Evie, The Artist

I know I haven’t posted many blog posts lately with pictures in them. Sorry, I’ve been sort-of in a thoughtful/writing mood lately, it seems. This post however is all about pictures. Pictures that is, that my niece draws for me. Evie is five and she loves lots of things, drawing being one of them. I like encouraging her to draw her own pictures, rather than those in coloring books, because I think it allows her to be more creative and use her imagination, rather than just focus on coloring inside the lines of the pictures on coloring book pages. The drawing imagination of this five-year-old girl is similar to that of most other girls her age–butterflies, rainbows, flowers, hearts and pretty things.  Who doesn’t like to draw those things?

Anyway, these are just a couple of the pictures that Evie has drawn for me that I happen to currently have in my dorm room. They are not for sale, although I’m sure if you inquired about commissioning the artist, she would be more than happy to come up with a lovely artwork for you. 🙂

This one she did a couple years ago because it has been sitting on my dresser the whole time I've been in college. I love that she drew us both together. She also went through a phase then where she signed her name as just, EV. (I mean you get the same idea as Evie, I guess the 'ie' in her name really doesn't add much to the sound. That is pretty smart thinking for a three-year-old)
Here is a close-up of that one 🙂 I do slightly look like a dog or someone with a black eye, but then again, she has a red clown nose. 🙂
My diet must be working. I look pretty skinny in this one. I think I might need to start brushing my teeth a little more often though. They are looking a little crusty. But I guess when you only have three fingers on each hand, mega eyelashes and are walking among giant flowers, no one really notices your teeth. 🙂
I'm really liking my dress in this one, sort-of a Marie Antoinette look. I still only have three fingers and it looks like I've put on a little weight since last time. 🙂
This is the latest one she made for me this past weekend. 🙂

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20 Before Twenty

Drew and I are in the car right now on our way back to New Orleans after a weekend at home. (it is so nice that with these modern conveniences today, I can be on the internet while we are driving down the interstate) Anyway, I needed to be reading my book for my contemporary American literature class, but instead I opted to read the January issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine that I subscribe to and haven’t had the time to read yet, even though I’ve already gotten the February issue. Since it was the January issue, it was all about the new year and starting it with a blank slate and about organization, healthy living tips, and things that would be good to do in the new year.

I had already been thinking about a lot of these things lately. I really love the way a new year feels. To me, it always feels so fresh and exciting. It is always nice to think of all the things that are going to happen this year. I am really excited about 2011. I’m excited about planning a wedding this year, about being halfway done with college this year, about getting my own apartment in New Orleans sometime this year and finally moving off campus, possibly staying in New Orleans and working this summer, and all sorts of other things that this year holds. I’m also turning 20 this year!

Speaking of turning twenty, I got this idea last week of something that I wanted to accomplish in the last few months before I turn twenty this May. It was inspired by a project on one of the blogs that I read frequently, Making it Lovely. For the girl on the blog, it was a list of 30 things that she wanted to before she turned 30. Mine is similar, although it is a list of 20 things that I want to do before I turn 20.

To start thinking about 20 things that I wanted to do before I turned twenty, I first started thinking about what had I already accomplished in the twenty years that I’ve been alive. I had a great childhood, graduated from high school with honors, got into Tulane University, got a full-ride scholarship for college, moved to Louisiana, survived the first two years at Tulane, survived the first two years away from home, spent a month and a half outside of the United States by myself (in France, Germany & Belgium), traveled many places in the United States (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin), visited the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico and the English Channel, fell in love, went on a vacation with just Drew, got ENGAGED, started planning my wedding, got a pretty good idea of what I want to do for my career, and about a million other things. Overall, I’m pretty happy with what all I’ve accomplished so far in life.

I only have three and a half months before I turn 20, and this semester won’t end until about the week before then, so I know that I can’t plan to try to do anything outrageous before then. So my list is just a small list of little to-dos that it is my goal to accomplish before May 13, 2011. So here it goes:

(and these are in no particular order either)

1. get engagement photos taken
2. officially set the date for the wedding
3. try cooking new things with new ingredients (I think we might pick at least 1 new recipe a week)
4. write a substantial poem
5. launch Drew & I’s combined design business (We’ve been working on it and I’m excited about it!)
6. finish the stuff I need to do for my mom’s bow business
7. officially decide on a location for the wedding & reception
8. go bridal shopping and try on my first wedding dress!
9. sew something on my new sewing machine I got for Christmas (I have several projects I want to do)
10. Have a Corks N Canvas date night with Drew (more about that here)
11. write another creative non-fiction short story
12. get a job for this summer
13. start a bible study that Drew & I do together
14. Make a budget/spending plan for Drew & I
15. Continue my healthier self diet & start going on more walks
16. work on decorating Drew’s apartment so it feels more “homey”
17. finish my 50 hours of community service for my scholarship that I need this semester
18. make my creative portfolio of all my art and design work
19. get my first apartment
20. work on the design for my wedding invitations and other various wedding planning

I’ll probably blog about most of them as I get them done, so you should be hearing about them again soon. 🙂

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On the Edge of Understanding

I can’t get the idea of being on the edge of understanding, or on the edge of what you know, out of my head. It was a comment that Robert Hass stated in his poetry reading last night that I blogged about before. It seems be the perfect metaphor for life right now.

Well, I guess you could say that it is the perfect metaphor for everyone’s life, because no one truly knows what is ahead in life, so we are all at the edge of what we know. But I think it is particularly relevant to that of someone my age. As a child, I had this sort of idea of where life would take me. Of going to school and making good grades, graduating, getting a scholarship and going to a good college. I had ideas of things other than that, like getting married, working and having kids, but it was all in some far off land from what I knew. I think that the time after graduating from high school, and then for some, being in college as well, is generally a time of being on the edge of understanding. It is this weird space of time where what you used to know is no longer the case and how events will unfold in the future isn’t certain. Everyday, I am further pushing myself up against my edge of understanding to learn more about the things in life I don’t know. Be this simply figuring out what the future holds, or getting a grasp on it.

Apart from that, if that even made any sense, are more literal examples. In my painting class for instance. I love art and I’ve painted since I was two years old. However, I’ve never had an intense painting course like this one, so I constantly find myself on the edge of my current understanding. The good thing about being there though, is the fact, that usually by the end of the day, you’ve pushed your edge of understanding just a little farther. You know more than you did when you walked in the studio that day.

The same with my contemporary American literature class. It drives me up the wall. I wanted to drop it and switch to a different class. It is all about politics, which I hate. Politics are all about opinions and what someone thinks is right verses what someone else thinks. It gives me a headache. However, the thing I think that made me dislike the class from the start, was the fact that it wasn’t my style. It wasn’t the literature that I liked. It wasn’t in my comfort zone. It wasn’t my preference. The political opinions weren’t my own. But what if I only read things I liked? How would I learn about new things? Or more than that, how would I know what I didn’t like if I hadn’t read it? I keep reminding myself that I have to stick with the class because it is on the edge of what I know. The class has a lot of new concepts for me. There is a lot of reading. Half the time, I don’t completely understand what we are talking about in class.  But I’m starting to. I’m at the edge of my understanding. The class definitely isn’t my favorite, but I am certain that I will learn from it. Everyday I’m pushing my edge of understanding out a little farther than it was before.

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Progress

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on my trousseau (collection of things for my house once I’m married). Well I guess that is partly true, and partly it is that Drew and I are constantly collecting things we aren’t necessarily saving for the future, but stuff that he needs for his house (well apartment) right now. It has come a long way since last year. It was just about this time last year that we were shopping for a mattress for him because he had slept on an air mattress for the entire first semester of living in New Orleans. It wasn’t even one of the double ones, it was one of the thin ones (for camping) that he got at Walmart for like $14. (Not comfortable. I sat on it one day and my butt was touching the tile floor!)

So anyway, this year he has a bed, a small dining room table, and chairs! (for a while he didn’t have those and if I wanted to sit at the table I had to sit on boxes. The boxes wouldn’t hold Drew, so he couldn’t sit at the table.) Mainly, we’ve been collecting kitchen stuff though. I live in the dorms at my school, but I’m over at his house pretty much everyday to make dinner because I love to cook. Cooking relaxes me and gives me something that I can do for a little bit other than homework. This summer we (when I say “we” I mean “he”) bought a nice set of stainless steel pots and pans and since then we’ve added in some utensils, a casserole dish, a tart pan, salt and pepper shakers, a coffeemaker, dishes that he couldn’t break when washing, and other various kitchen items. It is really coming together. Well, not aesthetically, but as far as functionality, it deserves an A. We haven’t spent much on decorations and stuff yet. The walls are plaster coated concrete or something incredibly hard, so I can’t get any artwork to hang. 🙁

Anyhow, I said all that to say this. Lately he has really been needing a desk. He has his own web design business, and also works for two other technology based companies and so he does a lot of work at home. He had been sitting on the bed (the only real piece of large furniture in the room) but that wasn’t working well. I really wanted him to have a space in the apartment just for work, so it would be easier to separate home from work. (or at least I think it would make him feel more productive to have a better working space) So we decided to go visit the various used furniture stores to see if we could find a nice sized wood desk that we could fix up. At the first several ones, we had no luck. They want a lot of money for crap in this city. Just as we were about to quit and head home, we saw a thrift store. We weren’t even sure if it would have furniture, but we decided to give it a try just in case.

That was the nicest thrift store I have ever been in. It was clean and everyone was super friendly, and it just had a cool atmosphere. They ended up having a lot of furniture too. They had it all arranged and staged to look like little rooms too. I found this really cool big rug I liked, but they didn’t want to sell it because they used it in the displays. Drew found a desk, that wasn’t the exact thing he had in mind, but the size was perfect for him and made of wood. It was one of those big executive looking ones with drawers on one side and it was stained in a mahogany color. Even better, they only wanted $50 for it. Drew told them he would take it.

They (Drew and the people at the store) loaded it up in the car (Drew’s Escape). That was kind-of a challenge. We had to fold down all the seats and ride home with part of the back of the car open and my lap full of junk from the backseat. The biggest problem however, was once we got home with it. We take it for granted that at home (in Illinois) we have dads, brothers, friends, neighbors and lots of people around to help us move things or help with things, and in New Orleans it is just us two. Plus, I’m not much of a heavy lifter. We didn’t have anyone else that we could call and ask for help, so we had to figure it out on our own. Well, I won’t take much credit. I didn’t really help much. It was cold and the desk was heavy and I was stressed about how we were going to fit it in the house, so I went inside and started taking down the Christmas Tree to make room for it, and left Drew outside to figure out how to get it inside.

The desk easily weighed at least 200 pounds. I’m not really sure how he got it out of the car, but he did it by himself. He then somehow made it across the yard and to the door by scooting it around and pulling and shoving and lifting, and I’m not even sure how he did all that, but he made it to the door. Now this is where the real problem arrives. There is no way this desk is going to fit into the skinny apartment door. We spent a good couple hours pushing and pulling and turning and lifting and trying to get the desk through the door. Drew tried to take it apart, but it was made well and wasn’t budging. At one point we got it stuck in the doorway and couldn’t get it in or out. Drew was on the outside and I on the inside. I had to take the apartment door off by myself to give us a little extra room. It still wouldn’t come in. I got stressed again and went to clean the kitchen, start dinner, and I even washed the dishes to not have to help with moving the desk. After I had ran out of other things to do, I went back to see what Drew was up to. He had unscrewed the drawers and taken them out because they kept falling out of the desk when he was moving it. We had both kind-of lost heart that it was going to fit through the door. It was too wide on all sides and we could get half of it through by turning it, but the frame part for the drawers wouldn’t fit through. We had already scratched up the sides of the desk even more and scratched half the paint off of the door frame.

It got to the point that we debated just leaving it on the curb for someone to pick up. We didn’t know what else to do and the house was getting cold with the door being off. Finally I told him to break the drawer part off completely. If he took that apart or broke it, then we could at least get in inside and wouldn’t have wasted $50. We could maybe put the drawers back on later, but it was either no desk at all, or a desk with no drawers. He was a little sad to get rid of the drawers, but at that point, we were both stressed and exhausted.

It took a little bit, but he got the drawers off, we got it inside, we put the door back on, cleaned the apartment and rearranged. I don’t know if the drawers will go back on or not, but if we want to get the desk back out the door at any other point in time, they might just have to stay off. The house feels better rearranged and Drew now has a whole office space with his nice, big desk. It looks pretty professional, minus all the scratches all over it. Whew, I’ve never been so happy to see a piece of furniture inside before. I would rather have had other people to help us, but in the end, there is satisfaction in knowing that we were able to figure it out on our own. It makes us feel a little more independent.

So anyway, the house & trousseau are making progress. 🙂

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Where I Am Right Now

So I was going to post a longer post, sort-of about something similar, but I started to write it and I got all caught up in my words and couldn’t quite get them in the right order to say what I wanted to say. So I’m holding off on that post for now, but basically it all boils down to this: I’m so happy with where I am right now.

I feel so blessed and thankful for everything that has been a part of my life thus far and that has gotten me to where I am today. I am thankful for God’s constant presence in my life and everything that he has given me. I’m thankful for my childhood and all my experiences. I love the way I grew up and where I grew up and all the people that were and still are a part of my life. I am so thankful for my scholarship and getting to come to New Orleans. I love the life that I’ve created here. I will always love my hometown more and in a different way, but I love New Orleans for different reasons. It has been the place where I’ve truly become my own person and made a life separate from my family. Being apart from everyone else that I know (other than Drew) has helped me to grow up and learn to do things on my own. I will always love the memories I have, but New Orleans has enabled me to move on and focus on the future and the now, instead of the past. I finally feel like an adult. I finally feel like I have grown into myself.

I feel like I have gained so much knowledge in many of the classes I have taken here. Not only have I learned the subject matter, but I feel like many of the classes have gone beyond that and taught me something about myself. Or about life or the world in general. I feel like they have added an essential dimension to myself. Not only to figuring out what I want to do in life, but even just to make me think about something I wouldn’t have before or to notice something I wouldn’t have before. I’m excited to see the person that I will be by the time I graduate. I feel like I’ve already changed so much and I’ve only been here a year and a half.

More than that, I’m thankful for where Drew and I are. Being in New Orleans together has added so much to our relationship. We’ve been dating three and a half years and we’ve known for quite a while that it would last for a whole lot longer than that. But because we were young, we felt like it was only proper to grow into our relationship for a little while before we took it any farther. Now that we are engaged, it feels so great! It feels like it is exactly where we should be right now in our lives and I’m so thankful for that. I didn’t expect to feel an overwhelming sense of relief just because of our engagement, but I don’t know how better to describe it. It feels so nice to be able to show the world how we feel, without worrying about someone else’s thoughts or expectations, and to just do what was right for us. Plus I am beyond excited to be able to actually decide on things for my wedding and collect things for my trousseau! (pronounced true-sew, a french word meaning the collection of things for your home once you get married, see here.)

Overall, I’m so thankful for the peace I feel in my life at the moment. I know that where I’m at and what I’m doing is the right thing for me and exactly where I should be. It just completely amazes me how God has opened up every door that has led me to where I am, exactly when I needed it to open. Thank you God.

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A Healthier Me (and Drew)

For a New Year’s Resolution, or more so a resolution in general, Drew and I decided to be healthier people this year. We already are relatively healthy, but our main goals are to eat almost entirely a diet of fresh fruits and vegetables and get into a better exercise routine. With it just being us two that we are cooking for, it is relatively easy and not really any more expensive (or at least not much more) to buy fresh produce, as opposed to frozen or canned, but we rarely buy canned vegetables anyway. We have a bad habit of getting into a rut of eating the same foods over and over (green beans, broccoli, potatoes, etc.) and with so many things out there to choose from, why not eat a greater variety? We really don’t eat that many sweets or fats, our major downfall is eating too many carbs and comfort foods. (potatoes, biscuits and breads, rice, cereals, and all those other yummy starches) So we are cutting out as much as we can of all those things we don’t really need to eat and replacing them with double helpings of fresh fruits and veggies.

We also need to get ourselves out and move a little more. We get stuck sitting inside on the computer and studying so much that we don’t get enough exercise. Since I only have class three days a week, I’m going to try to use my school’s fitness center more and most importantly, we are going to start taking one or two long walks each week in the park or just down the neighborhood. This will be a good stress reliever from studying and give us time to chill and relax and think about things other than school and work. Maybe we can use it to talk through wedding ideas. 🙂 Anyway, I’ve been told that walking is the only exercise that rejuvenates your brain as well as your body. I’m not that great at running, but I love taking walks, so I’m really excited about this part of the plan. 🙂

I spent the day looking up some healthier recipes that we could make this week and researching things that I can get Drew to eat for quick and easy breakfasts. We went to the grocery store and got lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and healthy snacks (apples, strawberries, squash, zucchini, bananas, celery, tangerines, green beans, cherries, pineapple, and lots of other yummy things!) We also got a George Foreman Grill the other day to grill meat a bit healthier. 🙂

We made dinner tonight, and although it is something that we’ve made several times before, it is healthy, easy, fresh, and tastes great!

We cooked a steak on our George Foreman and split it so that we didn’t eat more than what a serving of meat should be (about the size of your fist). Then we took a small yellow squash, a small zucchini, 2 small red potatoes (and I did pick really small ones so that we didn’t have very many carbs), and a big handful of fresh green beans, all cubed up and baked in a pan with a little olive oil, herbs and salt. 🙂 Delish! I think I could have eaten an entire plateful of just the veggies!

I also made some homemade granola. I thought it would be good for Drew to snack on while driving to work in the mornings because he usually doesn’t eat breakfast at all because he is in a hurry. We are really trying to work on that because it is essential to get your metabolism up and running early to burn more calories during the day.

I, of course, love cooking things that I can throw everything-but-the-kitchen-sink into. So for the granola I put in oats, flax seeds, coconut, sliced almonds, chopped walnuts and pecans, raisins, broken up banana chips, honey and a little cinnamon. I used this recipe from Etsy’s Eatsy, but obviously threw in a few more things. It turned out really well! It smelled wonderful while cooking and tastes just as wonderful. Mine ended up a tad too salty, although I barely put any salt in it, so I added a little brown sugar to cut out a little of the salty taste. It also cooked quicker than it said it would, so watch the time and definitely stir it well several times while cooking. 🙂

If you would like some healthier breakfast ideas, here are some great ones. Here is also a little more info on why breakfast is so important.

Here’s to a new year of a fresher, healthier, better me. 🙂

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A New Semester

Today is the first day of the Spring 2011 semester at Tulane University. I still can’t believe how fast last semester flew by and that it is already over. Last semester was a good semester, although it did present its challenges. (but what semester doesn’t?) I absolutely loved both my creative writing class and my drawing class. I learned so much and creatively, I improved tremendously as well. This semester I’m taking: Art History Survey-Prehistoric to Middle Ages, Painting, British Literature, Contemporary American Literature, and History of Medieval England. I’m going to have a ton of reading and painting to do, but I’m looking forward to these new classes, especially painting. Seeing how much I improved throughout the course of my drawing class, I can’t wait to see how much I improve in painting. 🙂 Anyway, with my new schedule I don’t have classes on Mondays or Fridays, so today I’m just relaxing in preparation for the stress that will come with the rest of the semester.

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My Life List :)

So I’m sure everyone has one, if not in list form, then in ideas that flow through their heads–a list of things that you would like to accomplish in your lifetime, dreams, goals, etc… I’m sure everyone already knows my dreams of getting married, raising kids, having a happy home, gardening and being creative in my own lovely decorated house somewhere on the Wallace family homestead. I write about that, or at least think about it all the time. But aside from those dreams and the typical dreams of wanting to finish school and figure out exactly what I’m meant to do in life and to work and to travel and to see the world, I have a list of mostly creative objectives that are things that I would like to do before I die. I’m sure that this list will continually change, but as for now, here are some of the things on my life list:

*create my own fabric line

*write and illustrate a children’s book (or books)

*design my own font (or fonts)

*start my own group of creative friends that can meet often to socialize and do crafts, etc… (maybe the Golden Roses?– this is inspired my the Metal Tulips, my fiance’s mom’s crafting group. It is eight women, all best friends, who get together every Wednesday to eat and chat and talk about their latest creative endeavors. They mostly do quilting and embroidery, so they all help each other with ideas and whatnot. Their name was inspired by Steel Magnolias.) I think it is a great thing and I would love to have my own similar group.

*publish a book of my creative non-fiction short stories (following in my grandpa’s footsteps)

*open an “Icing on the Cake” boutique selling handmade things

*learn how to letterpress

*design stationary and wedding invitations

*explore poetry (it is the form of writing that before last semester I was the least familiar with and I am very intrigued by it and I would like to continue to try my hand out at it)

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Happy 2011!

Happy New Years! I hope everyone had a wonderful 2010 and I wish you a wonderful 2011 as well! Here’s to lots of wonderful blessings in the new year! (you all may toast now if you so please) 🙂

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Merry Christmas!


Today is not only Christmas, but
a white Christmas,
Drew & I’s first Christmas being engaged,
our fourth Christmas together,
Georgiana’s first Christmas,
& Drew’s 21st birthday!

WOW! It’s been a pretty exciting day! 🙂

Usually at family events, I am the designated photographer. I did take the pictures of Gigi above, but when it was present opening time, I ended up being “Santa.” In our family, this means that everyone else got to sit around while I handed out the presents from under the tree. This is a job that everyone generally tries to avoid in my family, because it means that instead of getting nice and comfy on the couch, you are up and running around the whole time. Evie was my little “elf” which is the fancy word for Christmas present hander-outer helper. So I gave my camera to Jill so that she could capture the present opening. Jill rather likes experimental photography, because every time she is in charge, most of the pictures are action shots or of random things. The Christmas pictures proved pretty priceless however. She captured many funny moments and lots of laughs and smiles. I think they are some of the best Christmas pictures we’ve had. They captured the moment perfectly.

Speaking of perfect, despite my somewhat sad mood in my Christmas Eve post, this Christmas turned out, in my opinion, to be one of the best. It was just my close family– my parents, brother, sisters, nieces and Drew. We got up, finished wrapping presents, and relaxed. Blair, Bob and the girls got up and opened their presents and then they drove up from Nashville. Blake had to work that morning. Jill slept in and Kelsey did her make-up. Mom and I fixed brunch–western omelets, bacon and pecan waffles–and by the time that everything was done, Drew, Blake, and Blair, Bob, and the girls had all arrived. We relaxed and ate and then we opened presents and later we made dinner together. It was unlike any other Christmas we’ve ever had, but I think that maybe we finally found a new Christmas tradition that fits. 🙂

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