ORANGE you glad I took painting...

In my media experimentation class the very first assignment I had to do was a photo rendering with oil paint. We had to pick a simple subject, so I decided to pick an orange that I had in my fridge. I was kind of nervous at first, and I have never used oil paints before. But I started painting and after a couple of weeks I had an orange on my wood board. After spending so much time staring and observing the photo reference, I will never look at an orange the same way again.

S.A.D.

Happy Valentines Day!! a.k.a. Single Awareness Day (S.A.D.)
Some of you who read my blog might remember the post from last year that's called 'Yeah it sucks to be single'. After a year, I still think it sucks to be single. I have had very few dating experiences and I'm going to be 20 in a month (yeah I can't believe it either.) I really shouldn't complain though. That's really not going to get me a date any faster and it could be worse.
One of my friends really likes Valentines Day because she likes having a day that is just based on love. To me, it's great if you actually have a Valentine, which I don't. Who knows maybe, hopefully, i will have one next year. But, even though I don't have a significant other at the moment, I have my family and friends who I love very much, and I really miss all of you.

In the above picture is me and a couple of my roommates. For Valentines Day we had an Anti-valentines day dinner. We went up to AppleBees, since that is one of the few good restaurants in town. Everyone dressed up as if we were actually going on a date. It was fun. later one of my roommate's sister made us a chocolate cake that looked like a heart. I would have the picture up, but they were kind of blurry. Then we watched "While You Were Sleeping." LOL I love that movie. I have watched it every semester since I've come up to school. So I guess Valentines Day wasn't too SAD.

Why Idaho?

When I was a junior in high school I was looking through different colleges to choose from. I had searched through some in state colleges but I wasn't truly interested in them. I had my heart set on going to a church school.
So one night I looked at a website for a college called Southern Virginia, but I had a terrible feeling. I knew that was not where I was supposed to go. Then I looked through BYU's website. It is a good school, but the chances of me getting in were not very high. Plus, I really didn't feel good about it either. Then I decided to look through the BYU-Idaho website, and I had a overwhelming feeling of joy. I felt so happy, I knew that was where I was going to go.
Several months later I became a senior and I had to start applying to different colleges. I only applied for BYU and BYU-Idaho. Most people would probably think that I was mostly aiming to go to BYU since that would seem to be the better option right?
I finished my application within a few days before the deadline. I don't think BYU was very impressed. so I was denied (yeah it actually said DENIED). I thought that was kind of harsh, but within a few minutes of being denied I laughed. And to be honest I was relieved. I already knew where I needed to go. I didn't know what I would do if I got into both schools. I felt like if I got into BYU I would have to pick there, but I really didn't want to.
6 weeks later I was accepted into BYU-Idaho. But, I pretty much knew that I was going to get in.
I can't give an exact reason why I was meant to go here, but I truly feel like I am at the right place. I have thought about possibly transferring to BYU, but I have felt more at peace about staying in Idaho. There are certain classes, and things I have learned here I know I would not get anywhere else. I have also met many great people here. I'm always sad at the end of each semester because I miss the people from my classes, and I'm sad to leave my friends. Plus, a very important reason why I am here is because of the spirit. I have felt it very strong here, and it has helped me realize that I am at the right place.
Now I am beginning a new semester and I really hope that it will be a good one.

And I almost thought I would never improve

The very top drawing was one I did at the beginning of the semester... At the time I thought I was never going to be able to get through figure drawing. Even now I wonder how I got through it. And obviously the bottom shows that I improved a lot. At first I was not excited to take the class, but now I'm glad I did.

San Francisco Beach

I turned this photo in for a photography assignment, and I got an A. I took this picture when I was at the beach in San Francisco. In the front of the picture is my friend Jamie. It was really cold and rainy that day, but we had fun collecting sand dollars.

Baby it's Cold Outside

I think I was lucky last semester. It didn't get this cold (10 degrees) until right at the end when I left for Christmas break. Also last year it was sunny almost all the time. This year it has been very cloudy, and it is a lot colder. Maybe I should have applied for the summer/fall track... oh well.

Yeah, for a photo assignment I have to take a self-portrait. It is very frustrating without a digital camera. With a digital camera I would be able to see the photo right away, whereas film I have to take my chances and hope that the photo turns out okay. It was mainly difficult though because I couldn't tell entirely where to stand in front of the camera. But I guess that is what makes this assignment exciting.

Anyways, for my self portrait I wanted to take the photo inside so I wouldn't have to stand out in the cold. But the lighting wasn't very good, so I had to take it outside. I went to the photo lab and got a tripod. I thought the tripod would be similar to the ones my mom has at home, but I was wrong. The one I had was really heavy, and I had to carry it all the way back to my apartment. Plus I had no gloves on, so the metal became extremely cold on my hands.

When I took the photos later I had to stand out in the cold. ugh! The things I do for photography. The sad thing is I use film, so I don't even know if the photos will turn out or not. Thankfully, I've gotten lucky or maybe I just have a better idea of what I'm doing now than before.