Finally feeling fine.

I am going to invest in pharmaceuticals.
at the rate I get sick it's worth it.
Beyond that, I am working and doing a BILLLLLION and 5 projects (uhm, hello, news flash to my professors. I know YOUR project is the most important project in the WHOLE world....but how about cutting me some slack, because I have 3 other professors who all think the same thing.)
But enough griping....I'm really excited about a couple of class projects, AND, drumroll please---on the 16th of November, there is an open show at the Corcoran with all the Graphic Design work--and mine too!!! yay!!
finally some of my work will be paying off!
so stoked!
sooo..I know you guys were counting on this, so in spite of feeling like crap, I carved a pumpkin, and though it really doesn't look it, it is supposed to be Sally to go with last years Jack Skellington :)
Happy Halloween late :)

Retrospective

I've been thinking back over the past year...
I feel very blessed by so many things--I just felt I had to revisit some of those in a photo montage, and sum up these experiences.
I owe so much to my friends for helping me get through the rough patches--the times I felt certain the road was blocked irrevocably. The multiple times my cars have wrecked...The eternity it has taken me to get through school...The difficult exams...The difficult professors...The all-nighters with take-out bolstering each other along...The nights we stayed up watching silly movies to keep each others spirits up after a week of stressful family interactions...The dating debacles...The list could go on and on.
But the most important thing is: We persevered together and made it out of each scrape mostly unscathed and having learned for the most part that we're better off with each other than going it alone.
So this is a HUGE thank you to my friends for always being there.
I wouldn't be here without you!

Busy-ness

I have a stupendous lack of time...
Actually, I shouldn't say that. I have an enourmous amount of time to devote to projects for my Graphic Design core class, my Typography class...Indesign class...projects up the wazoo (where exactly on the anatomy is the wazoo located? And do animals have them?) and a Midterm today in "Modernism" which is just a fancy name for Modern art history. I swear the only thing I'm paying for in my tuition is the pretentious art-school names for things.
Next thing I can't wait to see is that we don't have bathrooms, male/female Interactive Dadaist art exhibits(if you don't get it...I won't explain.)
Beyond all of that excitement and busy-ness has been a search for a business that would employ the gainfully unemployed moi.
This hasn't been the most glamorous journey, but the end result was a truly remarkable one.
I will be interning for APCO worldwide as their first web design intern. Very exciting this is indeed, as this company works with many worthwile causes and big-name companies.
I'm looking forward to what I can learn from them and what I can do for them professionally.
I'm really nervous about working for such a high-profile firm, but going in as an intern takes some of the initial pressure off, as I will be in this to grow as a designer which can only be a good thing, plus I think I can really do some cool things with the work they will have me doing....
Excitement-I am so stoked about doing something that allows me to work outside the box a bit--and hey...no more Helldesk!

So, I suppose a stunning lack of time will just inspire me to be creative with the time I have.
For instance, right now, I'm writing this post, listening to the new Radiohead album (available for download...), eating a Heath bar....mmmm...Heath....glancing at some pictures for Core homework, petting Ruff (our cat), drinking water, and tapping my feet....
Ah, multitasking.
I need a nap.

I Quit.

I won't miss,
the long commute,
the waiting in traffic,
the honking of horns behind me as I get cut off ahead.
I won't,
miss this.
I won't miss,
the irritating calls,
the idiot users,
the morons that never seem to get their passwords right.
I won't,
miss this.
I won't miss,
the politics of academia,
the managerial heirachy,
being unappreciated after 3+ years of untireless service.
I won't,
miss this.

Work Woes and Tonsil Trouble...

No.
I didn't die in surgery, but thanks for asking.
I'd laugh, but my throat still hurts a bit from the "impressive" (that's what the Otolaryngologist) tonsils that I had removed a few weeks ago.

oh the joys of a tonsillectomy.

I have had this weird side-effect where I can't taste food. It's been a blast.

Everything tastes like sawdust--but the worst:
Chocolate tastes like burnt toast.

I bought Ben and Jerry's yesterday---Chubby Hubby---and I believe that Ben and Jerry should be cannonized.

I may work on that campaign.
You see--that was the FIRST thing I could almost taste in 3 weeks besides mashed potatoes, which really don't taste like much anyway, and I was also on alot of Vicoden at the time so taste was pretty relative...
Anyhooo---I can't taste 100% yet---but just knowing that there was a recognition of peanut butter vs. chocolate and pretzal was truly amazing.

It's the little things in life.

And now I find myself back at work...pondering the meaning of life.
I always start waxing philosophical when detoxing, and prior to school.

Like---do I really wanna be a graphic designer? Am I doomed to a life of cubicles? Or is this SO much what I want that I'm terrified of somehow f-ing it up?
I think that's really the case.
I feel like I have the same internal dialogue endlessly running in my head--and it's never productive...just a consistant self-doubting cycle.

wow.....that sounds so bleak and defeatest.
Ok...positive thoughts:

1) I'm reallllly happy that I have had time with Dave the past couple weeks, even though I was really sore and drugged up from surgery...lol... We really tested the mettle of our relationship (in sickness and health) and I'm so impressed with how sweet and nurturing he was despite how rough things got...

2) I got to watch some really good TV while decommissioned over the past few weeks--some hot picks:
A) Weeds (Season Premiere!!! AAAAAA!!!)
B) L.A. Ink I swear that Lex needs to go there while she's living in LA...( I want Hannah to give me a pinup tatt soooooo bad :)
C) Clean House (A show about cleaning....omg! OCDers UNITE!)
D) America's Next Top Model (specifically Season 1---why do I love this show so much???)
E) Battlestar Galactica (Damn you David...I was just getting myself over Firefly...)

3) I finally found some hair products that work...I know it's silly...and totally superficial, but it's humid and gross outside, and my hair is usually only tamed with a chair and a whip.

4) hmmm....what else.....Well, school IS starting, which means another semester will soon be starting, which means another semester will soon be ending...which means, I'm on my way to being done.

So yeah.....even though I'm pretty bummed out right now, I should be happy---because I guess I'm doin allright, huh?

Daisy

I went home to visit my family this weekend (which is always its own treat). And while there I saw my cat Daisy who everytime I see makes me aware of the frailty and beauty of existence.

When I first saw Daisy, it was just after I had put my kitten Beezus down because of an inoperable brain tumor. We had taken her to the vet after she suddenly started to walk crooked. They gave us some medication but basically gave us a week to say our goodbyes.

I stayed up for a week straight giving Beezie medicine, feeding her soggy food so that she would actually eat and watching Jay Leno and infomercials to try to keep our spirits up--she especially liked the Flowbie (TM).

Despite my best efforts, at the end of the week, we took her back to the vet and I cried as she was carried down the hall to the room where they put her down--I watched the fear in her eyes-there's really no way to explain that to a helpless creature.

After that, I felt like it would be difficult to replace my sweet little Beezus.

God had different plans as usual...

Our neighbor told us that there was a litter of kittens that had been saved from being plowed down in a shopping mall development but they needed new homes or they would be sent to the pound. She knew it was really soon after we lost our cat, but would we be willing to save another kitten?

I went tentatively to visit the apartment where they had the kittens-most of them were sitting, well-behaved in a basket; couple of them were playing together on the floor, and then there was a scrappy kitten darting underneath a cupboard, peering out at me. When I leaned in to investigate, and poked my finger, she quickly swiped at it, giving it a good swift scratch.

It was instant love.

I knew I had to have that fiesty kitten, runt of the litter with moxie enough to swipe at the big lady coming to get her!

It's been love ever since-she never scratches me now--there is a built-in trust. As soon as she hears me coming she scrambles over and rolls onto her back with her white pretty paws in the air--waiting for me to rub her fuzzy belly. I never knew a cat as loyal and sweet. And now I miss her. And it's sad and pathetic....

Dave and I have Ruff--his sweet wonderful cat (I'm SO glad he likes cats and dogs) but there will ALWAYS be a place in my heart for my Daisy.

Art Aficionados

I recently (probably about a month or so ago-but what with all the recent hoopla....I've been a bit sidetracked...) was asked by a friend to create a couple of paintings to accent their attractive condo. They had a plain wall over the couch which meant they needed to be bold and eye-catching.

I found this task to be daunting-not because of the actual piece itself, just because I wanted the piece to be as cool as the people I would give it to, furthermore, I wanted to make sure that once the colors went into the room, they didn't suddenly rebel, run mad and start to morph into a sludgy mess that in no way accented or complimented the room.

So I had my work cut out for me.

I mixed colors like mad and bulit up the canvas into a texturized dream and FINALLY made a piece that not only I like, but my friend seem to be happy with as well (unless they are just realllllly trying to make me feel better...lol)

Regardless-I love how they bring out the color of the room and splash it up--it's pretty exciting to have these in someones home and not have to wait till it's posthumous.

Happy 4th?

So...The 4th was an eventful day...Dave and I were GOING to take it easy...but...as per usual-that didn't happen.
We started the day off normally, and tried to sleep in-then headed to the mall where Dave got some nice shirts and ties at Macy's and I spent a small fortune at the MAC section on a new blush, eyeshadow and lipstain...I may not have money for food, but I MUST have my MAC cosmetics...lol
Sooo-after that, we went to LUSH and did a bit of browsing...(they FINALLY put one into Tysons---Sarah and Kath are ready to scream---I can hear it...)
Then we did a barbeque with friends, set off fireworks and played videogames---btw---I SO want a Wii now...
the whole day up till then...fairly ok---except for the tornado warning that turned out to be nothing.
So then me and Dave decided to head home, to beat traffic from the DC fireworks...Famous last words would be, "We're tired...let's get home before the traffic starts."
well..........needless to say-by the time we made it to the 14th street bridge-all there was, was a parking lot.
It was kind of surreal.
We've decided that someday it'll be a cool story to tell our kids, but last night-it was like..."I can see home from here....and all I wanna do is go to sleep..."
So-we watched the fireworks and listened to Johnny Cash-we decided it was good All-American music to celebrate the 4th with and blast the other cars out with...hehe
Then once they were over we attempted to drive into the city-yeah, right.
EVERY SINGLE STREET downtown was closed off.
We must have tried every alternate direction we could think of-finally ending up BACK in Virginia an hour later, only to turn BACK around trying to head to Rosslyn to get over the Key Bridge HOPING against all hope that Georgetown would not be blocked.
It was not blocked off-but horribly backed up because apparently this was the ONLY funnel back into the city....oy.
I give my husband TREMENDOUS props because in the face of all of that traffic I never heard him yell once-even at the 7 or 8 cabbies that tried to cut us off (he DID however manuever his way deftly through the traffic and cut them off--it was pretty hot)
We did however both go through a pack of cigarettes...lol---but I figure, the amount of secondhand smoke from the fireworks was equal-at least there was a filter.
*WHEW*
Anyhow
On our way through Rosslyn-which seemed like an eternity, we happened to pass 2 pieces of AMAzing artwork which I feel almost made up for the awfulness of the 3 (count that) 3 hour drive home, which incidentally should have at MOST taken us 35-40 minutes.

The first piece was this LED light installation that looked like fireflies on poles all lined up. It would be so cool to have this in a yard.
It is called CO2LED and was created by Jack Sanders, Robert Gay, and Butch Anthony. Ironically, the piece is only up for a month, and if we had been there ANY other time, which we never are because it's in a part of Rosslyn we never go to, we never would have seen it.

The second piece is a piece of work done by an experimental artist by the name of Ned Kahn. It looks like there is a waterfall running down the side of this bulding, but is sort of stops midway. It's amazing.The piece is called Liquid Pixels and was soo cool to see at night with lights reflecting off of it.

So....We DID finally make it home...and I ran to go pee because frankly---my appreciation of that artwork made me think about running water and having to pee and suddenly---everything had a yellow filter...

SO--happy independance from ENGLAND.....LOL

love you duckies---hope it's great across the pond!

Delayed Pix From Ocean City

Ok---In lieu of my pictures being developed from CVS...and the video EVER coming back....I'm gonna post some AWEsome pix of a trip Dave and I took to Ocean City a month or so ago--to visit his almost-brother Paul and his wife Tara. They live in MD and are really nifty people.
Paul is a videogame designer and Tara is a wonderful teacher who gets her students excited about their subjects in a variety of hands on ways. I would have been THRILLED to have her as a teacher myself.
Tara also has a literary magazine called Triplopia that publishes amatuer and famous poets and writers *ahem* and pays them for their work.
I only wish that I knew some poets *ahem*
(that's me clearing my throat...in case any of my friends think they might want to send any poetry in...)
Anyhoo
there was this totally tacky and cool "art" gallery which was really just a maze of prints and stuff inside, but like SOOOOOO tacky aoutside, and had this HORRIBLY tacky car sculpture...I mean...you just gotta see it to believe it----as we walked by it, Dave's like, "You want that don't you?" And I'm like...."Yeah, right in our living room..."
So yeah.....enjoy.

The Best Day EVER!

I dunno what else to say.
I still plan on putting the video up---but for now---enjoy some pictures :)
The Actual ceremony is on film--and video---we'll be splicing that alll together real soon ---
-Mrs. G
P.S. Yes, those are Ring Pops we got married with....
;)

Guitar Heroes...

Dave got Guitar Hero 2 for X-Box for his B-day from his friend Paul.(insert advertisement here) and we've been playing up a storm ever since.
It is SUCH a fun game--although this is coming from the girl whose idea of a perfect videogame is on an antiquated Atari 2600...preferably pixelated beyond recognition...
In the words of Frank Black..."Whatever happened to the Pong?"

That aside...I have gotten sucked into the exciting graphics, cool song choices (though if I hear Kiss' "Strutter" one F*#$%ing more time I may scream.) There are also cool rocker chick characters that smash guitars....something I have often fantasized about...

sooo...here is my Guitar Hero with his friend Paul---both getting their rock star on...hehehe

The Apartment

Ok----so here are LONG overdue pix of the apartment since some of you are FAR, FAR away...I thought I'd give you a virtual tour starting from the hallway-leading into our bedroom. Anyhoooooo---hope you like my decorating....I still have SOOOO much I wanna do--but I'm trying not to overwhelm Dave.... He's already been so patient with me and my craziness...like for example....me proclivity for tripping over invisible furniture and spilling drinks on electrical appliances....
To which he smiles, shakes his head as we mop up the spill and says "Having a blonde moment are we?" Perhaps I was truly blonde after all.

It's official

Ok.

Am total bum for not posting this sooner......but....

I'M ENGAGED!

Exactly one week ago this evening I got engaged to Dave and I feel I must shout it from the top of the internet mountaintops!

I'm not sure what being engaged is supposed to feel like---and I'm not sure if we're rushing things--when have I EVER been known to do things the "normal" way?

I'm a wee bit nervous (only that I'll cock this up--{thank you Sarah for that expression....}) but mostly very very happy to have found my soulmate and that he can actually imagine spending his life with me too.

Anyhooooooo

I wanted to share this with you guys and let you in on my happiness :)

Nick Drake Sings & Robert Frost Reads

I discovered a fantastic website, Salon.com which has TONS of audio files including:
(new) Nick Drake
Sylvia Plath's the Bell Jar
Now I can get up on my culture...so exciting!
Ya'll should check out some of the nifty things they have--parts of books, poems, songs and speeches read by great people. So exciting. Did I mention that this is so exciting?
Anyhoo---this beats some of the stupid mindlessness that comes on Youtube. I have been wanting to get some more culture--here it is--just in time for the summer :)

Classes Are Over! *woo*

I survived the final projects...I endured the slide comparisons...I stayed awake for the critiques.
And NOW...



I'm ready for a nap.
So yeah, I was expecting to feel all giddy and exhuberant-but there is a sort of let-down after all of the buzz and hum of activity from the semester.
I think I can thrive for awhile on adrenaline, then second wind-then my resources get tapped and I find myself getting slap happy and irritable. THEN the grumbles set in...
I could grumble about the rain coming down because my feet get wet (what's the point of having pretty galoshes if I'm never going to wear them?)and then grumble about the sun coming out because then my eyes hurt (uhm---why didn't I pack my stupid freaking sunglasses?!) and don't even get me STARTED on foggy days.
So yeah--the drama that ensues when I have combo lack of sleep/too many things to do/no patience.
I feel way to relaxed right now. Must create problems. Is there something wrong with me? I think it's a family thing. As far back as I can recall we have thrived (we meaning the whole family unit--not always including me) on one crisis after another. Getting used to living a life of mundanity and "normalcy" with some everyday drama thrown in is different.
I would expect drama to occur with anyone--unless a person was living alone in a room with a vow of silence--of course this in itself is dramatic...so ironically defies my no-drama definition.
Anyway...I am trying to resolve the need for something going on all the time and filling that with the sound of silence--or just time with people I enjoy.
What a concept.
Is this what being healthy looks like?

Still Alive

Brief post to let you know I didn't die...

I have been bogged with final projects---and TAH DAH!

I finally moved in with David, (aka Dave, aka the sexiest man alive--see picture)

Living in DC is wonderful, busy, hectic, strange--but it means being closer to Dave and closer to school(hello---15 minutes on the metro---wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee)

Gone are the 3-hour commutes everywhere...

Gone are the days of driving through potholes being cutoff by insane truck drivers with a NASCAR fetish...

Whatever will I blog about now?

How about taxi drivers with a homicidal streak and politicians with a proclivity for "gentlemans" clubs.....ah DC--how I love thee.

Well my duckies--off to write 2 papers, study for an exam and memorize slides....yeah....THAT's going to happen....

enjoy the state of the apartment....(Dave keeps saying he doesn't mind all my crap....what a guy)