weekend things.

lots of pictures to show you what i've been up to.

rearranged my charcoal drawings.

hung my new wax paintings.

jeweled.

and made a mess.found a cheap, cute way to create an inspiration wire.

new klimt prints.

made a new earring display.

and then to add, last night i fell down approximately 4-6 steps due to the absurd amount of snow and ice iowa city has accumulated in the last 7 days...today, i have a large purple bruise on my tuckus, a sore tuckus bone, and a sore neck. haha.

learning.

i have begun my journey to a few of the things i wanted to accomplish within the next year:

a) teach myself to wire wrap

b) create more fabulous jewelry...and more to come, so that i can achieve the beauty of this. oh yeah, and continue to teach myself new things.

c) hit up cooper @ nemesis for my new tattoo designs (see below post).

i think i've found myself on a good, good path.

newbies

work done by cooper @ nemesis, iowa city.

just a few things...

these are just a few things i would like to do in the next few months, or 6 or 12. or just sometime in the relatively near future:
make valentine's day cards/score some of these very cool letterpress letters/make a) vegetarian chili b) tortilla espanola c) chicken tortilla soup (minus the chicken)/design fabulous jewelry/create an etsy account to sell said fabulous jewelry (b/c john claims that he's not going to work past the age of 25 and i have to be his sugar mama - ha)/teach myself to wire-wrap/purchase this rothko print and get it framed (this very "violet, green and red," from 1951, not its successors) for our new dc apartment/eat lower down on the food chain, use glass instead of plastic, and bike instead of drive/purchase a macbook to replace my junky gateway AS A GRADUATION GIFT to myself/saunter over to cooper's place and get the two tattoos i designed/make reservations at the motley cow cafe for a pre-valentine's day celebration/and lastly, send the good vibes to southwest iowa .

i've decided to really put some effort into creating lovely new jewels...so here's what i've come up with in the last couple of days:

as long as the ideas keep coming, the jewels will keep flowing.

boho

this is a look i must perfect:

i seem to find myself trying to fast-forward my life...
[moving to d.c., designing, working, living, meeting new people, spending time with old friends, just starting a new chapter]

[deep breath] phew.

i need to be grateful and excited about the months ahead of me...for the 'free-time' that will (so i've heard) become essentially non-existent come late spring.

ideas need to start brewing and then i'll be able to enjoy it. but as of late, artistic inspiration has been lacking. you could say that i'm in a 'funk,' just waiting for it to pass and realizing that i need to be proactive.

apt day-dreaming

life as we know it (or don't).

so, it's gone from living in spain (or france), chicago, d.c., portland, d.c., philly, and now finally, back to d.c. except this time, it's for real. john and i realized we needed a plan - i'm done with college and he's done in a mere 5 months. i've gone from worrying about the essay test in the class full of history majors (which i am not), writing page upon page, full of b.s. and anything i can remember of my notes from my semi-photographic memory to stressing about writing the perfect 1/2 page cover letter that's going to leave an impression on the city arts people and corcoran. i guess we never realized how quickly it actually approaches you, that thing called the "real world," full of grown-up jobs, apartments not in the same city as your parents, insurance other than your parents, car-less and bike and public transportation-full. it's a scary thing, trying to figure it all out...and i definitely don't have it all figured out. i just know that we're (john & i) moving to d.c., finding a place larger than 600 sf with hardwood floors and lots of windows so i can fill it with beautiful old furniture, monogrammed letter cut-outs, photos and books, hanging with mary beth & said, eating, drinking and being merry...and working our asses off to afford it all. i cannot wait.

starting fresh.

let go of the petty stuff that is seemingly ruinous. love more. love deeply. be open, ready, willing to start fresh. drink more wine. indulge in good food. be more spontaneous. don't take myself so seriously. breathe...deeply. embrace a more healthy lifestyle {yoga, cycling, walking, h20, etc}. be a constant source of positive energy. smile often. laugh always. be grateful for amazing friends and family. embrace life and all that is has to offer. invest in my creative outlets. enjoy.



other noteworthy events: i am a very recent college graduate, with my entire future ahead of me...currently searching for what i think will make me happiest, prepared for both failure and success, disappointments and excitement. and the holidays were oh-so-lovely, full of the stress and fun that comes along with them. and of course, panda hats. really, ridiculously adorable panda hats. {anticipate photos}

so, here's to 2008, ya'll.

lovely new bonbons

variety.falling.

donuts.

dangles.

lovelies.

antiques.

hoops.

cinnabar.

silk & glass.

i think i'm going to get into this creative streak because i've been without it for so long, so there will be more to come soon. along with drawings of girls without faces, gift tags, collages and photos.

a wintry mix

winter hit iowa city full-force today, with absolutely no hesitation.

[five] facts

[1] i have a fake ear drum because in 8th grade, blake roe threw a water balloon at my head and it hit my ear, rupturing 25% of my ear drum.

[2] i am a perfect 9 1/2, which makes it difficult to find shoes that actually fit because most lines stop making half-sizes @ 9 and go straight to size 10. yes, i have big feet, but not size 10 big.

[3] i played division I volleyball for a year and a half until my coach and i realized we didn't really like eachother.

[4] i claim to be an adventurer and traveler, but hate to camp and get terribly homesick.

[5] when i was in pre-school @ alice's bijou, i ate peas for lunch...and threw them up immediately afterwards, covering the rest of my lunch tray with green slop. i have since refused to eat peas or anything w/ peas in it...but i'm still not sure if i dislike them.

following are the rules for this post, but i don't think i have 5 blog friends to tag...
1. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
2. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well
as links to their blogs.

happy thanksgiving day...i guess.

while i think it's sad and unfortunate that we celebrate the mass genocide of an entire people and the forced interaction and consequent land-stealing that occurred between the indigenous people of what is now considered "North America" and the 'Pilgrims,' i am thankful that it is one of the very few days of the year that my entire family (sans stripper brothers in las vegas) can gather to celebrate being family and being thankful for having each other. friends are also invited...because i'm thankful for them, too.

happy day-to-be-thankful-for-the-people-around-you-and-the-yummy food-you-shall-receive, ya'll.

etsy-love

i have found myself spending more and time on etsy. every time i visit, i get sucked in to spending at least 15 minutes 'shopping' around, if not 30 or more. but it is really fabulous...beautiful, really. and all handmade, so it's perfect. i have found myself enamored with these...and these. boy, do i like winter. (something i probably won't be saying in the middle of january...)

it's been a while.

so, it's been a while since i last decided to put my thoughts out here. i'm not sure why, but it could be because i'm graduating from college in a month and i'm trying to set everything straight. it's my last chance to prove myself in a formal academic setting. at this point, i have ruled out grad school and law school and i'm pretty sure that it's going to stay that way. so i have to do it all right now and work 3 jobs (technically 4 right now) and be madly in love, so i'm a busy girl. but in just one month, things will drastically change and i will be able to get my creative side churning...which means more jewelry, more artwork, more yoga and/or pilates. all of the things i've been dreaming of and longing for since august. i guess i may still be in shock from it all...a lot has happened in the last couple of months and i don't think i've had the time or the energy to process it. i still can't convince myself that it's really going to happen. and maybe it will start to sink in, as it's pretty much go-time from here on out, but maybe not. i do know, however, that i will have more time, which is the one thing i feel like i can never get enough of.

this is my premature sigh of relief...ahhhhh.

do more stuff

i just have to tell myself: 'bonkosi, do this and do it now (or soonish)'

1) actually start working on my senior project. for real.
2) go take self-portraits with johnny. somewhere and sometime soon.
3) MAKE MORE ART. i continue to tell myself to. i just have to act on it.
4) eat nutritiously (and more than once a day), drink more water, do pilates or yoga at least 4x/week, blah blah blah.

...it just doesn't get done. i'll do it, just as soon as i stop freaking out, or rather stop NOT freaking out. that's the problem. i feel like i'm doing something ALL the time; researching, reading, writing or thinking for class, working at one of my 3 jobs, making time for the love of my life. i guess i just haven't figured out if that's the case, if i'm actually doing anything.