Yesterday I turned 25. Since about the time I was a teenager I’ve always hated my birthdays. It’s not to say that they don’t always tend to be wonderfully amazing and full of love and kindness. It’s just this: I hate turning another year older. What woman doesn’t? Really?

I thought so.

My 25th birthday was fairly uneventful and relaxing, just how I want it. I’ve mentally caught myself today a few times going “Holy shit I am 25… I don’t feel 25…” I think the greatest gift by far was that Mack’s Dad is on the mend (better words to serve the situation justice would be directly from Mack’s mother in her blog posts here and here) and life is good.

Since I’m feeling particularly sappy this birthday, here are 25 life lessons/things of importance (in no particular order) I’ve learned in the last 25 years:

1. Family is who you laugh with, you cry with, and who drives you crazy. I’m so thankful for my family and the families who let me into their lives and teach me so much.
2. Getting dirty isn’t the end of the world. Sometimes it’s half the fun.
3. Take risks. You never know if you’ll like something until you try it out.
4. Sometimes the best things in life are free. Other times they’re pretty expensive but worth it in the end.
5. Pay attention to the small details. They might be the most important and life altering.
6. Travel. The whole world is at your finger tips and it expands your knowledge/life/understanding so much.
7. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Even the stuff you think is big ultimately it might not be.
8. Life is fragile and not to be taken for granted.
9. Don’t judge a book by a cover… although sometimes your initial impressions of people turn out to be true. Give them a chance first.
10. It’s okay to admit you need help and you don’t know all the answers.
11. Relationships are hard work. It makes them that more enriching and worth it.
12. Try new foods that might otherwise be scary. To go with point 3 you never know until you try how much you might love something.
13. Communicate your needs/wants/desires. Don’t assume people know what is going through your mind.
14. Sometimes the best car trips are going no where with someone you love by your side and the open road in front of you.
15. Don’t limit yourself or sell yourself short. You might think and know someone else is better at something out there but why beat yourself up over it? Know your limitations and shortcomings and work and making them better.
16. Nothing is more relaxing than the touch of someone you love.
17. Dance. And sing. Even if it gets you looks let go with wild abandon.
18. Make new friends and acquaintances to go with ones you have. Never limit the number of friends.
19. Cut out the drama and poison you don’t need to deal with. It creates unnecessary stress and ultimately, who is it helping?
20. Learn to enjoy yourself. Love yourself. Know what a worthwhile individual you are. If you don’t believe it than why should others believe it?
21. Try to learn something new everyday. If you can’t do that, improve upon something you know everyday. Always strive to be a better person.
22. Be loyal to those around you and give devotion, patience, and caring to those who deserve it. Show those who you love that you do love them with your whole heart.
23. Listen to music. Read. Actual do these things and pay attention.
24. Relax.
25. Smile.

Technorati Tags: life lessons, birthday, family, important, lessons, life, twenty-five, aging

Sunday morning Mack and I decided that we wanted to go explore somewhere within the great state of Washington. Lately we’ve been making a point of going out to get to know places and people. I also like to say we’re working on my “social ineptitude” which usually earns me a glare from Mack. One of my favorite things is to get into the car with Mack and the open road ahead of us. Sometimes we have a place in mind as the final destination but oftentimes my favorite is when there is no end point in mind but rather what looks neat. Two weeks ago we explored a lot of Seattle and the suburbs as we drove around all afternoon with me saying “Left!”, “Right!”, or “Keep going straight!”.

Now, as you remember, I have horrible road rage and get stressed out very easily when I’m the one behind the wheel. These fun adventures wouldn’t be fun if I was behind the wheel since I’d be convinced we’d both die and the cats would be alone and then pain and suffering would ensue… all because I was lost. I can’t handle getting lost in the car. I don’t know why. This drives Mack crazy since, often, when I’m lost instead of consulting my iPhone I’ll call Mack and demand to know where the hell I am and how do I get to the location I am seeking!?

This is why he got me a GPS before we moved to Florida. Best anniversary and graduation present rolled into one EVER.

Mack and I love to drive around or get out and walk around in new areas. It’s all part of my emerging from my shell of awkward shyness and getting to know people. Pushing past my shell of indifference and cynicism and know that yes, sometimes people do suck and hurt you but why shut out the world and the possibility of meeting new awesome people because of those few shitheads?

Sunday after we got all our stuff together and picked up my brother we headed up to Mount Rainier for the day. There is a lot of vast open spaces in western/central Washington and it was a marvel and joy to get to see and experience it. I think hands down the best part was seeing the alpacas tied in front of the fire station in this small town before we got to the park. Why were they tied in front of the fire station? There had to be a story behind that and boy you know we made up our own stories.

We managed to (eventually) got up to Paradise almost in time for sunset despite my brothers insistence that “if we keep stopping you’re going to loose the light.” I was thrilled with all the snow on the side of the road leading up to Paradise and kept exclaiming “SNOW! LOOK! SNOW!” much to Mack and Mark’s amusement. I mean, SNOW people! I won’t go into the depths of my disappointment that we didn’t really get snow this year… while on the other hand I remember what a giant pain driving in the snow is.

So conflicted.

As the sun started to set and I felt like a block of ice after climbing up onto the snow to get some beautiful shots of the mountain. On the way down the mountain we pulled over to look at a random water fall we’d passed on our way up and you know I wanted pictures of it. Unfortunately, there was a huge blockade of ice that stood a good six plus feet between me and the view of the water fall below. Normally I am tall and get some pretty nice shots due to my Sasquatch-esk genes but this time I was pretty much S.O.L..

… until Mack suggested I climb up the ice bank with my $1000+ camera. Trust him, he’d hold me up while I got my shots.

Awesome idea? Or potentially bad one? I blamed him for what happened but he argues that he didn’t force me to do it.

I, of course, thought at the time it was a good idea. So here we are, my converse shoes shoved into the ice bank as I leaned over to get a view of the waterfall with my expensive piece of equipment as I simultaneously hoped the ice wouldn’t give way and I’d fall a few hundred feet to my death.

Gulp.

Taking my last shot I told Mack I was done which was very fortunate since I lost my footing and started falling/sliding down the little ice bank into Mack who was still supporting me. Naturally my instinct was “SAVE THE CAMERA” and I held it away from the ice and my body as the other side of my body took the brunt of the impact.

My rationalization? My body will heal. Thus far I haven’t found the Nikon’s self-heal function. Guess that means I really should read that manual…

Now, a few days later, I have bruises the size of tennis balls on my left legs. Was it worth it? So long as you don’t touch my left leg I’d have to say yes. It was so worth it.

Technorati Tags: photography, day trips, exploring, photos, mountains, mount rainier, ice, snow, bodily harm, washington state, washington, cascades, adventures, nikon d90

I don’t know why but my family does not know the URL of my blog. Each time I hit publish on my blog posts I wonder to myself “should I tell them about my personal blog? and what would they think about it?”

Something stops me from sending out a mass email to my parents and brothers saying “this is my blog, enjoy the laughs!” It’s not like I post anything bad about them and/or stuff I wouldn’t say to their face. Trust me, I read dooce.com and know her blog’s background and learned from her lessons in the matter. So what’s stopping me?

I guess the funny part is that my boyfriends family knows about my blog and my own family only has a vague inkling about this blog. I’ve copied and pasted posts into emails and sent them out before (my brother’s 28th birthday and mother’s day). So, again, what is stopping me from giving them the URL?

Last Saturday my good friend Michelle and I decided that we kind of sucked at this whole “hanging out” and “seeing each other” concept and put a date in stone: Saturday the 26th of January. Yes, Saturday we WOULD hang out. No longer could both our general laziness be considered a valid reason for not seeing each other.

Michelle and I have known each other since sophomore year of high school. I’m not sure I’ve told the story of how we met but I think for awhile Michelle thought I was a legit stalker of some sort. I sat down beside her at an assembly (don’t you remember those? Weren’t they fun? Not) and just struck up a conversation since she seemed like a cool person. A few days later I saw her in the library and it literally took me a week to get up the courage to talk to her and be like “Hey, let’s be friends!”

And she hasn’t been able to get rid of me since.

Anyway, the last time we hung out we wandered around downtown Seattle and explored Pike Place Market. Due to both of our general laziness in checking stuff before doing it we ended up there way before the market was actually open (oops) and just walked around downtown taking random photographs (me) and talking. We had a blast and Michelle quickly remembered how much I liked walking aimlessly downtown for hours at a time.

I’m weird. This isn’t news.

So Saturday I swung by her house, picked her up, and we headed north for the day. In a typical northwest fashion it of course was raining but honestly? It made the adventure all the more sweet. I mean, sure, we could have done without the ATM freaking out and not wanting me to exit the screen; or her leaving her purse at Subway; but hey, it was all in good fun!

And here are some photos from our wonderful adventure (used with my old camera due to it being rainy and wet that day):

(more at the flickr set)

All in all: another great adventure had with an amazing friend!

“Winter dies into the spring, to be born again in the autumn.”
- Marche Blumenberg

Technorati Tags: winter, photography, quotes

Noah didn’t get why after he said “that’s rough” I added “is how your mother likes it, Trebek.”

Poor innocent Noah.

(I’m too lazy to find a non-techno overlayed music version and thought this represented it so beautifully).

I like to jokily put myself down about my art school education sometimes. I think it comes from societies impression that art school isn’t really “an education” and seriously, how hard is it to get an art degree? Don’t you just paint pretty pictures or something there? Paint the color wheel?

Yes, I went to art school. I also happened to go to an art school that had an emphasis on a future career and giving me the technical knowledge to pursue it. Personally I felt it would be a giant waste of time and money to go to a four-year university where I honestly see people waste their time and money studying pointless subject matters and having no idea what they want to do. I didn’t feel the need to party for four years and why get a pointless degree or go somewhere that I didn’t “need to” declare a major/focus for awhile?

My senior year of high school I decided, after visiting a few universities, that I wanted to pursue the art field. At the time I thought animation would be the route for me since I liked drawing. Sure, I changed majors a year and a half later to web design, but the path I decided to take would eventually end up with the training necessary for a technical job. When my brother visited that Christmas he told me I was “shooting myself in the foot” by not going to a four-year and I was “wasting my time.” The more people put down art school the more I wanted to go just to prove them all wrong.

I guess what irritates me the most is when people jokingly throw out the “art school major” as though it can excuse my mistakes or anything about me. Sometimes I’ll joke back and not get offended. Especially if I started it. What gets under my skin is when my friends who’ve done the four-year thing say these things to me. Especially the ones who had no direction and got some bullshit degree which isn’t serving them any good and nothing to do with the career path they’re on at the moment and don’t want to be. Just throwing out the “well, you are an art major” at me since I’ve said it before in the past is a sure fire way to get on my shit list which, if you hadn’t read my blog before, is a place you’ll stay for awhile.

Sure at art school I learned to paint the color wheel in my second quarter. How else would I know how to mix RGB to make secondary colors? I learned color theory and the psychology behind colors. I learned about shapes and how important they are. I learned so much about design and how it affects the world around us all. The art school education enriched me and, again, gave me the tools I needed to go out there and get jobs I feel passionate about.

I have two art degrees and did have to do some general education classes. I also assure you that I worked hard and had a 4.0 GPA both times in art school. Does it help knowing I took IB and AP classes in high school? Does that somehow prove my intelligence? There wasn’t a quarter that didn’t go by that I wasn’t on the Honor Roll and (usually) President’s List. I know I’m tooting my own horn but I get defensive about this subject. I’m not stupid. I’m actually pretty bright

The next time you insult my education I dare you to go enroll in art school and see how “easy” it is. Frankly I think the four-year university is on the whole a lot “easier” than the intense education I was provided. Get insulted at that statement and you’ll know how you’re dismissal of my intelligence and degrees feels.

So you, who thinks the art education is a cake walk, go enroll and learn. Then come and talk to me and tell me how easy it is. I dare you. I’ll be waiting.

Technorati Tags: art school, art degrees, rude people, smug bastards, four-year universities, superiority complexes