Off to the shack

I have so much to blog about!
But for now, tomorrow morning i am off to the shack at St Helens...
I can't believe it has been a whole year since we have been there!!!






Asha was only a teeny tiny baby last time. This time he is crawling through the water chasing the "ducks" (seagulls!) without any fear!

I'm looking forward to some time relaxing, without contact with the world (as Optus has no service there!) Just me, my family, the sun, heaps of good books, the beach and my camera! Can't wait :)


See you in the new year!!! :)

My new room

Last weekend i moved back home...


It is quite lovely to be back...
I have a lovely new room in a guest room off the garage...


It is huge, and lovely and clean and nice... :p


There is an ensuite too, but it is not quite finished yet, but it is still awesome!!
I am loving having my own space, close to my home and my family, only about a ten metre walk away, but still far enough away that i can have some space... :)


I think i need a new book case... i may invest in one after christmas...


It's awesome to have my own space... and it is big enough for all my stuff, even for my art easel to be set up! :)


In short, it is awesome!!! :) I am loving it! :)

Art Exhibition

Before exams all of my art from the year went up in an exhibition with the other art class and the photography class.

The work from the year was of a really high standard and everything looked great, especially all up on the walls next to each other! The night started off with a welcome from the art captain and from Liam James, followed by drinks and nibbles as you walked around and admired the art.

This is what was seen as everyone walked in - my paintings up in the hall. Most of the art was in the two rooms off to the right.


I know i have told people how big they were, but still, people were so surprised when they saw them up on the wall :)


It was nice to have so many people come along and support me, and to compliment me on all my hard work.. I am not normally a big fan of being praised, but it was fun for a night :p


Asha loved the bright colours, and especially loved when he was allowed to get down and crawl, and hit the paintings as much as he liked :)



My artist statement.. which is like an overview of my work and why i did it..



Morgan and I...




Me and Jasmine...


My cousins - Preston and Pheobe...


Another cousin - Ella...


Asha and I ...


Stuart...


And Sarah, Me and Lisa...



After the exhibition we went to Hungry Jacks to grab some tea on the way home... Asha was just too cute in his crown :)


I had so much fun painting during the year!!! It was so relaxing for me, and i loved it :)

I am sad that i no longer have art class with Mrs Crawford every monday, tuesday and thursday, i don't know what i am going to do without it :( I miss it already!!
A MASSIVE thank you to Mrs Crawford - my paintings would not have come together without her!

And a big thank you to everyone who came along and supported me on the night, i really appreciate it :)

Now what am i actually going to do with seven huge paintings!?? haha :)

Made a decision about...

... my future!!!

All year people have been asking me what i am going to do next year and beyond. There was so much pressure at school to say something like; become a doctor and travel the world.
I have finally, in the last month or so, decided what i am going to do.

For next year i have applied for TAFE to do a course in photo imaging (photography) ... It is a one or two year course depending on if you want to get a diploma and become a professional or not.. I havent decided yet. I guess i will see if i love it or not.
Beyond that i know i want to do social work. I don't want to do that straight away though. I want a gap year but i don't want to sit around and do nothing. So i decided photography was the way to go, as i am just loving playing with my camera and taking pics at the moment.

I have an interview next Thursday the 9th at 9am.. I am super nervous already! I have to take a portfolio with me of some photos that i have taken. They have to be a variety of images to show what i like to take pictures of and what i can do. Portraits, scenery etc.

I want to share just a few that are included in it :)


Lisa & Kobe at the seaport




Asha meeting the birds at nana and papa's house... Love these two shots

Jory doing some "rock dancing and singing" to Art vs Science ... Note: Asha clapping

Jory at the bluff...

The lighthouse...

Jory at the bluff...

Lisa & Kobe at the skate park...

Asha again :) ...

And Jory at the park on a rainy day :) ...

I included heaps more, but just wanted to share a few :)

Fingers crossed that i get in!!! :)

Books

As i'm packing my stuff to move back home on the weekend i am sorting through things and just throwing stuff out that i don't need anymore. I want to have less clutter and more space. I have been busy packing my books, and i didn't realise how big a job it was.

I seem to have SO many, but nowhere to put them. I don't want to throw any out. I think the solution is to buy a bigger, new bookcase when i am in my new room. One day i would love to have an office with bookcases from floor to ceiling, filled with books. I love to read, and want to keep my collection growing! I thought i'd share my collection so far...

I have the books on the bookcase, which are two rows thick (you can't tell in the pic as some are packed already)

Then there is the pile of books that belong to other people, that need to be returned...

Then there are the boxes of books that have already been packed...

Then there is the pile of art journals and magazines beside the bookcase...

Then there is the shelf on my desk that holds the ones that don't fit on the bookcase...

And then there is the piles of books all around the room that reside on the floor, or in the wardrobe because they just don't have anywhere else to go...

Some say that i have too many books.

It may not surprise you that i have a HUGE list of books that i want to buy, and that i asked for about ten for christmas. I have decided that i do not have too many.

I like my books, and i want to keep them all, and keep my collection growing, what do you think?

Saying Goodbye

The past month has been a bit of a blur! Things were crazy at school with it being our last month ever. It is hard to believe that i have now finished grade 12, and never have to go to school again.
I was generally happy to be finishing, i was very over it. But i was sad about a couple of things. I will miss seeing my friend every single day. We formed such a great bond spending so much time together. (a post about this later)..

I am also going to miss seeing some teachers. There have been a few over the past 6 years at St Pats that have really made a difference in my life. Three in particular have stood out to me, and i am really going to miss seeing them everyday. They are three of the kindest and most loving people i have ever met, and became more like my friends than my teachers.

The first is Mrs Crawford. (Below)


She was my art teacher for both grade 11 and 12. She is AWESOME! She is so casual, and easy going. She has the best sense of humour (even when Olivia called her the B word as a joke!) she would come and chat to us during class and joke around, and make us laugh.

She helped us with our work, and always went the extra mile. In my last week before the exhibition went up she was helping me for four days straight! She even got a paint brush out and was painting alongside me. When i wanted to give up and stop painting the rest of the pictures she encouraged me to keep going. She did everything she could to make sure my paintings were looking great for the exhibition.

She doesn't stress out - even when i had a massive stress about my art and the exhibition she would just calmly say "don't stress, it is fine"..
She's such a cutie and we all absolutely love her to bits. I have never heard of anyone who doesn't like her! And i have especially never heard anyone say a bad word about her. She's too nice. I am really grateful for all that she did for me over the last two years. My heart would sink on the days she wasn't at school and we had a relief teacher, as we would miss seeing her happy face!
She even let us buy hot chips almost every art lesson in term 3 because we always complained that we were hungry.

I love Mrs Crawford to bits, and i am really sad to be leaving her!!!

(remember she is pictured ABOVE)

The second is Mrs Slevec. (Below)



You can read HER blog HERE

She was my English Studies teacher in grade 11 and my English Writing teacher in grade 12. I got to know her on a deeper level than just a student teacher friendship. I discovered that we have more in common than just our love of books, and that she is actually pretty cool!

She is really funny and is always making me laugh. :) She was a good teacher too, and always gave me second chances to hand in assignments. =p She went the extra mile for me on more than one occasion. I was overwhelmed by her kindness and love!
She put up with a lot in our writing class, but was still able to teach us properly, and get us to produce our best work for our final folio.
She let us have a writers cafe, and eat ice cream in class (post about that to come too!) she even used to let me snap away with my camera and go on blogs!

She is heaps of fun, and i am so glad we were able to become friends. I am going to miss her heaps! She made class heaps of FUN! :)


And the third is Ms Owers.


Ms Owers was my tutor (homeroom) teacher from grade 8 to grade 12. She was also my religion teacher in grade 9 and 12. Over the years her kindness and love overwhelmed me. I have never met anyone like her.

Walking into tutor of a morning was that much better with a "good morning" and a smile from Tracey.
She is always kind, and i have only heard her yell twice. I have never heard anyone say a bad word about her. All i ever hear (in the corridor) is "Tracey is soooo lovely" "Ms Owers is THE nicest person" "I just looove ms owers!" and of course, people are constantly talking about her clothes! She looks so good every single day, and people are always talking about it!

She looked after me like my second mum. She bought us flowers when we went to the ball, she was always there when i wanted to talk, and her office is like my second bedroom. When my psych IP went crazy she sat down with me and fixed it. She is always there with chocolate when you need it.

I have to say that i am going to miss her the most. She is just awesome, and has become one of my dearest friends. She knows how much she means to me, and i know that we can continue to be friends even though i have finished school. I wouldn't be the person i am today without her in my life.

I feel so blessed to have been in her tutor and to have become her friend.



I am so sad about leaving these three awesome teachers!!! I want to thank them for teaching me and for making such a difference in my life! I love them to bits, and wanted to share how awesome they are, with everyone :) :)

Thankyou Water

About a month or so ago i was watching Sunrise, when something caught my eye. It was an organisation called Thankyou Water.

It intrigued me as Thankyou water was started by a group of teenagers, and it is a non-profit organisation, with 100% of the funds going directly to developing nations, providing communities with wells of safe drinking water. The teenagers are volunteers and receive nothing for their efforts.

For every bottle of Thankyou water that is sold, at least one month's worth of water is provided to someone in need.


They have a short term goal, which involves reviewing the bottle mould to reduce the amount of PET used by 42%. This means that Thankyou Water will be the lightest bottle in the country, halving the current PET output. The long term goal for Thankyou Water is for PLA (biodegradable material) to be used for it's bottle. This will go a long way towards solving the current issues of landfill.

I thought this sounded really cool and wondered how i could help, as at that point it wasn't sold anywhere in Tasmania. I then found out that nearly 900 million people around the world can’t access clean water. In Australia we spend nearly $600 million on bottled water every year. I then felt an even stronger need to help.

A lady in Cambodia comparing her water before and after Thankyou Water provided her with a well.

I had an idea, and emailed one of our deputy principles, who i get along with. He emailed me back and said that he loved my idea and to write a proposal and come and visit with him. I wrote it the next day and went to see him. He read over it and was very impressed. He then took me straight away to meet with the head canteen lady, Mrs Titley. She read my proposal and said to come back the next week to discuss money, as it is a non- profit organisation the school would actually be losing money.

When i went back the next week i had prepared an information sheet about the water prices. I didn't really have high hopes for it to happen. But she surprised me by dragging me by the arm into the back of the canteen. There in the corner was two massive cartons of Thankyou Water!!!! I was SO surprised! I nearly jumped up and down and hugged her!!

And now- Thankyou Water is now being sold in St Patrick's College school canteen!!!



I was so happy!!!

With the help of some teachers i have been doing a bit of advertising to promote Thankyou Water, and encourage people to buy it, once they know what it is all about.

Me and Mrs Titley :)


The thing that really made me move and make it happen was this quotation i read and absolutely LOVE: "Be the change you wish to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi

If you want to know more about Thankyou Water then visit the Thankyou Water website.

The only stockists in Tasmania are our school canteen and IGA Invermay if you are in Tasmania and would like to purchase it. If you are anywhere else in Australia visit the website and type in your postcode, or find them on Facebook. :) :)

A HUGE thank you to Mr McCormack, Mrs Slevec, Mrs Titely and Ms Owers who all helped me to make it happen!!! :) :) :)

Makayla and Jasmine's Art Walk!

A few weeks ago i was having a boring Saturday lazing around doing nothing, when Jasmine text me and asked if i wanted to go for a walk to the Junction Art Festival. I said yes, and it was an absolutely gorgeous day with the sun shining so we walked into town from her house :)
It started near the library (St George's square or something?) and the art was all around town, some hidden and some very visible. There were churches and buildings open with all different exhibitions and tutorials on how to make things, unfortunately we went too late in the day for these, and missed out on all except one super weird one!!!!

There were 5 couches placed randomly around town, that you were able to sit down on, have a rest, or anything you liked. At each one they had a laminated sheet explaining that they were placed haphazardly to raise awareness of homelessness in Launceston. There was a notebook there also for you to write your thoughts. It was very interesting :)



A lot of the art was in trees... At each display there was a card explaining what each was about... I'm not sure about this one- i was just having fun taking pictures :)


This caravan was super weird! It looked interesting at first, with a sign out the front saying "Come inside" .. So Jasz and i did.. We saw the people who had gone in before us sitting in the caravan and being part of an interactive mime show.. It was a little too out there for us, and we decided to skip our turn!


The art work was super interesting. I wish i could remember what this one was about! It was about 5 metres high, and had random objects placed up it.


This one was one of my favourites, with all the coloured umbrellas.


Throughout the whole city there was random pieces of knitting- tied to traffic lights, on bridges etc. This was the biggest display.


I found the coolest bit of graffiti EVER!!!




At Inveresk at the museum and art gallery there was a tent outside filled with students artwork, and if you liked a piece you put the money in an envelope and took the artwork you wanted. I was wishing i had cash with me as there were some very good pieces! This is the tent though, haha :)


Jasmine is so tolerant of my constant picture taking! And is such a good model (or a good poser?) haha.


I always love taking pictures of Jasmine, she is SO much fun, and very beautiful :)

An alley way was filled with posters stuck to the wall. Jasz thought she would try being like those adds for depression you see...

I, on the other hand, just felt like being silly :)


On the way home we walked through Prince's Square, where we found some cute little people amongst the flowers :)


... And another couch!!! (This is Jasmine's sexy couch pose! ;)


We then had some fun taking like 20 photos of ourselves mucking around on the couches, with the camera on timer :) I LOVE how they turned out!!!








Leaving the park Jasmine had her first kiss! ;)


... Or two!!!!


Crossing the road we discovered this round about that instead of the usual plants and grass had SAND on it!!! Jasmine took the opportunity to do some cartwheels!

We then walked back home :)

Thanks Jasmine for a really fun afternoon!!!! It was great to walk around in the sunshine, chatting and laughing non stop :)