Run: I finally bought substancial running shoes. Ran to the capitol twice this week. It’s tough to say it gets easier everytime, but I don’t regret choosing to push myself that much.

Lovers Week: Taylor took me to the Austin Symphony Orchestra. I wore a frilly dress. We avoided the love birds crowding all of the restaurants on valentines and stayed home and cooked a delicious pizza. Wouldn’t have it any other way.

Photos: I made my first Cyanotypes! I also got my Senior Portraits taken. THIS IS GETTING REAL, GUYZ. I know he must bank on senior portraits, but that is not the photography path I want to take. Ask me that again when I’m broke and I’ll have to get over that fact to support my fine art love. 

Friends: This month is going to be friends overload, but in such a great way! We are beginning to have people stay with us, and SXSW is only 3 weeks away!

Run: Another 7 miles. Taking too many days off just to make them up in Capitol runs. I feel really great after 3 miles, something I’ve never been able (or thought I) could do before this year, but consistency has not been my friend lately. 

Pick me ups: Taylor surprised me with an hour long massage at AustinDeep where they specialize in athletes. An hour goes by so quickly when you let go of the world and all it’s cares. With running nearly everyday, my back has not gotten used to it, so the massage was heavenly. <3

Reading: Still reading Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. It’s very diary like, which are my favorite. Coincidentally, he brings up Cezanne’s paintings which are what we are studying in my Modern Art History Class. It’s enlightening to get his perspective of them at the time they were painted. 

Cooking: I breaded my own chicken wings and baked them! They turned out delicious!

School: As if you couldn’t tell, I’m pretty excited to have made the Dean’s List. I surely thought it was a mistake until I saw my name on the wall. HA! I’ve had such a terrible relationship with college. But somehow I’ve come from wanting to quit to this little accomplishment that is huge to me. I’ve been on such a high lately. My photography professor, whom I look up to more than any professor I’ve ever had in college, unexpectedly gave me the greatest compliment on my thesis work. I spoke about consistency earlier, where are you?

Ran: 6 miles. I must admit, it feels weird/proud to say I’ve run over 32 miles in January. What the mind chooses to remember really plays an impact on exercise. I seem to only think about how much I dread getting up and getting on the road, while my mind conveniently chooses to forget how great my body feels afterwards.

Reading: A Moveable Feast by Hemingway. I’ve never read his works before, but I find him quite charming. A Moveable Feast is about his time in Paris during the 1920’s. I was recommend the book by a friend on account I fell in love with Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. Sitting in a coffee-shop drinking a cappuccino reading Hemingway is giving me that feeling I’m searching for in my Thesis work. Now, to manifest that into a photograph….

School: In my final semester, I can really feel myself growing. I feel much more mature and adult in my way of looking at things. I sit in my art history classes viciously writing down everything the teacher is saying while other kids are around me sleeping and coloring. I must admit, I once was in their shoes. Once you see the light at the end of the tunnel that is school, life gets scary and you have to buckle up. I’ve seemed to realize that and now that graduation and senior show is in the coming months, I’ve got to figure out life, soon. 

Life: those parts that I have figured out, are amazing. 

Ran: 9.05. I’ve been guilty of taking days off and then running double or triple the following days. However, those long runs mean to the Capitol at night and that makes it all worth while.

Cooking: has been lagging, seriously need to get back in the groove. Funny how not running a few days automatically makes you want chocolate & chips?

School: I’ve been working in the studio and darkrooms. Why did anyone ever invent digital cameras? I want film, chemical staining my hands, dodging, burning, guessing & finally getting what you worked for. 

Adventures: I’ve been spoiled. I went to Alamo Draft House twice this week. Gimme laughs and lot of food to eat in the dark. 

Ran: 7.2 miles. Missed Saturday’s run, so Taylor and I ran 2 miles on Sunday. Guess that means we’ll have to bump up the distance soon.

Reading: Finished Truman Capote’s Summer Crossing. I’d give it 2/4 stars. Took a friend’s advice and checked out Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast.

School: Already set a date for my Senior Show, a day before Graduation. Life is getting real. Commuting isn’t killing me, yet. Did I mention life is getting real?

Cooking: I crave chicken salad now, all of the time. Mostly because I am in love with Walton’s. I had no mayonnaise to make chicken salad, so I made my own mayonnaise.

Another note: Visited my parents & Patsy this Sunday. What a lovely day. Another, nother note, WHERE ARE THE WEEKS GOING?

This weekend I finished reading my second book of 2012. I was actually in search of Breakfast At Tiffany’s but the only Capote book the library had was Summer Crossing. The inside leaf was very interesting. Capote had tinkered around with the book for over a decade filling many handwritten journals. This manuscript was even believed lost but eventually found after his death and published by his family. Now, I don’t know if this was a good idea or not. If it wasn’t good enough for Capote to publish back then, why would he want his family to publish it? I don’t know.

The relationship were completely haywire, the plot was slow & if you’ve never read Capote, his style can take some getting use to. Honestly, it wasn’t my cup of tea. While finding a picture to post on this, I ran across an article saying that Scarlett Johansson plans on directing an adaption, even possibly giving herself the lead role as Grady.

Ran: 8 miles. Week two of a mile a day was better. I can feel myself getting stronger each run. It’s not the actual runs that are hard, it’s the process of getting out of bed & onto the road. 

In the process of: refinishing the kitchen chairs. Sanding, staining & recovering new cushions, oh my. 

Fantasizing over: Paris, again. I even looked up photography jobs. Let me dream. 

New Dishes I cooked: homemade gumbo, 8 hour slow cooked brisket & dill tomato baked eggs. Yumm.

Adventures: Taylor & I biked to the Blanton Museum on UT campus. We saw some wonderful paintings and exhibits. I even had the chance to showed off my smarts when we got to the late egyptian / greco-roman statues. Thank you Professor Pizer!

Finally wrote down my resolutions for the year.

Ran: 8.86 miles. I am not a runner, by any means. One of my resolutions this year is to run a mile a day. My playlist is made up of the revengeful/payback songs of Taylor Swift.

Read: I finished reading The Help. Taking full advantage of the library 2 blocks away.

Watched: 1. BBC Modern Masters: Andy Warhol. After taking a semester long class on the man, I still learned and connected some missing dots in my head. 2. Midnight In Paris by Woody Allen. One of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. I laughed out loud so many times at the personalities they gave Hemingway/Fitgerald/Picasso/etc. I’m currently dreaming of Paris in the 20’s.  

Fantasizing over: Anthology Mag and becoming one of their freelance photographers. 

Finished: Registering for my final semester of college. What is that advisor? I don’t have to take Drawing 2 anymore? My life just got a whole lot less stressful. 

Week one of 2012 and I’m already down one book. I know I’m late, but I just finished reading The Help. I even delayed watching the movie until I had read the book first. I don’t even know what I bother watching the movies, they are never anything/as good as the book. The Help was surprisingly funny, suspensive & all around entertaining. A book I couldn’t put down. 

One of my resolutions for this year is to read more, so i need suggestions people. 

2011 was too gracious to me.

School was a challenge. I made things I never thought I could make. Funny how school pushes you into things you’d never imagine you’d do, but I’m grateful I did them. I learned how to craft metal, silk screen, work a studio, push my thesis & studied in depth the insane work of Andy Warhol. 

The normal 10 days of SXSW turned into a month of new friends, old friends, introducing a Croatian to the American way of life, chickens, so much more. 

I joined Taylor and Marvin on their epic road trip around America. I flew to meet them in Portland, Oregon and drove down California Highway 1 and back to Texas. I saw beauty beyond belief. Redwoods, rocky beaches, sunny piers & glamourous Hollywood. I also drove to Louisiana to visit my best friend and goddaughter then onto Florida for a month at the end of summer. We spent a week in paradise in the keys & celebrated 500 days of love. 

I flew to NYC for CMJ. It was my second time being in the city and it’s still mesmerizing. The city, without even asking, gives you a state of independence. I rode subways & went to museums by myself. I saw celebrities and danced underground. 

One of the best things 2011 brought me was my love to Texas. I helped Taylor move to Austin and as of this month living with him. It’s quite an experience to build a home with someone you love. 

2012 is looking scary already. I’m due to graduate in May, find a career & a path for my life. No pressure, right? So I’m saying goodbye to 2011, and welcoming 2012 with open arms. Be good to me.