View of downtown B’ham from the skywalk of the BJCC

Alrighty.

I got back home from the trip yesterday evening at around 8pm. I would have gotten home sooner, but when we were about 15 minutes away from home I got lost decided to take the scenic route home down this recently constructed section of highway. My mom was real happy about that, lemme tell ya.

Of course, after I got home I found the battery charger to my dslr. It was miraculously appeared in my computer bag like it had been there the entire time. Then I misplaced my pocket camera, but found it again this morning in the car. So now I can post the few pictures I was able to take. I’ve seriously been neglecting my SD1000 anyway, so I’ll try to used it more from now on. It had just been sitting in its cute little case in the bottom of my bag, all lonely.

But back to the trip. Before we left, my mother expressed the desire to visit a place called The Cheesecake Factory in order to acquire (duh) some cheesecake for my sister. I got a piece as well, while we got my sister a slice of white chocolate macadamia nut caramel. I didn’t taste her slice, but it sounds good enough. I still have a few bites of my piece of original cheesecake chillin’ in the fridge.

Mom & me walking to The Cheesecake Factory

The Cheesecake factory was located in this upscale shopping center known as The Summit. It’s aptly named, because the place is basically built on the top of a mountain. For those of you unfamiliar with the terrain of Birmingham, AL, it’s quite hilly, as a result of the tail end of the Appalachian Mountain range (one of the few things I learned in Alabama history, mandatory in the curriculum in 4th and 9th grade).

The Summit

It’s me!

Right as I was turning into the parking lot of The Cheesecake Factory, I spotted an beacon of light some may call the Apple logo. OMG*SQUEEE!!! An Apple retail store! Of course, I had to check it out. There wasn’t much to the inside. I mean, I like how everything was stocked neatly on the shelves.The people working there were pretty friendly, but the first guy that helped me didn’t seem very knowledgeable about the merchandise.

I ended up buying a new laptop bag and some fonts for my Mac. The bag is awesome, but I’m rethinking the font purchase. At least I can write it off on my taxes for business use. *shrug*

I am so needing my tax return right about now.

It’s been an unusually warm winter this year. I mean, it’s friggin’ January and 72 degrees. That’s crazy.

Wednesday, I go up to my school to pay some outstanding parking tickets. A few weeks ago I got an email saying that my graduation ticket had expired, and that I needed to reapply for graduation. I was really confused by this since I already walked and everything. So, I assume the tickets are what’s holding things up. So I pay the tickets, and then go to the registrar to find that the college of Art & Sciences has declined my graduation because I hadn’t completed the requirements for my major.

What?!?

So, I go over to the advising office (across campus), and see what that’s about. I turns out that the class substitution form that I submitted over a year ago, hadn’t been completed. I don’t feel like going into all the details, but it was really frustrating finding this out. So, I went to the Visual Arts office, and it turns out my advisor signed the form about 2 weeks ago, the department chair signed it Tuesday. That was crazy.

So, I turned the form into the Advising office and they sent a memo to the registrar. So, I should be getting my diploma in a few weeks.

I’m doing this thing on flickr where I take a self portrait every day for a year. This will be good for me since I’ve been trying to be more comfortable in front of the camera. I’ll also help me be more creative (yay!).

I love my new boots. I just got them in the mail today, ordered from Journey’s. This is my first ever pair of nice leather boots. They were on sale.

I almost forgot I need to send off my portfolio and resume’. . . Yeah, getting a regular job is pretty important right now.

I love this song, and the new video is cute as well. I first heard the song when I was researching the band after my sister mentioned that she liked them after seeing the video for “The Queen and I” on The N. I found that a lot of their videos were posted on YouTube. I ended up buying the album from iTunes. I like it. A lot of the songs are silly and fun, and a bit cheesy at times, but all around it’s a good listen.

So, about the title of the entry, I ordered a bunch of stuff today:
• 3 shirts from forever21.

• 3 pairs of shoes from journey’s, including another pair of Onitsukas. I also got a cute bag.

• 1 30G iPod, black from Apple.

I suppose the iPod was a little graduation gift to myself. The thing is, I like to buy cool things, including clothes, but I don’t like to drop a bunch of money on stuff, and usually go straight to the “sale” or “clearance” section. However, I will drop the dough on things like computers & electronics, because you definitely get what you pay for in that regard. Sometimes, however, it’s good to put down the extra buck on clothing, because I’ve discovered that the nicer stuff is a bit more expensive, but you’re paying for the quality.

Seriously, though, I’m in desperate need of some new shoes, but I’m the practical type that want’s to be able to wear stuff with more than one outfit. Sometimes it’s hard finding the pair that’s just right. I also still need to purchase a winter coat. I didn’t have much luck finding something I really liked on line, so it looks like I’ll have to brave the holiday crowds and go to the mall and try to find something.

.

Well, now that I’m done with school and have all this free time on my hands before I get a job, I suppose I can work on some art that’s way overdue to be finished. My friend Ashely got me a sketchbook as a graduation gift, so I’ll be breaking that in over the holiday.

I would also like to do some photo shoots and independent graphic desingn stuff to exercise my skills and help my portfolio. It’s gotten no love, lately.

+ listening to: “Martin Sheen or JFK” by Yellowcard
+ drinking: sweet tea
+ watching: Roll Bounce

I got a new digital camera today. I got tired of waiting for my order to be shipped from Amazon, so I just canceled the order and went and bought the camera from Wal-Mart instead. I was trying to be patient and save money, but the screen on my old camera died out, and the images won’t show up without the display screen working. . . and there are things that need to be photographed by me, so I had to get a replacement camera.

So, I’ve had fun today testing it out. It’s a Canon Powershot SD400 Digital Elph (5MP). I had lots of fun with the Macro mode.

One of the first images I took with the camera.

You can see my freckles and blemishes. . .

. . .and the texture of my corduroy jacket.

Macro shot of my sister’s wrap scarf

My lovely little sister, Laura

macro shot of Laura’s hair

C’est moi, encore. I look so petite here.

I edited this image in Photoshop a bit.

I never realized how inadequate my other camera was. Well, I did have somewhat of an idea, because 2.8 megapixels really wasn’t giving me the level of detail I desired in my photographs. I like to find beauty in relatively mundane objects, and hopefully, this new camera will help me realize some ideas. I know it’s just a camera, but I’m so excited with something new, and it’s actually mine. I bought it with my own funds, unlike my former camera. And hopefully, I can take better care of this oneÂ?I already almost dropped it twice. I’m a bit of a techno-clutz.

In other news
I just downloaded Yellowcard’s new album, Lights and Sounds, from iTunes. It’s awesome. There’s definitely been a musical development, this album being a bit more orchestral than their last effort. I could be more articulate about how the band has progressed and such, but it’s late/early, and I’m lazy. It’s just good, is all I can manage to say about it right now. It’s one of those albums you can listen to all the way through and groove to it because all the songs have a decent melody, yet some songs stand out more than others. Oh look. . .I am being a bit more descriptive, let me stop rambling.

I’ve a morning of more internship goodnesss to which to look forward.

^_^

Hey guys, I set up an artgyrl.com online store. So go check it out. I’ll be putting up more merchandise in the coming days.