Life Update

So, it's been a long time since I've posted ANYTHING. I figured it was about time to give an update about how things are going in my life.

First, Peter and I have about 2 1/2 months till our wedding. We have most everything planned, but the last minute planning is more stressful than I though.

We also have decided to live in a class c motorhome during the nicer months of the year. We are currently working on renovating that to look more like our home.

 Part of that process was to rip out all of the carpeting that covered the floor in every room, including the bathroom. We plan to paint the walls and to replace the carpet with some nice vinyl flooring. I'm super excited to renovate this space. I really want to make this look like our home rather than a standard motorhome.
We are also moving into Michigan's Upper Peninsula after we are married. I have to come back downstate in the fall for my last semester of college, but other than that, Marquette will most likely to be our long-term place of residence.
That's what has been going on in my life lately, there is probably more that I'm not putting in this post, but I can't think of it at the moment.

Nothing is Forever

Nothing is forever. No matter how permanent we feel, how immortal, nothing of us will last forever. This is why we invent religions, why we build monuments, why we make recordings. All of these things are an attempt to convince ourselves that we are immortal. This feeling of  immortality makes us cowards. If we last forever, that means our mistakes also last forever. Heaven is forever, but so is Hell. Our invention of immortality has caused us to be cautious to a fault. We don’t share our true feelings, don’t take unnecessary risks. We spend so much of our lives preparing for what we want to do and not actually doing anything.We are afraid to love, to share ourselves with another person. Even when we realize that we don’t last forever, though, we are trapped with our fear to do anything. We spend our time worrying about silly, trivial things that we don’t look at what’s actually important. We spend our time preparing to live without actually living. I’m not saying that I know how to change this outlook on life or that I have a different one, this was just a thought that I had.

Missing Posts

So, it's been a while. I know, because my boyfriend has been bugging me about my lack of posts. I have an excuse, I've been super busy. Between my parents move and school starting I've barely had time to breathe. So here's an update. My parents moved to Alaska. I didn't. It's been hard not having them around. With my mom far away I've pretty much stopped creating things. My art has suffered without her. Also, my boyfriend moved 8 hours north. As a result I only see him every few month, not counting the time we spend on Skype. I miss him terribly. On a different note, school started back up. I'm taking 14 credit hours worth of classes. The homework has been kicking my butt, but I have been thoroughly been enjoying each and every one of my classes. Even though I gripe about my english class, I like that class. The way that my professor teaches the class helps me. Unlike many writing classes, her class is very structured. I like structure. I don't know when the next time I'll be able to post is, but I'll try to be fairly regular. Until then, I'll be doing homework, going to conferences, and just trying to not be run over by the train that is my life. Now I bid you adieu.  

Summer of Color Purple+Purple+Yellow

This weeks SOC project was purple+purple+yellow. The inspiration for my painting this week was a forest of weeping cherry trees. 

I used acrylic inks and silks acrylic glaze.

The texture on the trees was made by scratching off layers of ink with dip pens.

This was a fun project for the week.

Father's Day

I love my father very much. He gives me strength when I need it most, gives me random hugs at the best times, gives me support, and gives me love. He is one of the smartest people that I know. We may get into arguments every now and then, and (unfortunately) most of the time he is right. He gave me support for my singing as a degree when most people told me that I should find something that would pay better. I have a lot of great memories of doing things with my father, from playing video games, to reading, to playing games outside, to swimming, to singing. Lately I have been lamenting the fact that I don't have enough pictures of my siblings, but I also don't have nearly enough pictures of my parents. I'll have to remedy that...
As for Father's Day, it's been a pretty good day, all in all. We went to my aunt and uncles lake cottage where I spent a long time relaxing in the water. We had good pizza and cake (vanilla with strawberries) and I had some great conversations. I rode with my grandfather home from the lake. Usually I can't stand riding in a car without music, but this time it was nice to just sit and talk to him. To all fathers, I hope you had a wonderful day and that you had a chance to talk to your children. 

Summer of Color Pink+Pink+Orange

Week two of Summer of color. The colors for the week were Pink+Pink+Orange. Again I painted on a small 1" by 1" canvas. 

The black is india ink that I painted on.

I love how bright the orange turned out. I think the black helps all of the colors pop.

It took me a while to finally decide what I was going to do for the week, but I've been rather busy.

A Week (or two) in Review

So... My weekend starts tomorrow. Today was my last day of classes for the week. My dad just got home today after spending the past week in Salt Lake City  grading AP world history exams. My sister, Alex, came down on Wednesday from Michigan Tech because she's taking the MCAT tomorrow. The past two weeks have been pretty busy for me, in all their unplanned glory. My boyfriend, Peter, and I have been hanging out about every other night for the past week. Last Thursday Peter, my mom, my brother, Trevor, and I hung out at my house and played Carcossonne (a truly fantastic board game). Friday Peter and I went to a bonfire at one of his friends house. Saturday we went to a welcome home party/ bonfire at one of my friends houses. Sunday I went to Peter's house in the evening to hang out and cool off in the pool. Monday I had classes and work, then I went out to dinner with Peter at Red Lobster. After dinner he came over and we watched a few of my family's home videos. Tuesday Peter surprised me by inviting me to go see Mumford & Sons with his family. I had to take off work in order to go, but the experience was definitely worth it. 

As you can see, it was quite crowded. I had liked the band before we went, but hearing them live made me love them. I will probably post a longer explanation/ description of the concert on a later date. Both Wednesday and today (Thursday) have been mostly uneventful with the exception of the arrival of Alex and my dad. Sorry for long post with brief descriptions, but I wanted to get all of those events down before I forgot.