Nate had his first full day at the studio today. He really likes it so far. Apparently he's learning to be very organized, and getting used to being the only male that works there. They took him out to lunch which was nice, and one of the lady's sons (Nathaniel) drew a picture of Nate's desk from a bird's eye view. It is now our first official piece of refrigerator artwork.

Besides that today was pretty uneventful. But we did have a lot of free time on our hands... something that happens once you no longer have homework. It led to this:


Izzy attacking my face with kisses.


Nate's so called "crazy eyes"


I call this one "the yawn zombie"


no idea what's going on here...sorry.

Short, but entertaining blog today. Nate got another freelance project. It's a big one, so it'll last until right before we head home for Christmas. This of course means he won't be working at the record store anymore. He'll finish out the two weeks, and then maybe help out on the weekend if they need him, but we're hopeful that this will turn into a full time job after we return in January. Cross your fingers for us!

It turns out you can add video to blogs...yeah get ready for some Corpus short films in the future. So, I know that it's pretty dark and crappy (sorry no lights in the living room), but Izzy was being ridiculous tonight and we decided to make you watch it. Enjoy.

82 days and counting...

As promised this weekend was very relaxing, and not very eventful. We spent hours watching "So You Think You Can Dance" and sitting by the pool. We also drove around one of the other islands down here and checked out the scenery. It was pretty nice. But now it's Monday and back to work for both of us. I've gotten my vacation approved for Christmas time so Nate and I (and hopefully Grace) will be headed back in good 'ole IA on December 16th. The good news is we get to stay until January 2nd. And the even better news (for me anyways) is that I only have to use 7 days of my vacation in order to have 19 days off. Nice.

As of today, Nate's sister is officially coming to visit us during her Thanksgiving break. We're both really excited! It'll be nice to have some family around for our very very small and cozy Thanksgiving dinner...I'm not sure what all we'll have, but I've promised Nate we'll make stuffing. Anyways, we're looking forward to her being here. And I'm sure Izzy will like having another person around the house.

Speaking of my Izzy baby...she started losing her teeth this weekend. No, the doggie toothfairy didn't come. It's not really in her budget right now.


A coupld of Izzy's baby teeth. Yes, I documented it.


Us laying by the pool


Izzy and Nate taking a nap


Part of our drive. The bay literally comes up to the road.

look ma' a gold star

Well it's official. I am going to turn into a breakfast taco. Either that or something from Sonic. We have the best Mexican food down here. I just can't resist. Last night was Chachos and Taco Cabana (yes, both), today was homemade tacos, and tomorrow morning is the infamous Elva's "destroyers."

James has given Nate and I something new to save towards...an iMac. We have one at the studio so, thanks to the wonderful invention of the isight, my lunch break has now become a virtual meeting with James, and sometimes Niki. I know Nate's family has one, and my sister does too, along with several of our friends. It would be a great way to actually see each other while talking. Pretty awesome. How did I not know about this glorious technology before?

Work was work as usual. Nate worked a few days at the record store and designed a website. It was pretty uneventful, but I did get signed up for my first insurance away from the parents. Woo Hoo! And Nate got dental insurance for the first time in what I'm assuming has been far too long. Yea! Am I old now that insurance is exciting to me? Am I turning into my parents?

There are no big plans for the weekend. We may check out another one of the smaller towns around here...or go to the Kingsville Pharmacy for a corn dog and a milkshake. Either way we plan on sleeping in, relaxing by the pool, and maybe taking Izzy to another one of the beaches.


Nate and his framed work of art. Beautiful!


This is her "don't mess with me" face


And this is Grace and my creepy mask face

always a bride, never a bridesmaid...until now

I got some great mail today. One of my oldest and dearest friends, Emily B, has asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding next fall. I'm so excited and honored that she asked me. Her and I had been planning our weddings since I met her in seventh grade and she was a wonderful bridesmaid for me so I want to make sure she has all the help she needs to make her wedding perfect. Yea Emily and Nick!

In other recent happenings: Last week in the studio I did some work for a breast cancer benefit, which besides being for a good cause and all means that Nate and I will get to attend. It's at the Town Club which should be nice...good food, a good view, and some good entertaining drag queens. Yes, drag queens. I'm pretty excited about it. It will be my first drag show out of Ames, and any little reminder of home is more than welcome. I'm sure that come the middle of October there will be a blog entry for it. The suspense is killing you (especially you mom), I can tell.

Ok, so I know the news is getting less impressive as we go, but you miss us...I know it. Plus, this one is mostly for the picture below. We took Izzy to the store today to find some new toys. She found herself a bone that's over half as long as she is. She's been enjoying it for the last few hours.

CORPUS CHRISTI FIND OF THE DAY...A gun shop connected to a jewelry store. Convenient. If you're a jewelry thief that is.


Izzy with her huge bone that she can hardly pick up.

would you still be my friend if i looked like this?

Well it's the weekend. And it's HOT. Air conditioner...on.

We went to the frame shop and should have Nate's piece back in a couple of weeks. I think it's going to look really nice hanging on the gallery wall. He finished up his first freelance project yesterday and has already been called to work on another one (woo hoo!). They also said that there will be more projects in the future with the possibility of a full time position after the first of the year. He's learning a lot under the gun, but he's doing a really good job and getting some good experience. He also started working part time at the record store yesterday and seems to like it. It's pretty easy and we can borrow any of the used movies for free...nice.

My week consisted on going to Sonic five times and Nano's twice. Yeah, it may be an addiction. But Sonic has like 186,000 drink options. What am I supposed to do? Other than that it was work as usual. I'm not as interesting as Nate right now...but we did get some rather interesting cups at the studio. And with that I leave you with these....



Nose cup 1 - gross


Nose cup 2 - grosser


Nose cup 3 - grossest

my husband, nate the great

Well yesterday was a great day. Nate got called back from the Ad firm he had interviewed at the previous day and was offered a freelance job. He must have really impressed them for them to call back so quickly. 26 hours...nice. We're crossing our fingers that it leads to more and more freelance work, but until then he'll take what he gets and work part time at the record store until the manager position opens up for him in October.

We ordered his print for the piece that will be on display at the gallery. And now we just need to get it framed and drop it off. I'll post a picture of it in this entry since I pretty much forgot to earlier. I'm still so proud of him. We're really excited for the opening night (Oct. 13). Besides the fact that this is Nate's first gallery show, this will be the first show in the newly expanded K-Space gallery so we're excited to see it after the build out. It should be good for the growth of downtown.


Nate's first gallery piece!

jobs, electricity, and a milkshake

So after eating at Nano's, which is one of the best taco places ever, Nate had his advertising/PR interview. It went really well and things are sounding promising...at least for some freelance work. His portfolio looks really good, and I'm really proud that he was able to do so well on his first professional interview. If you want to check out his work (and you should) you can at his website www.drapalrippke.com. So as soon as we hear back from them we can figure out what his best job will be and hopefully get a second income. It is much needed...

...electricity this month, $138...

That sucks, but what do ya do.

I'll tell you. You pay it, go to Sonic, get a milkshake and celebrate the possibility of the light at the end of the tunnel. Then you go home and play with the puppy, because that makes everything all better.


mmmm Nano's bean cheese and potato taquitos

calling all millionaires

Before I go into any story telling let's start this off with a little history lesson about PATCH and The Ritz. Don't worry, it's not too long. Read it...it's interesting.

The Ritz (this blurb is from the PATCH website www.ccpatch.org)
Built in 1929, the Ritz Theatre in Corpus Christi was one of the largest in Texas at the time of its construction. Opening day was three months after the stock market crash and the start of the great depression. The Ritz soldiered on, providing an escape for Texans into a world of imagination for years. Today, the Ritz stands crumbling, forgotten, one of the last great movie palaces yet to be restored, and one of the few standing historic buildings in Corpus Christi. By reviving the Ritz Theatre, we gain a new, dynamic venue to stimulate the economy, inspire and support the creative class and provide an anchor business downtown. The Ritz will be an icon for hope and change and rebirth. It’s something everyone can be a part of and say, “I helped make that happen”. PATCH, established for the good of the Ritz, will restore the Ritz Theatre retaining the original style of Spanish Renaissance, and develop the theatre into a state-of-the-art entertainment venue worthy of the times and the name, The Ritz.

Ok, caught up? Good. So my boss, Monica McLeod Sawyer, started PATCH after she stumbled upon an open door to the abandoned theater and explored it's insides. It is a HUGE project needing an even HUGER (is that a word?) amount of money to complete. But it will be so beautiful and awesome when it is finished. And to all you doubters out there...IT WILL get finished.

So a couple weekends ago she took Nate and I on a flashlight lit tour of it. Yes, flashlights. There are no lights or windows, and since it's been boarded up for years it's just pure darkness. I felt like I was in a haunted house and the sunken Titanic at the same time. But the potential of this huge art deco building is amazing. And with all the history that has taken place in it I can hardly believe that a community would let it decay like this. Besides all of the Vaudeville shows that started out this theater there were some pretty rad bands that came through it as well. Willie Nelson, ACDC, Bruce Springsteen, and Jimmy Buffett just to name a few.


Here are some of the really cool old posters that are still on the wall.

It was pretty eerie. There were still props on what used to be a stage, and costumes just laying around randomly in halls and what we assumed were old make up and costume rooms. I had to try not to think about the fact that I couldn't see anything except for what was in my flashlight ray. The thought of roaches, or any other critters for that matter, was too much for me. Oh, and did I mention that it was hotter than you can believe in there. Pretty smelly too. But I guess that's what happens when you take a building in South Texas, board it up, and let it sit for a couple decades.

These pictures are the first time that I am actually seeing the inside of the building beyond a small circular area at a time. I had no idea that wall was red. Oh, and those "dust" particles...yeah, I breathed them in. Sick. So I'll leave it at that since this is getting kind of long. If you want to know more about it you can check out the web site. Or if you happen to know anyone with oodles of money just sitting around you can send them our way...for PATCH of course.


Nate and I infront of the ground floor chairs. There's a balcony too. This place holds 1,000 people.



Us infront of the broken stage. Someday we'll retake this picture, with out the flashlights, and it will be beautiful.


A view from the balcony of the side wall.

sand in the paws

Well, Izzy took her first trip to the beach today. She's going to be a real beach bum. Here are some pictures of her first time in the sand.


Izzy running around with her mouth wide open


Her first taste of ocean water. mmm, salty.


Me with Izzy looking at the beach. Izzy and Nate getting ready to head home.

a timeline of current events: august-present

Ok, this is long and there are a log of pictures, but it should get us pretty close to up to date on this thing. August was my favorite month this summer. Nate graduated from ISU on the 3rd and got here on the 4th. Pretty weird to see him after being apart for 7 weeks. It was awesome though. Izzy liked having someone new in the house too. She pretty much ignores me most of the time now because she'd much rather lay on him than me. But i guess he is the stay at home daddy right now.


Izzy pup is growing up so fast!!

The advertising market down here is slow for the hiring. Nate started looking before he moved down here, he's had some encouraging words, but there are no openings for full time jobs at the firms around here right now. He's got an interview for a possible freelance job next week so we're crossing our fingers. Until then he's had a couple other job offers. One to be the manager of a record store down here, which would be pretty cool, and a possible salary painting job for Texas A&M. It wouldn't be his first choice, but it'd pay the bills until something more appealing comes along.

Good news though: Nate has been accepted into a national gallery show for a photograph he took!! I am so proud of him. His piece is one of 69 that was chosen out of 319! Pretty awesome for him. The show opens October 13th and we couldn't be more excited.

My job has been going great. Like I said earlier, I love the work and the people and our studio. It's all awesome. I've made good friends with one of the other designers, Grace. She's pretty awesome. We've had some pretty ridiculous times in the last month or so. The grand opening/ribbon cutting for McLeod Creative was last week and it was a blast! There was some great food and drinks and even some hula dancing. This is getting long, so just see the pics!



Grace and Nate upstairs at the studio


Monica cutting the ribbon with the mayor. Me and Grace with IZZY the mascot from A&M.


Grace and Trey and I in the "concept nook" at the studio


Grace in a hat, and part of the studio


Hula dancing (Melissa the intern, me, Grace, and el presidente Monica)

Izzy pup is doing good. We're planning on getting another sometime this winter. They're so dang funny and cute and perfect. We babysat our friend's (Courtney) dachshund and now we really need to have two of them around. Izzy loved it and we both like having one for ourselves. Courtney and her family live in Kingsville (45 min away), and she's pretty awesome as well, so Izzy should get to have some play dates in the future. Well, I think that does it. So enjoy the weekend. And if anything else exciting come up we'll keep y'all posted!


Me at the water gardens on my 23rd birthday

a timeline of current events: july

So here's the next phase of our summer in Corpus Christi. Let's finish getting everyone caught up. This is all old news folks.

JULY
July ended my days alone for a while. My mom and grandma came down and were joined by Grace to spend the 4th with me. I had three days of holiday so I had a lot of free time. We went over to the USS Lexington to celebrate, which was really amazing and interesting. Izzy instantly fell in love with my mom, and I lost my sleeping buddy for most of the time they were here. We missed out on fireworks because of all of the rain, but were lucky enough to have my boss get us tickets for the Hooks game later that week and we got so see some fireworks after the game (which we won!). We ate delicious mexican food until we had to be rolled home, and Grace got a really really really bad sunburn at the beach. To end their trip here we spent a day walking around and shopping up in San Antonio at the riverwalk.

After they left I had a couple days alone before Emily and Curtis came to spend 12 days with me. Izzy was not well behaved while they were here and pretty much started every morning out at 7am by pooping on the floor to wake them up. We also went to a Hooks game, but had to sit on the hill, which was kind of fun until we got scared of the rain and went home. They spent most days exploring the city while I was at work. We ate a boat load of delicious food as well. Especially Sonic. Oh, by the way Em and Curtis, I ate one of those giant coney dogs today. It was delicious. Then they went home and I finished out the month hanging out with Izzy.



The riverwalk in San Antonio


My grandma and mom on the riverwalk boat


Emily, Curtis and I at the ballgame

a timeline of current events: may and june

So for those of you who I haven't been doing my part to keep in touch with this is a run down of what's been going on in the last two and a half months:

MAY
This May I graduated from Iowa State University with my BFA in Graphic Design which meant one thing...time to find a job. I will never be envious of anyone looking for their first career oriented job. It's very stressful and a ton of work. Way more work than an actual job. But after sending out what seemed to be a million resumes I started getting interviews and finally some offers. No, the goal wasn't to get as far away as possible from home, but Alaska and Oregon were definitely in the running there for a while. We opted, instead, for the much warmer (down right hot), city of Corpus Christi, TX. I interviewed in the middle of May at McLeod Creative, a very small, but very cool studio in downtown. This was my first time in Texas so we spent a couple days in Austin on the way down. And had a not so wonderful day in Kansas City...



Nate and I in Austin



Me after my interview. This is the opening party for the Wind and Water Open.


JUNE
After deciding to take the offer at McLeod we had about a month to get everything packed and ready to move across the country. I would be living in Corpus by myself until the first week in August while Nate was finishing up his BA in Advertising. I wrapped up my internship, left Nate a mattress and a TV, and headed South. On the way through Oklahoma we picked up the newest addition to our family, Isabelle, or Izzy as we call her. She is our baby dachshund who we love to death and spoil rotten. She made the summer alone much more bearable for me. We moved in to our apartment in heat like you wouldn't believe. Fortunately we hired guys to carry our stuff up the stairs. There's no way Nate and I could've done it alone. And after a couple days of unpacking and spending time together Nate flew back to Iowa. That part sucked. But I started my job and I couldn't ask for a better work environment, or people to work with for that matter. My first project was some posters for a stand at the baseball stadium. Go Hooks!



Isabelle Rippke (this pic is from the breeder 8 wks)



Little bitty Izzy taking a rest on her dad.



My first project in "the real world." mmm chicago dogs.



There's a lot more sand and grass now, but this is what my apt. looked like back in June.

so i'm really not a blogger...but let's give this a shot

Hey y'all! So since Nate and I have moved to the edge of the Earth, and approximately 18 hours away from my nearest family and friends, I think it best that we have a simple way to keep everyone up to date. Myspace and Facebook are great...but I highly doubt that my grandma is going to be getting an account any time soon. This should be an all access form of communication where Nate and I can let you know any recent happenings and share pictures of our lives down here in Corpus Christi. That being said I guess I'll kick this thing off...but a warning...I am not, nor have I ever been, a good writer. So if you could please excuse any typos, grammatical errors, and all around poorly structured entries that would be great. I will try to keep this as up to date as possible...which I'm sure will happen since I'm addicted to my computer. Don't be surprised if there are multiple entries for a day. Especially as I'm getting things started. There's a whole summer of catching up to do! Miss you all, and see you around Christimas time!


This is me at the beach on Mustang Island CC,TX