cAMPing

A few weekends ago a crew of us ventured out to Stephen F Austin State Park for some camping adventures... It was a real treat!

Here are some shots from the weekend!

Boys being boys.

The strangeness continues.

Here is all of us (except for me, taking the picture and Mackenzie who came later).

Tomás and I!

I had never seen an armadillo.... and one so up close!

This is me in Tomás ultra warm sleeping bag! Snug as a bug.

Sitting around the camp fire!

Carol and Lee made Chili! and we made a new friend, the part volunteer who after touring us his RV brought over appetizer sloppy joes and ate some Chili with us!

The embers at the end of the night!

new holiday decoration!

Look what I made last night!

in response to a request!

I received an email request to see some of the things my students have been working on... Well its FINALS! Hurray! So my First Ever Art Class is coming to a close. 

My final was 25% Written- not by my choice, part of the network final

25% on project or presentation of their choosing... they could present on an artist for 5-7 minutes OR create a piece of art... (mimic the style of an artist OR reproduce a piece of art using different media than the artist did).

AND

50% was another self portrait... These I was UBER excited about. The students turned them in last Tuesday and TOTALLY rocked it! I am SO proud of them!

It all started with a project I did back in the day. A practice in value (shading light to dark), proportion AND most importantly patience! 

The students worked from the same picture that we had taken of them for when they created their wire sculptures. 

They then drew (precision is a MUST) a 1x1cm grid on the image. 

On a blank sheet of paper they drew a 1x1in grid. 

The task was to then go one by one and reproduce,expand and mimic the squares. Here is the one I did based of a magazine advertisement. 

Original Magazine Add.... see how you can see the grid.

My reproduction!

The two next to each other!

The students did FANTASTIC.  Below are two samples of their works in progress. They finished them and turned them in so hopefully I'll think to put up some pictures of the completed ones.

Look how tricky and how well this students did his funny facial expression/eye!

Each students really showed their own "style"

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

Apartment 811 is starting to get some decorations! See the photoshop christmas lyric/quotes signs I made!

and our Christmas corner!

And don't forget my parent's famous Advent Christmas Countdown Calendar!

I am going to wrap myself with paper...

I am going to dab myself with glue. Stick some stamps on top of my head... And I am going to mail myself to YOU!

Rachel had an AWESOME holiday party for all of us! Here are a few shots of our wrapping paper outfuts!

Dan and I before the party!

Mackenzie's costume didn't totally survive (actually none of ours did)!

BEFORE

AFTER

wedding fun!

Tomás and I adventured to a wedding (the weekend before this) for some of his friends. We had a WONDERFUL time. Here are some shots!

Great! A candy corner. We ate these BEFORE the appetizers!

The couples first dance! AND the groom was in ALL white (including his shoes)!

Tomás paid to dance with the bride!

This was the present we had made for the bride and groom. I made it in PhotoShop and then we had it printed on Canvas to stretch ourselves!

we gots pots!

I took this 5 week long pottery class. I love the class, my studio mates and my final pieces. The first week we did hand building, the next few weeks were on the wheel, the second to last class was glazing... and in our last class we got our pieces back AND did a Raku firing.  Here are some pictures. Sadly I didn't take a picture of my final Raku piece... even though it was probably my favorite. Maybe I will post later!

Here is a video of what Raku firing is...

Here are some of the pictures I took of the process and my final pieces...

This is the Raku Kiln we used!

After the top was lifted up this is what our pieces looked like. We then used metal tongs to grab our piece and put them in a trash bin. The trash bin was filled with shredded newspaper so once the hot pot was in the bit, it erupted into flames!

You let the fire go for about 20 seconds and then smother it with the garbage pale lid. I didn't take a picture of my final RAKU piece but it was by far my favorite. Below are some of the other pieces I made!

I am tempted to take the next class!

No Shirts. No Shoes. No Service.

Thanksgiving break meant heading to Honduras to visit WillyD. In total 8 crazy BC hooligans made their way to Tela, Honduras and the GORGEOUS villa we rented... cabana caracol. It was a fantastic break. Here are few glimpses (very few) and thanks pals for letting me snap some of your FB photos.

I made personalize Koozies for each of us!

And some shades to help from the hot Honduran sun!

I hadn't seen Phader in TWO years. Please note this coffee with questionable water might have contributed to his "Hot Vinyasa Flow"

We drove around in this rented truck... 5 in the truck and 3 + in the bed!

This was our pool on the MOST awesome deck a villa could ever have!

Group Photo Left to Right, Top to Bottop... Mateo, Phader, Jimbo, WillyD, Bellski, Erin, Me and Ana. Please note the AWESOME shirts that Ana had made for all of us "Honduras Vacaciones"

This is me at the "behind the scene" water fall tour we took!

And all of us before zip-lining the waterfall that we had adventured underneath!

And a creepy photo of Ana rescheduling her flight (I was waiting in the gate area but could see here through the window)!

 

 

 

 

All in all it was the most incredible vacation anyone could ask for. 

Thanks for the memories all!

The Promise Land...

A few weeks back, I headed to the Promise Land... Also known as the RV lot at Notre Dame campus when half of Boston College's campus has adventured over (as I did my BC Senior year)...

This time around I was headed with wonderful friends of the school.... but I did get to meet up with plenty of my Boston College loves... including a good crew of the Arrupe Program Belize Trip 2009-2010

Here we are at Finns?! A ND bar that was FILLED with BC fans.

Our wonderful tailgate host! And the CRJ crew.

Julie Visk and I on our way to the "promise land"

We had the MOST amazing seats. Front Row... 50 yard line.

ACE Program ND Alumni

Thanks for such an AWESOME weekend.

the bad blogger award goes to...

me!

for not posting in a million years.

I'll handle this by doing the obligatory photo dump.. and I plan on posting some updates on my recent travels and adventures as well!

look at these goodies I made for Jasminne's Birthday!

Two kinds of cupcakes, sprinkles, coconut, frosting.... Nom nom.

Tomás and I have been frequenting a pub near my house that has Monday Night Football Bingo... It's pretty fun to play! Cheers to Porch Swing Pub.

This is the start of our Holiday decoration... this wreath I made and put up right before I left for Thanksgiving Vacation! We will do some more decorating tonight!

This is my new jewelry hanger... I've made these before and this one has been done for awhile but I need to find the time to hang it up!