Well guys, it's halfway through the week. I finally made it and I'm settled in to my dorm room for my third year of college. It feels surreal that I'm back at UNCA for another wonderful year, and I believe that this one is going to be the best yet. Things are already so, so crazy, but I am finding joy in:

These colorful latte bowls.

Getting more active on campus with student orgs.

My ridiculously vulgar and delightfully glittery pimp cup from my bestie, placed appropriately next to my party shoes.

Sisterly love.

My guy friends taking on the ice bucket challenge.

And of course, mountain sunsets.

my work: blooming.

In the spirit of the end of the semester and grades being posted, I thought there'd be no better time to actually share some of the work I did this past semester. The following video is my last project from my new Media class this semester. I was very hesitant to post it, because I don't feel comfortable with animation at ALL, but I've been thinking a lot about this blog and where I want it to go, and I want it to be a place where I can feel free to learn and grow and show my own progress. I had a professor once say to the class, "You are students. You have the luxury of being wrong; of not knowing." And I find that I have to constantly remind myself that it's okay to not be 100% perfect at everything I do right now. I'm a student. I'm learning. Here's my work. This is what I've learned so far.

(sidenote: I definitely prefer Vimeo, but I had to use Youtube because my file was too large. whoops.)

A little background: We had two other projects in the class: one in Flash and one in Toon Boom. This project was created using Illustrator and After Effects. I'm really into graphic, clean design. Nothing too organic or sketchy, so this project is an example of me pushing my comfort zone a little bit. I also tend to make my animations move way to fast, so I tried really hard to slow this one down and take my time with each scene. Watching how slow this short video progresses makes me pretty uncomfortable, if I'm being honest.

Our assignment was to create a project about life. We could explore stages of life, life itself, living things; whatever "life" meant to us. I came up with the idea for my project while thinking about the idea of self-love, which was a huge theme to my own life this past semester. I wanted to illustrate the feeling of self-love and self-growth. I am also very fascinated by morning rituals and how different people spend their mornings. I find that my morning routine is absolutely necessary for my day to be successful. I believe that the tasks I perform to get ready in the morning are a way that I improve my relationship with myself and allows me to “bloom” further. Taking that precious time each day to take care of myself is the way that I express self-love, and I tried to illustrate the importance of that expression through this project.

How appropriate is it that the first project I have the courage to share is about loving oneself and loving the process of one's growth? ;)
I hope you enjoy.

alive and well.

First of all, I know what this looks like, and I promise that I won't be only using pictures from Instagram from here on out. (Although I am, admittedly, a tad obsessed.) But please bare with me during these last few weeks of the semester. It is crunch time, and I haven't exactly been frolicking around campus with my DSLR in tow. (Although I should make time to do so this weekend. Spring in Asheville is too beautiful.)

I've been churning out projects and working out almost daily. (!!!)
I feel good. I feel inspired. I feel ready to clean out my body and my brain.

This came up on my Pinterest feed the other day, and I couldn't agree more.
I don't have much to show for anything right now, but I have high hopes to come back to this space with more plans and projects.

bulldogs at myrtle beach.

UNCA's Men's Basketball made it to the Big South Conference Championship at Myrtle Beach, so the committee members of Bulldog Nation went down to support our beloved Bulldogs. Do NOT ask me how the game went, but I will give thanks for a nice weekend spent at the beach over Spring Break. The mini vacay was exactly what I needed to transition from the stress of school to the long week spent relaxing at home and catching up with friends and family.

pinterest favorites: spring break.

palm trees | juice recipes | tasty design | luggage | poolside | citron dress

I am not feeling this week. I am not feeling midterms.

This is actually a really good illustration of how I feel.

I'm definitely ready for something exciting, vibrant, and fresh. I'm ready for a much-needed Spring Break.

my Pinterest.

snow flurries.

I know it's been a while since I've posted.

It snowed today and I ate chicken noodle soup.

I'm still loving my new lens.

I am also loving 2014 and this semester. I can't use the excuse of not having time to blog, because I've actually had a lot of free time, especially in comparison to last semester. I'm adjusting to slowing down and having plenty of time to do homework and get other things done. It's nice, and luckily my classes are interesting enough that I'm not bored.

Hopefully this semester I can really give this space the attention it deserves. I'd also love to revamp everything now that I have some design experience under my belt. We'll see. ;)

Also, I'm obsessed with these bowls.

december blue.

Just a quick update to say that I'm surviving the end of the semester and finals(so far, somehow).

I turned in two major projects yesterday, I'm on track to turn in another on Monday, and my study times are all mapped out.

This semester has been a tiring one. It has been a trying one. I will be thankful when it's all over, just as I am thankful to have experienced it.

So far, I've actually amazed myself with everything that I have accomplished. I honestly didn't think I had this kind of work ethic and willpower in me. I'm proud of the kind of student that I have become, as well as the kind of worker I have become. I'm thankful for the amount of growth I've seen within myself these past couple of years, and I'm excited to see where that growth will carry me.

Top picture is from my last few hours of relaxation over Thanksgiving Break. Laying in bed, lighting candles, and catching up on Hart of Dixie.
Bottom picture is from the cloudy ride back to Asheville. The sun was setting and the clouds were hugging the mountains and it was absolutely beautiful.

home.

I'm home on Thanksgiving Break. I don't have to be back at school until Thursday, so I'm staying home a little longer than most.

Since being home, I have celebrated my birthday with my family. This includes eating a fantastic coconut cake my dad made and receiving my first new lens(!!!!!!!!). The lens is this one. These pictures are some test shots I took around the house. So far, I really love it.

I have also been eating (a lot), relaxing by the fire, shopping (and wishing), and spending time with family. I have not been preparing for finals. However, the next 3 days are completely dedicated to projects with deadlines that are swiftly approaching. It's surreal that this semester is already almost over. It's surreal how fast this year has flown. I am already looking forward to next semester and, more importantly, Winter Break(which starts just 6 days after I'm back at school on Thursday. Crazy.).

to-do's.

I have always been a "hang on just a sec let me write that down or I'll forget" kind of girl. It's probably one of the many excuses reasons that I blog so irregularly. An idea hits me, I make a post, I publish. Usually, right on the spot.

When I was in middle school(and shamefully, some of high school), I wrote things down with Sharpie on my hand. It was quick, efficient, and I always had what I needed to get done literally with me at all times.

Senior year of high school, I started making lists regularly in my sketchbook. I was knee deep in art classes, so this was a very reliable method for me at the time.

In college, I became more proactive about keeping to-do lists and bought a couple writing pads found in the dollar section of Target and used a different sheet for each week's tasks.

This was my method of keeping a to-do list until this past week.
I decided to change my method because I found that with each week's tasks, I was getting overwhelmed. I had a full week of tasks in front of me at all times. In my head, I knew which days I was going to work on each task, but it still felt like a lot of work that I had to get done as soon as possible. I found myself getting burnt out by the end of the week every single time.

Along comes this list from A Pair of Pears, which splits things up by each day of the week. I'm sure there are more to-do lists out there which are set up this way, I just happened to find this one and it happened to work for me. It's clean, it's simple, it works, and it's free(!!!).

Since it's free, I went ahead and printed out a whole bunch(like, 50. ha. taking advantage of free college printing!) and stuck them together with a binder clip as a temporary solution until I get a pretty clipboard to hang it up on my wall somewhere right at my desk.

I'm loving these clipboards: acrylic, print, pop of color. Office supplies are my fave.

To make your own to-do list as efficient as possible, keep these things in mind:

• Keep it organized by either time or category. (weekly, daily, things for school, things for home, things for social, etc.) And if you find yourself getting overwhelmed, split things up more narrowly until you can really focus on each task individually.
• Keep it where you can see it. Hanging it up or keeping it on your desk is ideal. You could even try framing just one sheet and then using a dry erase marker to write down the tasks, as seen here. 
• Keep it simple. (a thousand sticky notes all over the place is not simple.)
• Keep it in cohesion with your planner or calender. For example, I write things down in my planner during meetings and class and then when I get home, I immediately add it to the to-do list.

I know it's the end of the semester for many, so getting down to the nitty gritty of organization is super crucial during this very hectic time. An entire week can become so much less stressful with just a little bit of careful planning and organization!

taking a breather.

On one of our school's student-run Facebook pages, a professor was quoted saying "October is one of the most stressful months. It is also the most beautiful."

I am totally feeling it.

And if I'm being honest, lately I haven't really been doing that well. Every week, I am struggling to complete projects. Every week is filled with its stressful, freak-out moments. Every week, I don't think I'm going to make it to Friday. But every week, I always do make it. I get the projects done, and I'm doing my best.

But then I look at my calender and realize that the end of October is in 2 days. I realize how quickly these days are passing. I realize how I'm not paying much attention to anything that isn't due on Thursday.

So this past week, I've been really making an effort to look around and enjoy the moment. To step away from a project, take a breather, and live for just a moment. Sometimes, taking time out of a hectic day to go on a photo-spree on the Quad to capture the maple leaves is just as necessary as homework. Especially since homework will always be there. These beautiful colors will not.

Side note: I took these pictures using only the Manual setting on my camera. I've used Manual before, but I've never really pushed myself to use it as my primary setting. I've always been afraid to just go out and do it. And even though these pictures are a little over-exposed (I haven't quite gotten used to it yet), I'm pretty proud of myself for taking the jump and just doing it. If any of y'all are wondering how to make the switch to Manual, the best advice I can give is just to go out and take a few play shots, like this. I was just walking around campus, so there was no pressure. It really helped me!

september so far.

A sun-soaked feel-good, smell-good reminder on my windowsill.

Leftovers which were just as yummy the second time around. Lonnie and I went to this tiny place called Bandidos and it was the best Latin American food I've ever had.

My little orange moose I bought at Ikea tucked in a happy corner. Both my favorite color and my favorite animal. 

Drinking coffee in between classes to get through the day. Whether it be a couple cups of dark roast I brew in the maker I have in my room, or an iced cup from Starbucks, this is an almost daily ritual.

Finding a little section in my planner where I can list goals for every month. Keeping resolutions up year-round sounds like a wonderful thing to me.

Eating too much dark chocolate and being reminded that it's alright.

Just a quick update to say I'm settling in. My classes are proving to be more work than I thought, but after surviving last year's crazy schedule, I know I can handle it. I love where I live on campus and with that said, the girls I share my suite with. Sophomore year is all about doing my own thing, and I'm finding comfort in that. I'm super excited to be diving into my major, which is New Media. I'm really starting to feel like I'm learning the ropes to becoming a real designer.

college essentials.

As a Sophomore, I have learned a lot from my Freshman year and have figured out a great deal of the things that work for me alongside the things that don't. Some things just make college life so much easier, and sometimes it may take a while to really find the best of those things. So I'm sharing my favorite things which I couldn't imagine living without during my second year of college:

this tumbler. I know this may seem like an odd thing, but I am a huge believer in drinking a TON of water every day. I also am a huge believer in not wasting a disposable water bottle every day. Last year, I used a Camelbak water bottle with a filter as my everyday water bottle. It worked for last year, but I wanted something that felt more like drinking out of a cup rather than something you use to hydrate at the gym. Along came this beautiful, wonderful, glass tumbler from The Mason Bar Company. I splurged on the one with the glass straw and drinking out of it is basically just like drinking out of a glass cup when I'm sitting in my dorm room. And when it's time to go to class, I just grab and go. Easy enough.

these jeans. Okay, so this isn't really specific to college, but I have found the one golden pair of jeans that fit right, go with everything, AND are super comfy, and I need to talk about it. I firmly believe that a good pair of jeans is the key to true happiness. I was going to use this space to talk about the importance of a cute pair of lounge pants to wear in front of classmates in the dorms, but I already touched on that here. Basically the point here is, in college, it is an essential to both look good and be comfortable.

this laundry bag. Living in a dorm means dragging laundry down flights of stairs. Living in an apartment also sometimes means going to the laundromat...or to your parents' house. Laundry has to be able to be mobile in college, and it's important to have a laundry bag on hand. I bought a colorful, trendy, cheap one last year from Target for like 6 bucks and it tore up after wear and tear by the end of the year. So this year, I bought the one pictured above from West Elm, and I am in love with it. The quality is so perfect, it fits my current style way better, and the look is simply neutral and timeless.

this ID case. Not having to carry a purse to class and still having my money, Student ID, and keys all in one place is huge to me. I even throw my lip balm and a thumb drive in the case. I don't own anything else from Vera Bradley, but I'm impressed by the quality of this case. I bought it last summer, and it's still holding up pretty well.

these command photo hanging strips. I hung a large framed and signed Jack's Mannequin poster as well as a full-sized bulletin board with these. You can see both in my last post. So far, they have both been sticking up without any sort of issue. Having framed photos and boards on the walls makes my dorm room feel so much more home-y, and there's really no better product out there that will do the job without damage to the walls. I plan to do some kind of photo gallery wall and I am now seriously considering using framed prints and Command strips.

this space saver brita filter. Going back to my rant about drinking water and how I am no longer using my filtered Camelbak every day, I needed a way to keep filtered water in my room and this filter is perfect for my dorm. It's small enough to fit in the door of my mini fridge, yet it holds enough water for just me. I am so thankful I bought this filter this year too, because unlike having a water fountain right outside my door like last year, the only water fountain near my hall is in the lounge downstairs.

dorm sweet dorm.

This post is on the more personal side, but I wanted a chance to show my family and friends back home where I'm living right now. I moved into my single dorm room yesterday, and managed to get everything settled in fairly quickly. Things are far from perfect, but I'll be tweaking everything until it feels like home. I took these snapshots before decorating my bulletin board above my bed. I also have plans to turn the space above my bed into a gallery wall for photos and art. To say the space is small is an understatement, but it's all mine and it works for me.

sophomore year goals.

As the start of the new school year is swiftly approaching and the task of packing is becoming increasingly more daunting with every box filled, I am striving to keep calm and soak up the feeling of "home."

I took these few pictures before the chaos, and I'm glad I did. They represent a feeling of home which is peaceful, neat, and comforting, and I could use all of those kinds of feelings I can conjure up right now.

Along with the craziness of packing, I am also looking forward to a fresh start that comes along with a new year. I cannot begin to describe the feeling of gratitude I have to be doing this for the second go-round instead of the first time again. I already feel less intimidated and more confidently prepared for what's ahead. All that being said, I hope to do things better than I did last year in an attempt to constantly improve myself, so I'm making a list of goals for my second year of college:

• Continue to try to eat as cleanly as possible; real food. Stuff that goes bad. Stuff without labels.
• Not freak out so much. More importantly, not freak out and take it out on the people I'm surrounded by.
• Take advantage of free on-campus yoga by going regularly to reduce stress and gain back some flexibility.
• Make Mondays the best day of the week. I know this sounds crazy, but my class schedule on Mondays goes like this: Spanish from 1:45 to 2:35 pm. Annnnd....that's it. Therefore, I am dedicating Mondays to gym time, coffee time, planning time, goal-setting time, catching up time, yoga time. I like the sound of starting my week on that kind of note.
• Really step up my design game. I feel like I know who I am as an artist, but I'm not quite sure who I am as a designer. There is sooo much I want to learn this year obtaining to my major which is New Media, and I feel like I can't get my hands on all of it quick enough.
• Incorporate more art and creative living inspiration into this space. :)