remember when I was all about Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit and I started my day off with a blog post as my 'ritual'? I think I may try that again since I'm also trying to wake up a little earlier because I've found when I'm not running out the door every morning the rest of my day is not rushed either.)

I'm Baaaaack!!

It's been a while since I posted. I know this. I've been really busy with school and all that jazz, plus I felt pressure (from myself) to post about my vacation, PLUS school has been crazy, but it's cool. I'm here today to tell you a little story.

The story is about my bike.

Once I ran into a car on my bike.

This time was yesterday.

Here is what happened:
I was riding my bike to class as I normally do. I alternate between riding on the street and the sidewalk, and this time I was riding on the sidewalk on campus, which means a whole lot of people just milling around. It drives me crazy when people can't walk in a straight line, but I also understand that pedestrians have the right of way so I was trying to dodge the wanderers. I noticed that a guy was walking toward me and it wasn't looking like he would get out of the way and I didn't have a lot of places to go. (Earlier I had almost fallen off my bike because some fool stepped out in front of me and I braked super hard and skidded because the asphalt was wet.) I have to think fast or get off my bike.
There's a little space between the curb and a signpost, and I think oh hey. I will squeeze through this and it will be AWESOME and nobody will walk into me there! Here is a witness drawing of the situation so far:


Anyway, I am riding through congratulating myself on how awesome I am for thinking of this idea when I realize that my nice wide cruiser handlebars are not going to fit through this space. There is not much I can do about this at this point in time. I decide that maybe I can sort of jerk the handlebars to the side and fit through but I am STUPID and do not think that the bike goes where the handlebars are pointing.

The bike. Goes. Where the handlebars. Are Pointing.

My tire promptly falls off the curb causing me to sort of fall off my seat and hit the car really loudly with my hand in order not to completely crash into it. The car is wet so my hand (and the rest of me) slides. The bike falls to the side, knocking me into the car, and behind me I hear laughter.

There are now about 20 people here who can tell you about that girl they saw wearing the giant purple raincoat and bright blue helmet who biked into a car like a DAMN FOOL.