16 posts tagged “happiness”

I'm making an update out of sense of duty, really. I fear I've lost all desire to make lengthy in-depth posts as I used to. I swear, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Plurk (which is awesome BTW) have completely robbed me of any attention span. Any post more than 140 characters is a chore for me. God, even Facebook is growing tired for me lately. As always, I hesitate to give up on my blogs entirely because of the friends I've made through them. And although I don't write nearly as often as I used to.. or comment for that matter... I read everyone else's entries every day. I imagine it'll only be a matter of time before it's time to throw in the towel and delete at least one of my journals. I don't need three or four blogs out there -- all with the same sporadic entries. ANYWAY! Life has been going really well. Work is excellent. I sent two jobs I'm really proud of to the printers and am excited to get them back. I've already accumulated a few portfolio pieces from this job that nicely fill in the gaps of my previous somewhat limited collection of work. I'm also getting a lot of valuable experience with client relations, pre-press, production, invoicing, etc. I'm trying to get a grasp of the important stuff for when I work for myself, (which WILL happen one day, gosh darnit) My bosses have been quite receptive to suggestions I've made in the last little while too. In fact, based on a few comments I had about their current website, I've been put in charge of completely re-designing their web presence. It's a big job but I'm loving it. I presented them with roughs today and they seemed quite happy overall. Tara in particular is extremely excited and asked if we could launch a new site next week. No. No we can't... but it feels good that she's that pleased. Other than work, not much has been happening. I'm looking forward to the long weekend. My bosses, bless 'em, are giving us an extra day and a half off so it'll be a very nice break. I've been trying to get some personal stuff done (illustration, as always and also re-designing my own website) so hopefully I'll have some opportunity this weekend. I'm feeling extra creative lately and just can't seem to find enough time. There. I made an update. :) Go Jared. Ta!

Today is Drawing Day 08 and I originally had some good stuff planned but didn't get around to it. I still wanted to post something though so I figured I would post some progress stuff.

I haven't had much time to work on this lately, but here is some progress on my character, "Cashew" - part of my dress-up series. I'm going for a teal/brown/tan color scheme for this one and I think it'll look pretty cool when I finish it - which hopefully won't be too far away. And here is an EXTREMELY rough sketch of one of the other characters. I didn't even finish sketching it out because I realize that I usually ignore my sketches when I start painting anyway so it's a waste of time. I still have the rabbit one to paint after I finish Cashew, plus I have a girl with goldfish sketched out and ready to go. After that comes snake, frog, sugar glider, turtle, etc.... or whatever else inspires me in the meantime. DRAW! _______________________________ Moving on. Last night I went to a party at Tara's(boss) place and had a great time. There was a much larger group of people than the last get-together and it was kind of a potluck thing. Mike and I made caesar salad with homemade dressing, croutons, etc. It was so garlic-y that the collective breath of the party could peel paint I'm sure. I also made pina coladas which went over well. Originally the party was planned as a hot dog eating contest between my co-workers but as more and more people got invited, (or invited themselves) they crumbled under pressure for fear of appearing piggish. Bernie did eat four though.. so that's something. ;) My appreciation for my job continues to grow and I feel quite fortunate. The woman I'm replacing was at the party for a while and I told her she's not allowed to return in January. Tara spoke up and said I shouldn't just assume I'd be leaving when Gillian returns but I guess we'll see. A lot can happen before then. As soon as the summer is over and my seasonal depression kicks back in, I'll likely be anxious to move away again anyway. I actually had a lot of stuff I wanted to write about but I was hung-over this morning and I'm feeling lazy now. Slowly but surely this blog is being abandoned. I'm pretty impressed I still write at all after eight years. Ta!

This weekend is proving to be quite the expensive one. I'm making good on my promise to make our new apartment a comfortable, inviting home rather than just another transitional, temporary place. My wallet is begging for mercy. :) It doesn't help that Thursday (Friday for Mike and I) was Valentine's Day. I took Mike out for dinner at a charming New Orleans-style restaurant. I spent about what I expected to for dinner, drinks, appetizers, and dessert, but I still have guilt over forking over so much money for food I could have made at home if I would just put the time in. In fact, I've made jambalaya several times at home so it's a tad pointless to go out and order it somewhere else. ;) Whatever. Mike got to have his oysters. Gross.

For my Valentines gift, Mike bought me a new pair of running shoes and insoles. He was going to buy me a Nintendo DS - something I've been considering buying myself for months now - but in a rare moment of maturity and responsibility, I vetoed the decision in favor or shoes instead. Seriously, the fact that I've gone 22 years without proper insoles for my hob-goblin feet and can still walk is a modern miracle. Actually, I like my feet, but my arches are ridiculously high. I have the feet a sexy stilleto dreams of. Unfortunately I've always been too cheap to buy myself the proper shoes, or better yet, get orthotics so I've been know to have serious foot cramps on occasion. So while Mike's gift might not seem overly romantic for the occasion, it's actually very sweet. :) It still feels really weird to walk with my entire foot supported though. I've been walking on the outside of my feet for my entire life...

And those insoles came in handy yesterday for walking through IKEA for hours. With my new determination to love my surroundings, frugality has been abandoned. I spent nearly 700 dollars in a few short hours... heh. Fortunately, when shopping at IKEA, $700 goes a long way and our apartment will basically be fully furnished once the delivery arrives next week. Our loot from yesterday includes:

• a coffee table and two matching end tables
• a bookcase cabinet with doors
• four kitchen chairs
• four thick cushions
• one large area rug
• two hand-blown frosted glass lamps with beautiful pattern (LOVE THEM)
• one orb lamp (funky as can be)
• three CD storage boxes
• one giant glass vase with 6' willow branches
• one magnetic backsplash for the kitchen with three magnetic spice containers. (So fun)
• various necessities such as screws, hooks, etc.

So I think we did alright for the amount of money we spent. So far we've spent less than a grand on our place and we're already loving it. Our next big purchases are going to be a bedframe with hidden shelves in the headboard, (we already have it picked out and love it) a new duvet and sheet set since our current duvet just got ruined a few days ago, and possibly a new computer table on wheels designed for laptop use while in bed. After that, we'll be done and will have only spent a modest amount. I'm still on the lookout for frames for the prints I've picked out and we're still debating whether we're going to paint the bedroom or not. I finally have Mike on board for the gorgeous blue-gray I have in mind. I've never been the materialistic type and I consider myself to be anything but snotty when it comes to having 'things' but I've got to admit that actually putting effort into my surroundings has had a huge impact on my happiness. I'm starting to feel like the old me again. :)

And now, I have to go spend even more money because I split yet another pair of jeans yesterday. That's five pairs of pants in the last year that I've ripped the crotch out of. I cannot explain it because it really makes no sense. If I was splitting the ass out than I'd assume that my butt was just too big and it was time to give up the chocolate (NEVER!) but it's just the crotch. Maybe I should stop buying cheap pants.

Oh, and I'm very thankful that today is a holiday in Alberta. I've never heard of Family Day, but I'll gladly celebrate it.

Love yah. ;)

Hello journal,

As usual, I've gone a significant amount of time between entries. I've actually had several entires planned in the last few days but can never seem to get around to it. My afternoons always seem so condensed after work, gym, making dinner, and finally sitting down to relax. We're skipping the gym tonight (and eating take-out just to make sure we've properly sabotaged ourselves) so I have a little more time tonight.

Things are going pretty well with me lately. I've been at my job for over a month now and am really starting to come into my own. I've learned to just trust my instincts and 99.5% of the time, I've gotten really positive feedback from my boss and the client. I just designed some packaging labels for an organic tea-shoppe and the client was SUPER impressed and excited so that felt great. I really enjoyed the job because I finally had an excuse to create some really intricate damask patterns in Illustrator. I've started to collect different patterns I've used in past projects so that I have a go-to pattern/texture library on my computer and it's geeky as hell but this excites me greatly. :)

Other jobs I'm working on are a series of illustrations for Well Maintenance, the identity for the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, a book for Northern Affairs and a brochure I really like. The job was for the agriculture industry so it allowed me to incorporated a lot of textures and weathering - which I love.

So that's that. Oh, I finally got my business cards for work. I'm all grown up now. :) Now I just have to find excuses to start handing them out.

We've been in the new apartment for a few weeks now and I'm surprised at just how much difference its made in my overall happiness. My entire quality of life has changed. I live five blocks away from work, six blocks from my new gym, and a block from a grocery store, several restaurants, a Starbucks, etc etc. I'm in walking distance from everything I need which is such a welcome change from the hell we were going through with transit when living at the last place. The weather here has been absolutely ridiculous lately, getting as low as -45C and of course, one day the bus was a full forty minutes late. I literally thought I was going to die.

The new place has actually inspired us to FINALLY decorate. Mike and I have already bought a few new things and are planning a trip to IKEA this weekend to finish it off. Once I find some affordable frames, I'm going to order some prints and hang art for the first time in my life. I've never truly felt settled in a place I've lived so have been reluctant to do much. I'm determined to make this place as comfortable as possible. I'm already in love with the color scheme we're working with. I'm way too excited over our new toothbrush holder. ;)

Okay, I'm rambling so I'll wrap this up. I just found out that my aunt has a brain tumor. :S I don't want to think much about it but figure I should mention it. I think everything is going to fine though. Hope so.

And I'm also learning how to knit. Expect many wonky scarfs for gifts for years to come.  

After a much longer than planned break from the workforce, I'm back to the grind. I signed my contract this morning with Plumbheavy. I had my first interview with them back in November and was told that they probably wouldn't have room for an addition to the team until January. Instead of making any serious effort to secure another job, I waited it out and now I start next week.

I actually got really lucky. I only applied at two firms in Edmonton. One was a very small studio and I wasn't really expecting them to need another designer. I LOVE their work though, so figured it was worth a shot. They were incredibly sweet and complimentary but "just didn't have the budget for another designer," which is cool. I might apply there again if I'm in Edmonton a few years from now. Plumbheavy was the second place I applied to and I got the interview right away. I had found their site while living back in Halifax and thought the principle designers seemed really cool and the work was along the lines of what I wanted to do. I'm happy it worked out in the end.

The studio is really nice too. Well-lit and spacious with lots of inspirational work on the walls and very random stuff on shelves. I spotted a Napoleon Dynamite action figure on my boss' desk sitting beside his jewel encrusted tiara. :) Hopefully that's a good indication of their personalities. During my first interview, I didn't get a great impression from anyone and was a little worried about not getting along with them. Today, however, everyone was really awesome so I'm hoping that first meeting was just an off day in the studio.

So hooray. I'll be back to regular pay-cheques by the end of the month. I'm totally going on a shopping spree for at least one or two items. I was just going to settle for a Nintendo DS Lite and possibly a Wii, but my iBook computer is really starting to die on me so I'm thinking it's time to get an iMac decked out with RAM. :) *drool* We'll see. I'd also love a Cintiq tablet but I think that'll have to wait for a while. I'm getting ahead of myself and still have that Asia trip to plan.

xo

I guess I really have lost a lot of my motivation to update my blogs lately. It's funny, because I've had plenty of free time lately to update. I guess a lack of interesting stories contributes to my fading desire to update. There have been plenty of changes for me in the last month, however, so I guess I should at least jot down the main ones.

1) I graduated from University, yessiree. Got me an Honours degree. Pretty sure I lost my diploma though because it wasn't in any of my luggage when I arrived in Edmonton. Bummer. Knowing me, I wouldn't have gotten around to framing it anyway. I'm not very good at getting stuff like that done.

2) As mentioned in #1, moved to Edmonton. :) Here with the boyfriend, the best friend, and the boyfriend's friend. Things are swell. We moved into our new place which is pretty swanky if you ask me. I have pictures up on Facebook but doubt I'll ever get around to posting them anywhere else unless there's a strong desire from someone to see them.

That's literally just about it. Since moving, I've just been getting adjusted and very slowly starting to look for work. I've lost a lot of motivation in the last few weeks and I'm trying to get it back. I keep finding convenient exuses for why I deserve one more week of freedom but reality is setting in. I'll need to start making payments on my loans soon and that'll be no fun without an income.

I just feel like I want to spend a little more time on my own stuff before I devote myself to working for others. I want to experiment with styles, learn some new tricks, and add some cool pieces to my portfolio. Basically, I want to have a clearer sense of what it is I really like to do before I start applying. Unfortunately, all of my time has been spent reading, watching, and viewing other people's work and not really making much progress on my own. The only new thing I've done since getting to Edmonton is an illustration I did for my friend Jenn whom I miss very much and credit with my new love of illustration. While I know there's still huge room for improvement, I'm really starting to enjoy illustration in a painterly style instead of typical vectors, which is what I've been accustomed to for so long. I'm posting a video of some of the process just becaue I think Gawker is kick-ass and like to document my work.

I picked up the boy yesterday and had the expected teary reunion. It's hard to believe how much time has passed since Mike was here last. I'm impressed we were able to do the long distance thing so well. I must really love the bastard. ;) The good news is that from now on, we're be living together and I won't be the emo, piny, loser I've been this year.

Unfortunately, I had to dismantle the exhibition yesterday and didn't have a lot of time to spend with the boy. He left this morning to visit his parents for a few days, but on Wednesday, he'll be back and the romance begins.

Oh, and Mike had a surprise for me, proving his lasting power as the perfect boyfriend. He bought me a school ring. Mike's more excited and proud of my graduation than I am and I thought it was incredibly sweet that he was determined that I have something to symbolize my education. I love my boyfriend.

I just woke up after less than four hours sleep. I have to work in the gallery all night and will likely be a cranky little bitch hyped up on Red Bull. But I don't care.

Two posts in two days. What's gotten into me? You can tell the school year is wrapping up when I have time to update the journals again. Hopefully I'll make a habit of it as more time frees up.

I was up until six thirty this morning talking to the boy on the phone and working on school stuff. My head is playing tricks on me lately, fooling me into thinking I have more free time than I do since things are so close to being over. I anticipate at least two more all-nighters before I get out of here, but probably more. Mike is home in less than two weeks and I leave for Edmonton in roughly three. :) I never like to wish time away, but nine months is a long time to be away from my guy. I want April 14th to be here now.

Part of my tasks today was aging some signs for our exhibition space. I figured out a cool technique in Illustrator using Opacity Masks which is giving some great results. I like how it remains editable which is something I couldn't'achieve in Photoshop. I really am a geek for this stuff. I love learning tricks.

Anyway, back to work. Got to get the files ready for printing tomorrow.
P.S. Steve and Julé are still my favorite bitches.

When is the last time you stayed up all night?

Ha ha!  Right now.  And two nights ago.. and a few night before that.. hell, basically twice a week this entire year. Soon I shall sleep again.

I got bored tonight after my movie and decided to play around in Painter for a bit. Starting painting the boy. It's nowhere near finished yet, but I'm liking the progress so far. Should I ever finish it, I'll post the results.