Last week was brilliant.  I got to see my friend Becca for the first time in years on Thursday.  She's been living on the opposite side of the U.S. and she came back for a vacation in Florida.  She's on LiveJournal.  I love my Becca! :D  I just wish we could spend much more time together.  She's a great friend.  She's a friend from high school that has kept in contact with me the most ever since.  I'm so glad she kept me as a friend.  If she reads this, I just want to extend another big thank you for having me over :)  You are so awesome!  And I so envy your skills.  Becca showed me a load of work she did with the special effects company she was working at.

And then this past weekend I got to have Stacy and Amanda over.  I'm thrilled it all actually happened the way it did.  It's hard to get together with people these days.  Ah, adulthood and moneylessness all around... even worse, I can't drive.  The original plan was for me and Amanda to get together Friday.  I figured Stacy was still busy.   But it got pushed back to Saturday and I managed to get both of them over.  I've been wanting to have a BBQ for friends, because that's one thing I can actually do, LOL.  Other cooking, not so much.  Anyway, I hadn't seen Amanda in ages, it felt.  It had been even longer since all three of us got together. 

I managed to finish all of the work in the backyard (mow, edge, weed eat, etc) Saturday morning into the afternoon, then get the BBQ going, finish the food at 6 on time, mix frozen strawberry daiquiris.  My friends showed up about an hour before the food was ready.  I was exhausted by the time we ate.  And I was also drunk.  Stacy's sister joined us later also and ended up falling asleep on the couch, LOL.  We all just hanged out talking and laughing our butts off.  It was awesome.  I think Stacy left around midnight with her sister.  Amanda ended up staying overnight, because she was too tired to drive all the way back home.  It's about 30-40 minutes away.

The next day we woke up and Amanda had a major craving for Panera.  We have one at the St. Johns Town Center, which is perfect for walking around, so guess what we did.  Amanda is waaaaay too kind to me.  She bought me lunch and a Frappuccino.  Gah, I'm such a moocher.  I owe her so much.  She knows I'll get her back when I have money.  We used to take turns buying stuff for each other back in college.  I really miss buying stuff for my friends.  Anyway, not only did we enjoy walking around and consuming tasty things, but I got to meet her super nice friend Beka (I think I spelled it right, hmm) who now lives in Jax.

I can't tell you how much I needed to see my friends.  They immediately make me feel amazing.  Amanda, Stacy, and Becca are some of the best people this planet has to offer.  I'm very lucky.

Only issue was my mom.  At first, it was great.  She helped make these things happen.  I didn't think these things were going to happen, because I have no way of making some situations happen without her help right now.  But now she's using it as ammunition against me in arguments.  So no more help from her.  I'm done with believing her help is a positive thing at all.  She killed the end of an amazing week.  It's a good thing I don't let shit like that ruin the good things that already have happened.  I can still look back and feel amazing.  Funny thing, is the argument wasn't about me.  Yet, she used me as a scape goat, once again, and I got the brunt of everything.  And she continued the argument today.  My throat hurts and my head is mush, as a result.  Here's hoping tomorrow is more sane.  I have to find my happy place and get back to work looking for jobs that aren't there, working around house, etc.  I did those things today, but on a smaller scale.  I need to get more done.

I wish I had time to make a decent journal entry about it, but I have too much shit to do and I should be sleeping right now.


All I can say right now is...

My best friend and her family are THE BEST.

Chugging one pint of Smirnoff in less than 15 minutes is fun.  I even beat Stacy's chugging... GO ME!

Being a VIP at a 4th of July concert at Metropolitan park in Jacksonville is AWESOME.  Best seats in front of the stage and behind the stage... and a bunch of perks.

Pat Benatar rocks in concert.  Richard Marx is... umm.. dull.

Stacy's dad is hilarious when drunk.

I LOVE fireworks that are right in your face.

And wooo, I'm still recovering.

Being hungover.  I want to detach parts of my head from my body right now.  That would totally be convenient.  Freakin' awesome night though.  Twaz Stacy's birthday and I met a bunch of her friends that I've never met before at a billiards place.  They rocked.  I like fun people.

Yeah, so, I've been MIA online lately.  Been busy.  By the time I have a little time to go online, I'm too tired.  Fun time on the weekends is spent with my awesome friends.  Online fun is on the back burner. 

Special message to the anonymous person reading my stuff.... YOUUUUUUUUU.... SUCK!  No fun.  Dude, you are spying on me and I can't even spy who you are.  Tease!  Hahaha!  Seriously though, why would anyone feel the need to be anonymous on my journal?  What am I gonna do, lick your face?  I'm... me, LOL.

Oh well, I'm going to sleep.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Sunday was summer material!  No damn rain for a change!  Stacy woke my lazy ass up sometime in the afternoon by calling me.  I have excuses for sleeping so late!  Between former sleep issues coming back and nightmares, it hasn't been easy.  I'm getting really tired of the nightmares... they are all job and family related, SIGH.  So Stacy told me to get out of bed and come over for a swim in their awesome above ground pool.  Float around a pool?  I'm game, LOL. No need to shower or anything.  I rolled out of bed half asleep, put on a tank top and shorts to swim in (I need to buy a swimsuit when I have money to), grabbed extras clothes to put on when dried, and Stacy was over before I knew.  She spent forever chatting with my mom.

I love Stacy's family (How many times have I said this?)  We spent forever swimming with their 2 dogs (huge compared to my little chihuahua, LOL).  We goofed off as usual.  If Stacy reads this...Chika-Chika-Boom!!  Sorry, inside joke.  Gah, I love water so much.  I wish I had a pool.  Got a lot of exercise too.  May have a mild sun burn.  I can somewhat feel a bit of heat on my skin now.  My poor skin.  I'm as white as white comes. 

We came in after forever and I chatted with her mom for a while about animal rights and animal abusers.  We all LOVE animals, but we agree PETA is nuts.  Think it started from talking about my cat.  He was abused by previous owners, so he has mental issues.  Her mom was cooking at the time.  let me tell you... her family makes these epic meals.  Her dad was out cooking on teh grill.  They made burgers and hotdogs with all sorts of sides.  Stacy tortured me with High School Musical for a little bit.  Until the food was ready.  We stuffed ourselves while watching a movie in their wicked living room.  They have a SWEET, huge HD TV in there.  She put WALL-E on.  I hadn't seen it before.  It SO cute!  I love WALL-E! 

It was about 10PM by the time that ended and here I am at home.  I'm happy.  I love weekends so much these days.  I wasn't feeling so great throughout the week.  I needed the little pick up.

I had a great Saturday too.  I went with my mom to help her shop for a few things.  She'll be installing wood floors soon and I needed something to cut wood up for the new BBQ she bought.  I looked at three freakin' places for the Rolling Stone magazine with Adam Lambert and it was nowhere to be found.  Booo!  Then we went to ABC Liquer to pick up supplies for my first attempt at mixing drinks up.  I invited Stacy over and I made frozen strawberry margaritas for her, my mom, and myself.  They were AWESOME!  I didn't really have a clue what I was doing, but I ended up doing good.  I made enough for all of to have 2 drinks each.  I was fine, until I felt like more and got a shot of Triple Sec, LOL.  I wasn't on the floor or anything, but I couldn't talk.  When I've drank a bit, I start to use the wrong words... or talk in dyslexic speech.  I sound like an idiot.  I don't remember what I tried to tell my mom about, but I think she got the gist of it.  Anywho, we all didn't last for long.  We all got really tired by midnight.

I'm hoping to have a BBQ and mix drinks up for my two best friends, Stacy and Amanda soon.  We are itching to all get together again soon.  last time was our trip to St. Augustine for the day.

Oh, my mom wants to have a big yard sale soon asking people we know to bring stuff over and join.  Shoot me.

Oh and something else, the Adam Lambert interview on 20/20 on Friday rocked!!  He has a good sense of humor :)  If you haven't seen it, the clip is probably up on YouTube somewhere.  Glenn Beck was also on the show and that was interesting.  I have a love and hate thing for him.

Gah, still not asleep... I know. Just dancing and singing in my seat to The Beatles. I'm sure that creates a great visual for you.

Remember I mentioned that photoshoot my best friend Stacy and I had at her house. I shall share a small sample. We took hundreds. I know some people who have known me are probably like, "Whoa, all of these pictures... of someone that used to hate herself!" Well, I got over myself, LOL. I just don't feel as ugly all the time. Turned the negativity into some positive. I'm sure I couldn't have done it without all of the encouragment I've gotten from friends about my looks.

Here are several photos. Scroll through. Click to enlarge.
Credit goes to Stacy for taking awesome photos. I took a bunch of her too, but those are hers to share with peeps.

Aren't we too cute? Hehe.



Strawberry blonde flavored hair? Not really.



Peace out, homey.



Me rockin' the black nail polish with inspiration from Adam Lambert. Hahaha... seriously. Thanks to Stacy's sister with the nail polish.



Hawaiian Princess Leia. Does the hula dance with light sabers, don't cha know?



Please please, come closer.... too close! A little too close! There. (Yes, i did just quote Disney's Aladdin)



Friends forever. True friends never really leave your heart.



Sanity never really has been our thing.

I'm wearing Stacy's clothes. She had me in skirts and dresses the whole time :o Have I ever mentioned that corsets are on of the hottest pieces of clothing on this planet??

Isn't the way it fades to black cool?



Muah!




Okay, seriously going to sleep now.

AHHHH!!!  It comes out tomorrow and I can't freakin' what to get a hold of a copy.  How HOT is that cover?!?! 
Check out the preview of the interview [clickie here].  The most interest from the media is him "admitting" he's gay.  Like it is a surprise, LOL.  I hope his female fans who were stuck on him swinging towards women won't drop their fandom because he swings only towards other men.

Speaking of Adam fandom, my friend Nancy and I have been e-mailing to gush and drool over Adam.  She actually watched American Idol and cheered for him through the season, unlike moron me.  In an e-mail she mentioned the appeal of sitting on that pretty face of his and led to this hilarious thing she wrote about Revlon mascara!  Here's the meat of it...

Me:  Only thing about sitting on his pretty face is you can't see his pretty face and might smear his makeup!!  Hahaha!

Nancy:  Hmmm, I see your point and that would be a problem, were if not for Revlon's New Lash Fantasy Waterproof Mascara.  This predicament prompted me to re-write my latest lines, tell me what you think of my revised version:
 
Revlon's new Lash Fantasy with thickening color gives massive volume and dramatic fullness to your lashes.  It lifts and adds length, giving you longer, thicker, ravishing lashes. This remarkable mascara lengthens and intensifies each lash without clumping for ultimate definition. And, thanks to Revlon's remarkable waterproof formula, you can sit on Adam Lambert's face and drip all over it without causing his lashes to run or smear.  The unique Revlon Everylash molded brush has patented bristles that comb through each lash for precise separation. When ordinary lashes just won't do, get 5 times the impact with Lash Fantasy.  Build the lashes you've always dreamed of.  When Ronda and Nancy are coming to visit and your face will get wet, try New Revlon's new Lash Fantasy Waterproof mascara.

If you don't find that funny, you can't be my friend ;p

Get your mind out of the gutter, LOL.  I've been hanging out with my best friend Stacy since Friday afternoon and I'm sleeping over.  She's already knocked out next to me. 

We stayed at my house for a while.  I used to hate having friends over, because I couldn't speak freely around my mom... nervous at what she might overhear, because I speak freely with my friends, TMI and all.  But now that my "secret" is out, I don't really care what my mom hears.  Such a liberating feeling!!  Seriously.

Anywho, then we went to Stacy's house.  We goofed around and had a photo shoot.  She got me in a dress... a couple actually.  I think the last time I wore a skirt or dress was age 7ish).  Full on make up.  Naughty expressions.  This woman can get me to do so many things.  Several weeks ago she had me at a pub drinking and dancing... with a Navy guy even (who I later found out was bi too, go figure... I could have been the meat in a man sandwich, damn!  I'm kidding...).  Dudes bought my drinks.  That was a first.  That was so much fun.  I've had a lot of firsts this year.  I've learned that saying "yes" to things makes life more fun and interesting.  It helps that I feel totally comfortable around Stacy.  That's a rare feeling generally for me.  I love her family too.  They all know the "secret" too.  I'm told they had suspicions.  Like my mom.  Like everyone who has ever met me, apparently.  I seem to be transparent without knowing.  It used to be a shocker when someone said, "Yeah, I kinda figured."  Now, I'm saying, "Oh... you too, huh?  I'll add you to the list!"

Anyway, I guess I should sleep before I wake this chick up and she wants to kill me ;p

Finally, I get around to part two of my end of college story, LOL.

To continue the story....
The second uber big deal was the Graphic Design Portfolio Show.  He had it in the Flagler College auditorium as they do every semester.  It's always held the last Thursday of the semester at 7pm, so I end up staying in the dorms even if I'm done with finals until Friday morning.  I'm never in a rush to leave anyway.  I hate moving all of my crap out.

The show is for the graduating graphic design seniors to show off their work, their passion, and their time at Flagler.  Up until ours, it has always been just us Graphic Design students.  This time we shared the auditorium with the Bachelor of Fine Arts students for the first time ever.

We "rehearsed" at noon that Thursday.  Set up the tables on stage for our portfolios and other goodies.  I made sure to be dressed up in violet, of course.  And by 6:30pm we all came back to the auditorium.  I was so excited.  I couldn't wait to see our video.  Every year there is a video that they play during the show that features the students working and playing.  Showing who we are and a sample of our work.  The difference this time was our professor hired a student from another college that she knew to film us and make a video for us.  Previous years the current portfolio professor or the students would make the video.

Fifthteen minutes before the show we went out to open the doors so everyone could come in the lobby and hang out.  We were running down to the wire and the video wasn't set up yet.  Then they had issues with the video and couldn't get it to work.  We had to go and entertain the crowd.  A fellow classmate and I decided to guard one set of doors from the lobby into the auditorium.  It was quite comical.  I met up with my mother, my brother and his girlfriend all in the lobby.  Our professors, families, friends, other students, and people from around town were there.  Everyone was welcome.  I don't know how long it took to get the video ready and finally let the guests in, but that's graphic designers for you (as my experience up until now has been).  Do we EVER as a group start anything on time? LOL

Anywho, the show started.  They BFA students had a little slide show and moment to get on stage.  Then we had our video and our professor gushed about us, talked about our accomplishments, and thanked everyone involved.  She was choking up!  I swear, she'll ride you to get work done and make it the best design possible, but she's the sweetest professor ever.  The best of both worlds.  Well, our professor called us up on stage where we received our applause and we gave our gift to our professor.  Next the video screen went up and we went to our tables where we had our portfolios for the audience to come up on stage and look at.  Quite a few people looked at mine.  It was fun seeing what pieces people responded to.  BTW, by then I had fixed the book.  Remember part of it came apart during review day.  It will never come apart again, LOL.  I love my portfolio book!

After the show I went out to eat with my guests.  We went to Denny's.  My mom and I love the Denny's down the road.  It was such a fun night.  Every design class, every design project... all of our hard work in college ended there that night.  It was beautiful.  I would have loved to have invited friends, but it was a late show on a Thursday... not exactly convenient.

I'm supposed to be getting a copy of the video on DVD in the mail.  Can't wait to watch it again!!  It seriously rocked.  The dude who put it together did a fabulous job of showing our personalities.

Wow, so I need to update this thingy!  I graduated from Flagler College on the 25th!!  I already miss Flagler and St. Augustine!

I guess I should go through all of the life changing events that led up to graduation and graduation itself.

FIRST major deal was the AIGA Jacksonville Portfolio Review on the 18th.  We had to have our portfolios ready to go.  Our business cards, resumes, leave behind items all ready to go.  Dressed for professionalism.  I didn't sleep the night before.  I was working frantically up to the very last minute, no joke.  What's new, right? LOL  I bit of more than I could chew this time though when it came to making my book.  Our class drove down to be there at 9:30am.  Nerves were shaking as we all sat in the waiting room watching the other students arrive and the reviewers arrive... like in this photo..... LOL, you can see me on the left behind that bald dude.  My friend from community college was looking at my book... that bright green book there next to me...


(Photo belongs to AIGA Jacksonville)

There were about 50 reviewers there.  I only got to present my portfolio to six reviewers, but that was enough for me.  Some people went for a 7th, but I had mentally checked out by then.  I expected to see A LOT more people but each one spent quite a while with me.  It was really cool.  It was all at random.  We got a number, went to the reviewer, came back, and waited for our next.  The reviewers were interesting and helpful.  They were all professionals in the business of course, professors, art directors, etc.  So cool!  My first one tore me up.  Woof, that was kinda scary.  But probably the most helpful.  Sad thing is, my book fell apart at one part where a page started to peel (I hand made my book), so that was embarrassing, but I managed. 

I got a lot of compliments on my work.  And on my attire, LOL.  You see, I dressed to match my portfolio.  My brand colors are violet and lime green (my fav colors!)  My portfolio is BRIGHT lime green.  I wore I black suit with a bright lime green dress shirt.  And of course, I had my black and violet hair.  People LOVED it.  They kept stopping me to compliment my physical presentation.  One guy working this event even came to me to say that people were really digging the fact that I matched my portfolio.  I honestly did not expect that.  I just hoped it would help make me a little more memorable.  Sure made me smile and feel accomplished, LOL!

Our competition was the University of Florida and a few other colleges.  I honestly don't remember which ones, but when it came to the top ten portfolios, we handed their asses to them.  When it was narrowed down to the top three, Flagler took the top two spots.  That's the best Flagler had ever done at the review.  We made our college proud. 

One other cool thing.  An old friend was there.  I met him again very recently at one of the events before the portfolio review about tips for your portfolio.  He came up to me and asked what my name was.  All of a sudden it dawned on me that it was my friend from community college.  Dude, we hadn't been in contact with each other in 5 years!  He came to that, the speaker event the night before, and to the portfolio review too.  It was great catching up with him.  He graduated a couple years ago and was at the review to see others' work and give feedback, which he did for me as well.

It was a long day.  By 6pm it was over and we were all exhausted.  See look at me in this photo.... I have that "Can we go now? I want out of this joint!" look on my face...


(Photo belongs to AIGA Jacksonville)

We ended up going to a party that one of our fellow students and his parents threw for us, while we were still in Jacksonville.  What a great way to end such a day.  After that I think we all went home and passed out, LOL.  Definitely, a day I'll never forget.

AHHHH!!!  I can't believe it.  It's finally here.  Rehearsal was yesterday at Flagler College and it all felt so strange that this is finally happening for me.  All of that hard work is getting me a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design!!  Cum Laude, baby.

BTW, the portfolio show Thursday was the best portfolio show ever. 

I'll have to elaborate when I have more time.  Been crazy busy!  There are a lot of people to give thanks to for being a part of my life and helping me to grow into the person I am now.  I'll be thinking of you guys while I'm sitting there at the graduation ceremony... especially those of you who are the reason I'm still around to enjoy this part of my life :)