Praying Mantis

I had my wire sculpture critique today. I walked into the classroom and everyone looked at my bug. Then this girl said, "You seem like you've done this before?" I was like, "Nope, this would be the first time." My professor said I had one of the best projects too! That was encouraging. This project probably took me the least amount of time out all the projects we have had to do for this class so far. Up next is welding...

Bug

Here is a picture of my praying mantis... You can only see the head but the body is coming along. I am making it out of wire.

Bored? Not anymore :)

Amidst my long long list of things to do, I am once again procrastinating. I don't really want to study for my art history test right now. I am at work and this is shaping up to be the looonngest 1.5 hours of my life. There is nothing to do work wise, so I should be taking advantage of the peace and quiet by studying. 


I picked up a package from my friend on my way to work. First of all, you should know that she lives in Alaska. Second of all, I am forever thankful because she sends me sweet things (and we have a sweet pen pail correspondence). Thirdly, it is way cool that I get packages addressed from AK. Anyways, today I received a book. Not just any book...

(The writing on the book is backwards- I tried to change it for you all...no such luck)

this is "The Official Nancy Drew Handbook" by Penny Warner. Not gonna lie, I've never read Nancy Drew but from what I've read already in this book, she sounds pretty awesome. 


This book "will teach you how to live the Nancy life, with tips on fashion and beauty, romance and relationships, survival, sleuthing, and success." Currently I am reading, "How To Get the Most Out of Your Date." Point #1 is, "Accept invitations from a variety of suitors: You may be surprised to find that what you thought was your 'type' may not be as interesting as a man who doesn't quite fit your mold. Like trying a range of foods or solving a number of mysteries, dating a variety of men makes life richer and helps you gain valuable experiences- and often information- from each encounter. Even a seemingly average guy can offer some surprises, if you know how to find them." The things you learn! Up next, "How to Get That Ring on Your Finger and That Man to the Altar." I think I'm going to like this book :)

1 Kings 17: 7-16

7 Eventually the brook dried up because of the drought. 8 Then God spoke to him: 9 "Get up and go to Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I've instructed a woman who lives there, a widow, to feed you." 10 So he got up and went to Zarephath. As he came to the entrance of the village he met a woman, a widow, gathering firewood. He asked her, "Please, would you bring me a little water in a jug? I need a drink." 11 As she went to get it, he called out, "And while you're at it, would you bring me something to eat?" 12 She said, "I swear, as surely as your God lives, I don't have so much as a biscuit. I have a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a bottle; you found me scratching together just enough firewood to make a last meal for my son and me. After we eat it, we'll die." 13 Elijah said to her, "Don't worry about a thing. Go ahead and do what you've said. But first make a small biscuit for me and bring it back here. Then go ahead and make a meal from what's left for you and your son. 14 This is the word of the God of Israel: 'The jar of flour will not run out and the bottle of oil will not become empty before God sends rain on the land and ends this drought.'" 15 And she went right off and did it, did just as Elijah asked. And it turned out as he said - daily food for her and her family. 16 The jar of meal didn't run out and the bottle of oil didn't become empty: God's promise fulfilled to the letter, exactly as Elijah had delivered it!


I really like this passage from the Bible. The widow had to completely trust God for food; each day she learned to trust Him more and more. Is there an area in life your life in which you are having trouble trusting? IWhat if you and I trusted God this much? I pray that we will trust God more and more each day like this widow. 

The People You Meet

"Out there things can happen and frequently do

to people as brainy and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew.
Just go right along. You’ll start happening too. Oh! The Places You’ll Go!" ~Dr. Seuss

Friday night Jenna and I attended a youth group event. They provided Little Caesars pizza for us and root beer floats. There were 20 people attending; we played Bunko. Five tables were set up around the room and four people sat at each table. You were partners with the person across from you- the point of the game was to roll three dice and see how many ones you could get the first round, then twos, and so on. If you won a game you continued on to a higher table, switching partners each time. It was great fun because we got to know a lot of people. After Bunko we played Live Mafia. This was a lot of fun too, but kind of scary! Jenna and I just hid in a room most of the rounds.


Saturday I did some homework. Later that night Jenna, Imma and I watched "Life As We Know It." This movie is a-maz-ing! I didn't expect much from it but boy was I surprised. It is a chick flick with lots of plot twists. And very very cute. 

Cubism Sculpture

One more project- done!

Back In the Swing of Things

Today I woke up feeling almost 100%. Most of my energy has returned and food is starting to taste normal again. I am mostly caught up on my school work too- I didn't miss much thankfully.


I am finding out that I don't have much willpower when it comes to sweets... I attempted to give up sweets for lent but that lasted about 9 days. I was doing good until someone brought a huge Costco cake to my work, which was covered in white frosting. It looked amazing...so I had to eat some! There went that resolution. Actually my friends thought I cheated when I ate chocolate pudding and drank chocolate milk, but I didn't count those things. Once I was done trying not to eat sweets I went ahead and bought a package of Snickers Peanut Butter bars. These are fairly new to the shelves at the store and I had been wanting to try them. They contain PEANUT BUTTER!! My all time favorite food. I got them the next day (after I ate the cake) at Walmart. They tasted really good. Now I don't have wonder anymore :)

101st BLOG POST

This is officially my 101st blog post! I apologize for the lapse in blog posts- from here on out I will try to post more regularly.

I arrived back to school on Sunday night from spring break, not feeling one hundred percent. It turns out I had the start of a cold and it continued to get worse, not better, as the days went by. I took some NyQuil on Monday night but it did not do much for me. Then yesterday I made it through 1.5 hours of my first class before I left, retreated to my room and slept on and off the rest of the day. Last night the NyQuil worked wonders and I got a full 12 hours of sleep with out waking. I am feeling a bit better today and I accomplished a few things too.

In class on Tuesday morning we had the critique for our pixilated portrait projects-

I finished Brad Paisley over spring break. It took a loooong time to complete! But thankfully I got it done. The professor said that it was good except for the colors should probably have been different. He thought it needed some warmer colors, like dark green or blue, to help with the value scale. Whatever...what's done is done.

I had a great spring break for the most part. On Saturday night my friends and I went to see our high school play. My good friend Stacey was in the play- she did a wonderful job dancing. The the play was very funny and the actors were amazing.

Me, Stacey, and Tori

Monday through Thursday I worked. I spent most of my 8 hour days stripping wall-paper. Needless to say, I know the BEST way to get any kind of wallpaper off the walls. When I wasn't working I was either shopping (I bought some new clothes and some stuff for future art projects), doing homework or spending time with my family.

On Thursday morning my parents left for Florida so I brought them to the airport. What I did not realize was how much more responsibility I would have once they left. I was in charge of my brothers for a few days- I had to make sure they made it to school, make/buy them dinner, and do their laundry, among other things. That made life a bit more hectic! I can't even imagine how my mom takes care of us day in and day out. No wonder she is so busy all the time :) Thanks for all your hard work mom!

Saturday night my grandparents came and I got to spend some time with them before returning school. Then, Sunday afternoon I worked on my sculpture project before we left to head back to school. There were five girls in the car riding back, which meant a whole lot of stuff. Basically everyone had a bag on their lap or surrounding their feet (except me, but I was squished in the middle back seat). The car got extremely hot and stuffy as the trip wore on. To top it all off, this was when I was not feeling the greatest so it made for one long car ride.

Now I am watching movies and enjoying not going to class. Yesterday Jenna avoided her homework by watching Mama Mia with me and talking with me. What a great friend! Today she was busy all day and so I watched Just Like Heaven by myself. This movie stars Reese Witherspoon who is my favorite actress. I was surprised to find out that Jon Heder is also an actor in this movie. If you don't know who Jon Heder is think....Napoleon Dynamite!

OH YEAH! This ranks pretty high among my favorite movies!!

My Thoughts Are Not Your Thoughts

God has placed people in our life for a specific reason, to help us through a certain time in our life. 

I have always been told that things change- circumstances never stay the same. As I am finding out, the people in my life change too. I have grown closer to different people during different times. People I have been close to have moved away and I have moved away from people I am close to. 

At first this concept bothered me. Ever wonder why you couldn’t have been friends with that person you have such a good connection with a lot earlier in life. Or why that amazing person who helped strengthen your faith moved away. It just doesn’t seem fair. Job 1:21b reads, “the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Here we are told that the Lord is the one who places people in our life, for however long it might be. The Lord is the one who takes people out of your life, or distances you from them. We need not get mad at God or think any less of him when he does this. God has a plan in everything he does. Isaiah 55:8 states, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.” We are called to trust God’s ways, even though we may not see the good in them or understand them.

God calls us to hope. We hope for the day when new people will be brought into our life to come close to us and help us though our journey. God has good things in store for those who love him and he is constantly blessing those who follow his ways. Psalm 84:11b, “The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.”

And the SUN is shinin', this road keeps windin'

Well folks, spring break has come around again. I am 3/4 of the way through my first year of college! My how time flies. The car ride back from school was great because we were all hyper and extremely excited to be coming home. And we listen to country music most of the time and sang along :) I arrived home tonight to an empty house. When your used to being surrounded by crazy teenagers 24 hours a day, an empty house seems sooooo quiet. Thankfully my parents saved me some left-over Little Caesars pizza (and breadsticks!!) to eat for dinner. Then they came home shortly after- we caught up on life real fast.

I could really use a break but this won't be a spring break for me at all. I have two art projects that are due the Tuesday after spring break. I brought those home to work on and so I will post pictures when they are done. I also have to research for my art history paper and finish my long to do list. I am working four days this coming week at my job here, too. I am pretty excited to see everyone at work again. I also can't wait to see my friends! A bunch of us are back from college/will be coming home for the weekend and so we are all going to hang out. Life is good!

I had a lot of witty things to say but I can't remember them anymore :( I will post more later when I remember.

So, I did not get finished with my pixilated project like I had hoped....I didn't even get half way done. However, what I did get done looks pretty legit! First off, these are a few of the squares that I have been cutting out.

 This is the start...

I worked on it last night for a few hours and tonight for about 3.5 hours

Brad Paisley, thus far

And...the Brad Paisley that I get to look at when I wake up each morning :) He will stay hanging up on the door for a very long time.

Everything

I have recently come to the conclusion that ART will be taking over my life- from here on out. Whether I like it or not, I will be totally immersing myself in art projects, my job on campus with the art department, and other art related things, such as art clubs, for my next four years here. 


I have jobs on campus for the art department, working in the gallery and in the photo studio. Usually I work past my regular hours because my boss trusts me so much to give me these big projects. These projects require more than the allotted 1.5 hours I am scheduled to work three days a week, so I end up working late. I don't mind really...I just keep telling myself that it is money in the bank and the other things I had planned can wait. 


For my art history class I have to write an 8 page thesis paper, due at the beginning of April. I am writing my paper on the French Salons. Artists exhibited their work in Salons, starting around 1737. On the plus side, I learned how to use the library's book catalog system. You know, that crazy mess of numbers and letters that they put on the spine of books actually makes sense now. (My friend works at a college library; I can't imagine shelving all those books. Props to her :)


In my sculpting class I have another time consuming project to work on. It is due after spring break, but why would I want to have a huge project hanging over my head all spring break? I'm attempting to finish it before spring break. The professor gave us a 2D cubist painting and he told us that we have to make the painting 3D using cardboard. It is a very detailed project, and the professor basically told me that I picked the hardest painting. Imagine that. I would upload a picture but my computer is on the fritz (yes it is a mac, and macs are supposed to be amazing all the time, I do realize that...I just need to get it looked at or something...I still love it). 


For my digital media class I have to create a pixilated portrait out of bandanas. This project is due right after spring break as well. We got to choose a celebrity picture, then we had to pixilate it using a 5 step value range, convert the picture to black and white, choose a medium that has a good value range, and use that medium to make a larger scale picture. I chose Brad Paisley, a country singer. I might have developed my first celebrity crush because of this project. You will understand later, once I get a picture uploaded. The way we could pixilate this picture was either 30x40 pixels or 40x60 pixels. Naturally, I choose the 40x60 route because I thought the picture looked more detailed and cooler with more pixels. However, I did not think through the fact that a 40x60 picture will require 2,400 tiny bandanna squares, whereas a 30x40 would have only required 1,200 squares. I now have to cut out 2,400 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch squares out of bandannas. Here again I created more work for myself. I am pretty good at doing that.


Art lectures- art students have at least two art lectures they are required to attend each month, sometimes more. These are usually held on week nights, around 6 o'clock. This past month we had an artist's lecture to attend. The artist's work was done being shown in the gallery so he gave a lecture about it at the close of the show. We had to attend another two hour lecture last week on art and theatre safety; the woman who spoke was very very smart and old and everything went right over my head. Next week I have to attend a lecture for the artists whose show will be opening in the gallery.


I am also trying to build up a solid portfolio to benefit my quest for getting internships and a job some day. This means that I am working on some design projects that are not related to my classes. These too require lots of time. I don't mind working on these projects cause I learn a lot about the design programs I am using and the design process with each new project.


Did I mention the Student Design Organization? This meets twice a month and whoever shows up gets assigned projects to work on. Currently this other design kid and I are working on a small magazine for our school. We have to design three or four layouts for the magazine and the cover. The problem is that we don't really know what the woman in charge of the project wants to see happen with this magazine so we have to meet with her first before we can more forward with our ideas. So far this project has been kind of a hassle, but once we get it done it will be a nice piece to add to my portfolio.


I think that basically covers everything. Throughout all of this I keep Proverbs 16:3 mind:
"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."


Everything by Lifehouse


Find Me Here
Speak To Me
I want to feel you
I need to hear you
You are the light
That's leading me
To the place
where I find peace, again.

You are the strength, that keeps me walking.
You are the hope, that keeps me trusting.
You are the life, to my soul.
You are my purpose, you're everything.


And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

You calm the storms, and you give me rest.
You hold me in your hands, you won't let me fall.
You still my heart, and you take my breath away.
Would you take me in? Take me deeper now?

And How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

Cause you're all I want, you're all I need
You're everything, everything
You're all I want, you're all I need
You're everything, everything.
You're all I want, you're all I need.
You're everything, everything
You're all I want, you're all I need.
You're everything, everything .

Skiing Around Town

Good Afternoon! I (Jenna) have been granted the opportunity to tell you about the weekend of skiing/participating in other Michigan adventures. For me, it began late Thursday night. I have the privilege of being a part of the soccer team here at Trinity. Since I have this commitment, I get to enjoy the luxury of practicing at unholy times of the day. Practice began at 11:00 pm Thursday night and got done around 1:45 on Friday morning. Yikes! Not a very great way to start the weekend. Of course, after practice, the last thing I want to do is go to bed. I had way too much energy after running around. Around 2:30 I finally got around to getting ready for bed and slipping away into a short dream that last about 5 hours. My alarm rudely sounded at 7:30. After seriously contemplating turning over and going back to sleep, I decided it was in my best interest to get up; I had a life that needed living. After a non-stop day of class, chapel, class, lunch, and work, I was ready for a vacation...so I hopped in a cute little red car that was bound for the beautiful state of 'pure' Michigan. I decided to try and sleep during the 2.5 hour car ride, but the music, limited space and bounciness of the road made it nearly impossible to get comfortable. I resorted to watching 'The Great Gatsby' with my lovely friend Kati-weird movie, by the way. We arrived at our destination around 7:30 and were greeted with a wonderful dinner of hamburgers, fries, peas, green beans, and noodles that Kati’s family had prepared. After a little bit of catching up, Kati and I decided to make chocolate cupcakes. Side note: chocolate is our downfall, we eat WAY too much of it at school. We’re thinking about giving it up for lent...as well as facebook. We’ll see how long our refrain from chocolate actually lasts. =) Anyway, after we frosted the cupcakes we headed off to bed for the morning would be coming sooner than we hoped. At 6:15 our alarm went off making it known that a new day had begun. We got all ready to head out- snowpants. check. hats. check. mittens. check. goggles. check. money...? On our way to Kati’s church, she realized she didn’t know where the money went that her mother had given her the night before. She frantically searched her bag and everywhere she could think which included driving back to her house to check if she’d left it there. It’s always an adventure with Kati, your never sure what kinds of interesting moments there will be. I guess that’s why I’m friends with Kati, she keeps life entertaining! By the way-her parents found her money in the car that she had driven the night before while she was away for the day. Whew! Once we got to the church, we all piled into different vehicles and were on our way. We stopped at a McDonalds along the way. Where we ordered some breakfast food before continuing on. I ordered a caramel mocha. It was delicious. We continued to drive and drive and drive. Eventually, we arrived at Crystal Mountain. Oo short story first: Kati’s brothers, Codi and Collin had invited one of their friends to go along on the skiing trip. His name was Trevor, I didn’t realize it at first, but later became aware of the fact that I had met Trevor before! His family was friends with my relatives who live in Vermont. During the summer when my relatives came to visit, my mom would invite Trevor’s family over as well! Small world, I’d say! Now, back to the skiing. We unloaded all of our stuff and began getting ready for a fun-filled day of skiing & snowboarding...kinda. I had decided to try out snowboarding, I had done it once before and I remember enjoying it. So, I put on my boots and took the board outside. The first struggle I encountered was securing the board to my feet. There were lots of different clasps and things that looked foreign to me. With the help of Kati’s brothers I was able to fasten one foot securely on the board. It is so strange to me that people walk around with only one foot tied up to the board and the other one as free as a bird. But anyway. We got on the ski lift and made it safely to the top of the hill. We picked an easy hill to go down, which I was grateful for, but after strapping my other foot in and beginning the downward journey, it became more and more clear to me that I would not rate this hill 'easy.' I began to pick up speed, I started to get scared. I realized shortly after I took off that I was unaware of how to turn the snowboard properly and people were whizzing by, which made my feel a little insecure. So, I fell. Then struggled to get up, and fell again. I came to the conclusion that it was better to face-plant it/bite it/or royally wipe out, then to speed down the hill and have a full on collision with the other skiers waiting in line at the bottom of the hill. It is safe to say, after that experience I have far too many bruises and my whole body aches. After various attempts, I decided it was best if I tried doing something I had more experience/confidence in, and traded Kati for her skis. I felt so much more comfortable with skis strapped to my feet. We had way to much fun on the ski slopes making fun of each other, falling over, and Kati going into a 'ditch.' it was a grand time. Kati also got a few teaching lessons on how to properly snowboard, I’d say we both learned something on that trip; Kati learned how to snowboard, and I learned never to attempt to snowboard again. At about 5:00 we packed up our stuff and headed back home, the weather was getting a little nasty, but we made it back safely. I had a lot of fun and glad I had the opportunity to experience that. The end.