Back to school, in style

Hello! Sorry its been a few days, but things have been crazy with school and everything... not that I'm complaining - I love it! My first week went so well! I love being in school, sitting in a classroom and taking notes.... does that make me weird? ;)

I'm thinking about taking my camera along with me sometime next week and snapping off a few pictures of the campus. Its really very nice - lots of trees, and flowers, and interesting sculptures.... let me see if I can find some pictures on the school's website...

Aha! Here is a wonderful Virtual Tour of the campus. I just love it. This is actually the first time in many, many years that I have expressed school spirit.... yay for me! ;)

Anyway, back to the point of this post: I refuse to (at this point, anyway) dress like the masses of 18 year old kids on campus - that is, gym shorts and rolled-up tshirts to class. Or pajamas - gasp! I know that its "normal" for college kids to dress like that, but...why? It just looks sloppy. College is a very important time in young peoples' lives, even if they don't realize it at the time. Maybe because I'm a little bit older, and I've already been out on my own in the world, I realize it better than they do. But either way - I simply refuse to look slobby in a (public) place, where my impression on my professors could mean the difference between getting references for a job, or getting my Masters, or whatever. I'm not saying I'm going to wear a suit to class, but at least let's try to look presentable!

Now, this is much easier said than done. Why? Well, for a couple of reasons:

1. It is hot as H-E-double-hockey-sticks lately! And humid!! Just walking from one building to the next leaves you sweaty and uncomfortable.
   
2. No air conditioning. Yes, that's right. Its a very old school, and many of the buildings are currently being refurbished. And many of the classrooms have absolutely no air conditioning. Miserable.
   
3. Shoes. Seriously. I never thought I would have a problem with finding the right pair of shoes to wear anywhere. As it turns out, I'm walking easily more than a mile a day, and in doing so, have acquired a great number of painful blisters, scrapes, bruises, and rashes on my feet. Isn't that pathetic? I know, I should like the Princess and the Pea (and that's what my mother calls me on account of the fact that I do acquire strange bruises in my sleep), but seriously - its almost like walking a marathon, the amount of walking/trudging around campus that students do every day!

So, with these factors in place, I have been frantically searching my closet for something suitable to wear. In short, I've come up with almost nothing. I actually did stoop so low as to wear soffee shorts and a Shippensburg tshirt yesterday, and was quite embarassed all day (though I'm sure no one thought anything of it, as I looked exactly like everyone else there). Desperate not to repeat that episode again, I've been....shopping!

This awesome dress is from Forever21.... and cheap, too!

I envision wearing it with a short-sleeved black turtleneck underneath, black tights, and my thrifted black knee-length boots.

My plaid Pumas came yesterday, but they were a little small, so I'm exchanging them for a bigger size. I was pretty disappointed. :(

I don't want to spend too much money at once, so I think that's all I'm ordering for now.... plus, I'm going to the Maryland Rennaissance Faire on Saturday, so I'll need some money for that, too!

I guess you don't like surprises?

Wow... I must say, I'm quite shocked that I only got 2 comments for my special surprise drawing post.... only 2??? Really? Hm. Maybe everyone is just super-busy with school starting and whatnot. I'll tell myself that to make myself feel a bit better.

I suppose, however, its good for the 2 people who did leave comments... they shall both receive nice little packages from me. So, Heidi and Alex, you can expect an email from me sometime later today.

***

Yesterday was my first day of school! I had a fabulous day! So far, my professors are great, and I've already learned my way all around the campus, and (this is the best!).... they just opened up a Starbucks in the library! Oh, how I love Starbucks. Not because of their ridiculously expensive coffee, no. Because it reminds me of the fun times I had with my sweet friend Lani when I lived in Annapolis. Starbucks became a sort-of ritual for us because of our long hours at work, and it was refreshing and fun for us. Not to mention the many yummy flavors of frappucinos they concoct weekly... pomegranate - green tea = YUM. So, I greatly enjoyed my iced caffe latte yesterday.

Today, I'm in for a different sort of day. I'm going to be on campus all day long, as I have only 3 classes, but a 5-hour gap in between 2 of them. Not enough time to come home, but too much time to really be spent productively - though I do have a bit of reading to do for my 2 classes that I had yesterday, and I'm definitely going to go check out the gym (no more excuses for not working out, as I'll have 5 hours on Tues. and Thurs, and its absolutely free!). And, if I become too parched, I may have to take a little break in, you guessed it, Starbucks. :)

Duh!

Oh, I forgot to say when I would be choosing the lucky winners.....silly me!

How about Monday evening, say... 10:00, I'll do the random number generator-thing, and will announce winners sometime on Tuesday afternoon. Don't forget to include your email address for me in the comment so I can contact you for your address!

100th post!

Oh my gosh! I didn't even realize, but my last post was my 100th! That's a milestone!

To celebrate (and to keep up with other fashionable blogs ;) I feel I should have a drawing!

So. Here's what we'll do. Leave me a comment here on the blog - suggest a great Etsy shop, book to read, your favorite band, or just general well-wishes. Blog-lurkers, de-lurk! Come out of the shadows and say hello! I'll use a super-useful random number generator to pick two lucky winners for....hmm.... what shall the prize be?

....A surprise, of course!

Who doesn't like surprises? ;)

***

And now, goodnight!

I'm so dizzy....

...my head is spinning!

I just received my loan check in the mail to cover this year's tuition. Included with the check was my estimated repayment schedule, blah blah blah. For an $8,000 loan there is a $22,000 finance charge!!! (!!!!!). Holy jeez. I have to sit down for that one. I did, of course, choose the Full Deferral option (no payment til after graduation), but still. $22,000 seems a bit exorbitant. And that's only for this year. Add 2 more years to that. That's almost $100,000 debt when everything's said and done. Unless I make payments while I'm in school, which would bring down the finance charge, I think...if I understand correctly. My God. Why is school so ridiculously expensive??

I'm so proud of me!

Oh dear, I've been awfully busy these past few days....getting ready for school!

Yesterday I went to Orientation at the school (which was really unnecessary because a)I'm not 17 and I've been to college before, and b)I took care of all of that business on Monday, ie getting my student ID, parking permit, and whatnot). The two things that I did accomplish, however, made me quite happy. Number one, I bought my books, and it only cost about $300. Not bad, considering I bought like 6 books. And... I was able to add another class to my schedule! I went straight up the chain of command to get myself some more credits, namely because the online class-add thingy was broken. "Technical difficulties", they said. So, I went to Admissions, and the nice lady there sent me upstairs to the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. She was very nice, but told me that transfer students (me) are only allowed 12 credits their first semester. Phooey! She pulled out my file, and immediately changed her tune - "Oh, you went to Penn State..... and you have a 4.0? Well... I don't think it will be a problem to add a few more credits. What did you have in mind?" Hooray! So I asked about the two classed I'd had my eye on, Intro to Ecology and Problems of the Environment. Ecology was already closed, but I got into the P. of Environment class with no problems. I'm so excited! So now I have 15 credits, a nice full course load. Which means...... I have to go buy more books. Ugh. I went back to the bookstore after my visit with the Dean yesterday, but by that time the line in the bookstore was over an hour wait. So I resolved to go back today, and this time I'm going to walk around and find my buildings. I was looking at a map yesterday and I have the sneaking suspicion that I'm going to have to perform superhuman feats to make it from one end of the campus to the other in less than 15 minutes......

Another new banner, some new drawings, and some pictures from around the house.

Here's a very simple banner I made for the shop this morning. Its plain, but I really like it - I like how the rabbit-girl is dwarfed by the huge, yet seemingly feather-weight words - I like it a lot.

And here are some drawings I did last night. The dreary weather sort-of has me in the mood for Fall (*shock*horror*), so I drew up a little squirrel scampering in the leaves, getting ready to hibernate. And because its so rainy lately, I have mushrooms all over my front yard (though not fabulously-spotted ones like these). I'm thinking I should get some nice dark-wood frames for these, and set them up like I did my Furry Girls drawings. Anyway, you can probably expect to see more Autumnal-goodness from me soon.

Last, but not least, here are some pictures from around the house.

Baby-Kitty curled up in my aunt's lap a few weeks ago.

Imagine my surprise when I glanced out my bedroom window to see this little Peeping Tom:

My mama had to go back to work, since school started this week... can you guess what her profession is? ;)

Fancy New Banner

Oooh, look at that fancy-shmancy banner.... that's my first try at making my own. Not the very best ever, but its the best I could do with the program I have. I don't have Photoshop, grr.... hopefully my school will offer it at a discounted price for students! I loved using Photoshop at my old job at PhotoTHIS! That was the one (and only) good thing about that job - I learned quite a bit there!

I'm having a lovely, lazy day.... its dreary outside, and I'm lounging around my room in my comfy blue terry-cloth robe. I just ordered some delicious-sounding Candy Corn-scented incense for Chris (I think its safe to post about that on here, as I don't think he reads my blog as often as he claims to...). He recently "discovered" incense, and buys it from a seedy head-shop in State College, run by a guy named "Uncle Mike".... sounds sorta shady to me, so I decided to buy him some yummy fall-inspired incense that, a)I know he'll like, b)is handmade (♥ Etsy!), and c)being handmade, probably won't make me sneeze nearly as bad as the horrible patchouli-musk crap he gets from dear "Uncle Mike"!

Handmade by Fooberry Incense

Ready to go!!!

Aha! My school schedule has finally been posted online! I've been waiting for weeks to see said schedule, and at last, my waiting is over! Its a pretty good schedule, except its only 12 credits.... still full-time, but I'd prefer 18 credits if I'm paying the same amount of money... I'm going to see, tomorrow at orientation, if I can add a class or two... at this point, I'll be able to work plenty and even have Fridays off! No classes on Fridays...hmm..... I like it......

So.... now that I have my schedule, I can start packing up my backpack! Oh my... see what a child I'm being? I'm so excited, I'm already packing up my backpack, putting together my binders, filling them with notebook paper, filling in dates in my student planner, planning my outfit for the first day of school.... I'm like a kid on their first day of kindegarten! :D

Things I Am in Love With Today

I realized its been quite some time since I last showed you all of my favorite things (of the moment), and I'm not at all sleepy right now, so here it is:

Hedgehog Pin by Ity-Bity Bags

Owl Cameo Brooch by Dearest Inez

Deep in the Jungle notecards by Enfin, La Voila!

Songbird earrings by Georgi

Animal bookmarks by Magpie's Nest

And there it is! I think my favorite of all are the bookmarks.... they're just so darn cute! Perfect for back to school, hmm.......

Pretty New Things

Yesterday was a big day for me - I went to the school and took care of some business.... namely, getting myself registered, purchasing a parking pass (fifty bucks!), and getting a student ID. Oh, and getting hopelessly lost multiple times in the very confusing one-way-streets of Shippensburg. Yeah. But still. I'm so excited!

To celebrate, I bought myself new School Shoes: Oh, how I love these pretty plaid Pumas (say that three times fast!). Getting new shoes is absolutely essential for school, as it has been since I can remember.... that's how you know school is about to start - mom and dad take you shopping for new kicks! Now, in my old age, I take myself shopping, courtesy of my laptop, for new kicks. But its still fun and exciting!

In other news, Chris is applying for grad school at Penn State this week.... I really hope he gets accepted! He really wants to be a professor someday, and I think he'd be a great one. Getting his masters now, instead of later, would be really good, I think. So everyone out there, keep your fingers crossed for him! :)

Oh! I almost forgot! I finally got around to finishing up the final phases of my tote bag testing... and they're a success! I've only got 2 colors done right now, but there will be plenty more to come soon!

Find these babies in the shop now!

Etsy Poster Contest Results.....!!!

Well, my poster wasn't a winner, or even a runner-up. But- oh, but! One of my products was included on a winning poster! Hooray!

Here's the poster with my pendant on it:

See that raincloud pendant? That's mine!

(Here's a link to all of the winners' posters)

Besides that pretty-exciting news, I also received a definitive approval of my loan request, so I can officially pay for school. It might not seem like a huge deal to some people, but when I got that email, I actually cried. I pay for my schooling, and its been off and on since I graduated from high school 5 years ago. This means I can go continuously (!!!) now and get my degree! I'm just so excited, I'm beside myself. :D

Also, I received a lovely package from miss Marjorie over at Marmee Craft. I won a little drawing on her blog the other day, and this was my wonderful prize! What a sweetie! I'm definitely going to send a little thank-you her way...

So, that's what's been going on with me. I'd say I've had a pretty good week (!), despite the fact that its been rather chilly around here.... its only in the 60's right now up here on the mountain where I live. Its probably about 70 down in town; its always a bit warmer off the mountain. Chilly and drizzly.... it must be Fall! I must admit, I'm a bit excited for Fall this year, though I normally dread it. I hate cold weather. I am most definitely cold-blooded, through and through. I love warm Spring days, green leaves, sunshine, birds singing...the works! But as I get older, I seem to appreciate Fall, and yes, even Winter (gasp!) a bit more. I do, at least, like dressing for Fall. Layers are my forte! ;)

...But I still hate snow!

I miss you already....

*sigh* I'm sad today - Chris left to go back to straight college. This visit was definitely too short. He was out of town with his parents over the weekend, so I only got to see him yesterday and this morning before he left. And this is most likely the last time we'll see each other until a while after school starts... school starts in less than 2 weeks, and then we'll both be insanely busy. I really don't know how that's going to be. But, we did it before. The distance was way worse before, so we can do it again. And its only until December, because in December he graduates. Thank goodness! At least I have that thought for comfort.

I spent most of yesterday and all of this afternoon at Chris' parents' house. His sweet mother and I traded some herbs from our garden - I gave her some chocolate mint and she gave me some basil, which I have been wanting for some time now! I love fresh basil on a sandwich! Yum! So that was fun. I really should take some pictures of my garden to share with you... its looking magnificent! Everything is growing so big and lush! I couldn't be happier. :)

Speaking of being happy, the shop is making me quite so! In the past few days, I had a sudden rush of sales! I don't know what that was all about, after more than a month without a single sale. I guess that's just how it goes! But I certainly am happy about that!

Well, I have to cut this post short. I have to leave a little early for work tonight so I can go over to my friend Shi's house and let her dog out to go potty... I'm house/pet-sitting while she and her family are out of town this week. Sorry for the wordiness, and lack of pictures... I promise I'll make it up to you soon!

♥

Thrifting is Fun!

Ah, I've had a lovely past couple of days! I went thrifting with my parents on Saturday, at a HUGE thrift store in Westminster, MD. I think I may have had the most successful thrifting trip of this whole summer.... behold:

I found these awesome knee-high, leather, Nine West boots for FIVE DOLLARS. Yes. $5. The toes are just a bit scuffed, but that's easily remedied. I couldn't be happier with them! I also found this adorable vintage monk piggy bank. He's stamped JAPAN on the bottom, and the words on his robe say THIS IS MY BANK. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL. How cute is that? (None of the pictures I took turned out... I'll try again later!)

Oh! I almost forgot - my favorite find - this beautiful crewel cushion-cover! It matches my room so beautifully!

I also found a stash of these Dover coloring books at my local Goodwill, like the Victorian one I found at my Goodwill earlier this summer. Someone in my town must collect these or something. But how lucky!

They're in the shop now, if anyone would like to have one!

We've been on the go all weekend, it seems.... thrifting, and buying a huge-screen tv! My parents have been wanting one forever, and my dad's been doing research for months. This weekend they decided on a 55-inch Sony. Very nice!

With a big new tv, of course we had to buy a new tv-stand! So yesterday we went to Ikea and found just the perfect one! I was a little disappointed in our trip to Ikea though... The only thing I found were some decorative cardboard boxes for storage in my room. I really had my heart set on a new duvet-cover, but the only one that I really liked was out of stock in full/queen. I guess it wasn't meant to be. :(

Umm...what else? I got the new Smashing Pumpkins cd, Zeitgeist today. Its amazing, of course. Later tonight I'm going over to a friend's house to learn the ropes and re-familiarize myself with her pets because I'm house-sitting for the rest of the week, starting tomorrow, while her family is out of town. That will be sort of an adventure, I think...

And finally, tomorrow I will get to spend some time with Chris. He came home from State College on Friday, but I worked Friday night until 11:00, and he and his parents left early on Saturday to go to Philadelphia for his aunt's birthday party. Sunday was his mom's birthday, so the family drove over to Atlantic City, NJ to celebrate, and they're coming home tomorrow. I told Chris to win me some money, but I don't think he did...... ;)

Swing by the shop!

Oh, I almost forgot - I've lowered a few prices in the shop, in the hopes that perhaps the reason I haven't sold anything in a while is because a few of the prices were a bit high.

I do plan on an update sometime next week... I'll let you know when I decide on a day.

A Lovely Start to My Day...

Good morning, fair blog-readers!

How are you today?

I have had quite a morning already, and its not even 9 o'clock yet!

I woke up this morning very parched, so I shuffled downstairs, and to the refrigerator, for a little something to wet my tongue and wake me up a bit. The first thing I saw was an opened can of cola. I only wanted one little sip, and being carbonated, I thought the cola was a pretty good idea. So I took my one little sip. And there was something in my mouth, along with cola. Something about large-crumb-sized. I immediately expectorated the alleged crumb out of my mouth, and what did I see lying there? A bug. Oh yes. A bug big enough that it felt like a large crumb in my mouth. Not a little gnat. This was more like a fly, only without wings. *gag*!!!! Oh, how I gagged and moaned. I washed my mouth out about 3 times, and wiped my tongue with a paper towel, just to be safe. Oh, the horror!

So I recovered from my shock at having allowed a bug to swim inside of my mouth, and came upstairs to do a bit of work on the computer. I popped in to a favorite blog or two, and when I reached miss Marjorie's lovely blog, I was surprised at seeing my own name there on the screen... at closer inspection, my surprise turned into delight, as I realized I was one of two winners in her drawing for a piece of her beautiful artwork!

Hooray! I never win anything! It must be my lucky day! I'm so excited to receive my surprise in the mail! What a sweet girl, that Marjorie!

Also, I realized I took way too many pictures on vacation to ever show you, so I'm going to share one or two of my favorites every now and then. Its much easier for me; plus it gives you an excuse to come back and visit every day! :)

This was the African Cichlid tank at the Georgia Aquarium. I have a special fondness for cichlids, as they are actually quite terrifying (for fish). They pose no threat to humans; really, the only pose a threat to each other... they are simply so agressive and territorial! Of all the fish I've ever owned, cichlids are definitely my favorite. I could watch them for hours. Days, even.

I'm baaaaa-aaack.......

Well, hello! I'm finally back from my rather lengthy (and much-needed!) vacation! Its sort of a drag to be back at home, and getting into the swing of things again.... back to work, you know. At least I have school to look forward to in a few weeks!

I won't go into detail right now about my vacation.... we did so much, and had a wonderful time! Of course, my most favorite thing of all was going to the Virgin Festival in Baltimore on Aug. 4th and 5th, but that wasn't technically part of the family vacation. The rest of my family went home on Friday, and lucky me got to stay in Annapolis for the weekend with my friend Lani.

So, without further ado, a big load of pictures from the trip:

South of the Border

I found this at a souvenier shop at South of the Border, and seriously considered buying it for Chris, because....well, do I even need to tell you why? Isn't it obvious??

My family

My cousin, Batman

At the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta

Celebrating my dad's birthday at Famous Dave's Barbecue
Wayne, my sister's boyfriend, is not to be outdone

See what I mean? (Underground Atlanta)

My mom at Ride the Ducks, Stone Mountain

The carving is unimaginably huge....pictures just can't do it justice

And finally, my pictures from the concert... It was really difficult to get good pictures because we were far from the stage most of the time, and I didn't even take any pictures on day 1, but I got a couple of good ones...

North Stage, early on day 2

Lani is totally J-Lo-ing it

Regina Spektor is unbelievably adorable... I'm so jealous

Bad Brains may have been the most impressive performance of the entire festival, considering they are....what, like 60?? They seriously rocked. We were right up front for that one! Don't ask me what the blanket on his head is for, though....

And of course, my hero, Billy Corgan. *sigh*

We were right up front, along the railing, for the Pumpkins, but to the far left of the stage. It started raining just as the Pumpkins were taking the stage, so they had those huge stage lights along the edges of the stage, and anyone who was to the left or the right of the stage COULD NOT SEE THE BAND. At all. The crowd was chanting "move the lights!", and they did, very slightly, but to no avail. At least the awesome Mr. Corgan came to the front of the stage a few times to play a wicked solo or two.... besides that, we saw the whole show on the enormous screen that was directly in front of us. Despite not being able to see the actual band, it was fabulous. Completely, and utterly, fabulous.

(If you can't tell, I'm a bit of a Pumpkins fan....I rather worship them, I daresay!)

So now, its all over, back to normal day-to-day life. Bor-ing! ;) But like I said, school starts in just a few weeks, and I'm super-excited about that. So.... I'm sad to be back, but I did miss my blogling!