Before and After: Adam's room

My cousin Adam decided a few months ago, that he was ready to take his room from little boy themed to a teenage grown up room. My aunt asked if I would help with this transition by painting and getting new bedding for his room, and of course I said yes. Adam originally told me he wanted a Florida Gators blue bedroom. Dee and I were both reluctant, but it's his room so we went with it. I quickly drew out the room on SketchUp and played with different colors going along with the Florida Gators idea. When he saw what I had come up with, he almost instantly decided not to go the Florida route, in fear that it would become another themed room. (Dee and I were both a little relieved at that point). So we started talking about other color options, and I tried to get an idea of what he wanted his room to be like. When he saw the color I had painted my room, he fell in love and instantly decided to go with grey. So, I got the paint, bought the bedding, picked out some fabulous curtains, and got to work. After 4 very LONG days of painting and setting up, this was the result:

Before:

After:

After 4 days, 3 gallons of paint, some new bedding and curtains, and I think I succeeded!

Jessica Rose

I've been meaning to continue my posts about my best friends, and then finals came around and I forgot all about it. So lets continue...

Jessica was my lovely roommate this year. The story of our friendship is pretty interesting but oh so incredible. Last year, the IHFC club on campus (Interiors and Home Furnishings Club) took a trip to Charleston. Jodi, Meghan, and I (the only sophomores on the trip) knew we wanted to share a room but needed a fourth person. Jodi quickly told us how much she loved Jessica, how sweet she was, and that she'd make a great 4th roommate. We all said ok, and off to Charleston we went. It was an incredible weekend, and we all had a blast. Jodi was right, Jessica was a very sweet girl and we all got along great. However, to be honest lol we never really hung out or saw each other again that year (mainly because of projects). When it came time to choose housing for our Junior year, Meredith, Katy, and I decided to live together. I didn't have anyone to share a room with, so we just left it up to the school to choose. The person they put us with first, was well....just not going to work. So I asked the school to find another option. Little did I know that they would email me later that summer saying Jessica Rose was my new roommate. My first thought was please let it be the same Jessica, and it was! I was so excited to know the person I was living with, but I had no idea it would turn into such a great friendship. After that, the rest is pretty much history. Our year was great, we got along SO well, and have become such great friends! So here are a few of the things I love about Jessica:

1. She has the most incredible time management skills.
2. She is the CAD/Revit/Design princess!
3. She is just as much of a neat freak as I am.
4. She is my crafting/creativity buddy.
5. She loves Army Wives.
6. We walked between Chase and Trevor together. (that's where our true friendship began.)
7. She and I can sit up into the wee hours of the night talking without ever running out of things to talk about.
8. She is always on time for our 11 o'clock chats with Meredith.
9. She understands what I'm thinking with just a glance of the eye.
10. She will sit and listen to us rant about anything relating to Design.
11. She, more than anyone, shares my love of hanging out and laughing at all the crazy things Meredith does/says.
12. She is the best eavesdropping partner anyone can ask for!
13. She and I share a deep love of the nights when we get to close the curtains.
14. We can both easily sleep until 1pm.
15. She has a boyfriend who understands color-ways and their importance.
16. She will gladly lock herself in a room with me for tear-jerker sundays.
17. She has gained an official, and coveted spot as the 5th member of the ID5.
18. She passed Meredith's initiation.
19. She has slept with both me and Jodi now.
20. She's living with us next year!
21. She is always up for an ice cream trip to norton.
22. She loves to play tricks on people.
23. She taught me everything I know about how to navigate Market.
24. She's not afraid to explore and take ridiculous pictures with me (especially at market).

Jessica, thank you for helping make this my best year of college yet! I could not have asked for a better roommate or friend. Thank you for listening to my countless hours of random thoughts, and being for there for me when times got hard. You are one of the sweetest, most loving, understanding, and patient people I know. I'm so happy to call you my friend and cannot wait for next year! Love you and I miss you!

God's perfect timing

As I mentioned in my last post, God truly shined through when it came to getting this summer course. This may seem like a small thing to some of you, and I'll be honest, I almost overlooked it myself. But the Lord came through, like he always does, and I'd be a fool to not share how he blessed me.

So a few weeks before the end of my semester, I happened to check my class records to make sure I was on track, and kind of get an idea of what my final year of college would look like. Much to my surprise, as I read through and wrote down everything I needed, I quickly realized that I was not going to graduate on time. Somehow I was 2 classes behind, and lets just say I had a minor freak out. I quickly scheduled an appointment with my advisor and we walked through each class. I was going to have to take a full semester load both semesters and still have to take one course over the summer. There were two issues I had with this:

1. I had paid a LOT of money for my schooling and it was infuriating that I now had to pay for a class outside of school.

2. A full course load 2nd semester next year, meant stress times 100. Senior Seminar is 2nd semester and that class could be a full course load by itself.

So I called my mom, and basically decided that I'd try to get into 2 courses this summer: Biology and Sociology. I looked up classes, found some I was interested in, got them approved by the school, and sent my applications in. At this point, I thought I was good to go. Wrong. Once I got accepted at A&T (where the Bio class was) I put the form in to be entered into that course and got a quick response that the it was full. My heart sank but I didn't give up. I emailed the professor, explained my situation, and thought he would let me into the course. Wrong again.

So since Biology was full, I tried for Sociology. That class was full too. Apparently I had applied too late and it was looking like I was out of luck for both classes. Now I was beginning to really worry, and had another minor freak out. So I prayed, and prayed and was left basically to trust God to handle things. I had almost given up when my aunt recommended checking NCSU for my classes. I looked and they had a Sociology and a Biology class. I was feeling a little better and thought things were looking up again - I wasn't completely wrong this time. My school, refused to approve the biology class but they would approve sociology. I desperately wanted to take my Biology over the summer because it's so hard to fit in with my studio courses at school, but I figured I would at least get one class done, and could graduate on time. So I applied, got approved, registered, and paid for the class. I wasn't thrilled with the situation but it was better than nothing, and I thanked the Lord, and put it all on the back burner as I finished up the semester.

It wasn't until last week that I really thought about my summer class at all. While working at the Church, I got a call from my A&T advisor (where the first bio class was), saying that a spot had opened up for the Biology class and if I wanted in, all I had to do was pay. I was SO excited but had to take a step back and really look at things.

1. I had already paid for my sociology class.
2. I had to take an extra class 2nd semester next year so there was no point in taking 2 classes this summer if I was going to have to pay for another one at school anyways.
3. Money is pretty tight so I definitely couldn't pay for two classes this summer.
4. If NCSU wouldn't give me my money back for the sociology class, I would have to stay in it even though I desperately wanted to take Biology instead.

I called my mom, explained what was going on, and then quickly called NCSU. It was 4 o'clock at this point, so I knew my time to catch someone in the office was running out. I contacted NCSU and they said that since the class had not started yet, all I had to do was drop it from my schedule and they would give me a full refund of my money. A FULL REFUND! Now come on, you can't tell me that's not God's handy work right there! I was thrilled! So I quickly called A&T back, she added me to the Biology course, and the next day I was able to pay.

God is SO good! He got me into the class I needed, I will be able to graduate on time, I won't have to take a full course load with senior seminar, and by getting into this class he saved me almost $150!

Thank you Lord for your blessings and watching over me every step of the way. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayers. Even in the smallest things you are faithful and I'm so thankful for everything!

"But those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." -Isaiah 40:31

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and future." -Jeremiah 29:11

Monday Ramblings

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy around here. I finished up my junior year of college with 2 exams, 1 paper, a comprehensive lighting project, and the design/presentation of a model home in High Point. Whew I'm glad that's over with! It was an incredible school year and definitely my favorite one thus far. It was a time of growth and healing for me in so many ways. My friendships strengthened, I gained confidence in myself and in my work, I learned from past mistakes, and I faced battles that once held me down. I began learning how to forgive, my relationship with the Lord got stronger, and I learned what it means to love yourself and others in ways I never knew before. I hadn't realized how much was missing in my life until this year. The Lord, my family, and my friends have been an incredible support to me and I'm so thankful for every single one of them!

Since the summer started I've been up to all kinds of things:

- I had hoped to work at a design firm here in Durham for the first few weeks but things unfortunately ended up not working out. However, I do still get to practice my design skills on my cousin Adam's room! He's ready to go from little boy themed room to a grown up teenage room. I helped organize his sister's room a few months back, and am really excited to help him do his next! We're going with a grey and blue scheme and it's going to look great! Before and after pictures to come later!

-I also just started my summer course. Now let me just say I'm not at all happy that I have to take a summer class, BUT in order to graduate on time, it's a sacrifice I must make. It's only a 5 week online course though so it shouldn't be too bad. This has been a highly stressful topic over the last semester but thank the good Lord, things worked out (He's good at that :D). I'll give you the full story of how good God's timing and will was in this situation tomorrow.

-I have also been working away at kids camp stuff these last two weeks. I'm trying to get all the craft scheduling/preparation squared away so I can begin planning lessons for K-1. As the Early Childhood Development Director this year at camp, I will be in charge of planning and teaching their bible lessons. I'm a little nervous because I've never had to plan and teach this many lessons before, but I'm also excited for the challenge. I know the Lord will use me how he sees fit and it will all be great in the end! My favorite part of camp preparation though, is shopping for all the supplies! Even better, after I finish shopping, I get to go in and organize everything. I love it! It's a very therapeutic process for me :)

-We are also in the throws of wedding preparation. This week was all about invitations. Erin and I spent about an hour putting them together the other night. That part was fast and pretty easy. Addressing the envelopes however, was a whole different story. Once we figured out the "proper" way to address them, we had to decide which pens looked the best. We used 3 different kinds and after trying them, we both agreed none of them really looked good. That was when we got our bright idea to print on the envelopes. Sounds easy right? WRONG! It took us about 3 hours of multiple failed attempts to finally figure out how to make it work. So we typed them all up and went to print. That's when her printer decided to run out of ink. Needless to say, we got more ink and I'm proud to say that the invitations are addressed and look marvelous! It was well worth the 3 hours of trial and error.

-Last but not least, I have spent these last two weeks relaxing and catching up on some much needed sleep. Oh how I've missed sleeping in!

What does the rest of the summer hold you might ask? Well:

• Completion of my online class
• Kids Camp begins in June
• Painting/Decorating of Erin and Stephen's apartment
• Painting/Decorating Adam's room
• A trip to DC to visit my amazing friends Meredith, Jessica, and Jodi!
• Erin's bachelorette party/weekend
• Erin's Wedding!
• and much, much, more!

Preview

Sorry i've been quiet for so long. It was a long couple of weeks finishing up with finals, and i've been pretty busy since I've been home. I'll tell you all about the design opportunities I have coming up this summer, give you a look at my latest design projects, and fill you in on all the little ins and outs of my life over the next few days. Until then, here's a little preview of a post to come. Goodnight :)