Red Ribbon and 2nd Place, I'll take it!

I won second place in the Sustainability art show with "Fear the Soda"! I am so happy! God is good!

Now I need to create my artist resume with all that's happened in the last two years so I can send off project proposals. One will be for the Medici Summer Scholarship to help me buy a semi pro digital camera for the children's book illustration that I mentioned already and the other proposal is a sculpture project for Platform, a really cool outdoor space provided by the cities of Scottsdale, Tempe, or Gilbert that fund an art student in Arizona to create a piece to be on display for the year. Here is hoping I can get all this done in the next few days. hehe.

I might be illustrating a children's book, what?!

Making art makes me happy. Getting to teach with what I make is even better, but getting to teach a kid with what I've made is the best!

Today I had the chance to submit illustration designs for my friends moms children book she is writing. My idea of illustration includes digital photography, modeling clay, found objects, and A LOT of photoshop. Haha. This girl is still not a 2D artist, but I think I have found a way to take my 3D ways and create some cool 2D illustrations.

I am really excited about this idea which will be a summer project because I have wanted to be a part of creating a children's book for years. I've played with the idea of writing one here and there, but it never came to fruition. If my designs aren't what the author is looking for for her story maybe I'll have to write my own story out and play with what I have. Who knows what's in the future with adventures in art.

This week I also have the chance to apply for a summer scholarship at school that would allow for me to buy a professional digital camera and I'm pretty stoked about the idea! This summer I'm also taking a digital photography class at Pima. Yay! Did I mention that I really love photography?! and that my black and white darkroom class this semester has influenced me a lot in how I want to make art? No, well it has. :) More details about what that means will come later.

Anywho, this summer is shaping up quite nicely. I'll miss not going back to camp, but thankfully I know God has a plan for me here. I'm not sure if that plan includes me living through the heat of a Tucson summer though. Which I haven't done in a few years, but either way, I'm a tool in His hands and will try to keep on truckin' through life and enjoying the adventure.

Um, I look different.

So this weight loss thing has been an adventure... an adventure for my psyche!!

haha. No really, I never thought I would have to get used to seeing someone different in my reflection. I look different than I did 2 years ago, not just in the size of my body changing either (I've lost 3/4" in height AND 1/2 shoe size. Not expecting that!). My face has changed (I also think aging has done a little to that too) and when I first noticed how different I looked I would stare at myself in the mirror and make faces at myself to validate that it was really me looking back. My cheek bones are more prominent, my eyes are bigger, my lips stand out in relation to their size and the rest of my features. It's weird, but a weird I like. It's a weird that I am seriously still getting used to. People I knew when I was heavy have no clue who I am now... and truthfully I have changed much more than just physically, so it's like a new Sarah exists in the world. (That's perspective for another post). Kinda weird.

I find myself looking at my collar bone, wrists and arms, my legs and feet checking out all the veins, bones, and muscles I could never see before. I can suck in and see rib definition which I honestly can say I have never seen before on myself. It's been really weird to have been in this body and not have known all of this was there.Veins in hands are squishy folks and I can now remember why I always thought playing with my moms hands when I was little was fun, now I can be entertained with my own. haha. I know I'm weird, but I am easily entertained with textures and visual stimulus.

As of today I can officially wear a size 14-16 (I'm somewhere in the 180-190's, I haven't weighed myself in a few months). I think a 14 is the size I wore in 8th grade and at that age I had no clue what I was going to turn into so I didn't know to appreciate what I had. I can cross my legs comfortably now, stand up from sitting on the floor without much movement from where I'm getting up from (prior to weight loss there was a rolling effect that had to happen), I can bend down without having to drop one knee first, I can bend my knees in and warp my arms around them when I'm sitting on the floor. I can reach and scratch all parts of my back when it itches. Who would have thought that that would feel so good?! Psyche has been handling things pretty well. haha.

I haven't yet started to regularly exercise, my weight loss has still all been about food. I'll throw it out there that every Thursday at the Farmer's Market there is a local bakery in the location where it is and I eat a glazed doughnut and sometimes a Mexican cookie too. My eating habits work for me. I eat tons of veggies and fruits with whole grains throughout the week; sometimes I eat meat, but only if I'm out at a restaurant and I'm completely craving it. I cook simply and try to not complicate my meals. Being so busy with school and work I need fast, but I want good and healthy. I really love seeing my fridge full of fresh local produce. It helps me to appreciate God more and all the He has put here on earth for us to use.

I have been starting to commute more and further on my bike so I think the fat will come off more quickly as it turns into muscle. I plan on biking throughout the summer and in the fall I'm taking a health and fitness class at school that will fulfill a gen ed requirement (just like my nutritional biology class at Pima... YAY for learning applicable knowledge and skills with the mandatory classes I have to take to get my degree!). I'm excited to actually take a PE class, that is a first in my life! I am looking forward to learning more about my body and what it can do.

Here is to life continuing to be an adventure, even if the person I am now looking at in the mirror isn't the same person who started this life adventure years ago. Yay for LIVING!