What I've Been Up To

This post doesn't have too much of point besides me making excuses for myself as to why I am a terrible blogger.  It's all the normal stuff:  school, work, sleep, TV, Coldplay....

Okay, so the first day back to school wasn't too awful.  I especially enjoyed my drawing class.  Today was a figure drawing lesson, but this time the model was clothed.  I was a bit relieved.  I still can't believe that only 3 short months ago I was standing at our front door crying my eyes out to Jarred because I was so nervous to attend my first drawing class.  And look at me now:

Excuse the lighting -- it's an iPhone photo!

I'm really proud of the work I've done.  I've obviously improved, even past this piece, which was drawn during the mid-terms.  Once the semester is up, I'd like to show some more of the work I've done. 

Jarred and I took some time yesterday to do a little Christmas shopping for Lucas.  We ended up going to Petco where I found the cutest little sweater for him:

Click here to view the shirt on Petco's website!

How darling is that?  I saw the skull and cross bones and was instantly sold.  He is going to look so adorable.  Can't wait for Christmas to get here so I can stick him in it!  We also got him a matching monkey's fist knotted rope ball.  What a spoiled pup he will be!

There's apparently been a dilemma at work over what radio stations we can listen to.  We'd been listening to country for the first few weeks and that got old super fast.  Thank goodness we are now able to listen to an edited version of Top 40 radio.  I even told one of the assistant managers that I feel like I work harder with more upbeat music playing. 

I've been so busy with work and school that I've had no time to keep up with music.  As I said in a previous post, I bought the entire Mumford and Sons album and have been playing it on repeat constantly.  I remember telling Dad, "Mumford and Sons could possibly replace Coldplay as my favorite group".  And that pained me to say.  But one week ago at work I heard it:  Coldplay's new single "Paradise".  And that's when I reaffirmed my love of the group.  I don't think anyone will ever displace Coldplay in my heart.

So who wants to see their new video for "Paradise"?  Dad, I think you'll get a kick out of it!



Try not to abuse the replay!

This will probably be the last you'll hear from me for this week.  I may write one more post before the weekend, but I'm still mulling topics over in my head.

Have a wonderful week and happy beginning of December!

After Thanksgiving

Howdy y'all!  Hope Thanksgiving break has been a blasty-blast!  Only about 8 hours of it left!

Jarred and I stayed home this year due to my fine job in retail.  I knew I would probably have to work Black Friday, so driving 8 hours back to the Motherland was out of the question.

 Jarred and I woke up on Thanksgiving like we've done for the past 3 years to decorate the Christmas tree and watch the Macy's Parade.  I only took a few photos because I am not embarrassed to admit how completely enthralled in the parade I was.

Jarred and his Corvette ornament

 My Wall-E ornament

Action shot!

The tree is so full now -- this is the first year we've had all Jarred's ornaments too.  I will remember to take a photo of the tree all lit up sometime.  It's lovely!

Black Friday wasn't as dreary as I thought it would be.  There was a definite difference from the last time I worked retail.  I didn't come home ready to keel over this time around.

I've got less than a month left of school and I am so glad.  This semester has been a hard adjustment.  I'm more than ready for a little break.  I'll be back to do it all over again in January and then I'll be assessing whether I like school enough to continue or want to take a semester off to refocus and work and make a little money.

I hope this month leading up to Christmas is fun-filled and stress-free for everyone.  I'll be back soon!

4

There are 4 things I'm crazy about right now:

1.  Mumford and Sons.

Please don't give me that look.  I've been hearing about them for a while but didn't pay it any attention because I thought they were a country group.  And Meaghan no like country!! 

Ahem.  Anyway, there's this song I've been hearing on the radio lately called 'Little Lion Man' and finally learned who performed it last Friday while Mom and I were driving to see a play.

Bought their album.  Got up the next morning and almost immediately messaged Dad about it.

Could this group replace Coldplay in my heart?  Maybe.  And it pains my heart to say that.

2.  LORAC gloss or just makeup in general

After the unusually craptastic day I had at work last week, I went to the mall to buy myself some new earphones and I made a trip to Ulta.  I came out with minimal damage done money-wise and with some fabulous new gloss.  The beauty blogging community has long been all about LORAC Couture Shine in Haute.  Their assessment that it was the greatest color ever was in fact correct.

In other beauty news, Meaghan has finally found the best highlighter (Benefit's High Beam) and has developed the motor skills necessary to use a lash curler.

3.  Leopard Print

It's a well-known fact that I love animal print, be it zebra, tiger, or crocodile.  The one print I have been searching high and low for was leopard.  In the form of a scarf, if possible.  Finally settled on a non-budget breaking one from Target.  It's been worn 3 out of the past 3 days.  And I can guarantee that you could potentially see me about town wearing it tomorrow.

4.  Sandy Skoglund

I am very fortunate to work with some of the sweetest people in the world.  The majority of my coworkers are my age of younger and I enjoy being with them during work.  What I've found amazing is everyone's genuine interest in everyone else.  Most of my coworkers know I am an art major, but of course I haven't showed them any of the pieces I've worked on.  At least not yet.  Before we closed up for the day, I had a good conversation with another employee about art.  He said he enjoyed Picasso and asked who my favorite artist was.  I answered without hesitation "Sandy Skoglund" and ended up doing a search for some of her work. 

Of course I love Van Gogh and very much feel an emotional connection to his works.  So in that respect, he is my favorite.  But if we're talking about what artist I admire and get inspiration from, it's totally Sandy.  And to think this love affair all began with a simple photograph of 'Fox Games' in a textbook.

Hope everyone had a good weekend and be looking for a new post sometime this week!

No Fashionista

I hadn't forgotten about you bloggy world.  I've been cooking up ideas for posts for about a week now and have had simply no time to actually write out anything.  I guess that's what happens when you're a student and work a job.  

Student?  Yes, it's whatever.  I love my studio class, but all my other classes are meh.  And honestly, I'll be glad when I get this basic studio out of the way.  Next semester I can focus on areas of art that I am actually interested in.

Job?  Yes, it's going quite well.  I enjoy my coworkers, the actual work isn't too bad, and I come home at night in a decent mood.  It's a nice change from my last job, that's for sure.

Other than that, nothing much else has been going on.  The home is barely being kept up, but yesterday I focused on deep-cleaning our bathroom.  It looks all nice and sparkly now.  Went to Target and picked up a shower caddy and a new toilet brush.  Big purchases, right?

In my last post, I had mentioned the shower curtain I had recently bought.  Today I had Jarred kill two birds with one stone and photograph the curtain and... me.  Because I was loving on my outfit, though fashionista I am not.  

Jarred and I went to our church's Christmas bazaar today to have lunch.  I wanted to wear my new menswear button-up shirt and leopard scarf.  I cuffed my jeans over my Minnetonkas, looked at myself in the mirror and became concerned.  I asked Jarred if I looked too hipster.

He answered, "No, you don't look too Occupy Wall Street-y."

I love my husband.

Anyway, don't you love the shower curtain?  It's so nice and clean looking and so is the bathmat and counter tops.  Ignore the mismatched towels.  I wanted to put out 2 plain white towels but we apparently lost the second somewhere.  

I am on a major minimalist kick and am finding everything white with a dab of color to be very appealing.  And besides for that, if something in the bathroom gets dirty, whatever!  Bleach it!

Alright, now this next picture is a little bit weird for me to post because it's not meant to be a portrait but rather a close-up of my skin.  I unfortunately don't have a before shot of my face, as in 'before I began using my Clarisonic'.  But this is the after shot of using it for about a month and a half:

 

My skin is much smoother and makeup goes on much better.  I will always have a tiny bit of scarring on my cheeks from when I had acne.  But the tone and texture of my face is much better than it was before.  Clarisonic, you win.

I've been a bit more careful with my makeup application and nail polish.  Maybe it's because I'm working at a place where the uniform is less than feminine. 

Speaking of nail polish, I think I've found my one true love:

butter LONDON's All Hail the Queen.  My new favorite color. 

I'm going to remain pretty busy until the end of the semester of course, but I hope that I can keep up the blog by making one post a week.  Maybe? 

Though I'm probably the last person people would take beauty advice from, I'd like to do a post that goes through my makeup routine from start to finish.  With pictures included.  Which could be scary.  But then, it's just a thought.

I hope everyone has a good rest of the weekend.  I'll be busy busy!