Just have a little perspective

Image credit Travellers Point - via Pinterest

Today in one of my classes we were discussing the topic of well being. The tutors got us to write down a list of positives that have happened in our lives, negatives that have happened, and why. We went through some rather big events in the positives, I wrote down things from getting accepted into university to having a lie in, but the negatives were a little harder. My group and I talked about the tiny first world problems that have a negative impact in our lives, breaking a nail or your iPhone, however we weren't confident I guess is the word to share the bigger ones.

After all of this our tutors got us to look back over our negative lists and see what we could've done differently so that they wouldn't have happened, but also what we could do now to make our view on them different. To look at it from another angle so to speak. For example my group and I talked about getting a bad grade or turning a project in that you weren't happy with. We decided that although it might not be a great grade it was only one grade. One grade out of a whole heap of them we'd get at uni we might as well think about what else we achieved from that paper, that we'd learnt lots, and learnt how to do things different next time.

It made me think more about my life. I'm pretty happy with my life; I have a great family, great boyfriend, great friends, great kitten, great house, what more do I need? Unfortunately there are a few small things that get me down but I feel that if I put it into perspective from today's class then maybe I may be able to sort them out. For a start I should put all the bad stuff behind me and never look back. Stop searching for things I know will put a downer on my day.

I'm no expert but some key advice I will say would be to PUT THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE, DON'T SEARCH FOR SOMETHING THAT WILL MAKE YOU UNHAPPY, DELETE ALL NEGATIVE PROBLEMS IN YOUR LIFE - some maybe as easy as unfollowing that jerks Instagram, some might be harder.

It's time to get personal

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6  ~ All images from Pinterest.

So for lucky people like me who don't have exams at university, we have six weeks off in the middle of the year. While we could spend it sitting on our arses watching episode after episode of Game of Thrones for the fifth time, which I probably will end up doing despite this post, we could also use it as a time for personal projects. Doing a design degree you're often restricted throughout term time to specific briefs and while you can stretch them to suit your style most often they're not really what you had in mind when you wanted to become a designer. So I've done the Game of Thrones arse sitting for the first week but I've also been scrolling Pinterest which has given me so much motivation and creativity to start some projects over the rest of the holidays. 

Create some greeting cards. 
and also hopefully start selling them. I need to work on my watercolour typography to digital skills a wee bit more first but keep your eyes peeled. 

Put up a print wall. 
I have prints, I have frames for them, I have a blank wall... now all I need are nails to put them up. Of course they'll have to be arranged nicely and all but it's simple right? 

Do some freelance. 
Make some fancy new logos for someone, or blog banners, or blog sidebar icons, or anything. Wink wink readers. 

Paint more watercolour. 
Just do more, practice makes perfect and I'm far from perfect. Maybe we'll start with flowers, I found a great tutorial for flowers so let's start there and practice my flower arranging. 

Spend more time on the blog. 
Tweaking background things, changing images, upgrading things. Sorting out things I'm not happy with and frankly just giving Sofilly some attention it hasn't really gotten these past few months while I've been working on uni projects. 

Technically if you want to get picky I could do most of these while doing the Game of Thrones arse sitting but you get the idea. Let's just spend some time with my craft and creativity and hopefully make myself even better for next semester! 

I want to dissect your brains...

Since the semester is over I thought I'd share some work I've done over the last 12 weeks. To new readers; hi I study Graphic Design! This was by far my favourite project I've worked on this semester, closely followed by App class where, as you've probably guessed, we had to design an app. For print however we had to design our own conference which from that we were to create a poster, a 12 page brochure, two banners, and a fourth item - I chose a hoodie and t-shirt combination. My conference, Dissect, is a typography based conference concentrating on the structure of type. I wanted to imply the idea of peeling back layers to really understand type. 

I thought this might give outsiders a look into what a normal six week project looks like for a third year designer! Makes me wonder what other professions would do? Other than essays of course. 

A Half Year of Firsts

I've had quite the busy week this past week, but now all those tasks are ticked off and everything has been handed in so my first semester for the year is over. Now seen as this means it's almost halfway through the year I thought I'd look back on my year of firsts.
In January I wrote about my year of firsts which were 11 goals that were mainly things I wanted to do for the first time ever this year. I'm pretty sure I haven't done that great and so this will be a bit of a kick up the bum! Let's get on with it. 

Attend a blogging event

The amount of Brunch Club's that have happened this year that I've been busy for is slightly annoying. But I will make it this year!

Do a zoo encounter

Yeah... so this didn't happen for my birthday but I actually looked properly into it and have witnessed someone doing the meerkat one that I really want to do and now I really want to do it even more. But it's like $160 cry. 

Learn how to use my camera properly 

I'm getting there with this one! Haven't managed to get to camera raw at the moment but the rest I'm doing okay with. 

Leave more time for art

I've done some; started doodling some greeting card designs. With the mid year holidays starting next week I hope to explore this more!

Turn 21

Woo I did one!!! 

Gain 100 Bloglovin followers

It's slowly building so hello to all you new people. I've been loving talking to more and more fellow bloggers over Twitter and such. 

Get an A+ overall grade 

I don't think this is going to happen this semester, I've achieved some A minus' this semester but there's no way to achieve an overall A+ with that. I'll be happy with an A+ as any grade really...

Cook more 

Slowly happening, okay it might have been like once or twice. 

Get happier with my blog

Well this is been happening! Unfortunately due to some unforseen circumstances including having no internet like all this month I haven't posted as much as I've wanted these past two months but before that it was great! 

Save some money

Has been happening!

Spend it on the good things

Chocolate counts right? 

So um there's a lot well on the way so that should be okay by the end of the year. How are you guys going with your goals lately? Now the semester's over I may actually be posting more often although to update you we still have no internet so I'm not promising anything!

Weird things at design school

If any of you don't know I study graphic design at university and having gone through a few years of design school  I've learnt that a lot of weird things happen. Now along with the beautiful art that flows out of the students a lot of other stuff does too! 

• First years spend over 8 hours in their first few weeks drawing potatoes. 
• Potatoes in pencil, potatoes in pen, potatoes in chalk and potatoes dressed as Lady Gaga. 
• By the time you graduate you will have spent at least 50 hours of your life feeling up/deciding on/cursing at stock. Yes I do mean paper. 50 hours cursing at the weight of your paper. 
• It's normal to go to class with a laptop bag, a normal bag, and folders of various sizes. Plus boxes and bags of other rubbish.
• None of the tutors know how to use a computer. Okay maybe 3 do and that's it. They're designers and they don't know how to use powerpoint.
• You will own at least 10 of the same expensive pen in different weights. 
• You will use said pens to do everything but draw and then ruin them and then curse at them and yourself and your life and your bank account.
• Speaking of bank accounts, it's normal to spend hundreds a year on stationary. Seriously if you love stationary become a design student you'll never regret buying more because your tutor will tell you to buy more. 
• The first week before a new year you see the first years around town. You can tell because they're all battling with their new A1 folders. It's hilarious. 
• Sleep happens anywhere. 
• You will critique any design anywhere. Always. It's going to happen. 
• You will spend hours criticising the space between letters, if you didn't realise this was a thing, this is a thing. Kerning and leading are your best friends. 
• You always want to nap. Always. 
• But you never have time to nap after the first year so take those naps when you can first years! Design school takes over every moment of your awake life. 

This is only a few things but allow me to ramble on about how I feel like all I've been doing is uni work all day every day. Currently I have a mobile app and a book being created so it's very time consuming (oh and an essay but who cares about that). I'm also now sick due to this so have scrambled into bed whenever available to eat oranges and do more work. Such fun... 

How To Survive University

Those of you in University in NZ are most likely starting some time in the next few weeks. I've seen a lot of first year design students walking around town with their stationary and it takes me back to two years ago when I decided to buy my first A1 folder on the windiest and slightly rainiest day of Feburary... That was a mistake. My uni goes back today so I thought I'd share some of my tips for starting back after that long four month break.

Talk to people

Talk to everyone; the tutors, your classmates, that student in the library who looks your age. If you don't like talking to new people get used to it, knowing people more than just sharing eye contact once in a while is going to get you through uni. I struggled in my first year to talk to people but I tried my best and it does land you with a lot of acquaintances who don't mind sitting with you in class which is great! If you're a first year try asking them where they're from in the country, what their major is, what their other classes are. It gives you a jumping off point and it may lead you to having a few classes together.

Listen to your tutors, but don't ignore your opinions

I've made the mistake a number of times of listening and doing everything my tutor tells me and ignoring my judgment and most of the time it hasn't gone well. I find it's awesome to get feedback from your tutors and whilst they do know best sometimes it's not best for your work. Trust your instinct, if you don't think making the type bright pink will work for you then don't do it, but do try it out first!

Do your readings and find more 

Or at least skim read them. It may be personal to me but I've always gotten better grades on essays when I've actually looked at the readings. Uni students are lazy I know but they're set readings for a reason they will help, plus you have to quote them most of the time so it's great to have the best quote, not just the first one you see. Also go to the library and find non compulsory readings on your topic, it's a bit more work but it'll pay off in the end when you get an A.

Be healthy 

Try and plan your meals and buy food for those meals rather than buying a load of chips and frozen chicken nuggets to get you through. Make use of fruit and veg markets. Also for handin week or exam week, whichever you may have, maybe call home for some meals to be sent to you to reheat and eat. If all else fails drink lots of water with your energy drinks and microwave pies. 

Don't skip class

I know a few people including myself once or twice who have skipped a class (mainly lectures) because they'd much rather do something else, like sleep or homework for another class. But it pays to go to every class, lecture and discussion classes as you're paying for it and there might be important information that's never repeated and is compulsory to pass. It's worth it okay, just promise you'll go? 

So long holidays I'll miss you terribly but bring on third year! I certainly will be doing some of these more this year! 

A Year Of Firsts

I came across this idea on a few blogs I've been reading recently and I thought it was a great idea, last year I achieved quite a few things for the first thing so I thought I would make a list of a few things I wanted to do this year!

Attend a blogging event

For the last few weeks I've been involved in the NZ Bloggers chats and the NZ Brunch Club Facebook page. Being able to chat to loads of bloggers from my country has allowed me to start advertising my blog more and reading lots of other blogs. The brunch club holds an event once a month and I was too scared to attend the February event but hopefully this year I will get over my fear of new people and join one of these events!

Do a zoo encounter

I want to go into the meerkat enclosure at my local zoo so much! I'm hoping for tickets for my birthday so fingers crossed. 

Learn how to use my camera properly 

I constantly tell myself to do this but there's just so much involved that I just put it on hold. I know how to basically use the manual setting but I want to be able to take much better quality photos and learn how to use camera raw. 

Leave more time for art

Over the summer I thought it would get so much time for practicing and improving my 'arty' skills but as it turned out I practiced my 'watching a series a day' skills instead. With uni starting in two weeks I want to hopefully have some time throughout the year to do non uni design and art that I enjoy. Maybe design my own font or design some prints to sell. 

Turn 21

Simple enough, it'll happen I just have to do it in the right way! 

Gain 100 Bloglovin followers

Since joining the blogging groups and chats this has been improving so hello you new followers it's nice to have you around! I'm  not in this for the followers but everyone secretly wants as many as possible and if I can manage 100 by the end of the year that'll be amazing! 

Get an A+ overall grade 

I've gotten quite a few great grades but I have yet to achieve an A+ in an overall grade. An overall grade being an average grade of the paper I've gotten into the habit of getting a really good grade in one assessment and an average one in the other leaving me with a above average overall grade. I just wanna get higher than my highest overall grade of A - its a competitive part of me.

Cook more 

Brad and I have a unsaid deal where I do most of the cleaning and washing in the house and he does most of the cooking with me being sous chef however I'd like to take some of the days off of him.

Get happier with my blog

I've been running Sofilly x since April 2013 however I've not really been happy with it really until now. I've been on and off blogging through the course and lately I've gotten the consistency going enough to be happy posting my links to Twitter hopefully by the end of the year I'll be happy posting my links to everywhere and anyone.

Save some money

Due to some unforseen problems last year I had to use a lot of my savings on extra rent and bills etc so I'd love to save some of that back up again. 

Spend it on the good things

I also want to spend some of that saved cash on myself and others and splurge a bit. Not exessively but chocolate, a night out, a nice present or two wont harm anyone. 

I totally recommend sitting down and thinking about this for yourselves, they're almost like mini new year resolutions or goals. 

Gold is a girls best friend?

Hiya so thanks for putting up with the fact I've hardly been posting the last two weeks it's been uni hell! But today I finished uni for the year and no longer have uni until late February next year, crazy..two years down, two to go! For my Letterpress class I had to create a poster that would work as a booklet cover and the inside pages for a given element. I got given gold and however much I really hate gold I really enjoyed making this set even though I had either gold powder or gold glitter stuck to me for the past 12 weeks. It involved making a lot of small vinyl layered mines to emboss over and over again as after about 3 times through the printing press they would lose their depth and almost become flat. So I'm just pretty happy it got finished and I'm pretty pleased with the A I got for the poster for the first part of the semester and I'm hoping for something similar this part for the inside pages. Fingers crossed! 

Dart Art

Have you ever watched The Princess Diaries and really wanted to try out that throwing darts and paint balloons art in that once scene? Well I did and today my wish came true! For one of my classes at Uni this semester we've been planning a very large student market hosted by just under 300 students. For this we worked in teams of 5 and unfortunately due to a few circumstances my team ended up being a team of 3 for most of the part but we steamed ahead. We wanted to create something different than your average market stall where they sell food or little charms, we wanted to create an experience. So together with just under 100 balloons we trekked forward and created this masterpiece. Let's hope we get a good grade!
If any of you want to try this out it's really simple: 

1. Grab some balloons, water balloons work the best, and after being stretched pour in a 60/40% paint/water mixer to about 3/4 of the way.
2. Grab a bottle, I used one of them no mess ketchup bottles, and pump it full of air. 
3. Attach the balloons to string then string them up over the canvas.
4. Throwwwww! 

Er so hi?!

Oh so hello there! Remember me? I highly doubt that you do as it's been around four months since I last posted. So yeah I got busy and things which isn't really a great excuse but yay I slightly got a life and started socialising and things so let's be happy for me! So here's what you missed on glee: 

• I gained some really great grades and some really ew lame grades that I don't think I deserved in my first semester that finished in May.
• I had a nice relaxing holiday back at home with my family and we went on some trips out in the new campervan together. 
• My boyfriend came up to stay with us for a week and properly meet the family (scary face) but it was all good he behaved excellently and they loved him. 
• I got a wreck this journal for my birthday! Which I haven't done as much as I thought I would've since then. (More on this in another post)
• I returned back to uni and have now gone through another half semester and have just handed in all my work. 
• I got involved a lot in the party scene at the start of this semester and had a lot of fun that sometimes ended with me on the bathroom floor even though nothing happened I didn't want to trust my gut ahaa ;)
• I've been trying to get back into the nail art scene and will hopefully get my skills back up to scratch. 
• The same with coding, I've gotten back into the HTML/CSS game and I'm learning how to code tumblr themes woo! 
• I lost my poor laptop, it decided it was time to go and gave me a poof of smoke and sparks and it was gone. The laptop repair people said it was probably best to just buy a new one so say hello to Dora my new (grossly) purple laptop which at the moment doesnt have photoshop so the above image was edited on paint woo! 
• I went to Armageddon, which is basically a smaller, less cool, nz version of comic con where I fangirled majorly. 
• I started collecting the Frankie magazine after a long long time of me not reading magazines. (More on this also in another post)

So that's the basics really and hopefully I'm going to be back on here more often! I have a few blogposts in mind to post over the holidays and hopefully over the next part semester I'll continue too! 

VCD's ruined you!

Fueled by crispy m&m's and coke I've finally reached the end of the first half semester woohoo! Unfortunately I lost my mind and broke down a few minor times during this time but hey I survived and I've handed in pretty much all my work now. I haven't really had any free time to blog or even scroll tumblr so sorry anyone following my tumblr as it hasn't been as busy as usual. But the good thing is I've actually been learning things, shock horror I've been actually learning things from the university I'm paying to teach me things! From this I hope to turn this blog into a more kind of design blog than a lifestyle blog even though it was already leaning towards design so this means a new layout and new style (just as soon as I go home and have time to sort it). I'll hopefully be able to post more artists and inspiration and also my class work. For those of you who don't know I'm studying Bachelor of Design majoring in visual communication design which pretty much is a mixture of graphic design, illustration, digital media, and advertising.

and if the city never sleeps than that makes two

I move back to the city this Sunday and I'm really excited! I'm not that excited about leaving my family again as I'm such a family person and being 8 hours away from them feels awful through the year but I manage. The thing this year though is I've gotten over freshers year, I'm no longer a freshman I'm now a sexy sophomore or ya know a sophimore... ANYWAYS bad jokes aside I plan this year to make more of an effort and spend more time doing things than staying inside. We know this is most probably not going to happen but if I write it down it's more likely to motivate me! 

1. Explore the city more. Wellington isn't a huge city so it can't be too hard and I just find that I call myself a Wellingtonian but I've never even been up the hill. Ever. I want to go for more adventure walks and take my camera with me and hopefully update you on the way! 
2. Spend more time in the library. Last year I used the library soley for wifi and disney animator books so this year I want to spend more time in it and explore all the different sections. There's some glorious books in there and I want to read quite a few of them and expand my knowledge. 
3. Meet new people. I'm not the best person to make friends and usually I only make friends through my friends or for a few weeks while we struggle through a class together. This year though I'm gonna try my best to make and keep some new friends that I do more than just add on Facebook as that's just pointless. 

I spent all last year staring out my window at the world (it was an amazing view) so this year I want to get stuck into that world I stared at and become a part of the city and get involved. 

Twenty Fourteen

I know a lot of New Year posts may be overkill but I feel like 2014 is going to be my year. Although I've already had some ups and downs and I know it's going to have one awful death in the family but it seems I've finally found my place.  

I'm really excited to move back down to uni, less because of work but more because I'm flatting with my friends. Last year I lived in uni halls which were 5 bedroom flats so I didn't know my flatmates before I moved in with and it was so lucky that I got on with them and I got on with two of them so much they were like family by the end of the year it was fabulous. I don't know if living in the same flat as my friends will now make it a bit awkward as last year I had some where to go to to get away from if I needed some Sophie time and now I wont. I'm sure it'll be fine though as they all lived on their own last year so they'll be wanting their own time too. Think we'll have some great memories in that flat and hopefully stay there for the next three years of my degree. I'll also be living with my boyfriend which we'll see how that goes as we agreed to live together before actually getting together as I'm really for the whole not living with people you're dating but we'll see. 

I'm hoping my second year at uni will go much smoother in classes having got past that freshers first year of learning all the new things and will finally crack down on classes specific to our degrees. I'm incredibly excited for a class I'm taking called 'Character Design' and really think it'll be so much fun as all I love doing in my spare time is drawing Disney so if I'm able to go down that kinda style route of animation I'll be so happy. I really hope to take my confidence to the next level and allow myself to actually ask for help and work while people are around me and let them see my progress works instead of hiding away until I finish my final piece.

Last night I made a huge purchase which has taken me years to finally cave into something I've really wanted ever since using one for the first time about 4 years ago; an iMac. Frankly I've heard some really good and really bad things about apple and I just wanted to make my own decision about it so just went for it. Deciding on a desktop instead of a laptop as my laptop is still pretty decent but my desktop really does need replacing as I never bother using it as it's useless. I'll just leave it up here when I move back down so I can use it in holidays and not have to bother carting my laptop back and forth as it's a bloody nuisance. 

As for my resolutions it's now the 8th and I'm doing pretty well at most of them, as you can see from this post.. well better than I thought I would personally. 

Time to take a much needed break

http://yourpersonalcheerleader.tumblr.com/post/35708454234/kate-bartolotta

With hand-ins happening next week the end of the semester is looming and creeping towards us so quickly it's hard to believe we're almost through half a year of University. It felt like only last week I had stocked up on energy drinks getting through the massive amounts of work for first quarter hand-ins and now we're here. The one thing I do seem to struggle with whenever due dates start looming is time management... I suck at it. I am constantly leaving everything to the last minute and stressing until the very half hour before the due time about not getting it done. I do of course, I always do but I just feel like it's never going to be my best work if I rush it all at the end but it's who I am. 

I came across this graphic while surfing Tumblr on one of my many study breaks and thought to myself that I should really do more with my breaks than just switching tabs from research websites to Tumblr. So I might not be doing everything on that list but some I might just give a go in the many breaks I have left until last hand-in. I've already started on a wee little project of my own that I've been doing in breaks and it's going pretty well if I must say but you guys will have to wait and see when I've finished hehe x

Let's build a fort and live while we're young

We came back from the comedy show last night to the my flatmates in the midst of creating this amazing fort so of course we had to join in. Adding a few sets of my fairy lights, some blankets and pillows and we were all set for an evening of movies alcohol and fun. Let's just say we ended up playing Disney Channel Scene It (a bargain i found for $6 at The Warehouse) until around half three in the morning. I do feel sorry for our neighbours who had to put up with Louise and my amazing singing skills rapping to the Cheese Jerky rap from Hannah Montanna at around 2am but it was worth it. I think my nerd did start showing once i got competitive and shouting out the answers and getting really into it and I'm not sure my flatmates knew i knew that much about old school Disney Channel but hey ho. Oh I might add the game was old school Disney like the That's So Raven and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody era. It was amazing fun x