Well crap.

I had a faint feeling that this would happen when I first thought a blog was a good idea. I’d be all geared up at first, make sure when I did eventful things I documented them well. Post on here, even if no one but myself read it and then BAM! nothing. So, no lame excuses. I’ve forgotten about this. And I want to say no more, but I really hate being a hypocrite. So I can say I promise to try to do better.

And to catch up on all my summer so far, I will use my iPhoto Library to help me out.

My first night back in Wisconsin was finished off with great friends, great food and a great bonfire.

I got to see my two favorite little faces in the entire world.

Had a day of self-realization ruined by pirates…not kidding…

…But pulled it through in the end.

Got to have one of the best nights at Jazz in the Park (free for anyone to go to every Thursday night, for more information http://www.easttown.com/categories/5-jazzinthepark)

Wish my two favorite people “arrivederci” as they left for Europe! (Spain and Italy, with a few other places thrown in the mix)

Run around like a drowned chicken with my head cut off during Strawberry Festival.

And overall working a lot. I love my job and the design things I get to do while at work. I can’t brag about what the store stands for enough. You can check it out at www.Lilliesgoods.com (oh and I did the website as well…still working on it!)

I think that is my summer so far. I’ve been trying to get more creative activities going in my life right now. The transition from being around people as obsessed with design as myself, to being around people who could care less about my kerning issues is a little bit overwhelming. Eventually everything will fall into place, but I don’t know how big of a hurry I am to get to that point right now.

So here’s to not knowing what’s coming and running at in full throttle!

It’s Done.

It’s Done.

What I’ve been working for for the past 5 years is all over and I am officially no longer a professional student. It’s kind of a weird feeling that, at the moment, I can’t put my finger on. You look so far to finishing, but I think I’ll eventually look back, like my father always says, and realize how quickly it all finished up.

My parents were a huge motivating factor in my college career. They pushed me when I needed the nudge, they listened when I needed to vent and they supported me through it all (which included 3 colleges, 2 different majors and way too many late nighters).

However, I have to give the most credit to my grandfather, who has passed. He always dreamed of having a grandchild graduate college. Every other grandchild had a certain thing they did with grandpa. My brother hunted and golfed with him, my cousins Chris and Brook always fished with him, but I never really had that one thing. So I did this for him. I can think of at least 2 times where I just wanted to be done, but thinking of him got me back on track.

So to remember him I wore a pair of wings. My grandfather was a fighter pilot in the 367th during World War II. When he earned his wings, he bought this small pair for my grandmother. She wore them all throughout the war while he was in Europe fighting. The second pin is also a pin from World War II, earned by my other grandfather who was also a fighter pilot and has also passed.

So that’s it, I’m done and for the first time in 23 years I don’t know quite where I’m going yet. I’m completely okay with that.

-J

Mom’s Day.

So here is where I stretch the “I only want to post about design” part of my blog.

Mother’s Day was yesterday and for my wonderful and absolutely inspiring mother I helped her get her green-thumb on.

I got my mother a planter that she was wanting, that prompted a trip to the Seatonville Nursery. I had never been this nursery before, even though it is the best one in the area. The flowers were beautiful and I was glad I took my camera with me.

The place was beautiful and I was glad we were supporting a local business. We picked up just a couple unique plants and then headed to another store for some smaller filler type plants. We haven’t planted them yet, but we picked some great colors so lets hope it works out well!

And here is me with the greatest woman in the world! She deals with all my craziness and most the time I think she deals with my stresses right along with me. Without her, my head would have flown off a long time ago. And I couldn’t be prouder to call her my mom. Love you ma!

-J

Oh and all the pictures were taken with my Canon Digital Rebel T1i DSLR (best investment I’ve made since my MacBook Pro).

Peoria Design Show

So we had our second show this past Saturday at the Prairie Arts Center in Peoria Illinois. This gallery was completely surprising! While being in a less than desirable (but not horrible) part of Peoria, the inside of the gallery was beautiful.

We definitely had more space this time. So I think we all got to properly display our projects. Of course I had to take the mandatory this-is-my-work picture.

Since most of my family and friends attended the Chicago Design Show, I had just a couple people come down to the Peoria show. But I couldn’t ask for more important and special people! My mother and her best friend Tina and the surprise guest of my Aunt Donna. I had no idea she would be coming. Leave it to that to make me cry.

I think it was a great note to end my undergrad career on. A celebratory time with great friends and family showcasing what I love to do in my life, design.

-J

Start with an End.

So now that university is exactly one week from being in my past, I thought now was the perfect time to start crossing things off on my “You have a life again, what do you want to accomplish” list. The first being, start a blog. I’m hoping to accomplish a few things with this, all of which are purely personal, and it feels great! I’ll try to keep things as design-related as possible, but as I’ve found out, I tend to think everything in my life is design-related.

So I want the inaugural post to be on point.

The 2010 graduating class of Bradley University graphic designers had a senior show at the Aldo Castillo Gallery in downtown Chicago. No major catastrophes  happened, that I know of, everything went pretty well as planned.

While the gallery was in a neat part of Downtown Chicago (the gallery district as I was told) the space got a little tight. I was able to have just enough room to display my portfolio, resume, business cards, senior project boards and the finished pieces of my independent study. I wish I had a little more room for some other mocked up projects I brought with.

The crowd was a little slow at times, but I think we all had a good time. Above (from left to right) is Rachel, Tiffani, myself and Meghan. These are the girls that I could call at midnight to complain about export, leading or ridiculous deadlines. They helped to keep me sane these last 2 years.

My mom and dad, along with my  boyfriend Ian and our friend Aaron  came to see it. (So grateful!)

My best friend Melissa and Luis  also made the trek from Milwaukee  to come see my show. These 2 I  think revival the parents and  boyfriend as biggest supports of my  art.

And we ended the night in the best way I could think of, with great friends, great family, mediocre and cheap food and a long drive home.

We also had a show in Peoria just today and I will work on getting that post up as soon as possible.

So here’s to getting my checklist finished and enjoying everything that is coming my way!

-J