Oh, So Sorry

Seriously guys, I'll make a comeback. I promise that I have no intentions of continuing blog breaks, but last week, life got exciting.

This has been just a part of my AP English work for the past few weeks. (And guys, I'm taking a break from more AP English just to type this. Seriously, this class is pretty much all of my homework.) Do you see that grey paper? IT'S NOT GREY. I wrote quite possibly the smallest I've ever written so I can write down every thought I could possibly have on a 166 page book. I did not think I had that many thoughts!
    And then there's The Kite Runner. I'm probably annotating it to death, considering every page is crammed full of underlines and thoughts. But I'm really loving this book so much! It is teaching me so much about life from a different perspective, and what I believe in.

And as if I didn't have enough going on, I'm also painting my bedroom, so there's my DIY for the time being. I'll take pictures when it's all done, but for now, do you notice something? Like maybe the bed in the middle of the room? Turns out that everything but my bed can find a home in the basement, so my bed is covered in plastic with all my bedding still on it. This means that I'm sleeping on a foam pad in the living room. Guys, I have to admit, life is fantastic just now. Seriously, I'm living the dream.

Happy Birthday to Bilbo Baggins!

I seriously think that sharing a birthday with Bilbo Baggins has determined my geekhood for life. Seriously, I now have a life-goal of living to one hundred and eleventy, among other things.
Oh by the way, I had a birthday. NBD. I'm just an adult who can buy dry ice now and go to big-person jail. Seriously, guys, no biggie. Not freaking out over that or anything.
But, I can say that I honestly have the best friends in the world! Seriously, I felt pretty lucky this birthday. My friends made a cake, and decorated my room, and I got to spend time with some of my favorite people in the whole wide world! And quite honestly (since my birthday wish obviously came true), I think this was the best birthday yet. Thanks a million to everyone!

Here is my beautiful TARDIS cake. Very soon, I will let you know the complete glory of my Doctor Who obsession, but not now-it would take quite some time.

My fabulous birthday present from one of my friends- no, I'm not in any way shape or form a Twitard, but there's a history to the picture.

Lastly, my beautiful gift from my amazing sister/best friend. I'm serioulsy in love with the card, for the images (because I kind of have a thing for cupcakes too), and because she's so sweet. Plus, my entire room has been heart-attacked. That's a part of just one wall. My entire ROOM looks like that. And it still makes me happy to see it.

Thoughts To Occupy

Well, sorry guys, I had a plan for a really cute post this past weekend, but that kind of fell through. And I need to take photos before I can brag about yet another of my projects. So, today, you just get me babbling!
It's been exciting so far, I'm finally a Senior, and for once, it's not my homework that seems to have me buried! I know, I know, it's a shock, but honestly, my homework everyday is pretty minimal. I have AP English this year, and my Stats homework is mostly busywork.
I'm way more busy with music and being involved at school. All right, I'm involved with music more than anything. It's true, I'm an officer in a few groups at school, and I'm in a few more (or as is the case with band, I'm the "honorary" member they can't ever seem to get rid of), but it's music that seems to keep my occupied.
Honestly, I had 4 1/2 quality hours with my instruments yesterday, and that's the average somedays, sometimes, it's only an hour or two, but lately, music is an everyday, all the time kind of thing for me. I'm really starting to love my practice. If I skip a day, I miss it. I seriously am starting to get withdrawals from my violin on the days I don't practice! And I have to say, it's nice. I'm starting to really make progress, which is fantastic, because if I even think of doing college auditions in the next few months, I am going to need all of that progress.
And ya, that's kind of been my life this past week. Toodles!

DIY Pencil Case

Hey guys, back again. Told you I would have more DIY. I'm actually really excited by this one. For the past probably six years off and on, I've always used the same pencil bag. It was black, and shiny, and kind of boring. And since I"m me, I decided to reward myself for finishing Frankenstein with this fun thing!

What You Need:

Three colors of yarn

Crochet Hook

Scissors

Fabric for lining

Interfacing

A zipper

Needle and three

To start with, I did four granny squares with a flower center. I found the pattern here, then added an extra layer of the dc around the outside to make the squares bigger, and did a sc border in gold.

Then, I got super sneaky guys. Using the gold again, I sl st the four pieces together in a straight line. Seriously sneaky, right?

Then, you sl st the ends together, and continue working down the long edge. You now have the outer casing!
Next, you're going to want to get a small zipper, about 7", a fabric to make your lining, and interfacing.
Measure out your lining fabric- it should be about 1/8" shorter than your casing from side to side, and about an inch taller than your casing when it's folded in half. Cut out interfacing to cover the entire back and iron it on. It's rough I know, but everything stretches in the casing, so you don't need to be precise.
Fold your fabric so right sides are facing. Fold down that extra inch so the right side is facing you, and pin the zipper down over the lip. Sew down the edge of the zipper as closely as you can, about 1/8" seam. Repeat with the other side.

The zipper should be on top, with the right sides inside. This way, when you put your hand in, you see the lining and not the interfacing. This is also the perfect time to make sure it fits in the casing and trim off any excess. Sew 1/4" seam down both of the edges. You should now have a pouch with the interfacing facing out.

Put the lining inside the casing. It really doesn't matter if the lining sticks out a bit; once it's been sewn in, it fits perfectly. With the needle and thread, sew the zipper edge to the casing, making sure to keep your stitches small, and to not just loop up between stitches, but actually sew over the yarn.

Tie off the thread and weave in any loose ends, and it's all done, ready for school or wherever else! Tada!

Life in the Dog House

All right guys, I am so sorry. I got back from DC and realized that I still had a ton of stuff to get done before school started. Seriously, I'm still working on Summer English, which by the way, is due in five days (I know, I'm a terrible procrastinator, shame on me.).
 I also had my biggest concert of the year this past Monday. I got to solo with an Orchestra on one of the solos from Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons". So, since I missed two weeks of practice for DC, I managed to get about 40 hours of practicing done in that time. Yikes.
But never fear, as soon as all this is done with, I'll be back to my usual DIY and cooking projects.
For the mean time, I do have some exciting news. Right when we got back from DC, we had a crazy moment. Like seriously, we never get THIS crazy at my house.

This is my adorable new puppy, Gus! See, I've not only been working my butt off, I also really have been living in a dog house. He is an interesting little guy, absolutely adorable, but he definetly keeps us on our toes.
And there's that. I promise to be back with more soon (like before the end of an unintentional three week break soon!). Toodles!

Back From DC

I know, I know, two posts in a row about one vacation seems excessive, but honestly, it's worth posting about. DC was so much fun and I'm so glad I got to go with my amazing family. We managed to cram so much in five days, and I'll be honest, I'm in no rush to do that much walking again, but it was totally worth it!

I'll even admit that it wasn't so bad acting as my family's encyclopedia for the trip. Sometimes we'd come to a monument or painting that they'd want to know more about and thanks to my amazing AP American teacher and my hard studying, I was usually able to tell them some small tidbit.

I'd also like to announce that you should all start putting aside air fare now, because I'm pretty sure that sometime in the next ten years when i get married, you'll all be flying to DC.

I was blessed in that while in DC I got to go to the DC Temple and do baptisms, and while there, I absolutely fell in love with this beautiful beautiful place. It was truly seperate from the world. There was an enormous drive to get up to it, and although the freeway is only a few hundred yards away, you couldn't hear a thing. Seriously, I probably took more pictures here at the temple than any other place on our trip. I kind of fell in love with it.

And there's all I'll say on my trip. I've already got a few projects planned for future posts, so it won't be terribly long until I'm back. Until then!

I'm Off!

This week has been extremely busy as I've been packing my bags. I'm off to Washington DC for the next few weeks! I don' t know that I"ll have access to a computer for more than a few minutes while I'm there, so it could be a while before I get to post again, but I promise to take pictures of all the adventures I'm bound to have in our nation's capital! Until then!