shop update.

   Some old favorites have been recently added to the etsy shop. These include some of my most popular slipper designs like those pictured above. These and much more are available in the shop plus lots more hats, bags, and of course, slippers are coming soon so keep your eye here for the updates as these new items become available. And be sure to check the shop out for some great accessories for you and your home.

ready for spring?

Remember a few posts back when I teased you with the new crochet project I was working on? It's alright if you don't; you can click here to brush up your memory.

I finished it a while ago, but have either been too lazy or the sun had just decided to hide for a whole week straight so I hadn't gotten around to taking pictures of it finished until today. And now it's listed in the etsy shop so this bright, light, lacy hat can be yours! It was crocheted from a new bamboo-acrylic blend yarn in a beautiful robin egg's blue and comes with the flower accessory. 

This, and of course many more fun crocheted goods are all available in the shop. It's still chilly outside, so be sure to stop by and check out the fun new slippers that are being added along with great new hats to keep your toes and ears warm! Plus new cotton cloths that are great for use around the house and last much longer than plastic sponges or scrubbers. 

sudsy. in technicolor.

New, colorful cotton cloths have been added to the etsy shop. Been having fun whipping up these new squares with more on the way. 

graduate woes.

I'm not feeling good about my graduate school prospects right now. 

All applications are submitted, potential graduate advisors contacted, and the outlook is bleak from my point of view. I just am feeling right now as if no one really prepared me for what was expected of me beforehand. I feel I've gone out of my way to contact scientists whose work excites me, I wrote essay after essay, filled out a million different forms, and I feel as if it will go to waste. 

In science, your graduate admission completely depends on a laboratory and it's leader accepting you as your graduate advisor. They help you come up with your thesis, conduct your research, etc. Most importantly, they pay your bills - tuition, fees, research costs, and your wage. It's your job. But apparently for my field, marine biology, it's tough. It's competitive. And mammals are worse - everyone wants to work with something with a cute, snuggly face. I was told this going in, but I was also told I'm an exceptional student with work experience within a research laboratory and that these schools should come courting me, and not the other way around. 

So when it came to applying for fellowships to help take the burden off of the school and my potential graduate advisor I consulted my professors and my father. I was told not to worry if I didn't feel I could complete a competitive application now. I could apply for them within my first year of school once I had my research ideas planned and could write a competitive proposal. 

They were wrong. It seems every email I receive back from a potential advisor just tells me that I look like a great student, but they have no funding. I need to come with a fellowship. It's too late for that. Either I don't qualify for the one's still available or the application deadline is passed.

It's partly my fault, I know. But I feel misinformed by people I trusted. I feel slighted by these graduate advisors whom I tried to contact earlier to help me develop a research proposal but didn't get back to me until now. Until it was too late. 

It's a bad feeling. I graduated Summa Cum Laude in 3 1/2 years. I shouldn't be having this trouble getting into school. I'm a great student, a great scientist, and a fast learner. 

Right now I'm thinking I should've gone with something easier. Just plain zoology. Who cares if being a marine biologist has been my dream since high school? I would be happy working with any animal. I think my mom was right, I should've just been a vet.

misunderstandings.

Last week, I finally got up the nerve to cut my hair super short. I've had short hair for as long as I can remember, but not this short. Right now I've just sort of reached a place where I am tired of my hair controlling how I feel - if it looks bad, I feel bad, etc. In the humidity I experience here, it's also hard to control. So I decided to go super short and I wouldn't have to worry about blow drying it to get it straight or working every day to get some  volume into this limp mess. 

I took the following photo to the salon. 

I should've been wary when the hair dresser kept asking me questions about how fine my hair was - have I ever gotten a perm? how much product do I use? etc. I know my hair is fine, and I also know perms wreck my hair and lots of product weigh it down. But she assured me I should grow it out and get a perm and load it up with lots of product. "You need lots of product for fine hair." A red light should've gone off in my head at that point, because when she got around to styling my hair after the cut she loaded me down with four products before the blow dry. I think she knew I was suspicious because she turned me away from the mirror to style me. I snook a peak after the blow dry ... my hair was standing on end, straight up. I'll give it to her, it had volume. She then took out her battle gear and went to town straightening and curling my hair into tiny little sections. And then came the comb. And the feathering. She assured me though, "I'm trying to style it like the picture." I didn't go to hair school, but I did feel that that simple hair style should not take this much time to accomplish or else my entire reasoning for getting the cut had just been lobbed off like the rest of my hair. Finally, she finished and turned me to the mirror. I'll let you judge for yourself. 

That's how I left the salon. Andy was waiting for me and just looked at me as I paid. I think he was officially speechless. I was, too. I managed a weak goodbye and hightailed it out of that place hands over my head just trying to calm the poof. I don't think the picture fully captures the moment. That was after a whole car drive home running my hands over and over. 

After a quick shower, a blow dry, and some texture creme I ended up with this:

It was savable. In the end, I'm happy with it. The cut was good - the styling bad. But it takes about 3 minutes in the morning to style and possibly even less time to dry after a shower. No straightening, no mousse, no frizz serum. Just a happy me.

customize me.

Now in my shop is this funky, spunky floor rug. I'm offering it in a customizable form so that you, the buyer, choose the colors you'd want your rug to be and I crochet it just the way you want! The one pictured above is just a sample of the rug, which I had great fun making and weaving together this weekend. The fun color combinations this rug could be made in is endless. And it's uses endless also - in the kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom, or dorm. 

three day weekend

   To enjoy our three-day weekend this week, Andy and I decided to (finally) visit the Houston Zoo on Saturday. We'd been talking about going for ages now, and we finally had a good excuse with the free time we've been enjoying. It was a great zoo and the weather was so nice. It had been chilly the entire week before, but a nice warm front came through just in time and warmed us up to about 70F - perfect zoo weather. Andy and I love visiting zoos, so we spent most the afternoon wondering around and enjoying the atmosphere and talking with some of the zoo keepers. I always love finding out about the individual animals and learning who has had babies recently, etc. I thinking working at a zoo would be great fun, even if just for a little bit. I find the level of bonding between keepers and their animals amazing. It's something you don't really get to experience working with animals in the field. After the zoo we decided to find a movie theater to see if we could catch a movie that hasn't been released in our parts of the woods. We ended up at an Angelika theater downtown in the theater district (seems appropriate). I've driven through downtown Houston many times, but never actually stopped. After Hurricane Ike last September I wasn't sure what to expect but everything was very clean and calm and the streets weren't very busy, either. We decided to see Slumdog Millionaire. I was iffy about this movie until it began sweeping the awards. After seeing it for myself, I must say, it completely deserved every award. It was so great! If you have a chance to see this movie I definitely recommend it. I have seen a lot of great movies this year, but this one is my favorite so far. It had the perfect mix of everything - romance, comedy, drama, suspense. Wonderful movie! After the movie we headed out of town in search of a restaurant on the way back home and found a great Japanese place that was delicious and just what I needed after the very active day (and stressful city driving). It was a long, but super fun day! The rest of the weekend we've just been a bit lazy. Watching tv, doing shopping. This afternoon we're headed to check out another movie: Last Chance Harvey. One last little escape before heading back to work tomorrow. I hope everyone had a great weekend! Happy MLK Day and I hope everyone gets a chance to watch the Inauguration tomorrow!

sneak a peek

    Here's a little sneak peek at what I'm currently working on. I found some new bamboo blend yarn that is so very soft. And once I'd touched it I knew the crochet bug had bit me once more. I've been working on it on my own pace and really just enjoying myself. It's been great.

love, love me do.

Cleaning usually leads to uncover long lost lovlies. In my case, it was a "new" pair of slippers that had hidden from me under the bed so they were not listed before Christmas.

    But I've uncovered these sneaky little slippers. They are now listed in the etsy shop. Don't let these sneak away again and scoop them up before someone else. There's still a few other pair of lovely slippers listed in the shop, too, so be sure to stop by.

one hundred.

My 100th post! A very exciting milestone in the blogging world, if you ask me. One hundred is what? Gold? A golden post?

Perhaps not. Just a simple update about the lazy weekend Andy and I have been enjoying. I guess it may be golden to some: it's all in the eye of the blog-holder.

On Friday, Andy and I finally got around to seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We tried to see it earlier, but were sadly turned down due to it selling out. It didn't turn out too badly, though because we ended up seeing Doubt which was a fantastic film. But back to Ben. The movie was long, but wonderful! Great visuals, great story, great acting - all about a great love. I definitely recommend it (and Doubt) to anyone looking for a good escape. Ben is more for the weepies while Doubt more for the thoughtful. Both wonderful. 

Saturday was a lazy day the entailed Andy and I finally exploring the produce market we have in town. It has only taken us two years to get around to it. And it was a wonderful surprise. I picked up some great looking things for the week ahead. Simple things just to spice up salads or side dishes. We also got some crepes from a local coffee shop after dinner as a little treat. We hadn't been in a while and I was craving a Chocolate Monkey crepe; all good excuses to make the short drive. 

Today we've mostly lazed around the apartment after our weekly trek to the super market. Nothing wrong with that. Tonight I'm looking forward to snuggling up on the sofa and watching the Golden Globe awards - the start to the major award season. I'm always a sucker for these movie and tv award shows because I love watching movies and good television (when it can be found). I've managed to see a few of the nominated movies, but not as many as I had hoped. A lot have not even come out here (like Frost/Nixon) which is a total bummer, but I'm sure I'll see it one of these days even if it's not before the Oscars.

Hope everyone else has had a good weekend. Looking forward to the week ahead and the upcoming three-day weekend. 

a few important steps.

I've finally gotten around to sharing some of my graduation photos! 

I graduated Summa Cum Laude in December after 3 and 1/2 years in college with a 4.0 GPA! It was exciting. I was selected by the College of Science to be the gonfalonier for the college during the ceremony. In English terms, that means I carried the banner representing the college at the beginning of the ceremony, which was a great and very fun honor. 

I wasn't initially planning on walking when I graduated, but I realized it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not only walk but to carry the banner and I quickly changed my mind. And I'm glad I did for I'll have the memory of that day, my accomplishment, and all it stood for for the rest of my life. 

For now, the plan is just to work until next fall when I will hopefully starting graduate school to earn my Ph.D. as a marine biologist. I'm in limbo as far as graduate school is concerned; just waiting to hear back to find out where the future will take me. But I'm enjoying the school-free days and the worry-free (for the most part) evenings and I'm sure '09 has some great things in store for me!

for now, until then

The first few days of 2009 have been good so far. Now that I'm finished with school only work occupies my days and takes up far less time during the evening so I've been catching up on some of the things I've been missing due to lack of time. One of those is reading for pleasure. School required tons of reading, but all of it from text books. Being able to dive back into the world of fiction has been very nice indeed. 

One of the first things I did in the new year was to head to the used book store. I was looking for a recommendation from my aunt, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde but I couldn't locate it anywhere. Once I had given up the hunt I found myself drawn to my usual section - the young adult section. I always seem to have more luck locating great fantasy novels in this section over any other (even the Sci Fi/Fantasy section). I've had luck here in the past with His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman so I always give it a look over. I ended up with two books: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly and The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud. 

I've already begun The Book of Lost Things and am enjoying it so far. It's well written and besides the main character being a young boy doesn't seem to be a book written only for younger readers, which most of the time I find to be the case. It's a fantasy set in WWII London about a boy who finds comfort in his books after the loss of his mother.

Besides reading I'm also trying to keep up with other things I've let fall by the wayside during school whether I particularly enjoy them or not - such as the much needed (and deserved) cleaning of my apartment and trying to start exercising more regularly. Both have started out well: I tackled the bathroom today (the most dreaded of the rooms besides the kitchen) and went out for a jog before dinner. Here's to hoping I hold myself to it. Reading is much easier to keep up, if you ask me.

For now, crochet has taken the back burner, though. Other things are occupying my mind and time even if sometimes it's just taking a lazy afternoon nap (a joy never quite appreciated to its fullest during college). 

I hope everyone's '09 is looking as clean, lazy, and well-read as mine. Take care!