I don't even know where to begin explaining the last week or two. It's been a rollercoaster to say the least.

I started by running around like crazy trying to get work ready for the exhibition. Luckily everything ended up working out for
 that. The whole guild got our stuff to the gallery in time, and by Monday, it looked amazing! I was so excited to see everything up on the walls in such a professional way. It was great!

Matt and I went to Minneapolis for a concert on Valentine's Day and spent the day in the Mall of America, and visited a bunch of his friends. It was a really good day. Probably the best Valentine's Day I've had.

My parents came up for the gallery opening, and a friend of mine happened to be moving back to our hometown at the same time, so he came to the opening as well. I got a corsage (a first...) and ate lots of cream puffs and socialized with all the people. There were so many people at the opening, we played Exquisite Corpse and took some pictures and had a good time.

The next day while I was at work at the Write Site, my boyfriend came in (who was supposed to be working in the gallery) and looked pretty indescribable. He proceeded to tell me that one of his friends died. He was pretty shaken up, especially because we'd just seen him two days ago. He drove home that day and I went to Alexandria to be with him after my shift of work.  My professors were really sympathetic with our situation. I went to the visitation and funeral with him and it was really hard. I've never been in this sort of situation before and to see so many people, people my age, so wrought with emotion, was really difficult to bear. My heart went out to all of his friends.

So now where does that leave me? Trying to catch up with the two days of class I missed, stressed out about Drawing Guild deadlines (for applications and upcoming showings), slightly depressed, exhausted, and overall run-down. I'm trying to stay on the bright side because there are a lot of good things happening and about to happen, so I have a lot to be happy about.

It's my one year anniversary with Matt this Friday, and I'm very excited. I was so excited that I ended up giving him his present a few days ago. I thought it would also help cheer the both of us up. I bought him a nice watch. He was so happy about it, which in turn made me really happy. We got it fitted the next day and he kept looking at it all day. It was cute.

Drawing Guild is showing at Atomic Coffee for the month of March, I'm going to be in Malibu in 15 days, then seeing Modest Mouse, etc...

I have a lot of work to do tomorrow at school, so I really should be getting sleepy by now...

Good night. I'll add some pictures of the gallery show once I figure my notes out...

Saturday, February 3rd, 2007. 11:20 a.m.

Listening to: Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

Location: Matt's house in Alexandria

Currently: relaxing

It's been a busy week for me. It'll probably continue to be busy for another few weeks. I've been getting some of my art ready for upcoming exhibits in March and April, so I've been matting and getting my pieces ready for framing. Then, on Tuesday while I was at work, I got an email from Jane, the MSUM gallery coordinator. She told me that the person who was supposed to be coming in to exhibit next week cancelled. She asked me and 3 other people if we wanted to exhibit from the 12-21st of this month. I almost wet my pants, I was so excited. I talked to her the next day and apparently she talked to the heads of the guilds in the art department and wanted to showcase us in an exhibition. Sam titled it "12-21 Interplay," and we'll have a section to display our finished pieces, then have room to have studios so people can watch us work and see our process and development, so the exhibit will constantly be expanding and growing. It'll be really cool. I'm really excited about it. The only problem is getting all of my pieces ready by Thursday. Currently, my parents are making frames for me, then FedEx-ing them to me so I can put everything together in three days. Life is really crazy.

But currently I am in Alexandria with my boyfriend, Matt, visiting his family. Instead of worrying over all of this work ahead of me, his mom and I are going to make cookies and I'm going to work on my scholarship applications. On Monday I have to give a presentation to the general public in order to finish off my requirements for the Excellence in Art and Design Scholarship. I was so worried about doing it, but after making my powerpoint presentation and writing out my speech, I feel really confident about it. This scholarship has really helped me grow and get over my fears. Since I've gotten the scholarship, I feel like I can go out and get anything. I have so much more confidence in my work and feel like I've really achieved a lot.

So a brief schedule: Feb 12-21, Exhibition in the MSUM gallery; March, exhibition at  Atomic Coffee; April, MSUM Juried Show and Mandan Art Show; May, tentative Drawing Guild trip to Chicago.

This is all a really compressed version of my life right now. I'd try to be more entertaining, but I guess it's moderately serious. As a more humorous end note, my cats peed on my boyfriend's coat. They get to get their balls cut off next weekend. The end. Have a lovely day.