Everything is Happening

A lot has happened in the last couple weeks. I graduated from college with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Journalism the Saturday before last. I finished moving down from Oshkosh to Milwaukee. Richard and I are still unpacking at the new place, and from the looks of it, will be for at least a little while longer. I’ve discovered a number of things I left in the old house in Oshkosh, but will get back from my former roommates later.

I wish I could say we’ve been busy with wedding plans, but Richard and I are invested in “what is happening right here and now” rather than planning. When we all return to Milwaukee after Christmas there will be more wedding planning, but not right now.

I almost forgot to mention our Christmas plans - we’re currently driving down to North Carolina to visit my grandmother and many other members of my extended family, including my dear cousin Anna. We’re just inside Indiana now and the trees are absolutely coated in ice, they look more like sculptures than trees. The dog is curled up on the seat next to me with her head in my lap. I’m on the computer now in hopes of completing the editing process for Erich and Ash’s wedding photos. It has taken me far too long, but with finishing school, I really did not have time for much else, and I’m sure they understand. I promise to get all the photos to them by January 7th, because I should be passing through town by then and will have the chance to have the whole portfolio ready and can drop it off.

forward! towards graduation!

So it’s been a busy weekend. One where I spent all day Saturday inside working on papers, except for that hour Ben and I spent shoveling the walk and drive.

April threw a “jewelry party” for her mother. A chance for Mama Beese to display all her beadwork and sell it outside of a gallery show setting. It was quite fun just to see everything she’s gotten done. I didn’t have any money to spend, so I was just there to enjoy everyone’s company and admire Mama Beese’s work. She and I are talking about her making some necklaces for the bridesmaids, I know April and I are excited about it, but I’ll have to consult the other girls as well. Anyway, I’m working on helping Mama Beese set up a shop on etsy. Showing her how to work everything and early next year we’ll spend a day getting photos done for her. So look for her shop Mama Beese’s Got Style to come soon. She does the most amazing beadwork.

Otherwise, the only things I’ve been thinking about have to do with school, so here’s a quick update on the School Work Progress:

- Dracula Paper for Brit Lit - DONE! (finished as of 10:30 tonight!)
- 481 Final Paper (8/20)
- Reflective Essay - 0/3 (I was corrected in my page count, and I’m glad I don’t have to worry about 2 extra pages!)
- Senior Portfolio - all previous work ready, just have to finish the other two pieces (481 final paper and reflective essay)
- “A Person of Interest” - 0/5 (Professor actually cut the page count, which, yay!)

16/36 - just 20 pages left to go, just five more days of class, just six more class periods. then. Graduation.

Graduation approaches

I’m in my final semester at UW-Oshkosh, and it is really and truly crunch time. I have less than two weeks left before graduation, and while updates here have been rather sparse of late, they will be non-existent until at least 15 December. There are so many things to do, and I should be doing them all right now, but I’m taking a break in order to make sure I know what I have to do, how far I’ve gotten and just how much coffee I will have to drink to be sure they all get done.

The short list of what I have to do...
- Essay exam on Emily Dickinson for American Romanticism
- Final paper for Senior Seminar (20 pages)
- Reflective Essay for Senior Seminar Portfolio (5 pages)
- Senior Portfolio (just has to be assembled with previous work, final paper and reflective essay)
- Paper on Female Sexuality as a Threat in Dracula for 19th Century British Literature (8 pages)
- Paper on the presentation of themes in “A Person of Interest” for Asian American Literature (8 pages)

Progress
- Final paper - 3/20
- Reflective Essay - 0/5
- Senior Portfolio - all previous work ready, just got to finish the other two pieces
- Dracula paper - 0/8
- “A Person of Interest” Paper - 0/8

Total: 3/41 pages done.

Yep, there will be lots, and lots of coffee. This page count doesn’t even include the studying I will have to do for my other exam. Oy. Back to that final paper.

Blog Spotlight: Sweetie Pie Press

I have to add another blog to my “Daily Visits” list, cause, well, she’s just darn crafty!

The Sweetie Pie Press seems to be full of wonderful things. What drew my attention to it was her call for security envelopes, the project she’s undertaking is both staggering and rather awe-inspiring. I was reminded of a similar call for clothing labels (the ones in the back of your shirts) from an artist that was posted in the Milwaukee Art Museum. What I’ve gathered so far about Sweetie Pie Press is that it is run by Becky, who has an impressive etsy shop, and I may not be lucky enough to navigate away from before buying something. Either way I can't wait to see what becomes of her security envelope pattern project!

EDIT: After further research I’ve discovered the artist that was asking for clothing labels. Her name is Terese Agnew, and you can find the story about her piece here. And goodness, I didn’t realize it was so long ago! I need to visit the museum sometime soon!

There's nothing to do here

I admit, I have quite the list of pet peeves, but high up there is when I hear someone utter the phrase “There’s nothing to do here,” because I know they’re just not looking hard enough.

I fall in love with just about every place I go. I may grow weary at times, and things may get a bit boring, but I know I just have to look in a different way. After all, I’m almost joyous when I’m in the mountains and get to say “There’s nothing to do here,” because a day spent swimming and swinging in a hammock may be nothing - but it is fun.

As a result I’ve decided to do a small and sporadic series on my favorite places, be they near or far. Expect the first one on a location in my current “hometown” of Oshkosh this Saturday.

Busy as a Bumblebee

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but everything is so busy now!

With any luck five weeks from now I will be a college graduate. Then I will move permanently down to Milwaukee and start the job search. But for now it is just school, school, school. I have two papers, one proposal, one presentation and one essay exam this week. It is educational overload. Next week’s forecast isn’t much better. I’ve got to get started on my final seminar project...actually I just have to start something I like, cause I’ve started it just about 8 times already.

I’ve been editing the photos from Erich and Ash’s wedding. I’ve got 32 down and 550 to go. I’ve set the goal of editing at least 10 each day, but it seems to be a daunting task when that takes almost an hour, but I got 8 done today.

Weekend and Wedding

This weekend was hectic, to say the least. But completely fun and worth all the running around. Friday was the Halloween wedding of Erich and Ash, and the picture is a preview of the photos (there are about 500 for me to get through and edit, and so far, I’ve gotten through 10). This week will be intense as far as photos go.



Richard and I also managed to move into our new place. We had all the boxes and furniture into the townhouse by 4 pm on Saturday, which was great timing as it gave us time to start unpacking and hang out with friends in our new place. We have so much left to do, but it will get done.

Next weekend we’re meeting with a catering company to discuss the catering for the wedding. Again, there are just so many things to get done!

Our Wedding: Getting the Dress!

I made a major purchase last week - my wedding dress. Instead of getting it in the boutique as I had planned I purchased the same dress (in my exact size) on ebay! For about half the price!! I am so excited, it should arrive at my parents’ house sometime in the next week and I can’t wait to have it in my hands and try it on.

I feel like its a little early to be getting the dress, but according to just about everyone else this is the time to get it so it can be adjusted if need be.

In other wedding news the save the date cards have all been hand stamped and only need to be addressed and get stamps then they’re all ready to go.

There’s just so much to do, for school, for work (wedding photography), moving, and for the wedding. I really should put all wedding things on the back burner until we move into the new place and finish up with school. Exactly seven weeks until graduation! I can’t wait, and yet it will be strange not to have the security of school and the routine of class.

ETSY!!!

I’m a big fan of etsy.com, both the site and the concept in general. Recently I opened a second shop to start selling my numerous vintage collections and extra supplies - Suitcase Art, Vintage and Supplies. I made my first sale yesterday and will be heading down to the post office today after classes to ship it.

This time around I’ve taken the general advice of everyone at etsy on how to promote - simply make yourself visible. I’ve made sure that when I have a spare minute I post in the forums, when I’ve got a bit more time I try to join chats and meet new people. I listed my first item in this shop on 12 October and made a sale within the first ten days! It is exciting, and I hope it is a result of putting myself out there, cause that’s just what I’m going to keep doing from now on.

I want to do some cross promoting of blogs soon, as I know the readership here is limited to friends who have happened upon the blog, and I hope this will gain some new exposure for both of my shops.

Timothy Adam has posted a blog entry about marketing, it has a lot of great tips and suggestions. Also - new article on etsy at Auction Bytes.

So Much, so much.

For the next month, there won’t be too many updates, because there’s simply so much to do.

Tomorrow I have a photoshoot with a friend of mine who needs new album artwork. Then lots of studying to be done for the rest of the week. Next weekend is one more trip down to Milwaukee to celebrate my father’s day of birth.

The weekend following I’m photographing a wedding for two wonderful kids - Ash and Erich. Not only are they adorably weird but they are both artists, and after I visited their place today I got an even better feeling for how these two kids work. They’re into horror, and all things dark, and their wedding sounds like it’s going to be a great celebration of all that. Plus, they’re having the ceremony and reception on Halloween! Super cool! I can’t wait for the wedding!

Plus, after the wedding celebrations are over I’ll head down to Milwaukee for the first night in our new apartment. Then Saturday will be a day full of moving and boxes, to hopefully end with chinese food, pizza and drinks.

My semester is wrapping up soon. Just six more weeks of studying and trying to frantically write and learn new things, and then graduation!

All that it is

I run a blog/website at SuitcaseArt.net

I sell my photography and other various things at natajean.etsy.com and SuitcaseArt.etsy.com

and can be reached at natajean@gmail.com

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