college memories

i was looking at my friend's photography blog today (check it out here - she's amazing) and started thinking about the first time we met. i was a senior in high school and she was a freshman in college. i had the wonderfully surprising opportunity to visit a college i was interested in attending (and decided to attend school there due to that visit). christine was the person i was staying with - she showed me around, introduced me to her friends, told me about college life, and was really great. i distinctly remember her dorm room, her roommate, and the sorority she belonged to. the night i was leaving, the sorority was prepping for a dance and i really REALLY wanted to stay for it. and i also remember having a college poster of whitman and seeing the guy on the poster (aka "poster boy") and thinking "OMG that's the guy on my poster!" how dorky is that? what an amazingly fun trip that was.

looking back on my college experience, i do have some regrets. i wish i had been more active, gotten involved in more things (clubs, sorority, sports, etc). i wish i had pledged theta. i wish i was happier and more appreciative of the opportunities i had laid out before me. i wish i had partied more. i wish i didn't have so many long distance relationships in college. if only i knew then what i know now. i am grateful for my experiences and happy to have had all of them, good and bad. the past is the past and it's time to let it go...my future is bright and i'll just have to make sure i don't make the same mistakes.

thank you christine for such great memories. i hope that in the future we can become closer friends, despite our physical distance :)

sleeping bag

OMG i'm going camping. alright, not yet, but this sweet freakin sleeping bag came in. goes down to 15 degrees...and the best part: it's BLUE!

yay for order tracking

yesterday, i received one of the two orders i placed for the upcoming custom project and the other one is in anchorage as of 6:21am today!!! i can't wait!! i figured out the first set of measurements for the album yesterday.

i've been thinking a lot about how to expand my small business. i have a plan: enter more shows, do a few solo exhibits (through first fridays), get the "made in alaska" certification, take sample pieces to stores to sell my product (& take orders), infiltrate every store i can in alaska, expand to the lower 48 (starting with seattle), and start my quest for world domination. okay, maybe not the last one...maybe. anyhow, that is my general plan, which i will supplement with custom orders and letterpress printing (invitations, business cards, broadsides, artist books, etc). the key is to make (not find) the time for all of this art madness. i know i haven't spent as much time in the studio as i should. sometimes there isn't enough time in the day to do everything i want. know what the answer is? more coffee & less sleep!

impatiently waiting

as i mentioned in an earlier post, i'm going to be doing a custom order for someone. she requested a photo album for her wedding pictures (which were gorgeous - i got to see some of them). we had a meeting in my (clean) studio and picked out this fantastic gold japanese bookcloth, japanese paper with light teal/green parasols outlined in gold, and a warm brown ribbon. i also suggested a custom made monogrammed box for her album. its going to be a beautiful set and i can't wait to start working on it....

however, i have to wait since my supplies aren't here yet! why does it take 5 years to get anything shipped up to alaska? and for that matter, why does it cost a horrendous amount of moolah? okay, rant over.

i'll post some photos of another custom project i did for my dad a little later - i hand bound his thesis and made a box for it. turned out amazing.

custom orders are one of my favorite things to do - they are fun, interesting, and challenging. i don't get the opportunity to do them very often (which is my own doing, as i haven't advertised). so, just in case anyone reading this is in need of some handmade functional art pieces, here is what i make: books & photo albums (with matching boxes if desired), letterpress printed (and linoleum block printed) invitations, business cards, and art prints...i've also designed logos for t-shirts and cd covers and few other things. want something made? e-mail me!

earthquake!

so the past few days i've taken a break from working on the website, to do other fun and exciting things like: dishes! laundry! work! ok, seriously, i actually did do some fun stuff: watched a movie (changeling - weird and somewhat depressing), went to a bar-b-q (vito was the star), and made apple pie from scratch for my dad. overall, a pleasant and mellow weekend.

so i'm sitting in my office today, on the phone with my dad, and all of a sudden the entire building shakes with a good strong jolt...then keeps moving...and keeps moving...then another JOLT! and more moving....more moving....and it finally calms down. eek. i was starting to debate whether or not i needed to get the hell out of dodge. my source revealed that we had an earthquake that registered 5.4 - pretty good size. and it felt like an eternity. that's one thing about living in alaska - earthquakes. and bears. and winter for 90% of the year. not that i'm complaining because i love it here - there are mountains (real mountains, not little puny hills like in other places i've been), incredible scenery (which i will see first hand on my first overnighter hike in a couple weeks), interesting people (like my family & friends), and my bfff (yes that's 3 f's) and my puppy. oh yea, and no giant spiders. (and if you'd seen one, i don't want to know about it).

puppy update

so our puppy is doing much better after a few days of R & R. he's also been biting everything in sight since he hasn't had a good workout in a while. but he's back to his good playful self and isn't limping at all. he had an eventful day at a friend's bar-b-q and was, of course, the star of the party. i got him a new toy (even though i know he'll destroy it in 5 minutes).

here he is in action!

and after the party.

i'm so glad he's feeling better.

studio cleaning

so the last few days i've been cleaning up my art studio. i had my first meeting (in this studio) with a client for a custom order that i'll post some pictures of later once it's done. since i was sick & tired of rolling & unrolling paper, i hung up all of my specialty paper in the closet. curl free and easy to browse through! take a look:

blog additions

so i decided to add a few new things to my blog! in the left column, there is an area to sign up if you would like to follow my blog (please sign up!) i also put in a search bar as well. on the right, there is a list of labels from each posting, if you are interested in reading a specific topic. i hope you enjoy the new additions!

puppy update: vito is still limping but seems to be feeling a bit better. he played for a few minutes last night with bff and the limp came back more. he's a trooper. his injury hasn't stopped him from counter surfing though - apparently he likes butter.

puppy update

i'll write about my puppy today, since he's all i can think about. vito is almost 7 months old now and it seems like his energy levels grow exponentially every day! well, yesterday he had a little play date with 2 of his buddies (labs). he was tearing around the yard at top speed, jumped on to the deck & tried to rocket his way between a chair and the house. next thing we know, poor vito is screaming and holding up his paw. let me tell you, that sound was the single most awful thing i have ever heard. we got him inside and checked him out...and let out a yelp when his shoulder was touched. he seemed to get a slight bit better, but at 2am this morning, he rolled over and woke me up with his crying. so he went in to the vet today. turns out he probably sprained his shoulder & the good news is that it doesn't look like anything is broken.

i'm thankful his injury is not more serious...and even though we took him in, i'm still worried. i can't help it. he's my little puppy-poo. he was wagging his tail and trying to half-heartedly bite stuff he wasn't supposed to...which means he's in good spirits.

here he is about a month ago, (being good for once):

breaktime!

so yesterday i was working on my website and took a break. and here's what i did on my break:

made pie!!

vito helped.

here it is before being baked!

i forgot to take a picture of it after baking...and now it is demolished on our counter. oh well. it was really good! back to work now.

website sneakpeek!

i have been working away on the new website for my business tama press. i'm learning a lot about dreamweaver (and have been swearing at it fairly often too) and photoshop (more swearing). i'm almost done with the homepage and will start working on the other pages soon. here is a pic of the new homepage:



let me know what you think!

website work

so during the past week or so, i've been working on the tama press website. i haven't actually changed anything on the site as of yet, but i am creating the new pieces and parts in photoshop and dreamweaver. i've been drawing things out by hand to get a better idea of what i want rather than trying to create them in the program itself. working (fumbling) with photoshop isn't too bad with my extremely basic knowledge of the program (and help book on standby). dreamweaver and i aren't on friendly terms right now. things basically go like this: i open the program, try to make something, get pissed off, and go do something else....in the span of 5 minutes. hence the reason i've sketching out the design format by hand...then all i have to do is replicate it, rather than design & execute at the same time.

this site is where i've gleaning some inspiration for my new site: hello lucky

motivation - where are you?

so last night i was going to get a bunch of stuff done. finish up the laundry, clean the bathroom, do dishes, finish going through clothes in the closet, walk the crazy puppy, etc....and i did hardly anything. i took puppy for a walk because otherwise he would be an absolute terror (a cute one though). i half-assed did laundry. and then i watched recorded episodes of NCIS (love the italian guy - go figure) and grey's anatomy. bff is on a weird schedule so i haven't gotten to see him much.

oh i did do one thing (kinda). i worked on the new tama press website. since i'm still learning how to use the programs, it gets extremely frustrating, extremely fast. i think i might just draw things out by hand and then try to replicate it on my laptop. i'm getting stuck on creating and executing my ideas at the same time.

fun weekend

so this past weekend, i took this awesome 3 day defensive firearms class with my bff and my dad. it was intense! we reviewed a bunch of basic techniques, worked on marksmanship and then got into fun stuff: moving drills, pivots, working with a team or a partner, shooting from awkward positions, seeing how we shoot under physical and mental stress, vehicle drills....and much more. it was physically demanding and mentally exhausting. i could use a nap right now.

we also brought our puppy to the range. he hung out in the truck and got a little chewy....and proceeded to chew through one of the seat belts! he's been behaving in our vehicles for quite a while then friday morning decided to go on a chewing spree. what a little troublemaker! that being said, he was very good for the rest of the weekend.