kater-za!

somehow, my little sister kate graduated from high school yesterday. today, she turns eighteen! but for some reason i still think of her like a five year old. i guess that's what happens when you're the baby. since we're missing out on all the festivities and i'm not there in person to ramble (which i know my family is dying without) behold: a post all about kate.

kate is the only sibling who i remember being excited for. i was six, and before she came home i practiced the house tour i would give to her to introduce her to everything. specifically, all of jess's stuff that i wasn't allowed to touch and lara's ballerina music box. i was also determined to teach her to talk right away so she could tell me all about heaven before she forgot. but she was stubborn. i even tried the blink once for yes, twice for no idea. it didn't work out so well. mostly i was curious about unicorns i think. and if you got to eat ice cream.

kate used to be terrified of the wind. she would camp out in the basement for hours if it looked like a storm was coming. the other thing that drove her crazy (like full meltdown) was if our back gate was ever open. and with six older brothers and sisters i think we might have left it open on purpose once or twice...

she's always been super sweet and friendly. we went on a church history tour and she was five-ish. by the end of every tour she was up front with the guide, holding their hand and best friends. pretty sure we scored extra nauvoo bricks because of kate.

kate's never been afraid to be her own person. everyone else in the family played sports. steve, jess, and jeff played basketball. jenny, lara and i played soccer together. naturally my parents thought kate might be into soccer too. the rest of us were pretty competitive and played club/high school sports forever. kate was the opposite. she was the girl always waving at the sidelines, picking dandelions when she was playing defense, and skipping in circles with her teammate if they scored a goal. it was awesome. she's genuinely happy when other people are happy (even if it was the other team).

she's really smart. she was sort of mortified when we found out that she was academic girl of the year in ninth grade. she didn't want anybody to know. this year, she shocked us all when she was in the homecoming pageant as deca president. she was beautiful and funny and the whole time i watched her up on stage i couldn't believe it was my little sister. she does so many things that i would never have the courage to do.

it's funny that kate is the youngest, because she might be the most mature out of all of us kids and such a good example to all of us. it seems like she gets the short end of the stick a lot, but you would never know it from her attitude. she's going to uvu on a full scholarship this fall to be an asl interpreter. she's going to be amazing.

happy birthday/graduation katers!

opinions please.

i've had a really lovely cold this week that has resulted in watching a lot of terrible tv. like one tree hill. it falls into the it's-so-bad-it's-good category. and nothing goes better with poor acting than online shopping. this week the theme is furniture.

like this couch. i neeeeeeeeed it. the only question left before purchasing while it's like 72.89% off is which color?

light?

or dark?

oh yeah, packing.

we leave for new york tomorrow. i'm debating between packing or just walking onto the plane with my summer reading list and buying a whole new wardrobe when we get there. lucky for me, mike is taking a nap right now and agreed that new clothes is a great idea if i would just leave him alone.

excellent.

looks like i'm all packed.

margins

and after many promises, our group stop motion piece. so much time. blood. sweat. oreo cookies. tears. oh amanda knight hall, i will have so many fond and delusional memories of you. the complete margins exhibit is still on display in the harris fine arts center for the next two weeks (on the main floor) so if you're in the area and actually know what the HFAC is stop by and meander through some aesthetically pleasing posters. the whole project will be online at marginsproject.com in the next few weeks.

we paid ninety dollars to be dressed in blue hefty bags.

worth it.

a little sale.

... and here's why. it's a story.

when i first got into the bfa i couldn't work full time anymore. (let's not discuss how painful it is to look at my entrance portfolio. it was thrown out the second day of classes that semester). i'd been taking around 10 credits a semester for two years so i could work, and with the bfa it was impossible to do that anymore. there is only one class of students a year so your schedule is decided for you. it's a packed schedule too. each class is three hours long, so you're usually in class all day and then up all night trying to get projects done.

well, i like saving money. i like dave ramsey. and between our bank account and dave ramsey swirling in my little head i knew we would have a problem earning a quarter of what i used to make. having to go from a pretty salary to working fifteen to twenty hours a week at a student job (which i love) just wasn't going to cut it for me. our mint account got sad just thinking about it. and in my childish heart, this scene just made too much of an impact.

our main goal was to graduate, but it was also important to graduate debt free and with savings so we could be ready for whatever happened next.

so i started selling posters. it took a few months for it to get going, but since then the sales have been pretty solid. and because of it we've managed to hit our goals. we paid for college selling pieces of paper. i love the internet.

so the sale is a big thank you! to everybody who helped and supported this quirky idea. we reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreally appreciate it.

and then i ate a half-frozen chimichanga with a spoon.

i drank my first mountain dew.
my bfa show is up.
curiously, half of my big toe (the left one) is numb. it has been since mike and i spent two days putting my show up. it's rather odd. and mike doesn't believe me. but i have nerve damage people, i know it.
we finished our epic stop motion piece. and our display. it's also up.
i stayed up for a day, and a night, and a day, and a night, and a day getting my portfolio ready last week. head back to campus after dinner. work furiously until seven am with nbc playing the same office episode over and over again (oops, sorry patsy). and then run home to shower. on the third morning i got into the shower with my socks on. i'm not ashamed of it. (but it did take sixty seconds to realize that something didn't feel quite right...)
i had my last portfolio review.
i was sad (a little). i'm really going to miss the program.
i only have nine emails in my poster inbox. the last time this happened was never.
mike and i are (fake) graduating in two days.
we're really excited.
i need to get away from the blasted vending machine food. i'm afraid it will haunt me for the rest of my life.