corner view: spring

Springtime, in my Northeastern United States corner of the world. It's been rather cold and rainy and gray as of late, but I guess that typifies springtime.

If only corner view was tomorrow--when it's supposed to be bright and sunny and seventy degrees :)

See Jane for more views!

a tidbit

Just when I was thinking I might be losing some of my English major-ness almost a year after graduation,

I drive past a poor, lonely book lying in the road,

wet and forgotten against the double yellow line

like a lump of roadkill.

I wanted to pull over and stop the traffic,

to scoop it up and smooth out its spine,

to bring it home and dry its sopping pages,

and say, "There, there, you're safe now."

super sewing spree cont.

This afternoon, I decided to get out all my mom's old Simplicity and McCall's patterns from the 80s and scope out any potential gems. Apparently, fashions from the 80s are kind of in. You know, besides the pleated pantsuits.

I tossed aside the jumbo maternity tents and children's jumpers and heart-shaped pillows and found a few high-waisted skirts and belted dresses.

Then I tried to comprehend the patterns.

Apparently, I'm incompetent when it comes to a bunch of black-and-white diagrams and technical sewing terms.

Plus, I didn't have any shoulder pads.

Instead, I said screw the patterns, and made my own creation: a yoga mat bag!

(Please excuse the butt shot, won't you? Self-timers are hard.)

Tune in tomorrow for more of my super sewing spree week!

what my monday sounds like

Found via For Me, For You, who hit the nail on the head when she said: I want to listen to it while laying in the dark with my eyes closed, volume all the way up…

Since this is my first day of vacation from work, I've been listening to it all morning, while crocheting up the wazoo and drinking hot mugs of green tea and watching the rain fall (and trying to fight off a sore throat...).

What does your Monday sound like?

a dapple of my weekend

I hope your weekend was as lovely as mine.

I did some babysitting (I needed to make up the boatload of money spent getting my car out of an impound lot earlier this week--ARGH!), went for a run in the woods with my camera (I forgot how boring treadmills can be), played some wiffle ball in an effort to force spring to come, watched my first Michael Moore film, and started my super sewing spree. So far, I've completed the skirt and the tea cup pillow pictured above, but I plan to keep going strong throughout the week.

I just might have the week off for spring vacation.

(I knew I loved something about elementary school.)

Happy Monday, friends!

PS

A new, rather different blog banner is up--click over if you're reading through a reader :)

sore glutes, anyone?

Last weekend's hiking excursion with my mom and my sister definitely kicked my butt. Going to Pilates class right before probably didn't help much, but man--climbing uphill for 45 minutes is definitely a workout.

Of course, that was seven days ago when summer came early and it was 70 degrees and sunny outside. Which definitely gave me incentive to get outside and stretch my glutes.

We did some rock climbing.

And decided this boulder most definitely came from the glaciers of the Ice Age.

Which then led us to pretending we were actually in the Ice Age (the movie, of course), and tried not to get crushed by the rocks rolling our way.

Why yes, that sweater is tied around my waist like I'm in 1994 again, thank you for asking.

We ended the afternoon with acorn-top-whistle-blowing: you know, the important skills little sisters depend on big sisters to teach them.

sew what?*

Lately, all I've been wanting to do is sew. I wish I just had a big block of time where the earth stood still and my phone wouldn't ring and email wouldn't exist and no one could make a sound. (I suppose I could just turn off my phone, shut my computer, and go somewhere quiet, but I'm dreaming here, okay?)

Perhaps this weekend will have to be a sewing weekend. Besides a little babysitting, I don't have much planned, and that's perfectly fine with me. MH is away in Florida (big sister jealousy kicking in, right here) and my parents won't be around too much, so it just may be the perfect weekend for some peace and quiet. I don't even remember the last time I busted out my sewing machine in full force, except to do a quick mending.

(Although, it feels like tomorrow should be Saturday, but that could be because I'm all messed up about time and today is a half day at school, so I can leave early.)

I'm hitting up the clearance section at my local fabric store like nobody's business and even bringing my coupon. They better watch out.

Because I want to make every single one of these things:

1. OliveShop, via DrifterandtheGypsy

2. OliveShop, via DrifterandtheGypsy

3. wemetinabar, via ErinEverAfter

4. SherrisBoutique

5. heartoflight

6. SayYestoHoboken

Clearly I'm a little early, but do you have any big plans for this weekend? I'm ridiculously excited for some me-time.

*This is my lame attempt at a joke. When I was little, my Nana would always answer that question with, "Sew buttons!" And I remember thinking it was lame even back then, too.

foggy-headed

I'm so confused.

I woke up this morning, early, thinking it was Sunday. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, Oh darn. Yesterday I had all the fun, and now today is Sunday, the blah day of the weekend. Why am I trying to wake up so early? I must have set my alarm by mistake. So I proceeded to shut off my alarm and go back to sleep.

Until I was jolted out of my sleep by the realization that it wasn't, in fact, Sunday. But that it was Thursday. So I dragged myself out of bed and tried to figure out why I had thought it was Sunday.

Wrong again. It's definitely Wednesday.

All day long now, I've been thinking it's Thursday. I filled out the attendance spreadsheet wrong. I wrote the wrong date at least three times. At one point I even reverted back to Tuesday (even more wrong). I've had to consciously think about the date and day of the week about every seven minutes, now.


I guess my brain's just in a fog today. Does this ever happen to you?




(Image via weheartit)

bring on the rain

Today is dark and rainy and foggy and gray. I still don't feel entirely awake, even though I was up early to get a jump on Starbucks' Free Pastry Day (oh yes). But even though these kinds of days make everyone sleepy and sad and sluggish, I secretly love them.

They inspire me somehow, and make me even more motivated to write or create in some way. I'm kind of a freak, actually--I don't have any desire to live in California or Florida where it's sunny the majority of the year. I need me some good rainy days. (Hence, my extreme desire to get into grad school in the Pacific Northwest.) There's something about a good rainy day that makes me want to go outside and walk in it, to bring an umbrella or put up a hood and just go sit. And dream.

Or maybe go boating on a foggy lake and just listen to the stillness.


Or cozy up in bed and revel in the gray light and listen to the raindrops pelt the house.

But they also make me yearn to walk through fields with a boy,
or play with silly kittens all day long,
or yearn for sunshine and laying around in the morning light. (I'm very fickle, I suppose.)
None of these, however, can I do while I'm at work. Boo. (I promise, pretty soon I'll steer away from these mopey I-hate-work posts...)

On the bright side, look how cute my Gmail is today:

It even gives you little raindrops on the screen. Sometimes I hurry to open my mailbox so I can see what kind weather-interpretation it comes up with that day. It's the little things.....
Tell me: do you enjoy rainy days? Am I the only one?

Photos: HeatherBreanne ,EmilyDoe,Fetie,NataLizzie , Nikolinelr