I'm Hired!

I graduated college December 20th 2010, and I got an awesome job February 28th 2011. That was the longest 71 days of my life. Gosh, I was not expecting it to take that long to get a job.

I am the office manager/ graphic designer at Bread & Butter Screenprinting in Chapel Hill North Carolina. It's so serendipitous how I got this position. I applied to be a screen printer, which is basically printing t-shirts. I would have been doing little to no design work. That's what I wanted though, you know learn a new skill. But from a fortunate turn of events; I got the head graphic designer job. Which is more than awesome! It feels awesome to get my independence back. Can't wait to start working.

To celebrate I went to some of my favorite shops and cafes on 9th street. I treated myself to cute eclectic knick knacks. The first shop I went to I recently found. It's so small I didn't know it was even on 9th street. The shop is called Vaguely Reminiscent. It's so indie and colorful. Every inch is crammed with nifty novelties. I got a new sack. It's made of different fabrics with different colors and patterns. I also got a peach colored ring, that's square with daisies and clovers. Some green converse socks. The last three were just for fun. I got a tin case of Bacon flavored toothpicks, Obama mints and Jesus band-aids. How fun is that? Another shop I went to is called Ox & Rabbit, which is also on 9th street. The next time I mention it I'll have pictures of the shop on the inside. It's a lot less crowded than V.R. And it's also a milkshake shop. Their shakes are so good. I got a doggy faced mug there. For those of you who live nowhere near North Carolina; I posted the websites where you can find some of my new knicky knacks. I couldn't find where you could get the ring and sack, but if you ever need bacon flavored toothpicks you know where to go.



japanesegiftmarket- Search "Tsuburara Mug"
foottraffic- Converse Socks
accoutrements- Jesus Bandages & Bacon Toothpicks
philosophersguild- Obama Mints

Finding Work.

I had a job interview yesterday, and it went very well. I wont hear back until Monday. Cross your fingers! While I'm waiting for full-time employment I decided to do a little freelancing. Freelance graphic design work is basically doing a job for an individual client. The designer creates a contract and sends the invoice for that one person. Right now I have two freelance jobs just to keep me busy. One of the guys I'm working for right now has a healthy snack food distribution company. I've recently done a few logo roughs for him. Roughs are basically rough drafts for logo making. Here's the one I like best.



All the roughs look extremely different. I think this one is what he wants though. It's earthy, abstract and professional.

My interview yesterday was so awesome. I interviewed for a screen printing company. Mostly women work there which is awesome. I wont be doing any design work which is alright for me since I want to work and develop a new skill. Screen printing is printing images on fabric using big machines and ink. It is a lot harder than it looks. They let me try and I definitely didn't do it right. They said not to worry about that since they look forward to training people. Here's a video that shows you how it works. In the video they're printing wedding invitations, but at the place I interviewed they usually print on t-shirts, totes and other fabrics.

Screen Printing from Mackenzie Mathis on Vimeo.

Screen printing will look awesome on my resume, and if I get the job I will continue to freelance, because I love it so much.

On an entirely different note; my kitten is driving me nuts. I love her so much, but she is just so curious about everything. She recently had the realization that she can jump like a rabid kangaroo. She's jumping from our couch to our coffee table to the side table and back to the couch. It's adorable, but today she jumped up on the stove and put her paw in a pan! Thankfully I just set the pan on the stove so it wasn't hot. It just startled me that she is that fearless. She approaches every situation with such curiosity. That can be dangerous. She's also realized that there is an outside, and whatever it is; she wants to be apart of it. She often makes a mad dash for the door whenever it opens so we have to be extra careful. I bought her a kitten leash so I can take her outside, let her walk around safely. She loves plants, rocks and the birds in the bird bath in the backyard.

Valentine's Day NOMS!

Today my boyfriend of 3.5 years took me out to dinner. We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. It's a small steakhouse chain based in the East Coast. The meal was wonderful, he even ordered for me. I don't eat steak often, but when I do it is awesome. I wore my black Calvin Klein dress, black stockings, pearl earrings and (get this) bright turquoise stilettos. Lol, I didn't want it to look like I was going to some ritzy funeral. I hid my septum piercing. I had such a good time. We celebrated early because he works late on Mondays. He's a cop and cops really need to get paid more for what they do.

I have mixed feelings about the service. We called in on Thursday to make reservations for Saturday. Once we got there our table wasn't ready. First they led us to a table that was bare; no glasses, napkins or silverware. Then we went to a tiny round table in the middle of the floor. Does anyone else feel awkward eating in the dead center of a restaurant? Then finally a manager asked us to move to slightly larger square table next to the wine room. The room had a huge window so we could see all the stored stacks of wine. The last table was perfect but it took them ages to get us there. Our waitress was over the top with the refinery too, to the point where I thought she was mocking it. We weren't paying her to look like an idiot. The food was wonderful so I guess it made up for everything.

The only thing I regret about the night was the bill. It was expensive. I don't want to say how expensive because it's bad taste, but it was up there. I told him all I wanted for Valentine's day is chocolates and a blender to make smoothies in the morning, but he insisted on taking me out. I'm grateful for him. It's hard cause he's the only one working right now. But I'm glad he still makes room for these special times for me.

Welcome Aurum Doily.

It's February 2011 and I'm blogging again. This is my third blog attempt since high school. I didn't realize how much time I had in high school. I didn't have time to blog in college, but I'm done hopefully I will now.
My real name isn't Aurum Doily thank God. It's just a cute alias. I couldn't be as open as I would have liked with my last blogs because people knew who I was. I feel more comfortable talking personal affairs with strangers knowing that most won't care, and if they do I wouldn't care that they do.
Well, right now in my life I am waiting and looking for a job. I graduated December 22nd, and I'm afraid I'm becoming a bit complacent. My mother taught me never to be complacent. About the third week out of school I became stir crazy and felt worthless without doing anything, but now I don't know. I want to work, but I also want to stay home and write and play with my cat. Who wouldn't?
This blog entry is quite shallow. That's what to expect from me sometimes. It depends on my mood really. At times I'm plain Jane, but I can be profound if I like. I guess that's any person once you think about it.
Graphic design is what I went to school for. You could expect me to make my own banners and create my own photographs. If I post an image that is not mine I will post it's source.