California Women Veterans Leadership Conference

We are here!!  Yesterday was the first day of the conference.  The key note speaker was an F18 Fighter Pilot that got out of the military and became a new reporter!!  Here we are with her:

She was inspiring.  She made me think about where I place my energy and whether my priorities are right!

Since the school is paying for us to be here we have to bring back proof that we are doing conference stuff and not just hanging out in another city.  So, we took a photo with the conference poster:

I am enjoying being here  - we have met some wonderful and inspiring ladies.  I am excited about what we will be learning today!  I will keep you posted.  Thanks for stopping by!!

Military Appreciation Football Game

This past Saturday the FSU Seminoles played Bethune-Cookman and it was the Military Appreciation Football game! Due to student veteran status - and the fact that I am highly involved with the school and the collegiate veterans association - I was selected to go with some other students to the President's box during the game!  It was AWESOME!  Check out this view:

I could actually see the "noles" the band spells out before the game:

We got to walk on to the field b/w 1st and 2nd quarters!  And the half time show was GREAT!!  I was sick on Saturday so I was not vigilant about taking photos and the school has not posted any yet so sadly that is all I have!  It was a great game and awesome time in the President's box!!  Hope you enjoyed the videos!!  Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day.

Trip to Cali

I am on my way to California!  Actually, by the time you read this I will have been there for about 24 hours already!  I'm going to the California Department of Veteran Affairs Women Veterans Leadership Conference with another one of the girls that is highly active in the FSU Collegiate Veterans Association.  Early on Tuesday when I was packing I decided that I needed to make a journal for notes... so, I made this cover:

I also decorated the cover to my fitness journal:

Here is a sneak peak at the inside of it:

I have been inspired by Teresa at rightbrainplanner.com!  Go check her out - she is AWESOME!!  Ok that is all for now... "see" you soon with photos from Cali!  Thanks for stopping by!

Personal Symbol Sculpture

One of the art projects we did in class during symbols class was the creation of a personal symbol.  The first day we played with clay - we were told to let the clay tell us what it wanted to do and not go into the project with a preconceived idea of what our symbol should be.  Some people found it hard to do because they like pre-planned art and/or have a lot of experience with clay and can easily manipulate it. I had no problem because my clay skills are very minimal and I never plan my art - I whole heartily believe in just doing it and seeing what happens because just doing the art is therapeutic and I also think that what needs to come out will come out!  Trust the process!!  Anyways, on to the sculpture (we painted it on the second day) - here are some photos:

I see it as a creature which, oddly enough, is a male!  Its got big ole ears but no legs, arms, feet, hands.  It has a nose and horns but no eyes.  And that circle is on its tummy.  What does it mean?  I dunno but I surely had fun making it and hopefully you enjoyed seeing and hearing about it.  

Thanks for stopping by, have a nice day! 

FJ Swap Spread

Today I am sharing this photo:

I made it in a swap journal from the Friendship Journal Swap!  After completing it I realized it was upside down!  Oops.  But I think it adds to the charm!

Last night I finished my paper for career counseling class and I got down to three pages left of editing on my thesis proposal!  So close!!!

Thanks for stopping by today, have a wonderful Monday!!

Layers

Sometimes, there are lots of things bouncing around in my brain.  This fact is very accurately depicted in this journal page:

This journal page has at least 4-5 layers!  It was originally just some writing (a to-do list I think) on white paper.  Later I added a sticker and painted over it.  I painted over that and added the pink  hexagon "print" which was paint on a plastic packaging piece that was pressed against the page.  Later drew on the page when I was frustrated with some things.  Then... earlier this week I added the light bulb and white drawing/writing.  It really did help me with getting all that stuff out - it helps to see it written down and not have it just rolling around in my brain.

I did that page because I was trying to figure out if there was anything I could get rid of in order to have more time to get things done (thesis, Fulbright, research papers, research for my assistantship, etc, etc, etc).  Couldn't figure it out.

I've got a trip to California coming up - I was really hoping to be able to take a break from homework during that trip but it looks VERY unlikely.

Tomorrow is the FSU Military Appreciation Football Game.  I am going to the FSU President's House at 2pm, to his stadium box at 4pm, kickoff is at 6, and we walk-on to the field b/w 1st and 2nd quarters!  I will likely leave right after that since I will need the rest of the night to do homework.  

Anyways... I totally just rambled  ALOT!  Apologies!  Anyways, hope to give you more photos and art pics next week!  Have a great weekend.  Thanks for stopping by, "see" you soon.

Chelsea's Journal

Today's photo is of the art journal spread I did in Chelsea's Journal:

I did it as part of our class swap! Its kind of random but I like it.  

Sorry to be so short but I have to get going so I can get to internship!  Have a great day! 

Craziness

Life is crazy right now.  I just informed my thesis chair that I wanted to get it all done and submitted to the review board by 17 October.  Yikes!  That leaves me one week to do my final edits.  After that my chair will read it and make suggestions to change within that following week.  Then I will submit it to my committee.  Yikes again!!  The next few weeks will be crazy.

But I still wanted to share some photos with you:

This is my attempt to be happy even when I have a jam packed schedule and my mind is whirling from having so much to do!   Hopefully it will help!

Well friends, I am running out of time for lunch so I have to go!  Thanks for stopping by today!  "See" ya tomorrow!!

Creative Arts Workshop

This past Saturday was out creative arts workshop at FSU.  Each fall the FSU Veterans Center coordinates with another part of FSU to provide a creative workshop for the student veterans as way to help them transition from military to student and also to teach them a new way of self expression.  This year's workshop was with glass and took place at FSU's Master Craftsman Studio (they do things like bronze statues, stained glass, and other decorative items for the school as well as working in the community).  Today I wanted to share some of the photos from the event:

Positive Rubber FSU Seals for us to make plaster casts!

Plaster Casts of the FSU Seal 

Explaining how the process works!

Pouring plaster

Signa and I sanding plaques

Group photo! 

This was a fun project and I can't wait to see how everyone's pieces turn out - I will share photos once we get them!

Also one of the guys there was a music therapist and took down a few words from each person so that he could turn it into a song!  I am very excited to hear it!

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

Art Therapy Symbols Class!

One of the class we are taking this semester is all about understanding symbols!  One of our assignments this semester is to write a paper about the symbolic content of our dreams.  In order to do that we need to record our dreams in a dream journal!  Here is the cover to mine:

I love how it turned out.  We are supposed to be doing a combo of visual and written journaling - like an art journal - but I have not yet had any desire to create an image in this journal.  Its quite amusing to re-read what you write at 1am.  For instance, last night I wrote "client treatment plans...circles"  that was it - exactly those words with the ellipse in there too.  I have no recollection of why I thought those two things were important or what the dream was about.

Another thing we are doing is to complete some art in class.  The first piece we did was a guided imagery painting.  This was done with watercolors.

It is an image of the vessel I saw in my guided image.  During the exercise I had thought to myself "this is a really large container for such a small amount of water" (we were told to pick up the container and get some water in it to take back with us and I automatically thought that I only needed a few sips worth of water).  When we discussed it my teacher said it was very interesting because containers often represent women/feminine energy and since I am a leader and I take care of/nourish my cohort then the image makes perfect sense!

This class is very interesting so far.  I think we are all enjoying it.  I will be sharing more symbols class art creations with you later on in the semester!

AJ Pages in Jamie's Journal

We started another journal swap this semester!  Here are my first two swap journal pages:

They ended up being kind of simple but I was happy with how they turned out.  I've been busy so its hard to fit in the journaling time.  I am glad that I at least get to do a page or two a week though.

That is all for now friends, thanks for stoping by!!

Happy Art Swap Creations For September

Today I wanted to share with you the art I created for this month's Happy Art Swap!!  So, here we go...

I am quite happy with these postcards!!  I love creating them.  My only issue with this swap is the size - 5x7... its REALLY hard to find recycled material that is large enough to cut into that size... most food packaging is too small and I really don't want to purchase material just for these cards.  So far though, I have been able to reuse materials for this swap.

Anyways... that is all for now!!  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day!!

The Rest of My Birthday Celebration

Yesterday I told you about the color run which is how I started off my birthday  Today I will tell you about the rest of the day.

My friend Hillary took me out for a Best Friend Birthday Lunch!!  We went to a local place:

And I got a create your own burger:

It was DELICIOUS!

Then we went to our classmate Lauren's house for a Princess Party!!  It was to celebrate the arrival of another classmate's daughter and we also celebrated my birthday!

Hillary & I wearing our tiaras! 

Here is Lauren holding that ice cream piñata:

That thing was a beast.  After letting the kids take several whacks at it each, we let the adults try...

Mary 

Hillary

Action Shot of me

That was a strong piñata... the adults all took 2 turns then we let the kids back into the action for a bit and then finally a few more adult hits and it came open.

It was a nice party - cake, ice cream, kids, adult kids... a good day!!

A Very Colorful Birthday

Saturday was my birthday.  I turned 32.  That still seems old to me...the number at least... I don't feel old, although sometimes I think my body must be about 60 lol.  Anyways... I began my birthday celebration by doing The Color Run... a 5K that results in participants being covered in color!  So, today I wanted to share some photos of the festivities with you!!

Here I am before:

and some after photos:

I was unsure of this event at first because it is quite expensive, but it was so much fun.  It was a great way to celebrate my birthday!

And, FYI, if you are planning on doing this - the color does not come out/off easily.  My sports bra is still colored even though I washed it 4 times - twice with bleach - and I scrubbed my arms in the shower until they hurt and I was still purple and blue!  So, if you do this, plan on wearing something you don't care about and plan on being colorful all day.

August Happy Art Swap Cards

Another feature of cards I received as part of Sandie's Happy Art Swap.  These cards came in the mail for the August Swap!!  My first card was made by Mivi:

Mivi did not give an instagram or blog on the back of her card, but thanks for the lovely words Mivi!!

My second card was made by Katie:

You can find Katie on instgram at Kradke!

And my last card was made by Kim of KHeilArtworks!

You can find her at http://kim-heil.artistwebsites.com 

Hope you guys enjoyed seeing the cards.  Go check those wonderful ladies out - see some more awesome artwork!  Thanks for stopping by, "see" you soon.