I got it

I got the internship at PrintFresh, and am totally fired up to come to work everyday right outside old city and make pretty fabric designs. Though I will miss Abby not going to asheville.

Donna and I celebrated with some fantastic chocolate cake, and I'm pumped to spend an entire month with her.

I bailed on Snowboarding because it is about 60 degrees outside and slush does not sound like fun.

Find your power song

I have an interview for an internship tomorrow in Philly with a textile designer. I have no hopes or expectations, but I am totally nervous about showing her my work. It's such a vulnerable position to be put in, to show someone the product of nearly 4 years of your life, and things you really think are cool and care about...and then for the possibility of someone to reject that is somewhat gut wrenching.

But not to fear because I found the solution while waiting for my tires to be changed at walmart for three hours today (shoot me in the face). I picked up a "real simple" magazine and read this sweet article by one of their life coaches. It said that in situations such as these you must have a power song. The woman who wrote the article preferred one by Barbara Steissand and sung it aloud while marching to a publishing interview. She insists that it builds the confidence needed to make an impression.

I searched long and hard and I'm pretty sure mine's that freaking De'sree song "You Gotta Be".

Wish me luck navigating Philly, finding Schwartz and Craig, and that I don't break my neck snow boarding with the rest of the cool kids.

wedding invites

Maarten asked me a few months ago to design his wedding invitations. I was totally flattered and sort of scared. I decided to use it as an excuse to learn how to use the letterpress. With Melissa's help they turned out great. Here are some pics from the process.

the press

set type


all done

It was a marathon of printing yesterday, but now they just need to be cut. It's kind of cool to handle all of the lead type and get ink all over you. You get such an appreciation of letters by setting them individually and looking for little quirks and damaged type. You have to pay serious attention. I have no idea how people set entire books on these things. I will never look at my keyboard the same way again.

I'm going to Asheville

This January I will be chillin in the mountains of Asheville North Carolina, land of hippies, amazing thai food, and my best friend Abby Sadler. I will be spending my days working at a letterpress studio. That means using a printing press and carving woodblocks to make some beautiful artwork.

+

= an incredible january

I've been e-mailing with this awesome guy Lance from the letterpress place and he concluded his last e-mail with these words:
Well, if you end up in Asheville, drop a line and
we'll either put you to work or hand you a beer,
probably both.
Best luck,
Lance

I think this is going to be a beautiful friendship.

opposites attract

Carolyn, Donna and I were talking about how ridiculously different we are to be such good friends. We made our own little profiles which I promised to post online. You can tell our exam week has been ridiculously slow, so here's to procrastination.

Carolyn
Most requested movie: Harry Potter
Future career: guidance counsler
Is: clean
"Type":short redheads
Wants:4 kids
Music: anything but country
Food: she's the Baker....icecream
Sport: cheerleader
Escape: procrastinating, gift giving
Accessory: ribbons
What catches her attention in guys: humor, dancing
Dream store: J-Crew
Happy place: snowboarding, watching the stars
Board game: guess who
Her husband: wears cologne and a suit everyday
Wants: Someone who likes her, makes her laugh and listens
Scent: mom- clinique happy, soft- vanilla, date- pink
Wants to Live: Colorado
House: modest but homey
Show: Oprah
Downfall show: 20/20
Dream car: BMW Z3


Donna
Most requested movie: Pride & Prejudice
Future career: History and English teacher
Is: excessively clean/OCD
"Type": hairy testosterone-y "lumber jacks"
Wants:2 maybe 3
Music: classic rock & dirty rap
Food: frozen vegetables and anything involving buffalo sauce and bleu cheese
Sport: basketball & softball
Escape: scrapbooking
Accessory: stilettos
What catches her attention in guys: facial hair and great hands
Dream store: Banana Republic, Neiman Marcus
Happy place: beach and historical spots
Board game: settlers & Risk
Her husband: teaches and travels with me during the summer
Wants: considerate realist
Scent: Miracle by Lancome
Wants to Live: DE or NJ
House: big old restored historical house
Show: Grey's
Downfall show: Flavor of Love
Dream car: anything Jeep


Haley
Most requested movie: Fight Club
Future career: Artist-designer
Is: contained mess
"Type": dirty artsy boys
Wants: a ton of foster kids
Music: indie folk, socially concious rap
Food: cheese and eggs
Sport: swimming, lax, alt sports longboarding-surfing
Escape: sleep and biking
Accessory: wierd jewelry, old t-shirts
What catches her attention in guys: emo glasses
Dream store: Anthropologie and Marc Jacobs
Happy place: coffee shops, outside, local desserted places (jetty)
Board game: scrabble
Her husband: architect
Wants: grounded idealist
Scent: not vanilla
Wants to Live: beach or mountains
House: big farm house
Show: Oprah
Downfall show: Flavor of Love
Dream car: old and cool- oldschool woody wagon, comet

the potato incident

Me and Wally trying to catch claire's mashed potatos.

I made up a new phrase today

I was thinking today in the shower, where most good thinking goes on. I was thinking about all the talk I've heard lately about idealism about dating the oak tree or the romantic and about saving the world. I came up with this cool new phrase that will be a part of your vocabulary in a year.

The grounded idealist...perfect right? It's the person that wants to save the world, but knows that changing the world doesn't come with grand gestures, but rather small revolutions. Deniene told me the key to life was finding something you love and doing it, and finding people to love and invest in. I told her she was crushing my dreams, but she's right. Grounded idealist it is.

nice little animation

I tried so hard to fail

I failed my independent study today, well I tried to fail in it. 4 studio arts classes are kind of overwhelming, so I wrote my professor a letter of accpetance of my grade so that he didn't have to feel so bad failing the student who he awarded the Craig Cutler award to last year (don't you love irony?). Here's a copy of the letter:

Dear Bill,

I have always thrived on positive reinforcement, gold stars, and those cute little check marks you receive on exams. I have worn them as badges of validation my entire life.

This semester I took on too much. I thought I could do everything. I had the best intentions of being awesome. My photos this semester have sucked because I didn’t take the time to make them good, and the contact sheets void of creativity were just too stifling. I gave up. I thought I could throw something together, but half assessed is not what we are taught to do here.

I have never failed a class before. Actually it used to terrify me. Through this independent study I have learned that failure is an opportunity to do something ballsy, and unexpected. Something like this. This grade reflects more things learned than most of the As I have received. It is hard to own failure, to accept that you did not even come close to doing good enough. Now I’ve never been more excited to earn a grade. I’ll probably hang it on the refridgerator once I get it.

Bill you love giving As and you love giving Fs. I proudly accept my failing grade for this semester.

Haley


To this he replied that he would not let me off that easily and that I must make up the class over wintersession. I have failed at failing.

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
-The Great Gatsby

Venting

Some things that pretty much just suck
-being sick during finals week
-expensive parking tickets
-still not having an internship
-looking at your bank statement while getting money to pay the parking ticket
-when the alarm on your phone is set to vibrate and it doesn't wake you up
-when you miss half of a review session for a final you have because your alarm doesn't go off
-running out of printer ink when you really need it
-the way your back feels after screen printing until all hours of the morning

It's always darkest before the dawn? I'm expecting some daylight any day now.

In other Haley news I picked up the latest issue of Hobo. It is a beautiful magazine! Amazing photographs, poetic writing and published on 100% recycled paper.
Check it

SPANDEX

Donna and I were wondering what this whole spandex craze on campus is about. You've seen those sorority girls rocking it. We decided we'd give it a go, and it my friends is amazing.

Video Blogs

Check this sweet video pieced together from YouTube blogs.

just a thought

“Gross National Product measures neither the health of our children, the quality of their education, nor the joy of their play. It measures neither the beauty of our poetry, nor the strength of our marriages. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It measures neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our wit nor our courage, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything in short, except that which makes life worth living. It can tell us everything about our country, except those things that make us proud to be a part of it.”
-bobby kennedy

impatient

Sitting here wondering, waiting, and thinking that I overshot my internship. I applied to 2 amazing places that are Exactly spot on where I want to learn. One's in Toronto and one's in Italy. I'm kind of more afraid of what happens if I get the internship...about having to go somewhere way out of my comfort zone. Wondering if I should have played it safe and questioning why Ashley talked me out of the place in Philly where I wanted to go. I've been thinking a lot about the fear of success. I think way too much attention is given to failure. I'm freaked out about being important, and about really getting out of sussex county. I think I'm made for big stuff, but every now and then I need a pep talk. I pray that one of these places is where God wants me to be.

"knowing is better than wondering, waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beat the hell out of never trying" thanks Meredith Grey

Keytars and Naan

Last night Joel convinced Claire and I to go and see the band mute math in Philly. They had the lost in the 80's instrument the keytar, which was awesome. It was a highly entertaining show. The drummer was a beast and I had never really seen a fretless electric bass. My favorite part of the evenening was heading to Old City to catch the beginning of the first friday art shows and getting Joel to speak about form and concepts with Claire and I the art majors. They're my new favorite adventure kids.

veggie spoons

I love the UK company Howies. They always have super interesting quips about things we can do differently to improve our world. Here's one of their new articles on biodegradable cutlery


forks made from potato starch

I'm also reading this Bruce Mau book on massive change through design and I love that he finds a way to embrace large corporations and the idea that, "One incremental change for them becomes massive change for the entire industry". Imagine if McDonald's used potato forks.

nyc weekend

Here are some photos from this weekend in NYC for the tokion creativity conference. Story to follow.

groundhog day

I was having a sad morning, and was overanalyzing life while walking to class when out of my peripheral vision I saw an ENORMOUS groundhog. Like the size of a small dog. It turned and looked at me and then scampered away. I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the absurdity of the situation ,and how rotund the creature was. Groundhogs sure do have a way of putting life into perspective.

So I could sit here and pretend that I'm way too cool for Martha Stewart, but it'd be a lie. I love her new magazine Blueprint, it has some super sweet ideas and recipes for sweet potatos. And plus now:

Bluegrass

I'm doing an independent photo study with my favorite professor Bill, and I'm working on doing photo essays all semester. One of my classmates, Austin, had read about this bluegrass group who meets on Thursday nights to play, so Kendra and I decided to check it out. We didn't really know what to expect, but it definitely wasn't 15 people ages 60+ to be sitting in a circle playing mandolin, bass, banjo, and lots of guitars...which is what we walked into. We sat down and listened, and were congenial when I asked to bust out my camera, and even made us play a little bit. Good thing we know all of 3 chords. It was one of the most pleasant random experiences ever. I love getting out of my box.

Aviator hats

I went for my weekly bowling excusion with all the cool kids, and I was bowling alright when from across the room I spot the coolest canvas aviator hat in the whole world. It was kind of like this leather one I wore all the time when I was little and wanted to be a jet pilot, or shirley temple.


I decided that wearing the hat would most definitely improve my game, so I went and tapped the guy on the shoulder who was wearing the hat (and a sweet Harry Potter shirt) and politely explained my situation. He was wierded out at first, but soon allowed me to rock the sweet hat if I promised to be careful and return it safely. I went and bowled and got a strike on the next frame. The hat worked the crowd cheered and I brought the hat back to it's owner thinking I would never see this guy ever again. Then today while walking back from the studio I hear this guy yelling "HEEEEEYYY you wore my hat!" and he was sporting the same stellar hat I was like "bowling boy!" and now I have a new friend named Rodney who is a painting grad student and shares my love of sweet headwear.

The Simple Way

I got a letter today from one of my favorite new authors Shane Claiborne.

I want to design stuff for his organization, and he's interested. I just want an opportunity to use these gifts and education to serve and educate people. I think this is the perfect opportunity.

Here's a little on Shane:

Many of us find ourselves caught somewhere between unbelieving activists and inactive believers. We can write a check to feed starving children or hold signs in the streets and feel like we’ve made a difference without ever encountering the faces of the suffering masses. In this book, Shane Claiborne describes an authentic faith rooted in belief, action, and love, inviting us into a movement of the Spirit that begins inside each of us and extends into a broken world. Shane’s faith led him to dress the wounds of lepers with Mother Teresa, visit families in Iraq amidst bombings, and dump $10,000 in coins and bills on Wall Street to redistribute wealth. Shane lives out this revolution each day in his local neighborhood, an impoverished community in North Philadelphia, by living among the homeless, helping local kids with homework, and “practicing resurrection” in the forgotten places of our world.

Free Derek Webb

Derek Webb formerly of Caedmon's call has been giving away his album online. It's pretty great, very political and honest.
Get the album

A bunch of kids walked out of his concert when he sang this line:

there are two great lies that i’ve heard:
“the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die”
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican

Apparently the truth is polarizing

My favorite is the rich young ruler song:

poverty is so hard to see
when it’s only on your tv and twenty miles across town
where we’re all living so good
that we moved out of Jesus’ neighborhood
where he’s hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash
he says, more than just your cash and coin
i want your time, i want your voice
i want the things you just can’t give me

frank gehry

I have never ever wanted a piece of tiffany's jewelry until today. My favorite architect Frank Gehry just designed a line for them.
check it out

Anyone want to buy me these?

Drop Dead Fred

"I am a loner, a crazy wide eyed loner on a doomed mission to Venus to battle with the 3 headed mega beast but on the way I caught cornflakes disease. "
-Drop Dead Fred

I watched this with Kenj and Ben tonight and was the highlight of my day. Followed closely by Mr. Geshay's Bible study.

I think I'm in desperate need of some alone time even just 2 weeks into the semester. Sometimes I feel like my life is one of those VW commercials where everythings going great and then you get into a head on collision. Confronting things is hard, and a skill I'm lacking. I think an imaginary friend like Drop Dead Fred would be the coolest though...to keep things interesting and in perspective, and help you face your fears.

Psycho

Here are some psycho christian fundementalists if you feel like being ridiculously creeped out.
Check out Jesus Camp

Jesus and hamburger buns

We had our first BBQ of the year yesterday to break in the new house.

The night before Carolyn, Jess, Ash and I were laughing HYSTERICALLY because we hadn't bought anything or knew if the grill worked and the invitation said it went from 12:00-8:00. Donna was not really amused and was getting really upset at our poor planning, so I prayed that God would bless the BBQ and provide hamburger buns since that was Donna's biggest concern. Seriously she was almost in tears over the buns.

So the next morning Donna was on her way home from some meeting and discovers a pile of buns on our front porch, comes in and says to Carolyn,"there is a God and he provided buns" and Carolyn starts dying and says,"there is a God and there's also a Molly who dropped off the buns this morning."

If anyone's having a BBQ we have about 80 left over blessed hamburger and hot dog buns.

cool introduction

I'm officially moved into 103 New London road with 3 of the coolest girls of life. The photos have been hung, my car unpacked and clothes put away. I also met our neighbors...

I was walking outside to go on a bike ride, and when I bike I like to look like a cyclist....aka ridiculous. I had on my full spandex outfit and was happily greeted by the boys next door barbecuing. I'm pretty sure I freaked them out for life. It was PERFECT.

Before I left for school I went and saw Little Miss Sunshine. It was great. A nice modern commentary on what it means to be successful. I went to see the movie by myself, which I'd never done before. It was really cool though. Pretty entertaining.

A couple weeks ago I saw Iron and Wine play in Brooklyn in an abandoned swimming pool. And then we went to this place called the Barcade where they had all of these old school video games. I played tetris for hours.

Mccarren Pool

it was abandoned for over 20 years and then they decided to make it into a concert venue last summer. It holds over 6,800 swimmers, and was built by the WPA in the 1930's.

the coolest bookstore

This is the coolest kids book store of life in Beijing.

China's cool.

A first

Today began with taking the Dailey's family portrait on the beach...they're all kind of squinting so I want to do it over on a Lifeguard stand. Then Abby, Megan, Deniene and I celebrated Nener's 33 birthday with Johnny Appleseed sandwiches at Java Beach. They're amazing with turkey, brie, green apples, and pesto on whole wheat. I could basically live on them.

Then it was pool time where I made the boys do a photo shoot for me. Here's Brandon and Luke doing there thing.



It was pretty funny with me floating on a raft with my camera under the diving board...but I like the way they turned out.
Then we headed to the pond and went wakeboarding and tubing, where I stood up wakeboarding for the very first time with my ridiculously patient friends. We also had tube wrestling gloriousness.

Followed by Ethos, our night church, where none other than Matt King showed up. We talked about a sweet passage in Acts 10. Go check it out. And ending the night with Ritas.
I'm exhauuuusted, but I love days off!

Don't ship to Italy

I'm selling this Paul Frank Flamingo purse on Ebay, and received an inquiry from a person from Italy about shipping, because they wanted the bag. I looked into it, and more suprising than the cost to ship things was the articles you are not allowed to ship to Italy. The list of prohibitted items includes:
Albums of any kind (of photographs, postcards, postage stamps, etc.).


Artificial flowers and fruits and accessories for them.

Bells and other musical instruments and parts thereof.

Cartridge caps; cartridges.

Clocks and supplies for clocks.

Coral mounted in any way.

Ether and chloroform.

Exposed photographic and cinematographic films.

Footwear of any kind.

Haberdashery and sewn articles of any kind, including trimmings and lace; handkerchiefs; scarves; shawls, needlework including stockings and gloves; bonnets, caps, and hats of any kind.

Hair and articles made of hair.

Human remains.

Leather goods.

Live bees, leeches, and silkworms.

Nutmeg, vanilla; sea salt, rock salt; saffron.

Parasites and predators of harmful insects.

Perfumery goods of all kinds (except soap).

Playing cards of any kind.

Radioactive materials.

Ribbons for typewriters.

Roasted or ground coffee and its substitutes; roasted chicory.

Saccharine and all products containing saccharine.

Salted, smoked or otherwise prepared meats; fats; and lard.

Toys not made wholly of wood.

Treated skins and furs.

And if you don't believe me here is the official US postal service website explaining everything. http://pe.usps.gov/text/imm/immicl/immiclhk_012.html

Remember no Haberdashery.

So

I'm pretty sure I need this.

It's a remote controlled plane that comes with a mini digital camera so that you can take arial photographs.
more info

Summer Fun

Today started off with a rousing game of tennis with Deniene. Balls flying everywhere and us running around like maniacs. It was glorious. Hopefully playing with her will improve my game. We've decided sports like that are good for your careers since you can make quality business contacts. Maybe next time I'll rock a tennis skirt and polo...maybe not.

Abizaks has been sweet, too bad my coworker heather's leaving me for the weekend.
We just unpacked a boatload of cutting boards, so if you're in dyer need of a bamboo tuna cutting board we've got you covered.

I got a myspace message from my friend Virginia telling (not asking) me that I'm taking pictures for her at the state fair tomorrow since she works for our local newspaper the Cape Gazette. That's fine with me since we get to ride everything for freeeeee and hang out with some elephants and the smallest woman in the world. Tomorrow should definitely be interesting.

My mom also had this brilliant idea to marinate chicken cutlets in hot wing sauce so they taste like hot wings but without the mess and fatty fried deliciousness. She is brilliant.

photos

Other people's photos from the trip since I can't find my camera cable :o(

in line for Wimbledon

tree climbing on the fourth

VC gang symbol

Tower Bridge

Banksy Graffiti

Stone Henge

Back at home

It's nice to be at home and unpacked. Last night Megan, Adam, Brandon, Scott, Jacob and I went tubing/wakeboarding on the bay before Bible study. It was absolutely gorgeous and one of those times where you're convinced God wants to bless us out of control.

My grandfather and I had some quality bonding time fixing up my uncles old road bike so that I can attempt to train for the bike to the bay. We put on new tubes and tires and I was super proud until on my 2nd time out I apparently broke the nozzle and got a flat tire. Sad day. It's pretty cool though...and pink.

Today starts my day back at Abizaks the cool contemporary furniture store I am working at during the Summer.

Back to work.

time to start packing

More fun stuff

4th of July was super fun with a BBQ in hyde park, some quality soccer and tree climbing festivities.

Feeding the birds at St. Paul's cathedral a la Mary Poppins singing "feed the birds tuppence a bag"

Walking across Abbey Road and snapping photos with the other tourists.

Going to see some woman designer who does everything, and decided to make a gallery in her kitchen and now it's world renowned called "her house". She also designs museum exhibits, plates, packaging etc and has an awesome space that used to be a bar in Brixton.

Going for tea at the Muffin Man (sadly not on Drury Lane).

And spending about 6 hours in this crazy department store called sufferages eating tofu at this place called yo sushi where all the food is on a conveyorbelt while you sit at a bar like area and pick up the dishes you wish to eat.

1 more full day here...I'm kind of ready to go home and make my own fun stuff, and to stop spending money.

Centre Court

So you probably saw me on TV yesterday since I know you're all such avid tennis watchers. 11 of us queed up for Wimbledon on Sunday and camped out on the sidewalk for 24 hours under tarps to get the sickest seats for Wimbledon ever. We met some fun British people, played lots of Uno, some football with some old drunk men who taught us the British national anthem, ate gross pizza, were filmed by Fox News singing our national anthem...and then were in the 3rd row in the corner of the court watching Federer, Murray, and Baghdatis play some ridiculous tennis. Murray is Scottish, 19, and beat Andre Agassi. It was cool watching him play and then watching Federer because Murray has a foul mouth and was a total punk, while Federer knows that he's amazing and has nothing to prove and was a great sport. We ate some strawberries and cream, and called it an awesome day.

Saturday we went to Brighton beach which is an hour train ride from the city and it was awesome to swim in the ocean. I flipping miss the beach. They have pebbles instead of sand which was interesting, but other than that it was just like home.

Drinking tea in the park has been another highlight of my trip. Greg, Adam and I went on a journey through hyde park and saw the Peter pan statue and Princess Di Memorial, fed swans a "prawn and rocket sandwich" with some little kid and had tea and scones by the water. It was adorable especially considering the guys that I was with are not tea and scones kind of guys...absolutely classic.

Deal or no Deal

In a severe state of exhaustion from being constantly on the go and trying to pack stuff in. I already tried writing this post, but the stupid computer deleted it, so I'm going to try again. The first one was really witty and clever and a literary masterpiece though...I'm really sorry you had to miss out.

I've been trying to think of some projects to get all of this creativity out when I get home. I really would like to do a graphic simple version of the gospel where it's just honest, entertaining, and would help people get it. Being here has enforced my idea that people claim to have an understanding of faith and christianity but don't understand the relevance of Christ. I also am fairly obsessed with metaphors that help you understand biblical concepts a la CS Lewis and GK Chesterton. I really would like to do a letterpress project just for myself with that. Another project is a shirt with velcro where I can attach felt character that look like ugly dolls to the outside and clooooothes since I can't afford any here. Though I did go to the French Connection warehouse in the ghetto of East London and got a rockin dress for 10 pounds and proceeded to wash and shrink in our sketchy washers we have. In the immortal words of Carolyn "SAD DAY".

If anyone wants to buy me a present my friends and I visited the coolest book store of life today Magma . I think my amazon wishlist is going to be 80 million books long by the end of this trip.

I wanted to post some more funny things that have happened that I forgot to post:

In prague there was a rugby team staying in our hotel who dressed up as french maids and went around with feather dusters quoting "deal or no deal" all night and seranading my friend Mandi with Barry Mannnilow's classic song "Mandy".

My friends who went to Italy over the break quasi hitchhiked to Rome with a man who had no hands and drove them into the city. His name is "Tony no hands" and he owns a bar here in London.

My favorite part of our Baseline (awesome type magazine) visit was playing hide and go seek with the owners daughter who is 4. She told me to "go hide in the other room under the table and she'd come find me". I really relate to 4 year olds, they rock. The designers weren't that entertained though.

Steph said she's moving into my Utopian city, so I'm pretty excited. And I can't stop eating these chocolate covered digestive cookies. They sound gross but they're AMAZING. We're making smores with them for July 4th.

London Macs

Spending another quality Sunday with Greg (it's our new tradition). We went to church at All Souls once again and it was an amazing talk on Hebrews 13:7-14. Right now we're in Oxford Circus at the ginormous mac store and it feels like home. I miss my powerbook like whoa. Now we're off to Camden market and more sightseeing...I just thought it'd be cool to write a blog from the British mac store.

We Will Rock You

Today I saw my first West End production (equivalent to Broadway). We saw We Will Rock You, a musical based on the music of Queen. It was a crazy production of fantastic lights and awesome set design. It was an odd blend of science fiction, Bohemian ideals, and amazing voices. Here's the poster:

I think we're going to see Mary Poppins on Wednesday.

Last week we saw stone carvers, and did a sweet letterpress workshop where we used the printing presses to make some posters. We also went to the Barbican which is built around utopian ideals for a community and is now the center of the arts in London. We saw a crazy exhibit on modern utopian architecture and city planning, and then I went to see a movie about Lagos the Nigerian City who's population is exploding out of control. It's kind of hard to take everything in and my mind's on information overload, but after my urban communities class all of this urban planning stuff is absolutely fascinating. I wonder if I can build a city with a graphic design degree, maybe I'll team up with my architect friend Brandon and build our own metropolis. If you actually read this thing then you're totally invited to move in.

Back to the flat

Last night we did a farewell Prague boat tour and dinner on some river I can't pronounce and it was fantastic. Being there is like being on the set of some surreal movie where everything is beautiful. My favorite part of the evening was ballroom dancing and my friend Sarah asking some old man to dance. Sam who is the self proclaimed and undisputed "asshole" of the class for whatever reason thinks I'm cool and we tore it up with our mad dancing skills (aka we are the worst dancers of life) and it was absolutely hilarious. I went to a phenomenal photo exhibit, and went to lots of museums. My favorite store is one called Qubus which is this little design store filled with crazy modern design pieces from young Czech designers.

We went to this Jewish cemetery which is the only plot of land that Jewish people were allowed to be buried in for a long time, and the people are buried 12 layers deep and everyone has a headstone, so you just see this sea of jammed headstones with crazy beautiful Hebrew written on it. It's totally bizarre because it's a huge tourist destination, so people are snapping away pictures and tour guides are leading people through a burial ground.


After this past week I say forget London I'm moving to Prague.

Prague 2

Getting ready to head out for an adventure in the Jewish Quarter of Prague. Yesterday was so cool watching the Czech vs. Ghana World cup game from Prague Square with all the crazy Czech people.

We watched it on a huge screen here and it was packed with people.

Welcome to Prague

Nine friends and I arrived safely in Prague yesterday, and it is a GORGEOUS city. Kind of circus like and a whole new world. I get kind of embarrassed every time someone says something and smiles at me and all I can do is blush and say "I speak English". So weird.

We went exploring today and visited the Prague castle which sits on a hill overlooking the red terracota roofs of the city. The old gothic architecture is amazing. They're also famous for their puppet making, so my friend matt got one which we named Kafka since this is his hometown. We're watching lots of world cup and enjoying Prague's infamous hot dogs and Pilsner.

It's pretty liberating to just book your own flight and hotel (and get a sweet deal) and head off to a foreign country with your friends. Though highly entertaining trying to get around when no one has a clue what you're saying. I'm a big fan of these adventures and the Czech Republic.

modernism

We saw an exhibit at the V&A yesterday on Modernism, and it really struck me how almost spiritual it is. They believed that society would change not with revolution, but with the change of your environment. That things should be clean, healthy, light, and full of fresh air. Everything should be stripped on non essential elements and that everything should be designed for functionality.

I definitely don't think that all of the worlds problems can be solved by redesigning simpler lives, but I do really think they were on to something. On leadership weekend one of the older leaders TK was talking about how we clutter our lives and how distracting it is. I love a lot of their aesthetics of big windows and clean lines, how everything has it's place. I love how experimental, controversial, and inventive they were. I love that they were naive enough to think they could change the world.

modernism at the V&A

We also poked around Alan Fletcher's studio. He's 76 and still designing and started the company Pentagram which I mentioned in a different blog. He was the craziest packrat, but everything was ridiculously organized. A nice contrast to the other exhibit. He's totally a grandfather and really witty and insists that he's never worked that he only plays. His artwork is ridiculously simply smart and playful. So awesome.

I've had the most amazing time bonding with my flatmates and a couple other kids. We just stayed in and hung out last night laughing hysterically over the most random stuff ever.

Today we listened to this guy who writes books about designers and learned about why we need to know design history and putting it in a cultural context. Seeing how things have changed. We also had a talk from Peter Saville who's really super famous here for New Order and Joy Division album covers, and he told us about how graphic design these days scares him. How you do have a lot of power, and how a lot of people do really crappy work. It just makes you want to soak it all in and do your own thing. So much to take in, and I'm totally drained writing this. There's sooo much more, but just ask if you care.

all souls

This week's been pretty interesting with constant motion and getting acclimated, but today I had the best day yet with some serious confirmation that this is exactly where I'm supposed to be. Greg and I went to all souls today for church after Curry's recommendation. It was great. It's in Oxford Circus and in this really sweet building. It was pretty traditional with the hymns and whatnot, and the guest pastor was awesome. He spoke on being a Christian in the work place (or in my case at school) and how important it is to pray for our coworkers and love them. He also slipped in that he had worked for an ad agency in New York for a few years at which point Greg and I turned and stared at each other (since we're on a ad and graphic design trip). We asked him afterwards where he worked and he replied Ogilvy at which point our jaws dropped because that is "the" advertising firm, and then we discussed the fonts in his presentation and the spiritual life of London. It was awesome.

Then we explored Herod's; London's premiere mall where all we could afford was a starbucks coffee. Everything was so overwhelming, everything from the most expensive designer bags and contemporary furniture to a floor of gourmet food from all over the world. AMAZING. Then we went to the Natural history museum on a search for Archie the giant squid which we couldn't find.

Then we went to this Thai restaurant/British pub and had some green curry and fried bananas when the American couple next to us asked where we were from. We replied Delaware and immediately the couple at another table spun around and asked, "DID YOU SAY DELAWARE?!?!" and we said yes, and they replied that they were from Laurel. This world is way too small.

Later we went back to a place called "Bar haha" which is strikingly similar to Brew Haha where I hang at home for another all soul's function which used proverbs to relate to how we act in the workplace. It's the only church function I've ever been to where they serve free beer and orange juice. Super interesting. I talked to a young woman architect from Greece who was so flipping awesome. Today has been such a good day especially after feeling like kind of an outsider for the past week. Sometimes I find it really hard to relate to some people who are so different from me and hold such diferent values. It can be such a struggle, but today was awesome to have the undeniable sense that I am not alone.

really early

"Come, Thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise."

Today we left out flats at 2:30am to catch the sunrise at Stonehenge. We were standing inside the ancient ruin watching the sun come up over these amazing rolling hills and pastures filled with sheep. Since it's like a giant ancient clock/calendar it made me think about our need to place ourselves in the cosmos, and see where we stand in time.

After that we headed to Salisbury cathedral, which was absolutely beautiful. But you can't help but sit and think what their intention was in building this giant building with the bodies of all kinds of people buried there. It's just so huge and grandiose and unnecessary. I don't know if I like it.

We've also been touring these amazing design studios such as Pentagram, and Michael Johnson . Just hearing about what it takes to be good in the industry. I like Michael Johnson because he describes his business as a Robin Hood company. He takes on Huge clients to pay the bills and ultimately do free design for the museums and things that he really cares about. He's also an amazing guitar player.We went to the V&A museum yesterday and saw a photo exhibit on the iconic image of Che Guavera. I'd already seen the exhibit at ICP in New York, but somehow everything just looks cooler here. The way it was set up the exhibit was so much better organized. We also saw an exhibit on 60's clothes in london and psychadelic 60's posters which was fun.

We went to the design school here in london to get a taste of how they do things "across the pond" and I was blown away by their photo department. I'm seriously considering switching from graphic design to photography as a concentration. I need to have a long talk with Bill about it.

Another beautiful experience was on Wednesday my friend Melissa was having a really bad day, and I was exhausted and feeling a little lonely, so we decided to go on an adventure. We ended up at the Tower Bridge and it was lit up and pretty much breathtaking. We walked across to this outdoor ampitheatre right on the Thames and watched this old black and white film outside. It was fantastic.

I won't bore you guys anymore, but things are going well. Still getting used to stuff, and figuring things out. I wish some of you were here! I miss you a ton.

coloring is an art

Today we went to the British Museum to see some artwork. I got really excited when the children's brochure stated that they loan crayons to entertain your kids. I got a funny look from the woman when I asked for coloring supplies, so I added "for the kids" and we were off. Luke, Matt, Lauren, Nikki and I sat drawing one of the "Heech" statues. We attracted the attention of a number of visitors including the curator of the exhibit who told us that heech=nothing in Persian.

We also talked briefly to David Bailey after spotting him in his flat. We've also just been figuring out how to get around on the tubes and buses and where to find everything. It's basically like New York with British accents minus a couple things like:
Dryers don't actually dry your clothes
it doesn't get hot
still have to think too much before crossing the street
hot dogs are not hot dogs and you will waste $4 buying one
and
everything is twice as expensive

We're living in the Arab part of town so that's wierd too because there isn't a lot of english being spoken. Also English people are really nice and witty.

Later

Here

"I watch the patchwork farms
slow fade into the oceans arms
Calm down, release your cares
the stale taste of recycled air"
-Postal Service

I love the view from airplanes.

I'm here chillin in London with my rockin flatmates. I'm so happy because the flight was sweet, and we have really huge windows.

We're going to the Royal College of Art tonight for a rockin Art Show. That's about it, it's pretty chill here. Our missions for the day are to find a post office to exchange some money and get some bangers and mash or something.

Cheerio

Life is crazy

So today...the day before we leave for London my crazy ad professor Ray (the guy who wears all black) retired from the program and will not be accompanying us to London. We'll still be going, but Bill my photo professor is taking charge. Pretty much hilarious.

So fired up to take off tomorrow with 31 of my favorite people that I have 3 years invested in. They are awesome! I'm living with 2 girls, one looks like a crazy little punk rocker and she works at a piercing and tattoo place (she's got crazy piercings) but she's really down to earth and listens to sweet music. The other is Nooey and she's super cool and pretty normal compared to most art students but she's not without her quirks. I'm a huge fan of both of them.

Also last night I hung out with my crew from home, Meghan and her bf Jacob and Abby's bf Luke, and Brandon and it kind of made me sad to leave. It's so great to chill on the beach and act totally goofy with them. I've also decided that I am completely blessed that my friends have such amazing boyfriends (Matty and Pete included). They are absolutely amazing people that I'm totally lucky to be around.

Homeward Bound

I am officially moved out of my dorm, but my junk, however, is not. Apparently I've accumulated so much stuff that it wouldn't all fit in the Explorer on the way home. Luckily Joe and my roommate Steph are going to be kind enough to take the rest of it home with them (I don't know how they put up with me). The front room is packed with my stuff and this is one of those times when I cannot pretend that I'm a minimalist (sometimes I convince myself I am). It's pretty overwhelming. I must unpack, organize, and toss stuff before I can pack up again for leadership weekend this weekend, and then unpack and pack again for London. I'm a mess, but I've learned to embrace it...though it still drives my mom Crazy. Here's a link to my itinerary in London so you generally know what I'm up to.

VCUK SCHEDULE

Big things

This weekend I finished my online year end portfolio, so you can check out what I've been doing all year.
Junior Year

The year end show is all cleaned up, and I won a Craig Cutler award for photography for my Holga Photos

I am also signed up for a 150 mile bike race for MS with team Cyc O.
Support me

And there are officially 12 more days until I'm on a plane to London.
Followed by some work at Abizaks.
That's pretty much my life as of right now. Hopefully I'll be able to keep you updated with my new sweet Blog.

Why

I read so many of these things I figured I'd start my own.