Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone is planning on having a great Halloween! Most students at SCAD are taking advantage of the fact that Halloween is on a Sunday this year and partying it up all weekend. Here in room 154, we are using this Halloween as an opportunity to be more fiscally responsible: Instead of wasting time and money at crazy parties and on skanky costumes, we've decided the far better approach is to pool said money and spend it tomorrow at CVS when all the candy goes on sale.
Let the gluttony begin!

News:

Hey, remember that time that I posted this???
Well, today I did something about it. I'm now a brunette. And I'm loving it. I was soooo in need of a change it and it just took me a couple of weeks to actually do something about it.
It was also a big day for Frances who also took the plunge and cut off about 7 inches of her hair AND got bangs. Big change.
So now we are both adjusting to our new looks by looking at ourselves in the mirror waaaay too much and curiously running our fingers through our hair all the time.
About 3 weeks ago, we took some random iMac photobooth pics, so today we made those our before and took some new ones for our after. I know they are in black and white, which sort of defeats the point of showing you my new color, but I promise I'll post some when i actually take one that isn't totally awkward of me by myself.
So, obviously the one on the left is the before and the one on the right is the after. If you click on the picture, it gets bigger.
Thoughts?

Knitting up a Storm

So, it all started a few weeks ago when we were watching one of my favorite movies, September Issue (a documentary about Vogue Magazine). The people in the movie were shooting an editorial about texture and one of the looks was a great fur coat and this amazingly oversized red scarf. I saw the scarf. I loved the scarf. I needed the scarf. And I thought to myself "Hey, I could totally make that." Now the fire has been lit.

I've known how to knit for a few years, but now...now I'm obsessed. I want to be able to knit anything-- everything I see. How cool would it be if I could make huge chunky sweaters and cool scarves whenever I want. Luckily, Frances and Spencer have picked up their needles too so i'm not a lone soldier in this. And there's also this great yarn store just a few blocks away called Wild Fibre. We visited a few weeks ago and it made me literally want to switch to a fibers major right on the spot. Their shop is filled with big piles of raw yarn. Everything from Alpaca, linen, yak and even the milk fiber that I learned about in my class last year.

So, it has begun. The knitting fiesta. All day. Every day. And we're going to keep going until we get good. Real good. So be ready for awesome Christmas gifts.



...Probably not this year. But definitely next year.

Pawley's

This weekend was exactly what I needed. Lot's of sleep, a new place to adventure and a break from the SCafe. I had so much fun seeing Spencer's home town, Pawley's Island and getting to hangout with some of her friends was such a blast.

After a late night drive after class, we got to the Malinski's and I could not have been more in love with their house. Maybe it was the fact that I've been living in one room for too long, but it felt like I had stepped into the perfect Anthropologie model home. The pictures totally don't do it justice.

The next day Spencer and her best friend, Anna, showed us all the great sights of Pawley's. The scenery is so vastly different than what I'm used to in California, but the best way to describe it is that everything just looks like a huge, prettier back bay. Minus the giant dredgers.

Then we went to Currents, Mrs. Malinski's home store and it all made sense why there house was amazing. The store was 5x better! Frances, who, if you watched the video you'd know she's an interior design major and after walking around that store for about 15 minutes, she had a terribly sad look on her face. When I asked her what was wrong, she said she was "homesick for her future" and wanted it to be here now so she could have a store as awesome as currents.

We spent the rest of the day at an abandoned castle called Atalaya, previously lived in by two sculptors until the 1950's when it was taken over by the state. Ok, yeah- we took tons of pictures of each other trying to be modelesque and yeah, we all hammed it up when the camera was on us, but come on, people...let's just be honest and say that the whole point of the whole day was to get a great new Facebook profile picture.

Saturday was more mellowly spent. We ran a few errands with Spencer before she had to work and got some studying done at Barnes and Noble, but as a final hurrah to our lovely weekend, we finished it off with a little excursion to Conway, a town about 45 minutes away from Pawley's to explore (and take more pictures) with a few of Spencer's friends and her little sister. Unfortunately Spencer couldn't make it because she was too busy modeling in a bridal show. Tough life.
Conway was so cool. After a pretty blase drive, we went over a bridge and ascended down into a town that looked straight out of Runaway Bride. Adorable brick buildings, Quaint little white churches and Autumn colored leaves knocked me out and I thought to myself "This is America."

We walked along the train tracks and found an abandoned train car and drove around the town for a bit before we headed back to Pawley's to be stuffed with homemade jumbolaya courtesy of Mr. Malinski. This weekend was all I could have asked for and more and my only complaints are the 5 extra mosquito bites that came home with me.

Thank you, Malinski's!!!

Food and Lounging in South Carolina

Hopefully by now you have all gotten to know Frances by watching the video. Turns out people think Frances is pretty cool and liked the video, so stay tuned for the rest of the videos that I'll be editing this weekend while I'm in the Beautiful Pawleys Island, South Carolina (home of the great Spencer Malinski).
I have been looking forward to this weekend all week since we decided I'd tag along on her journey home. As much as I'm loving SCAD, I was getting a bit of cabin fever and a weekend getaway could not have sounded more perfect. Right now I am posting to you from a beautifully sunny room sitting on a real bed that isn't 7 feet off the floor. I'm so excited to see what SC has to offer. Today has already been amazing. We've already come across armadillo road kill (pictures to come), a Piggly Wiggly, alligators swimming next to our car as we drove along the coast and an awesome abandoned castle (yes, I said castle). And that was all just this afternoon! Anywho, right now we are resting before heading out to sushi for dinner. So, adios, friends. Hope you had a great Friday and enjoy your weekend.

Frances Russell

As I mentioned earlier, I am going to be posting interviews with my friends here at SCAD. Today marks the first. It was so much fun sitting down with my main gals and hearing their responses to questions (that I usually already knew their answer to). My first victim is Frances Russell. I don't want to give too much of an introduction because the video speaks for itself, but let me just say that I have loved getting to know her since coming to SCAD. After spending my birthday AND a roadtrip to Jacksonville with her and a few other girls all in one weekend, I knew we were kindred spirits. Frances has a great sense of humor and a natural likability to her that makes it easy to be around her 24/7. And I can say that with 100% confidence because I actually did spend a whole week with her and her roomie, Jordan, in my room after their room was attacked by bed bugs. I'm going to stop my self now so you can enjoy the video, but before I go please, PLEASE, PLEASE check out her blog, The Mute Turnip. You will not be disappointed. Without further ado, I give you.....Frances.

Untitled from julia patton on Vimeo.

(Like the honey video, this video is quite lengthy. Stick it out. And comment on it. Because I worked hard.)

Get Excited.

Coming to a blog near you very very soon, video interviews of all my main peeps here at SCAD....and by all my main peeps, I mean all 4 of my friends. You will get a glimpse into each of their lives as I ask in depth questions that will make them question everything they thought they knew about themselves.

Playing House

So, lately, one of the major things on my list has been starting to look for off campus housing for next year. My experience in the dorms has been better than most and not as bad as some and I wouldn't say that I'm absolutely hating it. Other than the constant bass beat coming from our delightful neighbor, the bed bugs, the cockroaches, the rats and the laxative sprayed food (all stories for another day), I've been asbsolutely loving it. Most students at SCAD only live on campus for the first year and needless to say, I cannot wait to have my own place to call home with a kitchen and just a few more feet of breathing room. Not to mention the fact that I could potentially save up to about $5,000 a year by living off campus. Finding a place has been harder than I expected, though. There have been a few good prospects lately, but they have all fallen through, which has been so disappointing. The other day I heard about Tumbleweed Houses. Owner and creator, Jay Shafer has been living in one of the homes he also designs and sells for over a decade and you can purchase one of his tiny houses (they range from one bedrooms at 65 square feet to three bedrooms at 854 square feet) and most of them are literally on wheels. you can also puchase the plans and build one yourself for as little as $10,000. I've already spent an inordinate amount of time on his website and am seriously considering just taking up a bit of space on the edge of town to plop down and stay awhile. And why not when the houses are so adorable as well as amazingly thought out. It could work.

A Great Day

(If you click the picture, it gets bigger)
Yesterday was great. First I slept in, which has been happening more and more here and I kind of like it. Then I went to the Telfair Museum for my drawing class which I was kind of dreading because I wanted to be free of classes for the day and enjoy the beautiful weather, but it ended up being great. The museum has an awesome exhibit right now of these great silver and gold tipped drawings. They were so intricate and lifelike. If I didn't know any better, I would have sworn they were photographs. After, I went out to lunch with Claire and feasted on a delicious Shrimp quesadilla. But the real fun started after we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in the park. In the afternoon, we went to Forsyth and did homework while we watched autumn unfold before our eyes. A cool breeze was blowing the brown leaves around the field and a pee-wee football team was practicing. There was a little festival (we still don't know what it was for) down the field sponsored by a local radio station. Tunes were playing, pictures were taken, and laughter ensued. Once we realized we were pretty much in the center of football practice, we moved to The Bean, my new favorite coffee shop (and by coffee, I mean tea). They have a Rose Mint tea that I'm starting to get slightly addicted to. It was so nice to just relax and enjoy a perfect fall day. It was totally what I needed. Today was great too. Although most of the things that I mentioned the other day have yet to be resolved, it's ok. They will figure themselves out in time. God has a plan greater than I could ever imagine. For now, I will enjoy afternoons with friends and tea.

What a Week.

I feel guilty for slightly neglecting my blog this week-- especially after posting such a morose message late on Saturday night. That was much more dramatic than how I usually like to express myself, but it fit the day and mood. Typically, I like to handle things with a much more realistic and healthy approach to whats going on, but I needed a little melodrama at the moment. On top of which, being realistic isn't always the most fun. I deserve a little theatrics in my life every once in a while, right?
Anyway, there has been soooo much going on the past few days. At the beginning of the week, I figured the most stressful thing was going to be the fact that I was entering the perfect storm that is midterms, but as the week took shape, so many other factors came into play that I wasn't expecting. And although I would love to fill you in on everything right now, most of everything is still quite up in the air so I think I'll wait until things are a bit more figured to give a full update so I can most successfully compute and communicate my thoughts. But for people who are dangerously curious, I'll give you a few teasers to chew on until all details are revealed. Keywords: Living off campus. Car shopping. Holiday work. Summer Internship. Hopefully I can keep all the balls in the air for a few more days until I can figure them each out one by one.

That's all you get.

hmmm.

i'm sick. i miss my bed. and i'm slightly sad.
but balloons make me happy.

"In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing

us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil. And at no season, safe perhaps

in Daffodil time, do we get such superb colour effects as from August to November."

- Rose G. Kingsley, The Autumn Garden, 1905

What a Charmer

Oh my goodness, this video of a 3-year-old reciting a gorgeous (and long!) poem is one of the most adorable things I've ever seen. I can't believe he memorized the whole thing.

Hmmm.....would it be weird if I have a crush on him? I don't know. That's normal, right?

Whatever, I'll just give it a one, two, maybe fifteen years and then it'll be ok.

Watch it here.

Things I've already learned Today:

1. Spinach, feta and garlic scones are my new favorite.

2. Nothing makes me feel more feminine than wearing a skirt. And that's a good thing.

3. Having dreams about your roommate being addicted to cocaine affect how you feel about her in the morning.

4. I'm so blessed. (But I already knew that)

Hittin the Books

Today I'm going to try out a new coffee shop, The Bean, and study study study! The plan is to get as much done in as little time as possible.

We're taking on fall in full force. I'm even wearing corduroy, a scarf AND loafers. That's big time. For some odd reason, I'm excited to just study. As much as I'm love love loving all of my art projects and what not, it's nice to not have to be inspired of creative. Today the motto is, "If I read it, They will come." ("They" of course being the little Smarts that live in my brain and make me a genius. Obviously)

So, wish me luck as I hit the books and the tea hard.

Fall 2010: The Girl Who's Ready for Anything

The week has been quite busy here in Savannah. Since the start of fall, things have been steadily picking up. Between time consuming homework and the ever growing exploration list of things to discover in the town. Although things are so vastly different from home, I am so inspired here and excited to wake up in the morning to face the day (except Tues./Thurs. when we have design at 8. No bueno.) I recently saw an ad campaign in a magazine that really struck me. A very dynamic girl was rocking a great fall ensemble with a caption that read "Fall 2010: The Girl Who's Ready for Anything." I want that to be my motto in this season. To embrace whatever opportunities come my way with grace, determination and style. Like?

Anyway, I've been a little slow at blogging which I don't like because it makes me feel behind which makes me even less inclined to blog. So instead of trying to recap on every detail since my last post, I'll just brush over a few of the most recent events of late.

As I made quite clear on my blog, the big b.day was a week ago and I was a little bit apprehensive this year about how I would be celebrating due to the fact that I didn't know what the friendship situation and status would be at by the time my birthday rolled around. Well, I've been so blessed with great friends here that took care of me quite well. Not only did we go out to breakfast to this great place, SoHo South. We had a great time walking around the city for the day and soaking up Savannah.

I've especially been enjoying the squares that are all over Sav. These shady oasis' are not only beautiful to look at but a great place to enjoy a picnic-- something we've done a few times since moving in. The other day we happened to be going to coffee when this amazing wedding was taking place. There were only about 40 people, but the bride and groom were just glowing and I wanted to be apart of the party so bad.

Here we are leaving dinner at Cha Bella on my birthday. So delicious. I love everyone's faces in this picture. And the lighting. It really exudes the feel of Savannah by night. Quiet and creaky, but still charmingly beautiful. By the way, my outfit was curtesy of Linda Patton. Thanks again, Mom!

We're out of consecutive order now, but I had to show you guys this picture on the way to Tybee Island (the closest beach). The coast is so vastly different on the Atlantic than the Pacific and this picture kind of demonstrates how. The marshes, although stinky, are beautifully green and I want to just lay in them or take a canoe and sit and read a book while I drift. So magical.

Here are Spencer and I in the Forsyth Park drawing. Although I can guarantee her drawing is far better than mine (struggling with that a little bit) it was nice to relax in the grass. Actually, I'm lying. It wasn't at all. Ants were getting all over everything. Dirt was making its way onto my paper and it was close to 100 degrees that day with humidity. Yuck. But she does make a good backrest.

So, that's the best you're gonna get from me today. We have a packed sched. as usual. We're about to go to the art tradeshow to relish in the student discounts and then make our way to the movie theater to sneak our way into a few movies without necessarily paying for all of them. Oops? I'm sorry. It's called being on a budget.

I'm going to blog more. Promise.