Ready or not

Here we go! It's that time of year again.  That time where the design professors load us up with our first projects of the semester.  This is only after they've teased us with a very easy and relaxed first week.  Yep, this happened yesterday and it was no typical first project we were assigned. You see, we're all seniors now which means our projects just got a whole lot bigger and a whole lot more complex.  Our day started with Contract 1 at 9:40am (side note: 3 hour studio courses should not be scheduled that early).  Andy Bills, our Vice President of Enrollment, came in to speak with our class.  Our professor had already informed us that our first project would be to re-design the admissions building, Wrenn, and Mr. Bills was there to tell us all about things he'd like changed and improved.  Sounds fun right?

Well...sort of.

The initial idea sounds great.  A real-life project, that someone is actually going to view, and possibly use is something we all love.  It gives us a little extra motivation to push through the project.  However, the scope of this project is much larger than anything we have done before.  We basically are taking the most historic building on campus, and proposing renovation ideas to showcase it's full potential.  This includes preserving the history as much as possible, while also bringing it up to code, making space for more offices and tour groups, along with trying to add as many of his personal requests in as possible (like golf-cart storage, an auditorium, etc). Yeah, this will be fun..right?

It's going to be a VERY busy next few weeks around here for us.  We've never done a project this large, and I'll be honest, it's pretty overwhelming.  But, this is what we do, and this is how design school works.  You stress, you push through, you design, and when it's over you celebrate sleep.  So, we'll be designing like crazy, probably not getting nearly enough sleep, and becoming reacquainted with Norton very quickly.  Ready or not... here we go.



Coming soon:  A tour of our home away from home: Norton.

Pretty Please!

I realized last week that despite the average 300-500 views I get of my blog each month, I only have 4 followers.  I love knowing that people are interested in reading what I write, but would love even more to see who is reading my stuff. So this is my plea to you today... If you read my blog, even if only once or twice a month, will you please take a moment and add your name to my list of followers? Pretty Please?!

This is all you have to do:

On the far left of this screen, under the about me section, there is a little bar that says JOIN THIS SITE.  Simply click that blue bar, and a separate screen will pop up asking under which name you would like to sign in.  If you have a Google, Yahoo, Twitter, AIM, OpenID, or NetLog  account, simply choose your account and follow the directions. It will ask you your username and password for that account. Log in and then you will be added to my list of followers.  It's super safe and doesn't give out any information to people other than your name and other blogs you follow. 

Don't have one of those accounts?  No problem.  You can quickly sign up for a google account.  Again, it's super safe, and is actually one of my favorite websites.  Google has a lot of organizational tools and programs you can use that come in handy if you have an account.

Ok, so that's my plea. I'm practically begging you. Pretty pretty please, if you read my blog, follow me!

Friday Five: HPU

The five things I love most about High Point University:

5. Our design program is ranked as one of the Top 10 design programs in the US.  Being an Interior Design major, this is HUGE!  The main reason I chose HPU, was because their design program was accredited.  Now we are ranked as one of the best schools in the US!  It is incredible to be able to graduate from such an impressive program.

4. Our location opens up incredible opportunities for my major. Being right down the street from Furniture Market is an experience that very few other schools can offer their design students.  Getting to work hands-on in our industry as early as your freshman year is absolutely unheard of in most places. For those of us at HPU however, we get our feet in the door early and work our way up as much as possible.  After market is over, we are still surrounded by incredible internship opportunities in so many different fields.  I was lucky enough to get an internship with Baker, a high-end furniture company.  Those types of opportunities would not be available to me everywhere.

3. We have an AMAZING president.  I mean come on, how many students can say their president is one of the top speakers in the world?  We get the honor and privilege of taking a class with him, where we not only get to hear him speak, but learn some of his success techniques.  Those experiences are one of a kind, and only available at HPU.  Also, he is the reason our campus is as beautiful and extraordinary as it is.

2. We have the most beautiful campus I have ever seen. No matter where you are on campus, you are surrounded by lush beautiful landscaping, incredible Georgian architecture, flowing waterfalls, bright green grass, and an on-going serenity of classical music in the background.  Every thing on campus is always in tip-top shape and emits a sense of relaxation and peace.  We all love to sit outside and take it all in whenever possible.

and the thing I love most of all about High Point is...

1. All the incredible free gifts we get.  We get gifts when we move in. We get to watch a movie in our theatre (with popcorn, candy, and a drink) once a week. We have an arcade, a Five Star Steakhouse (which is absolutely A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!), occasionally we receive holiday gifts, free laundry, free printing, movie rentals, t-shirts, snacks and drinks on our way to class, etc.  I don't know of any other school that gets pampered the way we do here.  I know we may pay a lot to go to this school, but we definitely get our money's worth and are taken care of all the time.

Needless to say, I love my school!

(here is a picture of our move-in gift this year:)

And so it begins...

My senior year has officially begun.  Crazy how fast time flies when you're having fun.  I cannot believe I am in my senior year of college.  It feels like just yesterday that I was entering high school for the first time. Ironically, I have similar butterflies in my stomach like I did then.  This is a HUGE year for me.  This is where life gets real and and things begin to fall into place.  I'm making decisions like what do I want to become, where do I want to work, what are my priorities going to be in life, where will I live, etc.  It's a pretty scary and overwhelming process to think about.  In only a few short months, I have to enter the real world and make a life for myself.  I can only hope by the end of this year that I feel prepared and equipped with all the necessary tools to be successful in the future.  Pretty crazy to think about.

Until then however, I plan to enjoy every moment of this year.  I absolutely love college and everything about it.  My friends, the laughs, all the things HPU spoils us with, the good times, the hard times, the long nights, and everything in between.  I am living with 3 of my best friends in the entire world this year and am SO very excited for everything we will experience together.  Despite the long nights and hard projects ahead of us, I think this is truly going to be the best year yet.

So ready or not....here we go!



ps. sorry its been so long since my last post. I promise to update way more often now that I'm back at school.  Some posts to look forward to:  

• New dorm room
• Erin's wedding
• Baker Internship
• Goals for the year