Another test...

I guess it IS pretty obvious by now that I love taking tests. And today I found an especially nice one on Carolyne's blog. Took some time, but the results seem to be quite good, so here they are.


You can also read the full text here. I especially like the part about how I relate to others, since I currently don't see myself as much of an artist - seeing as I don't to anything but read and meet people these days. No crafting etc...nothing. Oh well. *shrugs* :)

Another seven weird things about me

Wohooo! Life has been very exciting lately!
What with "meeting potential in-laws" (as we like to say here, as a joke), ie meeting my boyfriends family (which are all very nice), my mum's 50th birthday (huge party!) and another big big exam done (only one left now, yeah!)...oh, and all those other small things in between...it's been busy. :)

Anyway, kwoozy asked me (a while ago, too, ahem) to write about another few strange things about myself. Now, I hope I don't repeat myself...

1. I have this little thing about closing doors. When cabinet doors are left open etc I have this wild urge to close them - and will close them, too, if nothing speaks against this. I don't just do this at home either but at any home I visit as well.

2. The same goes for things on standby. I hate things on standby. I want to switch them off. So normally that's what I do, although I have a little more self-control here when it comes to other people's stuff.

3. I love cleaning up other people's rooms. Not my own, that one is always a toughie, but with other people's spaces - no problem! Fun! (And no, sorry, you can't rent me.)

4. I usually change my bedsheets every Sunday. This may seem a little much (which is why I hereby call it weird), but ooooh, I sleep so much better! And mhhhhh, fresh sheets!

5. I get ever so slightly annoyed when someone reads faster than me. Reading a lot is one of the things I was always proud of. Now lately this hasn't been working out so well (because I suddenly have so many other things to do, like actually meeting people!), and when I noticed a short while ago that my boyfriend just read those books away like nothing I got a very strange nagging feeling somewhere that I should be the one reading like that. Oh well. My time will come again. ;)

6. This also only started happening lately...sometimes I call people to talk about something specific, but as soon as they answer the phone all that is forgotten and we just talk about whatever. Then 5 minutes after we ended the conversation I suddenly remember what I had intended to say. (This also happens with emails sometimes. Or with wanting to do something specific at the PC, switching it on and then promptly forgetting about it. Annoying!)

7. When swimming, I don't like, and never have liked, to do the crawl. And why? Because I'm afraid that I will not be able to breathe properly. Or that I will breathe in water. Or that...well, whatever.

Hey, I guess I actually managed seven new weird things! Yay! :)

Gone with the wind

I'll be gone for the weekend.
Not that I posted regularly lately and need to alert my readers that I am gone for a few days lest they worry for me. No, not that.
Still, I will be gone. I have been invited to go somewhere else. Haha!
For today I have been invited to dinner. And the rest of the weekend I will be staying at a beautiful little town with beautiful woods and parks and I will be going for walks, reading, swimming, maybe even having a barbecue. Wohooo!
I wish everyone out there a weekend just as lovely...may the sun shine for you and may people around you be kind etc etc. In short, have fun! I know I will. :D

The Golden Compass

Now, some may know that I am an avid reader of (almost) all things fantasy. And three of the books that I discovered in the past few years, and which I heart and love and have read twice already, make the His Dark Materials Trilogy.
These books are now being filmed. Film no.1 will be shown in cinemas come December. And to celebrate it all, they have made a homepage (with trailer!).

If you know the books, you will know about daemons. And this page also allows you to generate your own daemon. But! To have it reach its final form, you need your friends' input.
So, if you want some fun, go here, make some guesses concerning my personality, and watch my little daemon transform.
I've already gone from hare to ermine to ocelot, and I'm really excited to see what it will be in the end. :)

I made things!

Well, I have no pictures to prove it, but last week I both finally put the finishing touches to the scarf I finished knitting ages ago...my first self-knit scarf, btw - AND I made myself a skirt. A skirt that is no good at all for cycling (I tried), and not so good for my usual (fast) walking speed, but...a skirt. A nice, summery, non-black (hooray!) skirt. With elastic band inserted. Wohooo! Now, if I hadn't managed to break the needle on my mum's sewing machine when trying my luck with denim, I might have more to post. But alas, that is the fate of the unlucky sewer. More skirts soon, hopefully. :)
And pictures, too...once we finally get over this computer crisis that hit this household in the last two months. :P

Etsy Post: T-Shirts

Soooo, since I still don't have any crafting or refashioning news (though some may be posted soon), and I don't want to go on blabbering about how nice spring is, and I have been wanting to do this for ages - here is my second post about the wonders of Etsy shopping! The first one, if you remember, was on earrings, this one will be about T-shirts. Because I love t-shirts, and people on Etsy make lovely T-shirts! :)

First, here are the ones I bought during my autumn shopping spree (all pictures taken from the respective shops!):


















This is the wonderful Biorythmic Tee from Supastarr. It's white and pink and very cool. ;)
Supastarr are a lovely couple who, afaik, own a bookstore, and make these great screenprinted shirts in their spare time. And boy, what great shirts (and other stuff) they make!














This second shirt here is called the The Darkest Tree Tee. It is nice and long and short-sleeved like the first one, but I wanted to show the print in detail...isn't it simply amazing?
The shirt is black and the print is a sort of metallic pink, which just looks amazing. If I could wear it all the time, I probably would!

This final one...yeah, I have no picture of the shirt itself. But this is the fantastic print that is on it! I found this one at Lushbox.
For a literature student like me, this has got to be the best shirt ever. ;) I wore it to uni once...you should have seen the face of my prof when he noticed. :D
It's also white and nicely long and short-sleeved.






Now, after these three shirts, it seemes I caugh the t-shirt bug, because my spring shopping spree yielded the following:

Three more from Supastarr, because I just loved the first two so much! Plus, just look at them. They're fantastic. ;)


















This one is called Curly Tree, and I love all things spirally and curly, so I had to make it mine!
I also like trees. Trees are nice.
Unfortunately, the shirt arrived just when our weather turned warm, and I haven't had a chance to wear it yet. Maybe soon, when April turns nasty (as it should, being April).


















This is, obviously, called Read to Me. Can you guess how much my fellow bookreading and bookcrossing friends loved it? Can you guess how much I love it?
Also, yesterday someone read to me. (Without any prompting from the shirt.) Can you guess how much I really really like it now?


















And finally, my very much loved "Be a hero" shirt. What a great colour! And of course I like the print. Dare to be different, I say. ;)

But, I did not only buy shirts from Supastarr. I also bought a couple from another shop I had been lusting after, namely Ahpeele. Another lovely couple that makes the most amazing shirts - with Asian inspired designs, this time.
I can honestly say that, if I had the money, I could (and probably would) buy all the shirts (and hoodies) they have on offer.


















This one is dark grey with black print. The print wraps around the shirt...I have no idea how they do it, but it looks amazing. I love the length as well...and am very thankful that I can get shirts in this wonderful length from Etsy whenever I want to. The ones they sell at H+M etc always are sooo freaking short! :P


















And here, the last one (for the time being!). I ordered this one in black, but received a white version...which turned out to be great! The white one is soooo much better for spring. :)
The print on this one is really colourful! <3
(And also wraps around the shirt, and amazes me every time I look at it!)

So, of course there are other things I bought on Etsy that I haven't posted yet, but still, the next post should be about something I made myself, right? Well, fingers crossed and all that. ;)

***
Oh, and because someone asked - I probably should buy myself a cat, yes, and I would, but, eh, for all my love of cats etc, I am allergic. So I live off cat pictures on CuteOverload and the two tabbies my best friends call their own. My own cat...well, if a miracle happens and the allergy disappears. But right now...sadly not.

Huh

So, another two weeks and more have passed, and I didn't post anything new.
Well. Crafting is down to nil at the moment. Swapping also. Refashioning also (although I am not buying anything new either).
What is up is reading. What is up is meeting with people. What is up is cleaning up my room and throwing old stuff out.
Not too bad, I guess.

I had my big exam last week and I passed. Only sort of average grade, but hey, for only one week of studying, and that in a very hole-y way (none of the three books necessary for the exam were read completely), and being dead tired (exam at 5.30pm after a day of working, and getting up at 6.30am, ugh), I think I did ok. I expected much worse. ;)

So now, Easter holidays, and on Tuesday I made my flat look more like a flat again, and less like a battlefield. I did my ironing. I threw some stuff out that should have been thrown out ages ago. I cleaned the bathroom. Wohoo!
Yesterday I started reading. Yesterday was for fun, tomorrow I will start reading for uni, and as much as possible. What about today? Hm. Well. More reading for fun, I guess. ;)

The most remarkable thing about the past week? Saturday. Where I spent about 9 hours talking with someone I didn't know very well. I guess now I do. At least a little better. ;)

Well, no pictures is no fun, so here another lovely kitty picture that I found on Cute Overload. Enjoy!

Happy

I just looked up a word in my favourite online dictionary.
Apparently, what I am currently "suffering" from is called 'spring fever' in English. Sounds suspiciously like hay fever, but hey, the dictionary must know, right?
Anyway, it's a strange thing, but...yeah. Words fail me right now. (Especially because I'm dead tired!)

I still had no sleep, and I need to get it now. 48+ hours with only 6-7 hours of sleep to them? Not good. Not good at all. But the papers are now finished, and I'm FREE....
...to study for my big Linguistics exam.
But oh, it feels like such a joy nevertheless.

And I'm happy. Did I mention that before? Happy, and curious what will happen next. Oh, the fun of it all. :D

Can you tell my ability to concentrate is miserable?

I just did another personality "test". HA!

Your Hidden Talent

Your natural talent is interpersonal relations and dealing with people. You communicate well and are able to bring disparate groups together. Your calming presence helps everything go more smoothly. People crave your praise and complements.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

Life is poetry, love is...love poetry

Don't worry if the title of this post isn't making much sense to you - it's past 3am, as I'm having myself a nightshift - I need to hand in this paper by 12am today, and only started writing last evening, ie, about 5 hours ago. That's me, superorganised. :P

Anyway, I just found this beautiful poem by e.e.cummings and thought I would let the world know.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

——————————————————— i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

I also found a different one by a woman poet on my professor's handout for the lecture today, but forgot to take my copy home - it was so beautiful it gave me the shivers. Luckily I just found it online. It's was written by Christina Rossetti some time during the Victorian Age.

When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree.
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on as if in pain.
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.

And then there is what U2 say, and their words should not be forgotten either: Love, she moves in mysterious ways.
Aye, she does.
:)

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....