new website…YAY

today is the first day in three weeks that i have the luxury of sitting around with nothing to do. and when i say nothing to do i am kind of lying because i never have nothing to do in reality…i am just putting it all off at this moment. so this is how i am qualifying why i have not updated my blog in 2 weeks. just too busy.

but i have a slew of things to discuss, the first being that i have a website. granted, it is not my name.com, but it is at least a start. so since i have not updated with any of my work recently, you can check it out at my website. http://auburn.edu/~ankenja

i would say that i promise to keep updating regularly, but lets get honest, that might just be a pipe dream. but in hopes that i do i am saving other updates for other posts.

school blues

it has been such a long time since i updated last. you know how people are made for certain things. my mom’s thing is organization. my dad’s thing is networking. my brother’s thing is being crunchy granola. my thing is not blogging. i wish it were, i really do, but i have such an artist’s mind that i never follow through with my efforts.

and that is what i am learning in school right now. it’s just unfair. i was made with a mind that is gifted for multitasking. you may not think that is gift, but as an artist i think it is. my mind can wonder and come up with wonderfully weird concepts that i never anticipated. but for school this is not a gift. i can’t multitask when i have deadlines. but my creativity is being suppressed. oh my poor, poor creative mind. how can i function with this awful suppression? mom and dad, i think i should quit school. i may only have a semester left, but pish posh.

i will work on my efforts with this blog. maybe i can overcome my school blues and creative suppression. wish me luck!

let it snow

reasons i love living in alabama.

1.people have endearing southern accents.

2.men open doors for women.

3.sweet tea.

4. fried green tomatoes

5. when there is even an inkling that there may be snow, all of alabama cancels school.

that is hands down my favorite thing about alabama. when i received that wonderful text from auburn university yesterday, i chuckled to myself and thought, “man it’s great to be an alabamian.”  while majority of the country continues on with their lives when they have 5 feet of snow, we cancel school and buy 5 gallon bottles of water and 10 loaves of bread with the anticipation of 3 inches of snow. i am not complaining. i am rejoicing. and the winter wonderland today is beautiful. while the roads are totally fine and every business is still open, there are still about 5 inches of snow and it is like a whole new world for us southerners. here are some pictures of our wonderland and my darling snow bunny friends.

such is my life.

again tonight i am choosing to do stupid things instead of studying for the test that is quickly approaching tomorrow. i watched some flash mob videos…15 to be exact. i am ashamed. i shopped on anthropologie and found 7 dresses i want to buy. i am ashamed. i watched the stupidest show ever created on television which still has the ability to suck me in to it’s absurd story lines, Greek. i did this while my study guide was up on my computer so i could tell myself, “i’ll look at it during commercials.” but the thing is, i have DVR, so i fast forward through commercials. i am ashamed. and now here i am writing a blog about coming up with ways to put off studying. i am ashamed. and yet, the ashamedness i feel is not lighting that little studying fire under my rear that it should. such is my life. that fire is rarely ever lit, especially with DVR in the house. why did we get that again? hindsight’s 20/20 right…which is what i will be saying to console myself after this test tomorrow.

what a weird day

3 very strange things happened to me today. they are as follows:

first, i was buying fabric at wal mart to start making a quilt for my new series of work in sculpture, and the black woman, named Andrette by the way, who was cutting my fabric said, “Baby, you too young to be buying fabric that looks like this.” so of course i was offended due to the fact that i picked out the fabric, and despite the fact that it was all beige and had a small flower print all over it, i liked it. so i said, “oh, well why?” so she asked me if i was quilting and i said i was and she said, “Honey, quilting if for old black women or old white women who live in the country. It ain’t for no teenagers.” first of all i am not a teen. second, why are black quilters only old, but white quilters are old and they’re red necks. not okay lady. so i told her i loved to sew and quilt. her response was as follows. “Oh teenagers these days. They try to act so much older than they is. Child, you the first teenage quilter i ever seen. You just need to go watch some t.v.”  the problem with our society. now i love t.v… the office, the bachelor, american idol…i can’t get enough.  but come on Andrette. let me quilt.

second thing, as i was leaving wal mart there was one of those gigantic white trucks that is on hyrdolics and has those metal balls that hang off the back…yes balls…or testes as some would say. for some reason certain boys think they are the masculine kings of the world if they have 9 ft. high trucks and balls. mmmm manly. but anyway, there were two dogs sitting on the tool box in the back of the truck. one was a great dane and one was a tiny white and black dog. and they were just chillin there. i don’t know why but that was so weird to me. so so weird.

third thing. i was eating in the student center with some people. i am never in the student center so this could happen often and i am just not in on the student center goings on. but there were two boys in trench coats and auburn shirts…so, opposite pieces of clothing…with pony tails and they each had some killer white tennies. so they were running up and down the halls near the chick fil a side by side. yes, this is truth. and it happened about 8 times. weird.

lets hope tomorrow i have a day surrounded with normal people and in normal environments. normalcy is not overrated.

and the show was a success…

so a while back i told you all about an art show i was getting together to raise money for my europe trip. well it is now in the past, and i am left with sweet memories of cramming to finish my work and the wonderful array of friends who came to peruse. i am also left with a very nice pocket full of europe funding. thank you friends. but i wanted to show you some of the work that sold and some that i still have. enjoy.

my sweet friend Kelly bought this piece. and she’s an artist. what a compliment!

this piece is still up for grabs. It was my favorite from the show!

these two sold as a set for a little girls room!

new years resolutions/goals

i think new years resolutions are stupid. they are made to be broken. halfway through february you find yourself sitting in your living room feeling stupefied after you have eaten an entire bag of cheetos, a whole half pint of butter pecan ice cream, had an entire block of sharp cheddar cheese and 17 mini chocolate chip cookies and you think, “Welp, guess the diet didn’t work.” this is why i do not believe in new years resolutions. i do however believe in new years goals. the word makes all the difference. because resolution implies that you will resolve all of your past issues. weight, not drinking enough water, not exercising enough, cussing like a sailor, reading people magazine instead of your history book.  however, the word goal implies something you are trying to reach. if you fail, oh well…it was a goal. i know this sounds insane, and that is because it is. i am just trying to find a reason to have new years resolutions look differently so i don’t fail like always. so here are my goals. drink more water (that was mine last year. Ah ha ha). lose some weight (that was also mine last year. Ah ha ha).  Make a 4.0 this semester (this was not one last year but i think it still deserves an Ah ha ha).  so if i fail, i at least expect it. if i don’t, then it’s just a big plus. new years goals are a win win situation.

goodbye 2009

well hello again blogging world. i am sorry i have forgotten you for a while, but i am back. and i figure the appropriate blog topic for today is a farewell to the year 2009. it was a great year in my opinion. and here is to cataloguing some of my favorite moments. first on the list was my 21st birthday in auburn and in napa and in the snow. what a time. tv was at its all time best and most inappropriate. american idol was a winner as was the wonderful season of the bachelorette with jillian. and what could be better than this years season of the office…jim and pam, congratulations. i got pulled over for the first time in 2009 and talked my way out of my first ticket. yesss. i saw the movie that revolutionized my life and inspired me to cook in 2009, julie and julia. i took yoga for the first time in 2009 and realized that such a venture will not occur again in my young life. and my first close friend got engaged, holy crap. i googled other big 2009  events to discuss but unfortunately they all revolve around death. ” Air France flight 447 crashes into the atlantic ocean killing all 288 on board.” “The president of Ginnea-Bissau is assassinated.” “Typhoon Marakot kills 500 and strands over 1,000 in the worst flooding in a century.” And then of course are the deaths of the famous…Michael Jackson, Farrah Faucet, Billy Mays for crying out loud..shabam. thanks a lot wikipedia for ruining my last day in 2009. on to 2010. all i have to say is 2010 is my graduation year, so it better be damn good!!

it really is the most wonderful time of the year

christmas means all things good. no school, presents, fire places, red clothing, candy canes, christmas radio, the grinch. what is not to love about christmas? and my new mentality is, why not start celebrating early. it may not be december yet, but i want to drag this process on as long as humanly possible.  which is why my roommates and i have already decorated our house for christmas and last night took our christmas card picture. well trying to take one picture turned into an entire night devoted to the shooting of this picture. we went to samford hall, toomer’s corner, the old train station in opelika, we made signs and wore scarves and mittens and put on red lip stain. it became quite the event. everyone should get as into christmas card pictures as we do because it makes for a good time. here are some samplings for you. we have made our decision but they are all still fun to look at.

the meagan gibson

so meagan gibson is my friend and she is also very talented at photography. a few weeks ago we set up a shoot both for one of her design classes and my intro class. my final project is going to consist of ten images of my friends holding objects that in some way describe them. meagan took that and ran with it and brought along some wonderful objects for our gang to hold and lie on and stand in front of. the result are wonderful colorful images of meagan’s. if you think she should be a professional photographer, you are not alone. i too think the same. you should hire her to take family photos, engagement photos etc, because she point blank rocks. and then i would tag along to take some film photos and learn from her wonderful compositions and ways. so hats off to you meagan for these photos and more to come in your bright future.

check the whole shoot out at http://gallery.me.com/jbgibson1/100231