Nesting!

Well, it’s certainly been a while. I never realized just how busy this whole grad school thing was going to be! It hasn’t exactly been a cakewalk, either. I get along really well with the majority of the folks in my program, but one or two folks in this department make my day-to-day work really hard. I just keep telling myself that it’ll get better as these three years progress, but sometimes the thought of transferring to another grad school seems a little bit appealing. Not that I’m going to do it, though. I’m strong enough to put up with a few difficult people for a few years.

On the plus side, though, we’ve slowly been putting our house together down here! Our apartment has a fireplace, which we haven’t had a chance to use yet, but there’s no mantle! I found these neat brackets at IKEA, but I had to build the shelf to go with them, because they’re a really odd width. Thankfully, we were able to cut down a 1x10, then face the top and front with lauan, and it was the perfect size for the bracket. I can’t wait to hang up our Christmas stockings! =)

Then, after we got the shelf up, we were finally able to get our big wedding certificate up on the wall, and I am SO excited. It says, “omnia vincit amor” which means “love conquers all.” Underneath that, it says “Jesse and Melissa are united today in a celebration of marriage. June 4 2011. They vow to love, honor, and support each other, as witnessed by the following friends and family.” And underneath that, we had everyone who was there sign it. I was a little OCD about it at first, and I was really worried that people weren’t signing on the lines, but now I’m just grateful for everyone that took the time to sign it. We’re especially thankful that Jesse’s grandmother was able to make it to the wedding and sign it, because she recently passed away. It’s been another thing that’s been trying us and our relationship lately, but I know we’re going to be stronger because of it.

Speaking of things trying us lately….

This little cretin has been living with us for going on two months! She showed up on our porch one night, and we took her in, thinking someone had lost her and would be looking for her. Jesse did a TON of work calling shelters and rescues and such, but alas, she’s still here. We’ve got a couple of leads we’re waiting to follow up on, but she is stealing our hearts more and more each day. If it were three years from now and we didn’t live 10-12 hours from our family, we might have considered keeping her. As it is, it’s really hard not to get attached. She hiccups all the time, and it’s just a little bit adorable… It’s also really difficult to take a photo of a shiny, black, wriggly puppy. Note the mess in the background—she likes to pull stuff around the room. I think she thinks she’s helping clean.

I feel like my drawing/artsy skills are improving a lot this semester, which I’m really happy about. I just turned in a big package of my artwork, so once I get it back I’ll get some scanned and uploaded here.

Jesse and I are hosting Thanksgiving for my dad and for a few friends, and I have to say, I’m very excited about hosting a big party and cooking a bunch of good food, but wow—I didn’t realize how expensive it was going to be! At the very least, I’ll have the big platter and serving bowls and such for the future. Once our mid-month paycheck comes in, I’m going to buy these bowls on Amazon:

I like these a lot, because it’s a set of five mixing bowls for $20, which is a great price anyway, but they’re also interesting enough to use for serving dishes. Now I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that they don’t arrive broken like some of the reviewers say… =/

At any rate, I’m learning a lot down here. Most days, I feel like I’m learning what not to do when I’m designing and working with others, but at least I’m still learning, right? As difficult as it is down here, I’m still incredibly grateful for the chance to be on assistantship down here. Now I just need to get my summer internship out of the way. Anyone know of anybody looking for a costume designer/technician for a summer stock? Provided housing would be great, as would a stipend, since I need to keep paying rent on my place down here, but I’ll consider anything at this point! Thank you to all of you for reading this blog and caring at least a tiny bit about what’s going on down here in the mid-south. =)

Ciao, all!

p.s. No recipes this time, but I’ll definitely be back after Thanksgiving to post a round-up of my recipes!

Old Habits Die Hard!

I didn’t quite realize just how busy this whole graduate school think was going to get. Then again, I didn’t actually get to choose my classes for this semester. If I had, I’d have known that choosing two art-heavy classes that met three times each week, back to back, was a very bad decision. As it is, I’ve got a veritable ton of drawing to do this semester. Which I’m going to force myself to be optimistic about—at least I’ll have a killer chance to improve! Combine that with the fact that I’ve always been a procrastinator (I like to call it “working best under pressure), and it just means that this whole “writing practice” thing about the blog might not be updated as much as I would like. I thought maybe the responsibility of being a graduate student might help me kick this procrastination habit, but nothing doing yet. Frown.

At any rate, things have been going well down here in the south. I’ve heard some scary stories on the news and from friends living in other parts of town, but out here in the ‘burbs, life is good. Nothing to report except for the fact that I saw an opossum for the first time on our back porch last night! I’d seen them before, of course, but they’d always been dead. On the side of the road. Usually missing bits. =/ This one was very much alive, and was locked in a staring contest with Scherzo (who was looking out the screen door) until I got J to go shut the patio door and close the blinds. Of course I didn’t have enough foresight to take a photo. I’m a terrible blogger, right?

Speaking of blogging, which usually includes photographs, I’ve got one--

That’s right, it’s my new computer! I came home from work the other day, and J had brought it in and propped it up for me to see as I came in. The delivery itself was a bit stressful, actually. I knew it was going to be delivered on Tuesday. I knew J would be home all day Tuesday, since he works from home. Not a problem, right? Wrong—he got a phone call from a job he’d interviewed for weeks ago, and they wanted him to come in. That day! Super fantastic for him, but just the previous day, an item I’d ordered online had been “delivered” at my doorstep, but we couldn’t find it anywhere. Not sure if it means it was stolen, or if there was an error in the FedEx system, but we didn’t want to take a chance with a computer. Luckily, he had planned to leave at 1:30pm, and the delivery man arrived at 1:26. Hurray!

 

It’s really pretty—and I should have taken a photo of it closed when I had more light. Not only is it fantastic internally (6GB of ram!), that wood-looking stuff on the palm rest and touchpad is actual bamboo, and the entire lid of the computer is bamboo too. It’s gorgeous, which was just a nice extra touch for the designer-y side of me when I was picking it out. =)

On another note, I’ve been doing a lot of cooking lately. Many of my friends have started blogs that I follow, not to mention I ogle recipes on Pinterest all the time. I’ve made my friend Heather’s banana bread, used Becky’s method for a red wine reduction sauce for steak, and I’m making Josh’s carbonara tomorrow for a late lunch/early dinner (I’m pretty sure that’s what time the main meal of the day is supposed to be eaten on a Sunday, right?). Making recipes that I’ve gotten from/eaten with my friends is one of my favorite ways to not feel so darn far away down here in Memphis, so I figured maybe I’d share my favorite pot roast recipe. Granted, this is not MY recipe by any means. I found it somewhere on the web a while back, and finally got around to making it today. After it turned out fabulously, I figured it would be best to share it with everyone.

It was so tasty, and smelled so good, that we had to eat it immediately, and I only thought to take a picture after it was packed up into the tupperware, ready to be leftovers for lunches this week. Whoops!

That aside, and without further ado, I give you the best pot roast I’ve ever made:

• 1 pot roast—beef shoulder or a boneless chuck roast will work best, since they have more marbling. Look for one that’s around three pounds. I think ours was slightly under.
• ~1 TBSP olive oil—I use EVOO, but whatever you have on hand will work. Heck, canola, veggie, or even butter would probably work well, too. You just want something that can quick-sear the meat.
• 1 yellow onion—chopped, sliced, or diced; you want big pieces, of whatever shape you prefer.
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped or grated.
• 1/2 cup of red wine
• Carrots, potatoes, or whatever other vegetables you’d like to add!
• salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to taste.

Preheat oven to 175 degrees. If yours doesn’t go down to 175, 200 will work, but keep an eye on it to see that the liquid doesn’t evaporate.

The most important part of this pot roast is to use a thick-bottomed pot that’s oven safe and has a heavy, well-fitting lid. I used my 12” Calphalon Everyday Pan (oh, how I wish I was getting paid to advertise!), and it worked really, really well.

Heat the oil in the pot over medium-high heat. While the oil is heating, sprinkle and rub both sides of the roast with the salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. I just sprinkled a few shakes of the seasoning, and a few grinds each of the salt and pepper on each side. Be creative! When the oil is hot, carefully place the roast in the pot and sear for 3-4 minutes on each side. Don’t move the roast while each side is browning, or it won’t get that nice crispy sear.

Once the roast is browned, carefully lift it up and add the onion and garlic to the bottom of the pan. Rest the roast on the onions, then add the 1/2 cup of red wine. The specific type of wine isn’t terribly important, but it’s usually a good rule that if you wouldn’t offer it to a guest, don’t cook with it. That being said, I used the last of the bottle I’d used for Becky’s red wine reduction sauce. It was good, but just a little too dry for my taste.

Bring the wine to a boil, then transfer the whole pot, covered, to the oven. Cook for 4-5 hours, or until meat is tender. Add the vegetables somewhere about halfway through your cooking time, so they don’t get too mushy. Turns out I waited too long today (I only allowed the carrots an hour to cook), so I had to simmer the carrots a bit longer on the stove once I removed the roast.

The neat thing about this roast is that you really, truly, only need the 1/2 cup of wine. Don’t add any water, broth, stock, or anything else. If you don’t want to use wine, 1/2 cup of beef broth would work, but do not use more than the 1/2 cup of liquid! Apparently, cooking the roast at such a low temperature, along with the tight-fitting lid, allows the meat to release a whole bunch of liquid. I’d venture a guess that the liquid more than doubled throughout the cooking process, and there was even more once I added the carrots. Because I didn’t add water, the juices were crazy flavorful. Trust me. =)

And that’s it! I realize now, after writing out a recipe, that I have a lot of extra commentary, so I’ve bolded the important bits. Don’t bother with the non-bolded stuff unless you’re truly interested—although  this disclaimer is after the fact, so I’m not sure how well that’ll work…

Anyway, this is a delicious pot roast, and I think that you’ll want to make it all the time after you try it once, so enjoy!

And then tell whoever you made this delicious roast for that it’s their job to wash the dishes…

Ciao, all!

Design School? Awesomesauce.

Wow. This whole design school thing is pretty rad. Tonight, I spent the evening watching J play video games, and drinking a nice red wine my aunt gave me. Oh yeah, and I was drawing his hands and feet. Maybe that sounds creepy, but I was working on proportion studies. The hands and feet in my renderings always need a bit of work, so this was a good exercise for me. I love that my homework involves watching J play video games and drinking wine. Hurray for grad school!

I started off with his feet, which, if you know him very well, you’ll understand that it was torture for him to hold his feet (mostly) still for an hour. The top of the toes is a little too square, but I’ll blame his movement, and call this one halfway decent. That and the fact that I was sitting next to him and the foreshortening thing with his leg just wasn’t jiving for me too well. (Also? the work “jiving” has THREE dotted letters, and looks very silly on screen!)

Next I moved on to his hands, which turned out a bit better, considering they were moving much more than his feet were! He was playing Borderlands on his Xbox with a friend, so his thumbs were all over that controller. I did my best. =)

Last I tried working on my own hand, which is what I think we were supposed to be doing from the beginning. This was exceedingly difficult, since I use both of my hands to draw, and I’m usually keeping my kneaded eraser warm in my left hand while sketching with my right. So yeah, not my best, but it’ll do.

In the shop this week, we got off to a pretty slow start, but now I’m patterning a bustle petticoat! I worked up a preliminary pattern for it yesterday, and started my mock-up today. The pattern needs a little work, but I’ve got a little over a week before it needs to be finished. Once I get it done, we’re going to be giving it to our beginning sewing construction students, and they’ll be sewing them to use for Phantom of the Opera in February. Crazy! I won’t say where we got the petticoat to begin with, but I will say that it’s a nice garment, and I’m glad we won’t be paying that much for the rest of them once I duplicate it.

At any rate, grad school is going really well. I have some finished renderings of the hat and shoe I designed last week, but they’re at my office, so I’ll need to bring them home to scan so I can upload here. I honestly can’t believe we’ve only been down here in TN for six or so weeks. It feels like I’ve been here a year already! I’m loving the cooler weather we’ve been having on and off this week—I had my screen door open all day today, and it feels divine in here! Plus, there’s nothing like an electricity bill after you can turn off the central air for a few days—yay!

J’s still looking for a new job, and I know he’ll find one that’s perfect for him, but it’s a little stressful. He’s got a couple of great leads, though, and I can’t wait for him to has a job he enjoys again.

In other news, Penske, the moving truck company we used, finally sent us some money to have our dressers refinished! I have a pair of mid-century dressers that were my grandparents’, and they were damaged pretty badly during the move after the truck leaked. The water got under the veneer, and then once we hit the hot weather down here in TN, it bubbled up and was not very pretty. It’s been a six-week-long ordeal, but the refinishing company picked up the dressers this morning, and I can’t wait to see how they’ll look once they’re done! It’s going to be another three or four weeks, but I can wait, now that I know they’re being worked on. I’m also hoping to purchase a new computer in the next week or so, so hopefully that’ll make the blogging/photo-uploading process a little easer, and I can get away from the cell phone photos. Hurray!

There’s a festival in the “Historically Hip” neighborhood of Cooper-Young this weekend (it’s their term, not mine!), and I’m excited to go. It’ll be lots of live music, as well as artsy/crafty events. I hope you all have something equally enjoyable to do this weekend! For now, though, I’m out.

Ciao, all!

First week of classes, complete!

I can’t believe we’re already finished with the first week of classes, and that week number two, which is short because of Labor Day, starts tomorrow! Classes are going really well, but I can’t believe how much outside of class drawing/sketching work I’m going to be doing this semester. I have two classes back to back on MWF: Theatrical Rendering and Costume Design. They’re great classes, and they’re both essentially art/drawing classes, but they are two totally different concepts! Rendering (right now, at least) is about drawing from what we see, not from our imaginations, so our renderings become more true-to-life and representative of what we’re trying to portray. Design is the total opposite, and we’re currently just sketching up quick thumbnails from our imaginations. The fact that they’re back-to-back is driving me a little bonkers, since I have to make a huge mental shift artistically in the ten minutes between classes.

Never before have I done a still life. Can I admit that? That being said, it was incredibly intimidating when she set up this pile of things in front of us and basically said, “Draw it.” I don’t think I did too terribly, for a first time still-lifer, and I’m particularly proud of the shading on the hat. Again, forgive me for the terrible image quality. Still haven’t gotten the camera setup figured out since the move, but that’ll be coming soon.

The rest of my drawings for that class have been in this vein. Lots of cubes, spheres, cylinders, and cones.

I’ve done a few assignments in my design class based on the above image. It’s some hanging wisteria in a garden in Japan, and I love the colors and the texture! One of my fellow grads, Megan, actually found the photo for me online, and I’m super grateful.

One of our assignments was to design a hat, and I really like the idea of using French net to mimic the trellis, then using a piece of black wire mesh as an anchor for the flowers trailing down off the pillbox. I need to do a final rendering of this, though, since this is just a rough sketch with some colored pencil.

Next is a shoe I’m really excited about—I wish I could actually produce it! I don’t have any color in it yet, but I see a dark grey silk dupioni as the base, with some black mesh over the front, and purple faux flowers trailing down from the heel area. I still need to pull together some rough sketches for a couple of period outfits, a haute couture outfit, and a surface textile. I took a little bit too much of a break over the weekend, so I’ve got a lot of drawing to do tomorrow to have these ready for Wednesday’s class, but I’m really excited to do the work.

Speaking of things that have kept me busy, my birthday was last Thursday! We have a chalkboard in the grad office where we have all of our birthday written, so on Thursday, my friend Randall circled the date, and drew a star next to my name so everyone would notice. (The fact that I brought in homemade cookies for everyone didn’t help at all… nope…) When I came in the next morning, I found this on the chalkboard:

I’m still not entirely sure who wrote it, but I think it’s super cute, and it made me smile. =) We’ll see how long it stays up there….

I got quite a few nice gifts, along with some money I’m really excited to put towards a new computer that’ll be a little bit better suited to my design work. I also got some gift cards to some of my favorite stores, so I hope to have these in my wardrobe in the next couple of weeks:

I’ve been looking for a pair of boots to fit my skinny calves for ages, and I think I might have found a pair—wish me luck! Also, this “vegan leather” jacket from Express has been on my wish list forEVER!

At any rate, classes and life are treating me pretty darn well, I must say! I’m a little bummed that J didn’t get the role he was auditioning for recently, but he had a fantastic audition anyway, which is always something to be proud of. And now I’ll leave you with a photo of the dog Jesse got me for my birthday, since we’ve both wanted a puppy forever…

Ciao, all!

My New Accommodations!

It’s very exciting to officially have my own desk. In an office, that’s not in my home. Granted, it’s a bullpen-style office, so I share it with 14 or 15 other people, but I like it a lot. I’m still slowly making the desk my own, as is obvious in that the only things that are mine there are my binder, sweater, coffee mug, and photos. Oh, and that tiny little bottle of green hand sanitizer. It’s fantastic, though, knowing that I don’t have to schlep everything I own to and from campus every day.

This is our costume shop! It’s a little messy right now, because we’re still getting prepped for the beginning of the semester next week. We’ll officially have undergrad lab students to supervise as of next Wednesday, so we’ve got a couple of days left to get it looking as neat and clean as it usually does. Kim, our shop supervisor, is so incredibly organized—it’s like a dream! I’m also learning to glean the best ideas from BG and from here, which gets me dreaming about the costume shop I’ll run one day. In this picture, you can sort of see the two other first-year grads working in the shop with me this year, Kitty and Randall. Kitty’s focus is lighting design, and Randall’s is directing, so they’ll likely not be in the shop after this year. Since costuming is my focus, though. I get a more “permanent” (3-year) residency in the shop, as well as a claim to my own cutting table.

It’s a little messy right now as well, since one end is covered with things from this summer that didn’t get finished, and because I’m working on assembling the undergrad training packets. Next week we’ll zip through the sewing training ourselves, then we’ll be off running, teaching the undergrads basic sewing stitches.

We’ve got a separate dye/laundry room, which is really fantastic because we don’t have to worry about accidentally getting dye on other garments. We also have this fantastically large dye bath that I’m really excited to use. The best part about this though, is that we’re totally allowed to use the laundry room for our own personal use, as long as we don’t use the shop’s detergent. Considering we were considering buying a used washer/dryer set for around $300, or eventually spending close to $1000 at a laundromat over three years, this is going to save us a ton of money, not to mention the water bills we won’t incur. Very, very excited.

Since we don’t have to buy a washer/dryer set, we have all this extra room in our kitchen. We’ve been looking around for something to create some more drawer space, because the drawers you see in the photo are only about four inches wide, which isn’t quite adequate for storing a silverware tray. So last night, after getting my financial aid refund, Jesse and I went to Target.

We came home, and I was totally intending to help build this thing. I sat down, slid on the box this thing came in, and whacked my head on the door. Jokingly, I suggested that I wanted to just go to sleep, and wake up with it put together. My wonderful husband told me to sit down and read my book, and he’d put it together.

I love my husband so much. I sat down to read A Storm of Swords, the 3rd book in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, and stopped to take a few photos along the way. A few minutes after I took this last one, I looked up and found this in my kitchen:

I love it, and it looks like it was meant to live there! I can store all my pots and pans inside, and keep the dust and such off of them. Hurray! The funny thing, though, is that our bamboo silverware tray, which I love, is exactly half an inch too long to fit in the drawer. Sigh.

At any rate, I’m very excited, and a new silverware tray won’t cost more than $5 or 6. I’m also very excited for classes to start on Monday. I’ve been purposely making way too much food all week so I have leftovers to take for lunch. I have a really neat lunch container that has a built-in cold pack, which will be great, and while we were at Target yesterday I bought a new lunchbox.

I think you can tell it’s meant for kids, because it’s super reflective in the flash. But I got in on clearance for $6, and it makes me feel happy to buy a new lunchbox for back-to-school.

Memphis is getting better and better, and I’m feeling more at home here. In meeting some of the other first-year grads, it’s great to hear that they all feel just as clueless as I do. It’s really nice to know that even though we’re all working on terminal degrees in our chosen fields, no one is stuck up about it. I’m glad that we can all be honest about just how little we know. There’s a welcome party at the head of the department’s house tomorrow, and I’m excited to get to know everyone a little better, as well as try one more version of Memphis BBQ!

I’ve got some sewing projects to tackle tomorrow—hopefully I’ll get them all done! I’ve got two one-seam dresses, which I know I’ll get finished, as well as the fantastic wrap-dress I need to finish for the first day of classes. So excited, but ready to relax and enjoy my night now.

Ciao, all!

Grad School and Sewing Projects!

I’ve been working on a few sewing projects lately, because this crazy heat down here in Memphis is just NOT conducive to wearing denim. That makes me a little sad, because I’m a denim kind of gal—I love my bootcuts, my capris, and my skinny jeans. That being said, though, I’m definitely not wearing any of those until the weather cools down. I’ve made the skirt above, which was super simple, and another “cheater” skirt.

I call these cheater skirts because they don’t require a zipper or any other type of closure—just elastic! I love elastic, because it’s super comfy, as long as it’s not too tight. The top skirt was actually more complicated than the bottom one. It involved stretching some 2 1/2” wide elastic to the width of the skirt fabric, then letting it pucker up the fabric once it shrunk back down. The second skirt was the simplest thing ever—just a simple A-line skirt, cut on the bias so it stretches just enough that it doesn’t have to have a lot of fullness added in, with an elastic waistband. I’m experimenting with slightly shorter skirts as of late, since all the skirts I’ve ever made have been at least mid-calf. Showin’ a little knee! =P

On an unrelated note, I need to develop some better project-photo poses. These are miserable! Thank you to my wonderful husband, Jesse, for taking a moment out from Lost Odyssey to snap these for me, though!

As far as beginning grad school down here in Memphis goes, I love it! Granted, classes haven’t started yet, so I might eat my words next week when I start getting some assignments, but I really love the people down here, as well as the department. We’re having a department welcome party BBQ at the head of the department’s house on Saturday, which will be nice to take my man along to as arm candy (kidding, of course!!).

I spent a good 40 minutes today figuring out why my desk and chair were rather broken (I’m one of 16 in a communal grad student bullpen-style office). I have a design-height table as a desk, which is great, except that it means I also have a tall drafting chair. And for whatever reason, it doesn’t have one of those little rings at the bottom for me to rest my feet on, and it didn’t seem to be height-adjustable. I swear. Ancient 70s science lab chair. At any rate, after crawling around on my hands and knees under the chair (which is too heavy to just lift), I discovered that it was, indeed, adjustable, and had originally hailed from a Bowling Green, OH manufacturer. Who knew! It totally makes sense, though, as to why this chair was impossible to understand.

Also, the adjustable height mechanism for the table was completely shot—it looked like someone had tried to adjust one side to a 10-degree tilt, and the other to a 35-degree, and, well, it just didn’t work. Thankfully I’m sort of handy with these things—I loosened the adjustment knobs all the way, then picked up the table and dropped it. =P The jarring of the impact sent everything falling, and it now lies completely flat again. Yay!

At any rate, today was non-stop busy in the costume shop, so I didn’t get a chance to take any photos of my desk or workspace. Those will be coming soon, however! Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with a necklace I’ve been lusting over since I saw it on Meg the Grand’s Pinterest, via Etsy:

Love it!! Ciao, All!

New City, New Place, New Life!

 

Well, we're finally beginning to get settled in our new place in Memphis. We've had some issues with maintenance things that should have been taken care of before we got here, but this little apartment's finally starting to feel more like home. I took a big step in that direction today by finally getting our family photos on the wall, and it feels great! These are immediately opposite the door as you walk in to the place, and it feels good to see them when I walk in. Our families mean so much to both of us, and it's hard being this far away from everyone back in Ohio. I love walking in and seeing everyone on the wall, though-- it's great to remember what everyone looks like!

Speaking of photos, the ones on the blog will probably not be stellar for a while, as I have yet to see my USB card reader come out of its box after the move, which means I get to see just how well I can get the camera on my BlackBerry to work. =)

To be completely honest, the world of blogging is not new to me. My Google reader has at least 50-75 new posts for me to read every day, and I've even got a teenage angst-filled livejournal floating somewhere out there in the abyss of the interwebz. I've always been one of those folks who starts keeping a journal, then finds it five years later with only 15 pages written on. At any rate, I don't know what it is about being here in Memphis, but I feel like this whole "new life" thing might make for an interesting topic. I mean, first, I graduated with my Bachelor's in Music. And then I completely forgot about that as I frantically spent the next month getting married. Then I had a couple months where I didn't know what to do with myself, since the last year and a half had been spent planning said wedding. And now, I'm here in Tennessee, about to start a three-year program at the University of Memphis, for my MFA in Costume Design (which is a terminal degree, might I add!). I mean it. If you'd asked me four years ago if would be here, I would have laughed at you and told you I was destined to be a music teacher, and that nothing would ever stop me. And now I'm here. Go Tigers, right?

Anyway, go figure. This kid who didn't always get an A in art class (weren't those classes supposed to be graded for effort??) is now getting paid to sew and design costumes. And that designing includes rendering. With sketches. And drawing. And painting. And expensive fine art supplies that I used to dream of using, but never purchased because I'd be wasting them on my mediocre skills! And this is somehow what I'm going to be getting a degree in! I honestly can't believe the crazy twists life takes, but I'm loving them. And wherever life ends up for the next three years, I'm just along for the ride. =)