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.

Warning: bordem causes laziness and insanity

Yeah so this is probably the most uneventful semester so far since I have been at college. Last year I thought I was bored because I would go to my friends' apartment, and we would just talk. Now, I would take that any day. I usually go over to one of my friend's apartments because they are more exciting.
i guess one of the most exciting things I have done this semester was go on a blind date. we went to the zoo. It was a group thing, so the activity was neither my date's or my idea. It was fun though, but about a month and a half later i saw the guy, my date, again and he forgot who i was. Yeah, That's lame.

let's see, what else have I done... well I can't think of anything now.
Yeah so I don't like being bored. I thought I would end up doing a lot of school work because I am taking figure drawing and photography. But when the work is done I find myself having nothing to do. So i do what my roommates do: sit around and watch movies
Anyway hopefully next semester will be more eventful. I'm planning to take snowboarding again. I almost decided not to, but i figured it would give me something to do and plan every Friday.

BaCk iN scHoOl

I have been in Idaho for a month now starting off my sophomore year. So far it has been good. My new roommates are awesome; we all get along really well. I also enjoy most of my classes so far. I must say that I have had some difficulty in my figure drawing. I think human figures is one of the most difficult things to draw. I'm decent at drawing heads, but when I try to put the rest of the body together... yuck. Oh well I'm really trying, and luckily some of the other students have been helping me. They give me a lot of good advice, and they have helped me improve.
I am also taking photography this semester. In this class I'm learning to take black and white photos with film. Taking the photos is fun, but actually making the film is a bit tedious. We will also be going over some digital photography, which I'm more excited about.
In the future I plan to have a cookie theme for my blog. I plan to change my layout whenever I get a hold of a photoshop and illustrator program. Then I can use my design skills, and maybe my new photography skills, and make a new page. I think that the layout from The cutest blog on the block is great, but I want to be able to make a web page on my own.

Thanks for the cookies

So my dad went to Oklahoma this weekend for a trade show, and when he came home today he brought back Alexis an I-tunes card, and he brought Cole a toy truck. He told me he didn't give me anything. But, he had some chocolate chip cookies, and he told me I could have them. Usually I don't expect my parents to bring me anything home from a trip anyway since I'm basically an adult now.
But, I'm glad my dad gave me the chocolate chip cookies.
I really love cookies, especially chocolate chip. Whenever I have them, it makes my day. I guess cookies are my happy food.
Today, the cookies reminded me of the time my friend's mom made some cookies for a linger longer after church. She told me she mainly made them because of me, since she knew I really wanted some M&M cookies. I was happy that she thought of me, and was kind enough to take the time to make them.
It also reminded me of my roommate . On Sundays she would make her special snicker doodles(shown above). They were the best snicker doodles I have ever had. I would hover around the kitchen a lot waiting for the cookies to be done in the oven, and they always came out perfect. Eating cookies may not seem like a big deal, but my roommates and I enjoyed just hanging out together.
I don't know why, but cookies make me very happy. My dad may not think I thought the cookies were anything special, but they were, so thanks Dad :)

I am possibly the worst blogger ever...

I know many (or actually the few) of you who actually read my blog are probably amazed to see something new posted. I know I am not very good at keeping up with my blog, but hey I will have at least one thing about my summer posted. Unfortunately, I waited till nearly the end of my summer break to actually write something.
Well this is the best summer break I have had in a long time. I have not had a dull moment, although when I first came home in April I was pretty bored. After a month of being home things started to pick up. Mostly this summer I have been working in the basement, watching Alexis and Cole while my parents were at trade shows, and hanging out with my friends.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

Penguins... and McDonalds??

For my color and design class part of a project was to create an image that had something out of context. I thought about McDonalds, and it seems to be taking over the world. I wouldn't be surprised to find it in the middle of a desert or in a rainforrest. My roommate, Jamie, said 'you could put McDonald's in Antartica. So I decided to put a bunch of penguins looking up at a McDonalds sign. It was really fun, and I used color pencil, which I have not used in a long time. I only wish I had better quality paper, because I just used regular printing paper that does not work as well. But, I got the job done, and that is all that matters to me during finals.

Design and Color Photo

I put this photo on here to show a bit of what I have been doing in my classes. I really liked how this photo turned out. I used it for my Design/Color class to show an asymmetrical composition. The assignment was to take 2 photos; one was to show a symmetrical composition and the other was to show an asymmetrical composition. I mostly like the lighting in this photo. Most of the photos I took that day have an interesting look because of lighting. I also like this photo because of the organic shapes, and it makes a good contrast with the geometric building in the background.

Snowboarding Winter Semester 2009

So I'm 19... now what?

This past Saturday (March 7) was my birthday. I turned 19. 19 is probably the least exciting age to turn. When you are little every birthday feels special. When you turn 12 you finally get out of primary and get to go into Young Womens. 13 you are finally a teenager, and at 16 you get to drive and date. Then at 18 you're finally an adult. When I turned 18 I thought it was exciting because I was an adult, but I still felt like I should be a youth. So at 18 I kind of felt in between an adult and teenager. I guess I still am a teenager in a way since I'm 19, but now I think 'wow I really am an adult.' Other than that 19 seems pretty boring, and I can't think of a birthday to look forward to. But that doesn't really matter, I still had a good birthday.
My birthday felt very different this year since I was not with my family to celebrate it. After having 18 birthdays at home, it's weird having one at college a way from home. But my roommates made it special for me. The night before my birthday we ordered a couple of pizzas, and my roommates bought a Caramel Turtle Ice cream Cake while I was at snowboarding. We watched a couple of movies while we ate. On my birthday I just relaxed the whole day. Then later that night I watched Extravadance. The college has a dance alliance team that performs for the school and they travel to different places to perform. It was really good, and I really enjoyed it.

Yeah it sucks to be single...

So since I'm in college, I guess everyone has to ask me "So have you met any cute guys?" "Have you met any prospects?" and other questions. Well I will say that are plenty of cute guys at this university. But, just to get it out there... that does not mean I'm going to date them. If I see cute guys it tends to be while I am walking to class, and sometimes guys will smile and say hello to me (I do smile and say hello back). But, that is it. It does not go any farther than that. The only guys I have socialized with, so far, are guys in my classes and my FHE brothers, who do not act interested (Although if they are interested, they're not making it obvious enough.) We are all simply friends. Hopefully, I will go on a date sometime not too far in the future... but for now there has apparently been no spark between me and another person while I have been here. I also wouldn't mind going on a casual date... but most people want to go on serious dates. I'm not saying that serious dating is bad thing... it just seems to be more for people who actually want to be in a relationship, and want to be out of the "we're just friends" phase. So at the moment I do not feel comfortable on going on serious dates with anyone.
At home, one of my friends tells me have to ask at least 3 guys on a date. But, I am just not like that. I do not ask guys to go on a date... I feel dumb just asking someone to dance with me.
So that is my rant on my dating life.. if you can even call it that.

For those of you with Cats

Bummed

Today was the first day that I have been on a ski lift. It wasn't too bad getting on the lift, but the getting off was a bit tricky. On a snowboard you attach the bindings to one foot, and when you get off the lift you have to put your board perpendicular to the chair. Then at the end of the ride you put your board down on the ground and carefully step on the board with your foot that does not have the bindings on it. Then you slide down a little to the edge of the hill, and bind your loose foot before you start snowboarding. The first time I went off the lift I slipped and ran into my friend. After a few trips up the mountain it became easier, but I still need to get adjusted to it. Also today I felt really pathetic, since I fell a few times, and I could not get back up without slipping. Everyone else was fine. But yeah the one thing that is frustrating about snowboarding is that you are constantly on your butt. I fell on my bottom quite a bit today, but it was no where as bad as the first time I snowboarded. Is it possible for bottoms to get adjusted to falling? It hurts!

Changes

I have started a new semester. When I last left Idaho, it was cold, but not too bad. Now it's really cold... and everyone tells me it's not as bad as it usually is. When I first arrived, it seemed like the snow piled to my head... but I'm exaggerating. I have started new classes. I actually enjoy some of them because they are actually interesting. I like my humanities class (basically art appreciation) since it has helped learn to appreciate the arts. I also like my communications class. I can tell that this class will be very useful to me here and outside of college. At first I didn't like it, but I'm starting to like my color and design class more. We learn a lot of interesting things in there, and it has shown that there is an infinite amount of things you can do with art. Right now we are doing very basic stuff, although I probably feel that way because of my graphic design class last semester.
I have a lot of other things to share so hopefully whoever is reading this will not get too bored. On my way here from Virginia I lost my laptop. I think I had either left on the plane, (which was checked but no one found anything), or I left at the concourse (which the flight attendants said the security should have picked it up). Well my family and I called the Chicago airport several times, but they did not find anything. Whoever has a hold of my laptop must feel really happy with it. Although I imagine they don't feel proud of themselves for taking it.
But, now I have another change... I have a new computer. Luckily the insurance could pay for most of it so I got a new mac. It's basically the same as my last one, except it is silver instead of white. But, now I have a problem with figuring out how to get my music from my iPod into my computer.
I also have a couple of new roommates this semester, and I have a new FHE group. I really like my new roommates, and I hope we get to know each other better. I like the people in my FHE group for the most part. There's a few guys from one apartment that don't seem to go as much as everyone else. I don't if it's because they're busy or if they think they're too cool to go.
I also want to talk about the snowboarding class I am taking. I was glad to find out that my friend Katie, who was in my writing class last semester, was taking the class. I was glad to know at least one person. The first day of snowboarding was great since it was beautiful outside, and it wasn't too cold. But, it hurt a lot since I fell a million times. I even hit my head since I accidently starting sloping down the hill backwards. At the second day I was a lot better, my instructer was even impressed. But, after learning to go down the mountain foward ,on the heels of our feet, we had to learn to go backwards on our toes. So I had a difficult time with that, and I was glad I had a helmet (the week before I didn't have one). Overall it is a lot of fun, and I think it will be great to learn snowboarding for winter next year.