GIMMIE CULTURE

Here are a few "if"s for you:

IF it wasn't Christmastime
IF I had sufficient funds
IF it wasn't 2:30am

I would hop on a plane and go to Europe.
Or Asia.
Or anywhere, really, that isn't here.
Seriously.

Shopping malls?
Pick-up trucks?
Wranglers?
WAL-MART!?

I need out.
Now.

I could give you a play by play on daily life here in hickville if I really wanted to. I could sugar coat it and make it sound like Mayberry reborn.
Maybe I would even miss the damn place if I could be rid of it for awhile.

I miss Louisville, but even that beautiful town isn't doing it for me anymore. I can't stand not seeing the rest of the world anymore.

I don't just want to see the Louvre.
I want to see Monet's Giverny gardens in person.

You change your mind like a girl changes clothes.

Katy Perry is a hot mess.
But I love 'Hot n Cold' for some reason.
Oh Pop songs and your inevitable catchiness!

This song makes me want to graffiti something.


...but I won't. :)

So, I'm home now. Well..in Richmond. I'm still loathe to call it home. But my family is here, so until I own my OWN house, this is home. I've only left the house twice, and I've been back for four days, just about.
I've been spending my time trying to finish Sex and the City (so close!) and also preparing for my sister's 14th birthday party. She wants it to be Bollywood themed (she's so damn cool). So I'm going to do henna for the girls, which will be fuuuuun. I've been trying to convince her to let me cook some Indian food for them, but she refuses. I AM making the cake though. It's going to be a masterpiece!

God, I need to sort through my room. It's ridiculous. I have so much stuff crammed in here. If my parents ever wanted to move it would be impossible. Cleaning it out would either be a pleasant trip down memory lane, or I would go on a crying jag.
I'm not looking forward to finding out.

Well, I'm off to watch more SATC :)
R, when your finals are over give me a ring and we'll go do something. I want to explore this fancy new shopping center we have. Let's go to a movie!!

Happy Holidays to all

The ultimate in procrastination

Besides the fact that I'm supposed to be writing an ethics paper right now, I was inspired to blog by Ms. Arianna Huffington. She is on Jon Stewart right now, and she wrote a book about blogging.
Too cute.

So here I am.

And now Colbert is on. What a lovely man. He reminds me of a Social Studies teacher I had in high school; Mr. Smith.

Ugh, I really do not like Ethics. I've attempted reading what I need to in order to write the paper that is due TOMORROW...to no avail. Ugh ugh ugh.

This blog is pointless. I apologize.

Love to all.




...someone save me from finals!

Wicked, Wild Wind

It must be blog time.
This might be a little difficult since my dyslexia has been rearing its ugly head lately. It's pretty awful, actually. Makes it very hard to type. Sometimes it's silly though...maybe I'll leave in one of the silly mistakes.

Well anyhoo, it's been awhile since I've updated this...so let's see:
1) I had to drop my art major to a minor, which got me down for a little while. I'm still a Communication major, so no worries. I'll have a degree when I graduate (on time). It just wasn't going to be feasible for me to complete both majors. But I've made my peace with it and am moving on.

2) I had a birthday! I am now 20 years old. It's an ok age to be, not incredibly exciting though. I'm looking forward to next year when I have the opportunity to sit in a bar and drink a glass of wine. This birthday was nice, though. My friends decorated my room and gave me lovely presents. My family came up to see me and took me to dinner in a German restaurant, and it was DELICIOUS. Oh, and I got Spore. It's awesome.

3) School is...horrible. I've been stressed and irritable. Not fun. Once I get a little break in all will be well again and my friends won't abhor being around me.

4) I've been working on finding internships for this summer. Gosh is it overwhelming! I'm still not sure how to write a cover letter :/ But I'm looking into some very interesting ones, so I'm excited about the future.

5) I've been feeling very young lately. Not whimsical young, more like how I felt in elementary school....and I'm not a fan. I HAVE to get out of this funk I'm in. I think I need a puppy.
Or a fish.
I'll work on that.

Oh, I made a video in my Video Art class (imagine that) and it's now up on youtube!
Type in "Artasaurus" and you can watch it! Please and Thank You.

That's all for now, until something exciting happens.


Till Next Time,
Natalie

Well looky here

Hello readers...I've finally found the time to update. This time I've found is called Art History class.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Art History. I mean, hello? Art major.
But sometimes, this class....I swear. Maggie is just nuts. I love her, but she's nuts. We've been in class for about 20 minutes now...and still no art on the screen. UGH.

There are so many things I want to talk about! I'll pick a few for now:

School--Things have been incredibly busy. I'm learning so many new programs that I'll use SO much later in my life (FinalCut, InDesign, Illustrator, etc.) and I'm so happy. Most of my classes are a lot of fun, so I'm pretty pleased. It's really hard, but I'm getting by. I'm taking 19 hours, which may have been a mistake, and one of them is a night class. But it's Junior year, when am I going to have a chance to take classes ever again?
(Art History update: Finally, a piece of art. Apparently it's an old calendar page from the Renaissance, from the International Gothic period.)

The Sims2: Yes...I bought it. And several extensions packs. I'm in love. I used to play the old Sims ages and ages ago and I've been wanting to get 2 for quite some time now. My roomate (whom I love) is a big Sims addict, so I felt compelled to join her ranks. And I couldn't be happier. My families are all super adorable. I made a family with a single mom and 2 daughters all with red hair (R, it made me think of you) and they are TOO cute. I love them, :).

SPORE: I WANT IT. END OF STORY.
(Art History Update: Still on the same picture. Maggie is still talking.)


My birthday: It's on Sunday! I won't be a teenager anymore! Yay turning 20! I'm not sure what I'll be getting up to. I know my family is coming to see me on Saturday and we're going to a German restraunt, and it looks fantastic. I'm excited for presents....I might get Spore. You'll never hear from me again if this is true.

Overall, I'm a pretty happy girl. I wouldn't mind having a special male figure in my life, but that will happen in good time. I'm not forcing things like that anymore. I have enough guy friends acting as big brothers to keep me more than happy. I love my boys. They all live across the hall from me in the dorm and they are the best friends a girl could ask for. I can't believe they're all graduating this year. Sad.

(Art History Update: We've moved onto another picture. Another calendar page. They're quite pretty, actually.)

Well kids, tonight is the premiere of The Office. I'm so excited. And nervous. JAM will survive.

Rhianna, I love you. I hope this update was worth the terribly long wait. And I hope grad school is going well!!

This is Natalie...signing out. Stay tuned for updates on my upcoming radio show here on campus. In the meantime, hang out at www.bellarmineradio.com.

Till next time,
Nat

For Rhianna

Dear R,
I wish I had more time and patience to update my blog. It makes me really, really, really sad. Whats funny is, the last time I had the thought to look at blogger, I caught myself up on your blog.

I promise that soon, when my homework is done, I'll make a really awesome post.


Also...come visit me.

Love,
Natalie

I could take a ride on a Brooklyn train.

I've had a pull since I was 9 years old to leave the country.
Why?
Well, I have many reasons. Most having to be with the sincere lack of pride I have in my own country. I haven't seen us do many things right in my short lifetime.
But, like most people, the draw is something different, something new, something exciting and something...historic? Sure.

Here's the rub: I have yet to leave the continental U.S. Sad, right?
Yeah, it's really, fucking sad.

And instead of saving money for a trip abroad, here I am buying things like Macbooks and cameras...you know, things I need for the immediate future, and not saving money for something I've been wanting to do my whole life.
Ugh.

Maybe I'll get a passport. As a kind of incentive. Because I would feel bad getting it, and then not using it. Yeah...sounds like a pseudo-plan.

Places I Would Like to Go:
1. England
2.Ireland
3. Greece
4. India
5. Germany
6. Italy
7. France
8. Norway
9. South Africa
10. New Zealand.

I make too many plans.

You Got Out of the Country, and I'm Stuck in the Continental U.S.

Summer has been chugging along, almost bearably, for some time now.
I've had enough of it, though. I'm prepared to move back to school (for my second to last time. How frightening).
I have a terrible occupation. I'm a nanny to a 4 year old terror. I used to claim that he was the spawn of Satan...I've recently changed my mind.

He IS Satan.

I'm sure of it. What rational 4 year old would lock their sitter out of the house?
Sigh.

I'm just done with it all.
Done with my job.
Done with living in my parent's house.
Done with almost all of the people in this town.

I'm more than thankful that being a radio staff member has given me the privilege to move in a week early. We'll be having a booth at the KY State Fair, the 14th through the 24th.
Come one, come all.

One of the most redeeming qualities about this summer is that fact that I've spent most of it under a pile of very good books. It's been amazing. It's the one thing I look forward to about summertime: catching up on pleasure reading. I don't have enough focus or time during the school year to read any books at all, so I pretty much devour books en mass when I have the chance.
I've just about finished the Twilight series in a week, maybe less.
And I plan on getting Atlas Shrugged done soon.
But I honestly couldn't tell you everything I've read this summer, which is a little sad. I should write them down.
The second most redeeming quality of this summer has been reconnecting with my very good friend Audry. We've been having WAY too much fun, and spending WAY too much of our nanny paychecks, and loving every bit of it.
I'll miss her when she finally gets the amazing, big girl job she deserves.
Unless of course, she finds one on Louisville, as I keep suggesting to her. ;)


Ok, before I go, I want to make a suggestion to you all out there.
So, Dippin' Dots patent must have run out, because Popsicle brand now has their own....and I'm in love. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough "dippin' dots"?!
So good.
Rush out now to your local grocery and get some...
...before I buy them all. Seriously.

Yours in Impatience, and Ice Cream Bliss,
Natalie

Louisville is for Lovers

I knew this weekend would be bittersweet.
Went to Louisville for a Bellarmine Radio meeting (check us out at www.bellarmineradio.com)
and it was just amazing. I got to spend time with my best friend in the whole wide (cheesy) world, Alex.
I just had so much fun all around, and I hated leaving.
Being in Louisville, for me, is like being in the coolest club ever, but being surrounded by people you know and love, and who love you. I feel instantly cooler, more confident, more original, more creative, more mature and more independent.
Someone take me back, pleaaaaase!

Plus kids, I'm designing my first ever website for the radio station. I'm excited and nervous at the same time, which is a total cliche thing to say, but it's true. I'm proud of it already, though, and I think it's going to be very neat and a really good thing for the station.

In other, media related news, I have officially hopped onto the Sex and the City bandwagon, and I'm in love. I know I'm way late in the game so I feel like a TOTAL poser, but I'm just so into the show that I really don't care. I blame my series-related euphoria on Alex. Thanks pal.

That's all for now, folks.

Yours in Louisville Longing,
Natalie

You Were Wrong, I Was Right.

I am so tired of being wrong all the time.
When am I going to be right?
I feel like I "do right" all the time, but someone always seems to think I'm wrong. And no, it's not the same person over and over. It's different people.
I either do something wrong, say something wrong, don't do something...I don't know.


I just want to do something right for once.

Bare feet on the pavement...

Today I took a walk outside just as it started to drizzle.
I wanted to go barefoot, so I could feel everything as I walked.
I felt every raindrop, every rock, every blade of grass...my feet were numb by the time I got home.
I just wanted to clear my mind of everything, and concentrate solely on walking. When you walk barefoot, you begin to notice things. Like when you take a step forward you spread your toes out for balance, or if you walk heel to toe, or toe to heel. (I walk heel to toe, usually. If I walk downhill it's toe to heel.)

More than anything, I wanted it to rain while I was walking. Like, full-out, pouring rain. I wanted to run home in a flash flood. I'm usually pretty terrified of the elements, and I don't think I should be. I thought that being caught out in a thunderstorm would fix me.
Sadly, it only drizzled the whole time. That was still nice, though. Very refreshing.

I want to walk on cloudy, rain threatening days more often. I remember being a kid and refusing to come inside until it really was pouring rain. I could spend all day outside; playing, swinging, messing around, getting dirty. There's not much to do outside as an adult unless you like to hike, which I really don't. Hiking is too much work. When I'm outside, I want it to be effortless.

I need to spend more time outside. To lie in the grass, under sun, thinking about nothing at all. My walk today actually did clear my mind.
I thought of nothing else but the earth under my feet and the impending rain.

You're so vain, you probably think this blog is about you..

Hello blog, it's been awhile.
Whoops.
I'm really bad at keeping things up to date. That's ok though, the only person it affects is me. It's all personal, so if for some reason I can't remember something that happened...it's my fault for not keeping my journal in tact.

In other news, I'm home for the summer. But I don't like to call this "home." I was talking to a friend of mine and she said the exact same thing. "Yeah, I'm home. But God, I hate calling RKY home!" I agree.
However, I have recently procured a kick-ass babysitting job, which functions as a 9-5 job. Since I work 9-5 on weekdays. I just hope this kid isn't a brat. Which he probably will be.

After being totally by myself for the last 2 days, I have come to a conclusion: I will never, ever be able to live alone. I will always have to have a roommate of some kind. I went a little nuts. I talked to myself. My dad said "Well, as long as you didn't answer yourself."
I did. I had a full conversation with myself. And it was BORING.
Am I this boring when I speak to people?
Maybe it's because my cat was involved too. He wasn't much for conversation.

Good God, I'm boring myself already.

Bottom line, I go crazy when I don't have a human being around for more than 3 hours.


Anyhoo, I think I'll stop for now. I plan on trying to update this more. We'll see how that goes.

Till next time,
Natalie

Happy Easter! Now I can stop being depressed about Lent OR Hey, You, Get Off of my Cloud.

Instead of writing my 7-page paper that is due the day I go back to school, I've been celebrating Caturday in the only way I know how: LOLcats. Duh.
Picture courtesy of www.icanhascheezburger.com


Man, I can't wait to get some Peeps tomorrow. It will totally make up for the 2-hour church service I had to go to last night. Ugh. Catholics.

The other good thing about being home: Guitar Hero. Yeah, I took it from a friend of mine and brought it home with me. My sister and I played for a couple hours yesterday. Then got my father to play. I really like being better than my Dad at something....that man is good at everything...except video games. Score.

So this paper I've been "writing" is a self-improvement paper. I should have written it ages ago, because it's a piece of cake. But I can't seem to focus with all this wireless glory I've got going on in my room. I could have gone shopping with my mom and sister, but I hoped that by at least having them out of the house I could get more done...nope.
I am in writer's block hell.
I hate being here.
Funny how I'm having no problem blathering on in here, and yet I can't write a simple paper about myself.

I think it's because the content of the paper is kind of depressing in the beginning, and it is making me rehash all the shit I've been through and been dealing with. I'm finally to a place where I'm really, genuinely happy and now I have to go back and remember all the crap from the last year. Ugh. And it just makes me feel miserable. I don't need to feel miserable right now.

It also makes me remember how I'm, well....I haven't achieved this one goal I wanted to have achieved by this time. And it sucks. I'm not going to say what it is, because that's pointless. But let me just reiterate: It SUCKS.

But anyhow, back to something even less productive than this.

Till next time,
Natalie

Back in Black

Back at school; thank goodness. I always am a fan of the homecoming, that's for dang sure.
I'll come back when I have more time for a "Spring Break Synopsis." It won't be exciting, but I did have a fun time with Rachel.
The snow was kind of a downer, though. As pretty as it is...it's Spring Break. I mean, honestly. Come on. March?! Why?!?
Sigh.
I'll be ok.

For now, I need to unpack and put things in some kind of order so I don't explode.

Till next time,
Natalie

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Spring Break is about to start looking up for me, starting tomorrow. Which is more than soon, if you think about it. It is currently 10:52 pm. Fantastic.

Rachel will be getting here tomorrow so we can finally, officially start our Spring Break. We've just been biding our time in our respective homes until Wednesday gets here.
And once Friday gets here I'll be somewhere other than Richmond, which is beyond exciting news. I'll be seeing Bowling Green for the first time ever, and then Saturday we'll be making a day trip into Nashville! Which should be pretty fun. Hey...it's not Kentucky.

I'm having a lot of trouble concentrating on this blog. I keep checking everything else over and over again for no reason.
I know I'm super distracted. I have a lot of things on my mind, and it's kind of driving me crazy.

Oh well. Moving on.

Until next time,
Natalie

What happens on Spring Break, stays on Spring Break

Ain't that the truth.
I don't want anyone knowing what I did (or didn't do) for the first few days of my Spring Break.
Sadly, by using the word "ain't" to open this post I have let-loose my location.
Yes, I'm in good ol' Richmond; my home town. Podunk.

(Hey, spell check didn't make a red, squiggly line under 'Podunk.' Don't tell me that's a real, proper noun! Absurd.)

Alright, don't get me wrong, being home isn't all that bad. I went shopping and procured some good buys. I was able to knock out my copious amounts of dirty laundry in just 2 days, so I now have decent looking clothes to wear. I dyed my hair a shocking shade of plum today. (See picture)
It glows.
Good thing I like purple. A lot.

I kind of like that picture. It's what I would look like if I were a high fashion model, I think. I actually watched the runway show for Yves Saint Laurent, which features some of the ugliest, helmet hairstyles I've seen in awhile. Take a gander. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIOO2OVscmA&feature=user
At first I was like, "Hey! I can do that to my hair!" and then I was like "Good God, why would I want to?!?"
So, we're clear. Delusions of high fashion hair out the window. Unless, of course, someone out there thinks I can pull it off. Don't worry, I can see through those monstrous bangs. Safety first, kids.

In other news, I've been working on my application to be BAC's Concert co-chair. Why? I don't know. Someone asked me to. And if I don't hold some kind of leadership position fast....well, I won't hold one. They look nice on applications for more important things (like scholarships and job applications).
My hope is that someone awesome *coughAlexcough* will apply to be the other co-chair. I don't like throttling people I don't know. And I wouldn't have to throttle the above name bracketed by suggestive coughs.

This is getting kind of lengthy, isn't it? I know I'm not a fan of reading blog-posts that are too long and pointless, so I don't want to perpetuate that kind of thing. So here I shall end. I should probably plot out the pictures I need to yet take for my Color Imaging class. I need to shoot about 27 more of the 30. Yikes.

Until next time....I need to think of a clever sign off....

Natalie

In the beginning...

I decided to make an official blog. It just didn't feel right posting all those notes in facebook.
Either no one read them, or the wrong people read them, or no one really seemed to notice the notes section existed.
No matter; I'll get this puppy up and running and anyone who cares can read it.

I used to have an electronic way of posting my thoughts....it was an evil thing called livejournal.
Bleh.
Man did that suck. High school bullshit whining left and right.
This seems much more adult. Right?
Just nod and agree with me, for sanity's sake.

I guess I'll just leave this be for now and get back to it soon.

Take care and be safe on your Spring Break, if you're on it,
Natalie