Some good news

... in order of occurence

Friday night was my first night as a WyldLife Leader for Breck students, my good friend Jon Abrahamson is another leader with my old youth group pastor Andy Swanda, the other female leader is Cathy .... I don't know her very well yet, but I love her sense of humor so far : )
The group seems great, the kids were fun and seemed to be excited to be there. We only meet once or twice a month (which means it will take a while to really get to know any of the kids, but is nice because then it's not too overwhelming of a time-commitment with school)

(This isn't where I nanny... just an example of one of the really cute houses in Edina)

the second piece of good news is.....

I had my first day nannying for a family living in Edina. I spent the whole morning with their cute little 10-month old girl! (she's so cute and really funny). They have the coolest house I've ever seen and a maid! I actually am going back again later tonight on my way back up to school to watch all 4 kids... im pretty excited!

(one of Monique L'huillier's designs)

and last but not least...

After nannying today, I stopped by the Monique L'Huillier salon off of France and talked a little with one of the women that work there. She seemed really nice, she gave me some contact information for some of the higher-ups and told me I should bring in my resumé sometime before Christmas. She also said she would have the general manager give me a call sometime this week to talk about a potential internship.... kinda of exciting... but I'm nervous about the phone call (haha... it's not even that great of news because nothing really happened, but I'm just pretty excited about talking to anyone that works there.)

Trying out an idea....

kind of a different spin on painting for me...
this one was fun to make ....
... i just kind of poured the paint on and then used my hands to move it around and overlap the colors... It started out as just red and black but when the colors mixed ... and after adding some water to thin out some areas... the red started to pull some really nice purple tones out of the black which was kind of surprising...
(I ended up with a spectrum of tones from blackish maroon to bitter violet )


I want to come back and add more layers to see if I can give it some more depth... but for now this is what it looks like... I think the most successful part is the texture but I think the painting itself needs more balance

Painting Something Bigger Than Myself....

... takes a really loooooooong time
Here's what I have so far
this canvas is approximately 4ft x 6ft

... a step further.... (size comparison with everything else in my studio)


Done for the night.... taking a break!

Black Friday....

this picture makes me feel clausterphobic...

yes... I was one of those crazy people who woke up this morning around 3 am to go shopping! (it's tradition) My mom, my sister, her best friend Lindsey and her sister Kristen and myself all piled in the white Sedan this morning and headed to our first destination (Kohls... one of my least favorite stores ever.. with the exception of their Simply Vera line). I always get such a kick out of watching other crazy women standing in line outside with their "game-faces" on just waiting for the doors to open... I prefer to wait in the car until the mad stampede has disappeared into the store before I head in.

These people are CRAZY!
... Despite the lack of sleep and the fact that no coffee shops opened until about 6 am... I was surprised that everyone in our car seemed to be pretty cheery. However, after traveling from Kohls (where there was an abundance of elbowing and shoving and standing in line... jeepers people can't we shop and BE POLITE?!?)... to Herbergers (where I made my first purchase of the day... just a strand of faux-monet pearls and a pair of earings) ... and then back to Kohls (where I was sent in to retrieve my mom and to serve as a "runner" while everyone else waited in the car)... I could sense some bickering coming on...

*definition of "runner" = the person who runs from the check-out to various locations in the store getting things the person who is actually checking out forgot to grab...

-LUCKILY- at this point it was about 5:45.... so we headed to the nearest Starbucks (where I'm pretty sure all of us ordered "venti" somethings)... following this pit-stop we proceeded on to Target (where I was really GLAD to replace my Izaac Mizrahi laptop bag that broke for a new Black leather Converse tote) and to the Burnsville Center, where we ventured into Macy's, Express and the Gap... and then visited my uncle who was working at my aunt's new boutique!

I'm pretty proud of myself... I tried to limit myself today and I'm glad that I only ended up buying 3 things...

When we got home this morning my dad looked pretty surprised at how much stuff there was to carry in... (..not mine, let's keep in mind!)... the bulk of what was squished into my mom's trunk mainly consisted of the HUGE featherbeds that my sister and Lindsey bought, my mom's new boots and the comforters that she bought for the beds up at our cabin... I'M JEALOUS because after all the shopping everyone got to go home to take naps except for me... I had to jump in the car and drive up to Roseville where I am now standing at the front desk of a very vacant hotel listening to Chrismas music and watching the maintenance crew decorate the lobby : )

Painting

Painting that I'm working on currentlyHere is a Close-up

My Favorite Things...

the following is list of all the things about winter that make me smile...

1. Chistmas Lights!! (for sure at the top of my list)

2. Home-made Hot Chocolate with too many marshmallows! or whip cream! and sprinkles!

3. Having an excuse to stay inside (wearing my knit slippers) and sitting by the fireplace!

(I've never had a fireplace before... it makes doing homework seem not so terrible)

4. Christmas music! (I made a mix yesterday)
5. EGGNOG! YUMM!

6. The Holidazzle and the Macy's 9th Floor Display!

7. Ice-skating! (I want to go to centennial park this winter and skate on the pond)

8. Furry Hoods, Mittens, Warm Scarves!, and Knit Hats!

9. Going to see the Winter Carnival Ice Sculptures! and going snowboarding!

10. Making Christmas Cookies!!!!! and Making Paper Snowflakes!

11. Putting up Christmas Decorations! (look out roomies... its about to look like christmas!)

12. Wrapping Presents!!!! ( I really enjoy wrapping presents! I like adding/curling ribbons!)

13. Going sledding and making snowmen/igloos!

"giroflée"

I spent the night in the sculpture studio tonight working on this project for Monday
Here are some photos
(I think I'm happy with the shadows so far...
but I'm planning on coming in and adding more tomorrow)

.. more of a close up
materials: strainer, deconstructed vegetable steamer,
organza/mesh faric, shards of glass, nuts, paraffin wax, lace,
kitsch candle stick holders, and kitsch crystal dishes