ugh.

things i am beginning to despise:
- my weird phobia of doing business over the phone. i hate hate hate it.
- the fact that it won't stop raining.
- having terrible cramps. and spending all day lying down because of them.
- my lack of productivity since the month started.

chicago

last night, i went to chicago with courtney, austin, and my brother to see the decemberists perform at the riviera theatre. if you enjoy their music at all, you must see them live. they put on such a playful show, and i don't think you can truly appreciate their music until you hear it live.

we went to an ethiopian restaurant. i haven't had ethiopian food for a little over a year, and it was fun because no one i was with had ever had it before. it's really different and reminded me of kenya/tanzania, which was nice. :) you should give it a whirl if you're up for spicy/unusal food!

this morning when we woke up, the world was covered in a thick blanket of snow, and it hasn't stopped all day. it's actually nice having a cozy day to nap, catch up on reading, and listen to "the king is dead" with a newfound appreciation.

i just finished the crying of lot 49 and cats cradle, both of which i took far too long to finish, but i'm glad i did! they're wonderful.

on my reading list right now (for those of you who are interested in all things literary/nerdy... i know i am!):

- let the great world spin by colum mccann

- travels with charley by john steinbeck

- reading lolita in tehran by azar nafisi

let me know if you have any reading suggestions... i am always up for something new-- even though it takes me quite a while to plow through a book these days, what with school and such.

stay warm, stay safe, stay dry! :)

jack, me, and the cupcake machine

i've been meaning to upload these since, like, october. as per usual, i'm really on top of things... whoops. they are from this really fun night when my friend jack and i decided to bake red velvet cupcakes at his house. i think he is the funniest person in the world and i don't entirely hate my job because it's the reason i became friends with him. cheers to friendship!

indiana's greatest export

i sketched this for my vonnegut-loving roommate tonight:

wishful thinking.

it has been snowing for the past two days. there is something dreamlike about waking up in the morning to see soft, delicate flakes performing acrobatics as they gracefully fall to earth. but inside of me, there is a desperate longing for the freedom and adventure of summer. i want to pack up and leave, to run barefoot through the grass, to go on midnight swims and sleep under the stars. i want to explore the broken and the abandoned places and find the beauty so carefully hidden within them. i crave the new people, new ideas, new tastes, hopes, and dreams that only travel can provide me. it's not that i'm unsatisfied with my life at the university, but everything in me is screaming to pack up, leave, and explore.

it has been quite a while! sometime i will update more in depth... but as far as art goes, i have started a new project. i'm making a drawing every day for a year... so far, so good. it's hard for me to stay motivated with this kind of thing, but i went to an alumni artist's lecture almost 2 weeks ago and i was so inspired.

also, as the holidays approach, i've decided that as much as possible, i'm going to support only local businesses when i go shopping for my friends and family. i think this is a great way to explore and find artists who deserve recognition and do something wonderful for the community.

via weheartit

happy thanksgiving to all!

this week i had my mid-term review for drawing class. stressful... especially setting everything up once i got home from the band of horses concert on sunday night. but it was so rewarding, hearing critiques from my classmates and realizing just HOW FAR i have come. :)

[photos from my drawing review and another poster for my roommate's band].

perfect weekend

ethereal.warm.beautiful.perfect.

this weekend was full of friends, nearly driving myself crazy doing art homework, and ended with band of horses. :) now back to real life...

things and things...

i've been keeping myself busy with school, friends, and art. my most recent endeavor was to make a poster for my roommate's band's show at our school's coffee house:

lately i am realizing just how passionate i am about the combination of visual art and literature. there is little that holds more wonder for me than the written word and works on paper. i'm so excited to follow this passion and see where it leads me.

sources of inspiration these days:

- the changing fall weather and all things associated with it (pumpkins, browns, yellows, oranges, coffee, scarves, boots, and warm tights, halloween, warm cider, and all things cozy and natural)

- the decemberists, always. new margot. alexi murdoch.

- getting to know people in the anderson community and looking for ways to make a difference

- sneakily sending anonymous postcards :)

- edward gorey.

- kim smith's blog

- having meaningful conversations with near strangers

- the exquisite book.

what is inspiring you?

things that are inspiring me lately...

• edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros
• wes anderson films
• black coffee- the stronger the better
• intricate sketches, lithography, and etching
• cooking with fresh summer vegetables
• camping
• "an education"

art-wise i have been doing a lot of sketching and little side projects... this is a postcard i made for the rsvp of courtney and austin's wedding. :)
life-wise i have been going on lots of adventures with my friends from anderson. i'm so excited for the coming year because i know it's going to be filled with so much life, vigor, curiosity, and love.

scorched summer

i feel like i slept through the month of june. everything that happened seemed like a dream, and now i feel like my life is caught in this groggy, just-waking-up state. i'm spending a lot of time with people i love. i'm trying new things and becoming a completely different person. this has definitely been a summer of growth for me and i hope that it continues. i hope that the people in my life know how much i love them, how much they've influenced me, and how lost i would be without them. i want to do everything i can to paint my life in beautiful colors, to love and not take anything for granted.

jambo, jet lag!

i am home. i am sleeping weird hours, waking up at odd times, and always hungry. on sunday i woke up at 2 am and tried to get back to sleep, but it was not happening. i read, wrote, sketched, (quietly) played piano, and finally around 5 am bake some banana muffins with a pecan glaze.

tanzania stretched me, tested me, and taught me so much. i saw and heard so much that was holy. i don't feel like blogging about it can do any justice to how incredible and untamed it was. i'm not sure if anyone even reads this blog--but if you want to hear more about tanzania please call me, we'll get coffee or i'll bake you something and share stories! :)

back to africa.

tomorrow morning i leave for tanzania. i can't wait to be back in africa. i want to learn and love so much. i want to find God again and renew my spirit.

summertime and the living is easy

here is the (almost) finished wedding invitation!

it was so much fun to make. :)
so... summer has turned out to be far less dreadful than i had expected. i've made some visits to anderson and been visited by my friends from there, as well as spending time with my old friends from high school.
creatively, this summer needs to get revved up a little more but it's been somewhat productive. i've been doing some sketching, but this wedding invitation has been the biggest project thus far. last week, my roommate kirsten surprised me with a visit and we made music together. :) when i hang out with her, it seems like my creative juices flow a little better. maybe because i'm secretly a little jealous of what an amazing writer and musician she is. either way, we had a lot of fun.
some summer goals i would like to accomplish:
-make some headway on my summer reading. right now i'm in the middle of wuthering heights and the grapes of wrath.
-go exploring.
-make yummy food with fresh vegetables from the garden and give this vegetarian thing another shot.
-write in my journal more often. and spend time talking to God, asking big questions and staying curious.

i leave for tanzania in less than a week! i'm excited, nervous, and scared. but so happy to be going back to africa. hopefully i will do some more blogging as the summer goes on. :)
there are so many incredible people who love me. i wish i could somehow express to them how wonderful they have made my life and how much they have taught me.
life is strange and beautiful.

baking pictorals! :)

wow it has been a while, huh? i'm finally posting the pics of my baking endeavors! irish soda bread and raspberry-banana muffins. :) so my life has changed a LOT since the last time i posted. for the first time in my life, i'm really dreading the summer. but i've decided it's going to be a time of personal growth, trying new things, and getting to know my friends again.

new projects...

i've been doing a lot of baking lately--pics to come soon. :)

tonight i met cyrus, kirsten, and josh at the nile. at one moment, i looked up at cyrus as he took a long drag from his cigarette. his eyes widened and it was as if he was trying to inhale life itself, all wisdom and experience and energy, from that cig.

all.you.need.is.love.

i'm working on a wedding invitation for my dear friends, courtney and austin. it's still a work in progress but i like where it's going. hopefully they do too. :)

a start...

if you are reading this, hello there!

if you are not reading this, that's okay. as far as i'm concerned, this blog is probably only going to be read by me, myself, and i. what am i starting a blog for anyway? well, tonight i was thinking about what really makes me happy: creating things. and it's been a long time since i've been crafty or artistic in any way, shape, or form. so i decided that perhaps by keeping a blog of my creations, i would have a reason to keep creating. and now i have a place to keep all of the cute, inspirational, silly, crazy, fun things that i make or find. so here we go! let's see how long this will last. :)