Stephens is my Valentine!!

Yay!!! Valentines Day was so sweet this year! Stephens took so much care of me this year- and it's a good thing too because this might be my last Valentines Day alone for a while- graduation means a big girl apartment in the same town as my boyfriend! 

Also- don't know if you guys knew this or not, but it turns out the real meaning of Valentines Day (especially at this girl's school) is cookies.

Yep. Cookies.

Well, plus these amazing cupcakes we decorated ourselves thanks to our baker, Micah. He spoils us, can't you tell?

Also note the genius of Carolyn. She filled chocolate...with chocolate...genius.

Also note the majesty of Arianne's cupcake decorating skills!

And then after cupcakes I was gifted with cookies from the camera supply closet! 

BUT OH MY GOSH THEY WEREN'T JUST COOKIES WERE THEY?

NO THEY WERE NOT! 

THEY WERE DR.WHO COOKIES! 

WITH TARDIS'S ON THEM!

And then we had bubbles in class! 

And then, well, did I mention cookies?

Yes. Yes I think I did. 

Happy Valentines Day to all of you lovely ladies!! 

(and to George, who reads my blog more regularly than I do! I miss you!)

love, rudi

Distractions

This month's lesson is about distraction.

Which is probably the worst timed lesson I've ever had, because this is my last semester in college and there are things to do. All of the things to do. All of them. And I have until the fourth day in May to do them.
But I tell you what's odd. For the past three years I've been so focused, so channeled onto goals and working and the future that distraction has been a very small concern in the past, and I'm not exactly sure how to deal with this.
But also never before have I been newly 21 with way too many friends inviting me to way to many great parties and game nights and gallery openings and 'hey let's go grab a drink and brainstorm' date nights.

Hey, that counts as practicing networking skills, right?

On the positive side, I am carpe-ing all the diem Columbia seems to offer. On the negative side, I maybe didn't finish that diagram of the anterior torso exactly on time. Another semi-plus side, though, is that I never turn in late work. I'm just cashing in my 'bad student' chips while I'm still a student.

love, rudi

Goals: Accomplished!

Before pulling together my new years resolutions, I thought it would be wise to go over those goals that I set for myself at the beginning of this semester. Remember that post?

1. Keep up the good work!
    I think I've done a great job preventing myself from burning out, and I came out of this semester with several portfolio-worthy pieces! Not to mention I conquered three of my biggest fears- learning Photoshop, drawing, and attempting to paint. Not too shabby at all!

2. More pictures!
   This goal may never truly be accomplished- you can never take too many pictures- but I do think that I could still do a better job. I have been really good about carrying my camera around everywhere I go, so that's a solid start. I give myself a B for this one.

3. Watch less TV.
   Okay. This one was going to be the hardest from the beginning. In fact, I'm watching an episode of Portlandia as I type this. I'm still addicted to TV (starting Dr. Who didn't help), but the reason I wanted to cool it on the Netflix in the first place was to make sure I got out of my room and got a good start on goal 4, and since goal 4 was accomplished despite my TV watching, the addict inside me is wondering if I could just keep my vice.

4. Find my people.
    Totally accomplished this one! I've really connected to people that I wanted to be closer to, and I've taken some big efforts to get to know my acquaintances better. I've even got a weekly girls night tradition started up!

5. Lose the cynicism.
    It's amazing what a change of perspective and a few new people can do for you. My headspace has been so much more positive since the beginning of the semester, and it happened at just the right time. Who wants to graduate and start life with a bunch of gunky, negative thoughts in their head?

I'll be back soon with some updated goals! Do any of you have suggestions or resolutions of your own? Please leave me a comment about them!

love, rudi

Happy Winter Solstice!

My family has been in a year-long journey of finding a new house and hopping around the Durham, NC area, so in the meantime most of our stuff has been hidden away in storage. Christmastime, then, (or 'Kissmas' as Sadie calls it) hasn't been full of the usual traditions and vintage decorations, but I'm loving the makeshift celebrations we've been exploring to compensate.

Today, for instance, we decorated our first real tree! Having a real tree, and not our usual re-usable one, has always been a dream of mine. We decided to celebrate the winter solstice like Little Bear does and decorated our tree outside with edible snacks for birds and squirrels. My fingers are a little red from getting poked by pinecones, but I'd say it's definitely been worth it! Hopefully soon I'll have photos of our woodland neighbors enjoying their Christmas dinners. :)

Enjoy your traditions this year, and maybe try adding a new one to your list! 

love, rudi

Officially Post-Grad

My Christmas break started out just right with Truchi's graduation! I've gotta say I'm over the moon proud of this guy.

These are just a few of my favorite pictures from Saturday. Isn't his grandpa so cute and smiley?

The best part of his graduation might be the reminder that my own is coming up quickly, and after that he and I will finally be together, signing a lease somewhere, picking out what type of juice to buy at the grocery, and buying a couch.

I'm seriously excited about having my own couch.

love, rudi

Stop Being Busy

Fox on the Run

I'd say that I've learned two really big life skills during my time here at Stephens.

The first is how to work hard. My first year at Stephens I was an always-working, in-the-shop, up-til-three theatre major, and these past two years I've been a never-stop-thinking, late-night-labbing, always-problem-solving graphic designer.  Stephens women as a rule seem to never be satisfied having an open spot in their schedules- we're notorious busier-than-you's. When I think about the amount of work I've produced in just two and a half years, my head spins. The meaning of 'busy' has been completely redefined for me.

This leads me to the second life lesson, which is how to be un-busy. It's more than just browsing Facebook or sitting around Stamper for an extra hour- intentionally and deliberately relaxing is a whole different genre. It's the difference between procrastinating (read: wasting time) and doing something intentionally nice for yourself before starting up on those website design edits. I always used to think that if you weren't constantly working, you weren't doing a good enough job. Now, though, I can honestly say that I have personally stopped the glorification of busy.

love, rudi

Animal Halloween!

Did you know dogster.com rated Stephens as the Number 1 Most Pet Friendly College in the nation? We've also been on the Today Show for our pet-friendly policies. 

I've been cursed with cat and dog allergies, but that certainly doesn't stop me from getting a little puppy love whenever the girls are walking their dogs. Around Halloween one of our dorms held a pet costume contest, and it was 'TheBestThingThat'sEverHappenedToMe'. I'm just going to show you all the pictures and let the adorableness speak for itself. 

 This is Lily (the dog) whom Allison (the human) dyed blue to be a pond!

 Look at that worried look!

And this princess fairy missed the party, which is almost as sad as it is cute.

Just wanted to share this with you guys. I hadn't squealed so much in a long time.

love, rudi

Fall in Missouri

Sunday morning I spent some time wondering around the woods with my incredibly creative friend Dani Kelley. She's got the best mind for original ideas for stories for the campus newspaper, photoshoot, and design- plus she doesn't let ambitious goals stop her from trying. She's the kind of girl that would seriously rock a collaborative project.

So you get it- she's awesome. Well it turns out she's also gorgeous to photograph! We talked about her centaur spirit. I'm really glad we took some time out of our busy schedules to play in the woods.

love, rudi

How to Find Your Calling

So here we are, in the design studio and it's 12:41 in the morning. Neither Crystal or I really have to be here right now- there's nothing due first thing in the morning, we're not panicking over a project like usual; we're just working happily.

So it seems that I've had a small revelation to share with you- especially if you're still in high school searching for colleges, or just a person searching for anything at all.

I've realized that the definition of 'passion' or 'doing what you love' really just boils down to doing something that's intuitive to you. For instance, I was just watching Project Runway and a designer mentioned how he needed to 'add luxe' to his pieces. I can't even imagine how he would do that, but I realized that I would absolutely know what to do to 'add luxe' to a poster or magazine layout. Maybe this post is just a nugget of advice for freshmen and any high schoolers reading. Whatever you do, just know that you don't need to be great at it (and you never need to become the best), you don't need to have ever done it before, but you do need to have a little intuition.

Just a tiny, tiny bit. 

love, rudi

PS. Huge thanks to Quinn for playing photographer tonight!

Exploring the North Village Arts District

It's been a busy weekend so far, ya'll! My friends Kelly and Allia asked me to help out at their fashion show on Friday night. They design crazy clothes for The House of Vansickle, and the show was a part of Columbia's Artrageous Friday. I'm in the 'burlesque cowgirl' outfit.

Then today I helped out my friend Michelle (in the hat below) make masks for a Where the Wild Things Are themed mini-fest at the Orr Street artist studios downtown. I can't believe it's taken me three years before getting involved with this part of the community!

This is a peacock mask that I helped work on for a long time. It turned out so well!

Lesson learned? In the future I want to realize where I live and where it keeps it's treasures.

love, rudi

Presents!

On this impossible hard day, in this impossibly hard week, I was thrilled to see a little sticker-covered box in the mail. Does it get any better than this? Note the Ultra Pepper Spray System that sounds alarms, flashes light, sprays, and makes you an ice cream cone after you get attacked.

Just kidding about that ice cream. 

I love my family.  

love, rudi