ART VS. CRAFT

I went to this today, and it was insanely awesome. The Scottish Rite Masonic Temple was weird and beautiful, and it was filled with amazing handmade items and fashionable people. I bought an awesome "loot" bag from Sweetie Pie Press and a gorgeous bird headband from Megan Lee Designs. I'm also feeling really inspired by the hand-sewn items. I may have to get my hands on a sewing machine (it's the only thing on my Christmas list right now) and go over to Fashion Ninja to take some classes. I also really need to knit again too; I've done a couple scarves in the past, but I just want to take it on. Ah, school; why must you get in the way of my crafting?

Snow!

IT'S SNOWING RIGHT NOW. And it's sticking and everything. I am so incredibly happy about this.

The snow started right at the end of my craziest shift ever. Apparently a lot of people save buying turkeys until the night before Thanksgiving. At least it went quickly, and was kind of fun.

Also, what exactly are Swedish Fish supposed to taste like? I'm trying to figure it out.

Just some thoughts.

Smart Girls At The Party

Just a quick link. Smart Girls At The Party is a show hosted by Amy Poehler, Meredith Walker, and Amy Miles that showcases smart young girls. I just watched Ruby's episode and I love her so much. I wish I (consciously) knew that much about feminism when I was her age.

I see a sea anemone the enemy see a sea anemone and that'll be the end of me.

I'm having major "stuff" love right now. I go a few weeks without much attachment to any of my possessions, and then it suddenly returns. I think this bag started it.

It's a Le Sportsac; it has well-dressed, world-traveling bunnies on it; and it is amazing. My mom's friend brought it back for me from Hong Kong and I appreciate it so much. :)

I also went to ReThreads today after our children's orchestra concert. (It's essentially the first week of Christmas, so we do a Christmas sing-along/arts and crafts/Santa/cookies kind of thing.) I scored this little hat...

...and this jacket. Look!




I'm in love with it. It's absolutely tiny, and I found it in the men's section. I imagine Rudy as being about 5'1". He smokes all the time, is really thin, and is tough. I love this jacket so much. Thank you, Rudy, whoever you are.
These jeans fit perfectly and are kind of dressy, which I like.
Okay, these aren't from ReThreads (I wish I could find patterned Doc Martens around); I've actually had them since seventh grade. I just wanted to share them with you because it's getting to be Doc Martens season again and I'm looking forward to wearing them.

(Oh, and the weird post title is Andrew Bird. Witty alliteration, whistling, and violin playing; YES.)

Likes and Dislikes

(In the style of Facebook. Also in the style of lazy bloggers that make lists instead of well thought-out paragraphs.)

Likes:

1. The New Devendra Banhart CD. I received it as a late birthday present today, and it's awesome. I have an uncle and aunt with really good music tastes, so I always look forward to getting music recommendations from them.
2. DIY Ideas. I also got a cool DIY photo/craft book for my birthday, and I've already looked through and found the projects that I want to do. These include: a photo messenger bag, a photo lamp, a water bottle cap tripod, and a fisheye lens. I've always really wanted a fisheye lens, but they're super expensive. The one in this book is made with a peephole, which can be bought at a hardware store for a few dollars. I'm so excited to make one and try it out.
3. Le Sportsac Bags. My mom's friend went on a shopping trip to Hong Kong and brought back purses for everyone. (It's been such a fantastic weekend for gifts! Thanks, everyone!) I got a Le Sportsac messenger bag with chic little world-traveling bunnies on it. All their patterns are seriously adorable.
4. Clean sheets.
5. Lemon 4-layer cake.
6. Academic Decathlon. We're doing really awesome so far, and I'm learning tons about the French Revolution. Good stuff.
7. Honors Pre-Calc. I went from a D to a B in that class in one week, and I feel so awesome.
8. Second Quarter. I needed a fresh start.

Dislikes:

1. Work. It's not that bad, but I'm really dreading having to do carts in a slushy parking lot. You'd think Pick 'n Save would find some way to make it easier for us, since they're a Milwaukee-based company and pretty much all the stores experience snow. Target has a electric cart pushers, and their carts are plastic now. Sigh.

I apparently don't have anything else for the "dislikes" list. I guess it's just been a good day. The only thing that could bring me down would be getting sick (sicker than my normal 3-month cold), so I really hope that doesn't happen. Super-immunity, please don't fail me this year.

Can has pictures?

I finally got a new camera. It's a Canon PowerShot, so it's just a little point-and-shoot, but that's all I really need for a digital camera. I got excited and ran around the house taking uncreative macro pictures. (It's like starting over. My lack of a digital camera and having independent study during a Photo 1 class is killing my creativity.)

Before a real post...

...I would like to briefly comment on how much I love this book. I'm only a few chapters in, but it's so charming and beautifully written. It's an interesting look at "re-education" in China, but also hilarious at times. "Mozart Is Thinking Of Chairman Mao!" has to be my favorite line so far. (Also, I love the picture on the cover, and the book is small & smooth & feels lovely. Because I just enjoy things like that, apparently.)

I'll talk about my crazily happy and stressful week later. I really just need to get to bed. I work a pretty long shift tomorrow, and then I'm going to go see my school's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"! The drama department hasn't taken on Shakespeare for a while, if ever, so I'm curious to see it. Also, I get to see a friend who just spent the last two months in Germany; catching up is always fun.

And I'll catch up with this blog soon, I swear. :)

November already?!?

My, how the time flies. It's been a busy week, and I didn't even go out on Halloween!

We only had a three day school week this week. It would seem nice, but that usually means teachers pack five days' work into three days. Also, first quarter ends next Friday, which means the homework, tests, and projects are getting piled on. I did get through the three days, barely; we did "taste tests" for our Sensation & Perception unit in AP Psych, and I almost didn't make it through the rotten egg flavored jelly bean. (Yes, it was totally as bad as you'd think.)

After the school week, I went on an overnight visit at Beloit College. It's my top choice, so I had a great time. This was the first visit I've done where we've had an unstructured kind of day, so it was fun to hang out with my host at night. We went to her FCA meeting, did a "ghost tour" of campus (there was hot cider!), saw a humorously tacky cover band called The Karls, and just hung out with the other people in her dorm. The next day was spent at presentations about the school, as well as visiting classes (which I didn't have time for, unfortunately). It was a great couple of days, and I know Beloit is definitely the school for me. It's really diverse, everyone is into social activism there, and it's a college of learning rather than competition. It's such a refreshing difference from both high school and the UW colleges that many of my peers are applying to, and I'm ready for that.

Currently, I'm in Chicago. We did the Art Institute today, which was amazing. More about that later. I'm just blogging quickly while trying to write my Chinese-style poems for English class. Doing homework while on vacation stinks, and so does not having a digital camera to take tons of pictures of yourself at the Bean.