Resolutions Checklist

2010 is coming to an end and I wanted to be able to check some accomplishments off my New Year's Resolutions List for this year. I posted my resolutions on January 1, 2010. You may remember them when you see them.
Be enrolled in college by fall semester
Have a part time job
Be in better shape physically
Have a stronger relationship with Carlos
Make new friends
Be happy with myself
Grow my hair out

What can I check off?

I've completed two semesters of college this year, both of which I maintained a 4.0 GPA which means I got all "A's!" I'm also enrolled for Spring Semester 2011 which starts in less than 3 weeks.

I'm working not only one but TWO part time jobs!!! I've been able to make enough money to pay all my bills and pay for my college education all on my own with no financial support from family or the government. It's been tough and I can't afford any extras but I'm proud of what I've been able to do.

At the beginning of the year I was determined to get into better physical shape. I forced myself to work out 3-5 days a week. What started out as an excruciating 15 minute walk on the treadmill turned into a 30-60 minute jog including push-ups, 100+ crunches, limb stretching and weight lifting. My butt firmed and I started getting the 6 pack I had senior year in high school. My biceps were huge and mom never stopped stating how muscular my arms looked. I was feeling so good and gaining muscle weight. By May of this year I looked incredible and I was extremely proud of myself. Unfortunately, I started school in June and I was unable to keep working out juggling two jobs, school and homework. I think the last time I walked on the treadmill or did a crunch was early June. Oh well....I succeeded for a short amount of time and I'm proud of that slight accomplishment. Maybe I'll start again before too long.

I wrote this list before Carlos and I broke up. If you remember Carlos and I broke up January 15th. I had hoped that we'd be able to work on our relationship and grow stronger as a couple. Unfortunately we didn't have that opportunity. However, we've stayed in touch with each other and remained friends this entire year. By early March I was beginning to feel that our relationship was growing stronger through a friendship. He's come to me a couple times this year needing advice and I tried to help him as best I could. I'm sad to announce that the last I heard from Carlos was November 8th; almost two months ago. I've sent him a few emails since then but he's never responded to any of them. There is still hope that he'll write me again some day. At least our friendship grew stronger for a brief moment in my personal history.

I haven't made many new friends. I've become friends with some co-workers of mine on facebook and a few of my classmates from school. I haven't made friends with anyone that I care to hang out with. I'm still searching for a BFF and I hope that one day I'll have one. Right now my closest friend is my Mother and I'm grateful for that. My mom was always my best friend when I was growing up and our relationship changed when I moved to Utah and got married. My mom has been my best comfort this past month while I was going through TWO break ups with Alex. I'll always love my mother and I never want to grow apart again.

Be happy with myself!!! That's a tough one to check off the list. I'm not so sure if I'm happy with myself or not. I'm proud of all my accomplishments: school, work...etc. But I still think I have a long way to go to actually be happy with myself. I've continued to grow as an individual this year but I've also made many mistakes along the way. I think I'll have to continue striving to be happy with myself.

I've tried to grow my hair out all year but it just won't grow anymore. I ruined my hair when I bleached it back in 2008 and it's thinned to a point where it looks like straw when it gets past my shoulders. I'll never have my thicker and longer hair again. At least I've tried, right?

I guess one could conclude that I've been able to check off most of my resolutions for 2010. I hope many of you have been able to do the same!!!

Christmas Highlights

Another Christmas has come and gone! The time sure does fly by as you get older. I can't believe that Christmas is already over...seems like just yesterday when December started. I had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was a very stressful but very enjoyable holiday.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is seeing The Nutcracker Ballet. Alex bought Houston Ballet tickets to see the Nutcracker with me this year. On our first date I mentioned that I loved ballet and used to be a dancer and he went and bought tickets, all on his own. I was so excited to share my love of dance with him and for him to experience his first ballet with me. Unfortunately he was out of town the weekend were supposed to go and so I ended up giving his ticket to my mom. We had quite the adventure driving downtown because our exit was closed off but luckily the GPS got us there in one piece. We would have been lost without it. It was a very interesting experience for both of us. Not quite like my experiences seeing Ballet West perform The Nutcracker in Salt Lake City. People were walking around with glasses of wine and champagne; not something that ever happened in Capitol Theater. The ballet was excellent but not my favorite version and choreography. I managed to take some pictures with my phone.

It is my own personal tradition to buy a Nutcracker every year. This is the one I chose to purchase this year. It wasn't the one I wanted but they were out of stock of my first choice. I still like him though.

The Christmas Tree in the Wortham Center

A huge gingerbread house next to the huge Christmas tree

The curtain inside the theater

Work has been extremely stressful and exhausting for me this holiday. I've been working retail for several years and I can honestly say that I have never worked so hard in my life. The hours have been long, the employees have been scarce and the work has been tremendous. It was wonderful having off yesterday for Christmas and having off today as well. I really needed those two days to relax and recuperate.

My older brother, Danny, came down from Dallas for a few days and it was really nice being able to spend some time with him. I had a wonderful and relaxing holiday with family. It's a shame we all couldn't be here but it was nice celebrating with who was available. I was sad to see my brother leave because I don't get to see him much through the year.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.

Catch Up Time

I've been really busy with school, work and my crazy relationship that I haven't had time to post on my blog lately. I've been working almost 15 hour days since black Friday and I've been extremely exhausted. I thought it would be nice to have one nice post to catch up a bit on my life.

Finals

For my Interior Design class I had to do a final project and a final exam. For our final project we had to design an executive office for a made up client. We had to design a company logo for both our designing firm and our clients company. Then we had to come up with our clients age, sex, job title, education and family situation. Our office design was required to have a desk area, conference area and a lounge area. We were also required to draw up a floor plan by hand in a 1/4 " scale.

My Client

My company is K~Design and my partner and I started the company 3 years ago. I personally took on the design of this office. My client was Corissa Burns who is a Jr. Accountant for Burns Accounting (where they are the key to your financial success) which is owned by her father and uncle. Corissa received her Masters in Accountancy at Brigham Young University which is one of the top ten accounting colleges in the United States. Corissa is 27 years old and recently engaged to be married. As a wedding present, her fiance asked me to design her new office.

Here are my presentation boards of Corissa's Office with all furniture choices and samples of paint colors, case goods, flooring and upholstery. Corissa wanted a very traditional and classic look for her office. She also wanted me to bring in influences of the Queen Anne time period with my furniture choices.

Board #1

My first board presents the floor plan (kinda hard to see in this picture), most office finishes, and the furniture for the desk area. All four walls in the office will be painted in the darker neutral color presented on this board while the ceiling will be painted the lighter tint of the wall color also presented here. The carpet will be a dark brown while all the case goods will be in cherry. Both the swivel desk chair and the two guest chairs (situated in front of the desk) will be upholstered in this tan colored washable suede. To bring in some Queen Anne influences I choice these chairs because they have cabriolle legs and Queen Anne arms.

Board #2

My second board presents the conference and lounge areas with all their finishes. I chose a 42" round conference table since Corissa didn't have a huge need for a large conference table. Most of the company meetings take place in her father's office. We also chose 4 Queen Anne chairs (identical to the guest chairs on previous board, only without the tufting) to be situated around the conference table. All four chairs will be upholstered in the paisley/damask patterned fabric shown in the bottom middle of the board. For the lounge area I chose a settee to situated on the left side wall of the office. The magazine table will placed in front of the settee while two fish aquariums will flank each side of the settee. I selected two wing back chairs to be placed on each side of the magazine table. Both the chairs and the settee will be upholstered in a rich red velvet which was a popular textile in the Queen Anne time period. The same upholstery that I used on the conference table chairs will be used as throw pillows on the settee. I hope you liked my design of Corissa's office. I know my teacher did cause she gave me a 100 on this project!!

I also received a 100 on my final exam for this class. I ended the semester with a 99 which I think is pretty amazing and impressive!!!! I loved this class!!! For my College Algebra class I had to get a 65 or higher on my final exam to get an "A" in the class. I thought I would be able to pull that off but I was unable to study for the final. I was going through all my Alex crap around this time and couldn't focus long enough to study. I thought I aced most of the final but there was this one cruel word problem that I ended up skipping completely!!! I was worried that I might have made a few minor errors on some other problems but I felt good that I got my 65 or HIGHER. My only concern was that my teacher refused to email us our final grades and if we wanted to know our grade we had to visit her in her office during office hours. I was unable to visit her during office hours because my jobs started scheduling me during the day when my finals were over. Luckily...I ended up getting an "A" in the class so I'm satisfied. I was able to maintain my 4.0 GPA for my second semester in a row. YEAH!!!!

Work

Like I mentioned earlier....I've been working A LOT of hours this holiday season. What else is to be expected when I work in retail? I've been starting most shifts at 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning and ending my shifts around 11 at night. Yesterday I didn't get out of work until after midnight. Yikes!!! It was amazing having a day off today and luckily the mall closes early tomorrow for Christmas Eve. I've had to deal with a lot of angry customers but I've managed to be nice to most of them. Palais Royal has been much busier than Gymboree. I also happen to work in the busiest department in Palais Royal so there hasn't been a dull moment yet. I've definitely been working hard for my money. We've had a lot of WEAK individuals quit on us this past week because they couldn't handle all the work. Oh well!!!! It's almost over!!!

Alex

We've definitely had our ups and downs these past 2 1/2-3 weeks. I don't really care to discuss Alex's and my relationship at this time but we're doing alright. I still don't think we're doing as well as we were doing before he broke up with me but we still care about each other and so we're working on our little problems.

Misc.

When I woke up this morning my parents informed me that a robber tried to break into our next neighbors house around 2 in the morning. The cops were all up and down our street trying to find the guy. He was trying to unscrew my neighbors window and it woke her up. Apparently he had already broken into other houses in the neighborhood and the cops were called. My parents were a little spooked today and so we've all agreed to keep the doors and windows locked. Keep us in your prayers. We also had a riot today at the mall. Of course it had to happen on the day that I'm off work. My boss called me today to tell me about it. I guess some people were angry that a store ran out of stock of the new Jordans and so thus a riot broke out. Mall security had Palais Royal close the gates to the store. She told me that trashy black people were running through the mall yelling tantrums. She also told me that people were getting trampled by the mob of crazy people. I guess it was so bad that all the windows in our store were shaking and my boss was scared the class was going to break in the windows. Craziness!!!

I hope everyone is having a Happy Holiday!

Surprise, Surprise

The past couple of days have been really hard since Alex broke it off with me. I cried most of the day on Thursday. Little things would trigger the tears like when I walked past a bench in the campus courtyard that I used to sit on when I would call him when I got out of class. I was doing better on Friday because work was SOOOOO busy and I didn't have time to think about it. After work I was so busy working on my final interior design project that, again, I didn't have time to think about him. However, Friday morning I told one of my co-workers at Palais about the break up and she told me something like this, "Kristin, I don't want to sound mean, but it sounds like he found someone else!" I hadn't even thought of that as being a reason. All he told me was that he wasn't ready to get into another serious relationship so soon after his divorce. There was always the possibility that he met someone else and didn't want me to know. When I asked him if he would be interested in dating me when he was ready he responded with something like this, "I don't know if I would. You may not be what I want and right now I don't know what I want."

Maybe that was his nice way of saying, "Hey...I found someone else who is more my type and things are done between us."

Soooo Friday night my mind played tricks on me and I had nightmares of how Alex was posting all over facebook all the woman he was dating now that he had broken up with me. I woke up yesterday morning VERY sad. My whole day was pretty much ruined because of that stupid dream and I was a complete zombie at both my jobs. Last night while working at Gymboree, I told my co-worker about the break up and how I just keep hoping he'll contact me and tell me how much he misses me. I knew that would never happen since he deleted me from facebook and most likely deleted me as a contact altogether. :/

I cried myself to sleep as usual and at 4:11 am, exactly, my phone dinged with a text message. I was half asleep when I rolled over and picked up my phone and saw a text from....

ALEX!!!

"U there?"

He told me he couldn't sleep and that he was trying to sort things out in his mind. He then asked if we could talk sometime. I ended up calling him right away so we could talk and figure things out immediately. To make a long story short.....the main reason he broke it off is because he is scared of getting attached to someone and getting screwed in the end (his ex-wife cheated on him several times). He told me that he really, really, REALLY liked me A LOT and that he missed me. He also told me that he wanted to date me but he was too scared. In the end, he asked if we could start where we left off but just go a little slower this time.

I hope everything works out and I hope he doesn't break my heart again...especially anytime soon!

Oh 2010

I can't help but notice that 2010 is almost over. Sure we still have about 3 1/2 weeks left...but really....it's almost gone! I've been pondering on the events that have occurred this year starting from January 1st. I've been on so many roller coaster rides and experienced several "thunderstorms" in my personal life. I fell in love with a man, Carlos, who ended up literally BREAKING my heart at the very start of 2010. I REALLY didn't think that I was going to survive that break up; I was ready to end my life. I don't know what I would have done without the loving support of my family. I can't even begin to explain the emotions I was feeling and experiencing at the beginning of the year. It wasn't long when someone from my past resurfaced and starting soothing my aching heart. I was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I could finally breathe again. There were several obstacles but I was willing to put up a fight and hopefully conquer. I was constantly battling between which man to choose; the one that broke my heart or the one that wasn't currently available. I've posted several of my experiences with these men throughout the year and I don't really care to re post them at this time. About a month and a half ago I lost all communication with both Carlos and Brandon. What was odd is that both men were actually doing necessary things to have me in their lives. Carlos was telling me that things were finally falling into place and that fate would be good to us and we'd be together again. At that same time, Brandon volunteered to fly me to Atlanta to spend some time with him. Out of nowhere.....BOOM!!!! They both disappeared on me. It's been over a month since I've heard from Carlos and I have no way of contacting him since he has no phone or computer and I haven't known his whereabouts since we broke up. Brandon disconnected his facebook account which was our soul source of communication. I do have his email and phone number but I sorta feel like his disconnection is a sign that he doesn't want me in his life anymore. At the exact moment in time that I'm hearing from both Carlos and Brandon for the last time....BOOM....I meet Alex!!! Sure I was sad that Carlos and Brandon disappeared but Alex was SOOOO AMAZING AND SWEET AND WONDERFUL!!! I was the happiest I had been in a VERY, and I repeat, VERY long time. Alex and I got along so beautifully. I felt so comfortable around him and I could actually be myself, which was really refreshing. We would talk on the phone for hours every night and he called and texted me ALL THE TIME!!!! Because of my busy work and school schedule we only got to see each other once a week and I truly cherished those moments when we got to spend some time together! I can't say that I loved Alex, but I was falling for him and I was falling fast!!! This week was a little different!!! I wasn't hearing from Alex as often as in the past weeks. He wasn't texting or calling me 24/7 and I was beginning to worry. Even when we would talk it would only be for a few minutes and I felt something strange. He wasn't as talkative or as perky. He stopped calling me sweet names and telling me how amazing I was. This week has actually been a sorta HELL for me cause I couldn't get him to communicate with me. He would just tell me that he was tired and didn't feel like talking. I finally couldn't take it anymore and last night I sent him a message on facebook stating that we really needed to talk. When he called me this afternoon things seemed normal and he told me that he missed me. I perked up a bit and he told me to call him when I got off work. When I did call him after work he never answered and it was hours before he called me back. By then I was on my way to class and he told me to call him when I got out. So I called him again when class was over but he never answered my phone calls or texts! I was beginning to worry again because this wasn't normal Alex behavior. He always responded to all my texts promptly in the past. I gave it an hour and half before I tried contacting him again. He finally called and all my fears came to life in that short conversation. He told me that he wasn't ready to commit to a serious relationship. He too is recently divorced but unlike me, he's only been divorced since July (I think). He told me that I'm the first girl he's been with since his ex-wife and that he thought he'd be ready for another relationship when we started talking. Things moved very quickly between Alex and I in the beginning and I actually tried to slow them down but I became greedy and enjoyed our time together just a little too much. I guess in the end he realized that he just hasn't had enough time for himself to recover from the divorce. He told me that his decision had nothing to do with me and that he's enjoyed every minute of our time together. I offered to give him time if he needed but he turned my offer down since he doesn't know how much time he needs. In the end we agreed to be friends but he asked that I not call or text him anymore. I found great comfort in my mother's arms tonight as I cried for my loss. Alex and I only knew each other about a month but it felt like it was much longer. I'm not lying when I say that I was really starting to fall for him. I'm not sure how much more of this heartache I can bare. I was really hoping that 2010 would be a great year but it's turning out to be a nightmare. I have to confess that I haven't been active in the church since a little before my divorce in 2009. I've done things since my divorce that I should be ashamed of. I know that the experiences I've encountered this year are a lesson from the Lord. I feel truly humbled this evening and despite my anger I'm feeling for the trials I've been given, I can't help but LOVE my Father in Heaven. I know that he is teaching me that wickedness NEVER was happiness. I guess it is time for me to take off my stubborn hat and leave that "spacious building." I know that it is going to take some time and that I'll have to take some baby steps but I truly feel that I'll be happier with myself if I take the necessary steps to come back to the church. I'm hoping to see light at the end of the tunnel again. I hope that in doing so that the Lord will bless me. Please pray for me!

It's December!!!

You know what I just noticed? It's freakin December already!! Where has the year gone? Seriously? I've been so busy with work and trying to catch up on my school work that I hadn't noticed that we've already had 5 days in December. Geez!!!

Just wanted to post that I'm still alive and doin well!! School is almost over and I couldn't be happier. I'm ready for my mini vacation! Too bad I work retail and won't really get much of a vacation before spring semester starts but it's something.

My grades are still good in my classes. I got a 100 on my color notebook and an 83 on my last Algebra test. I'm not proud of my 83 but Alex keeps telling me that I should be grateful I didn't fail. It feels like failure though...I get a 105, 110 and 102 and on my other tests and drop to a "B" on my last one. Again, Alex tells me I'm too hard on myself. The lowest of the four gets replaced with the highest so it's really a 110!! Oh well...it was the stupid logarithms that got me on that last test...I hate logs!!

Alex and I are doing pretty well. We try to see each other at least once a week and so far we've been successful. Not sure if I'll be able to see him this week since I have finals next week that I need to prepare for. I guess we'll see though...I'll try to get him to drive out here to see me since I drove to see him last.

Black Friday

Black Friday was murder for me this year. I've worked several Black Friday's in the past but NOTHING even came close to how bad it was for me this year. I've never worked two retail jobs at the same time before. Ready to hear what I worked?

6:30 am- 11:00 pm.

Did you calculate that for me?

15 1/2 hours!!!

Craziness I tell you. It really wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. Alex was really sweet and he drove an hour from Katy, TX just to bring me some caffeine. Isn't he the sweetest? I wouldn't have made it without the caffeine perk. I worked yesterday from Noon-10:30 which wasn't as long a day but I was more tired yesterday than I was on Friday. I think my exhaustion from Friday caught up with me and I was really dragging my feet by the end of the day. Luckily I was able to get off both jobs today so that I could relax a little and re cooperate. I don't really have much time to rest since I'm far behind on my school work. I've spent most of today shopping for office furniture for my final interior design project. I think I'm finally set for the furnishings!! Just need to pick out my finishes, draw up the floor plan and come up with company logos for both myself and my client. Geez!!! As soon as I'm done with this post I'll be pulling out my Algebra and working on that the rest of the evening. I'll be so happy when this semester is over. I'm exhausted!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving with friends and family today! I have much to be thankful for today. I'm thankful for a loving family who supports me even when I might do things that are a little discouraging. I'm thankful for my friends who are also very supportive. I'm thankful that I have work so I can support myself financially. I'm also thankful that I'm doing so well in school. I've met a wonderful guy, Alex, who makes me SO happy and I'm extremely thankful for that. Most of all I'm thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who is always there for me even when I do wrong. I know that he loves me and I know that he is always there!

Pattern Mixing Board & Color Notebook

I've turned in 2 more Interior Design Projects since the last time I blogged something. One of them has been graded and the other just barely got turned in last night.

Pattern Mixing Board

The teacher assigned us an "ugly" fabric that we were required to design a living room around with at least 5 other patterned fabrics and only one solid. Starting from the bottom left we see the upholstery for the sofa. Then going to the right (still on the bottom right) the two goldish fabrics are throw pillows for the sofa. The navy fabric will be a throw pillow for the Wing Back Chairs that will be upholstered in the fabric located directly above the throw pillow fabrics. The Wing Back Upholstery was the "inspirational/ugly" fabric for this rooms design. Moving to the left of this fabric we see the fabric that will be used for the ottomans and the navy fabric will be used for the dining room chairs in the dining room in this open floor plan. Directly above the ottoman fabric we see some upholstery for some sitting chairs in a reading area by a window. The last fabric on the top right will be used for the draperies of this space.

I received a 96 on this project for a few minor details. Some of my fabrics had thick paper behind the sample that caused some bunching when I wrapped the fabric on the board.

Color Notebook

My Color Notebook was turned in last night and so I won't receive my grade until after the Thanksgiving Holiday. I wanted this project to look very similar to my P & E Notebook from earlier in the semester. Here are a few highlights from this notebook.

This is the color wheel that I made out of different fabrics. This wheel actually took more time than you would think....holy crap!!!

Fabric Simulation using a patterned fabric!

Achromatic Color Scheme ~ black, white and grey

Analogous Color Scheme ~ 3-6 colors adjacent on color wheel

Triadic Color Scheme ~ 3 equidistant colors on color wheel

My Final Room Analysis

More Good Grades

Work and school have been really insane lately and I haven't really had much time for blogging. I have received a few more good grades in both my classes. On my last Algebra test I received a 102 which was the ONLY "A" in the whole class. There were 2 "B's" and 2 "C's" and the rest of the class failed. Most of the class ended up dropping the class after we got those tests back. On Thursday the class was so small!

However, my 100 streak ended in my Interior Design class :(

I received a 99 on my furniture board. Not a bad grade but not a perfect one either. There was a small minuscule spec of glue that she counted off for. She told us from here on out she would deduct points for little things like not being able to cut a straight line, showing glue, frayed edges on our boards etc....

She told us that no one got a perfect score so I'm thinking that my 99 was the best in the class. I've officially been labeled "Miss Overachiever" from some of my classmates.

I'm so proud of myself especially in my Algebra class. I've now got a 105, 110, 110, and 102 on my four tests. Now I just have to keep doing my homework and hope that I do well on my final. I think it's impossible for me to NOT get an "A" in that class now!! Yeah!!

My First Date

I went on my first date, in a really long time, tonight. I haven't been with anyone since Carlos and I broke up in January of this year. This date was totally unexpected but it ended up being a really good evening.

Last Wednesday I received a text message from a girl in my Interior Design class. She was wanting to know what my last name was so she could look me up on facebook to show a picture of me to her best friend. She had told him that I looked like a mixture of Taylor Swift and Kristen Bell and he wanted to see. I ended up just sending her a picture to show him and she told me that he wanted my number after he saw it. I was a little sceptical at first but eventually gave in. He started texting me immediately after she gave him my number. We've been talking ever since via text and phone calls. He asked me out on our second day of texting and we made our arrangements for tonight since I was off work. I've really enjoyed talking to this guy. His name is Alex by the way. Alex has been really sweet and I had a great time hanging out with him tonight. He's a really nice guy and I'd love to spend more time with him and get to know him better.

English Neoclassical Style Furniture

My furniture board was due last Wednesday and I have yet to receive my grade on it. My teacher was going to give us our boards and grades back yesterday, but the pouring down rain kept her from taking them out of her home. I'm hoping the weather will be nice next Monday so the teacher can give them back to us...I'm eager to know what my grade is.

We were all assigned different furniture styles that we were supposed to research and decorate a room around. We then had to pick 4 pieces of furniture; one had to have upholstery; and we had to have a sample of the wood used from that time period.

I was given English Neoclassical which was approximately from 1760-1820 when George the III came to the throne. The Neoclassical time period also falls in the Late Georgian Period. The 3 most well known designers/architects/cabinet makers of this time period were Robert Adam, George Hepplewhite, and Thomas Sheraton.

During the Neoclassical Era, the designers started going away from cabriolle legs and using straight lines instead. This is an Adam Style Dining Chair; Adam was known for his use of ovals, circles, columns and urns. I chose this oval back dining chair for the dining room I designed. For the upholstery I chose a light blue damask since blue was a popular color used in the neoclassical era and damask was a popular texture.

I chose a Sheraton Style Dining Table. Even though cabriolle legs were going out of style at this time, they still used a slight curve with some of their legs.

Both my Serving Table and China Cabinet are Hepplewhite Style. Hepplewhite and Sheraton had very similar styles and it was hard to distinguish which one did what but there were some slight differences; mostly in the direction they carved their wood.

Hepplewhite was most well known for his "shield shaped" chair back. Sheraton did more of a square shaped back.

All four of my pieces are mahogany which was the primary wood choice of the neoclassical time period.

Let's Keep 'Em Comin

I had my furniture test tonight for my Interior Design class. I had such a busy weekend full of work that I wasn't in the mood, AT ALL, to study for it last night. I forced myself to look over a few things but I spent maybe 15 minutes max on studying. I'm proud to announce that I got yet another 100. I hope I can keep this up because I would love to get all 100's this semester...wouldn't that be awesome?

Nasty Wart

I've had this wart under one of my finger nails for probably 2 years, I want to say. It never really bothered me because it was so small and my nail was always long enough to cover and hide the nasty thing. I figured I'd take care of the wart eventually and so I just left it alone. A little over a week ago I noticed that the stupid thing was turning black. I really got freaked out by my wart and decided it was time to remove it. I went to Walmart to buy some Dr. Scholl's Freeze Away and started reading the instructions. The labels kept saying over and over NOT to use this product unless you were absolutely certain that what you had was a common or planters wart. Since my wart had turned black I wasn't sure if it was considered a common wart. I decided to do some research before I removed it personally. I googled discolored warts and the first article that popped up said, "Do not remove discolored warts yourself. Go to the doctor immediately because your wart may be cancerous!!"

WTF??? Did I have cancer on my finger?

I was so disturbed by this article that I called my mom, who was visiting relatives in Pennsylvania at the time, and decided to get her opinion. The moment I mentioned my wart turning black my mom freaked out even more than I had originally. Just that day in church a woman had bore her testimony about a nephew she had that died because he had a wart on his neck that turned black and he never got it checked out until it was too late.

WTF AGAIN!!!!

Now we were both freaking out and thinking that I was going to die over a cancerous spec on my tiny finger. Last Wednesday I went to my doctor immediately to get it looked at. The nurse that was taking my blood pressure told me that my blood pressure was too high and asked if I was nervous. In my head I was thinking, "Duh!!! I have cancer!! Of course I'm nervous!" The doctor looked at my spec with special magnifying classes (it was really small) and it turns out it wasn't cancerous!!! Phew was right!!! He told me it was ugly and that we should just freeze it off. I gave him the go ahead to remove that sucker. I've never had a wart frozen off before and he warned me that it was going to hurt. I was so scared but for any of you that have never had a wart frozen either, it didn't hurt AT ALL!!! I felt a brief sting and nothing more. The next couple of days after he applied the liquid nitrogen a small blister formed around the wart. At first the skin was rough but the blister and wart did eventually start to feel tender. Nothing horrible to experience. Earlier this week, probably about Monday evening, I noticed that my wart was smaller and starting to shrivel up. By the time I got home from class it had finally fallen off!!!! Yeah!! Now I'm wart free and my hand looks sexy again!!!

I Did It!!!!

There it is folks!!! My PERFECT 110!!! I was confident that I had done it, and I did do it!!!

Yeah!!!

When my professor walked into class this morning she announced to the class,

"Something happened that has never happened before! A student from this class got a perfect 110! I've never had a student get a perfect score on a test before. This student took the information she was given and I'm proud of them!"

She waited till the end of class to give us our tests back and the whole time I was hoping that I was the student that got the 110!

Sure enough I was!!! The teacher gave me the test and told me, "You're the first girlfriend! Congratulations!"

I'm so proud of myself. I thought I was going to fail this class at the beginning of the semester. I couldn't even remember how to foil when I started this class. 7 1/2 years is a long time to not be doing math. I'm just so happy that everything I'm learning is coming back to me. I tried to convince my teacher to give me some sort of reward toward my final exam for being her first student to get a perfect test score. She only laughed and told me that I was already getting two 110's out of my 4 tests!

*Test Policy: Our highest test score replaces our lowest test score of the semester*

(Ex: 90, 80, 70, 50 will equal 90, 80, 70, 90)

So no matter what I get on my third and fourth test, I already have two 110's!!

I was on a cloud all day and I couldn't be happier. I even put my test on the fridge like a giddy school girl!!

Two 100's

So far this semester I've gotten a 100 on EVERYTHING I've turned in!!

I knew that I was getting both my Interior Design projects turned back tonight and I was worried that my 100 streak was going to end. I'm proud to announce that I got a 100 on each one!!! Yeah!!! I thought the teacher was going to grade a whole lot tougher than she did!! I'm relieved to know that she doesn't grade as hard as I was thinking.

Tomorrow I'll get my college algebra test back and I'm hoping to get another 100....we shall see.

Happy Birthday Carlos!!

Today is Carlos' 30th Birthday!!

I still consider him to be one of my best friends and I'll always love this man!!

Happy Birthday Carlos!

XOXO

:-)

Concept Board

I know that I already made a post today (not too long ago actually) but I totally forgot to post my project that was turned in on Wednesday for my Interior Design class. So here goes....

The Miller's Family Room

The Miller's are a small family consisting of a husband and wife with two young children. Their daughter is 8 and loves to play soccer while their son is a 6 year old Einstein. The family loves to spend time together watching movies, playing wii games and even some board games. Mr. and Mrs. Miller love to entertain and often have friends over for parties in the evenings. They spend most of their time in their family room that is open to their kitchen. They wanted our team to design a Modern Style Family Room that suited their needs. Since modern design consists of mostly clean lines, we chose furniture that has just that; clean lines and very minimalistic. For the floor we went with pre-finished zebra wood since they used zebra wood in the kitchen and we wanted to extend it into the family room as well. To break up some of the monotony with the zebra wood, we placed a fuzzy white area rug under the sectional and coffee table. The rug added some softness to the space but also some texture and personality. We chose a sectional with a chaise and upholstered it in black leather. The black sofa would be a nice contrast from the white rug but would also bring out the black in the zebra wood. For the coffee table we chose a flat and square shaped table with a shiny black finish. The coffee table came with 4 storage ottomans that hide under the table when not in use but provide extra seating for Mr. and Mrs. Miller's parties. Because the Miller's love to play games as a family we made a game area in the room. We bought a round game table in the same shiny black finish as the coffee table. We chose 4 high back chairs, also in black, to go around the game table. Our color scheme for the room stemmed from the zebra wood flooring. We wanted the majority of the room and its furnishings to be black and white. To add a little contrast we painted the walls a light gray which would be complimentary to the black and white in the floor. We wanted the fireplace wall to be the focal point of the room so we painted it a slightly darker shade of gray. We didn't design a mantle for the fireplace since that would be more traditional than modern, but we designed a fireplace facade that would stick out a little further from the fireplace wall itself. We chose to paint the facade a rich shade of plum. To bring in some color to the room we upholstered throw pillows in a rich plum fabric and a brighter and lighter shade of purple. We used the same material to upholster the ottomans; 2 in plum and 2 in the lighter purple. We also added some white throw pillows to the sofa so the purple pillows wouldn't get lost on the black leather. To brighten up the game table side of the room, we upholstered all 4 chairs with the lighter purple fabric that was used on the pillows and ottomans. The entire wall to the left of the game table is a floor to ceiling window. We didn't want to use blinds in our design so we chose floor to ceiling sheer white draperies to provide the Miller's with some privacy. The sheers added a delicate, soft, simple and modern feel to the room. Where are the Miller's going to store all the games that they love to play as a family? All the games can't possibly fit in the ottomans, can they? Of course not! We designed custom built in drawers on both sides of the fireplace wall. The drawers are waist high (for an average adult) and finished in a high gloss white. The white contrasts nicely with the gray walls and blends perfectly with the rest of the white decor. Above the storage drawers on the right of the fireplace we mounted floating shelves, painted in plum, to house pictures and other knick knacks. Above the storage drawers on the left side of the fireplace we mounted artwork that we had the Miller children draw. We wanted the family to add a little personal touch to their family room. How can they have a family room with no TV? Ha...I saved the best for last. We mounted a 50'' flat screen above the fireplace facade. The TV swivels so you can watch it from anywhere in the room. Whether they are watching from the sofa or watching from the game table, it swivels for their convenience. We also left some space in the room, on the game table side, for playing extreme sports such as wii tennis, bowling and baseball ;-p

I hope you enjoyed my teams design for the Miller's Family Room. We sure had a great time coming up with what we presented to them.

*In case you are wondering: The Miller's are a fictional family that we made up for the design. We had to come up with a client so we could design a room that met their needs*

I Think I Did It

I took my Algebra test yesterday and I think I might have gotten the perfect grade I was working so hard for. Of course I won't know for sure until after class on Tuesday but I feel confident that I'm going to see a "lovely" grade on that test. There is always the possibility that I made some stupid errors BUT I really did feel good about all my answers when I turned in my test. If it isn't a "perfect" there is no possible way that I won't get at least an "A" on it. I'll feel really stupid if I have to post on my blog that I failed miserably but I don't think that will happen. It may not be a 110 but I'm optimistic that it possibly could be. :-)

Too Much Algebra

My next College Algebra test is in two days and I spent almost my entire weekend studying and preparing for this test. Can I just say the my brain hurts? Cause it does!! I don't think that I can look at another graph, equation, or form at all. My brain can't even focus anymore. I think I'll take a break and not look at another problem till tomorrow!! I think my brain is trying to tell me to take a break from math for awhile. I'm pretty confident about this material and so I think I should just rest and relax. I don't want to go into algebra overload!!

PS: Can anyone tell me what form is shown in the picture above?

It's the slope intercept form....math overload!

Where Am I Supposed To Be?

HERE!!

Where is "here" exactly?

Atlanta, GA that's where!!

Yes, I was supposed to go to Atlanta to visit Brandon this weekend!

Did it happen?

No!!!

We've been planning this trip since August 21. Well, last Thursday on the 30th, he contacted me and told me that he unexpectedly needed to take his dog to the vet and that he wouldn't have enough money to buy my plane ticket. I offered to pay for half the ticket (even though I didn't have the money) and he said, "NOOOO, NOOOO, NO" to that. He told me that we would figure something else out and that I needed to save my money for school (which is true). We're both bummed by this outcome but I can't be mad. Unexpected expenses happen all the time....I'm learning that the hard way.

I was really looking forward to seeing him and getting out for a bit. I've done nothing for myself all year. My daily routine is school, work, study, work, study, school....etc!!!

On the positive side of things: I have an Algebra test next week and now I have a full 3 days off both jobs for studying!!! I've been doing math for the past 5 hours straight. Sheesh! I'll do some more tomorrow I guess.

I just hope that Brandon and I will be able to get together again before too long!

$554.00

I've been looking at my checking account statement today and I was interested in calculating the costs I've put into this semester. To my astonishment I just discovered that I've spent exactly $554.00 on books and supplies for my two classes so far. I'm curious as to how much I will spend in total before the semester is over. No wonder I'm broke!!!! I'm hoping not to have to spend too much more.

Principles and Elements of Design

I thought I would share some photos of my Principles and Elements Notebook. The quality of the pictures isn't that great because I used my camera phone but at least you can kind of get an idea.

There are several principles and elements of design. As you can see my notebook is pretty thick! I was just barely able to fit them all in the 1 1/2 inch binder I bought. Because there are so many I thought I would pick a few of my favorites.
Scale: The first Principle of Design. Scale deals with the size of the room. Is the room large or small? Is the furniture in the room too big for the size of the room? Is the furniture in the room too small for the size of the room? If you can see my picture, the room is very large and the furniture chosen for the space is also large. All the wall art is large in scale which matches the architectural scale of the room.

Repetition: Stems from Rhythm which is a Principle of Design. Repetition is a repeating rhythm of similar characteristics. The picture I chose showcases repetition in the legs of the furniture. All the legs have the same curve and claw base.

Massing: Stems from Emphasis which is a Principle of Design. Massing is a grouping of similar objects. I hope you can see the massing of MANY taxidermy deer heads on the wall. Hello? A bit much in my opinion. (picture actually extended into another page...that's a lot of death in one room ;-p)

Small Curved: Lines are an Element of Design. In this picture the archway above the bed has a small curve.

Stylized Pattern: An Element of Design. The blue color in the upholstered dinning room chairs matches the blue in the area rug below. The wood cabinetry matches the wood color in the ceiling. The curve of the chair legs is seen in the ceiling with the curve of the beams. The overall pattern in the this room flows with one another making this room stylized.

Most designs are going to be made of more than one principle and element of design. You probably can't see this picture very well but there are several principles and elements found in this room. The beams in the ceiling show off some horizontal lines making the room look wider and taller. The exposed rock and brick walls have a naturalistic pattern and the wall art in the center has an isolated emphasis for that wall. If the quality of this picture were better I could show you some more principles and elements.

I hope you enjoyed my project. I don't know what my grade for it is yet....but it better be a juicy "A" for all I went through getting it done.

Sweet Relief

I FINALLY finished my Principles and Elements of Design Notebook for my Interior Design class. I was beginning to think this project would never get done. I already announced that my parents computer needed to be rebooted last week and that I had to start over on everything. I started rewriting everything on Wednesday and I thought it would be wise to email myself a copy of the finished analysis'. However, when my dad was trying to get some help fixing the computer, we lost our Internet connection and I couldn't get online to email myself my project for safe keeping.

*I wanted to scream*

I was scared to death that the computer would mess up again and I would lose my project and have to start over a third time. Wednesday night I asked my dad if he knew anything about the status of our printer. He couldn't get online to check the tracking number.

While I was at school on Thursday, my dad called me to tell me that we should have received the printer 8 days earlier. We looked on the calendar and discovered that my mom was in Dallas that day visiting my brother and both my dad and myself were at work that day. Turns out the printer was left on the front porch and most likely stolen. My dad told me that he wasn't going to buy another printer.

*WTF??*

I had yet another heated conversation with my dad about the importance of owning working technology. I then asked my dad if he would print my papers at work.

He said NO!!! 61 pages was too much for him to be printing on his company printer.

You want to know what my dad said to me after he declined to print the papers?

He told me to contact my teacher and tell her that I was having computer and printer problems and that I wouldn't be able to turn my project in on time.

*WTF??*

Was he really serious?

I told him that NO college professor would care about my computer and printer problems. She would tell me to find a working computer and printer and get my project done.

I finally contacted my good friend (Thanks Mel....you were a life saver) and asked if I could print my project at her place.

Yeah!!!

I was finally able to print my papers and get my P&E Notebook all assembled!!!

It's DONE and it looks fabulous. I'm finally able to relax and have good night sleeps. I hope I don't have anymore computer problems for the rest of the semester!!

*Fingers crossed*

Yipee!

I got a......

105

on my College Algebra test!!!

Yipee!!

As I was expecting, I lost 4 points for not stating my restrictions on the rational equation. Then I lost 1 point for getting one of the matching questions wrong.

So I would have gotten a 95 (still an awesome grade) if I hadn't gotten the bonus questions right. I'm so proud of myself. I haven't gotten anything less than a 100 in either of my classes so far!! Knock on wood. I hope I can keep this up!