The Sketchbook Project

So one night a few weeks back I was bored, so I jumped onto my mac, launched Firefox and began Stumbling. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, allow me to shed some light. Stumbling, or technically StumbleUpon(SU), is a really cool search-like tool that lets you make a profile where you choose your interests. For example, mine is set for art, photography, animals, architecture, traveling....etc and then according to those interests, it sends you to random websites from around the world.

Anyway, the point, I was stumbling and came across a website called arthousecoop.com and a really cool concept called The Sketchbook Project. Their tagline is It's like a concert tour, but with sketchbooks. You sign up and have a sketchbook sent to you, then submit it so that it can tour the country with nearly 30,000 artists from 94 countries around the world!



I looked at the tour locations...and hey, one is in Winter Park, Florida, a half hour or so away from my house! So I could make this cool sketchbook and then go see it.... Hmmm. Where else do they go...San Francisco. I wonder if Dad could make it out there...and HEY LOOK!! They go to Austin as well! Now I really MUST do this, because I can make this cool little book and my family from around the USA can go and see it :)

The coolest part? Once the tour is over, all of the sketchbooks head home to the Brooklyn Art Library in New York! And even cooler, is that they will be creating a digital companion to accompany the Brooklyn Art Library! The website will contain high-resolution, professionally digitized versions of the sketchbooks for even more people from all over the world to see :)

I've finally got my new black sketchbook, and just tore it apart in order to bind better paper into it :) I'm really excited to get this started! The tour starts in February 2011!




In other news...not much has happened (event-wise) In November. The biggest thing was Night of Stars! I did get some great photos, and got do some awesome design work for it, so stay tuned for photos from that! We also had a bunch of Thanksgivings....lets see, we went to Busch Gardens, I went to my first NBA game and saw the Orlando Magic lose to the Utah Jazz...um, I turned 24 years old and due to a lot of things, my brother Casey went home early from his program and is now back in Austin, Texas.

I'm relieved that it is almost December, Leah and I got our tree up and a little deco as well! I just wish that the weather would stop being stupid and get out of the 80s! I want to wear cute scarfs to work, gosh! haha!

I can't wait for Mom and Nana to come visit in a few weeks! And then my old roomie Kathleen is coming! I also cannot wait for Candlelight Processional to start! I'm eager to take the stage and sing Christmas Carols with fellow cast members :)

I guess that is all for now!

A Day in Black and White

Happy Fall and Happy Halloween to everyone! Hoping everyone had a great month of October, I know that I did! I thought it would fun and festive to collect some black and white photography from the past few years to share. They're all pretty random...Italy, Big Bend, Orlando, Austin even photos from when I was a kid! But they make me happy, so here goes.

























































....and last but not least, my first time meeting The Boss back in 1989 :)

Interesting Tidbits

Just wanted to share a few fun things I've come across lately! First is a photo from Disneyland in Hong Kong celebrating their 5th anniversary! Rain didn't stop all the cast members from gathering on Main Street :) We also got an old Eyes & Ears from 1972 passed along through our office that I thought was kind of cool!




The events team and I also recently took a trip to the Disney Event Group (DEG) where we got a behind the scenes tour of what they do. It was pretty awesome, the graphic designers "room" was playful and looked like an awesome place to work. I'm hoping to set up some future meet and greets with some of the designers there :)



I also finally finished updating my portfolio...so I'll have some pictures coming soon. As for now, here's some cool photos that have been inspiring me lately :)

Fall Time!

Well hello! I'm so glad that it is now the fall, goodbye super hot weather, goodbye to thousands of tourists and hello back to back events in Disney Housing! It sure has been busy lately, and the coming weeks will be even more crazy woo-hoo!

I guess I'll pick up where I left off. Because of the lack of crowds, I've finally gotten to play in the parks more often. I've had some great time with Casey and roomie bonding time with Leah, even with my old roomie from Texas, Kathleen! :)





This is one of the new restaurants in the Italy Pavilion in Epcot called Via Napoli! It was REALLY good (Mom & Nana...we're going to have to take you there!!!)





Game Day :)



So there were two more Welcome Events at housing to welcome the new CPs! One was a High School Musical themed party....yea, not my favorite movie, but hey, the decorations I got to do were fun! I designed all the signage for it, along with all the decorations for the Welcome, Inc. Party.













For our first sporting event of the semester, we headed to Tampa to see the Tampa Bay Rays vs The New York Yankees at the amazing Tropicana Field! Our seats were great & the evening was fun! Wish I could say the same for the game...no scores until the bottom of the 11th, bleh!





Leah and I took a day-cation out to St. Augustine, Florida! We visited her grandma, and then explored St. George's Street. At the end of the day, we headed out to the Atlantic Ocean! My first time seeing it :) It was a great day!









Very late one night, I dragged myself to the Magic Kingdom...and I'm glad I did, because I got to see a cast preview of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Parade!







A friend of mine got free tickets to see Disney on Ice - Toy Story 3 in downtown Orlando. Very cool show, looking forward to seeing other things on ice too.











I've been all over Walt Disney World...yet last week, I went to a place I didn't even know existed! For our Cast Appreciation, our leaders took us first on a tour of the refurbished Tree Houses at Saratoga Springs (okay, these I'd heard of...and yes, they literally are tree houses) but then, we went to Osprey Ridge Golf Club where we were treated to dinner at The Sand Trap!





Some friends from Texas came to visit me too!!! It was great to see them, even if it was only for a few hours :) (Lovely crane, eh? They're already putting up Christmas lights!!)



Soooo one very exciting thing I got to do lately was finally check out Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and The Wizarding World of HARRY POTTER!!! The ride was awesome...kind of scary at times, but very impressive. We walked through Diagon Alley, went into Honeydukes, drank butter beer at the Hog's Head, browsed through Olivanders, went into the Three Broomsticks...we even heard Moaning Myrtle as we went to the bathroom!

It. Was. Amazing.














Butterbeer! Which was sooooo delicious :)



Times have been scootin' along here, and I'm glad that the fall has come. I know there are some great events going on in October...Food & Wine Festival included! YAY! So farewell for now!