Frostbite and mid-terms

First and foremost: this is the least appropriate dress to wear when there is snow on the ground and a -5 windchill. Yet, it worked well with tights, scarf, and a cardigan (there's also a belt buried in there somewhere, but it was too cold to take off my coat today)! I dressed up to do errands today which mostly consisted of going grocery shopping and finishing up an application for a summer job in the town I'm moving to this summer. Hate it, but have to do it, right? So, while I was waiting for some people to get back to me on being references, I decided to go out into my grandmother's backyard (she has a computer scanner) and do some pictures. It was cold, but really pretty. There had just been a light snowfall and it was clinging to the grass and trees, and the neighbor's three little girls were outside playing. You could hear them laughing from across the cornfield. While I was out there, I could see dark clouds coming toward our area -- the air beneath it was fuzzy and, as it got closer, I realized it was snowfall. It was really cool! 

OL' POLKA DOTS AND A HAIR CUT

Snow is finally melting and the sun has come out for the first time in, like, five days (or maybe I just never noticed the sun because I was curled up in bed with Kleenex and my laptop - aka, ill). I'm finally feeling better, which means pictures...and it would've meant some pictures of my sewing outcomes, but I promise you this: you do not want to see the outcome of my travels in sewing land. It ended badly. If I was a secret agent on a mission, the outcome would've been that everyone died... yeah, that badly. I botched the striped dress, considering getting another one since it was cheap, but not sure if I want to try botching it again. Too scared to fix the other two at the moment, so I'll wait and see how I feel in a few days (if I feel talented in a few days, I should say). Anyway, with the sun out today, we wanted to take some pictures and go outside for a bit -- bad idea. It was bitterly cold.

THIMBLE, NEEDLE, AND THREAD

Still sick, still shut-in, still not wearing pretty clothes -- and guess what? Our power went out during Winter Storm Q while I was ill. Gotta love that. So, to pass the time, I decided to read by the light of my LED flashlight I was gifted for Christmas -- which is the brightest thing I've ever gotten flashed in the eyes by. I was blind for about twenty minutes. Anyway, I'm trying to read "Beautiful Creatures" by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia. I went and saw the movie -- absolutely adored it. (Don't get mad at me for doing the movie first -- I'm usually a stanch book first type of person. I just really wanted to see that movie when I saw the previews during Warm Bodies.) It was really hard to read during the "storm" (hey, we only got four inches), though -- being sick and with the power out -- so I ended up screwing around with my camera and got a bunch of really blurry photos like above. Other than that, being ill doesn't give you a lot of stories to tell or outfits to show or anything else to gush about. Due to that, I'm going to share the sewing projects (with pictures) that I've been dying to do for a while now. Mostly just resewing buttons, etc., but here are a few that I'm really excited to do... and hopefully won't screw up. (Confession: I got a C- in my high school sewing class.)

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Well, I’m still sick as a dog! (I've never understood that expression.)

Hence, no fashion photos tonight either. Sad, I know. So, instead, I've scrounged up some of my “cool finds” (aka wish list) items that have a common theme going on. They’re all related to one of my favorite non-human creatures -- birds! While not my all-time favorite animal (that spot is tied between sloths and cats), they have a very special place in my heart and a very special place as number two on my very extensive, often-changing favorites list. So, here are seven bird-inspired items that I've been dying to have, and which I hope you all find just as smashing! 

FALLING SNOW AND CHARMING MUSIC

Picture of the snow on campus, since it's dark when I get home usually!

Remember those "nasty yard puddles" I was talking about the other day? Well, here's an update: nasty yard puddles have evolved into full-blown snow fall and snow-covered roads. Geez, Punxsutawny Phil, I thought you predicted an early spring. Did you lie to us all? At least, all of us up here in the North? (Wouldn't be the first time we've been lied to -- aka "Welcome to the North, where the forecasts are made up and the seasons don't matter"... yeah, I stole that from a funny Facebook picture.)

UP, UP, AND A KAY!

Even though I hate taking pictures inside (my camera isn’t fancy-shmancy just yet), the weather kind of demanded it today. It was spewing snow all day, which I usually love, but the ground was too warm for it to stick. So, we just got nasty yard puddles and blistering cold air (hooray for living on a lake!). So -- due to cold weather and no classes -- I spent the day cleaning. I say “cleaning”, but -- in reality -- it was me just discovering a bunch of stuff that I didn’t realize I either A) had, or B) still had. Like a bunch of comic books. The majority were in their protective plastic wraps, so I had to scrounge around for a few that weren’t wrapped to take some superhero-inspired pictures. I found an issue of Guardians of the Galaxy (one that I hadn’t read, so I ended up going through a bunch of the comics for fun). Anyway, I chose a mixture of blues and reds (a la Superman) and got the show on the road!

THIS HOUSE WILL LOSE THE BATTLE TO WIN THE WAR

 Last year I debated the topic “This House will lose the battle to win the war”. Obviously, it was a very, very vague topic and my whole team just kind of stared at the words on the screen like they were the boogieman out to get us. It wasn’t until the debate was over -- and we had suffered a painful loss -- that I realized there were some very good ways to define that topic. We should’ve used graffiti. The “battle” would be graffiti and the “war” would be cleaning up a city. Sure, it was a stretch, but it would’ve made for an interesting debate.

That debate topic was what led me to the artist known as Banksy.

THE CRACKLE OF THE PIER, THE SMELL OF THE ICE

The metal slabs of the pier crackled and snapped beneath our feet as we stepped out upon the water. An icy gust whistled across the expanse, making our eyes water and our fingers miss the shutter key. Ghostly memories of mirror-still water and tired fishermen -- their boats bobbing lazily in the reeds -- drift through our minds like afterimages. Our little pier sits alone -- now too frozen to dismantle by people that were too busy to care.

That was our backdrop for pictures this evening. 

VALENTINE'S DAY BROWNIE POINTS!

Yes, that is my blue Volkswagen Jetta. I call her The Blue Meanie. Reference, anyone? 

Happy Valentine’s Day! While there’s a lot of festive holidays that I quite enjoy -- Christmas being one of them -- Valentine’s Day is probably the one that feels most nostalgic, and the one I kind of miss. It makes me miss elementary school, especially third grade. Back then, our teacher would hand out brightly colored printer paper -- the kind that are connected and folded into long sheets -- and we would cut out heart shapes, trying to get it so if we unraveled the paper, it would be one long festive spool of hearts (or blobby circles, which is what mine always looked like -- I had shaky hands). I also was one of the kids that went all out on Valentine’s Day with handmade TMNT valentines (couldn’t find those anywhere!) and home-made cupcakes or cookies. Why can’t we grown-ups hand out Valentine’s Day cards like that anymore? Why can’t my college classes put out little baggies so we can collect valentine cards? I saw some Transformers valentines that would've been awesome to hand out! Too bad. Maybe I'll do it next year just for fun. 

BRRRR TO YOU, BLOG WORLD!

Boots: Modcloth (Seychelles)

Brrrrrrr. It's cold outside.