Choo! Choooooo!

From: http://theadventuresofcassie.blogspot.com/search/label/Crochet

I've been absent on my blog for too long, yet again. Change really does effect me and I'm slowly working with it. We have the new place mostly in order. My parents come on Sunday to bring us a sofa, and Alex's parent's washer and dryer (thank you!).
I've been doing a good job at keeping up with my school work; now I need to get back into a good workout habit. My new complex is in the middle of construction for their new gym so I'm just relying on my yoga for the days I work. The other days, I really need to kick my butt out the house and get to the campus gym.
I also can finally set a start date for my everyday craftiness! Though I haven't heard back from the Crafting Club (boo), I should go ahead and get started anyway. I'm going to go ahead and start my craftiness on this coming Monday, September 15th. I'm going to start off by finishing up that cute apron I started last month. I really look forward to sharing my progress with sewing and anything else crafty (in all honestly it may be mostly sewing because I suck right now).
So coming up: more gym time + everyday craftiness.

Product of Productiveness

Today was a relatively productive day. It started out a bit slow due to my Disney's Fairies addiction but then I managed to do some readings, do an assignment, and attend my online lecture (it was a real snoozer when professors mostly just read the slides they're showing you). No gym today; I really needed a rest. So far this semester is starting at a decent pace. I'd like to pick it up a couple notches so I'm not squeezing all my work into a couple days. It really is better to devote an hour or so every day to school work-- then the rest of the time I'm free.
When I woke up this morning I realized that in just a few days Alex and I will be moving into our new place. You're probably getting tired of hearing me blab about the move but changes like these are always exciting! Who doesn't like the idea of more space to work with and walk around in. I already have quite a few plants started at work so next Friday I'll hopefully get my garden started. I can't wait to share pictures with all of you! It'll be such an experience and I'm excited to apply everything I've learned from work and thought up in my head. I really like the pots within bigger pots ideas. Similar to the picture shown above but with a larger difference between the pot sizes (and not for succulents-- though I can say I will be happy to have quite a bit of aloe in the garden). Tomorrow I'll hopefully find a nice pallet to set aside and bring home for my pallet garden project.
Good heavens, I am going to have lots of projects going on this fall! Hopefully I'll be joining the crafting club soon to have some extra opinions and ideas.

Ten Minutes

I've been feeling really tired lately and I think it's because there's been so much going on: excitement about moving, anxiety about school, spending time with friends, getting everything together and ready for the move (i.e. bills, payments, boxes, etc.). It's no fun feeling tired but I gotta keep moving forward. Somehow I gotta acquire my required textbooks as well (and get Kaitlin's iPad back to her lol). 

I'm not sure what else to talk about this morning other than me finally working on the new season of Legend of Korra. LOVE all the spirits, they're adorable. I want them to be a part of my next painting project. Alex wants to get me some canvas and I'm sure it'll be fun-- once again, just have to wait for financial aid (his. Mine is delayed so I have longer to wait for mine). 

And I just spent a good three minutes looking for the spirits that have really caught my fancy: the one that follow Bumi (leaf bunny) and the move that Jinora uses to send for help (bunny bird). Since I'm having so much trouble finding stills of them, I'll have to move through the episodes again and pause as needed. Only thing bothersome at all about that is our poopey internet that acts up at night and freezes randomly while watching LOK. 

We'll Aren't You Crafty

Since I'm already pushing to keep my daily blog posts going, it might be good to add something new. You all know Alex and I are working towards MegaCon and jittering with excitement every time we think about showing up in awesome home made Red Lantern getups. Id like to do something crafty every day leading up to the big day. Obviously this will eventually include the official Red Lantern project but prior to that there may be other costumes alongside smaller projects.

I think it would be wise to set a start date and a budget for each month. If a cosplay costume is to be a part of that month the. The budget may only be exceeded by the amount of the materials for that costume. You know I'm pretty frugal so I do not expect to need more than the budget-- let's say $50 for now-- but craftiness can sneak up the costs. As for the start date lets say September 8th. That'll give me time to move into the new place, get the fall semester going for classes, and establish a new routine in relation to the new space. 

Speaking of craftiness, the semester is starting soon and I need to get in contact with the USF crafting club. I know it sounds a bit nerdy and/or grandma-y but I think it'll be a great opportunity to make new friends and get some more crafting in. 

Susy All The away

I've actually been doing a decent job at being a busy bee-- not always busy with what I had planned but busy nontheless. Last night I worked with a pattern all by myself for the first time. I didn't need a pattern to make an apron-- I've made a few before as gifts (with the help of Colie) and they came out awesome. I just needed to start working with patterns and getting my skill level marked. So far it's already safe to say I have a lot to learn but somehow I'll manage with Alex's support and some FaceTime help from Colie. 

Last night I also played pokemon with drunk Alex and it was rather hilarious. The moment he foresaw I was going to win with my hardcharmed Yvaltl and supply of energy he tossed his cards and quit but then assured me he still wanted to play-- just not with the hand the two of us were dealt. 

As for today? An awesome Susy Tuesday (last weeks was awesome too-- days with Kaitlin are generally good ones) spent chatting, cupcaking, carbs, and planning for our birthday month. Unfortunately we may not be able to do a Disney Tea Party as we thought we may be able to so we looked at tea places in Tampa and found one we liked as an alternative. Doing a nonDisney tea place makes it slightly easier to invite friends-- especially since I'll have the bigger apartment with the space downstairs. So Kaitlin and I may just do that and then do Disney Parks with Kaitlin's comp tickets another day. We are going to talk with friends about the tea party and such and see. 

So as you can tell the craftiness is going pretty okay but the fitness stuff isnt quite the way I'd like it to be. I wanted to do group workouts but there are not at USF Rec until the beginning of fall. So far I've just occupied workout time with the elliptical and whatever yoga I can fit in with Rinpoche and Penny getting all over me and the mat (honestly I just do it without the mat most times though the last couple times it didn't matter-- the babies still wanted love while I did yoga). I was to do burpees and such because I remember quite a bit of my group fitness workout routines but that requires space and a ceiling that doesn't have a fan at the neither my fingers tough when in Mountain Pose. Only a couple more weeks and we ll be in the new place. I bought some seeds today for the pallet garden I'm going to do: bush beans, spinach, and then bell peppers for their own potted spot. 

Poke', Don't Poke Me.

 

I finally finished the Pokemon board.  The Ninetails didn't come out like I wanted her to-- I made the mistake of using marker to make sure I remembered some of the shadow details and it shows through the paint but it doesn't look awful. I'm happy Alex and I can finally really use it. Now it's time to find another painting project to do... or not, I mean, I do have to practice my sewing if I hope to make a good quality costume for MegaCon in the Spring.

Time To Get Sewin'

Just some funny cuteness.

I'm almost finished with the Poke'mon board! All that's left is the Ninetails and I must say I'm nervous. The pencil outline looks amazing and I'm worried I won't be able to keep all the detail outlines when painting. I have a very fine-headed brush which is awesome for small details (such as with this occasion) but sometimes it's not enough without a surgeon's hand.
More exciting news is Alex and I got our sewing machine back. It's all ready to go and the only somewhat negative comment the people at Keep Me In Stitches had to say was that, because it's an old machine, the motor needs a little help getting started. In order to give it the necessary push, they said to spin the hand wheel manually then it should go just fine. On the plus side we have 60 days to bring it back if anything goes wrong. So it's time to really get sewin'!
I'd really like to make a clutch but there's no way I have enough time to do that and everything else I need to do before the wedding. It'll have to be a clutch for another occasion but I'd definitely love to work on one. Anyone have any cute ideas? I'm on the hunt for free online patterns and such.

Red Lantern Binge!

After weeks of looking at different comic shops Alex and I finally found the Red Lantern comic issues we need to catch up to the current one. You can bet when we got home I binged on all the ones I've been waiting to read (I don't like to read out of order so I wait for the next one even if I have the one right after that).

This week I need to get my hair trimmed (yay I'm going with Kaitlin), work on assignments so I'm not worrying about them during my brother's wedding, and decide whether I want to get my nails done or just do them myself. I also need to call Keep It In Stitches to see if they've even gotten started working on our sewing machine. I'm really anxious to get it back so I can actually practice sewing stuff. I know Alex is too but he's found projects around that obstacle. He hand sewed a jersey-knit fabric into a pull-over mask (Rorschach). Tampa Bay Comic Con is getting closer and closer and I still don't know what I'm going to wear. It'd be nice to dress up at least with a nerdy t-shirt but I don't have any. (Maybe I'll buy one, I know plenty of websites with awesome t's). 

Gotta Catch 'em All... Poke'mon!

Tonight it's just a quick post since I nearly forgot again. I was working on Alex's and my pokemon playing board. It's pretty cute and I enjoy working on it-- painting is always fun. Alex's half is almost done. I just need to add Torkoal's smoke from his nostrils and top of shell. That'll cover up the funky looking legs.
I only just started working on my side the other night. So far, the outlines are awesome and the pokeballs are as good as I can make a circle.
I hope everyone's weekend is off to a good start.

Get Carried Away Into Cosplay!

Almost forgot. Almost... but I didn't. Yay. So I mentioned in my previous blog post that Alex and I are going to do cosplay. Well this rocket ship is taking off fast! We went thrift shopping (imma pop some tags) to look for a sewing machine and lo and behold the first place we went we found an old Singer 457 for $17! It's missing both spool pins and has a little rust on the slide plate but it runs, stuff spins, and the pedal is in good condition. Alex and I have also been finding a lot of patterns and tutorials for miscellaneous costumes and accessories (both relevant and not so relevant). I'm nervous about working with lycra/spandex but we have time to get our basic sewing skills mastered then build on top of that. First project? Penny's pillow. I hand-sewed it and now it's in need of a wash-- perfect opportunity to use the sewing machine. It will also help me see about the efficiency left on the needle and learn by trial an error how to use the machine in general.
Alex is really getting into everything. He's signed up on Cosplay.com to ask questions and comment in the forums and he's watching Youtube videos as I type on making masks and such. It makes me smile. He was also extremely excited when we got the sewing machine for just $17 (compared to the $90 we were seeing as a beginning base point in Joann's). We knew there was no way we were going to get better than that for that type of machine.
My point of excitement was the $30 investment in some hot boots that we found at Anarchist Closet (support local shops!). There they were originally priced at $59.99 but this weekend only they had 50% off everything. When the lady rung them up she said that they're actually new and the woman who had them didn't want to sell them so cheap considering she bought them for $200. I have no idea how you spend two hundred bucks on a pair of boots and never wear them. They're pretty high and tough to walk in-- I'll need to wear thick socks and make some adjustments but they really are kick @$$. They go a little higher than mid-thigh and are shiny black (totally originally from a sex shop but they're going to be PERFECT).
Oh lookie, I found an image of them on Amazon.

I'm not going to do Bleez but her costume is inspiring my own
(at least as far as the hot boots go!).

Perhaps something closer in similarity to Antipathy's outfit.
I won't be ready for quality masks or wing structures for a while.