Anniversary/Graduation Surprise

This year some friends of mine and I got together and conspired to do something fun for our husbands who were all graduating this May. 

It was a surprise for the boys and fun for us girls.

It was kind of my anniversary gift to Garran as well because we didn't really have a chance to do much on our actual anniversary. 

 Here we are on the way to the surprise!!

 Can you guess where it is??

 That's right...Downtown Chicago. A dinner cruise out on Lake Michigan. 

 I mean, look at this view while we got to sit and enjoy a wonderful meal and good company!

 It was the perfect night. It was nice weather and clear skies. 

 As you can tell, I just kept snapping pictures fo the awesome skyline view. 

 Our group as the boat was heading back into the dock. 

 Garran and I! 

I just love this picture. 

 This one too. 

 When we got off the boat, Navy Pier was all lite up. I thought it looked so pretty. 

 We had the most delicious virgin strawberry daiquiris on the boat. The were so good we were talking about them the next morning. 

 One of my favorites of the night.

Happy Anniversary and Graduation Love!!

You are an amazing man and I love you dearly!!

Oh and I could not forget Phil. 

I promised him I would not put this on facebook, but my blog...Well that is a different story. 

There was a dance competition on the boat and there was a teenage girl that had signed up. The DJ was randomly selecting songs and this girl got "Single Ladies". She was obviously shy and the DJ asked if anyone wanted to go up and be her back up dancer. Of course Phillip jumped at the chance. 

ENJOY!

A Change...

Well with Grad School coming to an end and changes needing to be made, a move was inevitable. 

We looked all over for jobs in different places, but we finally made a decision. 

Our next stop in this Gillespie Family Adventure....NC!

I feel really good about this move for our family.

Of course we are sad about leaving all the grandparents, but it is exciting to be moving near cousins that the kids can play with.

Everything has really just fallen into place. We have a place to live that some friends of ours rent out. It's a cute little house that i think will be perfect for our family!

I will keep everyone updated with pictures and info. 

For now, we will be headed out the last week of May. 

So let the packing and cleaning begin!

Garran's MFA show

Well after three years of Grad School... We finally made it to this big event. 

 Garran's MFA show.

I was so excited and proud of him all rolled into one.

Don't touch paradise was the name of Garran's show, but it came from an encounter that he and Kael had on the stairs one day. Kael was coming down and Garran was going up. Garran patted Kael on the back and Kael turned around and said, "Don't touch paradise, and this is Paradise!"

Since Garran's show was about fatherhood, it only seemed right!

 Kael is the fly whisper in our  house and he had a pet fly for two days that would just sit on Kael. It was the strangest thing we had ever seen. He named it Remarco and so this is Kael and his pet fly. Remarco!

 Garran did a series of drawings in which he took the kids art work and did his own interoperation of it.

I just loved them.

 This was a drawing Kael did of a girl. Garran made it Briea.

 This was a Cullan drawing of all of us. Garran just did the four kids and added a few extra touches.

 another Cullan drawing.

 and this last one was a self portrait Cullan did and then Garran went off that.

 These were another series that Garran did. He made portraits of each of the kids and then grafted his own skin onto them. It was about what we pass down to our children.

 Cullan

 Briea

 Kael

 Ayla

 This is a print of Kael called "The Legacy" touching on myths of our religions.

 "the Gift" is of Cullan and other myths of our religion.

 This was the entrance to the show! It looked so good.

 I forgot to get a picture with Garran the night of the show, so we went back the next day to get one together. We were much more fancy the night before :O)

 We took the kids with us to see the show the next day as well. They LOVED IT! They thought it was so cool to see themselves and parts of their work hanging up!

 These are just some gallery shots that i took.

It was a great night and so many wonderful friends and family showed up to support Garran. I could not have been happier with how it went. I know it was a lot of hard work to get to this point and I am proud of every minute he put into it.

Here is a walking tour of the show. Please excuse my lame commentary!!

unbelievable.

I can't believe this. 

Monday my husband goes back to school. 

Monday...He goes back to school FOR HIS LAST YEAR OF GRAD SCHOOL!

I can not believe we are here, at this point. 

I don't know how excited Garran is, but I am over the moon. 

We have been in school our entire married life. 

I feel like we are actually growing up. 

Yes I know we have 4 kids and are both in our 30's but being in school keeps you in a certain state. 

I am praying harder than ever that the job market will be in a better place soon and that we will have some sort of employment.

excited

garran has been gone for a week in new orleans for a conference.

we are all so excited that he is getting home tonight.

i know i can hardly wait!!

i asked if the kids wanted to make a welcome home sign for him. of corse they did. 

so here it is....

"WELCOME HOME..WE LOVE YOU"

A gift.

there was  a visiting artist at NIU and she did a print while she was here. she ended up leaving the block and so they used it to do a demonstration. Garran thought that I would like one and brought it home for me. Sorry the bottom is blurry. Ayla started to grab it just as i snapped the picture. 

now i will just have to frame it and figure out where to put it!

the seven year itch.

Yep, I have definitely got it.

THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH!

Now I am sure you must be thinking what, they seem so happy. Garran and I are just fine. I don't have the seven year itch when it comes to my marriage. I have the seven year itch when it comes to being in school. Garran has been in school our entire married life. And now.....NOW, we can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel. 3 more semesters. This is it. He has this spring semester and then one more year....and we are DONE!!! I am sure some people might not understand why I am so ready to be done with school, but I am. I know the job market is in the tank. I know that my husband has choose a path that is not common, but for some reason, I am not worried about any of that. I have a feeling that it will all work out. I know that he is talented and that things will just fall into place. I have no idea when or how that will happen. I just have a feeling that it will. 

There is something about being a student, that no matter how long you live in a place, it always feels temporary. Like when people ask you why you moved to the area you answer is always, "oh, my husband is a student". Its never, oh we moved here to live, because he works here or there. I know that we will probably not find a job and stay there for all of Garrans career. I understand that we will probably move. I am just ready to be done with this part of our life. Both the schools that Garran has attended have treated him very well. As in, the professors have worked closely with him to help get his name out there and develop his talents. For that I am very grateful. I just hate the red tape side of going to school. Fees, Financial Aid, Books, Supplies, Ridiculously small paychecks for all the hard work he puts in to what he does. I am just ready to move on. To have a husband that goes to work and comes home. That does not have to be gone till 11-12 at night, sometimes later, because there are just not enough hours in the day to go to class, teach, and work on his own stuff in the studio. 

I am ready to be DONE!

And I honestly think he is too. 

I am so thankful that he has gone to school for something that he loves. It makes me really happy to think that he will get to wake up every morning and go to a job doing something that he really enjoys. I would hate for him to have to get up everyday and begrudgingly go to work to support our family. I know he would do that. That is just how he is. But I am glad that he wont have to. 

So this is our plan. 

This semester we are going to try and get him in as many shows as we can to build up his portfolio and his resume. Next semester he will be teaching a printmaking class and they asked him to re-apply to teach another undergraduate class, so he will focus on that next semester if he gets both of those. (they will be very time consuming) and his last semester he will focus on his MFA show. It will be in Chicago and I can hardly wait. I am so excited to see what he does. I am always blown away by his work. So that is it. When i put it that way, it seems like we will be done in no time. Life keeps moving and when it comes to be done with grad school, I am perfectly ok with that!!

Who is this Rockstar?

Just my Husband!!

Garran's futures so bright....he has to wear shades!

(does anyone remember that song. LOL)

anyways, i am going to do some bragging for a minute. 

garran had his end of year critique with his professors. they liked the work that he has been doing so much that they asked him to make another set of prints to put in the school archive. then they also told him that next year he will be teaching the undergrad printmaking class!!!!!

Woo HOoo!!

All of his hard work is paying off!

I am so excited to see him do so well.

Here is his website if you are interested.

www.garrangillespie.com

A pool of serenity.

I was reading a blog that I love to read today and the lady writing was joking about being a "pool of serenity", with great sarcasm. I realized that I too was having a sarcastic day of being my own cool "pool of serenity".

Sometimes I think my sense of humor is a little odd, however this lady is right up my alley. Sometimes when reading her blog, it is like I am reading my own thoughts.

So here is what would happen if you came to take a dip in my pool today.

1. Our toilet has been broken for three days. I guess I should specify, the upstairs toilet. I was slightly embarrassed as the plumber came downstairs and explained that he pulled out two different pieces of a cell phone and one very large piece of plastic. I don't know for sure but I have a very good guess as to who tried to flush those things. I am convinced my children get their naughtiness from their father! :0)

2. I woke up sick. Blah. I won't go into anymore detail but I woke up sick and have been hating it all day long.

3. My kids have been trapped inside due to cold and rain and they are quit literally going crazy! Which in turn is messing with my pool!

There is a happy ending to my day though.

Garran had a huge critique at school today. He had to meet with a panel of professors, including the head of the print making department. They basically reviewed his work and assessed if he would get to keep his scholarship.

Needless to say, it went awesome! Garran is so talented and just a rock star at what he does. He is so humble but everyone in a while I feel the need to brag about how proud I am of him. He sacrifices a lot for us and when he gets good news it is a happy day for all of us!

(and adds a little bit of serenity back into my pool)

It's a YES!

Garran just called and his meeting went really well. They said that he got the teaching position for next year!!

He will be teaching a foundations drawing class. I am so excited for him. I had a feeling that things would go well!

Woo Hoo Garrans!

We love you and are so proud of you!

Tomorrow....

Tomorrow, Tomorrow,

we'll find out tomorrow,

It's only a day....a....way!

Just in case you think I am crazy, Garrans has a meeting tomorrow to find out if he got the teaching position. Either way, I am really proud of him for making it as far as he did in the interview process! Guess we will just have to wait and see!

interview

t - 10 ...9..8...7..6...5

yep that is right, the countdown is on. today at 3:30pm Garran goes for his interview to see if he will be receiving and teaching position next year working with undergrad art students. I am so excited for him. I know he would be amazing at this. It is what he wants to eventually do. I keep praying that it goes well. I really want it to. I know that there are a lot of others out there, but he did make the first cut to even get an interview,  so that gives me hope. I mean besides the fact that he is incredibly talented. So say a prayer, cross your fingers, what ever you do, send good luck our way!!

fingers crossed.

(new sketch added to Garran's blog)

ok everyone. please keep your finger's crossed, say a prayer, or whatever you do. garran just left a few minutes ago to turn in his packet for a teaching position for next year. he would be teaching a fundamentals drawing class. it would be so great if he could get it and would look amazing on his resume. however, here is the down side. there are only four slots and i think 14 or 15 grad students applying. YIKES!! so we will see what happens. hopefully he gets one of the spots. i always have confidence in him, but I also know that there are a lot of talented people out there. so....say a little prayer!! I am hoping it all works out. 

if you would like to see his work, you can go to his blog.

www.garrancgillespie.blogspot.com

new place

today it became official. we just got back from finishing up some last minute stuff. this is our new place. well new to us and new for the next three years of our life. at least until grad school is over and we move on to a new home. the kids were excited to see it and pick out which room they wanted. i'm sure their minds will change but by the end of the month we will be living here.this is what our kids are most excited about. this is pretty much in our back yards. probably 100 yards or more from our back door. so while we are sad to be leaving all our friends here, we are excited to be moving to a nice place!

i have our new address if anyone needs it. just message me and I will get it to you!

stress

well we spent all day Monday in Illinois looking for housing. we think we have found a place that we would be really happy with and that would work well for our family. now comes the waiting. waiting for all the paperwork to go through, waiting to hear if we will get approved sooner than later, waiting to hear exactly when we will be moving. i think i have mentioned in early posts that waiting is not always my strong suit. i am getting better because I realize that this is all out of my hands at this point. the papers are all filled out and we are just waiting to here. AHHH! I am already in the mode of de-junking things so that we will only move things that we really want to take with us and not move clutter. I don't know if that is an issue with anyone else, but we tend to always have clutter somewhere. anyways say a little prayer that our housing situation works out!!

the future!

well a decision has been made. it was not easy. we really loved the idea of living in the mountains and the appeal of being back towards where we are both from. alas, after much prayer and discussion among ourselves and others in the field we have decided to go to ......they made us the best deal. it has a great program and garran really enjoys the professors and other graduate students there. now that we have a location, we will soon be announcing when we will be moving. we feel really good about our decision!!

playing outside!

FINALLY!
yesterday we finally we got to play outside! it was so nice, however it was just a tease. Saturday is more snow. BLAH!
ps. on a different note, it is decision week. we will know where we are spending the next three years by the end of the week!

on to tennessee!

well after a long drive..i believe it took us about 10 hours to get there we finally saw this sign.

woo hoo. we made it to Tennessee!
when we got there, garran immediately had to leave to go to a lecture and i ran to the store to get some food to keep in the apartment that the university had put us up in. i decided that since we had traveled all day on poor B's birthday, i would get her a little treat!she does not look all that excited, however right after she sang, she dove into the cake with both hands. we cleaned her up and cut her a piece. she did like it. it's just not that obvious from this picture.i wanted to put this in. this was sunset the night we got there. BEAUTIFUL!
Friday, garran was gone all day with B. Lyons. he was going to lectures, getting to see the school, having all kind of fun!!
Saturday was just our day. we did some house hunting in case garran decides to go there. we wanted to know which areas we like and which to avoid. then we decided to just have some fun.
we drove around campus. here is one of the Tennessee signs for campus. it is not the best picture, but you get the idea.here is just one shot of the campus which was gorgeous. i hate to sound bias because Dekalb was nice, but Knoxville was just so pretty!
after we left campus, we just took a little drive.this is a view we found while driving. it was just breath taking. the river with the mountains in the background. love it.
after this..we headed to downtown.here are the boys welcoming us to downtown!we thought the kids might think the sun sphere was fun. you got to ride up in an elevator and go up into the globe part. it was all glass and you could see the entire city.here are garran, the kids, and aunt silara (she came along on our trip) having fun. you do not see me because I have a horrible fear of heights. for some reason i had the worst reaction ever when we were hear. I could not step away from the wall. If i looked down i would get super nauseous, hot, and my knees would go week. so i just took pictures and hung out by the wall. here is on of the views. you can see part of campus and the mountains. as long as i did not look down, it was great!
after the sphere we headed down by the water. i wanted to get a family picture since i rarely have another set of hands so that i can be in it. we took a bunch. this one made me laugh. i have given up a long time ago on getting a picture with everyone looking and smiling. I take what i can get. it seems more like real life to me.
after we got the pictures we decided to walk around for a little while. on our walk we found these. i thought they were so cool. they have a huge children's hospital in Knoxville. these were all tiles made by children cancer survivors. i wish i would have gotten some close ups, but i just did not think about it then. they were all very cute and had little messages written on them.
after we walked around for a while we found a little treasure.everything in this little store was made there. they had lollipops and chocolates, rock candy...all sorts of fun things. we each picked one thing to try.kael and cullan picked lollipops.garran sampling some of the chocolates that we got. im glad we each only picked on because while they were super yummy, they were super rich!
we played some more in downtown and then headed back to the apartment to pack for our long drive home the next day.I had to get a picture as we were leaving of the mountains. I just love driving through them. so pretty. the kids did really well throughout the whole trip. it is always hard to have to sit for that long, but we are grateful it went as well as it did. we really enjoyed our little mini vacation and are excited to make a decision sometime soon.