One more week! Smiles all around :)

Happy & Thankful!!!

On August 6, 2013 I will begin my new adventure in my career! I was lying down at the park next to my little red house in the suburbs when I found myself smiling at the thought of taking that one more extra step closer to my dream! So I decided I would take a picture, hehe. Big smiles all around, I am super excited for the new people I get to work with, new things I get to learn & of course the new opportunities !

Blessed & extremely thankful for everything! Including the 8 week truck that has made me the stronger person/designer I am today!

One more week! Let's go baby!

[Bucket List] Hiked Mt. Baldy!

The day started at 5:30am, mind you I haven't woken up that early in so long, and I was getting ready half asleep and ventured my way to Jordan's house. The address he gave me took me to the winery and I was all, "uh wrong." I eventually found myself at his place and we took off! We began our hike around 6:30 and it ended around 1:30ish.. so about a good 6 hours. My body was tired and extremely sore... but it was totally worth it :) Here's a few photos from yesterdays adventure:

It was truly an amazing experience, the different terrains and the fear of falling at any given moment was terrifying but so much fun. My favorite part was the rocky terrain, #3, it was JUST rocks and you really had to pick and chose which one to hop on! We even lost the trail for about 2 seconds coming back down cause it just looked all the same haha. We also went off trail a little bit going up to look at a bouldering problem, I lost balance and caught myself with my left arm causing it to pull a little weird... it was really painful and it hurts a little even till now :/ but it's okay IT WAS SO MUCH FUN.

It was beautiful!! 

At the top!!! I never would of imagined that I'd be sitting at the top of a mountain looking down at the world. The photo above does not give the real view any justice. Jordan was right, "That's why you have to experience it yourself"

The hike back down was a lot shorter (obviously) but my legs felt like they were about to give out. They were shaking and my shins started to feel really weird, but I kept going cause I knew at the end of it I'd be finished! After an hour and a half of trucking back down and trying our best not to fall over we reached the end of trail! Jordan is pretty athletic so it didn't seem like it tired him out at all, but I...  I looked like I could use a nap or two - ha!

Snake!

Oh and there was a 3ft rattlesnake...yep. We waited for the little guy to crawl into the bushes and when we saw his head pointing down the hill we all decided to go one by one and cross our fingers hoping that he wouldn't launch at us. I ran for my life and kinda jumped into Jordan's arms like a little chicken sh*t... But whatever, I did it... so ha!

I did it!!!!

Would I do it again? Of course, but next time I'll be better prepared. Next time I know to bring more stuff, like you know... food and water LOL. I survived the entire trip on a cliff bar, another granola bar AND one water bottle. Definitely survived, but lesson learned! I can't wait for more adventures like this one...!

Special thank you to Jordan Jarnagin for taking me here and essentially making sure that I didn't fall off the face of the earth!

Cheer to dangerous but fun adventures! 

In 7 weeks

Week 1 - Rebranded myself, got a website up & updated all my portfolio platforms. 

Week 2 - Braced myself and applied to 38 different places, in which only 2 of them replied. 

Week 3 - Applied to an agency and from there week 4-6 has been one amazing experience. 

Week 4-6 - I learned to art direct myself, speak to clients one-on-one, work in an actual studio, made relationships with clients that can last a lifetime, drove everywhere in LA, went on multiple interviews, met amazing people, did 2 case studies with quick turn arounds, managed my time, cried & cried some more, found myself as a designer & most importantly came out of all of this stronger. 

Week 7 - Got one of my projects published in a magazine AND… 

Got a job offer :) 

It has been the most amazing but terrifying 7 weeks of my life. I could never have thought this would happen to me and I’m so glad that it did. I am so glad that the fire was ignited under my butt to move forward cause I don’t think I would of done it for myself and I… couldn’t thank God more for this new opportunity, this new adventure. 

Thank you to E V E R Y O N E that has been supportive. 

Super huge thank you to: 

My parents & my sister, for being my backbone you guys mean the absolute freakin world to me and I couldn’t have done this without you guys. 

Jourel, for being the best friend that would sit there and hear me cry about how I couldn’t compress a file to fit 10mb to email AND all that was relevant in the last 7 weeks. Thank you so much Jaybird and you know I will be here for you when you can’t compress your videos to email :p

My person, for always telling me everything was going to be okay… for feeding me, for hugging me when things got really rough, for physically being there while I worked to the bone for my case studies. For staying positive and just being there for me… 

Jordan my amazing roommate, for helping with my case studies! Without her and her knowledge I wouldn’t be here ! And also for sharing her food! :) 

Peter, for referring me to the agency and sitting down with me to give me a pep talk and lots of encouragement in the first few days of unemployment and always rallying back to see how I was and keeping my creative juices flowing!

And last but not least, Lisa, my agent who has kept me going since day one and always thought about me whenever there was a new project. I owe you and your team everything :) 

AHHHHHH I’M SO HAPPY!!! :) 

THANK YOU THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES THANK YOU!!!!!!!

I swivel my chair...

and turned to see my work process behind me on my cork board and I thought to myself, "You know what, I'm extremely happy where I am right now..."

With that being said, I took this photo after 6 weeks of the start of my unemployment adventure. And honestly, the past 6 weeks have been nothing but a blessing and I am so glad for every opportunity that has presented itself.

It is now, 6 weeks after, where I found myself again and remembered why I wanted to become a designer and love what I do.

:)

Oh hello there! (Quick update!)

Hello world! I'm just taking a small break from work and what better way to do so than to update the adventure blog! It's only been about 3.5 weeks since my last blog post, wasn't too long ago, but tell me why I feel like it was almost a decade? Haha! The last 3.5 weeks has been nothing but opportunities on opportunities on opportunities!! It's like candy & Disneyland, BUT BETTER, actually I could use a Disney trip ... NONETHELESS, it's been sole evidence that my new adventure was so much more positive than it was negative. I just got off the phone with a client and I feel so proud saying that I'm a graphic designer. I don't just make things look super cool, no, I'm a creative problem solver and it hasn't been up until recent challenges where I really felt that I was a true designer. Yes, I can make things look epic & cute, but to be able build something from the bottom up is what makes graphic designing so much fun. Yes, it is absolutely terrifying at the thought that I am my own art director, but holy crap the feeling you get knowing that you went from nothing to something (even if it's a sketch on a piece of paper) is so fulfilling. I feel like I'm a pretty motivated person when it comes to my career, but I haven't felt THIS much motivation ever in my life, even the motivation from school doesn't come close to what it is now and I think that's mainly because the motivation in school was instilled by teachers, deadlines & most importantly good grades to graduate. Now it's on your own, and yes, while bills need to be paid  and should be used as a motivation most of it comes from within, from the heart - the passion. I don't mean to get all corny, but self motivation is hard to keep up when you're in an industry where the next designer has strengths that will trump the skills you have. But it's essentially on you to be like, "THE HECK, I'M GOOD TOO!" and from there... you challenge yourself & you learn and I definitely think I feed directly off challenges and learning new things. In a time such as now where you can learn almost everything off the internet what is there to lose? Especially in graphic design! Sigh* Sorry, I'm totally ranting now. I just feel really good because while the journey to becoming a talented, knowledgable and amazing artist is still a long while from now, it feels good to know that I'm headed in that direction and when I get there I know that there's is just so much more to learn :)

Okies, I'm done ranting... gotta finish work! Btw, this current project I'm working on IS KICK ASS...and I'm SO FREAKIN STOKED to show the world once it's finished. I'll list out details later... I don't want to jinx it!!

Dear future Krislam, you're killing it dude! I mean, yea it's tough BUT OMGAHHHH :)

'Till next time world!