My love note to Zenni Optical

I've been wearing glasses since I was in the second grade. The blinder I got, the more expensive my glasses became. It came to a point where I was spending $300+ for a pair of frames/lenses and that was a deal. Since I pay more for compressed lenses so my prescription can actually fit in frames, I thought I just had to accept my fate. Until I found Zenni Optical.

I swear this is not a sponsored post. I get asked a lot about my glasses and I am just so thankful for spending less than a 3rd of the price for the same quality, so I'll tell people about over and over again. I love wearing glasses, even with all the annoyances they come with. I don't have much of a choice in the matter either, since tiny eyeballs and thick contacts don't get along, glasses are all I've got.

Zenni has tons of fashionable choices, from basic to bold. As long as you're not into labels and don't mind the process of measuring your face, Zenni is great! I even ordered a pair of sunglasses.

So let all my four-eyed readers rejoice, cute affordable glasses for all!

Tune In: Clean Bandit

My friend and I decided SUPER last minute that we were gonna go to this concert down at Toad's Place. No regrets! They were so much fun, and more talented than you may think for an EDM group. Catchy, infectious, reminiscent of the workout tracks my mom listened to in the 90's--in fact, they did an awesome cover of Robin S's Show Me Love. I sang all the words of course. If you get the chance to see Clean Bandit perform, it will for sure be a good time. 

I most enjoyed watching these two dance.

The opening act was a pleasant surprise, Roman GianArthur. He's a part of the Wonderland Factory which we found out after my friend commented on how he reminds him of Janelle Monáe (like whaaaaaaaaat). He hyped the crowd with Prince's "Let's go Crazy" which was perfect, and officially won me over when he played this cover of "High & Dry" by Radiohead. We got to talk to him for a bit between sets--really cool dude--and he gave us a copy of his EP. You may have heard his vocals on "Classic Man." He's definitely one to watch. 

New Music: Circle//Circle

Last week I got the chance to see Circle//Circle down at Cafe Nine in New Haven, CT thanks to one of my friends who was playing with them. They're a local group that I'm pretty excited about. Two gals, Emily and Kayla, handle lead vocals while strumming away on their ukulele and banjo. Chris is also on guitar and with the three of them they form some awesome harmonies.

You will not regret checking out their latest album, Guts. Go ahead, have a listen!

NCECA 2015: Providence

My goals this year were a bit different. Meet new people, get connections, figure out if this postbacc thing is right for me. I got to talk to lots of different people, which was a bit nerve-wracking for me. But when in this situation it's best to remember that other people are probably just as nervous, and clay people are generally super friendly and open to conversation. Here are a few highlights from my trip!

My bed/room mate, Eli!

Bought myself an Ayumi Horie mug <3

Our view of the capital building from the hotel.

Julia Galloway being an awesome woman. Her talk was very inspiring; she switches up her work quite often. Best quote from her that day was, "Cups are very intimate objects. Nothing touches your lips as often as a cup, even if you're very passionate."

These two photos were taken at my soon to be school, UMass Dartmouth. It's about 20 minutes from Providence so they had an open house sorta thing. I don't know who made the sculpture but the paintings are by Katie Wild. I LOVE her work. It's life size and sometimes on plexiglass.

And for my newest artist inspo, here's Kyungmin Park. To see someone doing figurative sculpture seems to be oddly rare right now. Not only is it figurative but she incorporates bright colors and motifs. It's nice to meet someone you can relate your work to. she was giving a demo on fingers and tongues and other body parts for the AMACO/Brent booth. Eli and I watched and listened for about an hour.

So funfact: Providences' bars and clubs close hella early (like 1am?) but on the last night we found a drag show/lgbt club that was poppin. 

Next year NCECA will be in Kansas City, and I cannot wait. it's a refreshing experience every time and I'm so lucky to have a conference like this in my field. I think I accomplished all of my objectives for this years conference :D

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year folks! I realized I needed to blog when I had the urge to write an entire paragraph on instagram. My last post was August right? after a failed attempt at blogging every day? I think I was thinking too hard and thinking too business-y with the blog. I'm going to keep this blog low key from now on...although I have been thinking a LOT about dying my hair so that adventure will surely be here. Also I'm getting married this year. Also I'm hoping to get into grad school this year x__X

Speaking of which, applications take  f  o  r  e  v  e  r  r  r  r  r. I'm applying to four schools: Rochester Institute of Technology, UMass Dartmouth, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Louisiana State University. One school wants a statement of purpose. One wants a letter of intent. One wants both. Some of them require two applications with two separate fees. Some want writing samples. One of them wanted three drawing examples from life out of the precious 20 images we're allowed to send in the portfolio and i'm like wtfffffffffffffff. It's not like I can't do a still life; my drawing skills are on point (or should I say fleek? What is fleek? Am I old now?). I figured by grad school you wouldn't have to prove these things anymore. SO NOTE TO THOSE APPLYING TO MFA PROGRAMS: photograph EVERYTHING. Even the still lives and crappy line drawings. It may save you later on; I'm so glad I did because I did NOT feel like drawing a damn thing. I'd like to know if anyone has had any experiences with these schools or areas. Let me know how they are! How is Baton Rouge? How about Richmond? Rochester? Come august I'm outta CT!

So if you only follow my blog (bless your heart) you haven't seen my dyed hair, as pictured above. Since I couldn't keep the locs because of my chosen dusty career path, I decided to color it! I'm starting with blond-ish since I know whatever color I want to do I'll have to lighten it anyways. I did the color myself and I have to say I really love how it came out. What I really want though are the wild colors. I want purple, lavender, pink, a rainbow of pastels, maybe even teal...Lemme show you my hair crush:

This is Mermaid Nef. She has gone through almost the entire rainbow and I'm in love. She's also into Sailor Moon and other kawaii things and she's just super rad. This purple with touches of magenta is what I think I want to try next. 

I also want to mention my super serious intention of losing weight. I know this is the time of the year that everyone makes new year's resolutions; I've never really been the type. I've been making small conscious decisions to improve my health since moving to our new apartment. Now that the holidays are out of the way I can really commit to something. I'm getting married and then there's two other weddings happening this year; one of them I'm a bridesmaid. I got a Jawbone UP band and it's really been helping. My complex has a gym so I'm already set in that regards. Here's to a less flabby me!

If you don't already, you should follow my instagram. It's my most updated social media and I'm posting more of my ceramics work there now than I have in the pass. Also right now I'm doing a give away on there of a cute lil' kitty mug soooo...... get on it :)