my eye! my eye!

ugh! so i don't know if it's stress or from sitting in front of a computer all day, but i'm developing a serious eye twitch. i used to get this back in school when i'd get stressed out and had a ton of projects, but i haven't had it since.

these last few weeks though, it's started up again. it hasn't been bad, maybe my eyelid would twitch a couple times a day, some days not at all, but this last week (today in particular) has been horrible! my eyelid has been twitching about every 5-10 minutes at least.. it's driving me CRAZY!! i'm so paranoid that when i'm talking to someone it will happen and they'll think i'm a freak or something. so far, according to the people at work, they haven't noticed. i don't think it's one of those things that's really noticeable to others, but it just feels really obvious.

i've been trying to do exercises to relax my eyes, but nothing's working. so i'm going to try an cut back on computer time for the next couple days. obviously not at work, but here at home anyway.. less updating of online crap, less tutorials, i think i'm going to focus on reading or something.. i'm not sure how optically taxing that is.

anyway. i hope it stops soon. it's really quite annoying!

Happy Hump Day!

It's been a little while since I've written and a lot has been going on, so this one's going to be a long one. (Because it's not like I have work to do or anything)..

Part one: work
So far, work is going really really well! I'm designing a logo for an even in the fall and the theme is '50 years of Rock and Roll' which I'm having fun with. I'm getting back into some illustration with it.. it's going to be neat when it's done! I'm also in the process of designing a website for a client which isn't a HUGE website, but it's the first one I've been allowed to design from scratch, so that's been a lot of fun so far! I've also been working on a lot of ads for a book which I'm also (pretty far behind on) designing. And I just designed an email newsletter for the Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce, as well as numerous other small projects. I love all the creative freedom I have! Not to mention how much stuff I'm getting to learn. I've been learning all sorts of stuff about web design too. This last week I've been teaching myself about perl/cgi scripting and how to install/create cgi programs. SO, basically, work is going swimmingly and for the most part (aside from a disgruntled client here and there) everything is quite peachy on that end.

Part II: home
Home has also been going well. No major fights or anything, lots of little spats, but nothing major. My parents went to Philly over the weekend aaaaaaand...

My mom passed her citizenship test!!! yeah mom!

So as soon as my mom's sworn in, she will cease to be Canadian and will become one of the masses. (Personally, with all the turmoil as of late, I'd probably rather be Canadian, but I'm still super happy for my mom! This is a huge accomplishment for her)

Part III: friends
Over this past weekend I made my way down to kutztown for some visits and it was super fun! Went out Friday night with Kris, Erik, and Rachel which was a total blast! I saw and received hugs from SO many people I hadn't seen in forever! (the thing I love SOO much about going out in kutztown as compared to bloomsburg is how at kutztown the WHOLE night consists of hugs and free drinks, where with bars in bloomsburg it's like being back in high school.. not exactly my idea of a fun time)
Saturday I spent the afternoon shopping with Karen which is ALWAYS enjoyable! And Saturday night I hung out with Kevin, got chinese, watched North Country, and became addicted to the game, Settlers of Catan, which is a really awesome game.. and I'm not much one for board games..
Sunday I talked Erik in helping me shovel out my car and then came home. So the weekend went by FAR too quickly, but it was awesome! I missed everyone sooooooo much!!

Also in the friend category, I'm aiming to make it back down to Tennessee to visit Jenna and go to Bonnaroo! Which I'm totally excited for! Just Radiohead alone will be amazing to see let alone all the other bands.. Beck, Bright Eyes, Ben Folds, Tom Petty, Blues Traveller, Death Cab, etc. etc. Definitely worth eating up some vacation time!!

That's it for now, must get back to work.. Watch out ads, here I come!

1. Building forts in the woods
2. Coloring with my Crayola Caddy (That thing had all the crayons, markers, and fingerpaints a girl could want!
3. Imaginary Friends.. and Imaginary arch nemeses...
4. Hard pink rubber balls
5. Shorts/T-shirt Combo outfits
6. Transformers
7. Beverly Cleary books. I was hooked on Beezus and Ramona at 3.
8. Playing with the hose in the summer and squirting the ground until it became all muddy.
9. Playing house
10. Shevis.. the BEST dog in the universe.

Satisfaction

I just watched the only part of the Super Bowl I cared to see.. the Rolling Stones!! mmmm-hmm! That's where it's at! Keith Richards = my favorite.

so fresh and so clean

Some good news first, which I forgot to post earlier. AIGA has opened a new chapter in central PA ! I received an e-mail at work for an invite to an event next Thursday in York. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend, but I plan on keeping my eyes peeled for future events! This is going to be a GREAT way to meet some new people and hopefully open up some great networking opportunities! I'm VERY excited about this!

In other news, I cleaned my room today! Not just any clean, but 3 hours of REAL cleaning. I started with a good closet purge (that's where I go through and pretty much throw out half of the contents of my closet) and then I organized what was left. I went around my room and threw out other stuff I didn't need then organized a bunch of junk.

I realized I was short on my preferred cleaning supplies so I went to walmart and bought some new pledge multi-purpose dusting spray, Clorox wipes, fancy paper towels specifically for glass and electronics, a new basket thing for my DVDs so they're not all over the floor in piles, and my favorite.. a new febreeze air freshener! When I got home I dusted EVERYTHING. My baseboards, my figurines, electronics, all furniture surfaces, books and windowsills.

Vaccuming came next. My room has a bit of a ladybug problem. I vaccumed so many of the suckers, but I'd still find more! Then came time to wash the floor. My house is not only overrun with ladybugs, but cats as well. The two male ones in particular enjoy marking their 'territory' which also happens to be EVERY piece of furniture in my room. I generally am good at finding and cleaning it, but occasionally I'll miss places (hence my intense hatred for most cats). SO I filled a bucket with hot water and Murphy's oil soap, got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed my floor like it's never been scrubbed before. After that I grabbed my Clorox wipes and scrubbed all my furniture.

Now my room is immaculate and smells so good! Something about a clean room is just SO comforting. Makes me feel all good and happy. I find that when I get really stressed out or just feeling kind of off, deep cleaning always seems to lift me up. It's like when my room is clean, organized, and in order, my life feels a bit like that too. Just cleaner, more organized, and overall more pleasant.

So that's my good news for the weekend. Not too exciting, but a good weekend nonetheless. I'm off to read for a bit. Try and make some headway through my stack of unread books that keeps on growing.

Tootles!

new!

So it's a new look. I want to start fresh with blogger. The new design isn't all that fancy, I want to keep this simple. The title, for those of you who don't know it or don't feel like looking it up, is French for 'the naked man.' I chose this as the title, because I liked it. L'homme nu was the mascot of my high school french classes. Every homework exercise, my friends and I would use him as the subject. He was the theme of every French holiday card. He's grown up a little design-wise, but I still enjoy the idea of using him as a 'mascot,' but this time for my journal.

Not to be too symbolic, but I figure that's what a journal is supposed to be, kind of 'baring your soul'.. which sounds a bit dorky and cliché, but anyway. A journal is to show what's underneath, the 'nakedness' if you will. I'm not planning on getting that deep on here, I just thought it was a neat idea. And seeing as how I'm pretty dorky and a fan of cheesy stuff, it works for me.

The diagram on the bottom left was taken from a poster I designed for Housing last year for a 'Putting the Pieces Together for a Healthy U' program. I felt that fit really nicely with this journal. I want to start putting up better posts. Focusing more on the positive, more on 'putting together the pieces of my life to make a better me.' Again, that's corny and cheesy, but I like it.

So the design's not 100% there, I'll be tweaking a bit, but this is what I've got for now. Give me some feedback if you have some to give. If you hate it, I don't really care. I'm looking for positive comments. Again, I'm trying to focus my life on the positive, so there you go.

Enjoy it.

new look

bare with me, new changes on the way..