NEW ADDRESS MOVING ON

It's official. I'm moving my blog to www.artpoliticslife.com !

I'm excited. Creatively I knew it was time for a change. Sorry it took so long. There was a definite learning curve since I switched to Wordpress. I guess I never fully appreciated blogger! Working through a completely new layout was a challenge. Then I got really busy with stressful not very exciting life stuff. Regardless, I feel really good about the direction the blog is going in. I'm trying to focus in on the visual and breakout of the standard blog post. I'm still trying to work around some issues mostly with load time and pluggins, but I feel like its ready to share. If you follow me on bloglovin' you should be transferred soon. Everything here will remain as an archive. Please stop by at www.artpoliticslife.com !

THE INSTAGRAM PROMISE

It's official I'm on Instagram (check it out here). I finally caved. I was holding out, because I knew something so visual would be all too addicting. Unfortunately, I was right.

There are a few things I absolutely hate about Instagram. So here I promise to never ever do them.

1. Coffee pictures (especially name misspellings from Starbucks)

2. Shoe pictures

3. Mirror Selfies

4. Pictures of children (asking for trouble here or any where else on the internet)

5. Pictures from giveaways (I love giveaways, but on instagram? Obnoxious)

I'm curious what are your instagram don'ts? I'm also looking for cool accounts to follow. Have any recommendations?

ON 100

Gosh I'm not what sure to say here. This is the 100th post. I'm surprised I've been able to keep up with this long.

This blog is definitely still not perfect. Looking back through the archive can be cringe worthy. I know I still have many ways to learn, improve, and grow. But writing, producing, and sharing content here has become significant to me. Vladimir Nabokov writes at the beginning of an Invitation to a beheading, this book is merely a violin in the void, a way for him to process the world. Maybe not everything I do is successful or meaningful to an audience. But it provides a place to reflect, grow and discover...What I write and share helps fills my own void. 

If you have been around for awhile, I want to say thank you for continuing to read. If you are reading this blog for the first time, I want to say thank you for reading and welcome to the craziness.

Notable: Someone's getting older 

FOLLOW THROUGH

Here is a cold dark uncompromising world. Sure it may seem that there are advertisements of happiness, of belonging. Humans are suppose to care. The people that are close should stay close forever. There is follow through. Interactions have meaning.

But, if you are an idealist like me, you should be alerted you're up for disappointment. People will fail (you). The world won't change (like you thought it would at your voice). Like I said before: here (right here) is a cold dark uncompromising world. 

Then, in the midst of everything, the most unexpected of people will act in the most unexpected of ways (like in the ways the advertisements noted). Here is still a cold dark uncompromising world. But, it is to contrast the people that follow through- the humans with whom interactions have meaning.

PLANS

My days have been so busy. Planning has saved my life. I still have big plans yet!
Camera: Sony Nex
Action: VSCO Look-alike
Notable: extras from a fun project, foliophoto link-up (a really great discovery, trust me I'm picky about these)

PERSPECTIVE

Theme of my life lately: perspective. I don't know why but it seems like whenever I gain something I immediately begin to undervalue it. Instead, I focus on the one job rejection, bad grade, or lost friend. How is happiness ever possible with that kind of thinking? Why is it so easy to let failure be the headlines in life? 

I think it stems from self value. When I evaluate my life I can just as easily find instances where I have rejected or undervalued good friends, internships, boys, and school work.

It's so much easier to strive for things that might not be the best fit for me. For instance, I recently had two internship interviews. One was for a smaller, less prestigious, but more innovative position. The coordinator literally found me through my universities career center and emailed me this position for which the coordinator thought I was a good candidate. I was offered the job pretty much on the spot in the interview. The other was a position I found, and trust me I wanted it. It was for a very corporate well connected company in which I would be at the very bottom. It was impressive going downtown and up nearly to the top of a skyscraper for the interview. But the person that interviewed me was incredibly unprofessional. It was pretty obvious by the end of the interview I wasn't a priority nor would I get the position. I pretty much went straight to my car to cry. 

I pulled myself down about the second interview, even though someone had went out of their way to give me a different opportunity. In this economy someone randomly finding my resume and going out of their way to find a place for me is pretty much a miracle. So I am trying to appreciate those rare (but awesome) people who truly value me and the credentials that they help me attain.

Notable: linking up (late whoops) with the happiness project ( a really cool linkup, trust me I'm picky about these)

A Day in the Life

Today I have a guest post at my mind's lens.

Notable:  a peak into my life

I TURNED 20

GOALS

Notable: with the start of a new semester comes goals,  why not blogging goals too?

1.Quality over quantity. Expect less posts (because I want to focus on posting better quality and will be much busier this semester). As always I am trying to improve+grow my blogging skills.

2.Get out there. I want to explore art locally. It's way to easy to rely on the internet.

3.More from me. I've tried a few posts where I produced the art (like this one). I love the creative challenge. Expect more.

4. Unique and unified. I'm in the process of updating my other social media outlets. Expect each one to have a unique function yet relate back to ART+POLITICS+Life.

The Little Cartographer

I have a guest post on now at one of my favorite blogs The Little Cartographer. It's really different from what I normally post about, so go check it out and tell me what you think. The Little Cartographer is a pretty fantastic blog. I love the quote that is the inspiration for it's title:

“You’re a cartographer?”
“Yes.”“As in… you make maps?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.”A pause.
“Do people use your maps to get to places?”
He looks at her incredulously. 
“Of course,” 
and within the span of a heartbeat, 
“how do you think I got to you?”

Notable (about The Little Cartographer): simplicity, honesty, excellent writing, the inspiration behind the blog 

REST.

Take a break.

Notable: Original shot, time for a break (before the fall semester starts)

Bordem

 I was bored.

Notable: glorified selfies

What I've been up to...

Personal work from a digital class I recently took.

Emphasis on Culture

Notable: this is going to be one of those rare posts that breaks the just phrases/short sentence format.

So, I'm sitting here trying to reformat my resume, but instead thinking how important creative has become for me.

The best way I can describe myself is I care, think, and judge way to much. On a given morning you'll find me in my car on my way to xyz drinking way to much coffee while yelling to myself about all the other idiots I am stuck in a traffic jam with. If I was a geographical location I would be the East Coast. This afternoon I was talking to my brother about his college plans. What baffles me is that he is totally ok with wherever he ends up. His biggest struggle- choosing a "reach school." I don't mean this is a bad way. He just has less of the urge to be competitive, to keep on pushing. In comparison, my senior year I was in tears like every other day obsessing over essays and applications as is a few words phrased differently would make the difference if I got into a school or not. Because of this,  if my brother was a geographical location he would be the West Coast. [So I am just going to call him West Coast from now on.] On a given morning you can find him sleeping in.

The problem with being so "East Coast" motivated: I psych myself out. I think too much instead of acting. Sometimes I would be so much better off if I just let go.

This sounds easy, but its incredibly hard for me. The only thing that I have found that really solves this is tapping into my creative side. A key part of design and art is not thinking but letting nature takeover. The eye naturally understands the rules of aesthetics. I have this professor that literally says just have fun and play it makes for a much better composition. The creative side of me is less aware of what is acceptable/the norm and way more innovative.

It's OK that I have drive and lean towards a more serious nature. It helps me get things done and set bigger goals. I mean, West Coast needs to get it together with his college apps. But, I am so glad I have a creative side to balance myself with.

So, as for life goals [and what I am currently trying to get across in my resume] I need things that bring creativity into my life. I need art, travel, and innovation.  In short, although I'll probably end up doing something related to economics [that is my major fyi], I need an emphasis on culture.

Freedom

Via

Notable: the possibilities

Point: I've finished that very hard economics class and just celebrated the fourth. I feel so free. Now, I still have other classes, work, and general life stuff, but I am going to have more time for creative side projects (like this blog!). So, expect new things, improvements and just general great stuff. Cheers to freedom!

Getting Personal

Ok, so far I haven't made this blog very personal, frankly because it's scary for me to think of my personal feelings out on the internet for anyone to judge. I am still developing what exactly I want my blog to be, and I love reading about other bloggers personal thoughts and feelings. So, today (since it's words of wisdom Wednesday) I am just going to go for it.

I flip-flop constantly about the way I feel about my blog. Sometimes I think it's perfect. It's a representation of me, I love the design, and there is a specific audience out there that finds my content relevant. Other times I feel the exact opposite. Especially when I compare my blog to all the other blogs out there, its content seems scatter, its design inadequate, and I especially get myself down about the quality of what I write (seriously I have always struggled with spelling and grammar.)

This situation is not to unlike what I face in the real world. Sometimes, I get caught up in all the ways I could become really successful and all the things I could accomplish after school. Yet, I still feel like I don't have a definite direction. I recently have made some pretty risky moves that I think have paid off because I am more happy, but the social circle I am constantly in doesn't. This is the social circle that thinks the only path in life in some variation of feeder school-prep school- top tier university- top tier fraternity/sorority- medical school/law school/ masters. I feel like I am constantly judged when all I can really say about my future is I really don't know yet.

In reality, I think my blog and my life probably fall somewhere between the good and bad extremes I have laid out. More importantly, I have been trying to waste less time about what other people are thinking about me and what they are doing better than I am. Instead, I am trying to embrace what makes me happy and is important to me. My blog and my plans for the future are still very young. They both will grow, change, and get better with time.

What are your personal/blog goals for the future? What did you think of my more personal blog post?

PS- my favorite kind of blogs to follow are the new kind, leave your blog address in the comments so we can connect.