Been a while...

I've been thinking about doing something different with this blog. I don't have much desire to update on random life-happenings because that gets so old and tiring to read, at least for me. So, I'm turning this blog into a somewhat portfolio to share my various projects. And I feel like with this new focus I should have a new look. I'm thinking something more simple, white background maybe. We'll see. Anyway, new look and new content coming soon, and as a result hopefully I'll feel more inclined to update this thing.

In the meantime, here's what's new:

Meet Hindley and Miss Heather. They're the sweethearts in my life. Hindley and I have been dating since May and that's going pretty great. Miss Heather was a birthday present from Hindley's parents. She's 8.5 weeks old and the most precious little booger, chewing on everything and having difficulty grasping the whole peeing outside concept.

I've got a job working full-time at Wayne's Environmental Services, a pest, lawn care, and termite company. I work in the pest and lawn section of the company, handling customers' accounts, dealing with customers over the phone, filing, and whatnot. Doesn't have anything to do with design, but it's a great job: reliable hours, great people, free weekends, and money! I still want to do design stuff, though. I'm hoping to be at this job for the next couple years, but also get a business license and do design on the side. All I've got to figure out is what to call my business... can't think of anything that I really like...

My best friend is engaged to an incredible man and I am so so happy for them. The date isn't set yet, but they're thinking this coming spring probably. Jake's sweet mom has cancer and has been in the hospital this week, so with all those happenings the wedding isn't top priority on the to-do list. But I'm going to Marietta in a week to visit and hopefully help Jess with some planning and dress shopping.

I totalled my car on Friday morning on the way to work. Just drove straight into the stationary F-150 in front of me, going about 35-40 on a wet road. Got some serious whiplash but no fractures or anything like that. The doctor gave me some muscle relaxants but they don't seem to have any effect on me for some reason. Saturday I hurt so bad that I could barely move, but today I do feel a lot better. Dad's flying into Atlanta this week and staying through the weekend, so he and I are going car shopping while we're both there... no idea of what I want, I guess I've got to figure that out unless I want to drive a rental car forever.

So, any ideas? What car should I get? What should I call my design business? I could use some suggestions.

So, a Jew, an Asain, and a black man were sitting together in an airport… no, really. Right in front of me.  I’m wishing something funny would happen between the three of them to make it joke-worthy, but nothing so far…  The Jew did call the Asian over to get advice on why his computer won’t play his DVD, and they both just sat there and stared at the computer screen with blank dopey looks, neither knowing any more about the computer than the other… I’m trying unsuccessfully to connect to the internet.  Hartsfield Jackson wants me to pay eight bucks to connect to the internet for an hour, and I’m finding that pure theft, but what can I do?  I’m stuck here for an extra hour and a half, maybe more, because apparently Atlanta’s terrible weather has caused most flights to be delayed.  I’m sitting against the window, and I don’t know what threatening weather they’re talking about, unless it’s on the other side of the building… which it’s not.  OH well.

Easter in Texas was fun.  Dad won poker.  I rearranged furniture for Katie.  We cooked way too much food.  Katie overflowed the bathroom sink.  Some got pretty ridiculous on sleeping pills… you know, just a typical family gathering.  Got a phone call back from the store I was waiting to hear from, and I’m going for an interview tomorrow.  So, we’ll see how that goes…

Airports Shmairports...

It's 8:45am and I'll be in various airports for another 7 hours.  Whoop.  No, I'm not complaining really.  How can you complain when all airports have free wifi these days?  Plus I get to visit with my family for the weekend and eat Reese's Easter Eggs.  yay for that.

Anyway, let's see.  What's new?...

I've decided to try my hand at pizza dough.  I got all the ingredients at the grocery this week, and we're crossing our fingers that it'll turn out.  Charlie apparently doesn't like the taste (or is it texture? I'm not sure of what specifically) of homemade pizza, but that's just because she hasn't had mine yet.  I've got my mother's blood in me, and her italian culinary skills are ridiculous.

I've been approached yet again to help with designing a cd, this time for my friend Christopher.  I'm pretty excited to help with this one, especially since I think Chris is giving me a little more artistic freedom than my past projects allowed.  I'm waiting on the photography from his brother, but in the meantime I'm about to start working on the font... I've got another 2 hours before my flight to Atlanta takes off, and if I watch a movie I'll probably fall back asleep.

This stupid airport doesn't have Dr Pepper. anywhere.  anywhere.  STUPID.  I'm having to resort to Coca-Cola for my morning caffeine.  Not cool.

I might have a job... but then I might not.  Who knows.  There's a store in Homewood that needs someone full-time, and I definitely am the most qualified/experienced candidate, but it's been a week and a half, and I'm impatient, even though she said she'd call between 1-2 weeks.  I'm giving it until Monday when I get back in town, and if I don't get a call then I'm going in there to see what the hold up is.  I need money, dern it.

Dr. Dog makes my toes tap and my heart happy.

Jessica is my best friend forever. But yall already knew that.

A different perspective

My mind has just been blown.

Meet Alexandre Duret-Lutz.  He's french.  He takes pictures.  His pictures are way cooler than yours.  He takes a bunch of regular pictures with a plain ol' camera and then applies his mathematical smarts.  He explains the process on his flickr site.  The results are freakin' awesome.

Newness!

It's a new year, and I'm starting over.  I'm getting a new job (someday... I'm trying to be optimistic), making new goals, making new friends, cleaning through my closets, doing the laundry, and giving my blog a change.  New look, new header, and maybe more frequent posts.  And now that I've spent 2 hours on the redesign, it's time to go to bed.  I think tomorrow I'll get a new fish.  Maybe a goldfish?... we'll see.

Hubert's dead.

I don't want to talk about it.

My new friend...

I have a new fish.  His name is Hubert.  Hubert Angelo Still Waters of Neverhood Cloud.  He's a very peaceful messenger of God and has a shining intellect.  He is blue and swims around.  Say hello, Huey.

It's interesting how much stuff you accumulate after a lifetime (at least for me) of living in one house.  Packing up the house in Marietta was quite a lot of work.  I was back and forth to Georgia for a couple weeks after Christmas to help mom with bagging, boxing, straightening, trashing, goodwill-ing, and everything else that's called for when you're getting ready to sell (including crying, laughing, complaining... we're really good whiners).  We spent one day going all through the "Erin Box" which contained most of everything in paper form from my childhood: report cards, artwork, a few random pictures, writing logs from elementary school (lots of juicy secrets were recorded), dance recital programs (some of which were from shows I wasn't even  in... don't know what mom was thinking there), and of course lockets of hair from my toddler days (which look blonde in comparison to my hair now).  We really got a lot done though, and if you go to the Kennesaw Goodwill on 41 you'll find half the store filled with random crap from the Sutton house.

In other news, I'm out of a job.  The big pants called Thursday before Christmas and declared the closing of the store... they wanted me to stay for 2 months after the other manager left for maternity leave and run the store by myself... but the idea of running a store by myself with the stresses and crowds that come with big close-out sales did not sound remotely appealing... so I told them that the other manager's last day would be mine, too.  That conversation was Friday before Christmas, and the store closed 2 weeks later.  So now I'm unemployed, working on my portfolio, and hopefully will get to taking around my resume this next week.  I would love an interior design related job, but I'm thinking that's going to be tough to nail with the economy the way it is right now... but I'm going to try so that I can say that I did.

I think a road trip is incredibly overdue.  Dad mentioned to me that he'd like to have Sadie out in AZ to go driving and exploring, since she has more clearance than the PT's... the thought of Dad and Mom taking Sadie off-roading through the desert is wonderfully funny... like Dukes of Hazard  in the wild west... but I don't think he's actually planning on doing anything that extreme.  Anyway, maybe this next month I'll have everything set for my cross-country trek, complete with an "Arizona or Bust" sign.  Who wants to go with?

The Grand Tour

So, I have promised to take pictures of the apartment so that curious minds (mainly my sister) can see the cute little apartment in which I live. I kept forgetting. Sorry. SO, tonight after I quasi-straightened my room, I decided to give a tour of the apartment before I hit the hay. Pictures don't really give you a very good understanding of space and what's next to what, so I made a video. My voice is really annoying when it's recorded. Sorry. Anyway, here's my apartment:

Halloweenie

We dressed up for Halloween, and we worked long and hard on our costumes. I was a peacock, and anyone who is familiar with Super Mario Bro's will know what my roommate and her boyfriend were: Toad and Toadette. I crocheted their hats for them. Their costumes were my absolute favorite ever.

Ok. I admit, I have been known to whine and pout. My family can attest to that. I think everyone enjoys a good pout every now and then, and I don't really think that I do it more often that anyone else. The past couple weeks I have pouted and whined a little about having to go on a business trip for work, and I don't think my pouting was uncalled for. I had to go to Jackson, Mississippi Monday morning through Saturday night, and work 14 hours straight each day at a JR League Christmas shopping show/fair/market/thing. This involved setting up the booth, standing at the register in one place for 12 hours, running to the parking lot and back to unpack merchandise for a demanding 50ft line of customers, and so on. It was gruesome, I knew it would be, and I wasn't entirely thrilled about the state my feet would be in by the end of the week. However, being the relentlessly optimistic person that I am, I knew there would be at least something to gain from my trip. Here's my list of positives from this past week:

1. I have now been to Mississippi and can check it off my list. It wasn't impressive at all, looks exactly like the rest of Alabama and Georgia, but I'm glad to have another state to color in my map of places been.

2. Gasoline in Mississippi is under $2. Don't believe me? I took a picture to prove it. And of course I filled up!

(look real close... can you see? $1.99!)

3. I didn't have to pay one penny the entire week for my meals or my endless supply of Dr Pepper. Thank you, boss.

4. I have a new appreciation for being alive. There was a moment this week where that fact almost was no more, but thankfully I am alive. Here's what happened: I was in a hotel room by myself the first two nights, and I noticed Tuesday night how inefficient the AC unit was. Since it was about 2am and I couldn't sleep due to the stuffiness in the room, I went to turn up the air. As I punched the button for HIGH COOL, all this happened at once: the entire machine lit up with a bright blue electric light, an ear splitting ZAP and POP came from the machine and the outlet, and red hot sparks shot out of the outlet. Can you say scary? I've never in my life been more frightened. I should have been electrocuted (my hand was on the machine) and the room should have caught fire (the upholstered chair and the window curtain were both right up against the outlet). But I survived, and needless to say, they gave me a new room.

(The state of my killer outlet)

5. I now know that I can keep an unnatural cool under threatening circumstances. Sign me up for the emergency row, Delta. You can count on me.

Autumn Leaves!

It's my favorite time of year, and even though my favorite month is now over, I can still enjoy the beautiful fall colors, crunch through the leaves outside, and enjoy wearing my scarves and hats more frequently! Since mom and dad are out in AZ and can't experience the loveliness that is autumn, here's a few pictures.

23+1

So we went to Six Flags for my birthday!  It was really really fun.  Some of the people I like best came and enjoyed the day with me, and then we went back to Marietta to spend the night before hitting the road and getting our bottoms back to Birmingham.  Here's a couple pictures of us at Six Flags.

   

   

Hi! my name is- what? my name is- who? wicky wicky Slim Shady.

Felt like giving my blog a new look in hopes that it'll inspire me to update more... it's late and I really don't want to spend the energy and creative thought on creating myself a zingy new headline imagery thing right now, so that'll have to wait... maybe tomorrow.

So my sister has most lovingly tagged me for this 6-obscure-things-about-myself exercise, and so I guess I'm now obligated to participate.  The only thing is, once I sat down to write my list of quirks I realized something: I'm really not sure there's much weird about me, and thinking up SIX different unusual facts about myself might just be impossible.

Who am I kidding... ok, here goes.  6 Quirks of your Sutton Dearest:

1.  When I was little, one of my favorite things to eat with my dinner was untoasted bread spread thick with butter.  That's not weird at all, except for the fact that I would dip it in ketchup.  Buttered bread aint any good unless you dip it in ketchup.  Delicious.

2.  That last one reminded me of another pertaining to food:  mom fed me so many bananas.  She was convinced that it was the only fruit I would eat (and she was right, I really didn't much like anything else for a long time), so she served it to me with every meal.  At school, I'd open my Rainbow Bright (or was it My Little Pony...?) lunchbox and find half a banana.  EVERY dinner I'd have a little bowl of sliced banana next to my plate, and I couldn't be excused unless the banana was all gone.  This lasted my entire childhood.  Due to my over-intake, I can't stand to eat them now.  Even the smell makes me a little queazy.  My roommate also doesn't like them, and I think that's the best evidence of why we're so well matched to live together. 

3.  Regardless the disastrous mess my room frequently may be, I simply can not tolerate the contents of my drawers to be anything less than perfectly folded and stacked, organized by shirt type, etc.  Friends in the past have come over to borrow clothes, see my room turned upside down, and somehow assume I won't mind them leaving my shirts in tangled wads inside the drawers...  This probably is one of the best ways to irritate me.

4.  After reading mom's quirks, I guess I should mention the bug thing: I really don't mind bugs at all, and I find a lot of them fascinating (though I don't really want them extra close to me or crawling on me).  I love butterflies and beetles and praying mantises, and I'm usually the default roach squasher if there's not a boy nearby.  But spiders give me nightmares, and I will have an absolute fit if there is any sort of buzzing bee/jacket/wasp within 10 feet.  There was a yellow jacket in the stairwell outside my front door last week as I arrived home, and I walked around the entire building to the back entrance so I wouldn't have to get near the bee.

5.  Is it arrogant of me to say that I have always been very good at my make-up?  Well, I have.  When I was about 2-3 years old, I would get up in the morning and sit myself at my mom's vanity where I applied my make-up for the day: eyeshadow, blush, and of course mom's red lipstick.  I was very good at it, despite what you may hear from my sister on the matter.  Yes, I did apply the ice blue eye shadow very thickly and coat my entire eye lid, but I know Katie is wrong in her statement that I went all the way to my eyebrows with it.  I have always known, even then, that that was too much.  I also remember sitting in the car before BSF with mom, watching her apply her lipstick, and she always let me have a little dab before we went in.  A lady can't go anywhere without her lips on, you know.  And once, dad caught me putting mom's make-up on one of my larger sized baby dolls (she was blue eyed with long brown hair and I thought she looked just like me).  I had already made her cheeks beautiful and rosy with mom's blush and was in the middle of giving her some lipstick when dad walked in.  I don't remember him scolding me for it, probably because I immediately burst into tears when he caught me... to this day that doll still has a pretty glittery pinkness to her cheeks.

6.  I fall asleep best when there's a movie playing.  It can't be any movie, of course.  I can't watch something I haven't seen or or haven't seen in a long time, because then I'll be too interested in watching to fall asleep.  So my list of favorite 'bedtime stories' are: Peter Pan, Finding Neverland, Little Women, or Harry Potter.  My favorites are the Harry Potter movies, though.  I know them so well that within 10 minutes I'm already dead asleep.  I usually only watch movies 1, 4, and 5 to go to sleep though.  The first one's menu is silent after the movie's over, and 4 and 5 loop, so there's no obnoxious, repetitive noise to wake me up.  The third movie has a horrible audio track to the menu once the movie is over, and it just loops again and again and drives you absolutely insane.  The second movie has a terrible scene with monstrously sized spiders, and I think I've already mentioned how I feel about spiders.

Well, that's six.  I'm glad the list didn't call for more or else I'd  be sitting here forever trying to think.

As for tagging six people to do this next, I can't.  I mean, I would, except everyone I know on this blog thing has already done it... soooo, yeah.

New post coming up, it's just taking a while to compose.  Until then, here's some pretty pictures from my friend Amanda's wedding in late August.  She and I lived together for a solid 3 years, and I love love love her... 

Katfrib complained about my blogstipation, so here's a boring update

Moving is expensive. and money is annoying.

Work is starting to hurt. My feet in particular. Darn jobs.

The apartment is slowly slowly slowly coming together. Once things are actually in place (this weekend, maybe?) I'll post some pictures of the inside.

My next adventure will be learning to play two new instruments: the cello and penny whistle. Watch out, music world.

I don't know what to do for July 4th. I'll probably wind up sleeping in and waisting away in front of the tv. whoopee. I would go off for the weekend.... but I have to work Saturday. bleh.

It's 10:30 and I'm already nodding off to sleep. What has happened to me? I feel so old.

Welcome to the hiz.

So, my new roommate Charlie and I decided on our new place to call home! It's in a neighborhood close to downtown Birmingham called Highlands Park. Here's a few pictures.

Here's a picture of the street the apartment is on: the street is lined with a few old apartment buildings and mostly big old historical homes... such as the house in this next picture which is right next door to us. We're at the top of the hill at the end of this road, so there's no busy thru-traffic. It's so peaceful and quiet!

This will be our neighbors' house, and the two houses facing our apartment across the street are very similar. Our apartment building is just to the right of this house. At the end of the street (pretty much where I stand) an alley goes around the back of this house and leads to a back parking area and our back yard.

This is our building! Our apartment is the top left one. The porch is under extensive repairs at the moment: they'll be replacing all the wooden framing and the torn (and non-existent) screens. You can't really tell from the pictures, but the yards are very pretty, green, and well-kept. We get to walk under a gorgeous dogwood on our way to the front door!

Here's the front door that faces the street. Through this door is a stairwell that leads to our apartment's front entrance.

Here's the gate from the back parking lot into the backyard. Up those stairs is our private second entrance.


We're REALLY excited about this place and can't wait to move in. And the bonus: Keith and Elaine's place is 6 blocks away and about a 10 minute walk! Hopefully in the next couple weeks when they're done with the repairs we can get inside to take some pictures of the interior! So stay tuned for that.

Gradjidated

Update for those who care:

My thesis project presentation went great! We were supposed to arrive Thursday afternoon to begin our formal presentations in front of a panel of architects and interior designers from the Birmingham area. Needless to say I was about to pee my pants, and so were many of the other girls. Obviously God knew that it would be an embarrassing (and messy) event if we were to soil ourselves in front of Alabama's top designers. The solution: tornadoes. By 3pm you couldn't see 20 yards in front of you, and the news was forecasting a tornado making it's path directly down Lakeshore Drive and through Samford's campus. Our department head got phone calls from more than half of our panel judges saying they wouldn't be coming, and she was frantically calling anyone she could think that had the guts to drive to school in such weather. What originally was a formal presentation became incredibly casual. We all hung our projects on the walls throughout the studio and people just moseyed through like it was an art gallery. I presented my project individually to about 4 designers, 1 teacher, and 3 friends who had graduated last year. It was great. Everyone loved my project, and I got some great compliments from some intimidatingly talented designers. Monday morning I turned in the last of my drawings and technical documents for my project, and now I'm done! hooray!

This is really weird. It feels kinda like summer break... but it's not. I have to get a job. Crap. I don't know if I want to graduate anymore...

There's a nocturnal mockingbird outside my apartment. I think he waits to mock the rest of the bird world until the late night when the others are asleep. It's safer that way. Less likelyhood of being beat up by the bigger birds.

I'm graduating. Crazy, right? I'll be done (God willing) in less than 2 weeks, and I'm about to pull my hair out. I have so much to do on this project!! I can't wait until I don't have to ever think about homework again. It's going to be great. great great great. Can't wait. I'm going to sleep SO much. Like a bear.

Mom had me put together a graduation announcement postcard thing to send out to everyone and their cousin. I realized in the middle of it all that I have no good portrait pictures of myself that are at all recent or decent. So. I had myself a mini photoshoot. It was a fun break from drawing 3D models on the computer.

I leave you with a picture of me and Jessica in 60 years, doing what we do best: being our wild and crazy selves.