Wall of randomness..

So we started painting a big mural in Egypt and Pierre's hallway a couple of weeks ago.  It is a work in progress. It's something kind of silly/amazing that we want to leave behind at the house. Egypt and I painted the backround trees loosely, and we plan on doing a dusk sky after all of our special beings are in place.  Here are a few of them that I personally made:

Mr. Leek Man (who apparently is a pervert)

Crack Beer annnnd Vodka

The Nudist Tree

Evil blob of mold

Wall of weirdness!

Rough life plan

It's come to that point in my life where I need to start thinking about what I really want to do with all of this..life.  Right now I have been taking up extra shifts at work to save for this summer.  I'm also working on getting a website up before I leave, and making some business cards. 

I am heading to Yellowstone in the first or second week of May.  So far it looks like I will be traveling alone, so I will be taking a shorter roadtrip than initially planned.  I'm going to go through Minneapolis I think, and spend the week before I start working camping in the Grand Tetons with a friend of mine.

While at Yellowstone I am going to spend all the spare time I can taking photos of the most beautiful place in the world.  And doing a little networking promoting my art and website.

Here in Lansing, I am looking at a few different houses next week (to buy).  The home values here have really sunk very fast in the past few years and it is officially a really good time to buy.  So I'm hoping I can find something that will suit me, and a home I can put a studio in, that's important! I already know that I'm going to pour my soul into personalizing the house via paint.

That's all the news for now.  Just getting ready for my departure this summer!

my final destination

Flying through the blackest of nights
with my graveyard of critters
on the grill,
leading the way,
in my tired car
-the sun's behind me,
setting the tone

and my eyes are playing tricks
i keep seeing illuminated echoes of mountain silhouettes
that don't really exist

I'm sitting, hoping for Elko, Nevada to show up soon
I'll soon have arrived at my final destination
with an empty wallet
And a completion-sadness-exhaustion look on my face
ignoring my next adventure
and focused on my expired trip.

Roadtrippin

oh the great salt lake...see you very soon

A new FDA

I wish there was a way to tell, when you buy a product, exactly where it came from, the process it went through to become what it is currently. I guarantee many people would think twice about where they choose to spend their money. I don't want to be supporting cruel practices in a different part of the world, I'm willing to spend a little more to avoid that, and I think other people would too.

There could be third-party companies to verify social justice throughout the manufacturing process. Just like how we have companies to verify that wood is being harvested sustainably. I guess Fair Trade coffee is this concept, but it's only for one industry. It'd be nice to have reliable companies doing this across the board for all industries.

Another problem is all of the symbols on packaging and customer education. What I mean by this is that many consumers don't understand what all of the small symbols on the back of the product mean. I didn't really understand until I came into the packaging field.

Here's the symbol for SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) & FSC. Maybe someday it will happen for other causes too...

Everybody's Talkin'

Everybody's talking at me

I don't hear a word they're saying
Only the echoes of my mind

People stopping staring
I can't see their faces
Only the shadows of their eyes

I'm going where the sun keeps shining
Thru' the pouring rain
Going where the weather suits my clothes
Banking off of the North East winds
Sailing on summer breeze

And skipping over the ocean like a stone