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!!!!!!!