Free Radio.

The new show on VH1 looked anything but entertaining to me, but an episode happened to slide it’s way into my programming schedule (really I was so glued to portfolio that I didn’t even think to change the channel hours after Rock of Love–my guilty pleasure) and after a few glimpses, I was hooked. The show is actually pretty hilarious. I think I’m a fan. I had no idea! I am still patiently awaiting some good quality T.V. to return: The Riches & Big Love. Now THAT’S quality tubin’. Now that my portfolio is ordered, maybe I can actually sit down and watch some. Nahh. The weather here is wayyyy too good. I have been dying to pick up the bottle of bubbles Marshall bought me and my camera and go out into Alpha Mill’s mini lawn, snapping pictures. I don’t know how I could ever live without spring. yippie.

Holy Portfolio!

For the last, oh, I don’t know, say TWO WEEKS I have been nothing less than a slave to my portfolio(s). I have hardly eaten, most certainly hardly slept & have spent countless early morning hours screaming “why, why, whhhyyy?!?!?” at my Mac. The portfolio is done, rather rushed, yes, and not up to it’s fullest potential, but I am still rather pleased. It’s sexy. The problem other than never having enough time in a day to get my work done has been this: BLURB! When I originally used the program to create the book”With Love” for my mom for Christmas, I fell in love with it. I gave it a ten for user friendliness and speed of shipping. Importing photoshop & Indesign layouts into it was a piece of cake and considering I am the biggest procrastinator in the world, it was delivered to Marshall’s Mom’s in Appomattox days before expected. I was impressed.

Not so much this time. I’m sure it’s just that at the last minute, everything that can go wrong will, but I have spent sleepless nights rushing to get my portfolio pages just right to submit for print, with too many problems to handle. (Most of which could of been avoided by using another Mac, but I won’t get into THAT one). For some reason the BookSmart program on my computer is currently on crack, most likely because I desperately need it. It constantly crashes, so I rendered it useless. I opted for a borrowed PC and begin uploading my images onto the program from there. Well for some ungodly reason Blurb, the only printing press in the world I am sure, prints RGB, not CMYK. Are you for REAL? Who DOES that? So, my 40 gazillion huge file size pages needed to be reopened and converted to RGB (after what took hours for me to figure was my uploading glitch) on an already super slow by this point Mac.

So that’s done. When it comes to uploading it, it was a pain. I downloaded the program onto a 3rd computer, the one in my apartment’s club house. It was working great, I was up until 4 am laying out my pages for my ID & photography portfolios, was feelin’ great that everything was going smooth and BAM! “No internet connection” was the error I got. There is no way to contact Blurb via phone, so my only troubleshooting options were to email tech support and wait until the “next business day” for a response (that I just got, and helped none) or to search through the help forums. I found a discussion of people having the same problems, but with no solutions. So by this time I am really panicking. I have set my portfolio pages up especially for this book, so reformatting is not an option, but portfolio review is in a little over a week and they need time to print and ship! THIS IS WHAT I GET FOR BEING A PERFECTIONIST I suppose. So I go back to Mariam’s to try to load it on her computer one more time, which appeared to be working, but kept freezing up 30 minutes into the load. Ohmygoodness shoot me now. By this point I was so over it, but not giving up. Here I am, at school, watching my baby load with the greatest of ease.

Thank you lord.

What a pain in the ass. Now let’s cross all of our fingers and hope hope hope it gets here (with hefty overnighting fees) by 4:30 on thursday. Deliver it to Byron’s if you must…I just need it.

So that’s the story of the treacherous portfolios. They will look great together…(the ID & photography) if delivery pulls through.

I have never been this stressed in my life. TWO DAYS LEFT & I AM A GRAD! No school again…ever! I can hardly take the time to enjoy it!

Learn Italian

In the case of continuing school versus continuing school in Italy–the verdict is out.  Continuing school in Italy it is.

 Ever since I returned from my study abroad program in Strasbourg I have had an itch begging to be scratched.  The itch to return to Europe, to spend more time there, and to travel to more places.  Fortunate for me, the opportunity has some what appeared and I, my friends, may be pulling off a temporary move to Italy.

A fellow Designer & one of my Extravagant Eight girls from Europe, Cat, is graduating at the same time as me from the Art Institute of Minneapolis.  I can never say enough good things about this woman.  She is incredibly intelligent, humorous, positive, enlightened, laid back & exceptionally mature.  I l.o.v.e. her.  She is most certainly a traveling gypsy, as when we all returned from Strasbourg, craving more, she actually did it, booking a plan with her school back to Europe, this time hitting Amsterdam & several other cities, and then came back to the U.S. and ventured out to other states to study design & architecture.  Lucky *%&#! 

 After knowing of Cat’s plans to continue her studies and maintain her master in Interiors & Product design in Italy, I became intrigued myself.  After reviewing the course material (and cost!  A year there gives you your Masters, but also takes a $27,000 chunk out of your pocket!  Ouch!) I vetoed the Master’s program idea, but looked into Photography certificates at the same school.  For a fraction of the cost I can take commercial, fashion & photojournalism photography courses for a series of months, earning a certificate in the field.  A certificate would suffice for me, since it is not exceptionally important to me to have a physical degree in photography, just the technical skills & knowledge that courses would provide me with. 

 I have spoken with her and she is exceptionally thrilled to have me seriously considering heading over there with her.  She will be leaving in September (assuming her portfolio gets her accepted into the graduate program) and will be staying in a furnished apartment in Florence (which I have been looking up and oh my goodness those apartments are FABULOUS!).  I would most likely wait until November to join her, considering Marshall will be returning from his advanced training in Arizona for two weeks in October.  I have only signed an 8 month lease at my apartment complex with the intentions of picking up and moving out in September to join Cat.  I can always pay an extra month or two so that I ensure Marshall and I have somewhere to stay when he comes back. 

 If I were to go (which everyone, myself & Marshall included thinks I would be stupid not to!) then I would pick through my apartment, keep everything that I really really really like, put it in storage and sell everything else.  How liberating!  That’s the part the excites me the most!  I am the kind of person who’s styles & trends change so frequently that when I came back from Italy, my furnishings & clothes would be nothing that I was interested in anymore, so why not just ditch them!  (My furniture is so not my style now anyway.  I LOVE it all, but if I were to be given a blank canvas and a lot of money, I would not repurchase the same things).

So that’s the idea.  Head to Italy, live in Florence with Cat for 6 months to a year (probably six months, but I am leaving a longer term option open), have my family & Marshall (who have all eagerly agreed to spend Christmas in Florence) come see me for the holidays, get a certificate in Photography while I’m there, get my visa so that I can get some sort of student job, teaching English (Cat says they would all come out speaking English with a southern accent!  ha!) or interning somewhere, and freakin’ live in Italy!  I am so down for the idea, and everyone around me is so supportive, especially Marshall.  He is in the military bettering himself, and says I am young and should take the time that we can’t spend together to do the same…and who knows, maybe he’ll get stationed in Germany (oh I HOPE!) and then it’s just a hop, skip & a jump for me to visit base!

I see myself working for an Interior Design publication in the future, so I am trying to get a shoe-in with one in Charlotte before I make this whole Italy venture happen.  That way I can getta’ crackin’ on my career, save some moolah, then sell it all and run off to the vineyards of Florence.  It’s such an exciting, petrifying idea!  Wish me luck!