Monthly Archives: December 2011

“The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live it.” -Thomas S. Monson

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Hey Readers!

Its been some time since my last post but I figured that I could recap on some of the stuff that went on at the end of the semester and my winter break plans.

 

Final Projects:

Construction and Fabrication- Design a kit in which you could use or wear.

I constructed a tea kit that consisted of a teacup and tealeaf infuser. The infuser can be worn as a ring while stirring in the leaves. It is made out of silver and contains a variation on a ball clasp. The cup has design details similar to the infuser and made of copper.

 

 

 

Form- While using the words contain, convey, converge create a form or jewelry that represents one or more of the words. I used the words converge and contain.

I formed two objects using prior techniques of raising, sinking, anticlastic and synclastic. The smaller form fits the curves of the larger object. This project was a challenge in that I was never completely satisfied with the fit of the two objects and could have gone on for days forming to the perfect fit.

 

 

Basic Photography- Creative assignment of anything. Set of 7 related prints on anything we found inspiring. 

I chose to take photos of my Thanksgiving holiday food dishes. I tried to capture simple moments and make them larger than life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metals Department Holiday Party:

The holiday party was a few weekends ago but I had a blast spending time with some of my classmates. It was a nice change to see everyone including my professors outside of the studio and at a social event. There was a ton of food and a lot of different options. I tried some new things as well. The best part of the evening was Secret Santa. Everyone was super excited and gathered in a mob around the Christmas tree. I had one of my friends whose jewelers bench is right next to mine and I made her an enameled pendant. One of the MFA students had me and I received a beautiful set of silver earrings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Day:

As usually was spent at my house with all my family while eating wonderful food made by my mom. I received many wonderful gifts including shoes, bags, notebooks, a sweater, and gift certificates. I gave my mom a one of a kind pendant I had enameled a few days earlier.

 

 

 

 

 

2012 and Beyond:

I will be spending my second day of 2012 on a plane to LONDON! Earlier in the semester I applied to the study abroad program, London Art Seminar.  A group of about 15 students spend two weeks in London taking in the art and culture. I was lucky enough to be accepted and cannot wait! I started reading my travel books and received pounds (England’s currency) for Christmas. With the ending of school it is finally setting in that I am actually going. I leave at 9:05 pm on January 2nd and return in the evening of January 17. It will be my first time on a plane so I am a little bit nervous. I also looking forward to sharing my experiences with everyone! Wish me luck!

 

Happy New Years! See you in 2012….across the sea!

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” ~ Clarke Gable

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Hello everybody! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday season this year, and you are all preparing for New Years!

I have a lot to blog about and I have been really busy latley, so I’m gonna break them up into smaller blogs and make a few of them throughout the winter. :) The first blog I will do right now is about the movies I’ve been watching lately. I chose this quote because it is from Gone With the Wind, a very famous movie, and it’s also how I’ve been feeling lately. It’s great to be able to just relax and not care about anything for once, and get ready for the next semester to come.

Normally, i am not a big movie watcher. I don’t like sitting through them, I don’t like not knowing what will happen, and I absolutely HATE it when my friends text through movies. I mean, looking at your phone for a split second and seeing who it is and telling them, “I’ll talk to you later,” is MUCH different than texting them throughout the whole movie! I will admit, I have a hard time putting my phone down so I’m mostly a person who does the first thing. So overall, there are many reasons why I do not like watching movies, but I have been trying to stay home and save my money (the Ashleywantsacar Fund) so I’ve been knitting a lot and watching movies on the HBO channels we have. Here are my reviews, and I would love to hear what other people think of these movies as well!

The Dilemma, Despicable Me, and Daddy Day Care (which I’ve seen, but a super long time ago) are the movies I’ve seen over this break so far. It was my first time seeing The Dilemma and Despicable Me. So here goes nothing! My reviews!

The Dilemma. On the poster it CLAIMS “A comedy that doesn’t pull any punches.” I did not think this was a comedy at all! I am a truly a bigggggg Vince Vaughn fan, and I’m not crazy about Kevin James but he’s alright. So I thought it would be a movie I would enjoy. The only giggle I got out of this movie was when Vince Vaughn was spying on someone on the train, and he was in a cart behind the person. He was trying to look into the cart in front of him, and there was a girl sitting by there so he told her, “I’m not a pedophile, I swear.” The girl said, “too bad.” I chuckled and thought it was so twisted, but that was the only laugh I got out of the movie. It got extremely violent at times and had a lot of drug references, which I am not really into. There was a lot of he-said-she-said and the whole movie focused on such a silly concept. Overall, I’d rate it 5.5/10 and I am actually a little happy I did not see it in theatre’s.

The second movie I saw was Despicable Me. It was actually much more enjoyable than what I thought. It was basically about that evil guy you see up there, Dr. Gru, and how he wanted to be the best villian in the world. He abducted these girls in hopes that their cuteness will gain him the necessities he needs to take over the world. In the end, he ended up being the best father ever, which was NOT his original intentions. I am usually not a huge fan of animated movies, but this movie was actually pretty good and I’d recommend it to anyone of any age! Overall, I rate it 8/10. :)

Finally, Daddy Day Care. A movie I’m sure some of you may have seen. I forgot how adorable Eddie’s “son” is in this movie! This movie was about a man who got laid off, and wanted to open a day care center in his house to get some spare money until he found a real job. There were many inspections and complaints that came Murphy’s way and he had to handle them all, but in the end he became so passionate about his day care center. In the end, he was offered his job back, and took it. Until a certain something happened….. Which you must watch to find out!! :) Overall — this movie is for any audience, just like Despicable Me (but NOT The Dilemma) and I rate it a 8.5/10!

I hope everybody else enjoyed these great watches, too! I will post more soon and I’lll talk to you all then!

Truly, Ashley :)

Merry Christmas! Celebrate with glee and good cheer :D

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Ho-ho-ho!!

‘Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…

Well, actually my whole family is still up and I’m hoping there are no mouses around haha.

Being back home has been relaxing the last 4 days- I’ve barely left the house and I am loving it! I did really well this semester grade-wise so I am ready to take a breather. I’m gonna need it because I was recently accepted into the Honors Program at New Paltz!! I recieved an email and a letter from the Interm Director of the program, Patricia Sullivan, who congratulated me and told me what steps I must take now. I am not enrolled in any Honors seminars for next semester, but I will have 24-hour access to the Honors Center which is great for late-night studying.

Just to tell you a little about the program: Honors students must take four seminars before graduating, ranging from topics like education across borders to poetry and performance. These are small-sized classes that are discussion based, giving everyone the chance to voice their opinions and discuss class material. Students must also complete 40 hours of community service, and complete a senior thesis in a subject/media of their choice. The program is great for in-depth learning and using that knowledge not just academically, but also in other endeavors. I am super excited to join the program! It will be a challenge, but I am ready for it.

If you want to learn more about the Honors Program or want to apply check out their website: the Honors Program

Anyways, with that said I’m gonna use this time to recharge. AND to check out all the awesome videos Epic-Glee has posted on our NEW youtube channel, check it out!!

Epic-Glee on Youtube!

So subscribe, rate, and enjoy :)

Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays

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Hello everyone,

The semester is over!!! Now its time to relax at home for the holidays and spend time with my family.  I finished my last finals on Monday, but I decided to head home on Tuesday so I could enjoy the rest of Monday at school.  Let me say, It never fails to amaze me how much fun I have with my friends because that Monday turned out to be one of the best days of the semester.

After my finals on Monday, my friend asked me to walk into town with her.  She also wanted to go donate blood at a blood drive the American Red Cross was having.  I went with her, but the funny part was that neither of us knew exactly where the blood drive was.  Which means we spent about a half hour walking around looking for the place.

When we finally got to the blood drive, we found out that neither of us could donate blood; so we walked back to campus.  On our way back, my friend and I talked about all of our crazy adventures together and how only something like this would happen to use.

Now, I’m back at home and getting ready for the holidays.  I actually started Christmas shopping yesterday; I can’t believe Christmas is this Sunday.

Well until next time, Happy Holidays everyone.

Deck the Halls

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Happy Holidays everyone!

The holidays are just around the corner (and according to the retail world it’s been Christmas time since the middle of November) and to get into the mood Epic-Glee decided to have out first “Caroling Around Campus!” event :D

Last Thursday a bunch of us gleeks met up at the Student Union at 9pm, along with some pals from Absolut A’Capella (thanks Kara and Casey!) to get ready and to put on our Santa and Elf hats. While I love a good santa hat the green elf hat had a bell; that was a deal breaker. Someone also brought little fake tea lights that had a bulb that flickered, just like real candles! Those came in handy for reading music in the dark haha.

We spent the rest of the night singing outside of various residence halls, within some of the hall lounges, and even in the middle of the Hasbrouck Dining Complex just outside of the entrance to the late-night eatery, Hawk Street Station. At first I wasn’t sure if people would like our caroling, but we had people practically hanging out of their windows to hear us sing! Lenape Hall had the biggest turnout, with super friendly RA’s inviting us in with a huge crowd of people; it felt awesome!

We sang some classic carols, like “Carol of the Bells,” “Joy to the World,” “Silent Night,” “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” and more. Someone even came out to give us instant pudding after we sang “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”! Get it? Haha.

Caroling was a great stress reliever for me- at first I didn’t really want to go because I had a huge 14 page paper to finish for Friday (oh boy not fun), but I really did need the break. And despite the cold I had good cheer and it was a great way for us to bond as a group, even if everyone could not make it. Here’s some pictures from the night:

Outside of the Student Union- it sure was cold!

In the lobby of Hasbrouck; holiday music while you eat!

The musical festivities continued on Friday when I performed in the Musical Theatre Ensemble Concert! I take this chorus class almost every semester because I love show-tunes so much; there is no tryout and even members of the community can take the class. It only meets once every Tuesday for an hour and fifteen minutes so it’s another good stress reliever. The caroling spirit was alive as we performed our own Winter Medley, along with songs from “Wicked,” “Sweeney Todd,” and more.

Then on Saturday there was even MORE caroling!!! Saturday morning I had a showing for the Dance Underground show next semester; I am helping represent “Nachle,” the Indian fusion dance team on campus. After the showing we got feed back from the Dance Association about the pros and cons of our dance. Afterwards a bunch of us from Epic-Glee got to carol in Old Navy! One of our Co-Director’s works at a nearby Old Navy and we were invited to perform right in the store- I was super excited. The customers loved our caroling, and one nice guy with his daughter even sang “Deck the Halls” with us :D

In front of the displays at the main door! the sales associates also had hot chocolate out for everyone to have; yum!

In front of the FUNdamentals :D

Needless to say I am pretty good at caroling now haha; these events were tons of fun, and I think we spread a lot of cheer to all!

So go out there and sing for all to hear!! You may just start something great :)

I’ll be posting soon so no worries, hope everyone has been enjoying the week!!

The end of the end… !

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Hello everybody,

Well this is it — finals week. I can finally say that in one week from this very moment in time, I will be home in Long Island doing absolutely nothing! I cannot wait. My first two finals are Friday, with two more that following Monday and my final exam is on Tuesday.

This semester, I have accomplished a lot that I would have never thought I could accomplish. Last semester I was very bored all the time. I had an easy schedule, and all I did was go to class, eat, and nap. That is why I applied for so many positions, and to my surprise I got most of them. I realized after the fact: am I going to be able to handle all of this? When I am not doing my core classes (which are all upperdivision 300/400 classes besides one) I will be with my Mentees working. When I am not with them, I will be at staff meetings, one-on-one meetings, and such. I also was going to be on the Executive Board for the National Student Speech-Language and Hearing Association, which I had no idea what I would be in for since it was my first semester in that club. A lot was going to hit me fast, and I had no choice but to take what was coming to me and try to conquer it all.

Luckily, I have. My grades are not as good as what they used to be, but I am taking much harder classes and getting much more involved with my school (which I am SO happy about!) I am still in a good grade range, too, which is very important to me since I am a student first. I have gotten closer with some professors in my major which led me to great opportunities I will explain later. I have also made great connections within the EOP family, the group of amazing people I would probably not be in college if not for them. If all of that doesn’t scream successful, I don’t know what does.

Let’s face it, I have been procrastinating for finals a LOT. I feel so burnt out because my classes this semester were somewhat demanding. I am hoping next semester my classes are a little bit easier. I am doing a stats class, phonetics, and the two classes I’m the most excited about — Observations in CMD, and CLINICAL PARTICIPATION! I cannot wait to tell you all about my clinical experiences! I had the Orientation for it on Monday, where I found out I will be keeping up with patients by calling them to remind them of appts, get their case histories, make sure hearing aids are in, clean hearing aids, and eventually I will be running (if I feel comfortable with it) basic audiological tests. I am extremely grateful I was given this opportunity. Only 5 or so of us are getting this chance, and it will definitely solidify my decision to go into the field of Audiology, and it will give me a taste of what I am in for. I will also be more familiar with the material in doctorate programs, where I will be dealing with these things on a daily basis.

Another great thing that is coming towards me next semester is being a Welcome Center Greeter! :) :) :) It is something I have wanted to do for a while, but I was originally going to wait until senior year for this experience because I thought it would be hard getting used to having a job/extraciriculars besides just classwork. Since I have assimilated so well this semester, I decided to go for it and as I have told you all, I got the position. I cannot wait to get to know the staff, and I want to learn more about the school so I can better help myself, as well as others.

Overall, all of the experiences I have come across this semester have helped me become a stronger, more confident person. This confidence does not only help myself, but it allows me to help others since I know that what I have to say is valuable, helpful, and that people actually WANT to hear what I have to say. It is truly a miraculous feeling that I hope everybody can feel at some point in their life. <3

None of these great things can come to me until I finish this semester. So, after all of this rambling… here is the fun stuff.. GINGERBREAD HOUSES! We made them out of graham crackers, ;) yummm !!! So this is what I’ve been doing instead of studying. :D Enjoy the pics! After dinner tonight though, I’m definitely gonna crack down and start to work.

ps. I hope I don’t sound cocky. That was just a really deep flow of emotions that kept coming out and out. :p

the table full of supplies!

 

one of the sides of my house.... that's supposed to be windows lmao.

 

another side! of my "house" aka box

 

my friend safire's !

 

i wish this beautiful house was mine!

 

“You can’t wear your earrings to the party because I’m wearing mine!” -MFA Student

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Hey readers!

Well this week was quite busy since the end of the semester is quickly approaching. I have 2 metal projects in progress and one due on Monday. I am finally working with silver for one part.

The Metals Department had a jewelry sale in the Lecture Center during the week. I didn’t have enough time to make anything but I did buy a pair of earrings. It seemed like a lot of the metals students ended up buying the same pair but in different colors.

 

Next weekend is the Metals Department holiday party and I have an idea of what I’m making my Secret Santa.

 

Until Next Time!

NRHH

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Hello everyone,

As always, life here at New Paltz gets crazy during the last few weeks of school; everyone starts preparing for finals and are anxious to get home for the holidays.  However, there are still plenty of events still going on around campus.  One event that I attended this past weekend was the induction ceremony for NRHH (National Residence Hall Honorary).  As most of you already know, I am currently a member of NRHH which is the top 1% of student leaders on campus.  Each semester, students can apply to become a part of NRHH.  This semester, after all the applications were looked over and voted on by the current NRHH members, seven new members were invited to join our organization.

On December 4th, these seven new members were inducted into our organization during our induction ceremony.  The ceremony was filled with friends and family members of our inductees.  The ceremony opened with a speech from our keynote speaker Raymond Schwarz, Vice President of Student Affairs.  He gave a real nice speech, which he was given a standing ovation for.

After the keynote speech, the new members were inducted and into our organization.  A speech was made about each inductee by a current NRHH member.  Each new member was given a certificate, a pin, and a bamboo plant.  The ceremony was very nice and now our chapter is larger and our whole chapter is excited to see these new members help our organization to grow.

That’s all for now and good luck to everyone on their finals!!!

No Shave Novemeber: The Final Product!

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No shave November recently ended and not a moment too soon for some. All across campus you could hear shaving cream being plopped on to faces and the scraping of razors against hair faces, but most importantly the sigh of accomplishment. This is a feat that takes a toll on many. Some break down, some become stronger, but there is always one thing that they gain: facial hair. Although as you will see that is a pro and con. With out further ado here are the survivors of our original 5 contenders for no shave November.We also got one more surprise contender joined us! My suitemate Sam!! Here’s his work of art!

 

You should all know that we could’ve all continued to go on to master the Decembeard, but lets face it only one of us was rocking the facial hair haha. Good luck to ya Sam!

Diva Lesson #15: Stay On Top

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Heyhey everyone! Here we are once again for another installment of the Diva Lessons! I hope that you’ve been learning a lot over the course of the semester. I know personally, I’ve had the chance to do some growing and learning. As the semester comes to a close, there’s always lots of work to get done. It seems like all of the professors save the big things for the end, just in the last few weeks of class. But that’s what being a Diva is all about! So that’s what I’ll be discussing today. So get ready for this week’s lesson, Diva Lesson #15: Stay On Top!

Earlier this week, things really started to switch into wrap up mode. On Monday night, I went to the last RHSA meeting of the semester, which was a banquet. I was obviously one of the best dressed, wearing my new Capen Hall Gov hat, an awesome sweatshirt, gold glasses, and eight ring pops at the same time. People really loved the look, and I left them gagging on eleganza. It was some realness. In addition to that, I’ve had lots of work to finish up too. In particular, there were two major assignments that I was working on over the course of the week. One of these was a 12 page law paper, which was killer. The other was my final paper for Mothering and Motherhood. The goal of the paper was to bring together many different things which we discussed throughout the course of the semester, and then analyze our childhood experiences, applying the theories and ideas which we had discussed.

While trying to navigate these two large assignments, I also had other things to do as well, such as our last Hall Gov meeting of the semester, working on a programming survey with the Resident Director of my building, Capen, and other odds and ends as well, including going shopping for migrant farm worker families who can’t afford presents for all of their family members. It’s nice to be able to give back to those who are not as well off, and I’m glad that our Hall Gov had the opportunity to do so.

I think that the most important thing to keep in mind when there’s lots of things going on is to stay on top of them, and get them done effectively. Of course, school work comes first so I made sure that I was sitting down and getting that work done first. But it’s also important to manage everything, and not try to get it all done at once. That’s what I did with my paper for Mothering and Motherhood, so this week all I had to do was look back into readings we had done throughout the semester, and include some quotes. Other than that, I did not have that much to do with the paper, because I had worked on it piece by piece throughout the rest of the course of the semester. You also have to remember to take care of yourself. That matter is also key. This week, I wasn’t feeling well one day, so I spent most of it sleeping, which was okay, because I knew that it would only benefit me in the end, which it did because I was able to be well rested, and work through the rest of the work and things that I had to get done for the week.

I think that when we think about staying on top, I always come back to Tyra (no surprises there) and how on each week of Top Model, she says “You wanna be on top?” Of course, my answer is always “Yes! Of course I want to be one top!” The thing is, we have to know the most effective way of doing so is making sure that you stay objective, and keep in mind the most important things first. Take the work you have to get done one step at a time, getting little pieces done until they add up to create a whole. Without this mindset, I would not have been able to get the work done that I needed to so effectively. Now, I have it out of the way and no longer need to worry about them. The semester is winding down, and I’m ready for a break for sure, and I know it’ll be here before I know it. But I think, of course, it’s important for a Divas to do what they need to, and get it done to the highest degree of excellence. That is truly how one stays on top, and defends their title. It can be a fight to the top, but once you get there, enjoy it and do everything in your power to stay there, cause it’s a long fall back down, and it’s always easier (and more elegant/pretty) to just stay on top in the first place. That’s why this week, I give to you Diva Lesson #15: Stay On Top.

 

Extra Credit!!

I am very excited for this next coming week! My best friend won VIP tickets to MTV’s Best New Band competition, which was a global band competition, the winners of which are putting on a concert hosted by MTV in Times Square. Our favorite band, 2NE1, won the title and they are the headlining group, so we get to see them live, in their first US performance. I can’t wait for it!!

Also: My other friends are just as amazing as ever, and continue to be there for me whenever I need them. They are the best!