First Week of Class & Halloween Stock

Picture of the Day] Halloween Magnets! (part of the Halloween Stock)

Mood] Relatively good

Weather] Relatively good

Currently] In the cubicle

Quote of the Day] "The secret of all success is to know how to deny yourself. Prove that you can control yourself, and you are an educated man; and without this all other education is good for nothing."

So the first week of class has been alright. I mean, it's sort of like the first day of high school. You don't really do anything except for go to every class and receive the syllabus, talk about expectations, and get a feel for what the teachers are like. The majority of my professors in the past have all been very good-natured. I think that I will really enjoy this semester (less stress from having fewer classes!)

IPRO 353 has turned out to be interesting so far. We've started with a presentation about our site in Blue Island (a former landfill that now the city wants to turn into a mixture of industrial park, retail, and possibly wetlands park). The presenter from Blue Island is going to be our representative and help us through the semester. She was very nice and informative about what Blue Island wanted.

Studio thus far has been awesome. We watched 2 movies to explain some core concepts that my professor things are key to design. The first was Context. The second was Narrative. I highly recommend everyone watch north by northwest which is a film by Alfred Hitchcock that we saw for narrative. Basically the point was that the film keeps the viewer on the edge of his/her seat with a very direct way of moving the plot. There are no flashbacks or other gimmicks. By using similar themes and elements through the film and altering them slightly, Hitchcock is able to induce comedy in otherwise stressful situations and is able to create a thriller from the simplest of gestures. I think it's a great movie that definitely explains how later adventure/espionage (Indiana Jones, James Bond) films came to be. People saw this film, LOVED IT, and wanted more!

Hooray!
~Jaye

Fall Classes & Poster Promotion Around IIT

Pictures of the Day] These are the two posters that I made and put up around school! WHOOOO!!!! I hope people like them. They stand out a bunch now because not many posters are up and they are very simple in design and solid-ish coloured.

Mood] Chipper

Currently] In my apartment

Quote of the Day] "I have an existential map. It has 'You are here' written all over it." I know. I know. It's been forever. :P I should've been posting, but summer really caught up at last and then I had to get ready for school blah bah blah. BUT, I can officially say now that the etsy store is open and that I must begin with my traditional class update!

Class Schedule for Fall 2011:

• FINAL SEMESTER OF STUDIO!!!! Wintergarden (Landscape) - MWF 2PM - 6PM Brubaker
• IPRO 353: Blue Island Landfill - TR 3:15PM - 4:30PM Rohter & Beck (Prof. Beck was actually one of my 2nd yr architecture professors! Cool!)
• Industrial Psychology - TR 10:00 AM - 11:15 AM Ellington

Latest updates regarding the store:

• We've listed a great deal of items so far and made 5 sales! I'm very proud that the word has been spreading.
  
• I've branched out to as many mediums for networking as I can possibly handle, which translates to managing the Facebook Page, the Facebook Group, joining two Etsy teams (which are like groups where you help one another out and meet with others who have similar tastes, aims, etc...as you), and even making a DeviantART account!
• I've found that a lot of the networking actually comes from favouriting/watching/following/add circle/joining anything and everything everywhere. X.x It's hard to check up every day but it's also fun. (This is also the reason why I haven't been on here as much. :( I have been debating whether or not I should make a separate blog for only the store or maybe even a twitter. Who knows...)
• I have uploaded some content onto my DeviantART page, but really a lot of it is making sure that people see the stuff up. This is accomplished my linking the page elsewhere, so I have been trying to do so. It's been fairly successful adventure so far!

Well I hope that we make some more sales soon. :D
~Jaye

Vacation

Picture of the Day] 50s Prime Diner rootbeer floats. The waitress warned us to drink them fast. My brother didn't fast enough apparently. I added a caption.

Mood] Sticky

Weather] Sticky

Currently] In my room

Quote of the Day] "Realism...has no more to do with reality than anything else."

We went to both restaurants in Hollywood Studios. It was great. There was the Sci-Fi Theatre Diner in which we sat in faux cars and the whole place was set up like an old drive-in theatre playing clips of sci-fi movies (they were all pretty much like trailers) Then there was the 50s Prime Time Diner which focused on playing clips from old shows and the setting looked like a kitchen with polka dots and old appliances and everything! (You can tell in the pic)

OH MY GOD HUMIDITY. That has been the absolute worst part of the vacation. The best part has been everything else. Ha ha ha. I got a tan and also have been enjoying the water a lot. Mostly it's been wading around, not actually swimming, plus the water here is very warm (not at all like Lake Michigan in Chicago!). We also went to Blizzard Beach which is a water park in Disney. I haven't been to a water park in a long time. IT was great. :D I went on the single slider that was like 120' tall, no joke. It was freaky. The worst part was that sliding to a stop gave me a REALLY BAD wedgie. X.x

I am pretty satisfied with my bathing suit choice. I was debating between a great number of combinations, but I finally chose the bright spunky set (I matched myself. You can kinda tell they don't belong together because the styles don't match in some ways because of the diff ties. Ha ha ha.) I was thinking of getting just a plain black halter top, but the green is good and I put it to good use in Orlando and a beach trip just before school started. I know the best spot for hanging out on the beach (no people and lots of cold water!!! Ha ha ha ha). I packed a nice picnic for boy and me. It was very pleasant.

Bye bye summer,
~Jaye

Yikes! Graduate School

Link of the Day] Hong Kong University : http://www.asa.hku.hk/admissions/tpg/prospectus/2011/faculties_arch_intro.html

Mood] Ready to be finished

Weather] Overcast with scattered thunderstorms. Feels like 98

Currently] In the basement

Quote of the Day] "The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work."

There are a lot of things that I have to do. I always talk about how much I have to do and what's next. It seems never-ending. I know I should have a positive outlook on things, but it's hard sometimes when you just feel like everyday it's one thing after another. A lot of people think, "Just keep pushing on. Persevere! You will be rewarded!" and I typically believe that too, but it's gotten so blah lately it's been hard. I just want to live right now. Go travel the world and take some time off! Enjoy my 20s. I'm not saying I don't enjoy them on a day to day basis. I have a good life. I have a great family and terrific friends. I've been blessed to be able to go to college, work, and more. I just want to see the world. Heh.

I am starting to look at grad schools. I have a few in mind for Landscape Architecture. Hong Kong University, maybe one in Japan, Leeds University in England and maybe the Netherlands. Who knows!!!

Life's crazy!
~Jaye

Etsy - Pillow Madness

Pictures of the Day] Pictures of my latest Etsy merchandise!

Mood] Cheery

Weather] Overcast with scattered showers. High 81

Currently] In my apartment

Quote of the Day] "Nothing ever goes away."

Working in Rhino is a jerk. Sometimes it's really difficult to get done what I need to get done in it because I'm just not used to the software. I have been trying hard to learn how to use it this semester, which, by the way, is nearly over, but it's still hard. I think as a 3d modeling software it is one of the better ones and once I learn it I think I will be quicker with it, but just right now it's soooo frustrating. So what do I do when I get frustrated? I work on etsy! Whooo! The store is getting up to speed quickly and I've just got a few more things to iron out before we open, but I thought I might start off with a couple pillows and see how they sell. ^-^ If they become a hot commodity I will have to crank out more!

The toast pillow with butter is called "Butter Me Up!", the raincloud called "Happy Rainy Day" and the PB & J called, "I Have Expectations." The toast and rain ones are 14" x 14" and the last is 16" x 16". I think they're pretty reasonable sizes and meant to really be just cute throw pillows. They are made of pre-formed pillows and fleece. I hand-stitch the details and then sew together the body with the machine. ^-^ I hope that they will sell well!!!

Well back to modeling I suppose...One more week? T.T
~Jaye

Summer Discover IIT Day 2011

Pictures of the Day] Summer Discover IIT Day!

Mood] Cheery

Weather] Sunny

Currently] Exhausted

Quote of the Day] "To win without risk is to triumph without glory."

Soooo busy! Waking up 'early' and getting to work was a challenge, but it was not too bad. Hee hee.

Every time we have an Open House I love chalking up the sidewalks It's super fun. Though it was incredibly hot today. UGH. Overall the day was just..HOT. @.@ Tours. Sweaty. Gross!!! I suppose I should detail some of the day. Welcome session starts off with a bit of light breakfast and then a greeting from our heads of office. We did a short round of introductions, staff, counselors and students. We break up into tours or "explore your major sessions". The explore your major sessions are very helpful for students to get a better idea of what the university has to offer. A professor leads the discussion, giving a lecture that details the progression of the major, what to expect in your first year as a student of the major, and much more! It's a great time to figure out if the major is exactly what you are looking for. We break for some delicious lunch (This time around chicken tenders, three typcs of sandwiches, pasta salad, and brownies for dessert!). Then reverse! We flip for financial aid sessions and another round of tours/explore your major. At the end of the day, the Idea Shop is an optional tour for students and parents to indulge in! We get to show off our awesome center for invention, learning, and innovation. Writeable walls, tons of modeling machines, and a full set of mac computers.

That's a lot of work! Hee hee.

What a day! Thanks for making it out if you did and hope to see you next time if you didn't.
~Jaye

Etsy Etsy Etsy

Pictures of the Day] Etsy! Our store and profile pages, respectively. (etsy.com/shop/freakincutedesigns & etsy.com/people/freakincutedesigns)

Mood] High-strung

Weather] Sunny, High 82

Currently] At the front desk

Quote of the Day] "Get the facts, or the facts will get you. And when you get them, get them right, or they will get you wrong."

A technology update! So my sister and I have been working diligently to open our store on Etsy. For those of you who don't know what Etsy is, it is a heavenly world of home-made crafts/goods. People sell all kinds of stuff like jewelry, accessories, art (sculptures, prints, paintings, mixed media), home decor items, children's toys, and even home-made baked goods or jar mixes! It's CRAZY. For those of you who have been keeping up with my blog in the past you may remember my notoriously cute fleece pillows! I will be pumping out more of those in the hopes that I can sell some there, along with glass pebble magnets! My sister will be producing reversible aprons and prints so our store will be a little eclectic, but I think it'll work well. The goal is to open by the 2nd week in August! :D

So the technology bit. >.> Right. The Etsy interface is a little difficult to work with at first. Things are sectioned off and seem to be unrelated to their navigation bar title but after a while you get used to tabbing along. The only thing that I can say right now that is a negative is that you have the option of putting your store on "Vacation Mode" and this allows the customers to receive a notification for when you will be returning etc..., but the only problem is if you want to draft up some listings, you have to turn this Vacation Mode OFF before you can, even though you won't be listing the items yet officially/publicly! It's a little annoying, but it's not too bad. I just worry that people will be popping by and be like, "Why is this store open but nothing is for sale?" Oh well.

Pictures of some of items to come very soon! ^-^ I'm going to be going home this weekend to start producing some pillows, so we'll see how it goes! If you want to see some pics already, I have them loaded onto Facebook!

Like our page at: http://www.facebook.com/freakin.cute.designs
Or join the group at: http://www.facebook.com/groups/237245002960312?ap=1

Ready to rock!
~Jaye