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Made it

It’s finals once again. But, it’s worse than finals, it’s studio week. I only say finals so people who don’t go to my school can understand what I’m talking about. Studio week is the last week before critique where you have a whole week to get all of your projects done and unfortunately, the week before studio week, many teachers encourage you to start the projects you’ve been working on for the last two months over. Insanity. I slept at the school (which doesn’t have a dormitory) for 6 nights (when I was actually sleeping and not staying up all night). But, BUT, I’m almost done. Most things are ready to print. Woot! I just have a couple of things left to finish. One of them involves a lot of math which I thought I could do. Apparently not. This week, there was a lot of bonding happening.


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Reading Cloud

I don’t know if you know this about me, but I love to read. Unfortunately, because of school and life, I rarely have time to sit down and read a book. I listen to them in the car during my awful commute and it keeps me sane. Right now, I’m listening to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance  by Robert M. Pirsig. It’s lovely, but at times a little hard to listen to in the car.

Moving on, I am looking through this amazing book, The Visual Miscellaneum by David McCandless, and came across a infographic word cloud of Books Everyone Should Read. I have it featured below:

I love lists. I plan to read all of these books. I’m not too bad off. So far (in my life) I’ve read:

  • Brave New World
  • White Oleander
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • Little Women
  • The Fountainhead
  • The Corrections
  • The Sounds and the Fury
  • The Diary of Anne Frank
  • The Great Gatsby
  • 1984
  • The Road
  • Don Quixote (although I need to reread)

I’m glad I won’t have to read Little Women, I read it in 8th grade and it was hella boring. The movie is awesome.  Some of them, like Ulysses and War and Peace may not be car reads, but hey. I’m going to give it a go.


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Ah ha! vol. 1 (Chasing Perfection)

Last night and this morning I had one of those moments of self awareness. You know, when you’re like, “Oooohhhhh.”

I was having a conversation with my mom about knitting. She’s learning to knit and has a hard time finishing things because of newbie knitting mistakes. She takes her knitting out every time she sees a mistake. I tell her that making mistakes is part of knitting and you have to realize your mistake and move on and by taking it out every time, she’s not learning what she did. She just says she’s not “that kind of person” and “I can’t leave in a mistake.”  Every time we have this conversation, I roll my eyes and tell her life isn’t perfect and she needs to get over it and she gets flustered and I get frustrated and give up.

And I usually think to myself, “Mom is so ridiculous.” But last night, I realized, I do that,too. Not as extreme her, but still. Here I am judging when I’m giving the advice I need to take. Isn’t that how it always works?

I’m in a very intense design program. I work SO hard to make my projects the absolute best I can. Often to my own detriment (lack of sleep, lack of eating, lack of sanity) and because nothing can ever be perfect [ever EVER EVER ] (except for Chico, duh) I work work work work work then love it, then hate it , then hate it, then cry a little bit, then cry a lot, then start over, go back to the original, then resolve to the fact that it sucks and give up. Horrific cycle with me. When I was in 6th grade I couldn’t play a scale on the flute perfectly, so, instead of taking a break like a normal person, I hit the flute against the floor as hard as I could and a key popped off.

The quarter is winding down and I find myself in the same place. I can’t get something perfect and I don’t want to deal with it anymore. Instead of having that attitude, from here out I’m going to work really hard to recognize when I feel this way and acknowledge that sometimes, things are good enough. It’s okay if something is good enough. Because, really, everything has to be just good enough–nothing will ever be perfect.

Have a lovely day!

W


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Shadows

I just love love love eyeshadow. Pretty much all make up in general, but the different colors and attitudes and fun I can have with eyeshadows are endless. I can have a serious day, a sexy day, a fun and bright day or a professional day depending on which colors I choose to put on my eyes.

But Urban Decay takes it to a whole new level. Their shadows are amazing and glittery. Even using a neutral color is more fun than a drug store brand (not that those are bad). And the packaging is lovely as well!

So, I’m combining two loves, color palettes and shadows.

Have a lovely weekend!


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Life List

I started this post on my old blog. That I’ve let go of. It took a lot of thought and conversations with friends, but I’ve decided I don’t want to be that person any more.  And I’m not going to link to the past from here. This time forward, I’m going to use my real name. I need to be proud of who I am and not hide behind my fears.

So, with that, here is my life list. I’ve only got 40 at this point, but I hope to expand to 100. I’ve thought of every pipe dream and put it on this list.

Inspired by Carrie

40 Things To Do Before I Die

  1. Graduate from graduate school
  2. Get a job I don’t hate
  3. Procreate
  4. Marry
  5. Find peace and joy
  6. Travel to Russia
  7. Travel to Greece
  8. Live in England
  9. Live in New York
  10. Go to a family reunion
  11. Make more awesome female friends. Real friendships.
  12. Appreciate myself
  13. Get really in shape
  14. Take Chico to the dog park
  15. Hot air balloon ride
  16. Go to the Grand Canyon
  17. Visit San Fransisco
  18. Visit Portland
  19. Visit Seattle
  20. Visit Vancouver
  21. Spend a winter up north
  22. Have a Roylls
  23. Love thyself
  24. Humble thyself
  25. Let go
  26. Act in a play
  27. Sing in a band
  28. Learn the guitar
  29. Learn the violin
  30. Metalsmithing
  31. Become a Master Knitter (it’s a real thing)
  32. Publish a novel
  33. See aurora borealis
  34. Get an MFA in creative writing
  35. Get paid to sing
  36. Get paid to write (something that I want to write)
  37. Stop smoking
  38. Move to Portland
  39. Be flexible (body)
  40. Stay single for a year
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