On Today's Episode of Crafting Disasters...

Since moving, I have been putting my room together one piece at a time so as not to run up any huge credit card bills or spend money I don't actually have.  I am generally a pretty crafty person; I like to make all kinds of things from jewelry to blankets.  I needed a bookshelf to put beside my bed, but since my bedding is black and white, I didn't want a neutral color bookshelf.  So I bought a cheap shelf from Walmart and picked out a light blue spray paint, excited to get to crafting.  But it didn't exactly go as planned...

Step 1: Put together bookshelf

Overall, I did pretty well on this step thank you very much.  That is until I got to the very last nail, which I drove in at a 45 degree angle, through the side of the bookshelf.  Other than that, it was quite delightful.

Step 2:  Carry bookshelf outside to driveway for spray painting

Now you would think this would be the easiest step of the project.  Little did you know, it is very difficult to carry things that are much wider than you when you have tiny T-Rex arms.  While carrying the bookshelf outside, I let it slip from my hands while trying to open the door.  The corner of the bookshelf ripped a nice slit in the screen in the screen door. Yep.  Sorry Bridget and Amy! I promise I'll fix it!

Step 3:  Spray paint the bookshelf
This should be easy right?  It turns out spray paint is very difficult to control, especially when the nozzle malfunctions.  It. Went. Everywhere.  Everywhere except where I wanted it to. It left a very uneven coat of paint on two sides of the bookshelf.  There were drips running down it, and it dried before I had a chance to wipe them off because it was 95 degrees outside.  Additionally, I got spray paint all over my arms, legs, and fingers.  I quit after covering about a tenth of the shelf in paint.  Then I had to figure out how to get spray paint off of skin.  Fun fact: Canola or vegetable oil spray removes spray paint from skin because spray paint is oil based.  Yep, I sprayed canola oil all over myself.  It smelled great (sarcasm).  Then I put dish-washing soap (which smelled infinitely better than the canola oil) all over myself.  Well it worked.  My skin is mostly spray paint free!

Step 4: Try to rectify situation with acrylic paint
Nope.  Doesn't work.

Step 5: Put bookshelf in back of garage facing the wall because you don't want to look at it or think about it as it is a visual reminder of your failure.

Did I mention it was 95 degrees outside? I did?  Well let me tell you again.
IT WAS 95 DEGREES OUTSIDE.

Next week I WILL fix it, and it will be beautiful.  Look out for the finished product.  I told you about it, so now I can't leave the dang thing sitting in the garage until I move again and throw it out.

I'm a Real Person now

Well I guess technically I have always been a real person.  This ain't no Pinocchio business.  I just feel more real now that I have a full-time job and place of my own.  I even have my own benefits. I now know what a 401k is. When did that happen?  Well actually it happened this week.  Monday to be exact.  This past weekend I moved from Cincinnati to Des Moines, Iowa to start my career as a designer at Gannett's Design Studio.  It is the first time in my life that I have lived outside of Ohio.

My first day of work was a little overwhelming.  It consisted mostly of watching, taking notes, and trying not to make a fool of myself.  It was all sort of a blur.  After a few more days, I can say with a fair amount of assurance: I have a really cool job.  Seriously. I LOVE it.  I get to make a career out of something I love doing anyway.  AND, I get to work in a place where I am surrounded by immense creative talent.

When I initially heard about the job here I was lukewarm about it because it was in Iowa.  I thought, "Who moves to Iowa?"  But I accepted the job because it sounded like such an amazing opportunity.  Every time I told someone I was moving to Iowa they would make an obligatory joke about corn and cows.   I became somewhat defensive about Iowa. I would reply to their jokes with something like, "Oh, you're right. Appalachian Ohio, where we currently are, is sooooo much more interesting than old podunk Iowa. There's absolutely no corn or cows around here.  How will I ever make the transition between big-city Athens and rural Des Moines?"  I may have even threatened physical punishment for the next person who immediately brought up corn when I said Iowa.  Honestly I was so defensive because I myself was hesitant about moving here, and I was looking to others for reassurance about my decision.

Well Iowa...I'm sorry I judged you.  That was unfair. You did not deserve that. You are more than just corn, and I love you already.  

Iowa, overall, is treating me really well.  God has continued to heap blessings upon me in this new chapter of my life.  I have two awesome roommates who immediately made me feel at home, and after living in Athens, 45 minutes away from the nearest mall, it is nice to live within 5 minutes of a Target. Des Moines itself is a beautiful city.   It has the definite feel of a big city without all the negatives- crazy traffic, excessive pollution, litter, and expensive parking. It's really small, which means it's also really clean and easy to navigate. The easy to navigate part is imperative for me because I am incredibly skilled at getting lost.  The first day I drove home from work, I took several unintentional detours before I finally made it back to my townhouse.  I am really enjoying working in the city, although I spend way to much money at Panera already.  They are definitely going to know me in there.

This is where I work!

The city is very clean and beautiful.  And look-
no traffic!

Des Moines has a great system of skywalks
 that connect the buildings 

And this is where I live!

(And for the record...aside from the initial 10 hour drive here,
the only corn I've seen so far is in the grocery store.)

I Want this Book

I stumbled upon this children's book in Target the other day, and I am so happy I did.  Initially I was drawn to it because of the unique illustrations, but after reading it I am convinced this is the funniest book I've ever read.  I can't wait to own it.

Watch it read here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS0x72_nflU&feature=related

And see more of Jon Klassen's work here:

http://www.burstofbeaden.com/

The end of an Era: Goodbye Ohio

Exactly half my life ago, I visited Ohio University for the first time and stood in front of the building that housed my future major. I was eleven years old, and we were moving my sister, Katie, in for her freshman year at OU.  I immediately fell in love with everything about the school.  And when I say everything, I mean just the campus because I didn't know a thing about the school itself.  Athens. Is. Gorgeous.  Lucky for impulsive-decision-maker me, the school itself turned out to be pretty awesome too.

OU essentially had me at hello.  When the time came for me to decide where I was going after high school graduation, there wasn't even a choice for me.  I didn't go on a single college visit- I knew where I belonged.  So 11 years after my first visit, and many fond memories later, I have graduated from Ohio University.

I honestly can't think of anything that would have made my time at OU any better.  Heaps and heaps of blessings were laid on me these past four years.  From my friends at Nelsonville-York High School to my awesome roommates from C3 and C1, I got to hang out with the best people in the world.  I'm not going to lie; I cried the whole drive home from Athens.  I will never find another community like the one I had in Athens County Younglife because there is no community like it in the world.  It is amazing to look back and see how much I have grown in my relationship with Christ over the past four years with the help of these people. It is incredibly hard to say goodbye to them all, but I am excited to see where God will take me next.  And thank God I live in a time where we have Skype, Facebook, Twitter, email, cellphones, and airplanes because it makes the distance seem considerably smaller.

And besides, it's only goodbye for now...

To all my Ohio friends who have loved me through these past four (or more!) years: THANK YOU!

I'll be seeing you :)

Doodles on doodles on doodles on Toms

I've been doodling like crazy, so I decided to doodle on a pair of shoes!  I seem to only get these projects done when there is another, less fun project I have hanging over my head.  Right now that "other, less fun" project is packing and getting ready to move to Des Moines, Iowa, where I will be in nine days.  Nine days.  Oh gosh.

I will be working at Gannett's Des Moines Design Studio, creating graphics and layouts for several papers in Wisconsin.  I'm pretty stinkin' excited to see what I will learn and contribute there.  Take a look at some of the excellent work coming from the Design Studio: http://newspagedesigner.org/profile/DesMoinesDesignStudio.

Here's a sneak peak at how the shoes are turning out:

Doodles on doodles on doodles on Toms

Stay tuned for the final result!