I won. We won.

Every time I repeat the words, it sends a bolt of energy and excitement through me. Even now, three days later, I keep saying it, in an effort to remind myself that it is actually true. I've never won anything in the design world... until now.

A glimpse at the email:
"We’d like to congratulate you as the first place winner of the Discarded Dreams Mattress Design Competition! We’re very excited about Helix and the potential your design holds for being a marketable product for recycled mattress components."

I won. We won.

So lucky :)

The awards reception is this upcoming Thursday night. Unfortunately we were planning to still be in DC. We are considering sending me home a day earlier to attend... maybe I just need to make sure it really is true. I feel torn... to go or not to go?

The crazy thing is, Helix is nothing fancy. It is simple, practical, straight to the point. And apparently, it might work.

Crazy.

Here is an article that explains more about how the competition was developed and what they were looking for.

Feeling the stress

The stress really started to show the day after Christmas. I lost my appetite, regardless of how hungry I felt, and entered a season of restless sleep. On a good day, I'll eat one full meal and sleep for four solid hours without waking.

Strangely, the only way that I've been able to escape some of the stress is by taking a break to read parts of the Twilight series. For a minute my mind forgets everything outside of vampires and I can ignore the deadlines.

It is a strange season. I miss the peace.

As far as I can tell, the source of the stress lies in two things - a Kaiser project that I am designing for Ratcliff and my grad school application. I have hit my threshold - I don't think I can hold another droplet of responsibility right now. This Twilight thing already makes me question my sanity :)

I keep telling myself two things:
1. It will pass... eventually.
2. You've been here before.
(In studio at Kansas State - I forget how much stress I've endured in the past.)

Relief is not far away - next week the application is due and it will be released from my hands and my control. I am dying with restlessness...

And February 16th - the first stage of this Kaiser project is due. The photo above is of my workstation at Ratcliff. There are piles of sketches scattered all over. And colored pencils - my sketching tool of choice. The office gave me a new set of 48 colored pencils yesterday - I was overly happy about this :)

Only a few more days...

On the positive side - I wouldn't mind losing a pound or two. I sure do miss peaceful sleep though.