Sunday People

So, keeping with tradition, I've been working very hard this week to ensure that I put my assignment off as long as possible. I think I've succeeded nicely, what with it due tomorrow and my having started it... half an hour ago. Success!

In my effort to procrastinate, I like to ensure that I force others to abandon their assignments too, because if I'm going down, everybody's going down. One way I succeeded in doing this was by hijacking Mikey this past weekend and forcing him to accompany me in this quest.

Saturday was an awesome, everything-filled day. It started at Bar Beach, meeting Beau and Mark for some sun baking. The beach was crazy packed with people enjoying one of the first lovely weekend days of Spring, so Mikey and I only lasted half an hour. We then went to the library in town, because we're super hardcore. At the library, we borrowed a stack of books on Christmas food, as we're already planning our now annual Parkhill Christmas dinner. I know, right? You wanna be us.

Then, we were about to head to Bunnings in order to make use of their sausage sizzle (a recent obsession of ours), but were distracted by the sound of music coming from Civic Park. Curious, we decided to drive past the park and see if THEY had a sausage sizzle. Indeed, they did. AND IT WAS FREE!!! It was run by the Lions Club, and they didn't seem that enthused for us to have one, so we gave big donations out of guilt. It turned out that the reason for the sausage sizzle and the music was that it was a celebration for South Sudanese Independence Day. Mikey and I had absolutely no idea that they'd even gained independence! That's how up to date I am with World News. Anyway, it felt good to celebrate with everyone, but we had to head off before the real celebration began. Why? Because we were actually going to head to the UNI LIBRARY and do UNI WORK.

Well, we did go to the library, but we got absolutely no work done.

All in all, a productive Saturday.

Sunday is the day of the week where we feel that anything is possible, and when we become Sunday People. Sunday People enjoy being out and about, going where they fancy, never rushing, and always on a whim.

Wade, Mikey and I headed off the Glenrock Lagoon for a bushwalk. I had never been there before, but really wanted to, and hadn't realised how close it is to my house!

Afterwards, we had a late barbeque lunch at Blackbutt Reserve, where this peacock decided that he'd join us. Silly peacock - he thinks he's people.



Things that happen when you're supposed to be studying...

So, I find that I am at my most productive, life-wise, when I have a tonne of stuff to do for uni. I know it's been awhile since I posted, but I've been waiting to take photos of things and only just bothered to actually get my camera battery off Mikey.

First, let me show off a blog giveaway I won from Kiki Chaos:

I won these two art deco style tea cups from her giveaway. I'm so in love with them! I've had them on the kitchen table since they arrived, and I'm just so in love with them. I love their unusual shape and their colour - I don't normally like green, but I love the green on these.

Here's a closer look:



Crazy pretty. Thanks so much for this, Kiki Chaos!

I've also finished some projects I started. I know, the horror! It feels so good to actually finish something I started.

First, last Thursday I decided to skip uni, as often happens with me. But this time I decided that if I was ignoring my studies, I should at least accomplish something. So, remembering a pattern that caught my eye a couple of months ago on Ravelry, I decided to make this earring holder:

Here's a close up look:

It's basically a crocheted mesh (done in the picquot stitch which I learnt as I went), then I bought a cheap frame from a Salvos store, took out the glass, covered the backing board with some pretty paper and stretched the mesh over the whole thing. I think it looks really cute, and I'm still pretty chuffed that I decided that I would make it and actually carried through with the plan, and finished it in a few hours. That said, I thought I owned a lot more dangly earrings that that! A reason to go shopping?

I've also managed to finish my little sister's birthday present:

(Ignore the un-ironed hem.) It's just a simple skirt made with fabric she chose, and a hair ribbon to go with it. I'm still not over how quick this was to whip up - it took me about an hour. The part that took the most time was trying to figure out how long to make the hem. I made it for her in time for her birthday, but I deliberately didn't hem it. When Mary-Anne tried it on, she decided she wanted it to be about three inches shorter than I had cut it. Kids these days. Meanwhile, my baby girl is 17!!! Next year she'll be 18, as she loves reminding me at every moment. I love that little brat.

The ribbon in the middle of the skirt is actually a hair clip I made her. For some reason she's into bow hair clips. I've never been a ribbon person, and I always envied those in primary and high school who were. I just never felt like I could pull it off, or if I did wear one in my hair, I felt like I was lying to the world, trying to pretend to be a much sweeter and lovelier person than I really was. But Mary-Anne's really into them at the moment, and spends heaps of money on them. I figured it would be very easy to make one of my own. Well, it is, but it's actually quite difficult to find the right sort of clip. I did find some eventually, and then bought a hot glue gun. Those babies are so much fun to play with!

Here's a close up of the ribbon:

Too cute!!

Next up are my works in progress. First is a blanket that, fingers crossed, will be ready in time for next winter:

Why I decided to make it so big, I'll never know. No, wait - I do know: I wanted something really snuggly and thick. I just didn't realise how long it would take to work up, and how much wool it would require, especially because I decided that I wanted it to be 100% wool, and I only found small balls of this colour at Spotlight. So, I've been through about 8 balls of wool so far, and it's not even a quarter of the size I'd like it to eventually become. But that said, I'm enjoying the process.

It's a chevron pattern that I found in a magazine, but I'm just keeping it all the one colour. I'm envisioning it on my future lounge, looking gorgeous in its neutralness and adaptability. No matter what, at least it will be warm.

And last, but not least, in order to assure my place on the Nanna-in-Training podium, last night I attended my first ever quilting class. Yup, I'm a loser. BUT I'm a loser that now has her first four patches!!! Here they are thrown onto my messy bed:

How cute is this fabric?

The sense of accomplishment that came with making these was awesome. I was so chuffed with how they turned out, although, I really just chose the placement of the patches and sewed them together. The fabric was bought in a pre-cut bundle, so it was all in a complimentary colour scheme, and the lady holding the class was the one that guided me through step by step. Whatever - I'm proud of myself, and I'm also a proud flag bearer in the nanna brigade.

And that's what I've been up to. Oh, apart from hanging out with friends, drinking too much, buying too much and all of that. It's been fun though. I'm working on something right now to give to Jenni's baby when I finally get to meet him.

A Perfect Weekend

So, I'm pretty sure that this weekend has definitely made my decision for me. How can I possibly leave Newcastle early when I've got such wonderful people around me that I'd miss too much?

Saturday was spent with Mikey and Wade at the uni open day. It was kind of a fizzer, seeing as the seminar we went to for Mikey's intended course wasn't very inspiring. But, the staff in the Great Hall were excellent and gave us so much information that Mikey's got it almost figured out.

After the open day, we headed off to the shops to get some dinner goodies. Mikey and I, it turns out, are the perfect team: he loves to cook, I love to be cooked for! So Wade and I spent the evening watching Mikey prepare a lamb roast, whilst filling ourselves on cheese and biscuits. Simon and Chris came and joined us for the actual eating of the meal, then Mel, Beau and Lauren returned from an ice hockey game in time for desert. Wine was flowing, merriment abounded, and we ended the perfect evening with a viewing of The Princess Bride. I'm pretty sure Mikey and I pissed everyone off by reciting each line with the film, but I like to think that we enhanced the perfection of the original.

The next day, I'm pretty sure I was still drunk because I was in such a pleasant mood, Mel, Mikey, Beau and I headed off to the Farmers' Market to buy some goodies for a picnic lunch. I have no idea what I bought, but I came home with no money left at all. We were joined at the market by Bronwyn, bought some awesome nibblies, then went back to Parkhill 2.0 to enjoy our picnic. The weather didn't seem to be able to make its mind up, so we thought it would be safer to picnic at home so that if it started to rain we could quickly run back inside. But for once, the weather held off and we enjoyed a lovely, stomach-exploding lunch, followed by some Better Off Ted viewing, and then I had to run home and finally get some sleep.

And that's how you have a perfect weekend.

How can I ever go back to retail knowing that weekends exist, and that they are awesome?

Yep, It's Official: I'm a Nanna

So, just in case it wasn't over-the-top obvious before now, today I confirmed my spot in the retirement village by attending the Craft & Sewing Show. It wasn't exactly what I thought it would be, as I thought there'd be more knitting and crochet aspects, but it was mostly quilting and scrapbooking, and I think I have enough scrapbooking stuff stashed at my grandma's place to last me a lifetime. But apart from that, I actually really enjoyed myself. I attended a number of seminars, spoke to lots of different people, browsed through all the stores, bought the most expensive bottle of water ever ($4.50 - WTF? How can they possibly justify that? I'm such an idiot for not even considering bringing my own bottle), and even did a workshop where I made a cutlery roll. It's adorable. I can't take any photos at the moment due to my camera battery going AWOL. But trust me - it's fab.

Attending the show today has, unfortunately, resulted in another craft I need to try - quilting. I've wanted to quilt since I was a very little kid, and never quite understood what to do. Today I spoke to someone from the Newcastle Quilter's Guild (there's GUILDS! For everything!) and she answered every question I've ever had about quilting and gave me some excellent advice. So now, I want to start quilting.

But first, I need to finish the assignment I've got due on Monday. Or should I say, start the assignment that's due Monday. Surely creating a lesson plan for a year 8 class and writing 2000 words about how awesome I am at improving literacy rates shouldn't take too long...

And then I've got to finish the cushions I'm making for Emma and Mick's engagement. The one that was back at the beginning of the year. I finally finished embroidering the first one, and it's beautiful, but I haven't even started sewing the actual cushion case together, let alone started on any of the other ones. Sigh.

BUT, onto even more important news:

JENNI AND NICK HAD THEIR BABY!!! Little James Robert was born 19th August, and from the photos I've seen, is absolutely beautiful! If you're reading this Jenni, I cannot wait to meet him. I doubt you'll read this for some time, what with the business of the next few months. <3

The Happiest Reader

So today I decided to skip uni and stayed in bed. No, this wasn't a repeat of my month in bed at the end of last year. Instead, I was in bed doing something that I haven't done in a very long time. (I should end this post here and let imaginations run free.)

I was reading. No, not just reading; I was engrossed in a book. I was laughing, I was crying, I was constantly quoting bits to my friends. The book?

Yes, I know that I'm late to the table, but in my defense, where does one even buy books any more? Instead, I borrowed this from the library. Did you know there's this place that exists that lets you borrow books, then return them a few weeks later - FOR FREE!! I know, it blew my mind hole. (Which reminds me - it's due back tomorrow. To a library in Sydney. Woops!)

So this book is about Anh's family and their journey from Vietnam to Australia as refugees, and how they adapted to life here. His parents sacrificed so much so their children could have the life they never had. I guess it struck a chord with me, because I've had an oposite experience with my parents, but I can see my grandmother's steadfastness and selflessness in Anh's mother, and how hard she worked so that her children could thrive. It makes me very glad to have such a wonderful woman in my life.

The book also reinforces the importance of a good teacher. And how horrendous a bad teacher is. I cannot wait until I can finally start teaching. I think I'm growing quite impatient.

So for everyone reading this post: STOP!! Go and buy/borrow (for free!) this book and devour it, and feel your heart become a little lighter. I haven't wanted to talk about a book so much since The Book Thief. Oh, and if you haven't read that one, WHY DO YOU HATE YOURSELF?? Go and get it right now!

Considering Leaving...

So for a few weeks now I've been considering leaving Newcastle 6 months early and moving back home to Sydney. I was originally planning to do this in order to save myself some money for the 10 weeks I'll be on internship next year and unable to work, as well as the fact that the moment I finish internship I'll be moving somewhere completely new, so I should probably have some money saved for that.

But today, I realised another reason I might want to move: Newcastle is such a small town that you cannot help but run into people that you never want to see again. And you run into them a lot. And the constant visual reminders are terribly unhelpful.

(there are, however, many downfalls to leaving, most of those being my beautiful family I've created for myself. oh, if only they would move with me...)

Back to School, and Becoming Claudia

So this week was the first week back at uni for the semester. I can tell it's going to be a long and boring one, seeing as this semester I am redoing the classes I failed last year when I was going through my depressed phase. It doesn't seem too bad so far for my Junior English class, because even though I have the same tutor and lecturer, it still seems quite fresh, and she's changed the assignments for the class this year which I'm happy about - I wouldn't want to put in all that work again on trying to write a new essay on the same topic.

My Junior History class, however, is exactly the same. Right down to even doing the exact same tutorial activities and readings as the class last year. Now, that's just lazy. The assignments are the same as well, but that's fine with me - unlike the English assignments, I didn't really try very hard with History and pretty much did the bare minimum for the first assignment, scraping through with only a very low credit. This time, I know exactly what it is the lecturer wants us to say, and, having now taught in a history classroom, I have some real ideas on lessons and what will work for the assignment.

That said, I'm already over this semester. I just want to finish it so that I'm finally able to do my internship and start earning some money.

Speaking of money, tomorrow I start a new baby sitting gig. It's just casual sitting, for a family with three kids. I'm hoping it all works out, then I'll be working for them once or twice a fortnight. Coupled with the baby sitting I already do, and the tutoring, as well as the fact that the people I already sit for are passing on my details to some of their kids' friends' parents, I'm looking pretty set for the rest of this semester, fingers crossed. And all those Baby Sitters Club books I devoured as a kid are finally starting to pay off.

Also, even in their worst tantrums, dealing with kids isn't anywhere near as bad as dealing with douche customers and colleagues...

Happy Birthday, Nan!

Too bad your birthday was back at the beginning of February. And too bad I started this back in January, but at last, I have finally finished your present.

A great big wonky, ridiculously coloured granny blanket. Worth the wait, right? Oooh yeah.

I would show it to you laid out so you can get the full effect of its ugliness, but its wonkiness made it very difficult to fold up, and I only thought to take a photo after the folding process. From this angle it actually doesn't look too bad ;)

Rollin' with my Homies

So I came down to Sydney on Saturday after a few bumpy starts; first I slept in to the time I had told my family I'd be home. Then, when I finally got off my butt and was ready to go, my car wouldn't start. Awesome. Realising that if it didn't start, I wouldn't be able to afford to get it fixed anyway, so I waited a bit, tried and succeeded to start it again, and then prayed to Oprah for the two hour drive home. Luckily, my car made it in one piece, but he will be having a check up tomorrow.

Saturday night was spent at my little cousin Laura's 19th birthday party. Oh, these kids grow up so fast. I basically spent the night sitting near the food watching the teenagers getting drunk. Let's face it: I only came for the food. ;)

Meanwhile, when did teenagers become so cool?? I remember being incredibly awkward right up until I was about 22, and even now I'm still pretty awkward. Everyone there had trendy, hipster hair, too cool for school clothing, and a typical frankie magazine expressionless face.

Also, the other thing that really pissed me off is how everyone else in my family is allowed to drink alcohol around my grandmother, except for me. Seriously. I remember once bringing a bottle of tequila home and then having to pour it down the sink after being screamed at. Until I moved out of home at 22, if I was going to be drinking at a friend's house and was expected to bring a bottle of something, I'd have to end up leaving it there. It was fine that my brother had a few beers everyday after work, and was always having big nights out with my cousin who is my age, but if I ever drank I was in trouble. Even to this day I can't drink alcohol around her.

But little Laura was completely trashed and wasn't seen without a drink in her hand all night, but that's fine? And they wonder why I'm in therapy!

Sunday was spent taking my little sister to Ikea for the first time. I'm still shocked she had never been. After the fun of pretending we were Kim and Brett from Kath & Kim, following the arrows and being a bit ridiculous, the novelty very quickly wore off for her, and she was eager to leave. She was thoroughly unimpressed by the furniture I needed to buy (an expedit bookshelf and a lack table for Bec, a little Billy bookshelf for myself) and the fact that we would need to haul it out of the store and into the car somehow. I rewarded her with a trip to DFO, a place that makes me a little insane. I can never find anything I like, and I don't think it's actually that cheap. BUT I did manage to find some VERY cheap things from Barkins. I trawled through the site but couldn't find any of the items I bought. I got two tops, a skirt and a dress for $28. I know, right? Freaking awesome.

Since I was making my sister do the driving for the day to bump her log book hours up, I decided that we should pay a quick visit to my friend Nicole. Mary has now decided that she wants to move to Newtown and she wants to buy a cat like Nicole's kitten, Prince Louis. (Or is it Louie?) So cute.

Barnaby

Meet Barnaby.

Barnaby is the little critter I made for my friend Beau's birthday last week. I haven't had a chance to post about him because I've been busy doing absolutely nothing with my life. You know how it is. The photo above shows Barnaby believing he can soak up knowledge by just being around books.

He's a little bit wonky, and when I say a little I mean a lot. Beau chose all the adorable fabric, and then I went to work.

Barnaby does not like to smile:

He thinks it's lame. Barnaby's face is constantly set with a mixture of "Bitch, please" and slight nausea.

Barnaby loves snuggles in winter, but hates them in summer. If you try to snuggle him in summer he will smack you down with those long arms of his. He's not quite tame yet, so he tends to smack most people down. Mikey is trying to tame him. Unfortunately I think he's fighting a losing battle. It's also a little awkward because Barnaby very much dislikes owls, making Owlby feel a little worried.

I also made a wonky present for Melanie's birthday, which was a week later. I forgot to take a photo of him, so here's one I stole from her blog:

Penguini is an Italian penguin. He would like to point out that his mustache is in no way some douchey hipster fad; he's been rocking that bad boy since the day he first noticed a little bum fluff. He hates the fact that he has to explain to everybody, "No! Dees is my Italiano mostachio! Ima no wannabeea!" Don't tell Penguini, but he has a ridiculous stereotyped accent - I don't know any Italian that actually speaks English that way. BUT he is rocking it anyway.

So that's what I've been doing with my holidays so far. Oh, and making a jigsaw puzzle. And sorting through all my uni stuff and getting rid of all the stuff I've kept that I don't actually need (random notes and handouts) and sorting the rest into things that will be useful for my future teaching. I'd love to be one of those people that can just type everything up and keep it in various, well-organised computer files, but alas, I'm old school and must place everything in labeled folders that, if I ever do need a resource, will require me to spend ages flipping through each page to see if it is there. It's tedious, but it works for me.