Still no pictures

Last week, the family PC broke down. Since then, I've been using my fathers laptop, since mine is not yet connected (maybe in one or two weeks, yay!). But I'm not going to put any of my pictures on this laptop, sorry.

Anyway, here's what I'm currently doing:

Uni:
Writing paper no.3 (of 5) which should have been finished ages ago. Anyway, I only started writing today and got half of it done, other half tomorrow and that's it.
Anxiously waiting for next week, where my first day at work will take place. Woot!
Trying to figure out whether I have enough credits or whether I will have to take any courses this semester after all. If the latter, ARRRRGH, as registration started last week. If not, YAY for me!
Worrying about how I will finish my papers and study for my exam on the 12th of March - which is also the day the papers have to be handed in.
Wondering whether the two weeks after the 12th will be enough study time for the big Linguistics exam

Refashioning:
Finished scarf no. 1 Monday last week, and now have to find the time to block it and add the fringes.
Putting together a sort of style book from magazine cutouts that I have been hoarding for ages - some of them for almost 10 years!
Collecting ideas of what I can do next - make top from felted jumper, sew skirts from (cheaply!) bought fabric, embellish T-shirt?

Other:
Meeting new people and laughing at myself for the (very latecoming) discovery that there *are* interesting men alive on this world - and marvelling at the sudden wealth of possibilities.
Thinking about what to send to my next swap partner, which should have been a February swap, but will be sent in early March it seems.
Spending too much time in front of computer screens and too much money on books.
Oh, and I just overcame one of those crises that happen when you wonder what the future will bring, or if it will indeed bring anything. And feeling bad about myself and feeling like crap. Yeah. All over now. :D

I will spare you the kitty pictures today. ;)

:(

Yesterday I was alerted to the fact that an online bookstore in Austria was having a 1€ per book sale on certain English books. I found many nice things there, and amongst them, a book called "Wallpaper in Interior Decoration". Now, how could I not put that book into my basket?
But today, even though I registered and all that, my basket was empty. I had to fill it up again. But the wallpaper book had sold out in the meantime.
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! *cries*

Weekend Fun

This was one exciting weekend, as I've been out and about all the time!
Saturday was the "Go to Vienna to collect ten boxes full of books"-Day. We (=me and three friends) drove up to Vienna in this cool orange "thing" - well, it was a car, I just have no idea how to call this sort of car in English. Sort of like a pickup truck, but with the back covered. Weeell, maybe I'll manage to get a picture.
Anyway, we went over the mountains and far away, picked up another friendly fellow, acted like stupid tourists when driving throught Vienna ("Ooooh, look, that store! Ooooh, look, cute building! Ooooh look!"), then carried those (large, heavy) boxes downstairs and into the car, and then went for something to eat and collecting yet MORE books. Yeeehaw!
When we returned late at night, I had two large boxes of books and a filled-to-the-brim backpack to call my own. Only problem: When, oh when will I read all this stuff?

Sunday was a bit easier: Me and my family (sans le sister because she's in India still, of course) went skiing, wohoo. Had been two years since I'd last used those skiis. Of course, all the snow was artificial, BUT ooooh, the view from the mountaintop! We had totally blue skies and sunshine, and oooh, how beautiful! I could just have stood up there the whole day long!
But no, down the mountain, and up the mountain, and all that jazz - sometimes I think skiing is actually quite stupid, but hey. ;) What was nice was that apparently skiing skills don't fade anymore, meaning that I can get down a mountain in pretty good form and without falling over even once! Hah, when did that last happen?
On the whole, very cozy, as I had throughout the day: two hot chocolates, one hot lemonade, and tea. (And cake.)

And to include yesterday - yesterday I didn't want to study, as I was tired and a little, hm, stretched. You know, that feeling when too much has been going on lately and you just need a little peace. Of course, I did some stuff (loads actually, compared to "normal" days), but nothing too exciting. Collected a few things from uni, took two packages to the post office, and - HIGHLIGHT - went to the fabric store. Just wanted to buy the one fabric that I didn't dare buy the last two times I was there, but because I still kept thinking about it, I did. And then, heh, I bought three other ones as well. My plan is to make at least three of these into skirts, and the fourth fabric was on sale for about 1€ per m, so hah. Anyway, I reckon three skirts for 20€, that's nothing! If I went to a shop, I would get maybe one for that price, and not in funky fabrics like the one I bought. ;)
No pictures right now, but I'll post them at the latest once I get sewing, which will hopefully be Sunday.

Did I already mention that our living room is going to be all empty by Saturday noon? If not, I should mention it again. O_O

Swap break

I wanted to do this anyway, but apparently I need to post notices about it, since I received another request just yesterday.
So: I will finish the swaps I am currently in, and then no more until probably autumn. I need my head as free as possible for studying and thesis writing and *gulp* work.

I noticed in January and these first two weeks of February how much these things distract me - yesterday I almost couldn't sleep because my head was so full of things I needed to get done, for uni, for swaps, for myself. It only got better after I got up and did some of those things. Then today, I did some more of those things. And there is still a lot to do.

So, I think I have two or three more swaps to do, and then I shall write my literary heart out.

And again, I feel the need to post something irresistibly cute, please bear with me. I've had this picture saved in my folder for ages - I think it came from Cute Overload - and it now deserves some attention. It is called "Giggling Kitten", and I would love to feel as happily cuddly or cuddely happy as this kitten looks.















I <3 kittens! Loooove!

Package from Singapore!

This is the package that I received from Melissa in Singapore. I think it arrived the day after Meshell's, but my parents didn't take this one away from me (not fast enough, hehehe) so I could open it immediately. :)

And here are the goodies she sent:

First of all, she sent these three pieces of clothing, which are just fantastic: two red tops and a beautiful satiny skirt.














What has become very apparent though is that girls in Singapore must be slim people indeed. So, the skirt will be subject to my refashioning "talents" sooner or later.

Then there's some other bits: A great magazine, Asian print fan (with it's own box!), Asian print small box, some colourful ribbons - and some Anime stickers, one of them Sailor Moon! Wohooo! (My childish heart just adores Sailor Moon.)















Then, more funky stuff! Check it out, a cheongsam bottle "dress". Melissa first wanted to send me a cheongsam for myself to wear, but, well, there was none in my size (ahem, see above), so she sent me one to cover up a wine bottle or somesuch. Fabulous idea!















Also in the picture are some glass coasters with flower pattern, a foto CD with pictures of her city on it - again, fantastic idea which I shall have to steal - a beautiful necklace and some great sparkly earrings, and some snacks. You probably can't see it properly, the little tin is full of Wasabi peanuts *screaaams* oh, how lovely those will be! (Haven't tried them yet.) The other pack were (yeah, were) marshmallows with chocolate centre. Oh yumm! I wish I would have had some more willpower so I could have kept some of them for toasting, but nooo, they were gobbled up pretty quickly. :P

Here's a closeup of the jewellery:















And then, Melissa sent this truly massive amount of postcards. My favourite is probably the large blue one. :)
















Thanks again for everything Melissa! It was great swapping with you! :)

So, this was the second package I received before Christmas, which means I've finally caught up on my swap posting! Or have I? Nooo, not yet, not completely. But I'll keep that last one for a bit yet. ;)

Meshell's Amazing Christmas Package

And it deserves the capital letters!
Finally, I will post about the big package that arrived 5 days before Christmas and which was kept unopened until Christmas Eve.
Now, I took several pictures of the package, and always left something out. Things that I forget to photograph in the first session I put into the second, where I forgot things I had used the first time around. So I'm just going to post all of the pictures and will leave you to figure out what has changed in each of them. :P

I opened this package after I had opened all my other presents, and it was just so lovely. Everything was individually wrapped, with those lovely little stickers and cards on everything, oh, I loved it! It was so nice to try and guess what might be inside - most of the time I had no clue.
Needless to say, I love it all to pieces!

So, without many more words, here are the pictures. There's some blue things for Blue Me, and some pink things for Pink Me, and some other things that are just as good! If you're bored, tell me how many differences you find between the pictures! :)































































































































And now repeat with me:
"It is all so gorgeous, Meshell, thank you SO much, you are the BEST!"
Ok, go.

"It is all so gorgeous, Meshell, thank you SO much, you are the BEST!"

(I could say more, but I think I said most of it in that long letter I sent her :D)

Hahaha!

I had to put that cheerleading smiley into my header, for a short while at least. Isn't it cute?
(If it annoys you to death, hit Esc and don't refresh. :P)

I'm currently trying to cheer myself on to get some things done that should have been done ages ago. Maybe this will mean blog posts. Maybe this will mean I will finally do my ironing, after not doing it for many many weeks.

I'm also currently trying to cheer on my new found "study mate" or whatever I should call her, who is trying to work while I am at home cursing (and nursing) my stomach that decided to play ill today.

And then I'm cheering for my sister who should by now have reached the end of her first day in India, where she's going to be for three weeks. I hope she's well and had a good nights sleep after the long flight. I wish I had my life organised in a more sensible way, then I could be on holidays as well. Hmmmm...

Evidence

Just so you know I wasn't kidding you about the knitting...














This is what I got done on Wednesday and Thursday - no knitting today as first I wildly overslept, then I did some actual uni work in the afternoon, and in the evening I spent my time searching the internet for stuff etc. :P

On the right, the scarf I started with, simple garter stitch. I folded it at the top because I just discovered a strange mistake and probably have to rip those last few rows out again. But no worries. ;)
The yarn is half cotton, half some sort of artificial stuff (Laneacril I think it says on the label, never heard of that one so far). It will hopefully be a nice scarf for late spring/early summer, or those cold rainy summer days we sometimes get. (Sometimes = the whole of last August, for example :P)

On the left, a very nice and slim GREEN green scarf done in 2x2 rib stitch. I will *try* to wear that with my dark blue spring jacket once the time comes, but I'm not usually the one for bright green, so we'll see. This is half wool, half acrylic.

These two will have to feature for my Week 1 Wardrobe Refashioning (WR) project; and then on Sunday hopefully I'll get to sew a little. :)

(Just to mention, I also did some sewing yesterday evening, but can't show you yet for certain special reasons...)

Oh no! New obsession

Some people may already know the sad story about me and knitting. I was supposed to learn it in school (in first grade of highschool I think), but the project we did was so completely stupid and useless that my parents had to force me to do every little row. Then I guess a few years after that I once asked my mum to show me, although I can't really remember that. Then, last winter, before Christmas, I asked my best friend to show me again. Alas, two weeks later and I had forgotten again, or just become totally frustrated, I forget which.
Now, last year, I promised my mum a handknit scarf for Christmas - which she is yet to receive. Therefore (and for other reasons), I made it one of my personal goals (not resolutions :P) to learn how to knit this year. Still, nothing happened.
But! On Tuesday, during my sadly very short swap shopping trip, I went to buy some wool for my swap partner, and lo and behold, there in the sales bin was this beautiful variegated ball of yarn. I couldn't resist. I argued with myself about the futility of buying yet *more* yarn without being able to knit, but well, the sale won me over.
And yesterday evening, what did I do but steal some knitting needles from my mum, get out my lovely new (Christmas present!) Stitch'n Bitch book, and finally learn to cast on!
As it turns out, that seems to have been one of the things that kept me from knitting for years, as all the helpful people showing me how to knit always hurried through the casting on part like madwomen. :P
The second problem seems to have been the needles. I had always used those aluminium needles before...but yesterday I grabbed a pair of bamboo needles, and I LOVE them. I now already have around 40cms of pretty garter stitch scarf, and would have another few cms of pretty rib stitch scarf if I hadn't tried to do that one with those aluminium needles again. :P (Need more bamboo!)
Anyway, yesterday night, I almost couldn't stop with this knitting business, I was so excited about it all! I only put the things away when I started cursing at the aluminiums needles and frogged (such a lovely word!) the rib scarf for the third time in a row.

Seems like knitting has got me at last. And now I won't stop. If you don't hear from me again within the next two days (as I want to post some happy pictures, finally!), call the police, or maybe my mum, and tell her to rip those needles out of my hands! ;)

I hate colds

Sooo, I've managed to catch another cold. Bah. There I go wishing for colder weather so we can at least pretend it's winter...cold weather I get, and my tissue usage rate rockets again. *sighs*
Yesterday, I had to get up way to early for "holidays", that is, 7.30, which I managed to make my "normal getting up time" for the whole of January - I'm so proud of myself. Still, yesterday, it was hell, as I could feel that my head wasn't working properly. Anyway, went to uni, did the work I had to do, met Kris for tea and huge bowl of salad which was lovely, and then tried to do some swap shopping, which turned into half swap, half "for me" shopping, but I had to give that up after around 30mins and went home. And when home, I was just about to make me some lovely ginger tea when my brother asked me to take him to training. I did, too, ain't I the best sister ever? Anyway, straight afterwards, I took myself into bed (that was around 6.15pm), and fell asleep at around 7pm.

Now, I haven't done any refashioning yet, of course, but I just remembered - I did dream about it! In my dream, I had made this great skirt out of an old bedsheet (that is not really in my possession but hey, who cares when dreaming?), and my sister was totally admiring it but told me not to cut up anymore of my bedsheets. Hah.

And after 12 hours of sleep (7pm tp 7am, insaaaaane) just now I saw the two beautiful skirts Meshell has already made, and thus am now wondering whether I should go ahead with my "drink tea and watch movie while cuddled in a blanket" plan, or whether I should get out the sewing machine instead. Hmmmm....

Life!

On Friday I discovered that one of the wonderful new friends I made here in Graz since summer has a blog of her own. And apparently she is very good about it and posts almost every day, about what is going on in her life. For me, who has turned into Miss Lazy Poster, this sounds fab! So I guess I could write a bit more about my daily life and stuff as well, instead of taking a break with posting until I can get myself up from my laziness to take the relevant pictures for "big" posts.
So, forget the pictures for a moment. Here is what happened on Friday and Saturday.

Friday - lovely. I went to uni quite early on (9am?) because I had to hand in a paper. Thankfully I tried to take it out of my bag before walking in to the secretary's office, because - and this is a nice indicator of how fuzzy my head can be sometimes - I had packed the folder in which I wanted to put the printouts, but -wait for it - I forgot to pack the printouts! O_O
Yeah, that's me. I forget things. Then I shake my head about myself. Then I tell the story to everyone I know, until I can laugh about it. *sighs*

Anyway, the next things I had planned was meeting two people for coffee/tea - after each other. Insane? Maybe. Or an indicator of how little time I had during the rest of the month for meeting with people (for tea/coffee). So first I met with Kris (the one with the amazing daily updated blog) in my favourite coffee shop and we talked about soooo many things, especially old books we had and old toys we played with. As it turned out, she had always wanted to have some of those Princess of Powers dolls - of which I had had plenty, and which I had used to make up the most fantastic stories. Fun!

I guess I could have kept on talking with her for ages, but then I had to take this 3min walk over to the next café to meet coffee-drinking-friend number 2. I'd never been to this lovely café before, but I fell in love immediately. Hidden away in a tiny little street, comfy chairs, lovely tea and cake, great decor...and pink restrooms! PINK! OMG!
Friend number 2 is the one good friend I found amongst all my colleagues from uni. Since she has finished her MA and is doing her doctorate right now, I could fill her in on many new things that are transpiring at our department, like the three professors who are going to leave us come summer. I guess we talked for another two hours or more. Wow!

Next I had planned to maybe go into town to shop for swap stuff, but then decided to go home instead. And once home, I decided to read. And read I did! For the rest of the afternoon. About 200 pages, which means another book finished, wohooo! I like "holidays"*. :)
*It's not really holidays right now, it's called "lecture-free time", indicating that we should keep on studying - which I will, of course, on Monday. I'm being good. (and I'm overusing the word "indicating" right now, sorry!)

Anyway, then I took a bath in the evening, and then spent 3 hours watching this wonderful DVD: Jim Henson's The Storyteller. A series made in the 80s (I think 1987/88), consisting of 25min episodes, each telling an old fairytale. There were 9 episodes on that DVD, and I just couldn't stop watching! Sooo lovely.
Afterwards though, I went to sleep of course. That was at 3am. ;)

Saturday, I then slept until about 1.30pm. At least I was entertained during that very long time by the weird dreams I had. :P
The afternoon I spent sewing two patches onto my sister's pair of jeans (I'm being a nice sister right now) while watching my brother swim to two additional gold medals (he had already won three medals in the morning, one gold, one silver, one bronze - he's good, ain't he?) at the Styrian Hall Swimming Championships, or however that should be translated into English. (There's the summer championships, which take place outside, and the winter ones - the ones right now - taking place inside.)
And the rest of the evening? I met some lovely BC friends for dinner. (BC=Bookcrossing)
First we had dinner, and the best paella I ever had (also the first one I ever had, but I could taste with every bite that it was exceptionally delicious!), and talked for 2 hours, then three people left, and Kris and me stayed for another 2 hours just talking and talking and talking. Incredible how long a cup of tea can last.
Anyway, I came back home shortly past midnight, and I was so HAPPY. I still am. Life is good. :)

So tomorrow, or rather today, I will catch up on some sewing, and in the afternoon/evening I will go visit my best friend and we will sort out our photographs and put them into albums. Doesn't sound very exciting, but it's been on my internal to do list for YEARS (yep, they deserve the capital letters), so when I manage that today I should feel even better. :)

I hope everyone who reads this is also doing well! May all sewing machines be repaired and running well, the sun shining moderately and not too hot, the ice melting in other places, and good feelings all around. *stupidly feels like she wants to hug everyone*

Oh yeah, for those who have no clue what I mean by "Princess of Power", here is a very cheesy cartoon picture I found (so I have at least one picture with these many words!). Meet She-Ra, twin sister of the mighty He-Man, and some of her friends: