Country roads...

take me home...to the place, I belong.

Sitting here in my parents living room with the dog snoozing on the chair and my granddad scuffling around the house makes me wonder why I ever left.

Then I remember that now I have my own sweet pad with a dog snoozing on the floor and a boyfriend scuffling around the house...just no gramps or parents. It's strange how we grow up and get older and get new tastes for old flavors that bring that flood of nostalgia you hate, but also think about when you're all alone thinking about...stuff.

My parents have taken my sister to perform in a concert with her school and this morning I woke up and walked with the dog around their garden. Garden, is an understatement...they've got some serious wildlife up in here. Oh, and I woke up before the rooster today. Boo ya...in your FACE, cock-a-doodle-doo. As I was walking around contemplating which plants to take cuttings from to start in my urban, pot-filled (I'm talkin' terra cotta, folks) patio I realize how I took this peace and quiet for granted. I mean, seriously for granted.

Not that Richmond City is the loudest or wildest place to live...it's just we don't have bunnies running from the vegetable garden or frogs jumping into ponds when they hear you coming. No, we just hear sirens, cars with exhausts that are totally compensating for something and car doors. Slamming. Do we not know how to close a door? Must we always pull the old Aimee Elmer and slam that thing like it's your...

Yea, that's enough of that. All I really wanted to say is that being home is always refreshing for me and I'll never regret living here my young life and being able to come back anytime I choose. Those of you that didn't have the opportunity to grow up in a small town that allowed you bare feet 99% of the time or Prom Queen status...I'm sorry. Go rent a cottage in the mountains back here for a week and call me when you're back in town. It's totally worth smelling the honeysuckle and hearing the babbling creek.

Yes, it babbles...no joke.

The bright side...

is that I haven't blown my brains out yet.

What? You're thinking, "Oh you can't handle it, you're not strong enough to handle life. You don't deserve it." If you are thinking that, blow me; if you aren't, thanks for letting me vent for a second.

I could never take my own life just because said life isn't going exactly as planned or I'm not crossing off all those things I wanted to do by the age of 25 (I'll be 26 in February). It's just, in the words of my very good friend, "A big bad world out there" and frankly, it doesn't like us very much.

I have my health, I have a roof over my head, a man that loves me (despite my perfections) and a somewhat reliable car to get me to work safely. I'm not saying that life's ALL bad, it's just not good enough yet. I want to be able to have my own home, a newer car and I can only get that by getting a better job. I could do it now if the Federal government wasn't asking me for money every month, but the fact of that matter is I invested in myself and I'm not seeing a big enough return on my investment.

Of course things could be worse, they could ALWAYS be worse. That's just a ploy probably invented by the government to make the lesser folk feel better about where they are in life. I am happy though. I admit it, I can be happy, go figure.

I have a wonderful family, lovely friends and a dog that I hope outlives me. So, whether or not I'm making the kind of money I want to be making or even doing whatever it is I want to be doing, at least I'm living.

My dog makes me feel all warm and fuzzy...

I have to say one of the best parts about living in Virginia is NOT the humid days, but the cool and breezy nights. Just put up a fly trap, light some torches, invite some good friends over and you've got one awesome evening to indulge in.

Violet and Diego (the pups of the casa) chase each other relentlessly in a game that amuses and confuses me all at the same time. They get pure joy out of creating dust storms in the yard while occasionally getting a drink of cold water from their outside bowl while my friends and I laugh at them and discuss whatever it is we discuss on the these anticipated nights. Whatever it is we talk about, the dogs run around, chew on sticks and come over for some human attention every now and then.

I love their innocence and how they make me feel happy upon the very sight of them. Dogs are awesome, especially these two. Violet and Diego are friends like you and I would consider a healthy, friendly relationship, except when I meet you I'm not going to sniff your butt...at first. Just kidding. They are say when they are away from each other and whine when they know the other one isn't going to be coming out to play. It's actually rather romantic in doggy terms, they wait for each other and look out for each other when other dogs come around (we basically have a dog park in our back yard whenever our friends want to come and visit).

So what if I love my dog and other dogs as well, so what if I don't have any kids right now, because I'm not ready. I'm happy to have Violet and Diego to show just how happy they are to see me when I get home, their love is timeless for us humans and we should repay the favor. If you don't have a dog, I understand, but there's nothing like your dog coming up to you and nuzzling you out of sleep because, she has decided it's time to get up (not everyday, sometimes you have to ignore them...) and she wants to play.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love my dog because, she has a personality like no other dog and she makes sure that I'm in a good mood despite they day I've had. She has no idea what I've been through, but she's gonna make sure that I'm happy enough to feed her and pet her. Damn dogs, and their doggy eyes...they could get away with murder.

Well, here goes...

So, I have started this here blog to get the word out there about, well, me I suppose. I just wrapped up yet another eventful semester at VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) and though it was my last I still feel like I've got some learning left in me. My final portfolio review was this past Friday and I'm glad it's over. There's nothing worse than working your ass off on a project just to have someone tell you what's wrong with it. Seriously, there's always something wrong with it and it could ALWAYS be "massaged". By the way, I was studying Mass Communications with a concentration in creative advertising-this henceforth shall be referred to as creative insADity.

While embarking on this creative insadity, I realized that I had not yet seen everything in the world I needed to see. Oh no, there are far more boundaries that I have yet to even see in my horizon. I wanted to be an art director at first, they're the ones that make it all pretty and give you aesthetically pleasing ways of selling you things you may want, but really don't need. Then, after being bitched at more than I ever thought possible, I wanted to be a copywriter. I figured since my copy was always approved and always seemed to get a chuckle out of my creative director that it was where I needed to be.

Don't get me wrong, I still love to make pretty things, I'm just not at the point in my life where I feel like having someone bark at me because they don't like it. I'm a sappy artist at heart-I make things that I like, if you don't like it...well I don't need to tell you the rest, you can draw your own conclusions. Besides, writing is fun, look, I'm writing right now.

I'm also working on my book, I can't tell you what it's about nor can I tell you the format. I don't even know what it's going to end up being, I just know that I've got one hell of a story to tell. Everyone has their story, but mine is just better. Ha.

Now that I've either offended you or just pissed you off, I'm signing off for now. Expect my actual portfolio to be posted in the next month, I'd love for you to check it out. Also, I'm not an asshole, I'm actually really nice and smile a lot and joke even more. There's nothing worse than a tight ass, so loosen up and prepare yourself for a little fun.