Graduation....DONE

Graduation has come and gone.  The gown and hood are draped over the chair in the dining room; cap accessorizing the table.  Flowers are brightening up every room and my red pumps are waiting for another adventure, as they wait patiently in the hall.  Photos are coming in through Face Book and email and I am left with great memories, a wonderfully supportive family and group of friends... and a few blisters.    

21 days to Graduation...then the world is ours!

21 days to Graduation
13 days to the Thesis Presentation and Senior Art Show and last day of classes
14 days until all notes are due
12 days to a final lecture
9 days until the last day of internship
5 days until a group paper/presentation and individual literature review are due!
3 days until thesis is due again, hopefully for the last time
Then...the world is ours!


How will I fill my days when my thesis is completed and bound and when everything from all four of my classes isn't due on the same day?  Here is my plan: try new recipes (daily), scrapbook, paint more often, check out some of the local museums, especially the art museums and the butterfly museum, read book because I want to, run 5ks and run with Michelle 2 or 3 x a week, and get excited for summer fun!  Looking forward to some free time!

Endings and beginnings

Endings: Thesis is almost done...within the week.  Graduation is less than a month away!
Beginnings: Last Tuesday I was offered a full-time job after I graduate in May, so happy!
In other news: 
My wonderful boyfriend Andre surprised my with a beautiful bouquet of tulips for landing a job, working hard and just because he loves me!  When I got out of the library at midnight (Wednesday) he gave them to me!  :) ...Thank You!  They are lovely and make me smile!

I also got to have lunch with an old friend and BFF (who is trying to make it on Broadway) who was in town - Thai food, stories of past adventures and sharing of artwork.

3-0

I hear 30 is the new 20...could be!  Since I turned 30 I have been carded more than ever!  I chalk it up to a good hair day and maybe some moisturizer...or maybe the few days in the hospital did me some good!  30, , you're just a number, I'm still me!

Congratulations to a very good friend of mine who welcomed an adorable baby girl into this world and into her family today!  Congrats Grace and Dave!  Can't wait to meet her!

30 +1 day means...back to my thesis, until this weekend ;)

2012...begins

2012...

I always look to New Years Day to see if I feel older, wiser...different? This year I do feel wiser, older and different. With one semester left of graduate school I look to 2012 and see new beginnings. In May, I will find myself walking across a stage and entering the working world again. This time focused, prepared and ready.

The snow has covered the ground and finally NY welcomes winter, at least for today. A slow start to the ski season, I grasp onto the dusting of snow and search for my long underwear and ski gear. With any luck we will be skiing in a week or two, just in time for school to begin again.

This year marks the 5 year anniversary of my blog and a big birthday for me, but I'll always be 25 and holding...

me

It's all about choices...

and today I choose me. I also choose to not accept other people's guilt. I have enough on my plate and spinning in my head, I don't need anyone else's opinions of me or my actions. It's taken a long time for me to feel ok with that statement and I want to continue to feel ok with that. sometimes saying no to you means saying yes to me and my needs. I hope my friends can understand that and if they can't right now, I hope one day they might be able to and might look back and think, wow, I didn't really need to add that to her plate.

update

it's been far too long and far too many things have occurred to blog about. homework is a sea of times new roman letters, size 12 font, swirling through my brain and pouring out my eyes. i have to take a break from it to let it soak in.

i miss having a paycheck, i think i've said that. i miss even looking forward to the paycheck, seemed to get me through the 2week block. now i drive and drive and gas up and nothing. my internship has started and is kickin up speed. so much so that i wonder how i will accomplish everything.

i have punk rock hair, says dre. i feel like i am wearing a wig. i don't recognize myself in storefront windows, yet the reflection is mine. i like change, but it'll take a few days to get used to bangs and black, straight hair. i call it my 29th year crisis. almost...

i wish i were still kickboxing with my trainer. i think i need to paint. i have an idea for my next piece...it'll have a johnny cash meets johnny thunder feel.

top 5

Grades are coming in. first semester of grad school complete and so far 3 A's *crossing fingers*.

5 things I have learned this semester:

1. APA style...art majors will be writing daily papers in each class, yes, that means you :)

2. boyfriend +does laundry+make dinner+daily=LOVE

3. I love my CATS (Creative Art Therapy) peeps

4. Lake effect snow=shovel!

5. heat included...does not specify temperature

I love top 5 lists, stemmed from High Fidelity, great movie, must see.

My top 5 movies of all times:

1. High Fidelity...top 5's enough said

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind...Clem and Joel...can't I keep just this one memory...the eraser guys are coming!

3. Fight Club...rule number 1 you don't talk about fight club

4. My Best Friends Wedding...there won't be marriage, there won't be sex...but by God there WILL be dancing!

5. Father of the Bride...don't forget to buckle your condom...the hot dog company and the bun company are putting the screws to the American people!

More Art

Pictured to the far left is my art therapy apron, made with fabric crayons on paper and iron transferred. Inspired by Jack frost on my windshield.

On the right, my art therapy doll. Made of a wine cork, 2 types of wire, mirrors and sculpty. Of course it was suppossed to be made out of tape and I thought tape was stupid so I changed the rules, I do that a lot, not play by the rules...some things never change. :)

Finals tomorrow and Wed, then I will write more. Hello blogging friends.

Greg, enjoying the posts, hopefully the 4 of us can set up a Skype date?!

Recent Art

Some recent art projects.

The tissue box of superheroes to help you dry your tears

Superman, Spiderman, Captain Planet, Batman and Mighty Mouse

The Octopus Obsession

Glass Project

Painting on glass with paint markers

My Go America Design

Created for my Dad.

How does one make a flower vase masculine...

...put a FLAG on it :)

I don't think my parents blog, so hopefully this post doesn't ruin the surprise. Gearing upp to head to Augusta/Portland for Turkey Day!

Octopus Completed

Brooke and Octopus unite!

Octo-underside

My octopus art therapy hat!

So yesterday, my octopus took on a life of it's own. A long journey we have had together. Paper mache, pipe cleaners, wire, paint, puff paint, and egg carton sections.

Now onto glass, painting on glass, and painting my mask.

4 weeks and counting...

4 weeks left until the whirlwind ends and I experience a reprieve for a few weeks that will fly by faster than I think. Classes are still going well, and I don't feel like I am going to havea breakdown yet, so this is positive news! Aiming for straight A's, but don't know what I would do with myself if I got them anyway. Still thinking about Sweden as a possibility.

6 onesies sold! Business cards made and included in the sales. Enjoying doing art, for arts sake. Deciding I do not like oil paints, the smell is awful, lightheaded and clean-up is how can I put this....annoying (to keep it PG). My latest project, a series above, I used oil paint with printing and it greatly increased cleanup and dry time. The carving/print is of my grandmother, Mimi. Printed on tissue paper, in copper/silver, and printed on fine handmade paper. All very different.

The octopus hat should be done by Friday, photos to come. A paper machie project for Art Therapy, which could be used in a therapy session as a prop or a client could use the procedure to create something of there own. This hat has taken on a life of it's own, that's for sure!

week 6

well, oddly enough we have settled into a routine of eating after i get home from classes, choosing one thing to do on the weekends and homework first.

the workload has been manageable, which scares me...it's a lot but I keep signing up for more. i like the stuff though :) so far I have straight As and I would like to keep them!

Went to Bristol Mtn Sunday and looked at the changing leaves. They are still not at peak but the yellows and orange color were beautiful. A gorgeous warm Fall day. Apple picking and pumpkin picking this weekend YAY, Dre found a cool place that even has horses .

One of my best friends from college surprised us Sunday afternoon, with a txt saying I'm in town, let's hang out! So Andre, Josh and I went to dinner and picked up Nick for drinks. It was so nice to see him and Dre and Josh had fun playing pool...good times. good friends and the homework still got done!

Week 5

This was my first attempt at oil painting. The application was a little thin, but I didn't really mind. I painted this at Michele and Mike's while Mike and 'Dre made dinner/watched the oven and Michele taught me oil painting. I am enjoying this painting thing, maybe you've got something there Greg! ;)

Week 5 is proving to test our knowledge of APA style, our endurance and dedication. I got it though! Got my first paper back and I got an A!

Looking forward to Thanksgiving Break, although I am not sure it will be much of a break! A few papers and projects due over the break. Not sure where we will be heading, only time will tell.

week 2

Week 2.

Week 2 is weird, given the holiday and the recent high school reunion. it was anxiety provoking, yet enjoyable and i actually rekindled some relationships. a wonderful farmer's market, wine tasting, the Bagelry (need i saw more), 2 amazing homemade breakfasts with my family, Cantina, margaritas, yummy salsa, Jreks subs!, Kelly and the drums, the angry mob aka band, bagels with Dre, Christine and Kelly at midnight, and hanging with old friends. the next one won't be so scary 'cause we decided on a 15yr reunion. everyone who worked on it did an amazing job! i think Dre enjoyed himself too. definitely some cool conversations and even bonded with some people i never even spoke to in high school, thanks to my baby who loves the art of conversation.

grad assistantship = fun, boss is SO nice and compliments my work, flexible and awesome! Making some friends, which is cool. I think my second semester we will all be pretty tight, due to the nature of the work and the small group of us.

making choices. not always easy. growing though through choices and choices not chosen. looking forward to the readings and slightly avoiding the written work due Monday, at least until tomorrow.

got a phone call today from my doctor regarding injections and a B12 deficiency. shots start tomorrow. not sure what to think yet, but at leas there is some sort of jumping off point. a nice girl in my class is experiencing many of the same health issues I am and it's comforting and so random that we paired up together on day 1.

looking forward to making brownies this weekend to bring to Dre's cousin's for dinner. mmm...brownies.

Day 1 - student-hood

I beautiful morning, strata, Hess to fill my tank and I was early. i wore my new black pencil skirt, yellow v-neck, perfect black flats and ice blue LL Bean backpack. full of excitement and nervousness. Classes were amazing and we even did art! can't get into any detail, but I was happy about my choice to go back to school.

Made a few friends (?), even had a lunch buddy! more than I expected. made some contacts and situated my schedule for the week. Looking forward to tomorrow.

A red butterfly walked with me, or maybe I followed it to a labyrinth and then I followed it back to the building my class was in. no joke, i am not sure if i was following it, or it was following me. thought of Benny, who said he's always be in butterflies. i smiled and got goosebumps. I've never seen a red butterfly before. leave it to Ben.

encountered a butterfly, toad and a deer today. the deer was male and had like 12 points, right in the middle of the road near my school and the toad was not phased at all by my presence and the butterfly seemed to be dancing with me or playing a little game.

welcomed home to a wonderful boyfriend who had cooked me a beautiful candlelit dinner, cleaned the house and had a glass of wine waiting for me. a beautiful end to a awesome day.

here's to more of the same...

This is it.

This is it.

Everything has been building up to this very moment since last fall when I started looking at graduate programs. I don't know if I ever thought this day would come. Maybe I thought I would never do anything with my BA in art, or maybe I was scared to even think it. To think I could be happy and be getting paid for it. Don't get me wrong, my non-art jobs were happy sometimes, learning experiences sometimes and sometimes I made them artsy to satisfy my hunger. Either way, they ave made me what I am today, whatever that is :)

Today I packed up my new LL Bean backpack with Theories of Art therapy, The DSM IV, The DSM Made Easy and The Art therapist's Primer...a new chapter begins. I have opted to make my lunch in the morning and paint my nails instead. I hate soggy sandwiches. I cleaned out my desk, picked out my clothes and realized I missed Orientation. Sad, yet I had inquired multiple times and will not bring this guilt with me to school tomorrow. Three hours of ice breakers is forgivable i think.

With an empty tank of gas and a new backpack filled with lunch and large books, I shall head off to Pittsford, NY and start my next adventure into he semi-known, college student...ahem, graduate student. Thought of the many first days and last days of school this evening. My dad and I used to go to McDonald's and I would order a "greasy thing" aka hash brown and some sort of breakfast and we would sit outside on the round picnic tables and I would fret about being too early or late and pace a bit, while my dad told me I should eat before it's time to leave. No McDonald's tradition tomorrow, but my dad and I both agreed that's a good thing. Strata in the morning, homemade by yours truly today, while I had no idea Orientation was going on. At least I know what's for breakfast... I think I shall get Dre to make the coffee tomorrow as I seemed to have problems forgetting the coffee part of it, oh well, hot water anyone?