"Wanna take a picture with a real redneck?"

Blog post title = second question we were asked upon arriving in Texas, the first?

Where are ya'll from?

Haha I guess we stick out like a sore thumb! But then again we were all taking pictures of the Dixie Ranch...the little diner we stopped at straight outta the airport.

It lived up to true Texas stereotypes thats for sure.  2 of the 4 vegetables I ordered had bacon mixed in them...let's just say the most refreshing part of my lunch was the ice water with lemon!

I'm reading "What the Dog Saw" by Malcom Gladwell, 1. I love this book!! (and the other two books I've read by Gladwell are excellent as well, Tipping Point and Blink!) 2. This is the PERFECT travel book, it's a collection of Gladwell's essays that he wrote for the New Yorker.  Excellent for picking up and reading for a bit when you have down time on vacation but don't really have the mental capacity to focus on an intense novel.

The hotel gave us a choice of soft or firm pillows AND we have sleep number beds...feels like first class to me.

Like the focusing on the picture? I've been trying really hard this trip to only use my new 50mm lens, just to force myself to get used to the prime lens (prime lens = no zooming) and get used to NOT using manual focus.

This is my coworker Ashley, I caught her being beautiful :) (although really it wasn't that hard)

This is my other coworker Lee, I caught her primping. (Also this wasn't hard...three girls in one hotel room there has been a lot of makeup and hair time. Also check out Lee's blog she's kind of a big deal!)

Alright now on to the really good stuff- SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST!

First up we went to get our badges. Badge = god here at SXSW.  It gets us into all the SXSW shows, sessions, panels, parties, etc etc.

Second best to the badge? The SCHEDULE.  I panicked a little today when I thought I misplaced this baby!  Also this is my other coworker Joey furiously studying the schedule.

Also what did I say about getting a taco?  Yum yum yum sorry for the bad picture but I still haven't figured out how to take good night photos!

After all that business of travel and what not Joey and I headed out to some shows!  The first on we hit up was obviously the Pitchfork Showcase at Emo's.  I love Pitchfork, although they can be a bit snotty at times they always put on a good show.

Weekend

Of course this entire showcase was one big Chillwave haze, and I loved it :) I'll start listening to music with clear vocals and instrumentals sometime soon...but for now I like the ethereal haze of chillwave music.  It's not like the sound at most of these venues is really that clear anyways.  Chillwave is my favorite style of musc right now (even though it gets a bad hipster rep) just because it's great to zone out to on the bus, while doing hw, an especially perfect for listening to when I make art.

Long story short the first show we saw was Weekend- I am definitely going to find some of their music online when I get home.

Next up we saw Beach Fossils. Can I just say, I love Beach Fossils but they looked like they were about 16 years old! They were still chugging Imperials and PBR's like true hipsters but I almost wanted to ask them where their chaperon was, haha.  They put on an excellent show though and they said they had been driving straight to Austin Texas from Brooklyn New York for 36 hours- yiiikes.

After Beach Fossils we started heading home but Joey's favorite band, The Sounds, was playing at another venue, the line was short, and amazingly we got in!  Another excellent show- no pictures though because A. it was too sweaty and packed to deal with my large camera and B. I'm bad at taking pictures at shows anyways.  I definitely need a wide angle lens and an external flash or something before I can work for the press.

Alright I'm off to see some more shows. The Strokes and Lupe Fiasco? Yes. Please. I hope I can get in...

Inspirations

Hahah just kidding- there is nothing inspirational about a cubicle to me.

On to the real inspirations...



1. Rachel Barrett

 

2. Dima Gavrysh

 

3. Noemie Goudal

 

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me...too bad I'm stuck at a desk for another 10 hours or so today, why do I always insist on picking up extra shifts during vacations?

T minus 26 hours until SXSW!

Music is my...

Boyfriend? Yep it sure is this week! 

At the end of my return to blogging novel yesterday I broke the news that I am headed to SXSW this Tuesday for the music part of the festival.  For those of you who don't know what SXSW is (neither did I when I first heard about it) it is basically the coolest thing since Lollapalooza. SXSW is a Music + Film interactive conference type event.  It is a big music festival, a big film festival, a social media meltdown, a networking heaven, a technology explosion, all in all it is pretty awesome.

Aaaannnnd my job is sending me.

Say it with me now, ALL. EXPENSES. PAID.

I live a charmed life, sometimes.  I really cannot wait for that $9 taco from the taco hut.  Ummm I mean all the good MUSIC.  SXSW gets even better because while SXSW puts on about 10 million shows and events, the festival itself is so huge that a ton of people make side events not necessarily put on by SXSW.  Two of my my all time favorite music websites, Pitchfork and I Guess I'm Floating have multiple events through the week. 

So what bands/events am I most excited for? (besides the people watching, picture taking opportunities and food ;)

The Strokes
TV on the Radio
Wiz Khalifa
Lupe Fiasco
CeeLo GreenPhantogram
Small Black
The Black Lips
Dum Dum Girls
Guards
The Sounds
Surfer Blood
Beach Fossils
Baths
Smith Westerns
Rooney
Solid Gold
She Wants Revenge
Foster The People


Those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head! Yeah, you're going to want to stick around for my recap of the week...

In other news my friend made a list of all the bands she's seen live, and inspired me to do the same:

1. Avril Lavigne (hahaha wish I had pictures of this- I was in 6th grade I think?)
2. All-American Rejects and Fall Out Boy
3. Multiple KDWB Jingle Balls (can't for the life of me remember the bands I saw, Kelly Clarkson was in one I think? Middle school was a long time ago...)
4. Gym Class Heroes (twice weirdly enough)
5. Doomtree
6. Caribou and Toro & Moi
7. Pitchfork Music Festival (St.Vincent, Best Coast, Neon Indian, Girls, Washed Out, Beach House, Local Natives...I think that's all of them.)

Can't wait to add to and improve this sad sad short list this week.

Hi. Missed you baby.

Well it seems my winter slump is over, my creative juices might be back, but really I just miss this blog.

I stopped blogging because I was at a crossroads.  I love healthy eating- but a blog devoted completely to my eating habits just wasn't for me.  It stressed me out and made me feel like I had to invent new recipes all the time for the blog or at least eat interesting things for the blog.  Well what I found out is that I go through fits and spurts with food creativity and healthiness- and when life got busy my eating looking like this:
Breakfast: Oatmeal or scrambled eggs.
Lunch: Salad, quinoa type dish, or banana + granola bar.
Dinner: Scrambled eggs, canned soup, salad or quinoa.

Oh then there was the weekends...eating out and delivery pizza ruled those!  Kinda gross...no regrets though ;)

Ok so my diet has been either boring or awful lately- not blog worthy.  As for working out I have started running again since Minnesota decided to de-freeze for a week...but as I type this the wind is whipping outside...looks like I'm back to gym workouts or let's be honest here skipping gym workouts.

Being environmentally friendly? Umm when those nice farmers markets down the street from my apartment disappeared along with the extra free time of summer so did my will to soak my garbanzo beans overnight and then cook them for an hour and then food process them into hummus...instead of just cracking open a plastic container of pre-made delicious hummus.  Needless to say packaged food has made a reappearance in my life, oh and I killed all my indoor plants.  Ooops!

All hope is not lost though!  I am still a health nerd...for life.
- I turned in my application for the BFA program which means I am a lot less STRESSED (still waiting to hear back on whether or not I am accepted)

- I have signed up for multiple running races this summer- YUS! 
- I have signed a CSA work share with a farm in Minneapolis! I spend eight hours a month working on a farm and in return I get free veggies from June-October- WIN for my health, my budget AND the environment! (I am planning on biking to the farm as well)

I have a new direction for blog:
And that is to have NO direction.  I will no longer feel the need to constantly post about healthy eating on a daily basis or make art on a daily basis- that's stressful to me.  I like blogging because I am just like every other narcissistic twenty-something and I think my opinions and thoughts need to be heard.  SO what to expect then? Well healthy food, workouts, fashion, music, tumblr inspiration pictures, inspiring quotes, art, photography and a little bit more reality and a little bit more ME. (As in I am not a perfect healthy/budget savvy/environmentally friendly person and the blog needs to reflect that).  This blog is about me, and MY ATTEMPTS to be a Low Impact Fashionista.  The blog exists simply because I like writing and over sharing on a regular basis, and that is enough.  Hopefully someone reads it, and if not, well, that's slightly depressing but at least I'll have a record of myself. ;)

So with that I will pick up where I left off- with an updated view of my portfolio.  Laugh with me here at just HOW MUCH it has changed from the last one I posted.  The main change? From mixed media to solely photography, my true love :)

P.S. Sneeeeaaaaaak Peak- Another push for me to start blogging again? My upcoming vacation the the South by Southwest Festival! I felt the need to document the experience, and the festival has a HUGE focus on social media, making me feel the need to re-engage.  I figured, since I missed the blog anyways, now as good of a time as any to start it back up again.  At least I'll have some really fun stuff to blog about in the upcoming week- making for a great kickoff! (Err well I doubt I'll have time to blog during the festival but afterwords...!)

BUT more about SXSW later I think this post is reaching epic novel proportions...sorry it's been awhile and I've got a lot to say!

2010 Portfolio

Finally I broke the rut of winter break lazy, yay for having a camera charger again! Instead of creating more, I decided to document what I have already created and photograph my art work (mainly my ceramics) for my portfolio.

#1 goal for winter break? COMPLETED!

So here is my portfolio for my application to the Bachelor of Fine Arts program. I still need two more pieces...so I'm just trying to figure out what photographs to use from my extensive collection haha. I think all of these pieces will make the final cut...but the portfolio isn't due until March 8th. I'm sure once the deadline nears I will freak out and completely change this portfolio. But for now here are 10 of my favorite pieces from 2010 and if you follow this blog you've already seen all the photography pieces I'm considering to add :)

Self-Portrait, Charcoal, 2010

5ft x 6ft Abstract Drawing, Charcoal, 2010

Anti High Fructose Corn Syrup, Stoneware, 2010

Dualistic Nature of Life, Stoneware, 2010

Sacred, Stoneware, 2010

Creature, Stoneware, 2010

Navajo Jug, Stoneware, 2010

Anti-Craft Octopus Jug, Stoneware, 2010

Laundry from Modern Day Laura Ingalls Wilder Series, Digital Print, 2010

Guitar from Modern Day Laura Ingalls Wilder Series, Digital Print, 2010

Seriously what a relief to have this portion of the application process done!  I just realized I still have to measure all my pieces...I think I'll save that for tomorrows to-do list.  I'm going to celebrate being somewhat done with this application anyways!

Happy New Year!

Twenty eleven is just like that blossoming rose...fresh and new. Make the most out of it!

My new years resolution?

Waste less time. Create MORE.

This 365 days challenge is a part of that whole "live up to being an art major and create more art" resolution. Speaking of I'm a couple days behind for various reasons (camera charger?)...but soon I will catch up!

I hope today you made the most out of the first day of the new year!