with a purpose

Do you ever meet someone and think that they’re “cool.” Like the purest definition of the word “cool.” To the point even where it seems like they’re not even trying. How are people so effortlessly cool? But then again it’s important to remember that the person I think is the coolest might be super lame to you and vice versa. It’s all subjective, much like art. 

I was just in my typography class and our current project is to design 26 characters. Essentially, we have to create our own font. My teacher is the walking version of the word “cool,” and loves when people bend, stretch, cut, and destroy the norm. He loves when people take risks, but more importantly he loves when creative executions have a purpose. As a creative major, I’ve been struggling to create things with purpose. I often find myself creating things simply because I think they are pretty or what someone else would think was cool, but I have a hard time doing things with a pure reason. 

In my portfolio class my professor has been stressing the idea of having a concept. I know he’s probably just talk about a concept in the advertising world, but I think it’s important to have a concept with everything that we do. For example, I’ve decided to write a blog post every day, but for what reason? Because I want to become a better writer. There. That’s a reason. But why do I want to become a better writer? Why do I even have this blog in the first place. What’s the purpose? I’ll get back to you on that one.

I think it’s also interesting to look at fashion. Every single person wears clothes, but the clothes that they wear were picked for a purpose. Sometimes it’s for comfort, other times it’s for beauty, even sometimes it’s to project a certain feeling you’re having on a certain day. Think about what you’re wearing right now and ask yourself what the purpose of it even is. 

This one was written for the purpose of me challenging myself to do things with a purpose moving forward. 

Thanks for reading.
xox
Chloe 

podcast, baby

More often than not I get into a rut at the gym. I start to over analyze the fact that literally every machine is on a loop and I feel like a lab rat running the constant circle. But, this morning, I forced myself out of bed and trekked to the gym in order to feel a little better on this gloomy Sunday morning. It was well worth it, as I learned a little something new. 

via

Usually, I play some random workout playlist that typically has the word “twerk” somewhere in the playlist name. Not only that, but they are all usually three minute songs and I start counting the number of songs I’ve heard, multiply it by three, and realize that I still have an absurd amount of time left climbing the never ending loop of stairs. 

Today, on the other hand, I decided to play a podcast. Growing up, my mom would always drive the carpool with radio segments instead of music. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but looking back, it was wildly educational. As little as I wanted to hear it, it was inevitable that I knew the political standings of our country at the ripe age of 11. Pretty cool. But anyways, her favorite radio segment is called “Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me” which is on NPR. It also has been made into a podcast and streams on Spotify, so when I found it this morning I listened to all 50 minutes of it while working out. I usually get burnt out after 10 minutes, but I made it today. 

Definitely give it a try, or at least give “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” a try because it’s super interesting. 

Thanks for reading,
Chloe 

labeling

I want to share a little project that I worked on in my Typography class. Typography, if you don’t already know, is the study of fonts. Why do I love fonts so much? Honestly, I couldn’t tell you, but my love developed in elementary school when we got to play around with Word Art. It’s been a few years since my Word Art obsession, but the love for fonts has continued on.

Anyways, in  my class we had to chose an old school piece of technology to make a piece of art with. We had the option of really anything, from typewriters to stamps, but I decided to use a label maker. I thought of what a label maker does, label things, obviously, but then I thought about what it doesn’t do. It doesn’t label people. So I decided to label people, clearly. I think too often labeling is received with a negative connotation, but why not label people positively. I asked one of my friends if she’d pose for a few photos and if I could kindly label her. She agreed, and the piece below is what I submitted for class.

After I presented it to the class and explained everything, my professor and I decided it would be a cool series if I had people “label” themselves, with whichever words first come to mind, when they think about themselves, and then photograph them with the labels on their bodies. Something to consider. 

I also challenge you to think how you would label yourself? Is it kind? If not, why is that? Why are we so harsh on ourselves? 

Here’s the piece if you’re curious. 

coolest guy i know

My brother is the coolest person I know. Sure, bold statement. Sure, family looking out for family. Sure, biased opinion. But seriously, he’s just cool. Without trying. He’s been effortlessly cool ever since I remember. 

Let me tell a little story. My brother is three and half years younger than me, so my mom and I used to drag him along to when we got our nails done. I think he was in the first grade and a guy at the nail salon jokingly asked if my brother wanted his nails done. Reis, agreed, sat down, and got his nails painted. He chose to paint them black. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. But of course, growing up in the smallest little town in the deep south of Alabama, no one else did. I’m sure he got made fun of in class, but Reis isn’t the guy to talk about that kind of stuff. He just lets it roll of his back. At this point in his life he was also wearing the brightest lime green high top converse. He was who he was and didn’t care at all, in the first grade. Looking back, he just did what he liked and didn’t think about anyone else, and that’s pretty cool for a first grader. The best part of it all? He’s still the exact same way. 

I, on the other hand, was the opposite. I cared what people thought of me, I wore what I thought fit in the most. I wasn’t unique. I wish I had lived my childhood a little more like my brother. I think since I’ve graduated from the fifth grade, I’ve been able to care a little less, but Reis has been and will forever be the coolest guy I know.

He’s now currently a freshman in college, and although he’ll most likely never read this I hope he keeps his individuality alive. I admire his true to self style, his ability to do whatever he wants without thinking about other’s opinions or thoughts of him. I hope he stays true to his true self. 

So let’s all try to be a little more like Reis. 

Also, he made me a playlist (because I asked for it) and he did. Check it out if you need some new music in your life. Here’s the link: PLAYLIST

thanks for reading
xox
chloe

improving a little

I don’t blog enough. There. I said it. It’s the sad real truth. I love writing even though I’m not that great at it, but there’s that 10,000 hours rule that says if you do something for over 10,000 hours then there’s a high chance that you’ll become good at it. And I want to become good at writing. So in order to do that, I have to write.

And here we are. Here I am…. writing.

I’m challenging myself to write at least one post everyday for the rest of time. It’s something I really want to do, and I’m pretty good at following through with things if I want to do them enough. Some of these posts might be sappy some sad some weird some boring some short some extremely long. I’m not sure, but I want to write more so I’m going to. 

For today’s post I want to share a little detail of my day. 

I had my photography class this morning and we did the first round of critiques for the first draft of our first project. A lot of firsts if you didn’t pick that up. That being said, I didn’t really know what to expect from the feedback or from other people’s projects. I was pretty confident going into the critique but I left feeling pretty defeated. My project was essentially eaten alive in the most respectful way possible. I’ll share the photos below, but what I got out of this critique today is that it’s important to be beaten up. Maybe not physically (definitely not physically), but it’s important to feel destructible, to feel like you're at the bottom, to feel eaten alive. These feelings should push you to move upwards. It’s also important to know that your bottom, your worst possible situation might not be someone else’s. In fact, your worst case scenario might be someone else’s best efforts yet. You have no where else to go but up and that’s amazing. Sure, I felt defeated after class, but I thought about people’s comments and now I’m inspired to create something better, something people will have nothing but great things to say about. And even if other people don’t like it, because they most likely won’t, I’ll have improved my work just a little. 

That little improvement is what we should all strive for in every aspect of our lives. 

So let’s all improve a little together.

Thanks for reading.
xox
Chloe 

enjoying the moment

Yesterday was my last first day of school ever. *cue the tears*

To be honest, I am feeling all the emotions which is making me not know what to feel at all. Am I sad? A little. Am I excited? A lot. Am I nervous? Yes. There’s a lot going on up in this little ‘ole brain. I think it’s especially hard because this whole school thing is all I’ve known for basically the past 20 years. The whole cycle of it all is just such a consistent thing so I’m scared for it to stop. Sure, I’m excited for what’s to come. I’m excited for my new normal. But I’m also sad that this stage of life is about to be over. I just want to savor every moment. I want to take it all in. I don’t want to miss a beat of this year, because three, four, five years from now I will be hardcore missing this stage. Is there a thing such as advance nostalgia? When you’re stuck in a moment but already have nostalgia for it? If so, I’m there. 

So, I want to make a little promise to myself to enjoy each moment of this senior year. I want to realize the lows will pass and to enjoy the highs. I want to push past my comfort zone, but also not do anything I don’t want to do. I just want to live in the present without fearing the future. I want to look back on the past but not live in it. I want to enjoy. 

Here’s to enjoying the moment.