hitting the nail on the head

Check this out.

How do people come up with this stuff??

Photo update

Click here to see some photos that have been taken over the last few months. I have found something that will make posting photos in the future much simpler...hooray!
But since I had already started on this method, it will just have to wait until next time.

login e-mail: schoolhouse@weldon.com
password: guest

new year, new blog

I've been horrible these past two weeks--horrible in my not-so-timely replies to e-mail messages, voice mail messages, and I'm on break from work and school. And just like the laundry, not writing a little bit here and there has left me with many weeks and three whole holidays to catch up on.

I'm not sure where to start, so here are some pictures that have been taken over that last 4 months:

-The mural in its beginning stages


-the front doors of the school are perpendicular and to the right of the mural. basically, it's the first thing you see when you walk in...-and these are most of the students that worked on it. we started with 10, and each week the number would fluctuate. (mural still incomplete in this photo...)



-this one is at hart witzen gallery in the noda neighborhood. it is where we had our 'WOW'--the finale of a Citizen Schools semester where students show what they have learned. we had a great turnout.



-this one is probably my favorite.


I still don't have a photo of the 'completed' mural...

And now it's nearly 2am. Loading, positioning, and captioning photos is taking much longer than expected so I'm going to try and find another means to post some pictures.
Staying up late and getting up late is a bad habit to develop on break. School starts next week!

fall is finally here

hallelujah. i'm not used to the leaves changing so late. it felt like i had missed my favorite season, doomed to wearing t-shirts well into december. that's no longer the case. my scarf collection is slowly making its way out of the nearly sealed dresser drawer and into the regular rotation of wear i.e. hanging from doorknobs, draped over my head board, on my bed, over the closet door, on the chair, etc. it's a good thing.
there is one tree in the backyard that represents all that fall should be. i took these pictures this morning:


i have a few other updates, but it's now time to change and get ready for work. it will be a beautiful fall bike ride! (in case some of you don't know, i live 2.5 miles from the middle school and bike nearly everyday:)

paint!

So here are the updates: We are finally experiencing fall-like weather here in charlotte. It'll be nice when the cool weather is more consistent. It smelled like fall today and it was nice. My roommates and I finally started to paint in the house. The front entry way/sitting room/hallway is called honey tone. it's a yellow. The back/side/dining/music/hanging out/studying room will be painted squirrel.Are you thinking brown? Well, it's not. It's slate-ish grey. I took before and during pictures of the first painting attempt and will post pictures eventually.
Painting has made a huge difference to the front room already. It looks, well, colorful--warmer and intentional. It's still not put together, but it's a start.

Another painting expedition is for/with my job. Going back three or four weeks ago (my first week) I was informed that our program had received a grant from the Charlotte Arts and Science Council and the school wanted a mural painted (through an apprenticeship; go here to learn about them. My campus director asked if I was interested in teaching an art apprenticeship...so I enthusiastically said yes while harboring quiet anxiety. In short, it's a lot of work, and a huge project. Despite all the horrible scenarios I came up with in my head (what could go wrong, etc) I couldn't believe my luck...then two weeks went by and I was told that we were now partnering with the McColl Center for Visual Art.
That meant someone else was coming in. To make the story a bit shorter, it's looking to be a really great thing. Sarah is the artist coming in, and we're quickly becoming friends. And I may have a church to actually belong to--the church she and her husband go to. I'm going to check it out tomorrow. (well, later today. it's 3am--I can't sleep--started drinking coffee at 8pm due to an anthropology exam) Here is some of her work:
We have started the concept of the mural and have students' drawings to work from. It's still going to take a lot of work and after program time, but I think the end product has the potential to be pretty great. We have 10 weeks total with the unveiling in December. I'll do my best to record the progression.

That's pretty much all that's going on. School and work--which right now includes drawing--while still trying to organize everything, and choose a paint color for my room. That's perhaps the hardest task.

so much for a weekly update...

Many times I have thought of things to write-interesting things, ideas, plans, and the mundane--but I always seem to forget by the time I make it to a computer and more often than not have school work in line ahead of blog update. So know that thoughts do exist......

Each morning I desire to wake *early and design the day like I would if I had 'traditional' classes; blocking time off to create a niche for each subject. I bought a large dry-erase board to help organize this structure, but it hasn't proven to be so easy. The clean, neatly printed schedule I envisioned so clearly has given way to notes and scribbles that are barely legible to me. I feel like I'm doing class work constantly, and if I'm not doing it I'm thinking about it and feeling guilty that I'm not doing it...but if it is to be like this at any time in one's life---the crazy, late-night-early- morning attempts and eating (homemade, thank-you) mashed potatoes at 9pm for dinner while brewing the tenth pot of coffee for the day---then it's the time right now, the time spent hurling yourself towards formal education.
There has been some consistency though. For the last few days I have been greeted in the morning by two cardinal birds perched outside my bedroom window. There is a small-ish tree that they-a male and a female-have been occupying and I watch as they take turns hopping closer to the window to share a piece of fruit produced by the tree. Although neat to see birds around your bedroom window, the interesting part to me is that I've only seen them right after waking, and it doesn't matter if it's 6:30am or 9am. I tried taking a picture of the bright red male, but the camera kept focusing on the screen, and not what was beyond the screen.
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As far as the unpacking and house-organization goes, I'm no longer climbing over boxes, but I'm far from knowing where everything is. Because there are three of us and the house is *cozy (or is charming the real-estate word?) we decided to try and sort out what we each need immediately/daily and put the rest in the attic for now. That eliminated the box problem, but I basically put into practice my professional skills as a procrastinator and placed many things into boxes for "a rainy day", that is, to be sorted on some grand day when I'm going to have nothing else to do...
Speaking of weather, as I sit here in jeans and a sweatshirt, I am thankful that we finally got a break from the heat. I am very welcoming of the current temperature of 77 degrees, but even when it peaks at 86, what a difference from the usual 96!
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Because school work is calling, I must end, and haven't even covered the new job and how great it is and how fast things are moving. Next time, I guess.

a new adventure

in the fashion of kely and the deeren's, i've decided to create my own blog as a means for folks to see what i'm up to outside of the mitten. i'm making it a goal to post something weekly, but i'm not certain there will really be anything of interest to write. (i.e. i ate oatmeal for breakfast...)
however, you can still call (same number), e-mail (same e-mail) and write (new address, mentioned in "moved" e-mail) as you please. (please?!)

i'm now a charlotte, nc resident. wow. another move underfoot and a new adventure to be had. nothing is unpacked yet, and i look forward to the times when i can simply open the cupboard door to get a glass or sit down to write a letter without having to first dig through five boxes to see where i placed the stationary. not to mention not having to climb over and through the maze of boxes that are currently residing in every room...
i'm also looking forward to being settled in a way i'm not sure i've ever really been. i will be setting up an art space for myself with all things being organized so when creativity (and free time) emerges i will have everything waiting and ready to be used. (not in a box, waiting to be moved...again.)

it will take a bit of time before i am at that place, but i'm willing and thankful to take the neccessary roads of struggle to arrive a more organized, disciplined person.