My Jane Austen Bonnet!!

My supplies and color pallet

I just cut a cheap straw hat in half (but I ended up using the bigger half, instead

of the smaller half)

Half way done, I sewed the edges of the fabric by hand, and glued

everything on with a hot glue gun.

The finished inside!! I bought some really pretty lace! and added ribbon

to tie it around my chin.

A closer view of the lace and faux pearls on the inside brim.

The outside... I may add more embellishments later, but this is basically it.

Me in my fun bonnet!!

Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson is a British author on creativity in the public education system. He was a professor for awhile. He is really interesting and entertaining to listen to! His talks are about the public education system or I guess just the way society educates in general today and how we as humans are not reaching our potential, but instead stuck on the idea of this 19th century idea of mass production; or in this case, mass education!!

He came to K-State and spoke last week. Tickets were free to students, but I didn't know who he was last week! Now I DO! I'm so mad at myself that I didn't go to listen to him!!

Each video is about 20 minutes long, but TOTALLY worth it!

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Part 2: http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html

Rendering

Right now in my Interior Design studio we are doing what's called "rendering." To me, I think rendering sounds like it means mowing the lawn or something.... But it's basically just putting color in our drawings. We're working with either marker, colored pencil, or pastel. I prefer marker (although it's a little difficult at times, but I like a challenge!), but colored pencil is the easiest to work with, in my opinion.

These are the copies of drawings that I made and practiced coloring on.
More practicing getting specific shades and tints...
These are some of the raw drawings I had drafted (these are the copies of the origonal, though)

My Summer....

I enjoyed my last year in Skagway!! I learned how to make coffee (which was fun), made some friends, had some awkward moments, saw beautiful landscapes and even the Northern Lights!!! Seeing the Northern Lights made me cry... they were so surreal! Here is a summery of what else I did this summer....

I became obsessed with the Twilight series!

(Started out reading Twilight and I just couldn't

stop!( I read books 1,2 and 4. Book 3 was checked out, but I did get to see the movie. Now that I'm home I will be reading the 3rd book.) By the end of the summer I

had read 10 books!! That's a record for me!)

Took a tour on the Island Princess cruise ship with

the Captian (we had connections...) and ate dinner.

Ended up taking the ferry from Belingham, WA to

Skagway.

Ate WONDERFUL meals with Deborah (and my roommate, Alli)

And on the way home, slept on a king size bed, all by myself!

This is a video of the bears we saw in the Yukon... So cute!

Talent Show

the video is a bit dark but you can hear us.

This is me and Charles singing a song by Sally Deford at our Branch Talent Show.
Emma played the piano.

Mother's Day!

This is my Mom...this is me making my Mom a Red Velvet cake w/ home made butter cream icing....yummy!
this is the finished project right before we all devoured it!
this is us spending time on Mother's Day with Dad....so that he too can feel appreciated as a mother.

I'm looking for a new hobby....

SO... I'm looking for a new hobby. I came up with a few choices, but I like knowing what other people think. So vote on the one you think sounds the most fun!!

I've decided Organic is worth it!!

Hearing about the "going green" movement for the past several years I thought it was all just a hoax! Only weird hippie people that don't shave "go green." But within the last year (and especially the past few months) my mind has been opened and enlightened to what "going green" really means. It's a lifestyle change (change from our greedy, selfish society).

Here are some shows I've watched recently that have good information in them:

"No Impact Man: A Documentary"

Him and his family live for an entire year without making any "impact" on the earth. As in no environmentally harmful things....

Another good one is "ECO TRIP" it's a tv show on the Sundance channel.

This guy goes all over the world finding out what kind of impact everyday items and foods really make on the earth... breaking down all the ingredientes of chocolate for example. Where the ingredients come from, how they are grown, blah blah blah.... REALLY COOL!

Geothermic Pools..... road trip?

I love road trips!! Now all I need to do is have the money to go do them.... I am constantly finding exciting places to go. Here are 2 really good ones that aren't too far away:

Here's hot springs in Virginia:

The thermal pool waters here are called "Jefferson Pools"

(the inside pool at Virginia Homestead)
(Jefferson Pools at the Homstead in Virginia a long time ago)

OR Homestead Resort & Spa in Utah (it's cheaper)

(thermal pools at the Homestead in Utah)

I like the architecture, too!

I've always wanted to go to a hot springs or geothermic pool or something like that. I've wanted to go to the hot springs in the Yukon (not too far from Skagway, AK) 'cuz I've heard they're great, but haven't had a car or someone to go with. This one in Utah might be a possible trip to make! Now I just have to find someone to go with! Any takers!?!?

Things that keep me HAPPY! (Part 1)

I discovered a new musical artist! She's from somewhere in Europe, but this song sounded familiar when I heard it, so I looked her up! I like this song. It made today happy! :)

Her name is Yael Naim, this song is called New Soul.

Tea Cups and Lasagna

If you have never been to my favorite store, Name Brand Clothing (I call it 1/2 'n 1/2) you MUST go sometime! I got this SUPER cute tea cup set for only $9. Retail over $40.

It came in a set of 4 cups and 4 saucers. The only thing wrong with them is that one of the saucers had 2 chips on the side. I'm SOOOO excited to use them!!!

Here's the lasagna I made last Saturday. It fed me for the rest of the week!

My Chicken...

So... I think I'm actually considering going vegan!

My curiosity with cooking has led me to making my own chicken stalk. For that I need a whole chicken, some veggies and water (oh, and a crock pot). I started out so excited and very proud of myself that I was saving all this money by buying a whole chicken and getting not just lots of meat, but broth, too! I asked my mom how to cook it and got all the stuff I needed. Since the chicken had to cook for 8-10 hours I thought I would just do it before I went to bed yesterday. You know? Thinking it would be no problem!

The excitement all went away the moment I opened the chicken package and beheld a decapitated chicken in my hands. I WAS SO WEIRDED OUT!! All of the joints still worked and as I lifted the chicken up by it's wings it's like I was holding a kitty or a baby.... ONLY DEAD AND MISSING A HEAD!!! I was SOOOO weirded out!!!! I thought at any moment it would just jump up and start gobbling around my kitchen! (only chickens don't gobble, do they? I guess they "Bagack!")

Using my trusty ulu knife I skinned the chicken and somehow lifted it into the crock pot without gaging. That ulu knife worked really well for skinning! I knew that's what it was designed to do I just have never had to skin anything before!

And might I add I don't normally gag at blood or anything like that I think it was just the dead body. Dead bodies FREAK ME OUT!! Human or animal or alien!

Things got better when the chicken was done cooking.... All of the meat and bones and everything just fell apart as I took it all out. When all the meat was separated I had a few pieces for lunch and I grossed out... that chicken and I had so much history together!

Eating it was just as worse as playing with it's wings when it was still one whole piece!