create.

i just made these two layouts. there is this event on the fiskateers board. so there are a bunch of challenges. one was to create a layout/project using orange [you can guess why.] and the other was to create a layout in 20 minutes... 30 if you really needed the extra time.

i love doing monochromatic layouts, so i went with that for the orange layout. maybe it's a bit much, but i really like it. i actually just laid down some papers first and then looked through my photos and this one seemed perfect. i took it [yay for mulitself-portraits. ha.] with the "twilight portrait" mode in my camera. it makes the fun tint and doesn't create a "harsh" flash, so i use it often at night. plus it gives the artsy blurred look if you do it right. :] we are in san francisco [yeah. i know. always, right? it's just that we only seem to take pictures when we go away and that's been the only place we really go.] back to the layout... after i put down th photo i just went a little more crazy adding papers and any red/orange embellishment i could find. i needed something for the top corner, so i painted one of the clear heidi swapp flower with yellow and red. i don't have any orange paint. ha. go figure. oh and then i went a little crazy with the glitter too. this was just totally fun.

the 20 minute challenge turned out to be 28 minutes for me. but i am happy with my page... so i think it's ok. i am not a fast scrapper at all, so i decided to use totally coordinating products to speed things up. i got hung up on picking out the cardstock colors, especially that blue. i wanted something a bit lighter, but all i had was really dark or really bright... so i just went with the dark. i think it's ok. that piece of brown fiber was laying on my desk, so i added it too, but everything else [aside from cardstock and heidi swapp letters] is brand new heidi grace stuff. i am in love with everything she came out with this season. :] the photo is carol and i with our friend. we aren't really friends with him anymore... so i kind of journaled about how friendships can change [notice friendship is broken up to leave end as it's own word], but you can always think back and remember good things. :]

ok. i'm going to go get in the shower. ha. i went straight to scrapping, but i think i should get the dirt off me from earlier.

volunteer.

really. do it. it feels so good to volunteer. it makes me so happy.

waking up at 6:30 isn't really my cup of tea, but it was worth it. we actually moved the foundation of a house today. i couldn't and still can't believe it. [i also can't believe that i didn't bring my camera. ugh.]

afterward, nicole, katie and i went to olive garden to eat. we all agreed on how seriously good it feels to volunteer. so i think we are going to try to do this more often. nicole and i have talked about how we want to show people that we really can build a house. i'll admit that i had some doubts, but after this morning i really do think i can contribute. :]

find a project and volunteer. if you have habitat for humanity in your community, you should give it a try. it's not as intimidating as it might seem. it was actually pretty fun, and the builder was really nice and understanding that we didn't always know exactly what to do. so yeah. try it. or find something to volunteer for.

have a good weekend!

fun.

today i decided to have fun instead of study. i have a cell bio test coming up on tuesday, and i really need to study a lot for it, but today i just couldn't. so i finally got some scrapbooking done. i feel like it's been so long since i've finished a page. i've been trying, but i never finish completely to where i can share them. so here are the two that i made tonight. :]

this first one is for the fiskateers blog. saturday they are having a little "celebrate spring" thing, and it was encouraged to make a page about spring and post it on saturday. i was going to make a two-page layout because i have quite a few fun pictures from this little community service project that i did with my friends, but it was frustrating me to the point where it wasn't fun to work on. so i walked away for a bit and came back with a new idea for a one pager with a big cluster of some of the photos. i'm pretty happy with how it came out. it turns out that i ended up having a lot of fun with it.

this one is something i've had in my mind for so long. it didn't really come out the way i imagined it, but i was getting a little tired of looking at the pictures and not being able to do what i wanted to do with them. so again, i just had fun. this one is so simple, but it makes me happy. i'll probably end up adding some more to it at some point. maybe a little hambly transparency or something. what i would love to do it stitch around the edge of the page with some blue and green threads, but i still don't have a sewing machine. i guess this is like the 3rd or 4th time that i've used this picture. ha. funny thing... it might not be the last time either. :] i can't help it. i just really like this photo of me. makes me smile, which is always good.

one more thing i want to share with you that i can't believe i haven't shared yet... one of the ladies i know from my scrapbook store, angela [it feels weird to call her a friend since she's so much older than me, but she basically is a freind] is a designer for this online scrapbooking show called scrapbook lifestyle. it got picked up a little while back by scrapbooks etc. magazine and it's kind of fun to watch. so here is a link: http://my.bhgscrapbooksetc.com/premium/lifestyle/
you can buy a membership to view all the older ones, but i just watch the freebies... i don't know that it would be money well spent. [let me know if the link doesn't work.]

ok. i'm off to bed. james still has it in his mind that i am going snowboarding tomorrow with him. i'm still kind of trying to get out of it though because it takes so much energy and i have to wake up at 6:30 saturday morning. eeek.

print.

i spent two hours last night and three hours tonight in the darkroom. fun at times, but definitely frustrating at times too. i don't know how many prints i made all together, but i definitely have at least 5 good ones, so i am relieved a little bit.

tomorrow i still have to scramble to shoot and develop some more film. i have at least two rolls to shoot, but i should try to do three. my narrative sequence roll didn't turn out like i wanted it too, so if i have time, i'll need to re-shoot it. then i have to shoot a "set-up" roll where i pose everything and a "controlled lighting" roll where i use artificial lighting. blah. neither of those are very conducive to my final project or the shots i needed to have in order to make my 5 prints. so that is why they have been pushed aside.

otherwise. i've been feeling a little crappy all day. tired. not motivated. slightly grumpy. oh and i fell down the stairs at james' house yesterday, so i'm pretty sore today too. it's a funny story... sort of. i laughed at helix because he was trying to come up the stairs to meet me, but he slipped and fell down the stairs. yeah. a couple seconds later... i took my glorious tumble. james couldn't stop laughing at me. it hurt pretty bad though.

ok. well i'm off to bed. lots to do tomorrow. a good night's sleep will be helpful.

eek.

got a random message tonight from someone from the past.
it felt so good/weird/sad all at the same time to talk to him.

the morning is going to come way too soon.
oh and there is snow on the ground here again. :[
i was liking the warmth.

well. goodnight.

trip.

it was a good trip. :]
we met up with andrew on friday night for some thai food in north beach. it was really yummy actually. andrew and i had a good time catching up and whatnot. then we walked around the city and went to this place called vesuvio. it's a pretty famous old bar-hang out type place of beatnik poets. [that explains the funny sign.] jack kerouac and all the other famous beatniks used to go there. ha. james thought it was interesting too. it reminded him of a german style pub.

what else?
we ate at cheesecake factory of course. :] unfortunately, it was pretty foggy on saturday, which created this misty rain situation. so it was hard to take photos. my lens kept getting all spotted with water. so it was a bummer. we kind of gave up after a bit and just shopped around for a while. i only bought one shirt though. and one camera. ha. see the lomography link over on the side bar? yeah. i bought one of those fun cameras. i don't know when i'll have time to play with it, but i'm looking forward to the day.

that night, james really wanted to eat korean bbq. so we found a place and i think he liked it pretty well. i just got pot stickers because i wasn't feeling adventerous. i can't handle spicy food at all, and in my experience korean food is pretty spicy. even when i ask james if something is spicy and he says "not at all..." it's still spicy to me. so yeah. the pot stickers were good. :] we had taken a cab to get there, but i kind of wanted to walk back, so we did and we came across this beautiful cathedral. it was so pretty all lit up for the night.

today, we woke up a little earlier to start the day. we ate breakfast and then hung out in the room until checkout at noon. then we thought we would go to the park or something. well we ended up driving around in circles so that james could take photos for his final project from the car. it was kind of funny. then we found this free parking space... a total find in the city... right by all the main city buildings, like the library and the court house. so we parked and i took some photos for my final project. i didn't even think to take any with my digital camera. actually. i only took 54 photos on my digital the whole trip. that is like an all-time low for me. [i think i took around 1,000 in just one day in new york city. ha.] after that we headed to the haight. it was actually my first time really walking around that district. james and i both really liked it. [i usually intend to go there, but can never find a parking space, so i just give up.] well we ate lunch there at this amazing little place. askew i think it was called. they had all kinds of skewered meats and i got ribs. yum yum yum. i also had to get some ben and jerry's before we left.

finally, we stopped off at twin peaks. the view is amazing from up there, but it was really foggy and windy today. [note my out of control hair from the wind.] kind of sad. on a clear night though... it's amazing. so pretty. we'll have to go back up there again when the conditions are a bit better.

so yeah. it was a good little trip. i really need to spend a whole week there one of these times. i always leave thinking... too bad there wasn't enough time to do ______. so maybe in a week i could get more done.

i am not ready to go back to school in the morning. man. this break has been so nice. i didn't get to scrapbook nearly enough. i'm sad about that. but i did get to relax a fair amount, so i can't complain too much.

mod podge.

disregard the last post. :]

i've decided that mod podge is good for the soul. i started making this little chipboard mini book tonight. i got my hands so messy with paint and mod podge. i am a happy girl once again. it's not done because some parts have to dry before i can move on, but i am so happy with how it is coming along. super cute. it might not be finished for a while, but it's going to be fun to work on here and there.

anyway. i started packing a little bit and i can already tell that i am going to over pack. i always take this one big bag with me and cram all my stuff into it. i think i'll be doing a little extra cramming tomorrow morning. ha. i just don't know exactly what to bring because i did all my laundry today, so all my favorite outfits are clean. i can't narrow it down. :]

blah.

i'm feeling sick.

i'm feeling anxious.

i'm feeling frustrated.

and i don't know why.

i spent the day doing laundry and picking up some necessities at target. i took care of some things for my club and worked on my research grant/scholarship application. so i checked things off my to-do list. but i don't feel like i accomplished anything. i don't know why. and i am stressing out about going to the city tomorrow. why is it stressing me out!? it should be making me happy. i just feel like there are things i need to do at home before school, but i did all those things today. grr. and i have my midterm due for photography on wednesday so i need to shoot my film in the city.

i wish i could calm down. i wish i could handle pressure a little better. but i always just crack. and for no apparent reason.

james is out with his friends and i called him because he usually makes me feel better. it didn't work. his friends were shouting at him and whatnot. it just made me even more frustrated.

so maybe i'll go shower and see if i can get rid of this blah-ness. :-/