Nor'Easter...in October?!

That's right...it's here!  Our first Nor'Easter of the season and the little kiddies couldn't fatten up on their sweets yet!  What a shame. 

Don't get me wrong, I love the snow, but I'm more for it happening right around Thanksgiving; it really puts you in the holiday spirit!  Medford is looking at receiving about 6" of snow....oh brother.  This throws off my plans to bring my car up to Maine for the Winter around Thanksgiving time to avoid parking bans and what-not.

On the brighter side, the semester is chugging along nicely.  Lots of projects to get through and lots of readings.  I was approved for an independent study for next semester where I'll be completing a case study over my internship at the museum!  It's going to be great and I'm super pumped!

That's all I really have for now.  No knight and shining armour has fallen into my life to prove to me that my heart's mendable.  *wah wah*

Ta!

Fall is finally here!

Hello my few followers!

It's the best time of the year! Time for the leaves to change colour, the temperature to drop and the frost to set it.  That's right, it's FALL!  I've been embracing it so much more this year than I could last year due to a lack of a car in the city.

Emilie and I

Recently my friends Emily, Emilie and Caitlin and I traipsed over to the Topsfield Fair for some down-home fun!  I had such a wonderful time seeing rabbits, goats, chickens, sheep, and cows.  Can't forget the amazing doughboy I consumed as well as a delicious cup of cider! 

Fairs are one of my favourite characteristics of what New England is.  Generations of families participate and create hand-hewn goods that bring all those who visit back to a simpler time, when a pig race winner was the latest news and where to get the best cider!

Here are some images of the excursion!  Enjoy!

 

mmmmm....Doughboy!

Oh hey buddddddy!

Caitlin, Emilie, and Emily waiting for the bumper cars! (which was epic might I add)

I don't plan on it :-)

Just a sample of some of the breathe taking individual flowers on display!  The attention to detail is astounding!

In terms of where my semester is at, it's chugging along rather steadily.  I currently feel as if I'm existing in the calm before the storm.  Certain assignments have come and gone and made me pull my hair out.  Other assignments are just waiting to rain chaos all over me.  This is actually my second day off in a row!  Yay for a holiday weekend!  I needed these extra days to work on a presentation (on Minstrel Shows) for Photographic Archives, and working on my contribution to a database that my class in Database Management is constructing.  Lots of hard work, but I find this to be the most insightful semester that I've experienced yet.

I'm also celebrating Fall by purchasing my pumpkin today, need to figure out a facial design I wanted to implement.  I just finished making a loaf of Pumpkin Bread (thanks Trader Joe's!).  It turned out wonderfully!  Stella's curled up in my lap currently and there's a cup o' tea cooling off.  What could be better?

Until next time...

I was born to survive

Fall is in the air...I can feel it.  With the sensing of Fall comes the eagerness for the term to get underway,  my friends to return to school, and the changing of the leaves.  With Fall comes fun and exciting changes to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston!  Chihuly has come to a successful close!  The final weekend was a whirlwind and I don't know how I survived it!  Beer certainly followed to decompress from the demanding, though generous public!

Degas is replacing Chihuly and opens in early October!  It's about his nude studies, which is a nice change from the standard ballet scenes!  ALSO the Contemporary Art Wing (Linde Family Wing) opens September 9th!! CRAZY!  I'm extremely excited for the opening.  Lots of event plans are underway!

Post-Chihuly feels weird at the museum.  From selling 70+ memberships one week to hopefully three the next, it's a blow for sure.  But the crowds will pick up again hopefully soon!

I've received two of my required textbooks for the Fall term; Digital Preservation and my Photographic Archives book.  Still waiting for Database Management to be listed!  With new books, and school supplies going on sale, I can't wait for this semester to start!  It's going to be jam-packed with my job, three classes, and my extended (that's right, I get to stay!) internship in Digital Image Resources!!  I'll be able to manage it all, I have before.  Will this effect any possibility of getting back out there on the "market"? Absolutely.

I'm still so torn up about this relationship's end, the thought of trying again anytime soon just makes me nauseous.  With everyday the healing gets better, then I have a day where I feel as if I took ten steps back and want to stay in bed all day.  Luckily Stella has been such a blessing and gives me all of the unconditional love that I need in order for me to get on with my day, and hopefully someday my life.  I made the biggest step so far a few weeks ago: I put as much as I could in a box, shirts, small sentiments, etc, and mailed them all back with a letter truly expressing my emotions about this split.  One big boulder fell off my shoulders immediately.  Moving forward felt easier, and it still does for the most part.  I feel worse when I don't have something to do. (hence why I'm stoked for the semester to begin to make me crazy busy!)  My friends continue to amaze me with their over abundance of love and attention.  I don't deserve it all but they insist :-)

My apartment is coming together nicely.  IKEA is my new best friend :-) I am continuously meeting some of my neighbours and feel as if this place was fate. 

I'm baking a pizza and it's ready! YUM!
Until next time!

Another year older, another day stronger...

Hello all!

Yesterday was my birthday.  It has been too long since I've blogged.  The end of the semester got crazy, and my summer hasn't been as relaxing as most would hope for!  But I've put a new foot forward and am going to dedicate myself to this blog because there are many of you who I can't keep in the closest contact with and this is the easiest way for you all to follow my life.  With that said, some drastic changes have occurred recently to spark a reinvention and self-reflection.

My relation of three years has ended, much to my dismay.  I'm not 100% but I'm taking it day by day.  The details of the breakup are not necessary to disclose, it's too hurtful, and I do still have to respect his decision.

With that said, I'm single in Boston; not so bad I'll have to admit.  It'll be a while before I can even think of dating again, so in the meantime I'm going to finally let this amazing city embrace me and take advantage of all of the charms and adventures it presents to me!  I held back on a lot of what goes on in this city, trying not to get attached.  Now that there's nothing to look forward to that might displace me from this amazing place, I'm opening my eyes for the first time it feels like, just soaking it all in.

My internship in Digital Image Resources is going amazingly!  I love weeding through 15 years of neglected slide mess, generating new call numbers, and scanning for reference images.  At first I wondered why they still held on to their slide collection when everything else is digital, but then it occurred to me: they are now archival objects!  One master is saved including (at most) two dupes, and digital objects are created if the work doesn't have an image to it.  My library science brain is pleased :-)  I also LOVE being able to look at records of objects that the museum holds, which aren't on public display.  I feel like I've found my calling and am hoping that it's something I can further pursue once I graduate next year!

What else?  OH meet STELLA! Aptly named after Frank Stella!

 

I adopted her a few weeks ago.  She's been such a help giving me unconditional love, and helping me heal a little bit emotionally.  She's 3, and is the most laid back cat I've ever met!  

I think that's all I'll post for now.  Next blog will entail some quilting projects which I've recently finished!

Ta!

There is only 5 weeks of the semester left!

That's right, only five whole weeks!!!!  Strangely enough, I'm not feeling the pressure yet.  A lot has been going on in my life since I last posted.

Unfortunately I was so close, yet so far in obtaining a paid internship at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL this summer.  Hopefully I'll get even closer next summer!

But good news is that I just recently found out that I did get the summer internship at the MFA, sadly unpaid.  At least I'll still be gaining skills for my future career field!  I'll be cataloguing and scanning slides from the MFAs exhibition collection, and then uploading them online for public access.  Should keep me busy :-)

I'm in the final stretch of enjoying my little hobbit hole, pictured below:

This awesome nook has served me well while I acclimated to Boston living!  Now I'm preparing myself for the transition into apartment life with Rachel! 

With my newly gained form of living independence, I realized that I didn't want to lug my Bernette sewing machine down from Maine, so instead I found this awesome Janome Hello Kitty sewing machine via Target online!!! Check out the link below!

Hello Kitty Sewing Machine

With this handy-dandy portable machine I shall hopefully better my sewing skills, by finishing a quilt, and by making furnishings and treatments for my humble abode! 

I started my second job at the MFA today processing donations for the Give The Arts A Chance campaign.  I love it!  It's so nice to get a chance to get off of the selling floor for a bit, and do something a bit more practical towards my degree (using a database). 

I'm living in a sea of copyright right now.  My term paper for archives is about copyright and access of visual resources within an archive, my essay for this week in digital stewardship was about copyright, and my portion of my group paper is alllllll about copyright.  It's a good thing I like the topic a lot or else I'd go mad!!

Spring is in the air here in Boston and I can't wait for it to get over 40 degrees! It's been below normal temps for over a week now and I feel as if it's January, not almost April.  The robins are back and that's an exciting sight to see!

Now if you don't mind, I have a cataloging assignment that I have to finish before I meet with Candy tomorrow.  Ta!

My whereabouts for the past few weeks!

Hello all!

So I have tragically failed to keep this blog up-to-date, which means that I'm going to power rant about everything significant that I should be sharing in this thing.

First: Caitlin and I had some wonderful bonding time a few Saturdays ago when we went on an adventure to the ICA.  They had an intriguing new exhibit up by an African-American artist out of L.A.  I enjoyed the show because quite often within the works he would reference certain art historical philosophies or terminologies.  Such as, he would use foil wrappers within his works that had a double meaning.  From one end, he was self-identifying with his past career as a hair stylist, leaving an autobiographical mark on the works, while at the other end he was making commentary about stereotypes that African-Americans faced within society by "hanging out in the barber shops" and "always getting their hair 'did'".  I found it an intriguing show.  Plus the view from the building was worth the trip.  Afterward Caitlin and I ate at their Water Cafe and enjoyed a delicious soup and sandwich combination!

Here are some photos from our adventure:

Caitlin Enjoying the view!

Yummy sandwich meal!

What else is new in my world?
Well I applied for a summer internship at the MFA, working on a cataloging and scanning project. I had an interview and I think that it went well, I won't find out for a few more weeks, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Also: I've been offered another small stint part-time job at the MFA during the Art in Bloom season.  They need someone to keep track of the incoming donations and maintain the Enterprise database, send out the thank you letters and process the payments!  It's only from the end of March until the first week of May, but it's just enough! Because...

I'm moving into my friend Rachel's apartment at the beginning of May! So the extra employment will be just enough to provide the necessary deposit!  My first place, I'm so excited, and just as excited to be moving in with Rachel, whom I never had a chance to get to know too well while at USM together.  She's an awesome, easy-going person and I'm happy that she thought I'd be a great roommate with her!

Classes are plodding onward at a good pace. The workload isn't killing me, though my body isn't happy since I just got over headcold number 3!  I'm going to be wicked busy for the next few months, but these are the sacrifices that I need to make and challenges that I need to face in order to get started on my "adult" life.

Spring is in the air...I can feel it and can't WAIT for it to get here!

I ran away to NYC this past weekend with Emily and Katie.  We went to the Met and MoMA for the first time.  It was absolutely extraordinary and I want to go back so bad!  We'll be going again.

Here are some photos from that adventure...I took too many so this is only the tip of the iceberg:

Me in front of a Heironymous Bosch painting!

Amazing Art Nouveau vanity set!

Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night!

Amazing t-shirt that I got at MoMA!

I hope I haven't exhausted everyone from reading this!  So much is going on in my life, I'm so thankful and just going with the paces!  Next week is Spring Break, and it is much appreciated.  I'm so excited to finally go home and hang out with my family for more than 3 days!  I haven't seen them since Christmas.  Good time will be had!

Until next time...ta!

craziness

This is why I was leary about creating a blog...I have no life.

I have every intention of updating you all about my going-on-abouts here in Boston. But it will have to wait until Friday night...I promise!

Can't a kid just get an internship?

Well the past few days have been quite the past few days.

I received the most exciting news EVER, I'd be interning at the Boston Athenaeum.  That's EPIC! Everyone wants that internship, and they only take one student per semester.  Awesome, right? Ha, or so I thought.

After contacting my new supervisor, I received an auto-reply email stating that his position has been eliminated and to contact him at his personal email.....um, excuse me?  After jumping to the official website, finding the first Archivist email on the Archives page, I sent another email, a little confused.

I promptly received an response apologizing for the inconvenience, but the Manuscripts Curator position had recently been eliminated so the Athenaeum doesn't require an intern for this semester.

Well that's just dandy, did they think possibly, to CONTACT SIMMONS TO LET THEM KNOW OF THE CHANGE?  That would only make sense right?  Well in my state of shock, and panic I contacted the internship coordinators and was told to patiently wait while they fix the problem.

I can't even begin to tell you what it felt like having the best internship opportunity just snatched away from me like that, I was so bummed.  It honestly ruined my day, and I rarely let anything get in the way of a normal day.

BUT good news, 24 hours later, the awesome internship coordinators have contacted me with a resolution : The City of Boston Town Clerk's Office.  I'll be playing with the new open source Archivist Toolkit entering in early 20th century documents.  I think that's a fair trade.

So after a few stressful days, I'm off to the Institute of Contemporary Art with Caitlin.  I'm rather excited because it's been a while since I've been there and Caitlin and I rarely do stuff with just the two of us, so it'll be good bonding time.  YAY!

until next time, Tschuss!

What a crazy weekend!

This weekend has been interesting to say the least!

Work was crazy busy.  I'm always excited to see so many patrons coming into the museum, but when they come traipsing in hoards, I have to ponder where they all come from!  But, with lots of people come lots of great membership sales!  Supporting the museum is important, and I love that I'm an advocate of that!

My organization of information class is slowly killing me, but I knew it was going to happen.  All of the readings make sense, the assignments are just time consuming.  I guess this is what grad school's supposed to be!

On a more tragic note, I'm saddened by the passing of Brian Jacques, THE author that jump-started and inspired me to enjoy reading!  I'm behind on the Redwall Series but feel dually re-inspired to start over, and finish the last four books.  He was such a prolific writer and made vegetarian food sound SO delectable!

Here's a link to the Redwall Series Website, check it out and get inspired!

The weather has been GORGEOUS the past few days!  Spring and subtly peaking its way through the dreary winter drudge!  Hopefully we have more 40+ degree days soon, the amount of vitamin D that I soaked up was intoxicating, but equally rejuvenating!   

I'm still nervously awaiting my internship assignment. It's hopefully between UMass Boston, Harvard Art or the Boston Athanaeum! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I'm off to read some digital stewardship and write a precis for my archiving class. 

Ta!

It's a good thing the groundhog is predicting an early spring!

Here we are again, a peaceful sunny day after the storm!  There's so much snow on the ground it boggles my mind wondering where they put it all!  At least I don't have to clean off my car, which is sitting in my driveway back at home (I miss the TARDIS!).

Due to the snow my day was more jam-packed than ever!  I was up bright-eyed and bushy tailed at 7:30 and at the library by 10am to catch up on some readings that weren't available to me due to the snow!  Then it was off to lunch with awesome Emily, more library time to kill the hour or so and then it was off to Digital Stewardship.

Fact: this is the most awesome class....ever.  You know are in a good class when 3 hours flies by and there's still more that the class wants to discuss.  I've finalized my project for the semester with my fellow art history friend Kristen.  We are going to look at an existing image database and produce a structural plan for its continued sustainability....I think USM's is going to end up on the butcher's block for this project!  Exiciting!

Once class was over I had a hasty date at Bartol with Caitlin, Emily, Justyna and Laura.  Since I've been snowed in for two days and busted out massive amounts of readings, I'm rebelling tonight and will NOT do any homework!  I will not! 

Instead I caught up on Ghost Hunters International (GHI).  It's not as great as the original ghost hunters, and it's sad that I have to watch uploads onto youtube.com because RCN doesn't think that the majority of students at the school don't watch SyFy....*sad sigh* This week's episode was interesting.  It was a really old for in Serbia and they caught a photo of a shadow figure....neeeeaaaaat!

Tomorrow night myself and some other GSLIS ladies are off to a Mixer for the GSLIS program! Should be fun!  I'm sacrificing the premier of "Who Do You Think You Are" on NBC, but luckily, that too is available for view online!  I love genealogy, it's so addicting.

My drink of choice for the week:  Decaf Caramel Soy Macciato (spelling?) from Java City....YUM-O!

Wizarding World of Harry Potter...in Florida! Sunshine!

Where I wish I could be right now : 








Until next time....

OH DON'T FORGET TO FEED THE FISHIES AT THE BOTTOM OF MY PAGE! It's fun :-)

It's only taken me Six months to get this going!

Hello all!

My name is Sarah Gillis and I'm finally getting around to keeping a blog.  I'm currently living in Boston, MA while attending Simmons College to get my MLS.  I'm a born and raised New Englander from Maine, but my family is alllllll in Nova Scotia (WOO!) - so I'm sort of a cultural Heinz 57.  I had it in mind last semester to start a blog and begin to chart my adventures in this new city, starting a new chapter in my life.  Well, here we are now!

When I grow up, I want to work in art libraries or an image database.  Hopefully within the next few years these dreams will come true!  I'm passionate about art, and if you asked my crazy floor mates to verify that, they wouldn't argue.  

My aims for this blog are to just note interesting topics that I'm learning about in my courses (this semester it's Digital Stewardship, Intro. to Archives, and Cataloging) or any other interest tid-bits this new city has to throw at me!

I hope you all enjoy!