Welcome back, old friend. Now go away!

Yesterday, in addition to being absurdly tired, I had a migraine. It’s the first one I think I’ve had in about a year; and, as always, it lasted through the night and into the next day. So I still have it. But, it is much better than when I woke up this morning. Now it has subsided into a dull, numbing ache, rather than a railroad spike. This migraine made me realize how I wear my pain on my face. The area around my eyes is dark. It probably didn’t help that I barely put any makeup on. I could’ve made the effort to do that, but in my own passive aggressive way, by not trying to hide my pain, I’m telling the world (a.k.a., my job and school) “Yes, I am in pain, and look where I am! Not at home! I’m here. Where I’m supposed to be. HAPPY???”

So take that. Yeah.

Chalk one up

Yesterday I cooked my very first Easter dinner.  Being out of town half of last week, I didn’t get the chance to really ponder what to make.  I ended up cooking a ginormous ham with a tangerine glaze, mac and cheese with broccoli and cauliflower, sweet potato casserole, and asparagus.  For the hubby, mum-in-law, and me, it was quite a feast, and I am proud to say that it all came out lovely and timed just right.  Whew!

I even took the time to decorate the table:

…and it happens just like that.

When someone you love dies, everything stops.

Here I go again… (great, now I’ll have a Whitesnake song stuck in my head all day!)

Today marks the end of my six-month hiatus from school.  I am happy to report that the Art Institute of Pittsburgh really has their shit together when it comes to the admissions process.  My transition was nearly seamless.  Every step of the process so far has been extremely simple, and the staff seem to actually know what they’re doing.  And they’re friendly, to boot!  Now, I am comparing this directly to the staff, policies, and procedures of the Art Institute of Washington, where all they care about is getting their money.  Granted, I understand that all schools are really only interested in getting their money from you, but I already feel like this is going to be a much better experience.  Minus, of course, my dear friends I made at the Washington site.  You know who you are.

To jump start this whole “me getting back into school and hopefully producing some awesome work” thing, I registered to exhibit a piece at Art All Night in Lawrenceville.  Registered five days ago, and still am excited/nauseous.  I’ve submitted my work in contests before, but that was a mail-in type thing.  All I got was a rejection letter (except for the one contest, which I was a finalist in).  I didn’t have to stand there and see people walk past my work, point it out, or — dear God — criticize it.  This is a completely new venture for me, and I’m pretty scared, actually.  Especially since in my excitement I invited like two dozen people to come see it, and for the most part, they’re all frickin’ coming!  Just to see my little 8 x 6 canvas.

‘Scuse me, I’m going to hurl.

School days

I’ve been on hiatus from classes for about six months now.  I’ve kinda missed it, kinda not.  I do enjoy being home every night, having a real dinner, going to the gym, and (dare I say?) having something that resembles a life.  On the other hand, making art and being creative haven’t really been a regular part of my life outside of work, and I miss doing school projects.  Classes start April 6, and if I play my cards right and don’t go crazy from three classes the next two quarters, I will be done in December!  First up are Typography, Electronic Design, and Design Principles.

In other news, I’m going to see New Kids on the Block in concert this weekend, and I’m totally stoked.

Gas is a lovely thing

Western Pennsylvania was ravaged by winds of up to 92 mph last night.  Not surprisingly, we lost power, for most of the night and probably still now.  But the one thing we still had was hot water, thanks to our gas-powered hot water tank.  Ohhhhh the hot water.  It was such a treat that I took two showers in the last 12 hours!  Granted it was by candlelight, and I couldn’t really see how terrible I looked this morning when I was putting on make-up… but I think I would’ve lost my mind if it weren’t for that hot water.

But all the gas in the world won’t save the fridgeful of food we’ll most likely have to throw away when we get home.  Fridgeful’s a word, right?  Well, it is now.  According to the FDA’s website, refrigerated food only has about four hours of good non-spoiledness in the event of a power outage.  And the contents of a half-full freezer have about 24 hours.  Unfortunately, it appears my Lean Cuisine pizza didn’t survive the night.  I just hope I can salvage the pierogies.

Okay, 2009. Let’s do this.

I’m finally ready to begin the new year.  Yes, I realize a month and two days have already lapsed, but I consider January to be a “transition” time — especially this January, with Hubby being in Virginia for roughly half the month.  But now, feeling the calm after the excitement storm that has come to Pittsburgh after our Steelers claimed another Superbowl victory, I can finally say 2009 has begun.

Last night we signed up for a gym membership and got our first workouts over and done with.  I’m not sure that I’ll love going to this gym, because there seemed to be a copious amount of meatheads.  Even Ian pointed it out.  And that’s not something I’ve had to deal with at the gym since, like, college. My first post-college gym experience was at a tiny little World Gym Express in Fairfax, Va., and it was mostly housewives and old retired military dudes.  I loved going to that gym.  Then there was the gym at our apartment complex, which was a lot of military people and runners, and then all the ghetto dudes who would just sit on the machines because they were bored.  I did not love going to that gym.

So there’s the first resolution-y thing I’ve started: going to the gym.  The second, which I’ve already nixed for now, is to take cake decorating classes.  They started last night, and I ended up going to the gym instead, but trading one resolution-y thing for another isn’t a total loss in my book.  Besides, I’d rather wait until I can go to cake decorating classes with my friend.

The third resolution-y thing is to start taking graphic design classes again, which I’m planning on doing in April.  A simpler solution to my needing/wanting a graphic design degree is to do the Art Institute of Pittsburgh’s Digital Design Diploma.  It’s designed for people who already have a bachelor’s degree (Me) and who need night classes (Me again), and I can be done in a year or less.  Since I’ve proven I can get, hold on to, and excel in a graphic design position, I’m not sure pursuing the Associate’s degree is necessary at this point.  Plus it is a buttload of money and time and I think we’d rather save up for a house.

Those are really the big three things on my agenda for 2009:  get fit, make pretty cakes, get schooled.  Cheers!

Taking a breather

So here I am.  All moved in, with the heat officially running in our new house.  I’m settled into my new job with three weeks under my belt, and each day it seems I’m working on a new project.

Everything I thought I would do in the transition from VA to PA pretty much didn’t go according to plan.  I only journaled one night, the first night, and I didn’t even crack open my books.  I did open up the laptop a few times and worked on the Christmas card, which has now ascended to the top three slots of my To Do list.

On the backburner, as predicted, is school.  I’ve got way too much on my plate right now to even think about it, and for right now that’s okay with me.  I’m eagerly awaiting some kind of news on the lynda.com subscription I got as a birthday gift from some great friends, but that’s about the only non-work-related learning thing I’ve got on my radar at the moment.

As for artwork and creativity right now?  Not so much.  Although maybe that will come through in the form of decorating, which I hope to do this week or next.

Waiting … patiently?

This is my last week of work before my big week off and then the big move to the Mother Land, Western Pennsylvania.  While in the midst of packing, talking about packing, and making lists related to packing, I keep feeling the twinge of guilt for not taking time to make art and read (although today I did a pretty neat line drawing in Illustrator).  I recently purchased House of Leaves, in my third attempt to get past the first 100 pages read it.  I keep getting to the part about echoes and my eyes glaze over. 

I think one way to help me connect more with the book would be to try to do some House of Leaves-inspired artwork.  Shouldn’t be too hard, as it’s chock full of vivid imagery.  I’m the kind of person, though, who feels guilty for not finishing a book that’s been started, so I’m hesitant to delve into House of Leaves until I finish the three (yes, three!) other books I’ve let fall by the wayside: To Kill a Mockingbird, Enduring Love (but since I’ve seen the movie, I don’t consider not finishing it a complete failure), and When You are Engulfed in Flames (though I’m nearly finished with this one).  And we’ve also got Paint it Black by Janet Fitch at home, which I’m also dying to crack open.

It’s like I feel over- and undermotivated at the same time.

The move approacheth

More details to come soon.  Until then, enjoy this illustration.