custom.

Here's a quick shot of the custom order slippers I mentioned I was working on before. The buyer seemed really pleased with how they turned out, and I have to say I do like them. The yarn I used gave them a little bit of a fluffy softness that makes them quite cozy. I was just trying to go for durable since she mentioned she practically lived in her slippers 24/7. She was happy with them, and I was happy to have made them (and gotten the sale). Now I have an extra $50 in my bank account to do something fun with. The mall might be calling me a bit later on today...

Everyone needs to try to convince me to save it for Disney.

Countdown to Disneyworld: 11 days.

color me purple.

It's the time of year when babies are abound - and this baby horse just happens to be bounding next door to work. We have several baby horses at the wildlife center next to the lab I work at, but this one just happens to be my favorite - with his momma. You simply can't resist wanting to snuggle his speckled body. Even his tail has a spot! I need to think up a name for him...

Speaking of work, Andy and I (we both work in the same lab) had to do a Gram stain on some bacterial cultures we had grown but we couldn't find a single lab in the building who had the staining kit, which meant we had to find all the base materials and mix the dyes ourselves (I got to play chemist for the day). To put the situation in a scientific equation I think we can all understand : Brandy + dye crystals + water = purple + red + orange laboratory/fingers/clothes/etc. It was an experience - both sinks in the lab are now a rather pretty shade of purple. I think this experience solidified why I shall probably never end up dying my own yarn. The lab bench is one thing, but the carpet in my apartment would be a whole other thing. I believe it also solidified why I'm going to school to  be a marine biologist and not a microbiologist. Dyes, shmyes. 

I'm one slipper down, one to go on the custom order. Pictures when I finish, of course.

Countdown to Disneyworld: 14 days.

lobbying my hobby

Today I had to make a quick trip to Hobby Lobby to pick up some yarn for a custom slipper order. When I walked through the doors my eyes were immediately harassed by these roosters wearing star spangled tuxedos. I don't know about you, but to me nothing says "GO AMERICA!" like Old Glory clad poultry. 

The trip was not all patriotic roosters, however and I did manage to find some lovely yarns on sale. The order I received was for a pair like my Robin's Egg Blue mary janes, but just as I had feared, the yarn I had used for those was no where to be found. Luckily I found another type of yarn in very similar colors that I plan on crocheting together with the comfy white acrylic blend. I also picked up a skein for myself that I just couldn't resist. (Me in a yarn section for any reason is usually a bad idea especially if I'm trying to save money... oh well.) I just loved the bright summer colors and the way they blended together in such a great way. Besides, the yarn was on sale from $9.99 to $1.99, so can you really blame me for buying it? You know you would have done the same thing.

Even with all the craziness of this weekend, I managed to sneak in a pair of slippers. These are crocheted in a delicious raspberry pink and dark chocolate brown, and I swear, I could just eat these slippers up. I've named them Raspberry Coco, and they are now available in the shop along with all my other great mary jane slippers. For more information on this pair click here. 

Countdown to Disneyworld: 15 days.

EDIT: I got featured in a treasury tonight. Check it out here! Thanks MerchantGypsy.

a new day.

   
Just a random assortment of the things we stumbled across at the park today.  

The whole roommate fiasco escalated yesterday when I returned to my apartment that morning to find two more of my textbooks missing from my very room where I had placed them on a shelf the night before. When my roommate got home later that afternoon I asked her if she knew anything about the additional missing books and was immediately presented with a very defensive, snotty, "I have no idea where you've put your books." Just the way she said it led me to believe that she did know something about them, but things just went from there with her claiming that she would never need the money from selling my textbooks. The whole time her boyfriend stood behind her totally silent. Perhaps she really doesn't know anything about it and it's the work of him, but I find it hard to believe that he would get away with taking 5 of my textbooks without her ever knowing since I rarely ever seem them with out the other in tow. Anyway, I drew the line and moved every item of mine out of the main living areas and into my room where they are locked up. As far as me and anything of mine that is worth anything, we have packed up and moved to Andy's apartment for the duration of the summer until she moves out in August. It's a hassle, but I would have been much more upset if something had ended up happening had I not taken these steps. 

In the meantime, Andy and I will just try to enjoy the rest of our summer. Our trip to Disneyworld is coming up soon and with the events of the past week, I absolutely cannot wait to take a vacation from it all. I can't think of a better escape than Disneyworld. 

out and about/ roommate woes

Today Andy and I ventured to a nearby nursery we'd never visited, Martha's Bloomers. It was a fun trip, but I was a bit underwhelmed and expected a bit more. They didn't really have the variety of flowers I was expected, but had a wonderful "Native to Texas" wildflower section that made me wish I had more room to plant since I'm confined to planters on the front porch in this apartment. One thing I didn't expect to find there, though, was baby doves. Not quite the cutest baby animal I have ever laid my eyes on, but who can resist a classic mom & baby picture? Awww - kind of.  The baby was actually pretty big and his feathers were starting to come, but hadn't broken out of their casings yet. Both mom and dad were pretty protective of their little birdy baby, but it's rather hard to find the coos of a dove even remotely threatening. 

There has been random disappearances of my items from the living area lately. I asked my roommate about it, asking if perhaps she had borrowed my textbooks, but was presented with a "I haven't seem them, but if I do I'll let you know." Yeah, right. This, on top of other curious behavior like the huge delay in getting me her half of this months rent (which I still haven't received) is really irking me. I'm beginning to think she took the books and sold them back to one of the stores here without my permission. Both her and her fiance have not been very pleasant roommates and this just seems to be the cherry on top of the huge crap pile of a sundae. I have the worst luck with roommates - luckily this one is leaving in August. 

At least it's a long weekend coming up! I hope everyone enjoys it.

the birth of a slippy.

 
 

photography.

Lately I've been playing around a bit with photography. The spring around here is just beautiful with the huge explosion of new life - wildflowers, plants, animals - all sorts of growth and it really inspired me to just get out there and try to capture it all. I haven't really looked into photographic technique, I just play around with what looks good to me and go from there.

All of the photos I share on this blog are my own. Most, if not all, are from the surrounding area and the things I have come across in daily explorations. It's been quite fun exploring new things that just seem mundane and taken for granted, like city parks or highway road sides. The camera I have now also goes underwater, but I haven't had much of a chance to use that feature yet - just think of the possibilities though!

One of my favorite things to do with the photos I take is to share them. Almost every single one has been added to my facebook, and I'm slowly getting around to adding them to flickr - and of course here when I find a reason to share a picture I'm particularly fond of. 

In etsy news, I added a new pair of slippers to the store this afternoon. I'm calling them "Sex and the Slippy." It's very clever, I know. 

When I was crocheting them, the hot pink and black just reminded me of Sex and the City, so I couldn't help myself, really. I'd like to think that if Carrie were to buy some slippers of mine - these would be the ones. Hah hah. 

qassia

I came across the idea of Qassia from another blog and decided to give it a go. It seems to be a site dedicated to working toward the advertisement of the websites you add. It's free, and as I see it any free advertisement is welcome advertisement. You have to earn the advertisement by racking up Qassia money, however, by referring people or posting "intels." These seem to be small posts about anything at all. I think you can also earn some money by reviewing these posts and grading them.

Right now, to sign up you need a referral - you can sign up using mine if you like by clicking here. 

I don't know how much time I'll be able to dedicate to this at the moment, but we'll see if anything comes out of it. Nothing to lose - hopefully some site hits to gain. 

urg and yay.

Urg. I bought a pretty new bright pink bougenvelia today to go in a pot on the porch with some small gords I am growing, and of course when I'm trying to get it out of it's pot I get poked by its horrendous spines and rip half of the roots off. To say the least it is unhappy with me right now and is all weepy. I hope the poor thing doesn't just die on me right here and now. I was already very enamored with the thing. Hopefully with the water I gave it and a little bit of settling in it's new pot it'll grow a bit of those roots back and perk up a bit. Keep your fingers crossed. 

In happier gardening news, I'm getting my first blooms on my cucumber plants. Horray.

It's my first experiencing growing veggies my self, and with limited porch space and limited funds right now it's just, well, limited to a couple cucs, and some grape tomato plants. I hope to see some baby vegetables out there soon, which I'm sure you'll all be presented photos of as soon as they appear. I cannot wait to have my own place where I can actually grow a little garden. Some day, some day...

english rose garden

New slippers listed in the store tonight. Snazzed up the original pattern with some ribbony goodness. It was time for something new anyway.

Is it just me, or does everyone (who sells online) hate when people don't pay right away? Or even close to right away - say, within 8 hours? I had a long awaited slipper sale this afternoon and still haven't received payment for it. I even checked paypal just to see if I missed the email somehow. But nope, still sitting here twiddling my thumbs until I can pack these slippers up to be sent out. I don't think it's greed - it's just that when I don't get payment quickly I get nervous that I won't be getting a payment at all. It's happened before and I'm sure it'll happen again. I was just really excited to see that pair sell since it was one of my favorites. 

Oh well. I hope everyone out there in blogland had a fun, relaxing, and warm summer weekend. 

exploring my own backyard

Andy and I had a bit of fun at the park this afternoon.

It's been raining cats and dogs, er, I mean frogs, here the past couple of days. I think all these down pours are supposed to be making up for the lack of rain we got this spring which led to a slightly lack luster wild flower bloom, but I still now the plants are loving it. My tomato and cucumber plants on the front porch have grown so much this week and are finally putting out some blooms. 

Rainy days are always perfect ex

cuses to stay inside and craft. I've been wiped out because of work lately, but I still managed to finish up a pair of slippers that I had tossed aside for school early this year. I really love the color of these. I had bought this yarn about a year and a half ago for a whole other project that I never got around to starting (let alone finishing). I hate to let any good yarn go to waste, so of course they became a pair of slippers. Maybe these will be a best seller because I think I have about 3 more skeins of this stuff left in the yarn closet. They should be up in the etsy store sometime tonight.

One last thing, I've uploaded new photos to my flickr account, so if anyone would like to add me I'm always looking for new friends and new photos to look at. 

Summer has arrived again to College Station. This means another semester of school was survived. It was one of my most challenging semesters yet, but I lived through and I am definitely ready for a summer break. I'm working more this summer trying to save up as much as I can because graduate school and really living on my own is coming up faster than I'd like to admit.

But summer also means I have more time to craft, which I love. I have a couple of ideas in store for this summer and I'm excited to try some new skills and improve some I've put off for a while (like sewing). And of course there's the slippers. Right now my favorite thing in my etsy store is the red hobo purse.



It's such a fun purse crocheted in beautiful red cotton with a removable flower pin accessory. Now that I have more time I might get around to making one of these for myself!