day 294
Hey guys! Long time no see! It's been a busy week, but never fear, I have a ton of photos and stories to tell you. The reason I haven't uploaded was mostly because of a psychology test that I had on Monday, and I'm happy to report that I got a 93% on it! And then on Tuesday I might have gotten carried away in the pottery lab and spent the entire evening making a freaking teapot. It took three hours and many components and much sitting around waiting for everything to dry, but I'd say it looks pretty good so far.
But on to the blog post at hand. Because I really love all my 365 photos that I was too busy to actually post, I'm going to stretch out posting them so that each one gets the credit it deserves. These photos in particular were taken on Saturday. My friend Ivy and I bought tickets to go see Bombay Bicycle Club in Portland and man oh man, it was the best concert I've ever been to.
Portland itself is so gorgeous and it feels like every street is alive with music. Ivy and I ate dinner at a random street corner restaurant and I felt like if my parents knew what I was doing at the time, they would have killed me. Probably not actually, but I mean, Ivy and I were in a strange place eating dinner and then going to a concert surrounded by random other people. Okay, even when I say it like that it doesn't sound that bad, but at the time, I felt like such a rebel and it was an awesome feeling.
Then we stood outside for the doors to open, then we waited inside another hour for the concert to start. The opening band was Vacation and they were super chill (they would be proud of me for using that word, because the lead person said it a lot throughout the night). All the colors were so magical (actually, the whole show was magical), I just wanted to bathe in them all night long (and take them home with me for awesome pictures).
Finally Bombay Bicycle Club came on stage and everyone reveled in the music. After the event was over, Ivy made the statement that she felt God in the midst of the music, and it was so insane because I had that exact same thought. It's so beautiful to feel God even in a place where you wouldn't be looking for Him or expect Him to be in, and that night it was such a potent feeling I just wanted to laugh and cry and dance around because of it. To be honest, before coming to Oregon, I had all but given up on the idea of God just because I was tired of the whole Christian thing (our chapel topic today was about this too) and tired of God. But He knew that going to a building every Sunday morning wouldn't bring me back to Him. It's been through people and nature. We have been learning in our Bible class that to be a righteous person is to be in right relationships, and I have made such beautiful relationships in the short months that I've been in Oregon that I have fallen back in love with God just a little bit. And the same goes with Oregon itself. Who knew I could fall so madly in love with a place? The very ground I walk reminds me of God and I am constantly in awe of the beauty of the land. That beauty has made me fall in love with God too. I am so thankful that He is bringing me back slowly through people and through nature; it's as if I didn't even notice I was falling back in love with Him. It's a slow process though, but I'm not so tired of the whole Christian thing anymore.
But anyways, back to the retelling of events ... after the concert Ivy and I decided to drive to Washington just for the heck of it. It totally baffles me that it only takes a few hours to drive through the state. Alaska has rubbed off on me in the fact that we truly are secluded from the rest of the United States and can't just jump in a car and drive to a different state. Well we drove over the bridge into Washington--and then turned right back around to drive home.
It was an unbelievably, fantastically magical night, to say the very least.
the exposure tattoo made a reappearance // birds hanging from my desk // the beautiful Oregon sunset // setting up a photoshoot // a handmade pen holder // little mermaid in a tent // some favorite 365 photos from the week // love in the sky // the Bombay Bicycle Club concert
These are some of the things we did last week. What did you guys do last week? Let me know so everyone here at Introvert's Introduction can hear about it! :)
day 293
I can't stay and chat for long, because I'm currently in a giant fort with my friends and we are all watching disney movies. It's been a good friday night.
day 292
This is my friend Dane. I had set up a photoshoot in my dorm room and Dane came in and wanted to model so of course I let him. It's so much easier to have people model for me than having myself model, especially with photos like this where I have to manual focus. So if anyone who goes to my college wants to model for me, let me know!
Today was our school's carnival, which was actually just one inflatable ride and a couple games. I stood in line forever to get a henna tattoo that didn't even transfer very well, and Dane got a batman tramp stamp. It was super hilarious! All my other friends were other places so they missed out on the henna goodness. I've been thinking a lot about getting a tattoo and even though I'm terrified of needles, I really want to do it. I'll probably still wait a long time to make sure I actually want it, so never fear people. :)
day 291
Model is Allie.
It's officially fall. Tomorrow there is a fall festival at our school and all the leaves are changing colors and it makes me so happy because I haven't really experienced a real fall in a while. Alaska has about a week of the trees changing color and then winter rolls around, but here beautifully colored leaves practically cover the entire ground. It's amazing.
day 290
Today I had only one class (my other was canceled) so I got homework done early, cleaned my room, and caught up on sleep. Now my friends and I was watching Sherlock and I am absolutely hooked.
day 289
I think the thing that frustrates me most about my 365 is that I force myself to take a photo every day and because of that I will take photos that I'm not proud of. And I know I can take better photos. Some photographers do a 365, but it ends up being stretched over longer than a year because they want 365 images and not necessarily 365 diary entries. I'm stuck in that hole of wanting the entries and also wanting the quality images, but the fact of the matter is I won't always get those. And people just have to remind me that it's okay. Tomorrow will be another day.
Other than a photo flop, today has been great. It rained today and it felt awesome. I have a couple tests this week which means we are getting even closer to break, which always makes me happy because I'll be able to see Matt and his family. And then Christmas break when I get to see my family, and then summer and all the adventures it will hold, and the world spins on and on, et cetera. I could go on forever about how awesome life is, but I'm tired and my bed is oh so comfy right now.
dress: borrowed // skirt: thrifted // socks: gift
I took these photos in the early morning, so it was hard for my camera to focus but at the same time I got a lot of pretty light in my photos. It's funny how my photographic relationship with light has been. In 2010 I didn't even know about it but I mostly just shot indoors, then in 2011 I shot all day every day, and at the beginning of 2012 I had this fear of shooting in direct sunlight because I read somewhere that that was bad for photos. Now I'm trying to love light again, and since I live in a state that has normal sunsets, I don't have to wait forever for golden hour to arrive. And since I don't have to wake up super early every morning, I can actually plan my outfits (since I am never smart enough to plan them the night before) and take pictures of them in the morning sun. I definitely am excited to explore other types of sunlight.
With a red and white polka dot dress, I definitely felt like minnie mouse. And who wouldn't? I really love being able to dress the way I want to dress and not being worried about what other people think of me. Something else I really love about college is the fact that everybody looks different. In my high school (gosh, I feel so old talking about "when I was a kid", haha) most everybody dressed the same and looked the same. But here there are people from all over the world and they all look so interesting and unique and dress just like themselves. It's so great. I just want to learn everybody's story and become their friend, because I bet they have an awesome, fantastic life.
Well, I hope you have a very beautiful day today!
day 288
Hey, at least I'm getting more creative with my lazy day photos. Today it rained and I danced around in it because it felt so amazing. I love Oregon rain. I love Oregon. I just love everything right now and I am so happy I am overflowing. I just got the opportunity to travel to Maine or New Hampshire for a flickr photo gathering at the end of this upcoming summer and I am saving up money to go. This world is so big, it's a shame for humans to stay in one place. Plus after spending the day with some of my biggest inspirations, I just have to meet more people and learn their stories and create art with them. That's all I want to do in life: travel and hear people's stories and create art. And I am just so happy I'm able to finally do that.
I missed last week's week in instagram installation, so here's what happened in the past two weeks ...
1. I always draw picture ideas in class. I've heard it said that you can't wait for inspiration to come to you, you have to work for it. So I'm trying to be deliberate with my ideas and actually think about coming up with things instead of waiting around for a bolt of lightning to hit me.
2. My fall fashion article made it into the college newspaper! I work as a copy editor, but I also have to contribute at least one article to the paper, and this was my first one! I suppose this is a good a time as ever to say that my college street style article didn't make it into the next week's newspaper because of space issues, but hopefully it will show up there eventually!
3. Making things in ceramics! This class has given me a new love. Even though I'm still not very good, Matt already promised to get me a throwing wheel in our art studio home when we get married. A girl can dream, right? But seriously, I love being able to make things that I can actually use. I'm putting something into existence that has never been there previously. That is a pretty exciting thing.
4. Finally re-dyed my hair blue! It was starting to fade in everybody's hair, so we spent another weekend night in the bathroom dying our hair again. Other random people throughout the campus have started copying us, which is cool and lame at the same time since it was a way for our floor to bond. But they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so I guess it's okay. Regardless, we've ordered a purple shade that fades to pink, so after the blue fades again we are all dying our strips purple!
5. Our fish, Mr. Roy G. Biv, wearing a top hat and monocle. That's all there is to say about that.
6. The other day was the first hard rain in Oregon! It's been cloudy and overcast ever since and I am so excited about that. I kind of had an epiphany too. We always complain about the weather, right? I'm the worst at that. But there's no way we can change the weather, so we might as well enjoy the day for what it is. That seems so obvious, but I guess I tend to forget that.
7. Friday was our "fall break" so some of my friends and I explored an abandoned train station. We had to ask around quite a bit before we found anyone who knew of abandoned buildings nearby, but then we found someone and he kindly gave us directions. The land around the building is still used to store construction equipment, but the building itself is unused. This has been my second abandoned building. The first one was when I got my senior pictures taken. Also, look at how little I was! Never ever going back to short hair, I can tell you that much.
8. I looked super warm yesterday with my three layers of clothing and my hot chocolate. You know you're a poor college student when you bring hot chocolate from home to the coffee shop.
9. This was taken while we were driving to a movie yesterday. I just love the tunnels of trees and really all the scenery in Oregon. I just love Oregon so much. I've told a lot of people this, but I can see myself living here for the rest of my life (sorry Mom and Dad!). This place is truly perfect.
Well I hope you all had a fantastic week! I think it would be really fun if, on top of my week in instagram posts, we did a fun post about what you guys did! That way Introvert's Introduction can be even more of a community. So let me know what you did this past week! And if you have a blog post about it, feel free to post a link in the comments so I can link to your blog! Also by doing this you give me permission to post a picture from your blog onto here, so that other people know who you are. And don't worry, the photo will link back to your blog. :) Ooh this is going to be exciting! So what did you do? I want to know!
