30 June 2008

because i know you are wondering

So here is where I am at right now.

I'm taking those two classes--Legal Issues in Library & Information Centers and an Independent Study for History. It's much harder than I expected to concentrate on school during the summer; not having to go to an actual class isn't helping.

I'm trying to turn the whole sewing thing into a real live business, rather than an excuse to buy more fabric than I can afford. Nothing happens as fast I want it too. I'm not as good at sewing as I want to be, and I have a hard time promoting myself. I've been spending more time on the forums at Etsy, trying to meet people and get involved in the community, which is humbling. There are a lot of people on Etsy who are much more talented and creative than I am.

I'm working on a website for this lovely woman. I'm fast realizing that I'm not talented enough to make the website that she wants. I'll figure something out, I guess.

I'm preparing myself for going back to Milwaukee next week. I'll start at my internship right away when I get back. I'm going to give myself a day off once I'm actually back, then I'll start the interning. I'm thinking I'll do that two or three days a week. It's hard to believe that I'll actually get to go, but apparently Amtrak has a detour route worked out.

I'm going to start looking for a new apartment when I get back to Milwaukee. Nathan's coming down in mid-July; hopefully we'll find something then. I'm really very excited about moving in with Nathan. This past month has been the longest time we've spent in the same place since we started dating, and it has been awesome.

And I think I've made it sound like everything else isn't awesome, which isn't fair. I'm a bit stressed out right now; I've over-committed myself again, and I'm not sure how I'm going to get everything done. But hey, I got a lot done today, and I will probably get more done tomorrow, and life will go on. I am stressed out, but life is awesome.

How many times can I say awesome? This is so long. I'm sorry if you're reading this on Jeb's LJ friend page, or any RSS feed I guess. I can't figure out how to separate a part of a post so that it's shorter on RSS feeds, and I'm planning to switch to Wordpress sometime soon, so I can't be bothered to figure it out on blogspot. But hey, now I'm just adding even more words, and they're not even that interesting! I am going to go watch TV and enjoy my parents' TiVo while I can. Two days until I turn 24.

28 June 2008

i have a problem

I just bought more fabric that I can't afford. Hancock Fabrics was having a sale, so I got great deals and a lot of very pretty fabric, but I have to stop buying fabric until I make real actual sales.

In other news, everything is lovely. Nathan already gave me three birthday presents (it's next Wednesday, send beer and/or money), and I have been having far too much fun. I'm getting paid to make a website, which is an interesting process, and school is going okay. Taking classes during the summer is weird, but I don't have to work a real job, so whatever.

In conclusion, I love you.

19 June 2008

copyright law is totes interesting

I guess. Watching videos of lectures is so much harder than going to the actual lecture. I am not a fan of online courses so far. I don't really know what's going on, and it's summer, so it's a lot harder to care about school. I'm so far behind on reading for my independent study, or at least I feel so far behind where I'd like to be. I'm supposed to hand in an outline on Monday, and while I have oodles of half-formed notions of possibly interesting topics, I haven't really figured out what to focus on or how to organize my thoughts. And I have to write 20-25 pages by August 15th! Fuck dude, I need to work harder. Or smarter--I read a book called Work Smarter, Not Harder while I was in high school. It was all about how to get more out of your study time, or something. Yes, I bought the book for myself; yes, I was a gigantic nerd. I also bought The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers. I didn't just read that, I highlighted it and made notes. And I wondered why I was so unpopular.

Uh, sorry, tangent. I have been doing all my studying at Kinni Lounge (best coffee place ever!), so there is a slight chance I've been drinking too much coffee.

16 June 2008

look what i made

New things I made (and am now listing on Etsy.com, go buy them!) over the weekend:



I actually made the messenger bag a few weeks ago in Milwaukee, but I made those change purses (along with six or seven others) over the weekend. I have some more things to list, but I want to make sure I can keep listing items every Monday, so I'm holding off on listing them for now. Interesting!

13 June 2008

oh that's right I'm back

I guess if I'm back, that means I have to keep posting, doesn't it?

I'm still up north. I was supposed to take the train back on Thursday (after I postponed from Wednesday), but the tracks are still flooded. It's been raining non-stop in Wisconsin for the past couple weeks. I canceled my ticket when they canceled the Thursday train. Somehow I decided to stay the weekend instead of taking the bus. Father's Day and all that.

Anyway. A tree fell in our front yard yesterday--it was gigantic, and it barely missed hitting the house. Luckily it fell after my parents had both left for work. In the words of my mom, "good thing we don't have to tell the insurance company a tree fell on the Jeep again." I took a bunch of photos, but I'm pissed off at Flickr so I'm not uploading anything at the moment. I got to use a chainsaw! I cut up a branch of the tree, and it was awesome! Then my arm hurt, so I stopped. Exciting!

11 June 2008

back from that unscheduled break

So. Okay. I am back.

I don't know why I left; I guess I was just busy. I went to Milwaukee for approximately two and a half days. I took Megabus there (three hours late), met with a professor, met with someone about an internship, and went to therapy. Then I had another hellish Megabus ride back to Minneapolis, which was only two and a half hours late. I hate Megabus.

I came back up here to house-sit for my parents. They were gone for 10 days; I got to hang out at their house and drive my mom's car and enjoy 10 days of constant rain. Oh, and I sort of played house with Nathan. Did I mention he's moving to Milwaukee in September? Since we'll be living together in two months, it seemed like it might be good to see if we could spend a week together and still like each other. Verdict--we can. September is going to be awesome.

I sewed a lot. I learned how to sew zippers--definitely not as hard as I thought it would be. I made a bunch of zippered coin purses, and I bought 52 zippers at the barn, so there will be many more to come. I haven't added anything to my Etsy shop in a month, but I'm working on a bunch of stuff this week so I'll have a nice backlog before I start regular updates again next week.

I haven't gotten much work done. Homework, I mean. Summer classes are weird; it's nice not having to go to class every week, but it's strange having to be self-disciplined. I'm not doing too badly, and it should be much easier to concentrate once I'm back in Milwaukee. I'm planning on spending mornings at my internship and afternoons at the library. And evenings in front of my sewing machine--awesome fun time!

Oh, and I'm working on a website. Let me rephrase--I am getting paid cash money to make a website for a very nice friend of a friend. Money money money! Once I get everything done and get paid in full, it will cover my June rent, plus a little extra for beer and candy. Or my security deposit at the new apartment, probably.

Other things have happened too. I still haven't written anything about New York. Nathan had a show; he has another one at the Triple Rock in a couple weeks. You should check out his band's Myspace and also go to their show, if you're in the Minneapolis area. I guarantee you will have an awesome time. Oh, and Dear Astronaut, my other favorite band, has a really big huge show this weekend at Mad Planet. You should really, really go; this is a huge deal for them.

As long as I'm telling you to do things, you should really check out Kinni Coffee next time you're in Northern Wisconsin. It's possibly my favorite coffee shop ever, and I have been to a lot of coffee shops in my time. They have great (fair-trade) coffee, and sometimes they have music, and they have gigantic tables which makes it an awesome place to do homework. Also, the owners are awesome, awesome people, totally the kind of people you should support with your coffee purchases.

Alright. That is probably enough for now. More soon, I think, and get ready--I'm thinking of moving my blog again. I want to design a WordPress theme from scratch and set up my blog on my own domain. I have no idea when I'll have time to do that, but hopefully that will happen this summer. After I finish redesigning dearastronaut.com! Jeb, I have not forgotten about you, for serious.