10 Reasons Why Growing Up Is Overrated

1. Remember when you were a kid and you wanted to stay up late and watch tv with your parents to see what "grown up life" was like? I must say the only perk about growing up is that when you get paid you can get a nice looking flat screen state of the art gadget with hdtv and a cable box or whatever it is nowadays, but even with all of the alien technology and 500 channels, there is STILL nothing to watch. EVER. Except for cartoons and music videos.
2. I always wanted to get mail when I was younger, maybe have a pen pal from Japan or someplace cool like that, but as an adult a pen pal is better known as a bill collector.
3. Summer is just a bit sunnier when you can wake up on a Monday at 3:00 in the afternoon, take a shower and head to the beach or the pool, take a nap, wake up later like at 12 am and munch on cereal, instead of working 9-5 everyday missing all the good weather. It's like when you grow up it rains on the weekends on purpose.
4. As I get a little older I am finding that kids food isn't the same. This Sunday I had a cheeseburger , a hot dog and a lot of chips and guacamole at a friends bbq, then for dinner I had pizza and this HUGE garlic bread that we thought was our pizza, and this morning I think I will never get over this indigestion. Sucks.
5. Now a days kids have all of these cool toys and things that actually DO something, unlike those gummy toys that you would let sit in water and watch them grow...exciting. I guess you would need an immense amount of imagination for those things.
   
6. High heel shoes and grown up clothes are EXTREMELY over rated. I don't think I was ever the type of youngin to steal my moms shoes and walk around in them, and I think I had some inclination back then that they are the most impractical thing ever. Granted I own a couple but they are definitely not in the most accessible place in my closet.
7. Career day at school was always pretty interesting, I probably never really understood what it meant to have a job and I never knew that to be a doctor or a lawyer you would never finish school, but it was nice to live vicariously through adults for one day.
8. Chuckee Cheese is sooo much more fun when you are oblivious to the germanious, boogery kids that run around in their stinky socks.
9. Being messy when you're little is kind of cute. Even though I am still little in size it is not becoming of me. Sadly I am still working on it.
10. Most of all blog post like these make you realize how good it was to be young no matter what predicament you were blindly in when you were little. Whether your parents were rich or poor didn't matter back then, all that mattered were Saturday morning cartoons and getting chores done, or hiding in order not to do them.
    

I suppose I have some explaining to do...

Welll I must say that it has been a long time since I have actually written a new blog post, but what can I say - I have been enjoying my summer so far and my brain might be partially fried from the sun and its lack of use. I guess I have a lot to write about and I don't really want my brain to die, so I will stop my circumlocution and I will fill you in on my life thus far. :)
Friday - Saturday I went to Pleasantville to visit the love of my life. It was disgustingly pleasant and amazing! I had sooo much fun just chilling with the family, going to parks and just enjoying nature at its best. I was shocked at how clean it was and how not polluted the air was...it just made me happy. I learned how to make homemade pizza, we baked sugar cookies, and had brunch with another one of the loves of my life.

Sunday I went to the pool and swam with my one and only almost 3 year old love and I have to say he wore me out. He had his life vest on and was swimming in the deep end with me and we were looking for the number 3 for like fifteen gazillion hours. Sadly there was no 3 feet in the pool so I think he eventually gave up. After all of that good stuff we went to dinner and Ice T and Coco were sitting across from us!!!! And next to us there was a table of old ladies and they were surprisingly excited that he was there and they asked to take pictures with him. It was soooo funny. I guess they like Law and Order as much as I do.
Going back two weeks ago...I was in the mother land [better known as Dominican Republic] with allllll of my family and all of my cousins and alll of the food that I am probably still processing. It was super nice to go for my sisters wedding ceremony, to celebrate mothers day with my mami and my grandmama, to just chill at the beach and to get black. It was the spring break that I didn't get to have and a vacay that was definitely needed. Lord knows whats in store for me next school year, but I am anticipating it with open arms and a nice tan.

So I've decided...

That hair is completely overrated. I have realized this many times before but I think this time it's serious. I will keep you posted on how this epiphany turns out...muahahahah :]

Thinking at work helps you realize these kinds of things. Actually, It's amazing what you learn at work.

I think I realized from day one that I would never EVER work in the fashion industry...well at least not on the corporate side of things. There is soo much detail and so many things that have to be taken care of, I really don't know how my sister does it. I seriously wish I had an ounce of her organizational skills and her ability to juggle things. That would be AWESOME, but so much for wishful thinking.

Here's a list I've compiled of interesting things i've absorbed from office life:

1. People have very distinct voices. When you are focused and you are trying to avoid your supervisor you will definitely be able to detect their voice and hide or pretend like you're working.
   
2. High school doesn't end when you graduate. Well at least the drama doesn't. The office is full of exciting "he-said-she-said" drama and every other kind of sneaky drama you could think of. Gladly I am only an intern and I get to observe the animalistic "Mean Girl" behavior.
3. Most fascinating thing ever: meetings before meetings. This new specimen of meeting is the equivalent of a team huddle before a big game. Roles are assigned and everyone is on the same page and cheerleaders on the sidelines [i.e. me and whoever else is thankfully not attending the meeting] cheer "GO TEAM! GO!"
4. Forwarding emails to people who have nothing to do with your email is the way to go for some people. For us normal people when we send out an email we expect a quick response, a yes or no answer, a file that we are waiting on to do URGENT updating or simply an answer to a question. To office people it is popular to do none of the above and either a. completely disregard the email and reference someone irrelevant to the subject to give you the answer b. claim to have already sent the file or posted it on the server when clearly you sending the email is the last resort to looking through the black whole that is the computer system or c. if the email receiver is of some sort of "management position" they will probably claim to have emailed you and then when you show them there's nothing, they make the new kid on the block learn how to create, post, email and fly to the damn moon instead of simply sending it themselves.
5. Match.com for co-workers should definitely exist. When it comes to working environments I am definitely blessed with working with the, shall I say, AWESOME girls that I spend my Mondays and Thursday mornings with. I work on an incredible team and I am definitely a proud cheerleader - for every other unfortunate soul visit Match.com or better yet eHarmony, corporate office edition ;]

On a happier note i finally cut my hair and I will post those pictures eventually

Last In Class Painting

Chicken Head

Even when it's done, Shannon will always be a chicken head.
I am thinking of doing another layer of color on it but that will definitely have to come after finals week. I can't wait to be able to post all of the stuff that I will be killing myself this week to get over with :]

On my way "home"

Well I am on my way to see my brother graduate [WOO HOOO!!!!!] :) I'm super excited and as the boarding time approaches I am actually a little exctied to see my parents. But anywho I am going to miss my friends in my "hood." See you guys on Sunday

Work in progress :]

Shannon's a chicken head

This week has been an awesomely insane one, one of very little sleep but really good progress I think. So the first step of my final painting project miraculously dried so i will definitely finish it tomorrow in order for it to be somewhat dry by Wednesday. I am actually pretty excited about it. I have to readjust her lips a bit and fix her chin and some other things but I think all will be good in the hood.

Tacos Pancakes and Paintings

This weekend has been phenomenal. Filled with tacos, pancakes and the newest addition to my permanent collection of people that I love [all of my amazing friends], how could it ever go wrong??? Well for one I have to do a painting and I am clueless, seriously clueless. Maybe I am stressing it a bit to much which is forcing my brain to self destruct and maybe loosing my glasses for a whole 2 hours prior to thinking about painting really made me discouraged. It's kind of scary when I realize how blind I am and how utterly useless the rest of my body is without my eyes. I suppose I am being a bit dramatical.
If there's anything I have learned is that being rational and getting away from whatever is driving me crazy will help me put the pieces together later. So heres the plan:
Tonight I am going to put together my CD cover, take an advil and look at pictures from this weekend to get inspiration.
Tomorrow I am going to work, think about the painting during my lunch break, get home around 6 and work on it.
Hopefully this will help:





They make me happy
xoxox

shannon is the greatest ever
the end

Spring Cleaning :]

It's that time again...when I am completely disconnected from the world for a day or two going through all of the junk I've compiled over the past year in order to give spring a nice new welcoming, but this year I am also making more room in my "cozy abode" for my new pal Hans. Here is a drawing (at least I think it's considered a drawing although it's on canvas board and I used pantone chips and construction paper to work on it :) that I created in honor of the good sir and his gluteus maximus, inspired by the book "Everyone Poops."

Last 2 days = AWESOME!

So I have fallen in love with two AMAZING things in the past two days. My lovely co-worker Jordiemoo bought me a small pig from Vietnam who is probably the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life. My classmate named it Hans and I think I'm going to stick with it. (His full title is "Sir Hans the Pig.") I am seriously in love and I think I am slowly building a collection of unique teddybears/stuffed animals/inanimate objects that I consider to be human in every way possible :].
The second thing that I have fallen in love with is The Naive World exhibition in the Gina gallery. If you haven't seen it you should definitely go!!! The art was amazing and none of the artist were traditionally educated so it was interesting to experience how people see the world and their surroundings objectively and transfer them onto a 2d surface. It was super interesting and it was such an amazing environment, AND they had these salmon samples that were amazing. AND one of the paintings had a small shop named after my sister and my mom:

Spring Paintings

last nude color painting.

last wash in for painting.

End of the year already?!

DUDE!! Today I realized that school will be over in approximately 4 WEEKS! How amazing is that??? I can't wait to finally sleep more than an average of 5 hours and not be a broke college student...for four months at least :}
Well today has been super duper productive. I started my final wash in for the year, and as I transformed my painting from poopy 'raw umber' brown to somewhat life like lights and shadows, I realized that I probably wouldn't have a chance to take painting again, well atleast not with Marvin [lol my prof. is too cool for his last name]. Even though I was a bit stubborn in the beginning of the year and reluctant to shell out big bucks for supplies that I thought were going to be completely irrelevant to my experience at SVA, I must say that I fell in love with listening to oldies and country music for 6 hours for 30 weeks of my life while painting "shapes" instead of huge boobs and funny looking feet.
When I look back at my first paintings, all I can say is: "man that definitely doesn't look right." But now I can say that I have improved quite a bit...not really awesome like the old masters but hey maybe one day.
Hmmmm so that is what the SVA Ad means.

Easily Amused

So I think I am officially addicted to blogging. I am in class and we are on a somewhat break, so no worries sis ;).
Anywho today we are learning InDesign and I must say that I am really fascinated, or extremely off my bonkers. We are learning how to make amazing magazine layouts using drop caps, wrap around text and odd Latin text that I don't understand but will come in handy when I have to create a layout with non-existent or an invisible article, thanks to corporate America and potential issues with deadlines and co-workers...ha. Now that I'm typing this out it must sound really boring but guess what...IT'S NOT! Well at least not for someone who really enjoys talking about types and finding other odd people in the world who can detect the difference between a san-serif and a serif font.
Furthermore, this morning I realized that I had a small reading assignment due for class and I was definitely not looking forward to doing it, but then something amazing happened - I fell in love with the book! The book is called "Thinking With Type" and at first I thought it was an extremely boring book disguised in a hip and cool design. I couldn't have been more wrong. I learned all about ascenders and descenders and humanist letters and decorative letters and everything else that I would've considered irrelevant in my past life.
Maybe I'm not simply easily amused. Maybe, just maybe I really love what I learn and what I will do in the future. Maybe I'm finally realizing why everyone says to me:
"you are the alien that has found her home planet."

Best year of my life...so far ;]

FINALLY! I am done uploading pictures to my blog and it only took me half of my brain cells and sanity to do it :]. Looking at this year I must say that is has been a doozy...an AWESOME one to say the least. And I reeeeaaaaally can't wait until next year...no seriously, this year has been over for me since i picked out my schedule for sophomore year :p.
[classes include Basic Graphic Design, Basic Typography, Drawing with my favoritist teacher in the whole wide world and much much more]
I'm basically taking 7 classes each semester and I will be lost under piles and piles of hw, but that only means that I MUST have high expectations next year and hopefully my brain doesn't explode from absorbing knowledge.
In any case ttyl
xox - K

02. Drawing HW Spring 08

papa bear.

chelsea.

2 friends and a horror film.

01. Drawing HW Spring 08

chloe.

first "block in" assignment.

Nude drawings

Print making

Final Projects Fall 2007

painting. self portrait.

drawing. collage of my rubber duckies.