school's out for the winter

I finished up projects and tests for fall term last Wednesday and have spent much of the time since then catching up on much-needed sleep, but have also been having my fair share of fun.

As soon as Lis was done with us and our campaigns, Nate, Lindsay and I headed down the block for beers at the Cheerful Tortoise. Nate made this list and then promptly left it at the bar. That guy.

Faye came to visit! We ate, we walked, we shopped, we drank, it was all wonderful. Spending time with old friends who I can talk about any and everything with is so therapuetic.

Dawn organized a hang session with some of my favorite people from our program and we had a grand old time. Nachos were eaten, jokes were made, and shitty trivia was attempted and then abandoned.

Dawn broke out Cards Against Humanity and hilarity ensued. And to think I thought Apples to Apples was the best game ever!

Then Olivia visited! Again, we ate, we walked, we drank, and we made moves to make 2013 a million times better than 2012. And we plotted tattoos. This picture is of the ploughman's breakfast I whipped up for us, it was perfect and delicious.

And finally, my Simple debit card finally arrived! Until my direct deposit transfers over, I won't be able to say how this is aiding my goal of a fiscally responsible 2013, but it sure is beautiful, and the accompanying app is pretty cool.

weekend warrior: party people

John and Heather were in town, Lorraine turned 30 and threw herself a rager, and there was a photobooth. Naturally, hilarity ensued. Please note how us girls just jumped in with that random boy. He was super into our themed frames.

working on: Similarly Different update

Similarly Different is plugging right along, we've posted two and are working on the final prompt. This is a fun project because it's so open-ended. For prompt #2 I really wanted to incorporate watercolors, and I've been wanting to do a series of fashion drawings, so I got my feet wet with this post.

The girl in the front in black reminds me a Vera Wang. I'm so grateful for my scanner when I work with lines and colors on different layers like this, to think that I used to do all my scanning at school. I hope you like the finished product!

just for fun: desktop wallpaper

While actively avoiding working on my Type II project this morning, I decided to make something of the James Victoire quote I'd had sitting in my inbox for a week. The result was a desktop background, so I'm reminded to keep at it and make good work.

It's Monday, start strong!

four more years

image via door 16

internet hunting: YA-NE-SEN a Go Go

A friend of mine posted a link to this beautiful little video on twitter, and after watching it in awe three or four times I knew had to share it here. The art is beautiful and captivating AND she's an adorable dancer! I'm in love.

working on: Similarly Different

In an effort to completely overwhelm myself with work this term, I've been trying to take as many of the opportunities that come my way as possible. Last week one such opportunity showed up in my inbox in the form of a collaborative project between PSU graphic design students and graphic design students from University of the Creative Arts, Farnham in the UK. Headed up in part by PSUGD's own Briar Levit, each of us here in Portland is paired up with a student from UCA and given a fortnightly prompt. We 'research' our prompt (ephemera, sketches, thoughts, visuals) and email it to our partner, who takes the 'research' and creates a visual piece of art based on it. All final art will be posted to the Similarly Different blog, and each school will host a culminating gallery show.

The project is unlike anything I've ever worked on before, and I'm really excited and interested to see what kind of work it produces, particularly because we're working with total strangers! Sometimes I feel like being a designer in Portland is like designing in a vacuum, so I'm curious to see what this geographical collaboration will turn out. Feel free to follow along with the blog, and I'll try to post things here as they are created as well.