So, I lied. I never came back to write that Kehinde Wiley post, and at this point there doesn't seem to be much use. The point was: It was great. I wept. I felt my blackness appreciated. And everyone should see it.

Also, I got this vegetarian cookbook called "Meatless in Cowtown" at The Modern's gift shop and it has literally the best tortilla soup recipe ever. So buy that too.

Moving right along. I live in Austin now. (Yay!..?) It's been total crap for my allergies and I abhor the traffic with a passion but, I guess it's home now. The nature out here is my favorite, and I'm exploring new restaurants, bars and coffee shops all the time. It doesn't feel permanent just yet, because my career is more important than where I live right now, but, I could see a decent future here if the opportunity arose.

My time at Spindle360 ended at the end of February after two months together, and I moved to Austin proper soon after. (Peace out G-Town). No biggie. We just weren't what each other needed. I was an Industrial Designer while they were a predominantly web-focused design firm that also white-labeled products. Really, they were looking for more Back-end Developers. They only took me on because I had emailed them asking if they would (which was very kind of them). But also meant that my job was mostly creating KeyShot renders and animations of existing designs. Also, the owner of the firm was like, an investor in all of the products they worked with, and we never actually met with clients, only he did? To be honest, I was very confused by the setup. Getting to interact with clients and problem solving are my favorite parts of ID so not having that felt strange.

You mean the product's already been made and you're just changing the colors and brand name?

Also, to be completely honest, Georgetown was an incredibly boring, small town. An attractive, small town but, I felt somewhat isolated and would drive to Austin multiple times per week just to get out. So, while I'm still a bit sad the opportunity wasn't longer lasting, I have to believe it was for the better.

After moving into a super slick pad on South Lamar for the real cheap by subletting from a guy living in Vegas (so legal), I got a couple jobs as a personal assistant. (Très chic!) One was for a millionaire who had just sold his last commercial real estate business and was starting a new one called Core One Commercial, which you can read more about on my LinkedIn, and the other was for a super adorable East Austin couple with a five year old son and — just as of this week! — a newborn daughter. (Congrats y'all!!!) I still currently work for the East Austin couple but, they're basically family friends at this point, and I'd do it for free. Plus, the hours have decreased since the summer, and I'm too distracted to log them regularly into the Google Sheets timesheet I made for myself.

I moved from the place on South Lamar at the end of June because that guy I was subleasing from stopped paying his bills and the leasing office found out he was subleasing it out without their permission. It was a whole hot mess. Craigslist apartments = Never again.

I'm now living in the West Campus neighborhood of Austin, searching for new job opportunities while also enrolling at Austin Community College and looking to expand upon a couple of my highest interests — sustainability in food and material science! Towards the end of my first college career, I discovered just how passionate I am about the planet. I figure these two things combined basically equate to me getting a second degree in Biochemistry so, that's pretty much what I plan on doing. I've realized working in a lab sounds incredibly fun and stimulating. Plus, it has the potential for me to make an even bigger impact than if I were to go the MBA route and end up in some awful Sales position. I mean, I would potentially take a job like that right now because it probably pays better than being a personal assistant but, I definitely have more holistic goals for the long run. I am very much interested in plant-based everything and would love to work for a vegan meat-alternative food company or even a big chemical company like BASF, creating bioplastics. This past week, I got the amazing chance to see Bill Nye speak at SXSW Eco, for which I had volunteered, and, to quote him, I think my mission now almost more than ever is to, "Dare I say it? Save the world!!!"

More posts and updates coming soon. Stay tuned and keep on spreading that love and positivity.

Taylor