rhymes with spoon

You may recall that I won a little Harry Potter goodness back in June. The yarn (along with the rest of my life) immediately took a back seat to bar studies. No longer! I've gotten a very good start on some Harry Potter socks for myself and am just about to start the short row heel. I don't normally knit socks but I like the way these are coming out so far.

I also convinced my mom to buy a copy of Simon Schama's Power of Art. I can convince her to purchase almost anything "educational." Coffee, knitting, British art historians, and Krispy Kreme donuts. Does life get any better than this??

Since I got back from the bar exam, I've had no motivation whatsoever to do much of anything. I've been living the last few weeks mostly "off the grid" staying away from internets, with very little cell phone time or tv watching. In many ways it's been nice....I've been going on long walks with my mom, clearing my brain, and appreciating all the great things the Pacific Northwest has to offer.

This included most recently some kayaking out on Lake Washington & Lake Union courtesy of the Agua Verde Paddle Club. I suspect this place will become a regular hangout for Jeff and I.

I'm headed back to Minnesota on Tuesday to chill some more and slowly make my way back to Seattle. Jeff will be in town (with Barney in tow) for a few days too as he blazes across the US on his cross-country motorcycle trip. I have not seen him since graduation so I'm beyond excited!

I'm still a bit bleary eyed from the trauma of the last few days. I suspect it will take me a few days to appreciate my new found freedom. In the meantime advil is my best friend. I thought the migraine was related to sleep deprivation but it must be something else because even after 10 hours of "I'm dead to the world" sleep I still feel like an elephant is sitting on my head. The bar suffice to say was the most traumatic/harrowing academic/testing experience. I truly, truly, truly hope I don't have to repeat this experience again but I shan't dwell on that now. I won't know til October anyway and I got plenty else to worry about between now and then. In the meantime, y'all better keep your fingers crossed and pray to the bar gods for me.

On to happier things...afterwards I grabbed lunch (very much appreciating the return of my appetite and taste buds) and headed down to Seattle. I decided to throw caution and financial woes to the wind and spent an hour and a half lost in Kinokuniya. I only walked out with seven books after exercising some serious discretion. Lest you question my self-restraint I'll note that a) I was in a state of serious exhaustion and b) not all of the books are for me. A few are going back to a friend in Minnesota who was nice enough to pick up some lovely Liberty fabrics for me the last time she was in London.

After poring over the books and grabbing a few egg tarts at the local Chinese bakery I was one content little law student. I cannot wait to be reunited with my sewing machine so I can attack my stash with all these new patterns. (More pictures from the haul here.

Greetings! From sunny Bellevue, WA....my hellish abode for the next two days. But our posh digs (seriously....there's a flat screen TV in this room that I WILL NEVER get to enjoy!) has wireless internet so before I try to futilely pack more information into my already cramped and tired brain I'd drop by and say hello to all my faithful readers--all four of you. :)

There's not much to report other than the bar is hellish. Really. I hope hope hope that it's an experience I will never have to repeat but man was today rough...as in "shit! I might have to take this over again tough." Suffice to say that the bar doesn't bring out the best in folks and the amount of neurosis in our one giant test room is a bit overpowering. Sorta slaps you in the face when you walk in. And the sound of 500 determined law students typing for hours on end...deafening.

And with that fun note I bid you farewell. See y'all on the other side!

Ok , ok, ok. After announcing a blog absence here I am again. But I'm headed back to Seattle tomorrow and got word of a Barney siting, which I had to share.

Barney is tearing through the Southeast. He wanted to share a picture of him having a good time with some new biker buddies in Louisiana. He says he's having lots of fun and will report again soon!

Well folks, I'm nearing the home stretch. I am just a mere week away from the bar and I must wrestle myself away from the internets or I really will fail this exam.

I'll be back in a few weeks a free woman. Wish me luck!!!!

Still working on my rolling technique...

Still getting accustomed to this fancy pants new camera. (My fancy pants camera from my super sweet, super awesome boyfriend!) Since I am short on patience, time, and brain cells, that basically consists of snapping lots of pictures hoping some turn out oK. More thoughtful experimentation will have to wait until the bar is over. Thank goodness for digital. I could never be so snap-happy with my old manual. Although I'm sure there are many impressive features to be discovered on this camera, so far I've been really impressed with the way it captures colors and handles low-light situations (see above two specimens). The only bad thing I've noticed so far is that on automatic modes, it's too quick to jump to the flash. The flash is actually pretty decent (it doesn't quite wash things out as much as a regular flash). Still, I'm happy to suppress it most times and that is easy enough to do.

I've had the camera for a few days now but didn't have a chance to sneak outside and and take it out on a test drive until today. I met up with Anna down at Lake Harriet to catch the Saturday Minneapolis Pops concert this time with little Minnie in tow. I had a lot of fun and felt that after a long day of muttering rules it was a well deserved break.

Labels: fuji

I tried snapping a good photo of this but it's sorta hard to capture a quilt just right in a tiny apartment bedroom with little natural light. In a perfect world I'd have the quilt hanging in a yard on a clothesline, gentle breeze billowing behind. But this is reality, I'm impatient and very excited about this so I just had to post it. My first quilt! EEk!!

I know I've already raved about Amy's new book but really, it's awesome. For the experienced sewer, I think the book provides quick, easy, satisfying projects and for novices sewers (like moi) it gives perfectly attainable projects that gives one a real sense of accomplishment. I can't tell you know many times I cursed and cried trying to put a quilt together. Something very intimidating about it, I always felt that elaborate patterns were too hard to follow andrie somehow whatever colors I put together never seemed right.

It's hard to explain but the process of putting this quilt together but it seemed quite reasonable and un-intimidating. Perhaps it's not needing a walking foot (don't have one) or just the free form nature of it all (definitely my style) or the fact that it required no pre-washing of fabrics (pain in the ass if you live in an apartment with ancient/expensive washers/dryers). I don't know, but there was minimal cursing and dare I say it, it was even kinda fun! Maybe that's what I love about Amy's book. It makes sewing so enjoyable. It doesn't shy away from imperfections and individual style. Really, isn't that what's crafting all about? If I wanted a perfect looking quilt, I would've run out to Target and purchased one.

It took a little over a week for me to make this (before this whole bar study business got outta hand), fitting in little bits and pieces of work between studying but I think an experienced sewer or quilter could zip through this in a weekend quite easily. The longest part was stitching on the quilt binding, which took a little practice, but was a good excuse to catch up on episodes of the Sopranos. The only alterations I made was adding to the quilt's width and length. I tried to avoid making it intimidatingly large but I really wanted to have a quilt I could have on my bed--even if it's not quite the right size. The purple border was a complete afterthought but I loved the quilt even more after I added it on. As you can see from the picture, it's certainly not a queen size quilt but it basically covers the surface of my bed and that's really all I wanted (for a first quilt).

Remember Barney? He's a young pup with the travel bug. He told me he wants to see the world. I asked him how he feels about motorcycles. He said he's never been on one but that he likes to try new things. I told him that Jeff was planning a long road trip and Barney asked if he could tag along.

Barney wanted some help packing so I got him a little knapsack for his things. He likes the yellow polka dots lining the inside of the bag and the little pearl snap.

Even though Minnesota is a "no helmet" state, I made sure he took one along since he'll be traveling through many places requiring them. He was kinda bummed out about the helmet but I reminded him that it's very important that he stay safe and that Jeff doesn't like passengers who aren't being safe. After some grumbling, Barney came around.

Barney asked for some reading and cookies for his trip out to join Jeff. He's a little greedy and wanted so many cookies that we just couldn't fit them into his knapsack. I hope he left some for Jeff!

Barney promises some pictures from the road soon.

Labels: adventures of Barney

And because I was feeling a bit ambitious and because Jess is extra special I whipped up a matching cell phone pouch. I had a box of pearl snaps I wanted to try out and it makes the pouch easy to transfer to other bags. The handle of the pouch and the bag bottom are from some green duckcloth scraps I had from my giant wall organizer. This was a very fun project that took very little time to whip up. I hope Jess likes it!

Labels: crafting

Meet Barney, a pup who's got the travel bug. He's going on a very long trip soon and I helped him pack this morning. He's already on the first leg of his journey. More on his adventures tomorrow.

(From Miyako Kanamori's Sock and Glove book)

I-pod Mix #2: Under Pressure

1. Booker T. & the MGs--Time is Tight
2. Queen & David Bowie--Under Pressure
3. Tegan & Sara--I Can't Take It
4. Sparklehorse--Don't Take my Sunshine Away
5. Ivy--Clear My Head
6. Coldplay--Don't Panic
7. The Fray--Over my Head
8. Maximo Park--Apply Some Pressure
9. Gavin DeGraw--I Don't Wanna Be
10. Bruce Springsteen--Lonesome Day
11. Ringside--Struggle
12. Gary Jules--Mad World
13. Weezer--The Good Life
14. Frou Frou--Let Go
15. Weezer--Holiday

Also available upon request...

Recent I-pod playlist #1 (Jilted--Quit Trying to Break my Heart):

1. Dashboard Confessionals--Stolen
2. Liz Phair--Supernova
3. Ivy--Thinking About You
4. Coldplay--Yellow
5. Royksopp--Remind Me
6. Wilco--I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
7. White Town--Your Woman
8. Gnarls Barkley--Crazy
9. My Chemical Romance--I'm Not Ok (I Promise)
10. The Avalanches--Since I Left You
11. The Decemberists--The Bachelor and the Bride
12. Bedhead--What's Missing
13. Lucinda Williams--World Without Tears
14. Richard Bruckner--Lovin' Her was Easier
15. Gavin DeGraw--Follow Through
16. The Gabe Dixon Band--All Will Be Well

Mix available upon request...

It's been unbearably hot and humid here but a terrific thunderstorm rolled through here last night and cooled things off considerably. Still, heat or no heat, I hate having hair in my face so:

1. I'm glad my hair finally grew out long enough to be pulled back properly,
2. I'm glad I didn't get bangs cut...I was debating for a while, and
3. A girl just can't have enough fun little headbands, right?

I got a copy of Amy Karol's book recently and am in love with everything in it. It's one of those rare books where I want to make every pattern in it and think I could actually make every pattern with minimal cursing.

I've made another project from the book but am saving pictures of that for when my new camera comes in the mail later this week. (Long essay on the awesomeness of my boyfriend also forthcoming.) Last night I finished up a birthday present (late, of course) for Jess and while waiting for some CDs to burn whipped up a little Heidi Headband from Amy's book. Just a few minutes of cutting and stitching and very satisfying from the instant gratification point of things. I think I prefer the last headband pattern I tried but really there are things I like about both patterns. I think on my next headband I will try and combine the best of the two. I don't think there's anything really wrong with either pattern but on headband #4 it will be nice to be nice to be able to tweak to my personal preferences. That is the benefit of making your own stuff, no?

Heat aside, this was a pretty good weekend. Lots of napping (a luxury that will soon go the way of the dodo), another outing to the Farmers Market, a huge dim sum lunch, and catching the Minneapolis Pops by Lake Harriet with Anna. Oh yeah, and I studied a bit too. Really, I swear...

And since it's only a mere 15 days until the bar (EEEEEKKKKKK!) you will have to excuse me if I'm not blogging much for the next few weeks.

Labels: crafting, minneapolis, summer is stupid hot

I was talking with an old friend recently who also decided to leave DC after many years of living there. I asked him if had any regrets, if he'd miss it at all? He said generally no and I would have to agree. This is my first summer away from DC in a very long time and I thought I'd really miss it, but I don't. I like Minneapolis a helluva lot more in the summer, even with bar studies ever present. I gotta admit that it's not a bad place when the sun's actually out. I had a good long run in DC...over six years, plus several annual visits, and a couple of summers during law school. I went to law school with every intention of returning, but life has a funny way of taking you in other directions. Which is all just as well, I guess. Almost all of my good friends from DC have headed west (SF, LA, etc.) and there's something to be said about leaving a city with more good memories than bad.

Still, there are days when I really miss DC and today is one of them. I know fireworks are everywhere but there's nothing quite like spending the Fourth of July in DC. Sure it's crowded, metro is packed, loads of security, hot and humid conditions but all of that can be overlooked when you get to see fireworks by the Capitol or on the National Mall with good friends. I don't suspect I will be in DC much after this year but there will always be a special place for that city in my heart. Especially this time of year....

*That's Lexie--one of my favorite old DC house-mates. :)

Labels: farmers market