Oh wow, an update.

I feel like I've been in a whirlwind for months. Work certainly has been taking its share of my time, and freelancing has picked up a bit. I recently designed a website for a local photographer, Ross Sieber. You can take a look at the site and some of his work at nrsmediaservices.com. Doing that site reminded me how much I like the design-to-code process, and how badly I need to update my own website. Nothing says, "Overlook me, please," like an out-of-date site.

My car is treating me very well for the commute I put it through every day. Route 422 is rather unforgiving, though it feels better when you know you're getting 45 mpg. Paying off a loan, whether it be for a car or anything else, is like being in a tunnel where the light at the end is a pinprick, but at least you can see your feet shuffling forward every once in a while.

That tunnel is about to get a whole lot longer. I got engaged last month and now have the joy and pain of planning a wedding. The designer in me is excited about the decoration possibilities, but the thrift shopper in me is writhing in agony. I had a minor freak-out this morning about how much a reception will cost. My goal is to strike a balance between "you only get this once" and "it's just one day." The problem is, my fiancé leans toward the former and I lean toward the latter. Compromise, compromise, compromise.

I'm starting to understand why brides go insane. Everything depends on everything else. I need a solid date to book the photographer I want. The reception hall availability will more or less determine which date that is. But I don't even know what I want from a reception, let alone where to have it. How much can I afford to spend on X or Y when I have absolutely no clue how much Z will be yet? Am I supposed to match the venue to the theme, or the theme to the venue? And with all the stress, how on earth am I going to be the same dress size now as when the wedding comes up?

At least I got a Kern Zip-up for Christmas.

Artsy people hate math.

me: ok, what does it do if you just set the width property and delete the height?

friend: i'll check

me: if that doesn't work, here's what to do to find out the proper proportion: if you know what width you want to make it, multiply that width by the original height of the pic. then divide the original width by that number. that's your new height in proportion

friend: deleting the width works

friend: so i am going to pretend i didn't see that psychotic babble up there

I'm a big girl now.

Today was the first day, and likely the last day, I can ever say I didn't mind paying bills. "Enjoyed" is too strong a word, but it was borderline happiness. Normally I pay by proxy – the bill comes, my parents write a check, and I withdraw funds from my savings to reimburse them. The Bank of Mom and Dad has been very good to me, and very lenient. But a recent mix-up and a gnawing need for independence gave me the push I needed. This month I finally took control of a checking account. I recieved my first full paycheck from work and deposited it, along with a hefty chunk from my savings, into my account and wrote my own checks to be sent off to the parties to whom I owe money. It was a decent and slightly unexpected amount of capital, seeing as I'd forgotten about the deposit for my car being placed on my credit card the previous month. The unexpected part was not so delightful, but the fact that I paid every cent of it by myself was satisfying. I also enjoy the online access to my balances so I can keep a close eye on everything. Once the paperwork for direct deposit goes through, that's even less runaround I have to deal with. This whole business really isn't worth blogging over, but I thought I may as well document this financial coming-of-age, if only to remind myself later that I was once happy about it.

I have a job!

I just landed an internship-to-hire with Unreal Marketing in Conshohocken, PA. They're bringing on two or three interns to work on the creative and design side of things. I could be doing anything from package design to website building. Tomorrow afternoon I'm heading in to fill out all the paperwork. I have yet to make the drive in rush hour, and that's something I'm really not looking forward to... but I have people. (Maybe they'll at least be able to show me some back routes.)

I was starting to wonder how I'd be able to pay bills if I couldn't find something soon. And finding something soon seemed quite improbable. God is faithful!

Ten hours until graduation.

Guess I'd better get some sleep. But first, some exciting news: I have a new car! A shiny 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid is parked outside (in the rain, unfortunately). I traded in my used-to-be-trusty Jetta at the dealership and finished up all the paperwork last night. The Civic's seats were still wet from being shampooed when I test-drove it. Apparently there had been some breakdown of communication, and the detail crew had the whole car apart cleaning it when I was supposed to be driving and signing and leaving within half an hour. I'm not even going into why there was a rush. Suffice it to say, I was supposed to be in three different places at once last night, and I prefer not to relive the panic. But everything turned out, as I trusted it all would, and now I have the nicest car I've ever owned. The current Darbie is a happy frazzled anxious excited Darbie. Ten hours.

Internship

This is the last day of my internship at The Morning Call. It's a newspaper based in Allentown, PA, and I've been working with the Interactive Department for the last six weeks. I've created dozens of Flash banner ads for various clients that were, are, and will be displayed on the newspaper's website.

My last project as a college student was to create something based on my internship experience. Every example I'd seen of past projects was some sort of book. I've done nothing with print during my time here, so it didn't seem right to design a printed piece. Instead, I did a little Flash presentation that highlights some of the work I've done and what I've learned. You can check it out at darbiedesign.com/studentprojects/mcall.

The creativity just wants to go to bed, please.

I really want to create my own template for this blog, but I just don't have the energy. My website is done! (For now...)