Goal: Decorating My New Room

I'm currently in Maryland at the moment and decorating my new room at my mothers new house!! Getting to decorate my own room is something that I love doing; being able to decorate with a clean room that hasn't been filled yet excites me the most. My idea for this new room is blue and white with touches of gold. It's super clean and simple. Here are a few things from Design Darling that I've already had shipped here that I can't wait to put out and show you how it looks!

pillow

I will be placing this on my cream colored chair that I've had since forever. It's a super comfy chair to read in for hours at a time. 

blanket

This blanket is actually huge and I can't wait to cuddle up with it on my bed or on my chair. The color of the carpet in the room is a shade of blue so this will go nicely on my all white duvet cover and white sheet set. 

I can't wait to pick up a few other items on my visit home to help make my room look complete.

Goal: Photography

So I went to school for Photography and received my BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in the Spring of 2013. I work in California as a photographer but I wouldn't qualify is as photography unless I'm doing a special event. In the past I have photographed a few high school seniors, head shots, engagements, and a wedding...I will be going home next April to photograph another and I'm super thrilled! Recently though I haven't even touched my camera, sorry about that. I shoot with a Nikon at work and a Canon for my personal business which I feel work two different ways, I mean they totally do. I prefer Canon of course, but Nikon is kind of winning my heart a little bit. I suppose that's just because I work with them the majority of the time.

Getting back to where I wanted to talk about...

I want to start up my little business again here in California, which may or may not be so easy. I feel like so many people are photographers these days that it's hard to make an actually living off of it unless you have a technique that no one has picked up on yet. I'm going to change that. I want to start small and work up to bigger things. The first step is getting my name out there. The second step is experimenting and practicing more with both my camera and getting friends to model for me.

Here are a few photos that I've taken over the past couple of years that I just can't get enough of. Also, I can definitely see a huge difference over the years that my style has changed and that I've learned to fully use my camera in the proper way.

High School Seniors

Engagements

Wedding

Photoshoot/Advertising

Headshots

Family

Sorry for the photo over load but I needed to share a little of all I did. All these sessions were some of my favorites and I can't wait to capture even more memories for high school seniors, families and couples getting ready to get married!

For more information about what each session costs, check out my Facebook page....here

Goal: Water Color

It's a long lost art of mine to water color. I actually used to hate water color in college and now I actually prefer it to any other type of paint medium. Why you may ask? I think it's the fact that they only things you need are the paint, water and a brush to make it so simple and I don't have to use any other chemicals to make the paint move or give it a different effect.

I've been really into typography recently so I decided to test out water colors again...and typography.

(Sorry for the poor picture quality, iPhones cameras can be great and terrible at the same time.)

Here are a couple prints that I designed a few nights ago and I'm pretty proud of them!

My goal for this little hobby of mine is to create a few more of these prints and sell them on Etsy in a new shop. I can't wait to show you more of what's to come!!

Have you ever worked with water colors? 

Goal: Work Out

My goal for this month is to work out as much as I can, when I have time. It's hard when I'm out in the sun for 8+ hours a day, standing and all I want to do when I get home is to take a shower and go to bed. BUT I'm going to make it a point to change my look out on this and tone up and just work on my appearance all together.

I've already started on some work out routines but it's just for my arms and legs, I would like to work on my core and posture. My posture has gone no existent and it makes me super uncomfortable with myself. I blame my many hours in front of the sewing machine and the heavy equipment that I carry at work.

Here are some of the work outs that I do in my room on a normal basis.

I just started with this one and I'm already seeing results. Can I just say how much I love Pinterest? It makes it so easy to search for the perfect exercise routine that I can actually do or work up to. 

These leg work outs have my legs killing and aching the next day. I know I stand for 8+ hours a day but this helps stretch them out and tone them a little bit more. The one that I haven't succeeded in yet is the inward box jumps, mostly because my balancing skills are terrible and I have yet to find an object that I can use that won't tip over. 

Here is my Pinterest board with some pins that I have collected over the past few months that I hope to work my way up to. 

Goal: Sewing/Embroidery

For my graduation from college, my grandparents gave me one of the greatest gifts I've ever received, sewing/embroider machine. It's the Husqvarna Viking: Designer Topaz 30 and it's perfection, I'm seriously in love with it.

I have created and sewn many hours on the machine and I will definitely have this machine for the rest of my life. What I haven't done recently is actually use it for embroidery. Sad. I know. That's what my goal is though in the next couple of months, to actually use it to all it's power.

There are a few embroidery sites that I seem to always go to when I'm in the mood to embroider. The first being, Urban Threads.  The site is a little strange for some of the items but they do have a lot of nautically inspired designs and raven themed designs that I can't wait to embroider on everything!

I'm kind of in love with both of these.

Not sure what I'll ever do with this one but I definitely need to. 

possibly a pencil or make up brush case??

I definitely plan on purchasing all these designs in the very near future and embroidering my life away for hours on end! 

How many of you sew or embroider?!

Goal: Job

It wasn't until my senior year of college that I truly knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I always knew I wanted to do something with photography, of course, but what would I really be happy doing with it? Archives. Working with archival photographs and newspapers is something that made my heart so happy throughout my last year of undergrad. For my senior thesis I worked with a collection of Enchanted Forest slides and negatives dating back to the 60s and 70s which was all around amazing.

This wasn't the end of it.

For one last internship and an experience that I will never forget. I got to work as an aid in my high schools art department. All throughout high school I spent the majority of my free time in the art room. It was there in those rooms that made my creativity grow and my love for art grow. They encouraged me pursue my life as an artist. One of the projects that I worked on was to get together slides of photos from when the school was separated into two different all girls school in Baltimore; these photos were dating back from the 20s and 30s. I thought I died and went to heaven when I was handling these photos. It's also pretty funny seeing the different styles of clothing and hairstyles from then and comparing them to today.

What really sparked my interest of archives? Shannon Perich   She was my History of Photography professor my last year of college and she was definitely one of the most amazing and inspiring professors I ever had. She works for the Smithsonian at the National Museum of American History and has put together many shows. Her main interests of research are focused on William Henry Fox Talbot and Richard Avedon; two amazing photographers that I get inspiration from. If anyone has seen Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn, Richard Avedon shares many characteristics with the photographer in the movie.  Shannon's love and knowledge for photography and the history of photography definitely shows in her teaching. 

Now working with the Walt Disney Company has inspired me to work in their archives. It combines to of my loves and passions into one. 

 

What is your dream job? Are you living it right now?

Life: Painting, oyster

It's been a while since I've picked up a paint brush, about 2 1/2 years. I took my last painting class my junior year of college and the professor was, to put this nicely, not the nicest of people. This kind of ruined painting for me for a while....until now! 

Before I took my first official painting class I had always used acrylics, but we were required to use oil. Such a BIG change. Who knew there would be so many different types of chemicals and liquids to help the oil paint move smoothly, dry faster(it's not the fastest drying paint), or to get the paint out of the brushes. The first time I heard all this, it was kind of overwhelming...until now. I know what chemicals I like to use and not use. Liquid is my very best friend. 

I got a few canvases from Michael's crafts and got right to work on sketching out an oyster. I love oysters; whether it be eating them or decorating with them, they are the perfect nautical touch.

I can't wait to start painting more and hopefully/possibly start selling them in a shop on Etsy. This is also one of the goals that I will have on my "101 things for 1001 days" list. 

If you have any pointers on painting or techniques, I would love the feedback!