hello 23

i welcome you with open arms. bring on the joy, the pain, the tears, the laughter, the low blows, the giddy highs. bring on the long road trips, the negative bank accounts, the accumulating school loan debt. bring on the deep reflections, the stronger connections. bring on the clothes i shouldn’t have bought, bring on the success of a well balanced checkbook.

i’m ready to continue growing, to continue learning, to continue on this life of mine. alongside of william, with appa at our feet, we’ll encounter a number of things we’ve yet to encounter and be all the stronger. i’m anticipating things new, dealing with things past and surrendering to the truths of this world. i’m ready for more healing, i’m ready for more introspective thinking.

i welcome my second year of marriage, i welcome the possibilities floating around us.

don nino, my grandpa

i came across this picture of my mother and my grandpa, who passed away almost 7 years ago. his sweet smile is always with me and quite the reminder to take life easy. if he had it his way, we’d all own rocking chairs, sit on our porches, drink black coffee with fresh cheese and talk about only good things. he always looked to serious but would be the first to break out into laughter over his own jokes. i miss walking into his home and having him greet me with a “la fennifer”…

so here’s to not allowing life to drive us insane, but rather spending it appreciative of beautiful moments that surround all of us.

captivating

 

this beautiful moment has been floating
’round pinterest lately. just documenting it.

jen and appa

if you follow me on instagram, you’ll know that i rarely post pictures
of anything other than my dog. i’m strongly considering changing my blog
name to “jen and appa” because of how much time i spend with my puppy.
i spoil him with an occasional taste of human food + take him everywhere.

unless i’m on campus, i am mostly at home with him.
he licks and sniffs my homework, barks at me when the computer has
my attention more than he does, tries to eat my lunch/dinner.

some evenings we go on dates, which usually consists of a walk around the neighborhood
and a visit to the park. most of the time he’s just sleeping (because he’s still growing)
and i’m just enjoying his company.

he gets sassy with me when i scold him, grumbling little remarks under his breath.
and whenever william comes home, appa scrambles to his feet and tries to beat me for his attention.
of course, i normally win that one.

garden of earthly delights

Bosch, 1505-1510
5 years to complete, interpretation unknown.

29 Ways to Stay Creative

paper airplanes

if you attended my wedding, you remember the cranes all over the barn roof. it was beautiful and a few cranes remain for keepsake. i was wondering around design*sponge this afternoon and spotted a similar idea using paper airplanes and it’s STRIKING. i’ve decided to make a smaller version for a corner in our bedroom. i just needed something else to distract me from homework.

necessities

self doubt is self inhibiting

last night was my friday, today is my…?…and we have monday off for labor day. i feel as if i don’t know what day of the week it is and i’ve so much to do that i’m sure i’ll end this long holiday off in jennifer-style, not quite finished with my projects. or maybe i’ll surprise both myself and my husband by having it all done. we’ll see. 

school is this emotional bliss, work is much more personal and challenging because i’m pushing the talents i posses and making them stronger. learning new techniques, making things that i’ve no idea how to make, so on and so forth. which brings me to words that one of my professors spoke during wednesday nights class.

she was continually correcting several of us for making “chicken scratch” lines in our drawings, telling us we needed to keep the lines fresh & not lift our pens. she won’t let us use pencil yet, saying we rely heavily on an eraser and we need to get past our fear. as artists’, if we’re ever going to progress in our work, we need to learn to be confident in what we can do. if we only do what we feel comfortable doing, we’ll never grow. self-doubt is self inhibiting.

when i saw the video that proceeds this entry, all i could think about was what she said. the precision achieved by big paintbrushes is amazing. the artists make huge lines without blinking and it’s perfect. watching this only amplifies the resounding voice in my head thats telling me to stop being afraid, because i will only be hurting myself.

week one

week one of classes proved wonderful, including a celebratory dinner the first night cooked by william. i spent my week consumed in everything i was learning, several desires floated through my thoughts.

i could be an art history professor
i’ll take pictures of every fun outfit i see
my bookbag feels like its going to break
i love this class
that guys smells really bad
i just waited in line for an hour, fml
walking to class in the rain is perfect
i’m so hungry
this iced coffee is too sweet
i forgot my book
i bought the wrong book
i’ll never get this down
why am i doing this
i love doing this

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