Spring Break at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico

I had a wonderful spring break down in New Mexico at Ghost Ranch, an education and retreat center an hour northwest of Santa Fe. It is full of hiking trails, ranch lands for 400 head of cattle, and 30 acres for produce that is donated to those in need in surrounding communities. It is also home to several archeological sites and an anthropology museum. Georgia O'Keeffe lived there for a time and painted many of the landscapes, and movies like City Slickers and parts of Lonesome Dove were shot on the ranch, too. Throughout the year, Ghost Ranch also offers a variety of art classes, seminars about sustainable agricultural practices, and farmers' markets.

I left with the CPC (Collegiate Presbyterian Church) college ministry group on Saturday, March 12th, in the afternoon. We drove all night and arrived at Ghost Ranch the next morning. Since it is difficult to sleep well in a packed 15-passenger van, we mostly spent the day resting and becoming familiar with the ranch. We stayed in adobe bunkhouses and ate our meals at the cafeteria- really good food, by the way, and lots of vegetables!

For the rest of the week, we worked on projects around Ghost Ranch for the morning and part of the afternoon. I helped with fence maintenance, irrigation canal digging, trench digging for underground electrical wires, and house priming and painting. After we were done working each day, we usually went for a hike up to Chimney Rock or Kitchen Mesa. The hike to the top of Kitchen Mesa was amazing, and some parts of the "path" definitely required free (no rope) rock climbing. Someone died a few years ago, but he was hiking alone and after dark.

After dinner, we had a few hours of free time (I spent them working on watercolor paintings due after spring break) followed by a casual worship service/discussion. Then it was shower time and off to bed. We were usually so worn out from the day that we were in bed by 10:00 pm.

The weather was very sunny and cold in the mornings and evenings but warm in the afternoon. I would start off the day with a t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, and two sweatshirts, but by 2:00, I was down to a t-shirt and shorts.

On Wednesday, we did drive to Santa Fe to look at the shops and cathedral before going out to eat. Unfortunately, I started to feel sick upon arrival and spent the majority of the afternoon lying down on a park bench. I am not sure what passersby were thinking. At that point I didn't care. After a couple hours, I felt completely fine and was able to join the rest of the group.

We headed back to Iowa on Friday, stopping at the giant sand dunes in Colorado. I felt like I was walking in a Salvador Dali painting. The dunes were huge and seemed so out of place. It took me about 45 minutes just to reach the peak, and let me tell you, hiking uphill in sand is definitely hard work. We drove through the night and arrived back in Ames at 7:00 am on Saturday, the 19th, tired but incredibly thankful we were able to go on the trip. I spent yesterday and today with my Mom since my dad took a trip to Virgina and prepared for the next 7 weeks of the semester.

Happy Spring!

Mayo Field Trip

Correction on my last blog: it was the 8th week of classes. Tomorrow, the 7th of March, will start the 9th week.

This past Friday, I traveled with the BPMI club up to Rochester, MN, to visit Mayo Clinic and Minneapolis, MN, to the Belle Museum. I left my place at 5:00 am, and after our professor arrived about 10 minutes past the scheduled leaving time, we hit the road in a 15 passenger van and a car. At Mayo Clinic, we met with the medical illustration staff, toured some of the facilities, and had an artwork show-and-tell amongst the illustrators and us. It was interesting and I definitely understand the importance of medical illustration, but I don't want to be a medical illustrator or animator.

Another couple hours of driving and getting lost (those in charge printed off Google directions but did not bring a map of Minnesota so we ran into some problems when we missed the exit), we arrived at the Belle Museum, a natural history museum with lots of dioramas which I really enjoyed. Some of them were a little outdated, but the excitement I felt when looking at the moose standing mid-step in a muddy bank vs. the the "meh" attitude at Mayo shows that a job as a museum exhibit fabricator would be a much better fit for me. I love how dioramas create these little worlds with an overall visual impact, and then once you get closer, you start to notice all of the tiny details- the grasshopper at the base of the prairie grass, the colors of the leaves painted on the background.

Any way, after that, we went to a restaurant near there for dinner before arriving back in Iowa around 11:00. It was a long day with over 8 hours of driving. I guess it was good practice for my spring break trip down to New Mexico. Our college church group leaves early Saturday afternoon, and we will drive until the next morning so we do not have to stay overnight somewhere.

A Break from Beans

Beans are great. They're cheap; they're protein-rich; you can put them in just about anything, and you don't have to worry about them spoiling in their Tupperware container during a chordate anatomy lecture. However, this past weekend I reached my limit. I decided I needed a little pizazz, something out of the ordinary. So last night at the grocery store, I discovered salmon fillets were on sale, and as I sat eating my dinner of grilled salmon, broccoli, and bread (a $2 meal that would have cost at least $10 at a restaurant), I was able to reflect about this semester.

We have already entered week 7 of the 16-week semester, and spring break is less than two weeks away. Classes and school work have become comfortable, settling into the ruts of routine. Although this is nice and less stressful, I was feeling a little bit like my weeks were imitating my diet of beans, beans, and more beans- good, but a little monotonous.

Luckily, the past few days helped add a little "salmon" to my week. On Friday, I hosted a long-overdue dinner party for some BPMI friends. Saturday night, I attended a Honors broomball event, and for my GIRLS Power mentee weekly meeting, we went bowling. Originally we were going to volunteer to make dresses from old pillowcases that would be sent to orphanages in Africa, but I wrote down the wrong date. Woops. This past Monday, I also attended an ISU fencing club practice with my friend Robert, and realized fencing is much more difficult and tiring than it looks! I haven't decided if I want to join yet, but I doubt my slight lull in homework, projects, and studying is going to last much longer so I do not want to make any commitments yet.

So, basically my advice to you if you are feeling like a hamster in a hamster wheel or sick of beans, go explore an unfamiliar section of the grocery store. Or try fencing. Just make sure to wear a breast plate, ladies.

No coat! No coat! No coat!

For the first time since October, I walked across campus without a coat, and- dare I say it- slight perspiration! Ok, I had just finished my ballet class and was wearing a sweater, but it was warm! For those of you in Iowa, you probably know that last week was amazingly different from the sub zero temperatures not too long before. Everyone's spirits improved, and I didn't have to cut through engineering buildings just to prevent frostbite; my classes happen to be on opposite ends of campus.

Well, besides the weather, my Chordate Anatomy class is going really well. I have to review every day, but I like how the tests are set up. Instead of tricky multiple choice or true false, our professor gives us a list of essay questions and we get to pick 8 out of the 12 to answer. Ballet is still my favorite class, and I think Robin Hood would be up there too if it weren't from 7 to 9pm. Since I have my first class at 9am, 9:00 to 9:00 on campus makes for a long day, but the Robin Hood class is worth it. This past week, I co-led the class with two classmates. We started things off with two guests from the ISU fencing club. They talked about the history of fencing (noblemen dueling in the back alleys of Paris) and showed us some of the techniques. Then we got to practice the footwork. We weren't quite ready for swords. We also gave a presentation about Technicolor and led a discussion about the importance of Technicolor and the dueling match in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) which we watched the week before as a class.

This Friday, I talked to high school students and parents about the Honors program through Explore Iowa State, and attended the GIRLS Power slumber party. The theme was "movies" so my mentee and I dressed up as Harry Potter characters. She was Bellatrix, and I went as Professor Trelawney. Sadly, I do not have any photos. The evening included all things slumber party-ish: pizza, the game sardines, nail polish, a dance party with glow sticks, a terrible night's sleep, etc. The following evening with some friends did include glow sticks, sadly, but the hosts cooked up some pretty delicious food and I was able to talk to some people I had not seen for a while.

I have also been keeping busy with a semester-long research project for my Globalization and Human Condition Anthropology class. My topic: How Globalization Created Apple Pie as an American Icon and is Now Causing its Demise. Whenever I finally finish it, I think I will have to celebrate by actually making apple pie.

Have a good one.

Dog Cranium Project for BPMI Illustration Class

Plastic Bags, Tapioca, and Dog Skulls- a strange life

I was doing so well with blog updates, and then I got a little lazy. Oh, well. Last weekend was really nice and probably one of the most well-balanced weekends I can remember. I got to spend time with my parents who took me out to eat at Fugi, a Japanese steakhouse where they do the crazy chopping stuff right in front of your table. My parents are getting really good at spoiling me.

Of course I spent a fair amount of time doing homework, but I also got to relax a bit and go with a friend to see Barjche, a modern dance performance by the ISU dance club. Some of the stuff was a little too "modern" for my taste, but I suppose that people really involved in the dance world want to see something new and refreshing. One of the scenes I am thinking about had one dancer moving around on a rolling chair, pretending to drink from a gauntlet, while the other crawled about trying to reach up for a sip. The piece was called "Thirst" which fit in pretty well with the title: "Dance, Nature, and Sustainability." There were other pieces called "Oil Spill" and "Fire" which I really liked. They had a little more "dancing," and the lighting and costuming were excellent. Oh, there was also another really interesting piece in which the three dancers pulled tons of plastic bags through the holes in their shirts as a giant fan blew more plastic bags onto the stage. By the end of the performance, the large amounts of sacks began to hinder their movements- I thought it was a cool social commentary.

Last weekend and this weekend, I have also been fairly busy with CPC (fund-raising for our spring break mission trip) and GIRLS Power. Today I went with my mentee to an ISU women's basketball game. It was my first college BB game and pretty fun. I think she enjoyed it, too. Sometimes it is hard to tell.

Anyway, throw in a game night with tapioca and friends, warmer weather, a new computer (my 7-year-old Compaq XP contracted a virus and I finally bought a beautiful Mac), some tests and lab practicals and you've basically got the gist of my life for the moment. I hope you're all doing well!

Oh, and I have attached one of my art projects I turned in last week. The project consisted of four different illustrations (3 in pen and ink and one in a color medium) and a compilation of the pieces into one black and white layout with some labels for the lateral (side) view of the dog cranium.

Counting Sheep

Last week I turned in my first watercolor assignment. It was a set of three abstract paintings using complimentary colors to better understand the medium. Now we are working on a still life before transitioning to landscapes, people, and eventually illustrations/story-telling. So far the class is pretty fun. A lot of the work can be completed in class, and our professor is quite the character. One of my friends that took the class last semester wrote down some of her favorite quotes of his such as:

1. Those people I disagreed with... well, they're dead now, so it doesn't matter.
2. while discussing airplanes- I'm always next to the guy who's spilling over his seat, like porridge gone awry.
3. You could name this series "But I'm Okay Now!"
4. Being a social outcast doesn't make you an artist. You just have to be good.
5. If this were the solar system you'd definitely be Pluto.
6. I thought drug inspired music would be a good background for watercolor!
7. If God came down from Heaven and made the perfect city, it would not be Dallas.

The list goes on and on, but you get the idea. Something interesting (and challenging for me)in regards to water color is that it turns out better if you are relaxed about it. If you overwork it and try to control too much, it usually doesn't turn out as well. Maybe that is how I should try to approach life a little more.

Perhaps you are wondering why I named this post "Counting Sheep." This past week kicked my butt. I had an awful time sleeping, waking up every couple of hours and not being able to fall back asleep. Then I started to get sick- it just was not a fun time, and there was one night I resorted to the old, count-the-sheep-jumping-over-the-fence idea. It didn't work; I could not figure out if my sheep should look like the cartoony ones from those old mattress commercials or actual sheep. Anyway, I spent so much time trying to visualize what they would look like and how this scene would play out that I never actually got to the counting part. Luckily, I am sleeping better now so I hope I do not have to resort to sheep again. I still have a little bit of a cold, but it seems like that is the normal state of just about everyone on campus.

The photos posted are from Dance Marathon.