Mom and I traded ATCs

Hmm..is this mom's rendition of my cooking? I haven't burned that much! haha

And...Mr.Bailey from me, the most photogenic of beagles.

Now who else would like to trade?

Update!

This is an artist trading card my mom made for me. It's so adorable.


Only two months now for the wedding! My parents came to visit me this weekend and we were going to finish up our invitations. But little Luigi became acutely ill and mom and dad are on their way home to help the little dog. So invitations will go out soon, but first we have to get Luigi feeling better! Keep our little dog in your prayers. He's a vital member of our family.

Meanwhile, Chase and I are working hard at school and trying to focus (which is very difficult).


Peace and love to all.

<3

Katie

Elton John Concert

You might be tired of just looking ATC picture.

SO here are pictures of the Elton John concert. It was very colorful...almost to the point where it distracted from the music. It was a lot of fun though! 3.5 hours of Elton John and Billy Joel with 3 of my best friends! Life can't get much better than that can it?

My ATCs

Here are all the ATCs I've created!


The Pirate (UK), Poofy Bird (New Jersey), and leaves have all been traded (Singapore). The heron is not for trade!

The bottom two are going to Singapore.

The Greyhound one is going to Italy

These are for a southwest themed swap ^_^

My latest ATCs.

So I worked up enough courage to participate in an online ATC swap. Actually, it will be my first ATC swap ever! It's theme was cicadas, which I thought was fun. I hope they are good enough to actually trade!

Ugh. This is my attempt at acryllic paints. I'll probably try to stick with water color...

Watercolor Cicada. This one is my favorite.

Another cicada.


Not a cicada...don't know what I'll use this one for. He just looked fun to paint. I'm thinking I might go back and add some more color to him later.

For now! It's bed time!
Next week is round one of tests! I want to make straight As this semester so i probably should study!

I did something fun!

I cut a bunch of 2.5" x 3.5" pieces of water color paper to paint. Such a small painting can't take tooo much time, right? It's a good study break :)


Butterfly on a flower

Leaves

Clean and Simple

I started reading Clutter's Last Stand by Don Aslett today. People generally are pack rats, keeping things we shouldn't. Accumulating stuff (knick knacks, books, clothes, shoes etc etc) just means more to clean...more to protect...more to store. All that just does for you in the long run is expends your already precious time and energy. So I think I'll go on a spring cleaning frenzy and get rid of some stuff in prep for my upcoming marriage and household fusion. Let the frenzy begin!


Organization is not really something that I've ever found easy to maintain. I'm more of a random-clutter-piles type of person. These piles accumulate until it bugs me so much I put everything away. However.... I have lived with organized people.

My own personal observations about maintaining effective organization:
1. It must exist. If you have no organization system, obviously you won't be organized and the home will be disorderly.
2. It must be accessible and easy to use. The more you use an object, the more easily accessible it should be. Otherwise, it'll just end up being out of place...because out of place is more convenient than tucked away. Keep it simple...organization systems that are too complicated will not be used either.
3. Make it a habit of putting things in their proper place as soon as you finish using them.


Ok...going back to the book.
Aslett works as a professional household cleaner. He says that clothing is one of the worst junk-accumulating areas in many homes. The following guidelines are summarized from his book:

Pull it out of your closet if it's....
1. Unflattering. Wrong color, wrong style for you
2. Fits poorly or uncofortably. If you have to stay standing, can't move your arms, have to suck it in... if it itches!
3. Too complicated. You have to adjust it every 10 minutes.
4. Too fragile. If you have to worry about preserving it so much that you never use it... In my case, if I'm too worried about getting dog fur on it.
5. damaged beyond repair or missing parts you probably won't replace (like unusual buttons)
6. damaged but repairable before you can wear it.
7. never or rarely worn. Or if it goes with things you despise wearing or never wear.

Sort the stuff you pulled out into two piles: 1. Clothes that aren't being worn for a fixable/pracital reason. 2. Clothes that you don't use, don't fit, or just don't want anymore. Get rid of pile two (think salvation army).

OK! Here I come closet!


Other junk accumulations to deal with...
1. Shoes --> see closet stuff above.
2. Class notes --> throw out ones I'll never look at. Have the rest bound into spiral bound books.
3. Art supplies
4. Saved greeting cards --> scan and throw out.
5. reciepts + Junk mail --> shred/burn


Random Speed Cleaning Tip 1. Have a "To Sort" box instead of bouncing from room to room.

Painting attempts

I made George email me some of his favorite bird pictures. haha...the pictures are AMAZING, but my paintings still need some work!

I didn't get the shape right on either bird..and missed the depth in both paintings. Oh well! I'll try again :)

The rest of the AR adventure

To keep me company on the long drive, Santana accompanied me. Megann met us at the cabin and we had a little sleepover.

So none of us slept very well.... Megann and I woke up hot...so we turned the AC on. The noise of the AC woke Santana up, so she turned it off and opened the windows. By that point it was about 4 AM. I think the other two managed to fall asleep, but I lay staring at the clock thinking about how quickly time passes and change occurs. Finally at 6, I decide it's ridiculous to sit there and try to sleep, which is obviosly evading me completely. BUT coffee isn't ready at the main lodge until 7:15...so I tried again to sleep. At 8 we get up and eat the delicious home cooked breakfast that is part of the stay in these little cabins. I guess it was worth it for the breakfast :)

However, I'm exhausted now...completely and 100% worn out. I'm wondering if 6:30 is a reasonable time to go to bed...because I am pretty sure I could easily fall asleep now. I was feeling pretty grumpy earlier. I was feeling lonely and thinking about all the things i have to do this week and the fact that I accidentally locked myself out of my online banking, and it just put me in a feeling-sorry-for-myself mood. However, I sat down with a bowl of cereal and looked outside to see the damage done on my bird feeders while away... and look who made an appearance! I'm pretty sure this a Baltimore Oriole! I had oranges out for him all of last week, but i threw them out before heading back to AR. I put some more oranges out with some grape jelly in hopes he'll come back with friends. Seeing him cheered me up quite a bit. I'm still exhausted, but seeing a pretty bird like this makes it a little better. Hahaha....the birds have almost emptied the finch sock and have eaten all of the suet. I'll have to get some more this week!

Also, grades were posted...well at least the last remaining unknown grade was posted...my last semester of anatomy.

****drumroll please****

Epidemiology - A (yay for math!)


Repro Phys - B

Immunology - B



ANATOMY = B!!! B as BOO YAH!

I can't believe I made a B!!!! It's the icing on cake! I was happy enough just knowing I NEVER have to take first year anatomy again!


I wish you all a happy mother's day and a good week!

Congrats Brooke

So my good friend Brooke graduated yesterday! I'm so proud of her! She started out as as city girl who LOVED horses, but never had the opportunity to be around them. Nobody ever thought should would make it in the horse world...the horse industry is very hard to get into if you're not born into it...or at least born with a lot of money. However, through a single opportunity at the UA, she landed an internship taking care of Linda's horses. She cared for, trained, and rode the horses. She faced many setbacks such as getting (unjustly) kicked out of the barn that taught riding lessons. However, though hard work and perseverance her skills grew and she made it. Way to go for following your dreams and not letting anyone hold you back!



unfortunately, none of my pictures at the ceremony turned out. So this is all I got!

Linda gave Brooke, Rio - the horse Brooke rode. I was so happy! She really deserves that horse!

Then we blindfolded her....

and set her loose on a pinata to end the celebration!

Framing Fool and Happy Mother's Day!!

I've been taking advantage of Michael's frame sale :)

And Finally! What we've been waiting for!!.....

Happy Mother's Day!!!

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/25W16vPegydRtuIZ

Puppies and Distance Relationships

Jen's holding a 2 day old puppy!

Mom is very concerned about it....

This is how to survive a distance relationship :)

St. Louis Adventure

Pictures from the restaurant:

The only picture of the 4 of us from the concert. The person shooting wasn't able to focus the camera :(

I snuck a picture of the concert.


We had a blast! Our seats got upgraded. We were literally as far as you could get from the stage, and a worker there moved us to the lower level 11 rows from the stage! It was awesome!!