i'm a bad blogger.

i'm bad at keeping this updated. but i will try harder. or not. we'll see.

everything has been pretty good. school got pretty stressful the week before thanksgiving, so it was nice to have 4 days of not doing anything. thanksgiving was good, just my parents and i. mom and i braved the stores on friday. we only went to Target, World Market and JoAnn's. at target i only wanted some Gilmore Girls, they had them on sale for $15! it was awesome, i got two seasons. mom got some other stuff, including christmas presents for ali and i. haha. at world market we got some cool stuff, as always. and joann's was crazy, but we got what we needed. it wasn't that bad. and we got pretty lucky with parking spots and finding secret checkouts at target!

the break was really great as i said, nice and relaxing and i made sure that i really savored my time at home. i kept busy with a special project that i will not mention here as it is a secret. i will post pictures at a later date though.

i'm pretty excited for winter break. two weeks of classes and then finals week. winter break should be great as ali and david are coming up on the 22nd. i am really excited to see them. christmas should be great this year. as ali mentions in her blog, i always try to find something perfect to give to people and always end up with something ok. so i really took time to think about what i wanted to give/make for people. i think i came up with some really great ideas. and i'm excited to give these things to my family and friends.

i got a new car! its a 2004 Hyundai Elantra. its a really nice car. a nice ruby red, so of course i named her Ruby. i drove back to school today all by myself! its not a bad drive, and it was pretty uneventful. i'm pretty happy about it.

oh! another thing i am excited about for winter break is going to see The Golden Compass with ali. whenever i see trailers for the movie on TV i get really excited! the movie looks like its going to be amazing, and i really hope it doesn't disapoint. i loved the books and i felt a real connection to them. it sounds cheesy but its true. the characters and the story are amazing and draw you in. if you're looking for a great read or a great gift to give, get the His Dark Materials trilogy! we're also going to try to see Sweeney Todd, which looks AWESOME!

i have to go to work in about a half an hour, so i better get ready for that. hopefully i will update this, but like i said, we'll see! haha.

20 years.

this short post is to say that HOLYCRAPI'M20! well technically not until like 7:30 tonight. but still. SECOND DECADE. its crazy, and i'm still trying to deal with it.

it sort of feels like any other day, and then i remember thats its my day. which makes me wonder why we celebrate birthdays and all that. but its still fun.

although, tonight is busy, i have to study for an exam basically all day and night tonight, with small breaks for dinner with caity and HEROES!

i got my hair cut pretty different from what i normally get. i will post pics soon. also i plan to post pics of my room, and other things. but sadly my camera is dead and i haven't had time to go get batteries. so boooo.

anyway, i have to go to class. i have a quiz. hooray!

the weapon we have is LOVE!

its been a while since i posted. i am now at school, one more day before classes start. i love my room and living in Abbot. i think my job will be perfect during the semester.

my week of being home was pretty uneventful. i hung out and saw the people i wanted to, which was really nice. being home was good, i really enjoyed my time home before i left again. i guess i'm really growing up now that i am not home that much. it makes me sad, but i don't think home will be my home much longer. i mean, it always will be, but i will be moving on to an apartment or whatever. i really love kalamazoo.

like i said, i love having a single room. its pretty great. its nice and cozy. and my building is close to everything. which is awesome. my job is great, will be great. learning everything is a little daunting. there's a lot of stuff you have to do, lots of paperwork and keeping track of keys and money and such things. but i think i will be able to handle it.

i had a little bit of a crisis. i just felt like this semester is going to be very difficult. and i don't even know if i want to do what i thought i wanted to do anymore. more and more jess and i are considering the whole yarn shop idea. its pretty much our ideal. so i dunno. i could get a BA in zoology, which i would only need 64 more credits to achieve. i'm not sure what i would do with that before we get the yarn thing going. so who knows. i am going to take this semester to think about it, and try to decide so i can make the necessary changes by next semester.

i've been listening to Harry and the Potters pretty non-stop lately. they are really great. as the name suggests it is a rock band that sings songs about Harry Potter. there is a whole new genre of music based on the world of Harry Potter. its huge, i mean really huge. you should check them out. one of the taglines of wizard rock is: FIGHT EVIL, READ BOOKS! its pretty awesome.

speaking of HP, i loved Deathly Hallows. except for the epilogue. it was...well, i won't get into it. i don't want to spoil it for anyone.

thats about it. sums up my life since i left virginia. i'm going to try really hard this semester, like studying and reading. i dunno how well thats going to work out. but we'll see. wish me luck.

AHHHH! SO EXCITED!

so i am VERY excited! tonight at midnight i will be recieving my copy of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. oh man. i haven't been too excited or even thought about it really because 1) i have none of my rabid HP fans with me, and 2) i want to be surprised, and free from too much speculation as to what happens. nobody at work really likes it, except my somewhat jerk of a boss Mr. Vann, which surprised me. we had a nice conversation about the book and the movie. it was cool.

anyway, our trip to MI was good. i had a lot of fun with everybody. it was a little hard to come back here. but i am also making really cool friends here, which i'm sure will be hard to leave as well. the train ride back was CRAZY! definitely not as enjoyable as the ride up. oh well, again something does not want us to go into DC!

i got the new white stripes album finally. i like it. they're probably one of my favorite bands. i just like jack white's voice and his guitar playing. haha.

um, so thats about it. i thought that i should update. theres not a whole lot of stuff going on, which is pretty good. i'm going to try to stay up as long as i can to read tonight, although i do work 2-10 tomorrow. oh well.

summer part 2: family visit, first sock!, workin'.

well, its been a while. but i've been busy. my parents and cousin came to visit us. it was a blast. it was great to see them and we had a lot of fun. we went to the ocean! It was tons of fun! i don't really remember the first time we went to the ocean, only that it was reallllly salty. it was still reallllly salty, but the waves were HUGE! and it was really fun/scary to swim in them.

i've been working a lot lately, which is ok i guess. i think i've been transitioned to box office from now on, or at least this whole weekend and part of the week basically. we had a meeting today just to basically tell us that we need to get motivated. it might just be an age thing, or maybe its because of my first job, but i've noticed that i don't need to be told to do things, like wipe down counters, or sweep the floor. i don't really want to be standing around the whole time, and i know that a lot of what the customers are looking at is if we have a clean place. so i look for things that need to be done. i dunno, but a lot of my co-workers don't do these things. its ok i guess, but i can see why the managers are frustrated.

anyway, i have finished my first sock! its lovely! i took a break from starting the next one, i figure i can do that on the train up to MI. it was pretty easy, i liked turning the heel, it was fun almost. haha.



oh yeah, alison and i are going up to MI for a couple days. i can't wait. i miss everyone, and kalamazoo. we're taking the train, which will be very exciting.

i also miss MSU, surprisingly. i think i just miss my two (haha) friends there. and the dairy store, and campus. and i am really excited for my room this fall! i have very good feelings about this school year.

i'm watching the Prairie Home Companion movie. i like it a lot. ali and i saw it in the theater. it reminds me of summer and the cottage. which we will be going to when we are in MI! another thing i am very excited for. good stuff.

who's a pretty kitty?!

so far things have been pretty good. work is going alright, getting better because am working box more often, and it is SO MUCH BETTER than consessions! woo.

ali is done with school on thursday, thats exciting. we will be able to do more stuff. like go get manicures and pedicures for her birthday! hurray!

we went to the yarn store today! i got a hank of lorna's laces in the beautiful colorway Bittersweet. its a mix of magenta, purple and a peachy/orange color. i've started my first pair of socks, Monkeys from knitty. i hope everything goes well. i don't have enough for a whole pair of socks, so i am doing ankle length by only doing two repeats of the lace pattern on the top. we also went to this upscale consignment shop and ali found some really cute shoes!i took of a picture of the yarn while i was winding (by hand!! mom, dad, for my birthday you can get me a ball winder! haha) here it is. the colors are a bit off. the colors are a lot brighter, but they looked washed out in the picture. anyway, i love the yarn.

i made a tam also! i scrapped my anthropologie inspired scarf and opted for the Big Blue Beret pattern, once again from tragicherione. i used my alpaca silk and it is sooo soft! i alternated the green and the purple and it turned out quite nice. why yes, i do like wearing wooly hats in 90 degree weather, thank you for asking. i think its going to be nice for cold days on campus. plus it makes me feel cool.

i'm reading The Golden Compass right now. its by Phillip Pullman. its part of the His Dark Materials trilogy. they play the trailer for the movie all the time at work, it the movie looks awesome, so i thought i would read the books before the movie(s) come out. they are like child/teen fantasy, but its kinda like Harry Potter. i like it a lot so far, and i can't wait for the movie!

ali and i are watching the series Rome right now, and i am going to go back to my socks!

summer part 1: DC (whole lotta pictures)

so i am here in Williamsburg, VA. its been great so far! i flew down to DC last thursday, and i think that someone doesn't want me to come down here because this is the second time my flight has been delayed. lovely fog! but other than that it was fine. i flew into Ronald Reagan, which is soo much better than Dulles! we flew right by everything! we went right downtown after i got in, and we walked around and saw the sights. i'm gonna show you some pictures now.
one side of the white house.

yay for tourists!

capitol building!

other side of white house.

lincoln memorial.

world war II memorial, it was really nice, and way bigger than this.

mr. lincoln himself.

washington monument from the lincoln memorial.

me squishing the washing monument! yes!

you can see the washington monument reflected in the vietnam memorial.


whew, thats a lot. but it was fun. and hot. it was really warm that day. it was also a little surreal to see all of these things. it was hard for me to actually comprehend that i was actually there, seeing this historic place. i've seen it all before right? movies, TV, ya know. but i liked it.

i also go myself a job here in williamsburg! its going to be great. i'm working at the movie theater that is right by the apartment. they give employees and family free movies! yes! i won't have to pay for any movies this summer! which is awesome. i start tomorrow (thursday). starting a job is always a little nerve wracking, but i feel okay about it.

in knitting news, i finally decided what to do with some alpaca silk that i had lying around. oh yes, i decided that i wanted to make the Anthropologie Inspired Scarf. so i started it last night, and since it is knit horizontally, that means i needed to cast on enough stitches to make it long enough. i ended up with about 328 stitches. yeah. not so fun, but i really think it would be a nice and cushy scarf! i am going to soilder through, its only about 28 rows. ugh, wish me luck. here's a pic of my three rows. its a little dark, but you can see allllll those stitches! fun fun!

anyway, i have to do some laundry. yaaayyy!

totally knitting related!

ok, so i felted my slippers! they turned out great! i can't wait to use them. here's some pictures:




last night i made a double pointed needle roll. i wanted to take my needles and stuff down to VA with me, but they were everywhere. so i made this to keep them all together. the poodle fabric is on the back, the plaid is on the inside, with the polka-dot fabric is the pocket. it was really easy, i just made it up as i went.






it works great for right now! i think i am going to practice sewing and make a more intricate one later. i'm excited! this time tomorrow i will be in DC with my sister! wooo!

WOOOOOO!

I'M DONE I'M DONE I'M DONE!

hurray, hurrah! this week didn't go by super fast, actually monday was quite long. but other than that this week was ok. all my finals were alright. i don't think i failed any of them, but i'm not so sure about my math or chem final. but overall i think everything will turn out ok.

so i've decided that when i leave this room in the next hour or so, i am also leaving all my bad feelings about this whole semester here. i don't want to carry those feelings around with me. also i don't want to talk about my roommate anymore. yeah, it kinda sucked, but it definitely could've been worse. and this type of thing happens all the time to many people in college. everything that has annoyed me in the past week, month, semester i've decided to put into a "box" and that "box" is staying here. whew. i'll be glad of it.

anyway, i leave for WILLIAMSBURG, VA in a week! wooo! i'm very excited! hopefully i'll be able to see all the people i want to see this week, but theres also some time in august to hang out.

so long to this room, and my first year of college. its been weird, fun, hard, interesting, but most of all, its been real...haha. but really i'm not that sad to be leaving. i'm on to bigger and better things. mm hmm.

unfair.

everyone that i know that goes to another school is done. why is that? we started before labor day, when most started after. i just don't understand why we have to go one more week. its very frusterating because i reallllly want, no, NEED to get out of here. my roommate is driving me crazy. to the point where her just existing is annoying. yes, yes. i know, only 7 days left. BUT ITS NOT GOING FAST ENOUGH!


another thing thats not fair is the fact that i was scheduled by the university to enroll in classes tomorrow. its not fair because most other people have already enrolled, meaning that a lot of classes are already full. so i am stuck with the short straw. luckily most of the classes i need have not filled up, but a couple of my labs have. and that makes things difficult. but wouldn't it make sense to leave a couple spots open for the people who are assigned to sign up last? i mean come on.


i'm looking forward to:
interestingly enough, finals week.
thursday may 3rd at 10 am=GOING HOME!
saturday may 5th=GARAGE SALE DAY!
thursday may 10th=flying down to VA for the summer.


i'm sure it will just fly by, but right now, its moving at a snail's pace. i need some sunshine.

EDIT:
here are my clog slippers that i finished. i still have to felt them, and i'm debating whether or not i should do it here. because i realllllly want to felt them, so i can have them. here's a picture of my unfelted clogs.




yes, they are mismatched. i used up my leftover yarn from my pinwheel sweater. i like them a lot. and i think they will be nice and warm, and good for walking to the bathroom next year. i'll post a pic of the felted ones when i actual felt them.

a tribute to dinah.

my mom told me that dinah, one of our cats, died on saturday. i'm pretty sad about it. more than i thought i would be. but i wasn't really expecting it. she hasn't been that healthy since about last year, when we noticed that she didn't have many teeth left. so we fed her soft food. she was still really skinny. i thought she still had some life in her.

as much as i joked about her, i will still miss her. meowing every day, like clockwork, starting at 3 o'clock. she was a dainty little princess, our three-toothed cat. i feel like we should've done more, made sure she wasn't in pain. but she was pretty old, and it would've probably put more stress on her if we took her into the vet.

RIP Dinah Shore.

alright already.

17 days until i am done with my freshman year. oh man. i am so ready to get out of here.

my roommate thinks she has appendicitis. i think she might too. i feel bad for her, kinda. i've realised that the reason this whole situation bugs me so bad is that we were supposed to be friends. like we were supposed to be those roommates you see only once in a while. that get along really well, and end up being friends for a long time. because its not like i was put in with her, i chose to move in here, thinking that it would be great. and now that its not, it makes it even worse that she is annoying, and that she leaves all the time. i dunno. but i've been thinking about it.

on saturday i had an interview for a receptionsit job for my res. hall next year. it went pretty well, the manager guy said that they were hiring 32 people and there were less people there than that. so he said that we all basically have a job. i will find out for sure on wednesday. it was held in Abbot, my res hall next year, and so i went up to the third floor and looked around, and saw the door of my room. it is very exciting.

in knitting news, i am still working on my striped raglan sweater. i have about 11 1/2 inches of the body done. it was weird, because i last measured it when i only had about 6 1/2 inches done, and then i measure again last night and suddenly i have 11 1/2 inches! weird! but i guess it goes pretty fast. i will take a pic later and post it. i'm a little surprised in myself that i haven't already put it down and started something else. but its really easy to do, and i want to see it done!

so i'm off to class.


EDITED TO ADD:
here's my sweater as of 10:40 pm. i now have about 14 inches, and i'm going to start the ribbing soon. how exciting!


jackie went to the hospital i guess. i called her to see what was going on, but it went to her voicemail. i really do hope she is ok, as much as i don't like her i don't want anything bad to happen to her. we'll see i guess. goodnight!

ira. glass.

so ira glass is coming to MSU in March of 2008. now, when i found this out i about had a coniption.

jess and i are planning to sit in the front row, with signs. we are going to meet him, no matter what. and we will come bearing knitted gifts. this will truly be the best day of our lives. we are going to take this whole year to prepare for that moment.



oh, i also saw RENT tonight. which let me tell you, is probably the best thing i've ever seen. the cast was fabulous, and..i just can't even describe it. we were soo close. it was great. having kt here has been a blast! good weekend!

i guess it would be nice.

i've started a sweater. it's a top down raglan, meaning that i knit it from the top down. its super easy! and no seaming when i'm done, hurray for that! i'm using Red Heart Soft in a minty green and chocolate brown. i really like it, and it only cost me about $12. usually i don't use Red Heart, because i can be a bit of a yarn snob, but i quite like the soft version of it. and for $2.99, how can i not use it? here's a picture of my progress.



i took that yesterday afternoon, and i worked on it pretty much all night. i did a whole green stripe and am about half way through a brown stripe. i am almost done with the increasing rows, and then i will be able to go on to the body. how exciting!

jess and i are kinda doing a knit-a-long. she is knitting a cardigan though. we went to JoAnn's and Michael's yesterday and i bought a skein of Lion Brand Wool to finish up my felted slippers. i finished one, but didn't feel like starting the other one. they are mismatched, but that makes me love them more. i can't wait to felt them and use them next year!

i just finished this book, The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. it was really good. i want to read it again, because i want to kinda put the pieces together. its definitely something that i would buy and read again and again. next i'm going to read Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser. he wrote Fast Food Nation and i really enjoyed that. this one is about the black market in america, i hope its as good as FFN.

kaitie is coming up tomorrow night and hanging out because we are going to see RENT! i'm very excited! i can't wait to see her, and it will fun to have her up here!

i do not like the fact that it is snowing today. or that it is cold. why? yesterday turned out very nice, and now its 30 degrees? weird. but its michigan, what should i expect, eh?

new hat that i love, perfect timing, eh?

i just finished this hat, its the Fake Isle hat from magknits. i love it. i love the yarn i used too. here are some pictures.


you can see the top. it's really hard to take a picture of the top of your head.


laid out. you can see the colors, and the pattern. i love it soo!



i just ordered some alpaca silk yarn, i got a really good price! i'm hoping to make a really nice scarf. or whatever strikes me. i'm not sure yet. i also have to order some more yarn for those felted slippers i want to make, i made one, but i really don't think that i will have enough to make a whole other one. man, i am really proud of this hat. and i am going to wear it regardless of the weather! woo hoo!

spring break finally. and other rantings. (i.e. very long post)

ok, so for spring break my friend Mike and i went down to WIlliamsburg, VA to visit my sister and brother-in-law. weather was pretty bad when we were flying out, so our flights were delayed a bit. it was a bit hectic, and our luggage was lost, but overall it wasn't terrible.


so we flew into DC, and since our luggage was late, it kinda messed up our plans to explore DC a bit, but still it was good. Ali and David's friend Amanda came down from Philly to hang and we went to the Holocaust Museum. if you are in DC and can only see one thing, see this. probably the best museum i've been to.


we went back to the airport to get our luggage, and then began the long trek back to the 'Burg. we had a good time though, catching up and all that. we decided to stop at sonic on our way home for dinner, since us midwesterners had never been to one. honestly, it wasn't all that great. the drinks are the best things there. we basically collapsed after eating. plus i wasn't feeling very well.

the next day we went to a pancake house (one of the many in Williamsburg) and explored william and mary's campus and colonial williamsburg.




we had a lot of fun that day with amanda.

the rest of the week was spent shopping, going back to high school, and more shopping. it was really fun. the weather was pretty nice, 50s and sunny pretty much everyday. one of the best things we tried was Chik-fil-a. it a mostly southern chain, and they made the original chicken sandwich, with just a bun, chicken and two pickles. it is delicious, and they have waffle fries! best thing ever. oh! we also went to a chocolatier and had fondue! it was fab, but made us all (minus mike) a little sick. too sweet! but sooo worth it!


overall it was great to see my sister and brother, and spend time in VA. i can't wait for the summer now.


as for going back to school it was tough, because i am having serious issues with my roommate. she just doesn't think, and doesn't understand why i am the way i am. so she thinks that i am less than she is. whatever. i went home this weekend because her boyfriend and friend were coming up for the weekend to party it up. and i just did not want to be around when they are here. so i come back and my bed was all disheveled. meaning that someone had slept in it. i'm pretty mad, she didn't ask me if someone could use my bed, and plus it just makes me really uncomfortable to think that someone else slept in my bed. so when she gets back from whereever she is i am planning on asking her about it, which is pretty big for me because i am not confrontational. it really sucks, that all this is happening. but i am counting down the days til the end of the semester when i won't have to deal with her crap. i am dreaming about my single room more and more lately. END RANT.

anyway, i had a good weekend. my friend caity came home with me, and we watched a ton of movies. we went to see 300 on friday night. it was AMAZING! makes me re-think our "Sparty". such a good movie, but definitely not a family movie. but so well done, man oh man. we also watched The Departed, Thank You For Smoking, and The Science of Sleep. i really liked all of them. the departed was really great, and definitely deserved best pic. the science of sleep was wonderful, as crazy/silly/weird as it is. and thank you for smoking really makes you think about the politics of tobacco and everything else basically. it was nice just to sit and watch movies all weekend.

this week shouldn't be too bad, i have one exam on wednesday, but i don't think it will be bad. i'm going to caity's town this weekend for a play and then coming back here on saturday for a concert. it should be a good time. here's hoping. whew. very long post, hoped you liked it. haha.

yet another quick one.

just a quick post to say that i am planning on making a big post on my spring break and also what i am working on at the moment. woooot.

my visual DNA.

i found this really awesome site. go there and try it for yourself, it surprised me how on point it was!

Read my VisualDNA™     Get your own VisualDNA™

spring break is soooo close, i can feel it! i am a little sicky though, i hope i'm better by saturday. my exams went ok, my zoology was a little harder than i expected, but i think i did fine. i'm up early because i had some trouble sleeping, with my roommate running in and out all night. it is ridiculous. but i will have a week away from here! woo!

a quick one before class.

man! almost spring break for me! i am soooo excited. it will be a great break from the monotony that is school. i had/have two exams this week. i had my first one at the ungodly hour of 6:45 am, chemistry! chemistry? at 6:45 in the morning? does not work. i have to take all my chem exams at that time because the usual exam is at 7:15 pm, and i have a class from 7-8:50 at night. so thats great. but i think the exam went well, and it seemed easier than i expected. my second exam is a zoology midterm. i got really behind on the reading, so i had to read a lot this weekend, and i still have a few chapters before wednesday to finish. but from what i've heard, a lot of the exam is common sense, and i went to all the classes. and i'm really interested in all of this, so its easier to remember. so i think i'll be ok.

knitting wise i am somewhat in a rut. i finished the loopy edge on my pinwheel sweater, and started a sleeve. it came out too small for me, but i'm going to give it to my mom. i really like it, but sleeves are always a pain. i am also looking for a pattern for felted clog slippers. i found a few that i could buy, but i'm still trying to find one that i like thats free. i have a bunch of yarn left over from that sweater, so i want to use it for the slippers. i might just have to get over myself and buy the pattern.

i have s&b tonight, but i dunno what i'm going to knit. i have limited amounts of yarn here at school, so that kinda sucks. i think that jess and i are going to go to the yarn store that is here. that will be cool. although very tempting, and we might even have to leave our wallets at home! ha! alright, off to class.

whew. finally.

so i've finally revived this blog. i created this mainly for completed knitting projects, WIPs (works in progress) and ideas. i know that some of this might not make a lot of sense to some of you reading (i.e. alison, mike haha) but i am going to try to use it also as a blog about whats going on it my life.

here are a few things i have finished and or have finally gotten around to taking pictures and posting them.

My pride and joy right now, an Entrelac scarf. it was made with Patons SWS in natural pink. this is Danica from knitty.



i love it, its really nice and warm. it helps a lot when i'm waiting for the bus!

Another thing i have done is the Amelia Earheart Aviator Hat from Head Huggers. i did this in elann's highland peruvian wool in orange.


it is a really cool pattern, and i learned how to do wrapped turns.


I'm finally finishing up my pinwheel sweater from elann.com. i'm just now on the loopy edge, about 3/4 done. and then i have to do the sleeves. as soon as i'm done i'm sure i will post some pics.

i'm itching to start two more sweaters. a custom fit top down raglan, and a reversed stripe hoodie from knit 1 magazine.

in other news, i'm in kalamazoo for the weekend. its nice, i haven't been home for 3 weeks. a record for me. i'm looking for ward to next year because i will have a single room. my roommate can be hard to deal with. but i'm learning a lot about myself and living with other people.

some exciting news: i've decided on where i'm going to be doing my study abroad. i've decided on Kenya, and the study of savanah mammals. i am so excited. this program looks awesome, i will get to take two classes that i need for my major, and i will get to see my favorite animals in their natural habitat. i'm planning on going the summer after this one. every time i think about it i get so excited!

now to get back to the million i-cords on my sweater! oy!