A Nebulous Predicament

     I have come to discover that my life, at present, is what one might call a nebulous predicament.  Nebulous in that my life has no definite form or limits at the present in terms of what I'm doing, and a predicament because this situation is quite perplexing.  Basically, I have no idea what to do with my life now that I've graduated from college.  Yikes!  After being in school for 19 years - I'm including my mission as a part of that because, c'mon, that's the best schooling I've ever received - I now have to figure out what to do with all of the education I have received before heading back for more.  But that's just it.  I'm in this weird place where I've applied to eight graduate schools all across the United States, as well as one program in London, but I have to sit pretty until I hear back from them...and that could take a couple months.  So I ask myself, what should I do to occupy my time and contribute to society until I try my hand at a Master's degree?  Internship?  Hopefully.  EFY?  A back-up plan if I don't get accepted for the museum internship.  Do something with the flower business I opened five years ago?  I'd love to, but again, what happens if things pick up and then I have to ditch that plan for grad school?  See the perplexity?!?!?  I guess everyone goes through it in some degree at some point, but while you're in the middle of it, it's rather frustrating.  I have to give props to my parents for always keeping me grounded whenever I let myself get wound up about what the future holds.  For instance, after discussing my short-term plans with my mom, her response was, "take sewing lessons!"  After deciding to quit working in retail my mother suggests learning to sew?....interesting.  HAHAHA!!!  That came out of nowhere, and upon further inquiry she made her case that I have six good months of really getting into some things that will provide a useful foundation for the future.  I have some time now that I may not have later.  I think my mother is trying to domesticate me!  One of our favorite songs to sing on the player piano is "How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm, after they've seen Paree?!?" and the lyrics immediately flashed through my mind as I contemplated the next six months learning the difference between a backstitch and a slipstitch.  As random as that idea seemed to me, I have to admit, I've always admired my mom's incredible abilities as a seamstress.  I've always thought it would be great to learn to sew, and sew well, but it's kind of like family history for me - where do I even begin?!?!  I guess I have six months to figure it out.

       My class project for Astronomy last semester focused on the Orion Nebula, and I think I need to take a few lessons from painting, and apply them to life right now.  You have an end goal in mind, and step by step, layer by layer, you trust that you'll accomplish what you set out to create.  It doesn't happen overnight, and you have to make lots of adjustments and mix together lots of different oils to get the exact color you're looking for, but in the end, everything comes together.  After all is said and done, I think I just need to spend a little more time at the drawing board...  

At this point I think I wanted to scrap the project entirely...I had no idea where it was going
But then a butterfly appeared on the canvas. =)  Mixing the paints became really fun rather than frustrating
A little too much fun with the mixing here...had to tone things down a bit
Kind of like the Mona Lisa...pretty from far away, but a little weird up close
Completed enough to turn in for a grade.  I don't stop working on my paintings until they're framed, which means that the complete works of Kristen Kathleen include only two paintings instead of six.  I should probably get on that one of these days and "complete" the rest of the oeuvre...
My ghetto studio in Provo - aka - my old bedroom.  I think my painting teacher would freak out if she saw that I had turpenoid in styrofoam cups.  Asi es la vida.  =)