Sparse Posting...

Sorry about the recent hiatus, I've been up to my neck in schoolwork, and pretty busy with my GA's as well... Nevertheless I've been able to squeeze in a little crafting between my paintings, mostly while watching episodes of Carnivale and Packer games. Last week I "baked" about 1.5lbs of roving. Half of it was merino and half of it was falklands wool.
I'm also working on a few paintings, this is one of them, it's a continuance of my house series, and it's coming along fairly well.I spun some of the merino roving this week, and it is sooooo soft. The colors totally remind me of My Little Ponies, so that is what I am calling it. It is about 250-300 yards ( I'm guessing) of sport weight yarn. I can't wait to use it!This weekend Nate and I are trekking up to Rockford to catch Amy's soccer game, so that should be exciting. Other than that, I've got a studio critique Monday night so I've got to get cracking on that as well. I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

Start of School

I'm sorry if this blog becomes more art oriented these next few months, school has started again for me, and that's about all I'm finding I have time for. I'm sure I squeeze in a little crafting here and there though! :)
I've been working on a self portrait this last week, and this is the "progression":

I'm not completely finished with it , I still need to add some cool tones in the flesh, and finish a lot of the really detailed areas. I'm fairly happy with it so far though.
My grandparents visited our new apartment (see the messiness in the backround still...) yesterday, and it was a nice time. Hi grandma!! (she's my most avid blog reader)
They brought a desk over for me which is really perfect for our apartment. We have a fairly large living room, so I wanted to split it up into the couch/tv area, and a study area, now I've just got to find a place for my beloved green chair... I'll post pics of my lovely new desk when I get the study area organized. I've also been working on painting and decorating my studio this next week. Last but not least, my dad also started a blog, which can be found here.
I'm off to watch the Packers!

Kitties!

Prepare yourselves for extreme cuteness:



These are our new kittens, Bo Bo and Rascal. We adopted them last week from Tails, the humane society in Dekalb, and we couldn't be happier. They love to play and to cuddle, and yes, they are undeniably cute as well.

Waterlogged

This my friends is what the NIU campus looked like last Saturday when the river going through town flooded due to the immense amounts of rain we were having last week here in the midwest. There were a lot of homes flooded and only one bridge (which was already closed to one lane due to construction) that was still usable on Saturday.
I've also started some of my classes this week, and it is going pretty well considering that orientation was canceled due to the flooding. Also new this week are two new members to our family, Bo and Rascal, two little kittens that we fell in love with from the humane society. They are brother and sister, and they are adorable! I'm going to post some pics later this week, so prepare to be in awe of their cuteness. They have been extremely well behaved and super affectionate, so we really couldn't have asked for anything more.
Last but not least, I spun up some yarn last week from some beautiful merino/mohair roving that I had gotten when I had picked up my spinning wheel.

Married!

Here are some pics from our wedding this last week. It was a beautiful day and everything went wonderfully! We had the wedding in a little church in the countryside, and the weather was perfect. I even finished my dress with ample time before the wedding!
We had such a blast, and it was so nice to catch up with family and friends. We had music played by our friends Paul and Johnny, and our photographs (which are so wonderful!) were done by some family friends, the Roberts'. We couldn't have asked for a better time!

Greetings from Sycamore!

I took a quick picture of these two drawings before I packed them up for the move to show that I do still do some amount of drawing. I've been terrible this summer, but for the last few weeks I've been doing one drawing every two days just to start getting back into the groove for school.
I also scored my first treasury on Etsy this last week! It was fun to look through everyone's wonderful items to find the perfect ones for the blue and brown colored theme I chose.
Nate and I are spending our first night in Sycamore tonight after an exhausting two day move in humid, sunny, 90 degree weather. Luckily we had the help of Nate's family for the Oshkosh leg, and his family and my mom, sister and her boyfriend, for the Sycamore leg. It is nice to have one of our "big things" for the summer out of the way. Only 10 more days until the wedding! Yikes!
Wish us luck with our unpacking!

Amazing Dinners

I think one of the things I will miss the most about Oshkosh is having little dinner parties with Tony. It has been a tradition since we were living together, and it has held up ever since. We never try to make something we've done before, and sometimes it turns out wonderfully, and sometimes it has been barely edible. But it is nice having such a great friend to eat my food even if it is utterly terrible, and to ask for seconds when it turns out well. A few nights ago, Tony made an amazing dinner for Nate and I. He made an Italian Bread and Cheese Soup, Moroccan Spiced Fish over Lemongrass Rice, and Creme Caramel with Coffee for dessert. It was the kind of night that I am going to miss a lot once we move.

$12 = Awesomeness

I almost died when I saw this lovely cabinet at the thrift store the other day, especially after I saw the price tag! I somehow managed to fit it into my Corolla and carry it all of the way across my parking lot and up the stairs to my apartment. It was quite the feat, but well worth it indeed. It matches all of our furniture that we already have, and although we are going to be moving in a week or so, I still believe it will be worth the extra effort of moving it, don't you?
As far as yarn making goes, here is my latest skein of yarn where I experimented with coils for the first time. I think I may be keeping this one for myself :) After I made it, I was going to make myself some dinner, and thought to myself, "hmmm, don't I have some hummus already made up?" much to my disappointment, it was was in a sad sad state..... My sadness was quickly vanquished though when I sat the nasty rotten hummus next to my beautiful yarn, and they were the same colors! Go figure...
Nate and I are going to dinner at Tony's tonight, and I am kind of sad because it will be one of the last little gatherings we will have here in Oshkosh before we move to Sycamore. I'm sure there will be good food though, as Tony is a most excellent (albeit messy) cook.

Sparse Postings

Sorry for the lack of postings lately, I've had a bit on my plate this summer. These last few weeks I have been working on my wedding dress, working on a bulk order from my Etsy site, and doing all kinds of random things for the wedding. I also got to see a lot of my family this weekend at my bridal shower, which was wonderful as well.
I will probably remain slightly scatterbrained until the wedding is over and done with, and we are all moved and settled. I have a few pictures to tide you over though!
I did these skeins for my site, but the blue one is my favorite of the three. I hope you are all having a great week!

Magsafe Sucks...

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, my charger for my MacBook has been on the fritz due to the mysterious melting of the cable. I love Apple, but my patience with them is waning. Their computers have always run really well for me, but the outside of my computer already looks like crud. I've been looking around online, and it seems like most of the MacBooks with the Magsafe chargers are melting or breaking.... A recall seems to be the right thing to do (hint hint).
I also had to say goodbye to the Honda this week. Even though it had its problems, it was sad to see this car go.

Special Delivery

Look at what was waiting for me when I got back home earlier this week:It came just in time, I've only got about 4oz of wool left from my last big order! This time around I upgraded from domestic wool to lovely merino. I also threw in about a pound of falkland wool and a pound of mohair locks to play around with. I can't wait to get some of this dyed! It is about 13lbs all together, and will probably be gone within a few months....
Speaking of spinning, here's a pretty little skein I whipped up right after getting home from Door County:
It is the exact colors of an astro-pop! Perfect for summer and the 4th of July.

Relaxing in Door County

Sorry for the week long hiatus, I've been in Door County for the last few days with Nate and his family. It has been very relaxing, and slightly gluttonous. We couldn't have asked for any better weather.
Here we are at one of the many wonderful places where we dined. Don't you admire my ability to take a picture of myself?
I think this was the only time Nate didn't order a beer....

This is the view from sunset beach at sunset! Imagine that! I'm sad to be leaving tomorrow, but there is always next year to look forward to. The rest of this week we will be going back home, and then to our parent's houses, and then to Dekalb to look for a place to live.

In non-vacation related news, I've been working on a pattern for a cute and simple shrug for my Etsy site, but I haven't found the "perfect" yarn for it yet. I would love something widely available, but not really low quality. I was thinking along the lines of wool-ease, or a cotton/wool blend, but I'm not really sure yet. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!