A Good Week

This has been a really good week. The sun has been (mostly) shining and I've been getting things done. An excellent feeling!
Here are some of this weeks accomplishments, in no particular order:

• We finished planning our honeymoon. Yay! Yay! Yay!
• My office finished a really painful move to a new building and now I have my own workspace.
• I've actually dragged my lazy self to the gym.
• I registered for the last semester of grad classes. They look awesome and all are in the afternoon!
• Boobs is visiting and we've been watching John Adams. It is fantastic.
• I've been chugging along on my Clapotis. Knitting during the week is a real luxury. :)

After a few weekends of wonderful family visits out of state, getting back on track with work, school and life this week has really been nice. Hopefully I can keep it up because the to-do list certainly isn't shrinking!

Too Cute!

Happy Easter!

So, this is how I've been feeling for the past few weeks...

Just a bit worse for the wear
Look at the poor guy on the left in the back! His sister's GIANT ear has totally covered his face and you can really see the pleading in his good eye to be put out of his misery.

Things have been a little challenging recently, but tomorrow is a new week and things are bound to improve!

I'll be back very soon to tell the story of my lovely Easter weekend with Kyle's family and all the other craziness that has been my life, but until then HAPPY EASTER!

Contradictory Week

This week has been full of contradictions. I spent Monday through Thursday totally bogged down by a paper for school and as soon as it was handed in, a huge weight was lifted. Now I'm on spring break, which means that I'll be spending the week writing a final paper and studying for a huge midterm. Super. :)

So I've decided to take today off! I've shelved the school and work obligations for at least 24 hours and I've been playing video games with Kyle and working on wedding stuff. We've been playing this:

Star Wars Wallpaper : Lego Star Wars - The Video Game

That's right, Star Wars characters made out of Lego's acting out scenes from the movies! It's a game made for children which explains my mild success (and great enthusiasm!). Being able to play a game with Kyle as opposed to watching him kill from various planets and time periods is refreshing. ;)

In more exiting news, I did something totally awesome today!! Even though it was raining and the thought of wet socks makes my skin crawl, I ventured out to attend a jewelry making class! I've wanted to make something to wear for the wedding and my friend Meg from school told me about Spark Crafts. It's this really neat local yarn and crafty store that was tons of fun to visit. At first I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to make jewelry as I have no experience and for the first few minutes of class my fingers felt like lead, but eventually I picked it up!

Without further ado, here it is!

Yay!!

This past week has been a bit stressful for me, mainly because of school-related anxiety and my incredible guilt over my work load. When I'm too busy I feel terrible for neglecting Kyle and the laundry but when I'm not completely overwhelmed I feel guilt over not working hard enough for my degree. This, I know, is not logical by any stretch and I am working very hard on understanding that at this level my degree is working for me, preparing me for a career in public health and my grades are not (nor have they ever been) a reflection of my self worth. My nails are really suffering the most from this because I have recently taken to chomping them down to the first knuckle, a habit I have long had (mostly) under control. Oh well, maybe some tea and a little nail polish will save my sanity. ;)

In far more exciting news, I've been able to finish a bunch of knitting projects in the last few weeks!
First, my Minimalist Cardigan.

This is, by far, the best thing I have ever knit for myself! The yarn is super soft and warm and squishy (as everyone in my general vicinity for any part of the knitting process can attest, as I made them touch the yarn many, many times) and has sentimental value since I bought it at my first Rhinebeck this fall. I also worked very hard to concentrate on the process of knitting this, with less emphasis on my usual goal of just getting things done. This meant a lot of ripping out when I made a mistake (which happened pretty frequently) but the result was so worth it. I'm totally in love.

I also finished these little Gettysburg inspired baby hats last weekend.

SO. FREAKING. CUTE. The baby they were intended for joined the world yesterday as a leap-year baby. How cool is that?

Roomie Date Night

Last night, Kyle, Janet and I decided we wanted an adventure (i.e. Kyle and I didn't want to be couch lumps yet again) so we headed out to Route 1. This stretch of road is seriously weird with huge themed resturants with even bigger neon signs. We settled on Kowloon, a massive Asian-Polynesian-Thai-American place with seriously kick-ass decor.

In addition to this charming fountain, the dining room also features a giant ship and several murals depicting easy beach living and erupting volcanoes. Fun fun!

To help pass the hour until we could eat, we sipped yummy cocktails and took silly pictures, like this

And this!

For dinner we were very adventurous, sharing several dished including this unbelievable concoction of deep fried shrimp donuts served with pineapples and maraschino cherries in a FLAMING PINEAPPLE! The picture doesn't do the fire justice.

Overall, it was a perfect evening!

A Confession...And Cupcakes!

The weather here is totally gross and has been for days. I've also just survived an crazy week at school and am now feeling totally drained. But this is no excuse for what I'm about to confess.

I have started recording Martha Stewart's tv show...and loving it. Sure, the woman might be some kind of robot, but she's so crafty! I know I should be ashamed, but I'm not. I mean, look at this stuff!

Images from MarthaStewart.com

Maybe it's because she seems to be obsessed with order and putting things into tiny packages? This is something I can get behind!

Blame it on Martha, but I was inspired to do a bit of baking for Valentine's day!

With lots of help from Janet and Jess, these little cupcakes were super cute! I wish I had had more food coloring because I really wanted them to be red, not pink, but they'll do.

Happy Valentine's Day!!