Bits & Pieces

Ahhhh, it's been so long since I've taken anytime to blog, which kind of bums me out, because I would really love to grow this blog into something more than it has been, but for various reasons, I just haven't been devoting the time.


SO, lets talk about these reasons (read: listen to me talk about my life lately).
It is my last semester, and graduation is in five weeks! Despite my light course load of only 12 credits I still find myself completely busy, overwhelmed, and beat by this semester! A lot of this has to do with my anxiousness to end this semester, so any and every task related to school pretty much seems like the worst thing I've ever had to do in my life. 


One of my classes actually made us finger paint a 24"x33" poster sized recreation of a painting with cattle markers. Yes, cattle markers, oily sticks intended for writing/drawing farmer things onto cows. Though some of my peers seem to enjoy working with these sloppy oversized oil pastels, I am not fan. Drawing/painting/messy media in general are not really my thing which is why I stick to graphic design and photography for my artistic fulfillment. 

Another part of my frantic life lately is the impending deadline of getting my portfolio printed! I will not lie, I slacked off a bit during a class or two throughout my student career, which is becoming a pain now as I realize that I don't feel that a lot of my design student work really showcases my ability and talents. I devised a plan to fix this, but it means creating and completing a design project a day for almost two weeks to build a new body of work to show off! It's time to send this baby to press at the end of the week, and I am certainly feeling the stress, since this will be my job getting tool.

The photo pictured above is a screenshot of a bizarre and hilarious error message photoshop gave me last week. I panicked briefly, then then googled, and learned that it is more or less a joke and accident that it even made it through to the finished product. All issues were resolved by restarting the program.

OH! I got a new camera. I sold my panasonic lumix lx-5 and promptly purchased a used sony alpha nex-5 for about the same price! So far I am enjoying this mutant camera. I call it that because it has a skinny, portable body like a point & shoot, but features large interchangeable lenses, so it looks a little different than most cameras. I love it, because it's a nice purse companion, and allows me to have the convenience of digital photography with me all the time. I also appreciate the easy manual controls and focusing via lens ring that makes it feel real. It also can take some nice photos.

That's the first picture I took while I was playing around with it the day I got it. Yes, I do have a basset hound mug, and yes, that's an iFixit sticker proudly displayed on my coffee table, earned after a time when i fixed it (it being a broken inverter cable on my laptop, and when I say "I" I mean I investigated, purchased, and gave directions while Charlie did most of the fixing). 

I got to test the camera out a bit while working on a photo class assignment with my friend and beloved photo-subject Sarah. I haven't really looked at, or edited her photos much, but here's a picture of some worn out, but cute/charming shoes that were in her room.

There's just something I love about a beat up pair of shoes!

So in other news, I have given up pants for the spring/summer season starting now. I just need the beautiful weather to come back fully and embrace my pale, pale legs.

My apartment and job search in the Fox Valley presses on, and I am still sitting with fingers crossed over one particularly great photo-job opportunity that had a promising interview. I am eagerly looking forward to getting out of Madison, living affordably, and seeing my family more (especially the baby nephew) and feeling good about graduating college/summer/life.

I would love it if we all talked a bit more, what's new with you, my dear readers?

Lu

These Days

Hey friends,

Something wild happened today, in the blink of an eye my life suddenly became very very busy. I woke up and began my day disconnected with the reality of my life. I thought this week would breeze by and I would float through my three day school week, and find my pleasantly eventful weekend at the end.

Well, what a joke those thoughts were.

As of today these things became parts of my life:

- I am a hostess to an out of town friend, who is visiting for us to tie up loose ends of some design work, which means trying to make my apartment look cleaner, and actually devoting some time to organizing this design project.

- Homework is real in my life. I've spent the last three weeks mainly ignoring it, and now it's here at my doorstep, needing to be worked on, and there's a lot of it. Naturally this is difficult to accept, since my mentality is three months ahead of my reality, waiting for graduation.

- I got a new job, that involves a commute to a neighboring city. I am very very thrilled by this opportunity, but for the next week or so it will be a bit complicated while I finish up my last shifts at my previous job, which usually takes over my weekend.

- A vet appointment snuck up on me, so I will be driving to a suburb to take my cat to a low-cost clinic for vaccine updates.

- I will also be making a day trip to Oshkosh on Sunday to meet with my favorite bride Dani to map out a design plan for invitations.

- Aside from these bigger things worth noting, there is also a never ending list of small tasks, chores, and errands that need to be taken care of this week. I won't list them all, because that would be annoying, but knowing they are hanging around each corner might be most stressful.

Ok now it's all out in words, and even that makes me feel a bit better, sort of like list making therapy I guess. Hopefully I make this week successful, and can stay more put together in weeks to come. 

Oh, happy Valentines Day! This is a small clipping from a digital collage type of shoe advertisement assignment I am working on for the Valentines Day season.

Lu

I Have A Nephew!

I have a nephew now, and his name is Levi, and he is beautiful!

This is very exciting for me, because I absolutely love babies, especially this one.

Lu

Reading for Leisure

Hey pals,


When I was a kiddo I was a total bookworm. I don't remember using the internet or computer much until age twelve, but I do remember lounging around in my room reading and weekly visits to the library. It's probably not surprising to hear that I wasn't exactly a social butterfly. 


Eventually my love for reading faded away after required readings for high school and college dominated my hours, and I just never felt like reading anymore. Now I'm a fourth year graphic design student, and hardly read for school, so reading for fun is making a comeback into my life.

I received It Chooses You by Miranda July as a Christmas gift from Charlie. I finished it in two sittings, and loved it so much! Her writing is so thoughtful and interesting and connected with my emotional nature.


Reading this book reminded me that I actually enjoy reading for leisure, so I quickly picked up a used copy of an earlier July book, No One Belongs Here More Than You, and so far I am enjoying.

Seriously though, you should all read It Chooses You. It was great, if I could give it as a gift to all of my friends I would.


Lu

Boots

Hey friends,


I need some opinions, PLEASE, help me.


I have always sort of dreamed about owning and wearing cream colored boots, I have no idea why, but if it's rooted like my red hair dreamz (thanks madeline & the little mermaid)it's probably because of a character I really liked as a kid. I almost bought a pair in the summer of 2008, but didn't because I was low on cash, and it was summer and at 18 I lacked the foresight to realize how great they would be for fall/winter.

Now, it's 2012 and I am getting a second chance, but am I just being silly? Do you think they are cute? Could I make them work? Do you think they are cute? I could use some thoughtful opinions.

Lu

A Question

Hey friends,


Lately I've had a question in my mind, and I'm really hoping that some of you anonymous, anti-comment, page viewers (i know you're there, my stats say so!) can give me some feedback and opinions on the matter.


You probably know that I am in the design field of work, and more and more recently I've started doing work for my friends who are all approaching the beginning of their own professional lives. For the most part this work is unpaid, because 1. they're my friends 2. they're just as poor as I am 3. I'm bad at telling people who I've only spoken with on a casual, friend level, that the work I'm doing for them should cost money. I'm getting better with the last one, and to be completely honest, I enjoy design, so when they are a for real friend, I really don't mind doing the small jobs for free, but here is the "but". 


When you're doing work for free (or even not for free for the sake of discussion and conversation) how much creative license do you give yourself? In a lot of situations these pals of mine give me all I want, they so do what you do, and I do exactly that, but what about if one of them gives you a clear plan? And what if that plan doesn't really seem like the best one to you? 


I keep finding myself tempted to ditch the friend-clients initial vision to do my own rendition. When I start to wander off from their ideas and create plenty of justifications. I tell myself it's ok, because I'm the expert on this, and since they're my friends, they should/will respect my professional opinion, go with me on it. I sometimes even try to justify my changes with the fact that this is work I am not being paid for, so I am sort of allowed to do it my way.


I know all of this is probably bad practice for when I work with paying clients, but I can't help it. Does this happen to anyone else?


Today a similar topic came up with a friend, in regards to hair cuts, and how we don't let friends or family cut our hair, since they usually ignore requests, and decide what they think is best. It made me think more about myself and how I handle the situation. I guess maybe this is just the status quo for creative service fields. 


Thoughts? I would really appreciate to hear what others have to say, and how they handle these sort of things.


Lu


P.S. I really hope this doesn't sound like I don't want to help out friends, because that's just not the case, I just find myself in this same creative dilemma most of the time.

Thoughts on 2011

I feel like I'm a bit behind on gathering thoughts on the past year, but I've been meaning to do this, and I am currently without a journal/notebook, so I'll get personal and share it here.


Last year, I rung in the new year at home with Charlie. We wore pajamas, ordered a pizza, watched movies, and indulged in our reclusive nature, but it was wonderful and probably the best new years eve I had ever had. The low key, hermit celebration really set the standard for the whole year, as I mainly rejected most social happenings, since I learned hanging out at home with myself and my cat was so much fun. Despite my loser-at-home-all-weekend year still a lot of important things happened. 


I have a few resolutions this year, which is a change, since in previous years I felt too nervous to state annual goals, with the fear of completely failing at them and just being embarrassed for saying them out loud after said predicted failure. I tried to think this years plans through a bit more, so that they would be actually achievable and worthwhile. 

• I really want to focus on being content. This resolution applies to almost all aspects of my life. I am really prone to suddenly feeling like I need to change things, whether it's my job, where I live, my wardrobe, or hair color. I get really impulsive with this matter, which is why I have had six different jobs this year, and four apartments, and five different hair colors. I don't think there's anything wrong with changing things up, I just need to be more healthy about it.

• I would like to lose the weight I have put on since I started college. The freshman 15 was a very real thing in my life, and since after May of this year I will no longer be a college student, I would like to shed the extra baggage and pounds I've collected over the past 3.5 years. I still am not entirely sure how I will approach this goal since I don't particularly enjoy working out, and my relationship with food is constantly fluctuating, but I think it needs to happen so I can start feeling positive about my appearance instead of the constant ups and downs I have.

• I want to spend less money on new things. Since I know that I won't be able to completely get rid of the problem I addressed in resolution one, I would like to start spending less money on new clothes, home accessories, technology, ect. It just isn't worth the cost, especially with my ever changing styles and opinions.

• In 2011 I finally started accepting that I was actually ok at this whole art thing, and for 2012 I want to really collect the sprouting bits of confidence I have regarding my work and put it out there, proudly displaying it. I actually AM a photographer, and should start using the skill. I AM a good graphic designer and digital artist. I made a blog this year to start sharing my thoughts, which was a big step, then I made a flickr where I first showed some of my photos to the world which was a stressful event. I also started posting it here and just yesterday I created a a society6 page. This year I want to use it a ton more, and show off my other work too. If you need a photographer or graphic designer, come to me. I am qualified and good and can work.

• I graduate in May and I really really want to set the goal for me to find a job that somehow utilizes my degree. I worked as a leasing agent this summer, yes, a leasing agent, and I almost always hated it, despite constantly trying to convince myself otherwise. After I have put so much time and money into my education in art, I cannot let something like that happen. Even if it is part-time, even if it is freelance, it's just something I need to make happen.

• I also resolve to put more time into friendships. In 2011 I felt pretty skeptical towards the whole concept of "friends" and was just ready for a break. I had that break, and now it is time for me to start nurturing the great friendships I do/did have, after spending a year neglecting them. 

• Another resolution is to start documenting my life a bit more through photographs, journaling, even just saving mementos of the spectacular, or just wonderfully ordinary happenings in my days. This is sort of a continuation of something I have been working on over the last year or so, which is getting back to the things I used to care so much about. Up until january of 2009 I used to compulsively journal my thoughts and observations and make lists, and paperclip in all the extras, and I have the collections of notebooks to prove it. Then for whatever reason things just sort of changed. I became a school zombie, and went to class, ate, and slept, and sort of forgot to care about all those other things. Now I am happy again, and have better thoughts and insight, and have the time, so it's an important thing for me to follow through with. I think I was more mentally refined then as well. Writing helped me articulate my thoughts and I seem to have lost some of that ability. I already have my new notebook picked out. Look at it here, pretty cute, right? 

• My last resolution is a little less meaningful, but I want to start introducing myself as Lu to people. My closest friends, family, and boyfriend already know me by that alias since I have had that nickname pretty much since birth, and I really like it. It's interesting and fits me in a way that the name Lindsay can't compete with. Obviously I do not care when people call me Lindsay, I just really like Lu. To follow through with this resolution, I think I will use Lu when I make my business cards and design/photo website.

Ok, so that was a whole lot about me. Wow, I will not be offended if this doesn't really get read, it's ok. Does anyone have any resolutions to share with me?

Thanks for being friends, and making me feel like someone cares with the pageviews and occasional comments.

Hey look! It's me! Driving and being happy on a sunny September day in 2011.

Lu