Take a breath

The past two days have been full of experience and insight.

I was inspired not only as a teacher, but as an artist.

For those of you who are just tuning in, Me and a few of my peers had the opportunity to teach an art project to 4th, 5th, and 6th graders at Gordo Elementary School. Each of us dealt with about 72 students each [not at the same time, thankfully], and were fully responsible for teaching these students how to make pinch pots.

I will not lie. It was completely exhausting, both mentally and physically. But, it was absolutely worth it. Not only for all of the experience that we got, but also for the kids. They loved it! They [for the most part] were well behaved, and I fell in love with their personalities. They were so sweet and full of life.

After we got done teaching, we went on a tour of the town. I met Glenn House, a famous book artist/clay enthusiast, his wife Kathy, who does beautifully hand colored photographs, and they were kind enough to take us through their museum and studio space. They also introduced us to Amos Kennedy who gave me these posters he made:





This is the kind of town I want to live in. One where the whole city supports the arts, and actually welcomes new artist, because they believe that it enriches life.
I have plenty of pictures to post, but for now, I am far too tired.
Hope you all have a great weekend!

You pick me apart while I search for witty things to say

I lost my engagement ring last night.
You see, when my hands get cold, it slips right off. I was sitting on the couch, and I felt it slide off. I thought for sure when I stood up, it would just be laying on the cushion, but no. We looked for it for close to an hour, before Aaron finally gave up. I mean, we pulled the cushions off, he lifted it up so I could look under it, we shook out the blanket and everything. And as I was on the verge of tears, I decided to put myself in the rings position. AS CRAZY AS IT SOUNDS, it worked. I was basically upside down looking in every nook and cranny & I found it. It was wedged between two pieces of fabric in the bottom base of the couch, underneath all of the springs. Needless to say, we had to use tweezers to get it out, but LUCKILY I found it. Talk about almost having a panic attack!

Anyways,

A few of us art ed. majors are leaving this afternoon to head up to a school in Gordo, Alabama to teach art lessons for two days. It should be interesting, but I'm a little bit nervous. We're each going to have our own classes ALL day for two days [thursday & friday]....4th, 5th, and 6th graders.

I'm not even nervous about the teaching part...I'm nervous about the fact that we are supposed to be staying at random people's houses. People who we've never met before. People who are going to be in charge of making us meals, and driving us around. *sigh*

It should be nothing shy of interesting. Wish me luck!

the way I see it..

It seems like no matter how long I sleep, I'm never satisfied.
Seriously, I'm 22. I should not be this tired all the time.
This weekend, I definitely didn't get to catch up on sleep. Saturday I went to work, and worked all day, by myself. Sunday I went to church, and then went out to eat with my sister.
I swear I almost fell asleep on the hour drive back to Troy.

Aaron took me to the movies Sunday night [when I should have been doing home work, or going to sleep early, ha] to see Saw. I'm not going to lie. I almost threw up within the first 5 minutes. So why do I torture myself and see these movies every time they come out? Because it's just a thing my friends and I have. It helps us bond [as weird as that sounds]. The first one wasn't even scary/nasty. The budget was so low that it was actually KIND OF crappy in an intriguing way. And here we go with number 6, which freaked me the HECK out. I'm seriously wondering if there is going to be a 7, and while my heart says no, my head says LET'S DO THIS.

My sister and I went to Montgomery to get her matron maid of honor dress yesterday. It was a success [sorry no pics]. But while we were there, there was an older lady trying on dresses, too. She was hilarious, but maybe in one of those 'you just had to be there' kind of ways. She was all "I'm 65, I hope this is my last marriage, all my other husbands are dead."
and......"How about spanx. They really do drop you down a dress size, but where does the fat go?"

Well, I'm off to take a nap before I dig in to this never ending list of things 'to-do'.
Have a great week!

I know it's the weeked, but...

Lately I have been thinking about making a cook book.
Nothing fancy, just a collection of my favorite recipes in a home made/scrapbook kind of way.
And I wonder if anyone would be interested in purchasing one? I mean, if I actually do make some.

Also, I really want to start doing commission work. So, if you have an idea for something you would like to hang in your house, or to give to your family, hit me up [jaksart@rocketmail.com]! I want to get my name out there, and I am very reasonable with my pricing. Here is my portfolio, for anyone interested.

What did you say?

I don't think I have ever told you all about my Uncle, but I guess it's about time.

He is pretty much one of the most embarrassing people in the whole entire world. He never forgets anything, and if it involved you, he won't let you forget it either.

For example.......
When I was pretty young, my Aunt found out she had a tumor. After surgery, she couldn't bathe herself, so my Uncle gave her sponge baths. To my [probably] 10 year old self, I thought that was the most disgusting thing I'd ever heard of.

Then again, I wasn't the child that liked to run around naked, either. I liked to be fully clothed from head to toe at all times. So, being young and naive, I said 'I'm never gonna let anyone see me naked.'

So, my Uncle calls me the other day. He saw my engagement pictures, and for some reason, guess what comes to his mind? That time that I proclaimed to never let anyone see me naked. Why? Because he is completely inappropriate.

Not only did HE remember it, he decided to call me and remind me.........
'So, what are you going to do about Aaron?'
What do you mean what am I going to do about Aaron?
'I mean, you said you weren't going to let anyone see you naked. Does Aaron know this?'
DEAD SILENCE on my end.
HYSTERICAL laughter on his end.

SEE WHAT I MEAN? Completely inappropriate.

Anyways, here are my engagement photos.
Happy Hump Day!

I break the rules so I don't care

It's finally cooling off here in good ol' Alabama, and my heart is very, very happy.

I cleaned my whole apartment and bought a bunch of pumpkin spice and mulled cider candles, because I want my house to smell like fall.
I've been dying to carve pumpkins, but Aaron had to work all weekend =\
Speaking of work.....his new job has pretty much taken over his life. On the weekends anyways.
I mean, obviously I'm glad because it pays the bills, but it just sucks that they literally give him all his hours on the weekends.
*sigh* Besides painting and making chili, this is what I did today...

a 'flower' centerpiece for my kitchen table.
[tutorial here, if you're interested]

Look at my babies!!

My nieces are going to be my flower girls [yes, all 3], and these are the dresses that we got for them. Nanny got the girls to try them on to make sure they fit, andddd they do.
Aren't they too cute? I was so excited when I got this picture.

We also met with the cake artist. I am thrilled about it!

This was the original design

But after meeting with her, and listening to her expertise, it's going to be more like this



I still love it!

Last night was date night for us.
We went to Dothan
Bought his wedding band
Picked out my wedding band
Found THE vase for the unity sand ceremony
also bought the sand
Browsed Bed, Bath, & Beyond for close to an hour
and wished/hoped/prayed that We'll get everything on our registry
Bought cute napkins for the reception
Ate at a fabulous Mexican Restaurant while waiting for the rain to die down
And discovered Burlington Coat Factory, which means that skiing in Gatlinburg for the honeymoon may be a possibility now, since they have pretty cheap ski jackets/pants.
And then came back to Troy to see Couple's Retreat. [It was decent]

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Had a bad day again........

I won't go into details, but today was not the greatest.

I am, however, done with my painting.

Just thought I would share with you all some progress pictures. Please excuse the image quality..I took them with my phone.




& just for the record...I absolutely hate 'copying' the great masters just to learn techniques.

This is the story of how we begin to remember

Hello Dear Blogger Friends!

I hope everyone had as good of a weekend as I had!
All I did was eat, sleep, watch tv, & cook/bake.
That's right. For once, I didn't do ANY homework [although I told myself I would try to get ahead] and let me just tell you....it felt good.

Aaron got spoiled with home made meatballs [with not so home made spaghetti; oops!], turkey & gravy with baked mac n cheese and mashed potatoes, pork chops with spiced carrots, home made pumpkin spice bread, and home made brownies. NOT all on the same day, of course. Seems like a lot, but I had to try to make up for the two weeks that I hadn't cooked much at all. [If any of you want the recipe to any of these, just let me know]

One new development in the wedding ceremony [if you all get tired of hearing about the wedding, tell me, and I will try my hardest not to talk about it] is the substitution of Unity Sand, rather than Unity Candles.
Same concept, different design.

It's kind of on the expensive side, but I've never seen it done before, and I really like the whole idea of it.
Only 61 days until the big sha-bang. & tomorrow we will meet with the cake artist to finalize the cake plans. I'm getting so excited.

Moving on.....
If you haven't seen Duplicity, don't bother. Really, it was a long drawn out movie, with a pretty predictable ending. I'm glad I only spend $1 to rent it and not $4 or I would have been a little upset. It looked good from the previews, but don't let them fool you.

Anyway, have a great week! And for you Nip/Tuck fans....SEASON PREMIERE WEDNESDAY!!

Guess what I just got....

A 'sneak peek' proof for my engagement photos!
Just one, for now, though.



What do you guys think?

I also got this:



A packaged deal.
A flower girl basket, ring bearer's pillow, the guestbook, the matching pen, garter
ALL MATCHING!
for 40% off at Michael's. How exciting is that?

And these Thank You cards:



On sale at Target, to match my whole theme.

What a great start to the weekend :)

no one is as lucky as us

Does anyone else hate group projects as much as I do?

For some reason, my teacher decided that since there are only 5 people in our methods class, that we should create a lesson plan as a group.

Well, that part was easy, I mean, way easier than everyone having to come up with one from scratch.

Except now we have to teach it.........
TOMORROW.

Only three of us, though, since there are only 3 teachers willing to let us come.

Obviously I was one of the ones chosen, or I wouldn't be freaking out right now.

Since we did sections of the lesson plan on our own, not everyone has everything. Do you see where I am going with this?
The only thing I'm missing.......the most crucial item for the teaching part, is the PowerPoint.
I want to go over and over it in my head and out loud in preparation for tomorrow....BUT
the girl who did the powerpoint said she won't be able to send it out until late tonight.
WHAT!?

We [me & one of the other girls] are freaking out. We feel totally unprepared. And our teacher is going to be sitting in MY classroom, watching ME teach, ME interact with the students, ME discipline. The other two girls will be observed by peers.

So you can see why I'm freaking out, right?

Not to mention the fact that ESPN is at my campus right now, getting ready to film a conference game...the only game I really wanted to go to. And now I can't.
Because I feel like it will cause me to fail tomorrow.

*sigh* I need a soda.

brick by boring brick

I'm on day two of my no carbonation/no caffeine diet [yes, i'm trying it again], and I haven't hurt anyone yet :) but,

I finally deleted my myspace.
I'm all about some facebook! hah

I also finally decided to post pictures of the invitations for you all to see, since I've been keeping you all updating in the planning process :)


We are [hopefully] going this week to pick out wedding bands, pick out the style of tux for the groomsmen, and [if we have time] going to set our cake plans in stone.

Still have not heard anything from the photographer who took our engagement pictures. Although, we were supposed to get a 'sample' by LAST Tuesday night *sigh*