Last Day of School

So you know how in the beginning of Finding Nemo, Nemo's jumping on top of Marlin chanting "first day of school! first day of school!", today I feel like chanting "last day of school! last day of school!". I didn not however, but I did in celebration of being officially finished with classes (exams are still coming), take the most epic nap of my life. I was pretty soggy after dealing with the park and ride in the rain, so when I got home I changed into my toasty dinosaur footie pajamas, started my laundry and passed out for a few good hours. It was pretty glorious. The only real thing I accomplished today was the laundry and I'm worried for what this means for the next two months of my summer before I'm forced to be busy. I have wonderful plans to be productive and make things, do things, accomplish... anything with the time I have for myself this summer. But how incredibly slug-like I was on the couch all day today makes me a little worried that I'll fall back into my normal lazy patterns. we'll just have to see I guess. Though today can just count as my official recuperation from classes.
However, the high point of the evening was the great thunderstorm we got. Suddenly it started pouring down rain like nobody's business, and there was thunder and lightning. The power went out for like 10 seconds and everything. I love thunderstorms. One of my favorite things about them is how intensely green everything looks during them. All of the colors are caught up in the excitement of the storm and just glow brighter. I love it.

I didn't notice them today, but the clouds are my real favorite thing about thunderstorms. Right before it hits and the clouds are that dark periwinkle color with the sharp edges. I just can't get enough of that. and the genius of Ansel Adams captured a taste of the magnificence of the real thing.
This is random but I was thinking about it, and if I ever had to live in the midwest, I think I would survive the lack of trees, by enjoying the incredible skies that they have. I feel like all of that space just allows for some of the most spectacular clouds. They get some pretty beastly thunderstorms too.

So yesterday my family went on an outing to Raleigh for a reception for some contest my sister was entered in. It was great, except she was robbed! The cute little asian girl who won totally didn't have a good drawing. but I'm going to vent about it later when I have access to pictures, plus I'm sitting in the library at school and it's a little chilly, so I would rather rant about this later.
So in other news, I'm super duper tired. Today and tomorrow are my last days of classes for the semester. but since most of my work was due last week, this weekend it totally felt like the semester was already done. Consequently I hung out with friends far later than I should have last night. I enjoyed every minute of it, especially just chatting with the few leftover after everyone left, but it was not the wisest decision of my life, and I'm suffering for it a little today.

side note: Elder Bednar's talk for the CES broadcast last night was amazing. It made me want to quit facebook, or at least use it a heck of a lot less. Gotta love those apostles.

After seeing the new Wolverine movie I watched a few episodes of the old X-Men cartoon on youtube and thoroughly enjoyed the blast from the past. This was one of the shows we watched saturday mornings. funny how as children we never noticed how truly terrible the animation was. Now it's just part of the nostalgic goodness. What an epic theme song.

Chicken Run

So apparently my nephew Max is obsessed with the movie Chicken Run, because we're watching it for the third time today. At least the third time since I've been over at my sister's house. At least he has good taste. If I had to watch something truly moronic over and over again, I might be more upset.By the way, watching these two chickens kiss at the end of the movie is supremely awkward.

Love these men. Though I shouldn't after the beast of a paper I had to write about them. They were just so good at what they do though. 

Jacob A. Riis
   William H. Jackson

stillness

So we had the final critique for the semester in my painting class this morning, and it actually turned out to be really helpful and productive.  Sometimes they aren't, but I got lucky this morning.  We critiqued our last project which consisted of 4 paintings essentially of our choice. I did a series of fabric, and how fabric is sculptural, etc. that wasn't the exciting part. the part I enjoyed was when my professor made a comment on how she likes the stillness of my paintings, how there's a certain still quality to them. This got me thinking a lot, because it wasn't something I planned on.  I don't have any problems with it, the stillness just happened subconsciously.  Which got me thinking about how it's true pertaining to me in general. How I'm a still person.  Yes I can be silly and crazy sometimes, but in general I tend to be calm, and still. I don't make rash decisions, everything's always weighed and measured before I buy it, etc. I always play it safe. I tend to be the mother of whatever group of friends I'm with, despite my mere 20 years. I have no problems sitting quietly and waiting in general. I'm just a still person.  But I was thinking about the stillness again in reference to art work, and I was confused for a minute because when I'm looking at art and critiquing it in general, I'm always drawn to the vibrant, energetic paintings. The ones that practically dance right in front of you, with obvious brushstrokes and color.  And magically, this rings true to my personality as well. When it comes to people, I naturally gravitate to the crazy fun, busy people. Those people who are always moving, even if it's not physically, but mentally. Those people who are full of wit and humor. Some of my favorite people in the world are this same kind of fun, energetic, surprising people that are like the paintings that I love. Time after time when I'm painting I think about those paintings and how I wish I could paint like that, because I do, and I've tried, it just doesn't work. and that is because I am a still person, therefore a still painter, and I'm loving that about myself merely because I now know that about myself. It's good to know I do have a style, and why it's that way. 

So thanks Barbara.

beutifying the blog

I'm not so sure about this here blog design. There is a good chance it'll change soon. I decided that in order for me to be a truly dedicated blogger, my page should be cute.