An adoptive hope chest.

Are you familiar with the concept of the Hope Chest? For all things there seems to be a wiki, so... Why do I bring it up? Well, for many years I have had an interest in adopting. One of the many benefits offered by the company I am going to work for is an adoption reimbursement program (partial). In contemplating accepting the job offer I admit the idea of a company who supports adoption in such a pointed way was deeply encouraging. I know it is an expensive process. Though I've heard rumors that the whole having kids enterprise is a big money issue.

Anyhow. In my years of contemplating I've developed a bit of Blue Car Syndrome and occasionally toy with the idea of collecting items for an adoptive hope chest. Books, music, movies and objects that are about adoption stories. Something that would show my kid how special they are and that even though I didn't give birth to them it doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about them for a long, long time.

A few of the items I have in mind:
Meet the Robinsons (movie) - about a young boy who wants a family more than anything and has to travel to the future chasing a bowler-wielding maniac to learn about his place in the world










Martian Child (movie) - a widower pursues adoption of a young boy with special needs: he believes he is from Mars and fails to understand human culture











Despicable Me (movie) - a super villain, Gru, adopts a trio of ridiculously adorable kids as part of his plot to out-bad his super-villain competition. Turns out Gru is a sucker.

The Bean Trees (book) - a story of a young woman setting out on her own for the first time and getting handed a Native American baby in a dark parking lot. The story follows her evolution from young, spitfire woman to falling in love with this kid.

Pigs in Heaven (book) - sequel to The Bean Trees where Taylor (the mom) and Turtle (the adopted child) are confronted by the legal system of the Cherokee Nation, threatening to separate the two








There would be/will be other things.

89 Days

I have an app for my phone that gives me countdowns. You punch in the date of the impending event, give it a title and set it up with a snapshot from your library and it generates a day-by-day countdown until the event. Prior to my internship last summer I set the program to tell me how many days until I flew to Minneapolis. When I accepted the offer I created counts for Commencement and starting my new job. I am grateful that the program does not automatically update, you have to open it to make it update.

Today marks 89 days to commencement. And I've decided to take my panic and stuff it into a little box. And to wrap it in a list of 89 things to think about as commencement draws near.

1. I have a job lined up already,
2. in my field,
3. for a well-loved company,
4. who made an awesome offer;
5. that includes bangin' relocation.
6. Laura will come apartment hunting with me in May.
7. I get to travel to Idaho and California to see family in March.
8. I need to make dates with my parents more. 
9. My thesis is under way.
10. I love writing, so
11. my thesis is actually fun to work on.
12. I have lots of ideas for thesis:
13. I am weaving a new fabric this week &
14. starting drawings for the next jacquard.
15. I bought a Nook!
16. My Nook makes me read instead of watch TV. 
17. I am sleeping better without watching so much TV. 
18. I have a plan to get my cavities filled. 
19. Including an appointment for tomorrow. 
20. Spring semester = staff selection season
21. I will spend an awesome Thursday interviewing people for my job. 
22. I will get to be a giant ResLife nerd for interviews. 
23. Doing interviews makes my departure feel more real. 
24. My birthday is in April. 
25. It's a chance to have a party. 
26. I will have at least 2 parties before I move away. 
27. I like parties. 
28. I might buy a new dress for the parties.
29. I love dresses. 
30. I might be able to buy a smaller dress for the 2nd party. 
31. I have been on South Beach for 1 month. 
32. So far it makes me feel great. 
33. Yoga on Wednesdays is the balance I need in my week. 
34. Yoga on the weekends makes me feel like I can do anything. 
35. Including deal with short bouts of panic. 
36. Like learning I might have to move the week of graduation. 
37. Moving will mean having a bigger kitchen. 
38. And a bathtub. 
39. And hardwood floors.
40. I would also like a dishwasher. 
41. Though I would settle for more counterspace. 
42. And possibly a deck.
43. Spring is coming. 
44. The perfect time to read outdoors. 
45. Our campus looks gorgeous as the seasons shift.
46. It will be warm here sooner than in Minnesota. 
47. I will get to show Laura what the city is like. 
48. It will be like going on vacation. Kinda ;)
49. I get to spend the semester immersed in studio work. 
50. I get to weave on the jacquards every week. 
51. I have the best commute I've ever had. 
52. I look forward to having 1 job.
53. I will miss being in the studio. 
54. I will not miss 3am wake-up calls. 
55. I am going to invite family from all over to my show and to graduation. 
56. I will be able to show my family something they understand: beautiful fabric. 
57. I will be able to take my portfolio with me. 
58. I can show my portfolio through my website. 
59. On my Nook. 
60. Anywhere with WiFi. 
61. My car is paid off. 
62. If I pay @$1000/month for @10 years my student loans will be paid off.
63. I will have a master's degree. 
64. I had no idea where grad school would take me. 
65. Things have worked out incredibly well. 
66. Everything that was scary became something awesome. 
67. I will have a job that directly relates to my degrees.
68. I will be able to share that with people at my high school reunion. 
69. Which I will attend with 2 of my oldest friends. 
70. I will have time to spend with friends and family before moving away. 
71. I will be able to afford moving. 
72. I enjoy house hunting. 
73. I can make new curtains for my new place. 
74. I can't wait to have my family out to visit. 
75. I might have to buy a coffee machine just for them.
76. I have a ton of work to do between now and then. 
77. Like drawing
78. and packing
79. and mounting the show
80. and packing
81. and photographing
82. and updating my website. 
83. My staff this year is awesome. 
84. I get to spend the rest of the semester with them, too. 
85. I've met a ton of awesome people in grad school. 
86. Intelligent, talented, dedicated people. 
87. I never thought I would be here. 
88. Grad school has been an incredible challenge, 
89. and a blessing.

A tablet? An ereader?

I watched my parents open their new Kindles this past Christmas with such glee that it pushed my own desire to have a tablet/ereader up ahead of schedule. Initially I was interested in Apple's much-lauded ipad. It could do all the things I would want from such a device: ereader software (Kindle, Nook, Overdrive, you name it), web browsing (for personal pleasure and also as a lightweight, portable way to showcase my portfolio website) and play movies (after the airport debacle I now owe a small portion of my calm and sanity to netflix.) Also, a huge bonus, I could buy it through work.

But that Kindle. It's so light-weight, sleek, simple. I found that very attractive, too. Not to mention reading on the beach. (Although, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I would not be likely to bring an expensive electronic device to the beach for pleasure reading: sand, moisture, theft... no, thanks.)

I learned about Barnes and Noble's Nook Color and started thinking it might be the next best thing. Something between the ipad and the Kindle. Color and with internet capabilities. Smaller and lighter than the ipad. And then there was the price. $250 with expandable memory (Nook) v. $499 to start (ipad).

I spent a day going back and forth between Best Buy and B&N and the last time I left Best Buy I was convinced. I was going to get the ipad. It's so shiny, so pretty, can do a million things and I can pay for it through work. I walked into B&N to erase the last doubts and instead found myself shelling out for the nook. When it comes right down to it, I don't want to hold something as big as the ipad to read a book while riding the bus. B&N has a SDK out for app development and that was enough to give me hope for netflix down the road.

So far, it's very pretty. I've loaded up on free books and started learning the ropes for borrowing ebooks from the library, too. The screen resolution is very good. It's comfortable to hold. My website looks awesome. B&N has a million titles and for wickedly  cheaper than paying for hard copies. So, I win.