Garden gnomes and what they taught me about design

My garden gnome collection had originally started out as a joke. After hours of registering for tea towels and all of the other items that the bridal websites insisted we needed, my fiancé and I decided that we needed some comic relief. We agreed to register for the first nonsensical item we saw and bet on who would actually purchase it for us. It didn’t take more than a minute to find the perfect item. He was brightly colored, tacky, and in all regards the opposite of anything that looked like it belonged in our home. While we did count a few of our goofy relatives getting our odd sense of humor, we didn’t count on more of them not getting it and simply assuming that we just really liked garden gnomes. At my shower alone I received three. For the wedding, we received two, and with every year that passes we always seem to wind up with another one. At first, I cringed at the thought of actually having to house the gnomes in my yard. I wanted every part of my home to look like something out of a magazine. However, as the days went on I found myself not being able to hold back a smile as I spied them out the window. While they may not have been picture perfect they became another part of our home that told part of our story. It was at that moment that I learned to stop following the trends in design and simply follow my heart.

What do these two things have in common?

They both have something to do with my senior project. More details to come :)

Day 3-Your first love

He’s my first and only. Jamie and I first met at the beginning of high school. We were set up on a date and by the end of it wound up not being able to stand one another. Despite the fact that we went to different schools, we knew a lot of the same people and always ran into one another. This continued into college where we started a routine of me giving him my number (with no intentions of answering his calls) and him taking it (with no intention of calling me). Our sophomore year I had given him my number again right before Christmas, and out of courtesy he called me to wish me a merry Christmas. Normally I wouldn’t have answered his call but I had just spent all day hanging out with relatives that were five times my age and was desperate to have a conversation with someone that didn’t need an oxygen tank break to finish a sentence. Go figure, as we started talking we realized we had a lot in common and decided to hang out some time. At first we met up with all of our friends… then that progressed to us hanging out alone after everyone left…then that led to just us going out…which eventually led to us realizing (months later) that despite our better efforts, we really liked each other and somehow were dating. Seven years (and many intriguing tales later) we are married, stubbornly in love and planning the rest of our lives together.

Day 2-Meaning behind your blog name

This one will be an easy one…Brittany Ro is my name and I call the blog “The Sweatpants Chronicles” because I was excited to make the switch back to sweatpants from business clothes.

Day 1: Introduce, Recent Picture, 15 interesting Facts

As has been pointed out to me way to many times, I am horrible when it comes to blogging. Ironically enough, I think that shows the best reality of being in interior architecture...you really don't get free time! In order to try and make up for it, I am taking on the 30 day blog challenge that is being done by all of my friends. Here is my mission for day 1: Introduce, Recent Picture, 15 Interesting facts.

My name is Brittany, and I am a student/wife/intern/employee. I will be graduating next year and hope that after that point, the bags under my eyes will start to go away!

This is the most recent picture of me... taken over the weekend. Typically I'm not one to wear belts, or anything gold, but I couldn't resist.

Here are 15 things you may not know about me...

1. I am addicted to Mexican food (Real Mexican food...not the Americanized stuff most places sell). It's one of the many reasons I refuse to leave Arizona.

2. I am deathly afraid of large fish and deep murky water.

3. I am not, however, afraid of sharks and insisted on going on a shark dive on my honeymoon.

4. I use to be a volunteer archaeologist.

5. I own a tent and a Leatherman, and use them both.

6. I loooooooove to cook.

7. I can't sew to save my life. I am attempting to learn though.

8. My favorite color to wear is purple.

9. I am a huge UFC fan.

10. My closet is organized by color, my DVDs are alphabetized and my spices are arranged by potency. Yes...I am that person.

11. The above mentioned are about the only organized things in my

house. I am married to a wrestler and have no free time. My house pretty much

always looks like a disaster zone.

12. I started playing violin when I was 3. I stopped shortly after I was 18.

13. My favorite holiday is the 4th of July. I'm not uber patriotic, I just really love fireworks and a chance to BBQ!

14. I love hosting parties, and can't wait until we own a larger home.

15. My lucky number is 13. Stephanie at Daydreams of a Diva thinks everyone needs to know that ;)

I've been a bad little blogger

Alright, so I've been getting called out quite a bit on not updating my blog. Now, as much as I would love to wax poetic, I am in the middle of finals so I don't have much time to write. I would, however, like to share with you some of the things that I have grown to love since I started this blog. As is fitting, I will start with my first design love;Maya Romanoff. I discovered them while working on my first ever interior design project and was blown away. I had never know wall coverings to be anything outside of gaudy patterns of roosters or flowers. As I looked through their catalog, I couldn't help but be blown away by these beautiful masterpieces
made out of mother of pearl, woods, glass beads and so much more. If you ever have a chance to see their product in person, I suggest doing so. Pictures just don't do the products justice. Now, on to my newest love. I discovered this photographers blog by accident, and have been a big fan ever since. He has such and amazing ability to see and capture the beauty that most people would just walk by every day. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

Guess who got contracted to decorate the Barbie Dream House?

Okay, well not really, but that's what these little color chips made me think of. They are actually for The New Munsell Student Color Set, which pretty much any art/design student has to make themselves familiar with at some point. This assignment sounds deceptively easy enough; separate the color chips, organize them into values and chromas and affix them on the sheet.
Well, the first few pages are actually really easy, but let me tell you, when you get about half way through the book, your eyes start to blur so bad that the colors all look the same. That, and if your anything like me, you start to get studiotac built up on your fingers, and the chips start adhering to you. Not fun! (**Side note- I still recommend Studiotac over glue for this project though. The chips stay put, but if you need to move them around, you can easily pop them off the page. That and it lacks the nasty glue smell.) In other news, I just had my midterms and I'm a little less than thrilled. I have an "A" in my drawing class, but a "C" in my manual drafting class. Luckily the "C" can be easily raised by editing some of my previous work, so I'm not too worried, but I still can't stand knowing that I have lower than a "B" in anything. I can't wait until we can start CAD and I don't have to deal with trying to sharpen my B pencils every five seconds just to keep my line weights even. I'm also excited about being able to get a job in the field soon. I really want to get my NCIDQ certification (its like the bar exam for interior designers) as soon as I can, but you have to be working under someone that has the certification for at least two years. So, pretty much if I get a job now, by the time that I graduate, I will be ready to enroll in the prep classes and then on to take the test. Yeah, having to take classes after you graduate.... gotta love it!