Wednesday, December 29, 2010

And the countdown begins... or ends?

Well... I guess that depends on which countdown you'dI be referring to... The one of my return to South Dakota, the one of my stay here in Arkansas, or...

Yea... I tried being all... whatever there, but it didn't work out so well. haha

Alright, so it's my second to last night here in Arkansas. I've been looking at the weather and the airlines situation and I'm a little worried. Over thousands of flights were cancelled along the east coast because of a blizzard... and that effects the rest of the country. All the backlogging that's happening and what not. I have to go through Dallas on my way back... I'm going to check my flight status tomorrow. I tried tonight, but you can only check it one day in advance. Silly in times like these. Anyway, hopefully all works out fine. I've also been told that the weather is supposed to really come down hard on South Dakota on Thursday night... of all the days in this next week. Of course. Anyway... I'm hoping for clear skies and runways.

I guess this post is a little short... I'm sure I may end up writing another one in one of the airports.

So, I will leave you with lyrics. Can you guess them?


"Have you ever wished for an endless night...lassoed the moon and the stars and pulled that rope tight?"

Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas Eve!

Yes, it is Christmas Eve! ^_^

I know that being online isn't the best thing to be doing on Christmas Eve, but we are waiting for more family to show up so there isn't much going on here.

Oh yea... "here" would be my grandparents' place in Arkansas. Well... technically, my sister's grandparents... or my ex-grandparents. (Can you follow that? :S) Anyway, I'm in Arkansas at their lake house. To us South Dakotans, it's nice, fall-type weather here. A light jacket will suffice just about all the time. There isn't any snow... as of yet. Apparently, there's supposed to be no more than an inch on the ground between tonight and tomorrow. We'll have to see. It's nowhere near as much as we have up north. It makes me laugh when people down here think that this is freezing. Hahaha... One things that does make me sad is the bickering that happens with my sister Callie. I'm not sure if it's because we don't see each other much or what, but we seem to bicker over the smallest things. It's not huge.... just always happening. I wish we were closer... geographically and emotionally. I just... I'm not sure what I can do to make it better. There's my Christmas wish. *sigh*

So... sidenote. I've become addicted to those stupid Facebook games... Frontierville and Cityville. Stupid games.

I'm missing Travis tonight. It's our first Christmas together and we're apart. I'm glad he stayed all last weekend with me.

Missing my mom, little sister Hope, and little brother Charlie, too. They're in Iowa. I may not get to see them again until graduation in May. Hopefully, I'll be able to make it back there sometime before that, but I'm not sure how finances and school time off will end up working out just yet. Thinking that 6 months or so off before heading back to grad school will help a lot with catching up on visits. Especially since it'll be the fall semester I'm taking off. I've been told by a few people that taking a semester off is a good idea. That makes me feel better about my decision.

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."--Buddha

Monday, December 20, 2010

Vacay = Time to play!

Alrighty, it's official. I am done!

As far as an assessment of this semester... It wasn't my very best, but definitely wasn't my worst as far as anything goes.

Classes... Art History was my weakness. Studying. Reading about things that I'm not particularly interested in... tough one. The other classes weren't so bad. Relatively laid back semester actually.

Next semester, I'm looking forward to Graphic Effects II. Building my portfolio. I have a pretty good head start, but to be able to finish it will be great. Have I talked about my portfolio idea? Ah ha, I've mentioned it, but haven't gone into detail! Perfect time to....

Okay, so... The theme is "Traveling Artist/Musician." I've had the idea of using this suitcase for a few years now... It wasn't until recently that I came up with a way to tie it into my style as an artist. For my recital last year, I came up with a quote.
"I've got nothing but the paint on my hands and the music in my heart."
I just can't choose between the two so I've decided to combine them. My visual elements are music notes with paint splatters for the note heads. There's also a "swoosh" with 5 lines in it to represent the music staff. So, the suitcase is lined with canvas... looking to add sheet music to the lining. On the top half, there's a place for my computer, my resume/references, my business cards, and a CD/DVD. The bottom half is where all the boards with my artwork will be. I have left the original straps in there to aid with taking the boards out. I'm thinking for the teaser/mini portfolio (the ones the employers get to keep) I'm going to make like a travel photo album looking... thing. lol Some kind of spiral notebook, I think. I've made a list of all the things that I still need to do in order for it to be complete... yea... long list.

ANYWAY... new subject. Um... what though? Oh! My apartment is clean... mostly. All my laundry is done and put away. I'm even packed for Tuesday... ON SUNDAY! LOL Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get ALOT of drawing/artsy stuff done. Sleeping in will be nice, but I'm thinking that it won't be much past 10 am. Or at least I'm kind of hoping. Either way, tomorrow is a day for art. I wanted to today, but working from 6:30 am - 3 pm kinda took that out of me. Hm.. and I guess it's after midnight now. So... technically today is a day for art. haha

Travis is staying with me tomorrow... tonight. (It may take me a while to adjust yet. So whenever I say tomorrow... I mean Monday... which is today. BLEH! :P) Okay... so we are spending Monday night together since it's the last night we'll see each other until next week. I'm hoping he's able to pick me up from the airport next Thursday evening which will be our 6 month anniversary! ^_^ Love him so much. <3

So, my plane leaves Tuesday morning at 11 am... approximately. Meaning that I will have to be at the airport by at least 9 am. Luckily, my friend Alex is going to be kind enough to give me a lift to Sioux Falls at about 7:30 in the morning... even though he is not a morning person. (Thanks, Alex!) I'm excited! I get to see my sister, Callie, my grandparents, my Dad, and more family. Last time I saw them was in May for Callie's high school graduation so it hasn't been that long. Still. Excited!

It's hard to believe it's Christmas already... I mean, by this time next week, it will have been here and gone. Where has this year gone? Seriously? Whoa.

Alright, I went as far as looking up "sign-off phrases"... I think I decided to use quotes. Some random, some not so much. Today, I will use mine. This also helps me to expand my interweb connections. haha





"I've got nothing, but the paint on my hands and the music in my heart." -- Melissa Jean

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Finals, finals, finals....

Well, well, well.....

I meant to post this earlier this week... and then have a post-finals week post. So, instead, I will have a semi-post finals week post... ish. :P

Let's see... I had two group projects, one quiz, and... a pseudo final project. Digital Editing and Graphic Effects I were the two group projects. Relatively easy. The quiz... Art History. I still have to take it, but it's not going to be too bad. Been studying all week. Then, the pseudo project was for Portfolio Development. So pointless, I'm not even going to describe what needed to be done.

Alright, so.... month long vacation. Very excited. Will be taking off next Tuesday to go to Arkansas for Christmas. There's New Year's Eve Party being planned amongst "the guys" and company. (For those who don't know, "the guys" are my group of guy friends including Shaun, Casey, Alex, and Travis. That's the base group... "and company" includes everyone else. :P) I am excited for New Year's Eve with Travis. *kissy face*

Speaking of Travis, I'm totally going to gush for a little while. So completely head over heels. I'm not sure of his extent of awareness on the matter, but I'm pretty sure he knows. lol <3

Hm... what else? I guess more later.

STILL HAVEN'T FIGURED OUT A SIGN OFF PHRASE. HELP!!! I need suggestions.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Spring Break a-coming...

Yea, I know it's a bit early to be thinking about Spring Break... Well, not really, I guess. Travis and I are going to Florida! He's never been and I'm excited to take him there. Started looking at swimsuits... and decided I need to start a workout regiment. Like last month. :P We're hoping to be able to workout together next semester. He has a head start on me with his 3-times a week workouts and 2-times a week Kung Fu classes. :P

Then, I was thinking about Graduate School... and how much work I have to do over Christmas break. I printed off all of the applications that I wanted so I can fill them out beforehand. There's just something about filling out the paper version rather than an online version that's more appealing to me. *shrugs* I like filling out applications... Yea, I'm weird.

Alrighty... So Travis and i are going to Sioux Falls on Friday. ^_^ He's going to be shopping for me for Christmas so I'm going to have to just like hang out in some stores while he's shopping. lol Should be an adventure. He's figured out one of his presents... but not the other ones. :D Well, and I guess I've given him one, technically. However, the other two will stay under wraps (see what I did there? ;)) until we decide to exchange gifts. I imagine it will be sometime during the week after Finals...

Speaking of Finals... No, you know what. Not going into that yet. Not opening that flood gate in my brain until it's ab-so-lutely needed.

NEW SUBJECT! Picked up a copy of the new Trojan Times. Guess who made front page... again. Sorry, that was highly arrogant. However, I'm very excited about it. I've only started to write for the paper this year and I've ended up on the front page about 4 times. I know that it probably just comes down to what fits were, but I have to be little excited when I end up there anyway. I can do that, right? :P The only thing that makes me a little sad is that I don't think the articles are edited after I had them in... There are little errors that I'm completely sure that I made... but they shouldn't end up in the printed article... right? *shrugs* I guess I will really check over my articles next time. lol

Hm... Christmas is fast approaching. Tonight, I set up "my little Christmas" which includes my 2-foot-tall tree, its decorations, a string of lights around my balcony doors and then another string around my balcony railing. Very excited!

I guess that's all that I have for tonight. STILL need a good sign off... haven't had time to find one. :P

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Blow, Blow Thou WInter Wind

Yea... winter is now upon us. We have flurries flying, the wind is howling, and the temperature is down. Ugh. I wanted to just stay in bed today. However, I braved the cold wearing my long socks, pajama pants, jeans, tank top, long sleeved shirt, 2 pairs of gloves, 2 scarves, and my big, white, puffy winter coat. Yes, I have a hate for being cold. It may be a little extreme for today, but being cold is something I can't stand. At all. SO... I bundled up.

I wouldn't have had to wear so much if my car was working. Yep, it's still sitting out at Prairie Junction... I haven't heard from my friend who has a connection to a trailer. I'm hoping by the end of the week, I can have the car in the shop.

So much to do... I think my mind is permanently going to be running in at least 5 directions at once for the rest of my life. It's insane! I have classes, work study, internship, my actual job, applying for graduate school, outside projects, and... oh yea, that thing call life outside of all of that. The little time I do have for my life, I include time with Travis, time to myself, cleaning my apartment, laundry, and socializing with friends. Always. Busy.

Still haven't come up with a "sign off"... thinking I need to look through some lyrics or something. Again, for now...

Melissa Jean

Monday, November 29, 2010

First Post

Well, hello blogging world!

Yes, I've decided to start up a blog... again. Well, I had a MySpace... but we will just not count that.

Thanksgiving Break just ended and I've decided to start a new chapter in my life, sort of. Let me explain.

-First... I want to actually stick to a work out plan. I have until March to get "into shape" for Spring Break. Travis (my boyfriend) and I are going to Florida for that week. Luckily, for the third year in a row, Spring Break has landed on my birthday. I want to at least feel more comfortable in a bikini. I'm especially excited to take Travis with me. It will be our first vacation together... and he's never been to Florida. ^_^

-Second... Going along with the first part, I want to start eating better... A lot less sweets. More healthy stuff. I've been helping Travis in trying to eat better, but I haven't been doing the best job of it. Starting today, I will do a better job!

-Third... I need to get in gear and get my portfolio together. I mean, I have most of the pieces that I want in there... I just have to print them, mount them, and finish up the other supplementary items that go in with it. The theme? "Traveling Artist/Musician." Thoughts?

-Fourth... There are too many things in my apartment that I'm not using... I need to get a sale together and get rid of stuff. If anyone is interested in jewelry, clothes, shoes, photo albums, books, and general stuff, get a hold of me. I'm sure I have something for you.

I guess beyond that it's just a lot of little things that I need to get done. Christmas gifts, cleaning, homework... etc. Obviously, I have my priorities in order, eh? lol Anyway, that's all for now, but I'm looking to post as much as I can.

PS. I love, LOVE P!nk. (Hence the blog name... and such)

Hm... need to think of a signature... for now...

Melissa Jean