heat diminished & summers almost finished

I have continued to stay proooooductive to the max!

my birthday is less than a month away, I am already starting to feel the eery light of adulthood engulfing me. Many new things have come to light, making me nervous for new responsibilities but aware of how it all will aid my life experiences. To live is better than to lie down.

being more creative:

-I started & have almost finished making a braided rug for Jordyn & I's dorm for next year. I started one & didn't like it. By some miracle I motivated myself to start a new one & I love it! A very easy but tedious project I recommend everyone to try it!

-Finally bought the huge canvas for the bus pass piece & have been working about an hour on it everyday. It has started looking...incredible. I am anxious to start painting after all this decoupaging.

-Almost finished with my personal Polaroid project, I picked out a title, "First Self, First Home" which is absolutely perfect for the concept. Handmade books are so much more rewarding than simply scrapbooking...only three more pictures & then I am done!

-Did a photoshoot of my sister & brother-in-law! It went really well & they loved a lot of the shots. The day was fun & very rewarding for the three of us.

-Making a personal project for Benjamin Watts! He bestowed an accordion page book on me earlier in the summer & I collaborated with over 20 of his friends in making it. I hope when he receives the book it makes him cry tears of joy. I love the book & love making these kinds of things for friends & family.

-The belated Dream Journal has finally been started. It has been tricky to motivate my sleepy self to record dreams, as well as write them comprehensibly. Sometimes I start to write jibberish...but oh well, it still makes for an interesting read once I awake for the day.

shopping smarter:

-Carly & I still continue to go to yard sales & such...we have discovered something so much better! ESTATE SALES! They are the glory of the yard sale day. Not only are there hundreds of treasures to look at, but the event is also a sort of stimulant for one's curiosity...the items of someone's life organized out for strangers to buy. A bit morbid but nonetheless interesting.

-I have tried my best to go with my mother grocery shopping to prevent myself from buying food. Also, not very shamelessly, I have become the moocher. However! I repay friends & my mother with good conversation & time, which I think are more valuable than the things I mooch for...haha, I'm terrible I know...

-I have become the "is this practical?" shopper as well. I have always had that spark of practicality in me, but nowadays my shallow wallet has caused it to intensify. Lists of items I "need" have started to appear before grocery shopping & outings...self-control at its best.

-I have stopped buying meals at work. Although it's only $2 a meal, that $2 multiplied by the number of days I work does add up.

-I also have started budgeting!!!! *gasp* every single paycheck as soon as I get it I budget how much I need for the next two weeks. It has actually allowed me to put 50-60% of my paycheck into savings every time! Amazing!

gaining valuable knowledge:

-I have finally started & almost finished reading "On the Road" by Kerouac...I promised a friend a long time ago I would & I am regretting that I just started it now. It is a wonderful & curious book.

-I have continued to watch Ovation TV, & it has inspired a new love affair with Robert Rauschenberg, an artist who has much of the same style as me...although he was the first of his kind & I'm not :[ His pieces are amazing & his character is admirable...he's not a man whore like many other famous artists were.

-Traveling randomly...I went to Grand Coulee to finally see the dam & an old friend. The drive was spectacular & reminded me just how blessed I am to have grown up here in Eastern Washington where the heat rays beat but the sunsets are sweet like honey. I also find myself stopping myself throughout the day to just stare at the sky & enjoy that moment.

-Going with my dad on photoshoots of sunsets as much as I am able. It gives me a good perspective of what it takes to survive as a self-employed artist. Art is what he does everyday, all the time. Working, planning, talking with clients/event coordinators....I need to realize that much.

-Also, the piece "First Self, First Home" has taught me many valuable things about my family & friends. What does home mean to you? For many people it means everything, their core self. I love this project very much.

-I also have started writing to more friends: Jonah, Scott, Stephen, Molly, etc. I love hearing about all of their summer adventures! It is grand

add responsibilities!!!

-I start my internship at the Frye Art Museum in September

-I will be working on the Photography Abroad Exhibition this coming fall!

-Recently Trevor Brown & I took over our school's ArtSideOut visual arts club!

anyways! I will continue production of Summer 2009 until September 14th when I return to Seattle, my new & fresh love.

3 digits & i'm still sweatin

the summer is still continuing in its own unique way. i'm getting a bit of cabin fever, lusting after the fall & antsy to begin school again. my birthday is in a month & a half, & that is also how long i have to enjoy? being a teenager still...

some goals I have achieved:

being more creative:

-created four more shirts with embroidery, leather piece stitching, etc.

-started the martinellis piece, almost? done

-also started a more personal project revolving around my town, family, & closest friends. it is in two parts, one is a book i created myself that will involve polaroids (a kind of parallelism between me leaving tri-cities & making a new home elsewhere & also polaroids disappearing). The other part is simply a photo album with my favorite places & people from the tri-cities.

-also I have been sketching quite a bit, trying to keep up, finding my own artistic voice in terms of that medium.

shopping smarter:

-started going to weekend yard sales with carly! they are a great way to find amazing deals. I found a sweater for 50 cents, a pair of easy spirits for 50 cents, a purse for the same, etc. etc. etc. It has really helped me find cool things as well as save money

-still going to vintage shops to search for interesting items. I recently found an antique sketchbook with aged paper

-I have failed a bit in cutting back on buying food myself. It is hard because I get this intense cravings & just have to buy & bake...haha, but!

gaining valuable knowledge:

-i have been baking! mostly desserts & such, but also figuring out really simple recipes that are cheap to make for next year when I am on my own! Things like: special K pb choc. bars! :] & also tomato, mozarella, & pesto mayo sandwiches, as well as dabbling in a little bit of experimentation when it comes to using fake meats in things like pasta dishes & mexican dishes. Also I think I may have finally perfected my bean dip dish. It is VERY good now, I get compliments on it a lot.

-I've continued to read. I recently finished "Siddhartha" by Hesse, it was interesting but I think it was a bit behind my reading levels. I also am starting to read another Camus book "The Plague" and also Gide's "The Immoralist". Furthermore I'm starting "On the Road" by Kerouac & also "The Great Gatsby" <-- another goal of mine is to finally read those basic classics I always set aside.

-also I have been starting to watch new documentaries & specials on Ovation TV, which is a nice way for me to relax after work but still learn. Ovation TV features artists, musicians, & the like on its channel.

-also I have got new but old music to listen to, retracing my older roots by downloading Ella Fitzgerald, as well as the Meat Puppets, The Vaselines, Young Marble Giants, etc. Also I have started going to shows at our local venue The Red Room for shows. I recently saw Helio Sequence & it has fueled a new love for them, as well as Deer Tick.

new goals are to...

-write more letters to different friends, apparently my pen pals are laaaazy or maybe just too busy to reply? so I am going to try with new friends instead. I'm tired of walking to the mailbox only to be disappointed, haha.

-start the bus pass piece after I get my next paycheck, it should be a fatty paycheck so I will have enough money to buy a large enough canvas & supplies I need. Also I need to do prelim sketches to figure out everything beforehand, messing up this piece during would absolutely be catastrophic.

-bake more & maybe put together a favorites recipe book for my apartment/house next year.

-continue to go back & get old roots music...trying to remember all those goodies I lost in the computer crash of 2006 :[

-still buy a microphone

-travel a bit more, try to visit a friend in grand coulee & also go to seattle to see molly & also do museum visits while im up there.

-continue to sketch

-finish Walden... it is getting very slow. Also start other books too

anyways...more to come! only 46 days left

blip blip blip, the summer is making my skin drip!

got real hot today, but i did not notice due to the long shift at my new job at the tri-city country club as a buser.

***goal achieved!!!

-i officially am employed & working between 25 & 40 hours a week, just enough for me, & hopefully enough to get at least 3/5ths the way to my trip to London next summer!

***goal achieved!!!!

- I learned how to sew on the machine! I have made two v-neck shirts, three pillows & also discovered the wonderful craft of embroidery & how cute it can make clothes look!

***goal achieved!!!

- Bought two new books- The Brothers Karamazov & The Idiot, both by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I started The Brothers Karamazov last week, & although it is slow at first I see great things to come (i hope)! I'm also reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau & absolutely adore it. It has changed & challenged some of my viewpoints about materialism & that is a great characteristic for a book to have. As well, I've started reading The Stranger by Albert Camus, it is a quick read & I'm not sure if I like it yet but I enjoy the protagonist's thought process, very unique.

***goal achieved!!!

-Deepening relationships for sure. Especially with my sister Kate, old friend Annie, & old friend Jeromy. Also I rekindled some old friendships who never thought i was going to see them again! very nice :]

***goal achieved!!!

-expanding my musical horizons! Got music from Bat for Lashes, Yeasayer, Atlas Sound, Frightened Rabbits, Last Shadow Puppets, Casiotone for the Painfully Lonely, as well as numerous other bands. Those are just the highlights, ones that stuck.

***goal achieved!!!

-writing to my friends with my typewriter a lot! already have four friends i am currently writing to. It is very fun & wonderful. Writing helps with my confidence in deepening relationships & asking questions that need to be asked...

& with that I leave you these quotes:

"I consider it a good rule for letter-writing to leave unmentioned what the recipient already knows, & instead tell him something new." Sigmund Freud

Summer of '09

I have decided to tackle many things this summer, ultimately because the school year was so full of learning experiences for me that it would be a shame to waste all this free time.

My goals are to do more art, to raise money, to do a bit of traveling, to build deeper relationships, & to educate myself independently.

So here is my list of to-do's...if it is massive now, just think of how massive it may come to be...if you would like to join me in any of these escapades or feats, let me know & we will ride into the sunset together with a smile of satisfaction on our faces.

To-do's Summer 2009:

-Create at least three major collages...bus pass piece, martinelli's piece, & tree air freshener piece

-Create my own clothes/only shop at thrift store while in town

-Take many film pictures (so much more rewarding)

-Write to people from school with my typewriter, leaving it home this year was a mistake

-Read...a lot of books, more than i've ever tackled before in one summer

-Get a job to earn money for summer program next year (hopefully contemporary art in London)

-See Blake my best friend since 7th grade who lives in Sacramento...this is A MUST

-Expand my music horizons, it is time to search far & wide for those bands i'm salivating for

-Get to know my family better, & let them know me as well

-Exercise? I'm going to try & run at least every week a few miles or so, if my legs are up to it

-Buy a microphone & practice for next fall (Band name: June Pilgrims). We've been together six months & recorded four songs, pretty exciting

-Visit Seattle twice...I will just miss it too much, & I would love to take friends with me! Free places to stay!

-Start learning French. This may sound silly, but I feel a calling to go to France, so hence, I must learn French.

-Release the inner nerd within me with Jason & Sarah. Videogames make me happy. Sarah & Jason make me happy. duh.

-Continue to write...everyday

...there is more to come! now, I must begin unpacking my things & start this summer the right way!