I'm a freelance writer!

Last week, PS: Gallery opened its Spring Exhibit. Going to the gallery's opening receptions is one of my favorite things to do. Over spring break I contacted an editor at Review magazine, an online art publication based out of Kansas City. They had posted a need for contributors and my friend Jennifer passed the info along to me. I thought it was good timing with the new exhibit opening at PS, and the site doesn't have strong coverage of Columbia's art.

So I landed my first freelance writing gig! I'm making a silly big deal of it only because the idea of freelance writing has always felt so elusive and abstract. I always thought I could never really do it because I'm the type of person who needs someone behind me telling me when something is due. If you're a freelance writer, you're just pitching your stories wherever the wind blows and hoping that somewhere the wind will catch it and hold on to it. I didn't really think I was motivated enough to pursue possible rejection.

And I'm not saying that I've drastically changed my mind about the whole thing and think that it's the perfect career path for me. But, bottom line, I enjoyed doing it. I wrote my review (which you can read here) over the weekend and was so happy realizing again that writing about art is something I would be completely content doing for the rest of my life.

I'm getting "compensated" for the job (I'm taking bets at what you think that amount will be ... because really, I have no idea what to expect) and am considering framing the money like people who own restaurants or stores and frame the first dollar they ever make. Hey, it's the first time I've gotten paid for doing what I love! That's worth celebrating.

messing around with Illustrator...

For our next magazine design assignment we have to use Illustrator to create, well, an illustration for our design. Because my level of experience with the program is 0.4, I'd like to become a little more familiar with it over break by simply messing around on it.

I have an ever-growing mild addiction to beautiful stationary and letterpress. Playing off of a pretty picture of paper lanterns that I saw on a post on the blog Once Wed, I decided to try my hand at making a pseudo-invite. I traced one of the lanterns and created an invitation to a hypothetical brunch (since we are in the heart of brunch season and all!) I've fallen in love with a color swatch feature on Illustrator that has pre-made color groups (the one I used is named Ice Cream; how fitting!) Some others include: Impressionism and Pop Art in the art history category; fruits, veggies & sweets in the food category; and foliage in the nature category.

This is just a start; I'll hopefully get better and post some more examples.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

I won't say much about Jamie Oliver's new show Food Revolution because I will write more about it on my friend Bethany's blog, but I will say this.

College has shown me how much I have taken my mother for granted. That is, having daily home-cooked meals was a norm for me. I expected nothing else. Not like I didn't appreciate it; I'd like to think that I did (and do). But I also didn't realize just how much of a non-norm it was for thousands of other people.

As I get ready to graduate college and start looking to a future of working, starting a family one day and all that growing up stuff, I've been really nervous. Quite frankly, I don't know how my mom does it. Day in and day out we ate (and eat when I'm home for breaks) a variety of delicious, nutritious home-cooked meals. I want to be that type of adult, too. I want to serve others well through my cooking.

Eating healthy and simply is not a new concept to me thanks to my mom. It's what I knew for most of my life. And for that I'm thankful and convicted to maintain it in my own eating and cooking routine.

I've blogged about this before, but it's worth reiterating: like anything else in this world, food can be used well or poorly. Why shouldn't we take better care of ourselves and make the food that we eat something honest and beautiful in its simplicity?

"Quick cheap nutritious meals is what it's all about."-Jamie Oliver

"Right now in time is a moment where we're all confused about how brilliant we are and how technically advanced we are, and that is fighting with what once made our countries great, which is family, community, being together and something honestly as simple as putting a few ingredients together and sitting your family or your friends or your girlfriend or your mother-in-law around that table and breaking bread. And if you think that's not important, then shame on you."-Jamie Oliver

just keep me where the light is

Super weekend was a success! After a week of midterms and deadlines, the weekend started with a bang with the lovely Abigail coming in town on Thursday (Bible study was just more complete with her there:) ), Sarah and Ben's engagement party on Friday, a lil birthday celebration for Tyler, a little snow to kick off spring on Saturday ... and John Mayer in St. Louis on Saturday!

Walking to the restaurant; our hotel was in the middle of so much great architecture.

St. Louis was a fun trip with Ashley and Lauren. We ate dinner at a delicious tapas restaurant called Mosaic before the concert. The concert started with Michael Franti and Spearhead, one of the most energetic and fun-loving groups I've seen in a long time. I only knew one of their songs, but they were all catchy and just made you want to dance around. Michael came out into the crowd (which was massive) several times and even started a dance line at one point. He had younger kids come on stage for Say Hey (I Love You) and totally gave the mic to a little girl at one point who sang so cute and great! It was just a bunch of smile moments all around.

Michael Franti & Spearhead's backdrop was lovely.

Umpteenth attempt at fitting us all in. Oh well, we're still happy:)

Oh hey there big screen entrance for JM.

Look at that old-school hairdo.

Thank you, jumbo-tron. Can't really see it, but I'm not digging the left arm tattoo sleeve he's rocking now.

And then John hit the stage...which was fantastic. He went off on his random, don't make much sense philosophical tangents. But that's ok. The boy can sing and play guitar; I guess we have to allow the occasional "this is the advice I wish I knew way back when" moments. One of my all-time favorite songs, "Why Georgia," was played second, so I was a happy camper early on. I was glad he had a good combination of oldies and newies.

What a wonderful weekend to give me the extra go for this next week before spring break.

it takes heART

Because of this magazine we're publishing about brunch I've been surrounding myself with food journalism and recipes and all thinks tasty.

I just finished reading a story in New York Magazine about Keith McNally, a restaurant "auteur" (literally: author), who is opening a new restaurant in New York soon. It was interesting to see what thoughts go into opening a restaurant. It's no secret I love food. I'm no food snob or picky eater, but I just really enjoy an artfully prepared meal. I also really enjoy an artfully put together restaurant. I found this description about McNally's restaurants really illustrative and imaginative:

"A truism about McNally’s restaurants is that they are like stage sets, with a theatrical sense of lighting, of casting, of narrative, of scale and movement and mise-en-scène. Meticulously engineered to feel like found objects excavated from a golden past that never was, his places are augmented-reality versions of the bistro, the brasserie, the trattoria, the café, the tavern. "

Also: "Blank CDs were stacked behind him; over the next month, he would choose a thousand songs to play at Pulino’s, broken down by time of day."

What a meticulously put together restaurant. I often wonder who chooses the music that is playing in a store or restaurant. It's neat to see that at least for McNally, even that decision sets the tone for what he wants his restaurant to say to its visitors.

I love seeing art creep into all aspects of life. Right before reading this article, I was reading about an ice cream place in Columbus, OH, that reminds me a lot of Sparky's here in Columbia (because of it's creative flavors) but with an artful twist. My dad was just in Columbus and thought I'd like to read up about this artsy part of the town (it was featured in an NYTimes article). The place is called Jeni's and is just incredibly cute-looking.

In the article it says: Considering the innovative confections on offer, it’s no surprise to hear the owner, Jeni Britton Bauer, explain, “I’ve always thought of ice cream as the expression of my art.” It’s a fitting sentiment in a neighborhood brimming with creativity.

Art as ice cream? I LOVE that! This made me think of my wonderfully talented friend Abby who is mastering the art of beautiful cupcakes, cakes and all things sweet and delicious. It's just a matter of time before she opens up an "Abby's" and calls cupcakes an expression of her art, too;)

This just motivates me more and more to find the art in every day and notice how almost anything can be seen as such.

This picture has little to do with the post, BUT it shows that an artful display of even something like the New York subway system makes it so much more appealing and whimsical.

Neglectful

I'm a neglectful blogger. There's simply no denying it. I wish it weren't true but I've come to accept it.

But in an attempt to explain my neglect, or make excuses for it, here's a glimpse of other ways my writing has been put to use in the past few months.

*I manage to blog weekly for the Mustard Seed in an attempt to tell the stories behind every beautiful fair trade item in the store. Look for me on Wednesdays.

*I think and write about brunch a lot. I'm in Magazine Publishing and we're developing a one-shot publication for Meredith (think, Better Homes & Gardens, Family Circle, ReadyMade, etc.) all about brunch. I created two recipes for one of our features and recently interviewed the executive chef at Bleu to get his tips and tricks for tackling eggs Benedict.

Here's my Cranberry & Walnut pizza:

1 Tbsp. pesto

4 Tbsp. olive oil

½ cup shredded mozzarella

1/3 cup dried cranberries

¼ cup chopped walnuts (broken more for desired size)

¼ cup crumbled goat cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle flour on a cookie sheet and roll the wheat dough onto the sheet. Roll dough out to desired thickness (note: crust will rise in the oven).

In a small bowl, combine olive oil and pesto. With a spoon or brush, spread the oil and pesto mixture evenly on rolled out dough.

Sprinkle mozzarella cheese, dried cranberries, walnuts and goat cheese on top of the pesto.

Bake pizza in oven for 10-12 minutes or until cheese has melted and crust is golden brown.

*I'm working on my HTML skills through a introductory web development class. The final project will be an online portfolio that I hope turns out as nicely as I have planned. In the meantime we work on little pages to practice different skills.

*I'm applying for internships and looking for jobs. That should just be a separate class altogether.

So sorry blog if you get neglected from time to time. It's nothing personal.

channeling my martha

Break is almost over and I haven't completed the hundreds of crafts I had set out to tackle. I should stop making break resolutions. This is why I don't even attempt new year resolutions.

Jonathan gave me Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts for Christmas. It's as wonderful as it sounds for all you doubters. But somewhere between C and S (Candles and Soaps) I became overwhelmed with the materials that had to be purchased and my lack of real inspiration for either projects. Also: the lack of space and weight capacity in my suitcase to bring anything back to school with me.

So I tackled a smaller, more useful craft: cards. I always want to give a homemade card, but every time an event presents itself that requires a card I (claim to) have no time to make one. So why not get a head start while I have the time?

I had been wanting to try some sort of embroidered card for a while, with each card having a unique symbol that reminds me of the person receiving the card. My friend Sara's birthday is coming up in January (and she doesn't read my blog, so I can ruin her card surprise here:) She and I love leaves. So my first attempt at this embroidered card thing: a simple leaf. Judge the results below. And, oh yeah, paper shopping is kind of overwhelming. There's so much beautiful paper to be bought and used out there, goodness. I need to start a craft fund before I attempt Martha's A-Z.

I also baked cupcakes today, another Martha moment. My mom just received Martha Stewart's Cupcakes and I wanted to try a few before I go back to my nonexistent not baker-friendly kitchen in Columbia. I really wanted to make pistachio raspberry but, lo and behold, unsalted pistachios are not the easiest things to find here. So I switched to good ol' chocolate chip cupcakes. They're quite tasty if I do say so myself -- it made me miss Abigail and her master baking and the few times I "helped" her in the kitchen with creations like Salted Caramel Chocolate cupcakes.

C'mon creativity: you have about a week left with free reigns of my heart and soul (and brain). Then it's back to dreaming about you as a scapegoat to studying.

In other news: I have come to the realization that my ideal magazine does not exist. This is a little sad but also a little exciting. Maybe I'll get the chance to create my ideal magazine one day? Like, say, as a prototype in Magazine Publishing? Who knows. What I do know is that my pseudo-perfect magazine would be a combo of:

-Real Simple and Good Housekeeping crafts and recipes

-National Geographic Traveler's city features

-Esquire's boyish charm

-New York magazine's food and art sections

-The New Yorker's illustrated covers and illustrations

-The New York Times' home and garden section

Ahh. Bliss.