An Organizey Tuesday Eve

Well, it has been a while.

Spring Break was rather lovely and very little got done...except I have started a new secret project! Details of which will be posted at a later date when the secret-ness of it is no longer necessary. And actually, the idea for another secret project is bubbling away in my brain. That one shall have to wait as well for a secret revealing post!

The long awaited yarn arrived, early in fact. It got here just before my dreaded PS3 midterm, and it took a great deal of self restraint not to rip open the box and go yarn crazy. I didn't manage to get much done on baby things, except find out the due date of my friend's mom's child is June, so there is a due date on that.

But today has held many momentous moments! I reorganized my desk and area in general. It has been a hectic couple of days.

First of all, my beloved other half underwent a rather unfortunate experience, which I was unfortunate enough to be a participant in. It all began while we were cuddled up watching 300, a belated birthday type activity. Partway through the movie, a smelly smell was smelled. We triangulated the source to be his closet. After much moving and searching and sniffing, the ceiling was revealed as the culprit. A small hole next to a fire sprinkler was whooshing out great quantities of rancid, rotten, distinctly deathly smelling (or perhaps cabbage smelling?) air. After spending the rest of the movie in comfort, the scent increased over the next day until it became unbearable. This resulted in him moving into my room for about two days, computer, bed roll and all. While I am very fond of my lovey, it has been a bit much as there were already 3 girls in this very small space and adding in one boy did not help matters.

Anyhoozles, he is back in his place, and I am back in mine, and all of the shifting and shuffling has led to a great re-organizational effort on my part to reincorporate all of my things into the space which is allotted to me. I have realized that I have either too many clothes, or rather, not enough closet space. The distinction may seem infinitesimal to the untrained eye, but having too many clothes is when one owns many garments one does not ever wear, whereas too little closet space is exemplified by my own lovely closet with many wearable outfits that just don't quite fit. So. My desk has been shifted 90 degrees, from the wall to facing the end of the bunk bed in the room, while the bookshelf that once resided in my boyfriend's room has moved to be against the wall horizontally. Zoinks! Everything seems much better and spacier and happier, and I am led to wonder whether the process of moving things around is one that prompts throwing useless old things away.

So clean! So new! Until next time.

A List of Happy Things (Even Though it is Monday)

So, since it is a horrid awful miserable bothersome Monday, I thought I would make a list of things which are Not So Bad and even downright Excellent.

1. Baby glass Coke bottle: So, as a companion to my large beautiful glass Coke bottle vase, my room mate's elder* brother who visited this weekend got a small classic Coke at a restaurant which he was kind enough to bestow on me. I haven't gotten any flowers for it yet, but my larger Coke bottle's Daffodils and Tulip are rapidly wilting so a flower expedition is sometime in the future.

2. Light Blue Ink: So my parents were paying attention when I gave them my Christmas list because I received a Pelikan fountain pen that is currently my pride and joy. I ran out of my black ink today and changed the color to a delightful light blue, certain to make note taking more enjoyable.

3. Yarn Shipment: Well, the aforementioned shipment of yarn from JoAnn is making its way across the land of the free and the home of the brave. This source of happiness had become, momentarily, a cause of anxiety as the last fedex location at which it had stopped was in Wisconsin on Friday. However, much happiness abounded at the tracking update that it had as of this evening arrived in Sacramento. Hurrah! It shall get a post of its own when it arrives.

4. Macaroni and Cheese: As a part of a goody bag of a friend's birthday party (actually, one of my future apartment mates for next year's apartment) I received a box of Annie's Aged Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese. It was easy to make and very delicious. There is a little bit still in my fridge making me happy, because it will also be a tasty snack later. In other cooking news, I managed to make French Toast on Saturday morning, which was eminently delicious. I was very proud of myself, although apparently it is very "hard to screw up"... at least I have not failed at that.

5. Free Perfume Sample: In my boredom I decided to go and look at free smaples on the internet because free things are awesome. I found a free perfume sample for Escada's Marine Groove, which sounds suspiciously like fish. While I, for one, would never name a perfume after annything marine due to the very peculiar and memorable odor that one so often experiences at the seaside, there can be no harm in getting free perfume. It will arrive in the mail, sometime, purportedly, hopefully after I have forgotten about it.

6. Boba: Not as in Fett, but as in tea. Today I had my first glass of the strange milk tapioca tea called Boba. It is a taste treat. although a little odd. Either way, it was not a doughnut and it was equivalently satisfying.

7. Sunshine!: The weather was warm and beautiful today, even allowing me to spend an hour in towel and bathing suit questing after that eminently desirable golden skin hue that once graced my complexion.

8. APARTMENT: It is an expression to save the best for last and so I have... because last week on Thursday I and my two future room mates put down a security deposit for our apartment. Yes, OUR apartment. Even more distracting than boyfriend, friends, creative mind squiggles and inspirations, is the prospect of interior decoration. Shopping my belongings for the best suited will be difficult, perhaps, but thrift store bargain hunting, IKEA, Target, and perhaps even colors of paint at Home Depot await my beauty starved mind. O to have a lovely living room in which to repose! O to have a kitchen to expand my culinary adventures! A bathroom with a door that locks and a glorious tub! To be sure, many design-y and interior decoration updates lie in wait. I. Am. Thrilled.

To the little things, to the future, to sleep and dreams and love and life. A toast. Good eve.

A Rainy Friday Afternoon

Well, the weather all week has been pleasant and sunny, although a little windy. Today the sky is gray and rain is falling and tapping on the window. I have also been absolutely thrashed all week as far as homework and no time for anything else, so I don't mind the rain as long as I can create a little creative time in the meantime.

Many distracting creative little thoughts have been buzzing through my head all week, trying to get me to stop doing homework for just one moment and try to find this and that pattern, look at yarn sales online (always a mistake, might I add), or just do ANYTHING other than finish homework. Well, now they shall have their due. Last week I was pondering what kind of animals one gives to expectant mothers, and I have had several suggestions and inspirations. The three animals that have drawn my focus are bumblebees, octopi, and whales. Octopi I have made before, but some of my friends say that it will frighten the child once they see what a real octopus looks like. While my argument in return was something along the lines of "well not if they are a really cool child whose parents take them to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and teach them about the wonders of the deep sea", I feel that perhaps it is a valid point. And of course, why not make something I haven't before, as the octopus requires 8 legs which are rather fiddly little things that I don't altogether enjoy. A whale might be particularly appropriate for the baby I have in mind, as his elder brother of 19 years played water polo and did swim team, and his parents' business is water oriented... but I haven't yet found an appropriate or fitting pattern for the size of whale I want to make. All of the patterns are very small, so not safe for a small child. Or, they are far too large for a baby's toy. SIGH. As far as bumble bee patterns, the same things applies, but I have decided to use Lion Brand's reindeer pattern for the body of the bee, and then freestyle the wings. See? Who would ever make a reindeer that looked so bumblebee-like? Preposterous.

As stressful as the week has been, I have made a point of Treating Myself to various things as the week has gone on. I Treated myself to delicious Chicken Tikka Masala and Naan, as well as the scrumptious unlimited tea that comes along with it at one of my favorite restaurants. I bought myself Thai Iced Tea, also scrumptiously sweet, from an on campus minivendor. I splurged a whole 1.00 on a flower, and got a second for free from a kindly flower vendor. Finally, I called my mother after receiving an A on my comparative politics midterm and she was benevolent enough to allow me to get $35 dollars worth of yarn from JoAnn online!!! This victory was made only sweeter by the fact that I found a coupon on www.retailmenot.com for free shipping for purchases of $35 or more! *happy dancing* I swear, my boyfriend will go insane if I tell him about it one more time. It's due to arrive next Thursday, the 18th, which is perfect because I am planning to go home for a couple of days since it is Spring Break!

Well. The afternoon is slipping away, and I must be off. Toodleoo!

A Rushed and Windy Day

The weather today was nice, from inside. It was a lovely blue sky out the window. Outside itself was as tempermental as ever, with biting winds slinking through fabric to scorch skin with cold. And, it rained while the sun was blasting brightness into my eyes. How is this possible? I don't know. There was no rainbow.

All in all, today and yesterday have been alright. I have managed to get most of my homework done in a somewhat timely fashion. However, there has been precious little quality self, friend, or boyfriend time. Everything is a mad rush of homework, staying in touch with friends from home, working on this or that homework, and memorizing vocab. It shows no signs of letting up soon.

On a bright note, I got quite a few hexagons for my crocheted quilt done this weekend, 5 I believe. This number pales in comparison with how many I will need to get a decent sized blanket; about 150. I have 19 right now... This is one of my chronic problems as far as the realm of craftiness goes: lack of follow through. I cannot number all of the projects I have left a quarter done. I have vowed to myself, though, that this blanket WILL happen. I want it. It is not difficult. I just need to be persistent, and it will happen. Excellent. Decision made.

I am also considering a couple of smaller projects. My life is full of pregnant people at the moment (although fortunately all people who are in that time of their life when they have made the conscious decision to bear offspring) and this means lovely lovely BABY PROJECTS! There are just so many things one can do with crocheting, and my heart is tending towards amigurumi. If you don't know what amigurumi are, they are basically little crocheted dolls that are way too popular in Japan, but function nicely as durable, safe, unique, and adorable baby/child gifts. If I had known how to crochet as a very young girl, I would have produced an amigurumi zoo. A quandary approaches, however, with this as with all things. All of the parents have opted out of knowing the child's gender. So, I am not quite sure what to make. I feel that there are certain animals one gives to little girls, and certain animals one gives to boys. Boys get lizards, and dragons, and frogs, and dogs. Girls get cats, and rabbits, and mice, and other cuddly creatures. More pondering on this later, perhaps, as spring break will hopefully be an opportunity to explore such little thoughts further.

More apartment hunting today, but perhaps the most exciting news of this post is: we may have found THE ONE. It is sunny, adorable, safe, not too far, with gorgeous wood floors and pretty arches in all the hall entry ways. I am so enamored of it! We have nicknamed it "Bag End" or alternatively "the Hobbit House" as it is charming and perfect for the three of us. Hopefully we will know firmly by the end of this week if it is ours, although we have it held for us now. All that remains is to sort through the legal paperwork and skulduggery and then, I hope, many happy posts about decorating await. I am already plotting away... posters, decor, a weekly cut flower budget, furniture, knickknacks, brilliant organizational plans, cute calendars, thrift store finds, and all neat and tidy and bright and chic!!! Oh the glory of it all. Now, to wait out the week, with fingers crossed and wishes upon wishes that all will go well.

Also, I have finally completed a long overdue letter to a friend back home, which will be shipped out tomorrow. Overall, an effective if not creatively resplendent day.

A Very Sunny Day

Today was a beautiful day.

It really finally felt like SPRINGTIME! Rather than horrid wintry rainy transition of awfulness. The weather here is absolutely bipolar. I go to class with the sun shining warm on my face, and walk back in pouring rain, of course with no umbrella. Today, however, was absolutely lovely.

Me and my two future room mates for next year along with my beloved beau made our way around our beautiful city in search of apartments for next year. I think we found something, among all of the dingy tiny places, a nice sunny place that felt charming and homey although it was certainly far from being brand spanking new.



I managed to take some nice pictures while we were out as well. It's just with my little point and shoot, but I am very proud of myself. Also managed to pick flowers for another coke bottle bouquet.



AND!! Brought my yarn along for the ride. I have been working on, since winter break, a blanket after the design of wonderful Attic24 here>
http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/hexagon-howto.html

I am positively bubbling over with creative happiness today! Hurray for sunshine.

The First One!

Well hello there.

I suppose that I have meant to do this for quite a while and now I finally am. Fantastic. I have been feeling a somewhat creative drought lately. Indeed, I can't remember the last time I did something that made me feel joyful about living. I am a college student who is mostly interested in political science and Japanese and maybe eventually being a lawyer.

But I did at least two creative things yesterday, and one today, so I feel rather successful. Not only did I go for a walk on which I took pictures of delightful things that I had wanted to for a long time, but I picked flowers along the way and managed to make a passable bouquet in an empty glass Coke bottle. Today while my somewhat horrid pregnant and very picky GSI went over my midterm (which I got a 91/100 on! Hurrah for me!) I managed to draw a very satisfying depiction of Alice's ventures into the garden.



I really never understood the fascination of everyone who reads Alice with the Caterpillar scene, when the fantastic garden is what gets Alice into actual adventures. I did it in pencil, unlike most of whatever sketching I do, in order to prevent the bothersome and unavoidable occurrence of errors. It came out quite well, if I do say so myself, although it got smudged in my bag and I had to re-sketch parts of it. I am thinking about water-coloring it, so perhaps that will be tomorrow's endeavor, although I do still have a letter to write and a book to finish.

Anyway, it is far too late to think of anything but sleep now.