It has been snowing for the past two days straight and it is so lovely! Christmas was very nice. I felt so blessed; so many gifts, so much food, surrounded by family and in a beautiful and warm home. It was a great Christmas.

I'm going through withdrawal from my friends however and although I love being with my family, I'm so ready to be back at school. haha The last couple of days has encompassed way too much T.V. watching! (There's a chance I could be going stir crazy at this point.)

Currently looking forward to:
Going to the cities for New Years with friends!
Snowboarding in the near future
No classes until Feb 22!
Leave for Aussieland Feb 10!

Tab

t-minus 8 days to Christmas...
I can't believe that is actually true. December has come and halfway gone at lightspeeds. The incredible thing is I feel like I've gotten much less busy over the past month 1/2 than I was for the first half of the semester. As always of course there have been deadlines, cramming for tests and last minute finishing of projects, but when is that not the case?

Today is our first day of finals...
I had an 8 a.m. this morning but it was really very easy. Art students are kind of slackers when it comes to finals. For example, our final consisted of showing the web page that we designed for our latest project. http://studentweb.uwstout.edu/blanchardt/home.html Feel free to check it out. Now that it is done I see a ton of things that I'd like to go back and change/fix. Also note that I am an interior design student NOT a graphic designer. I do not understand nor do I like dreamweaver in the least bit! So if you happen to think my webpage sucks, you're opinion is probably quite accurate. hah!

I also hit the slopes this last weekend and went snowboarding at Afton with a group of friends. It was FREEZING outside but stil, oh so much fun! I was sooooo pumped to go, there was definitely a lot of jamming to some hard core tunes on the way up there.

Other recent/upcoming events:
attended an Anberlin concert
made my first martini (a cosmo)
leaving for Australia in less than 2 months
I went Christmas shopping more than a week prior to Christmas....a true miracle!

haha, h'okay...
I'm getting a little long winded now. Hope you all have an amazing Christmas season.
Love, Joy, lots of hugs,
Tabitha Ruth

I am so stinkin tired I could fall asleep right now. I could just lay my head on my laptop, close my eyes, and not wake up for an infinite number of hours. It's so hard to sit through class when you only running on 4 1/2 hours of sleeeeeep. One day, when I grow up, I'll know what it feels like to get the proper amount of sleep. For the time being however I am looking forward to not having any class for the second half of this week.

I am going to sleep in, and do nothing at all. (Well this may actually be a good opportunity to clean my room...?) I think the thing I am most excited for is the Anberlin concert I am going to on Saturday. I have been looking forward to this for a looooong time and I am stoked.

mk...I am going to stop being a slacker now and get back to work.
Ciao

So I thought this last week was just going to be crazy busy but it didn't turn out bad at all! I had my mid-program review schedule this morning. For those of you who have no idea what a "mid-program review" is, it's for all art students who are halfway through their program to go through a short evaluation process by some of the art and design faculty. It's similar to what an interview would be like, but just a good way to gauge how you're coming along in the program and what you need to work on, etc. Anyway, people talk it up about how scary it is and how they've seen others come out crying and all that good stuff. So it was a little intimidating going in but I'm so pumped now!

I got some great feedback from various professors, two of which I've either had before or currently have. It was a good reality check and gives me a good basis for setting some goals for the next year or two until graduation. ps-our professors here rock. They were all so chill and cool. I love them! Anyway...

I also must add that it snowed this morning which was totally random. I went into my review with it being sunny and brisk outside and came out with a dusting of snow on the ground and HUGE flakes falling through the air! It was incredible.

This is good for now.
I'm ready for some R&R!

I love Machiatos!

The weather sucks. I'm just going to be very honest. It has been raining off and on for the past two weeks! (if not longer) and this is absolutely rediculous. I don't think autumn in Wisconsin is suppose to be this rainy. It is suppose to be brisk and cool and colorful and sunny and beautiful. There has been little of that in the past few weeks. Grrrrr....that's what I think!

Other than the somewhat depressing weather things have been going amazing. I came to the relization that this semester is almost halfway over already. That's hard to believe because I feel like we just started!

Work seems to be taking over my life right now too- however I still LOVE both my jobs and can't imagine giving either of them up. Last week I was able to go to the Nations largest College Fair to represent Stout. I basically stood at our booth and talked with high school students and parents about what Stout has to offer and what life is like here. It was so fun I would love to do it again! It was worth getting up at 5:45 a.m.---I guess.

Well....I'm in class and I should probably be paying attention. I know....
Tabi

....
I'm going to Australia! Woot woot! I was recently accepted into the study abroad program for Southern Cross University in Australia and I am uber excited. I will have to keep updating on all of this but everything is still in the process so yeah...

um...
On a more depressing note, I have a sociology quiz in about 20 minutes. blech. Quizzes. Not so exciting. Sad day. That's all I have to say about that.

Oh yes- last year I wrote a blog about going on a field trip to an Alpaca farm for my textiles class. I thought it was cute when last night one of my roommates mentioned that she was going on the same field trip today for her textiles class. It just brought back some distict memories of trapsing sthrough the alpaca manuer with 50 other interior and apparel design girls. hehe Good times!

Tab-Tab

I just spent the last two hours designing floor plans for my very first Interior's project! I am so stoked right now and I am glad to be able to say this is the one class that I can't wait to go home and work on my homework for! It's not even due for a week and I've already begun working on it! For me this is quite a shocking phenomenon.

On a slighly more disappointing note; I ate about half of a large ziploc bag of puppy chow tonight (along with the help of a friend of course!). It was one of those situations where I didn't really have control over my hand as it reached down and put another handful of deliciously unhealthy food into mymouth. What is a girl to do? ...The only thing that saved me from this tragic deed was the wisdom of these words: Out of sight, out of mind.

Well, I should learn that the later I go to bed, the easier it is for me to ignore my alarm. For that reason, I am off to bed.
Tabi love long time

So, I've had the most incredible day so far! Let me share with you....

This morning, unfortunately, I woke up at 8:06 for my 8:00 a.m. class. I weighed my opportunity cost and decided agaist walking in 20 or 30 minutes late. I had a lot of stuff to catch up on so I figured I would utilize my extra couple of hours. After lollygagging for awhile, getting ready, etc. I rented out a digital camera from the library for a project I am working on in my Digital Imaging class. (The one I missed this morning.) Hey, it totally counts that I worked out my project outside of class right??? Anyway...

For my project I am photoshopping three posters that represent a surreal story, anything I want to portray. My idea started with a "candy-land" theme and has morphed into this hilariuos juxtaposition of showing "candy-people" do various everyday activities. I.E. A candy person sitting in a dentist chair is going to be one of my posters. So for my out of class work this morning I stopped by a dentist office in Menomonie to see if they would let me take a picture of one of their dentist rooms.

Amazingly enough, the owner (?) upon realizing that I am an art student at Stout asked if I'd like to design a Smile Book for their office. He is looking for something more interesting than the simple before/after smile pictures and is paying me to design such a book! I was absolutely ecstatic!

I think it may have made up for the disappointment of missing class this morning.....maybe?
Tab-Tab

So, it's about time I post a new blog. This will be just a quick update of what has happened over the past couple of weeks; hopefully I will be able to update in more detail a little later.
- I now consider myself a "Raw Dealer"
Def: one who has a helpless addiction to coffee and visits the Raw Deal on a daily basis to curb their caffiene and coffee shop cravings. Usually known by name by all the barista's/employees.
- Classes started last week; including my Interiors I class. Not much to say about this other than, it's class; there's homework, quizzes, projects, deadlines and procrastination.
- I am now waitressing at Zanzibar restaurant and loving it. (Even though I've only worked three times, it's amazing.) ps-if you ever want to try some rediculously good martini's, like Key Lime Martini- which I haven't tried, but people keep ordering and I really want to- you should stop in!

It's time for some burracho's nachos! hehe
Peace

As I recall from my last blog only a couple weeks ago the weather was torturous. Since then we have gotten snow, rain, and bone chilling cold winds. But, yes there is a but; I truly believe that the things have finally taken a permanent change for the better. (Or at least I hope so.) We once again have our sunny beautiful spring weather. YAY!
Unfortunately, as lovely as the weather has been I still find myself stressing about projects and papers and presentations on a daily basis. But we're T-minus 3(ish) weeks and counting until the end of school. Woot!

Well, I'm going to get kicked out of my chair in a matter of seconds so this is it for today.
HUGS
Tabitha Ruth

I'm back....already! hehe

Right now I am sitting in my favorite coffee shop, The Raw Deal, sipping a steaming hot Chai, and chowing away on a lovely lemon chream cheese bar. This is what I usually do at about 9 o'clock every day.... I'm pretty sure I now classify as a "regular". How exciting!

And for a little recap from since last week---
The weather was goreous last weekend (and Monday). Record highs even! Mini-skirts and t-shirts as far as the eye could seeeee! But alas, I must face realit, I live in WISCONSIN. It's MARCH. How could I even trick myself into thinking we were done with our harshly cold weather. *sigh* It's been cloudy, rainy and windy for the past two days. But I can still tell, Spring is just around the corner.

Alright, enough of this complaining. I'm going to enjoy my Chai!
Tabitha Ruth

The beginning of another post. There's so much going on.

First off, I went on my first ever Stout Adventures trip. This was also my first kayaking experience! Needless to say, it was amazing! I'm sure my fellow emloyee, Jeff Keenan, will be posting about his experiences on the trip as well. We spent 5 days "yakin" on Lake Powell, Utah, and the remaining 2 days hiking in Arches Nat. Park. The weather was stinkin' gorgeous! Did I mention I got an amazing tan? And I'll be the first to admit that I'm the only one who rolled my kayak on the entire trip! Gotta love 50 degree water!

However, reality has now hit as I am back from the beautiful desert of Utah where project deadlines and test cramming have once again become my foremost obsession. The bright side...? Only seven weeks left and I'm halfway done with my college career. Whoah, that's kind of scary!

In other news, I would now consider myself a regular at our local coffee shop, the Raw Deal. I'm even beginning to branch out and try some new raw foods which they sell at the Raw Deal. It's an amazing place and has gotten me thinking about how I can live a healthier lifestyle...which is probably kind of important! hehe

Time to wrap things up.
Tabitha Ruth

ps-spring break pictures to come....

The beginning of another post. There's so much going on.

First off, I went on my first ever Stout Adventures trip. This was also my first kayaking experience! Needless to say, it was amazing! I'm sure my fellow emloyee, Jeff Keenan, will be posting about his experiences on the trip as well. We spent 5 days "yakin" on Lake Powell, Utah, and the remaining 2 days hiking in Arches Nat. Park. The weather was stinkin' gorgeous! Did I mention I got an amazing tan? And I'll be the first to admit that I'm the only one who rolled my kayak on the entire trip! Gotta love 50 degree water!

However, reality has now hit as I am back from the beautiful desert of Utah where project deadlines and test cramming have once again become my foremost obsession. The bright side...? Only seven weeks left and I'm halfway done with my college career. Whoah, that's kind of scary!

In other news, I would now consider myself a regular at our local coffee shop, the Raw Deal. I'm even beginning to branch out and try some new raw foods which they sell at the Raw Deal. It's an amazing place and has gotten me thinking about how I can live a healthier lifestyle...which is probably kind of important! hehe

Time to wrap things up.
Tabitha Ruth

ps-spring break pictures to come....

Dearest readers,
It's been awhile- once again- and for that I apologize- once again. haha
So much has been happening I'm not sure where to begin. My best friend who used to live across the hall now lives across the room from me. We've started making good use of the kitchen, just down the hall. Breakfasts have become a usual tradition and a great start to my day anyway.
I've also developed a lovely habbit of baking up a batch of homemade cookies every now and then. It's a wonderful way to relax and maybe gain a few pounds??? hehe
In other news, track has pretty much taken over my life. I'm even contemplating just moving my bed and entire wardrobe to the fieldhouse, seeing as how I practically live there anway! But who's complaing??? Not I! For the first time in my life I have a...2 pack? (my version of a six pack.) haha, I'll bet you're jealous now!
Okay, this is enough for today. Work calls my name. Time to be productive.

Still Alive,
Tabi

Oh man, are we really almost done with our first week of classes? I can't believe I am running out of clean clothes, I just spent 100 dollars on art supplies...AGAIN, I turned in my first of many homework assignments and we had our first track meet already! Just a snapshot of what my life looks like throughout the school year.

That's all I have time for right now.
Toodles....
Tabitha Ruth