To New York

I'm really really going to New York this time... I promise! Let's get planning!

Today was my last day of college. So finite. I know I'll go back for a masters in a couple years, but this is such a milestone!

I was so proud of Bryan last night (not that I'm not always impressed, but I was doubly impressed last night) as he was honored to receive TWO undergraduate research awards from Mississippi State. He got two because he was awarded under two different colleges, the College of Architecture, Art and Design, and the College of Arts and Sciences! There was a nice dinner, too. He got two nice placards... I like that word, placard... Way to go, Babe!


I've been helping my sweet friend, Katey pull together their new house. I'm having so much fun doing it, and I have to show one area (more to come on either my blog or hers, I'm sure) that I love! She said she felt like her cook-books were in her mom's house and could I do anything to fix the way they looked on the shelf. I simply grouped all of the matching colors and I love how it turned out! I think she's happy with it too! There are so many great spaces in their new house and I look forward to showing everyone as soon as we're finished! (if you get inspired and re-arrange your own cook-books---- I want to see how it turns out!)


And last but not least, this is an image of my final watercolor project:

Jabberwock Review

Every time I hear 'Jabberwock' I think of Fraggle Rock.

Anyway, I have been recently informed that two of my photographs will be included in this season's Jabberwock Review, which is an a publication of the 'arts' by the English department at Mississippi State University. The one of my dear, hubby is actually going to be on the cover! How exciting!

Here is the cover pic!

And... if you're feelin lucky (or like making some finger licking good eats) please please please try this recipe.

Apple Dumplings
2 Granny Smith apples

2 cans crescent rolls

2 sticks butter

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla
cinnamon
1 small can Mountain Dew (or half of one whole can)

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan (organize them so that there are two rows. One end of each crescent roll should face one of the long sides of the pan). Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

Handcakes

So in order to 'fix' the wretchedly ugly failed attempts at cupcakes, we turned them into handcakes instead. I took the wrappers off of them and frosted them like they were miniature cakes! Success. They may have been irregularly shaped, but they tasted delicious. Beverly decided that they were not prefab crap like those sell-out cupcakes that are perfectly baked and frosted like the four at the top of the pan. I agree :) I like the Kidney shaped one the best!We went bowling for this birthday party and had a great time too! I did aweful by the way! And, for Sophie, this is how my button flowers turned out! Kind of quirky and different for sure!

And last but certainly not least... life at our apartment complex just wouldnt be complete without a little excitement. I woke up this morning and peeked out the window. This is what I saw! No more fence, only flames ENGLUFING the fence pieces and even one post. This is the photograph I took to show the insurance company if anything *cough cough* were to go unfortunately wrong with this ingenious plan. (please notice the dry leaves and debris leading right up to the back wall from the fire & how the flames are leaping higher than our 8 foot fence)

Tag, Tag Bo Bag Banana, Fanna Uh Oh!

Thanks for tagging me, Crystal! It made me feel like I had friends!

What was I doing 10 years ago?
Ha! I would have been 12 1/2 ten years ago. So I must have been in the 6th grade. I was probably wearing my sweet GAP Anorak with leggings, making fun of my English teacher who's hair was totally out of control, and we can't forget that obsession I had with the ultimate boy band: Hanson! (for whom I had 36 posters, a tee shirt, 5 CD's including the Christmas special, and a book)
Don't judge me.

Here's the music that was popular that I was listening to:
1. Hootie & The Blowfish
2. Green Day
3. Counting Crows
4. Slide- The Goo Goo Dolls
5. Hero- Foo Fighters
wow. that wasn't as lame as I expected!

Five things on my to-do list today:
1. Work on my watercolor final project
2. Drop off some sweet finds at Katey's house!
3. Take a car load of goodies to Salvation Army
4. Concoct something edible from all of our mis-matched pantry items. (we're trying to clean out our cabinets before we move)
5. Finish a newsletter for a department on campus and email them the final draft.
+A Bonus 6. Cut out two more lamps/ 7. turn in a competition entry form for my portfolio class/ 8. finish re-upholstering my sofa/ 9. and start packing upstairs

Five things I'd do if I were a billionaire:
1. Travel the world
2. Give a lot to a few great causes. I'd probably sponsor more children!
3. Pay off student loans and go ahead and pre-pay Bryan's doctorate
4. I might buy a house... but would we need it if we were traveling all the time? Yea, I'd buy a house... In Chicago. In Lincoln Park. Maybe one in England, too.
5. I'd definately invest.

Five bad habits:
1. Living out of the dryer until it's empty enough to do the next load. And, no, Sophie, I'm not a wrinkle-monster.
2. Living out of the dish washer until it's empty enough to do the next load.
3. Driving Bryan insane by living out of the dryer and dishwasher until they are empty enough to do the next load.
(note: I hate doing the dishes. But I do them because I love my husband and I know that keeping things clean is not hard to do and he appreciates it. Also I do not complain about doing these things that I do not like to do because that is not helpful.)
4. Starting projects and not finishing them. I always have every intention of finishing them all though! I almost never totally give up on a project... just sometimes it takes a while for me to complete them.
5. taking naps. I only take naps when I don't have any other pressing issues, but when I do nap, it's for a solid three hours at a time. Some would say this is a bad habit, I whole-heartedly disagree!

Places I've lived
1. Clinton, MS
2. Lawton, OK
3. Fort Sill, OK
4. Colorado Springs, CO
5. Tacoma, WA
6. Murray, KY
7. Jackson, MS
8. Madison, MS
9. Starkville, MS

Five Jobs I've had
1. An Upholstery Shop
2. An Interior Designer at an Architecture Firm
3. The Small Town Center
4. A waitress at a hamburger and ice cream shop
5. A counselor for a youth camp

I want to know more about (nice way of saying tag)
1. Shannon
2. Sophie
3. Brandy

I am NOT the Muffin Man.

I give up.

This is rediculous and my poor friend is going to have ugly birthday cupcakes.

Man.... this one totally looks like a nose. Like Gonzo's nose.

I love to cook. But I'm obviously horrible at baking. This definately would have gotten me kicked off Top Chef.

Trapped

Trapped.
Like a rat.
Like a bug under a dark black solo cup.
Waiting for three to five minutes for the hand of God to intervene in the elevator of my life and move it up to the fourth floor of an office building that is being rennovated so that I can get off to go into a meeting.
No phone service.
No good comprehension of how to make the elevator phone work/ get the elevator phone-door open to try to make the phone work.
Pitch black (except for the light from my phone)
The kind of black where you can't even see your hand if you were to hold it out in front of you.
Totally Alone.
When the longest three to five minutes of my life were over, and the elevator regained movement, it opened it's jaws in the basement. The basement that was filled with boxes, cutters, cold meat, meat hooks, horror films, monsters, and vampires. I took my chances with the elevator again.
I pushed the '4' button. This time it went right up like there had never been a time when we disagreed about how long my life would be.



On a lighter note: Did anyone notice how green the grass was today? Or how sweet the flowers smelled? Maybe it was just me.

The Pig

I really got a good laugh yesterday while I was running errands. I'm going to try to describe the dance I saw on the side of the road.

Shoulders in, elbows out, hands in fists. Now picture the arms swinging back and forth in front of a body in a kind of spastic rhythmic movement. Pause and Wave to traffic. Now back to the dance, bounce the hips and take an occasional step left or right. Put em all together and what have you got? Roaring Laughter from the inside of my car!

Who's got these sweet moves you ask?

I love that you can still see the movement in one of his arms from the dance!

New Things Observed

This is my newest watercolor creation.

And this is my new ride!

Just Kidding! But how fun is this?

And... Lesson Learned... Hot Bacon Grease does not belong in red plastic cups. I pourded it into the cup, and it poured directly out onto the floor. Straight through the bottom.

McDonald Dollars!

Tuesday night, Bryan and I were both working on our computers in the living room when it hit me... I had to have ice cream. I wanted a small vanilla milkshake from McDonalds more than anything in the world at that moment. I turned to him and suggested we go as quick as we could. He is always a little reluctant when it comes to dessert as he doesn't really like sweets. I told him that I had some McDonald Dollars in my wallet that we could use. He said "you have what?" and I said "McDonald Dollars." He said "What is that?" I said, "Some dollar bills that I would like to use at McDonalds!!!!! :)" I was then awarded for my efforts and creativity!!
These are my McDonalds Dollars!

Why does a crispy chicken sandwich need to be juicier? (or jucy in the first place)

Their shake machine was broken, so I settled for a vanilla cone which was equally as vanilla as the shake would have been, I'm sure. Bryan got an apple pie!

Then we went home and watched "No Country for Old Men" It was excellent! But then again, I have an unusually high tollerence for movie violence, as I've been told.

War, What is it Good For?

I don't know what the geniuses that run our apartments have in store for the 10 gallons of bleach that are in the middle of the courtyard this morning, but I'm going to go ahead and bet it won't be environmentally friendly.

Today.

Today was a beautiful day to be outside!

I used power tools! Always a fun thing. Bryan only lets me use two things unsupervised. The screw gun and the jig saw. (The reason for the necessary supervision is probably because I refer to the drill as a 'screw gun.') Good thing those are the only two power tools I need to make a lamp!

This lamp to be exact:

A few semesters ago, in my lighting class, we designed and produced lamps for our final project. Two of the girls from studio decided they wanted to purchase one of my designs. So that's why I am making more lamps! They look really great in all colors! Above you can see black, and I also made an all white one for my sister. Of the two that I'm making now, one will be all white, and one will be a light cream color.

Bryan's Off Again!

I forgot to do a globe treker update today in the midst of my intern nonsense.

Bryan is leaving very very early tomorrow morning to go to Boston! He'll be presenting a philosophy paper to a conference there! When they invited him to come, he initially replied saying 'thank you for the invitation. I would love to come but because I have been traveling a lot this semester, basically I will not be able to afford to come for just the weekend.' They immediately wrote back to let him know they would pay for his plane ticket, his food, and get a grad student to put him up for the couple of nights he will be there! How amazing!!! I'm so proud of him!! I love that he's really getting his name out there and getting some great experience (not to mention great resume boosters!) He's really doing a great job!

Radio City Edit...

So...
That firm from Chicago called within a couple of hours of me accepting that job in New York to see when would be a good time to schedule a phone interview and to let me know that I had been selected to move forward in their internship selection process.

WHAT?!

I know, right? Of course this would happen as soon as I accept the other offer. Why didn't I accept that dern offer two weeks ago? The man that I spoke with from Chicago was very apologetic about me receiving that email. I was too...

Well, I went ahead and set up an interview. I don't know what will happen. Just keep me in your prayers as I'm considering what to do!!!!!! (I'm not alone in this by the way... My internship director at school is definately on board with helping me figure this mess out. I was in the car when Chicago called and I squeeled the car around to go straight to her office!!!)

Dear Big Apple,

HERE I COME!!!



Thank you so much for all of your prayers. I know that what was supposed to happen has happened! I will be going to New York for the summer! I'm going with my best friend, Lexie and cannot wait to live and work somewhere with so many sites to see! I'm stoked!



I must admit I was initially disappointed to not have been selected by the firm in Chicago, but I know this is just as an amazing of an opportunity and am getting more excited about it!

It's sixteen miles to the promised land

I spoke with someone at the firm I'm hoping to go to this summer in Chicago. She was very promising. She said she would call me back tonight or tomorrow after the selection committee meets this afternoon. Please please please pray that when she calls back it is with an offer! I find myself really wanting to go to Chicago more than New York (which is where my other serious offer is from).

I hope you are all having a wonderful day! The Lord is truly good and has blessed me immensely.

How Do I love Thee...

My sweetie proposed to me this day three years ago! That's right, it was no April Fool's joke. He seriously wanted to marry me! And he did! And I love love love him! (Had it been a joke, we may not be having this conversation, but I digress) I do love my guy and look forward to many many more years together!