oops, it's august.

Blog. I am on my last week of camp, thank goodness, because I have so much to do before school starts, like figure out what I want to write my I.S. about. Other things that I've been stressing about: grad school (yes or no? go or no?), resume, GRE, real life, scary-after-graduation-topics, etc.

Anyway, I haven't been exercising as much as I could be. But I'm reading and researching, so there's that, right? I think probably this blog will have only sporadic posts from now on (from july on, really. kinda june. whatever).

WOOSTER IN THREE WEEKS YES.

bike rides!

SO I've adopted bike rides over yoga this week. Tuesday and today I've ridden my good ole bike on the bike and hike trail and goodness me my rear is sore. Otherwise, just work work work and boy howdy am I ready to be done with it and back at school.

3 weeks of work left and also tomorrow. WILL I SURVIVE TO SHOW OFF MY WATCH TAN LINES?

Only time will tell, my friends.

Srsly, one of these days, probably a weekend day, I will get pictures up of my sweet bracelets.

super hero week guys!

So it's SUPER HERO WEEK at work this week and boy howdy I'm going to make it as entertaining as possible. Can you say CRAFTS EVERY DAY or at least for a few days, I'm hoping, because they are great for  entertaining children. It's not like games where the lazy kids are like "I DON'T WANNA PLAY" and sit down and cry. Every kid will color. Especially if they are coloring on their BRAND NEW SUPER HERO CAPE whatupwhatup!

I stopped blogging because I kept forgetting about it, if we're bein' real, blog. (Sorry.) I kept to yoga everyday but Friday I stopped because I worked late doing a rock climbing class. Just as I suspected, this also led to me not doing yoga Saturday or Sunday or today because once I start with the excuses to myself I keep it going. But tomorrow I'll start doing it again. I'm thinking of going every other day because it is rough on my wrists. But that might just be my laziness. (Like the little girl whose tummy hurt every time we played a game. Srsly, come on, little kids, your elders are not dumb.)

Haven't made much headway in things that I should be doing like: planning out my remaining camps, thinking about / researching for I.S., or laundry, or working on the bracelet I started, or sewing, or bike riding, or yoga, or even reading books.

SO BLOG HERE IT GOES. I am going to try hard to stop being a bum. It's not like hanging out with kids and watching them while they do crafts or play games or swim is alllll that complicated. I mean, there are lots of little tiffs kids get in, and they poo in their swim trunks sometimes, but really. Not all that bad. So it is time to stop being a bum.

feelin the yoga burn

Three days into yogaeveryday and it almost didn't happen today. My excuse for not doing it was going to be a crappy one so I decided to just do it. In the end, I feel better.

Work. 8:30-3:30.
Lazy time.
Worked on my sweet bracelet. Srsly when you see pictures, blog, you'll be so impressed.
Yoga time.
Sit-ups. One hundred of them. Easier today. Ish.
Research of kids' crafts time. Which is kind of fun. Kids get to do so many cool things.

Now bedtime.

oops, blog!

Just when I thought I was going to pay attention to you, blog, I forgot about you. Sorry about that.

Today:

• SCOOTER MANIA 8:30-3:30
• Relaxin.
• Yoga time!
• Sit ups. Still bad at them. But sitting up is better than just sitting, right?
• Bracelet weaving with a PATTERN woah buddy. Which is what I got distracted with so I haven't blogged.

Sleep time now to prepare for scooter time in the A.M.

sorry, blog

Blog, it has been almost a month since I have posted. I have no good excuse for that, but let me try to explain.

First week of work I did before care as well as camp hours. So that had me up at 6:30 and working until 3:30 and then I was spent after that and accomplished absolutely nothing in the afternoons that week, aside from watching a hell of a lot of television on my computer.

Then over the weekend I got nothing done because I was sleeping.

Second week I didn't have to get up until 7:30 but I worked until 6:00. So again, I got nothing done due to exhaustion. And over that weekend I went to New York for cousin's graduation party, so, no sleep. Or accomplishments.

Third week I got up at 7:30 and worked until 3:30 and had no excuse for getting nothing done except that I wanted to finish watching all the seasons of Lost. Which I did. Then on Friday I got a car! Then over the weekend I went to New York again for Fourth of July celebrations and family time. And got no sleep. Again. But I did learn to weave beads into bracelets!

So this past week I've been exhausted from getting no sleep for two weeks and weekends and therefore still got nothing done, despite 7:30 to 3:30 schedule again.

HOWEVER this weekend I've decided it's time for a change. I've gotten in a couple of workouts over the past four weeks, but not enough. I got my sleep in this weekend as well as the following:

Saturday

• WORK OUT CITY. Kind of. Cardio and swimming. I saw four campers at the pool. Talk about making relaxing not nearly as relaxing.
• SOCIALIZING which I haven't done in a while. Went out with a couple of lovely ladies for dinner and drinks and complaining about children. What could be better?

Then I slept 11 hours and then...

Sunday

• Phone calls to parents of my campers next week to tell them what their kids need to bring / where we meet / etc.
• Folded laundry that I did last week. Oops on the delayed folding. (Watched some really good TED Talks while I folded. Highly recommend them. Seriously watch them both right now.)
• Finished the two bracelets I made over the week/weekend with button closures. This took way longer than I expected.
• YOGAMAZING weight loss flow. Maybe if I do it everyday I will lose weight? It's about 25 minutes and makes me fall over and sweat a lot. That's good, right? 
• 100 sit-ups. Jesus. I forgot what feeling my abs was like. Back in the gymnastics days that was super easy. I have become a fatty.
• Attempted YOGA FOR THE BUTT AND THIGHS except that it was after I ate dinner and that is always a bad idea when you are doing downward dog. So I abandoned that about ten minutes in.
• Pending: finishing room cleaning. The laundry was the biggest part but I have some desk/dresser surfaces to clear, also.

While I was in the resting pose after my first session of yoga today, I decided that I think I want to do yoga everyday / make a schedule for myself to follow as far as being off of my butt goes. I'm super intimidated by weight machines at the fitness center so I'm kinda leaning toward yoga instead because I feel the sore more after that, anyway. And I don't have to feel self-conscious because I can do it at home. SO cardio and swimming and yoga in some sort of schedule where everyday I do something to not be a fatty.

Also, attempting to eat better. On that topic, I've not been eating meat for a while. For about a month actually I think? Still gotta back off on fats and sugars etc., though.

HERE'S TO BEING PRODUCTIVE AND HEALTHY. And blogging more, hopefully, too. Tomorrow, perhaps, pictures of car and bracelets. 

oops

Forgot to blog, blog! This is because I am getting up at six in the morning this week (happened yesterday, too!) to work with children all day and I came home yesterday exhausted.

Anyway, blog. Here I am today, exhausted. Just know that I did not forget about you.

RAIN GO AWAY. Children + indoors = worst.

shirt!

Holla atcha, blog! I finished my shirt! If you recall it was a dress to shirt transformation that involved the total take apart of the dress to cut out pattern parts and put it together as a shirt. I learned cool things like how to UNDERSTITCH and SLIPSTITCH. (RElearn, actually, since I had done it before, but long ago.)

As a refresher, here's the before:

Let's remember, this was $0.75 worth of fabric (and buttons! and zipper!), and now it is this not-perfect, but good-enough shirt:

I promise I'm wearing shorts. Just you can only tell in the one picture. It's a bit shapeless, and you don't really notice the little yoke and gathering up top (detailed in the corner), but I like the pattern and I think I like it enough to actually wear it around. There aren't any pictures of the back because the back is pretty much exactly the same as the front. At the very least, I am proud of myself for finally finishing it. And I like it with a belt!

Things that were tough:

• This fabric is old. It frays soooo easily (and rips easily too) 'cause it is decrepit and fragile.
• The pieces didn't match up as well as I would have liked. 
• I got so tired of working with the instructions after a while. It is a lot more work to sew from a pattern than to just wing it. 
• I put too much pressure on the pedal of the sewing machine and it goes crazy fast and I'd get stressed when I was sewing sections that needed to be more particular.

Things that were nice:

• Making something totally different from a frumpy dress.
• Hand sewing! I actually really like that sometimes. Like when Mad Men is on and I'm seeing all the pretty clothes while I make clothes.
• The pattern of the fabric hides mistakes!
• I like gathering fabric!
• BEING DONE.

And on the topic of being done, to be honest there are a couple things I should fix that probably I won't because I am just so over this project, ha. BUT IT IS DONE (enough) SO THAT'S OKAY.

Also spent hours out for coffee and dinner with dear Steph and read more of my book. I am almost done with it-- expect an entry about it because I am wrestling with it very much.

So today, blog, has been very productive. Even though I didn't get up until noon.

almost finished

Srsly almost finished with that shirt I've been sewing. Hemming and side-stitching left- easy-peasy. Read some today, too. Legit blogging tomorrow.

the truth about some things

1. I am a terrible blogger, mostly because my life is not interesting enough to talk about.
2. Today... not the most productive.
3. Cleaned my room, though, since I have been letting it get ridiculous by leaving/throwing things everywhere.
4. Also finished season three of Gossip Girl, not that I would ever watch or have ever watched that show.
5. Read a lot of pages, too.
6. OH AND I DID whip out my clarinet and play it for a while for the first time in a long time. My mouth is no longer strong buuuut I do remember notes and I played what band music I had that sounded interesting and I miss band a lot because I'm a giant nerd. I will maybe get some good solo music or something.
7. I did sew a tiny tiny bit.
8. So I guess it wasn't that unproductive.
9. Here's a pretty picture I found on the internet, because every blog (especially this one) needs more pictures:

Found it here.

hey again, blog!

I have not been home so here's an update:

• made a bandana! with embroideryomg!
• pumpkin muffins!
• wandering around outside!
• super fancy mall!
• driving in the rain and the sun!
• sister's graduation!
• got a new book and been readin' it!
• avatar and where the wild things are! (both pretty decent)
• camp planning!
• picking off all my nail polish! (oops)
• sleeping and eating!

So. Back to regular updates tomorrow.

stuff i did today

1. grocery shopping for healthy foods
2. took a nap
3. gym time
4. lazy time
5. oops not the best at stuff today

i had a busy day, blog!

Well today was crazy busy. I got up at ten in the morning (omgsoearly) on the hunt for a one-piece swimsuit to avoid whoredom at camp. Let me tell you, world, I have probably the worst proportions ever for one-piece swimsuits. Short torso means smaller swimsuit. Smaller waist. Bigger butt. Real big up top. And I only get to pick one size. And the ladies need to be supported. And it can't be too long. And it can't be too wide. And it has to cover the ladies. AND AND AND AND. Always ands. And unfortunately the more swimsuits one tries on the more depressed one is about not finding THE SWIMSUIT that meets all your needs. Hell, I even let go of the hope that I would find a fun swimsuit and just hoped to find a swimsuit that was appropriate.

It took hours and bummed me out in the end, but SEVEN HOURS AFTER STARTING I found one. (Not true, less time than that, but that is how many hours being at malls happened. Holler. Thanks mom.) It is black and kinda plain and was overpriced, but... it'll do. It fits, so... miracle. I also found four pairs of shorts because of none of mine fit me the right way (thigh explosion!), some nail polish, and a cute wallet that fits a check book! Oh man oh man!

AND THEN AND THEN AND THEN after being home for like a half hour went to WORK OUT OH MAN. After some nice jogging time there was some thigh time then some ab time then some arm time then some certified for belaying time (which is also get-paid-for-it-time). Honestly, mostly went to work out because shopping and not finding things is depressing and I needed the endorphins for some cheerin' up and oh how they worked.

THEN I PAINTED MY NAILS. Which I am not good at. Because I am bad at doing anything with my left hand like painting the nails on my right hand. Also there are air bubbles but whatever. I am not super into nail polish because I bite my nails, but I'm trying to get out of that. For whatever reason, when my nails are painted I'm way less likely to eat them, soooooo, here's to nail growth.

Busy day all day. I win at doing things.

sewing and i...

Dear Sewing from Patterns,

You irritate me. Pictures do not often come out quite the same in the pieces. Gathering fabric is weird and upsetting to pin and baste, because it doesn't seem like it's going to look nice, but then it does look nice and I am thrown off. I get too stuck in wanting to be just like the pictures and it makes sewing stressful instead of kinda fun and creative.

Now, I know that you help me to be happier with what I sew. In the end, I'm way happier with you than with refashioning, usually. (Except when you really mess with me and end up looking terrible / when I don't follow directions). You are teaching me a lot, and I appreciate that. Maybe someday we can be best friends. I think once I am better at this sewing thing, we will be. I have faith in us.

Just know that you're not my favorite ever right now.

With love maybe someday,
Lindsay

Anyway, even though sewing from patterns is frustrating and hard for me to keep to, I did do a little bit of work today on that shirt. Then the cranky set in and I had to put it down. It's better for everyone that way.

Got laundry done! I am the best. Three loads worth of awesome.

I think another reason I'm frustrated with sewing, now that I'm thinking about it, is because I have way too many projects I want to do, and sewing a shirt from scratch takes a hell of a lot longer than sewing a skirt from a dress. A lot less attention to detail is necessary for that and the instant gratification is a lot more instant. I am someone who likes to see results, and sewing from patterns takes me sooooo much longer to do than refashioning old clothes. Speaking of, I have at least seven pieces in my closet (thanks Sarah, for your grandma's dresses!) waiting to be refashioned. I have tons of fabric from my grandma's house and tons of patterns. I have a bag full of high school t-shirts and fleece waiting to be turned into a t-shirt blanket. There are too many projects I want to do, so when one takes a little longer I get frustrated and just stop being inspired with that one and thinking too much about other things I want to do. Which means I get nothing done.

OOPS.

Note to self: finish sewing your darn shirt so you can move on. It could be fun. Attitude is everything, right?

Speaking of, I'm working from this pattern: McCalls 5388. It's not hard, but it is time-consuming. No ruffles and no sleeves, so it's in Quadrant III, for all you math nerds.

working hard or hardly working?

Today was new employee orientation omgomgomg. It was... not informative, but it was a good reminder of the things that are most important about a job like attitude and... stuff. But the manager seems pretty nice and it really was nice in that way where it's helpful for success in life and other jobs and just in general.

BUT AFTER THAT I started looking at planning for camp counseling this summer. I'm in charge of nine different camps, and I have to plan out the mornings for each of those. So I've been looking at those and starting to think about and to work out crafts and programs and whatnot.

I also figured out tumblr kinda and I'm putting pretty pictures on one because I like pretty things and getting to look at things I find pretty all in one place. Look at these pretty things. LOOK. Also, generally they are inspirational which is necessary. It's nice to have them in one place which also allows me to share with others who want to look at pretty things.

Today I felt kinda ill, so I took it easy, but tomorrow is laundry day. It's been far too long. I don't even know what clothes I have anymore.

last day o' may

WELL because of the weekend and the part where I was SOCIALIZING, not as much to post on what I actually did. But here are some tidbits from this memorial day weekend:

• 10 Simplicity patterns for $10 (thanks, JoAnn fabrics sale!) (also patterns generally run over $15 for just one, so this is an awesome deal)
• Party party party for the going away of some working-in-PA-for-the-summer friends
• Lunch with grandparents fo FREE
• BON BON COOKIES which are gone now, but there were only like 14, sooooo... there (ALSO: pumpkin catastrophe of Ohio, apparently, because we wanted to make pumpkin cupcakes but there were no canned pumpkins saddest)
• Super lovely walk in the park
• Memorial day grillin' feast with family friends

And maybe some other things, but I forget.

Did I sew? Nope. OH but I did start and finish reading The Giver 'cause I didn't remember much of it from reading it years and years ago. Starts out super interesting, but the end is a lot weaker if you ask me. Not cool.

Anyhow, goodbye May. It's been real.

painting 4eva part three

Srsly. Painting. Today, sister's room. Nothing more to report. Wrists hurt.

:( :( :(

not the most productive

Well, guys, today was not the most productive of days. To be fair, it wasn't entirely unproductive. I did go out and get fingerprinted to prove I'm not a kidnapper for my summer job. Then I came home and got distracted by UH OH THE TELEVISION.

But it wasn't just any television. It was TLC's Toddlers and Tiaras. Jesus. That show. Is the worst. It is watching the worst people ever do the worst things ever and make examples of how America is terrible sometimes. I could not look away, obviously. And TLC was doing some marathon or something because I watched four episodes (that's four hours) while I half-heartedly worked a little on sewing and also ate dinner and stuff. But basically I spent my day watching 3-year-old (sometimes they were younger and sometimes older... up to 9!) pageant girls (and boys!) and their crazy pageant parents and being so horrified I couldn't look away.

Am I disgusted with myself? Eh, maybe a little. But days like these happen sometimes. It's like that time after I had oral surgery that I watched Tila Tequila all day while on Vicodin. Anyway.

So what sewing did I get done? Well I transferred the funky shapes on the pattern sheets to the fabric (this... might not make sense if you don't know how patterns work... but basically there are little shapes that you have to match up between pieces, like a puzzle, but you have to copy these shapes onto the fabric, or at least that's what I do runonsentencesorry) and then I sewed the bias tape onto the arm hole bits. This takes a lot longer than you'd expect, turns out. Three rows of sewing for each arm hole and multiple times ironing and super-precision and stuff. BUT IT WAS A GOOD LESSON, and I will definitely use bias tape in the future for things like u-necks and other arm holes and stuff. Also now I can make bias tape, which is good for the part where I am cheap and also good for matching fabric.

I also worked on the gathering that happens around the neck, and I was gonna sew on the yoke (this shirt has a yoke! front and back!) but then I got a phone call and now I'm all thrown off so I'm just going to give up on productivity for today. Particularly because sewing when I'm tired and irritable means that I will do a quick (crappy) job, and I am supposed to be getting better at this, not cheating.

So... kinda did stuff, but could have done more, had TLC not thrown horrifying people in my face for hours. (I also watched PREGNANT AND IN PERIL, which was really not as interesting.)

On a brighter note, I've been writing everyday before bed, except when I am not home / when company is over. All summer, actually. I am pretty proud of myself for that. Also, this is funny.

just an average zoo date

Well! The zoo was fabulous. Saw the whole darn thing in only five hours! (This is a big deal. The Cleveland Zoo is kinda big. And full of animals.) I didn't do anything else because I figured that wandering around for five hours is enough / I am tired and my body hurts / I'm watching Weeds on Netflix, okay?!

Anyway, so the zoo had lots of great things and here are some highlights!

There were instructional signs for the safety of animals:

There were informational signs on the animals themselves! This one showed different ways condors had to deal with being almost extinct / dying:

(I added the frowny faces.)

And of course, there was wildlife! My favorite = dinosaurs.

Thanks for all the cool stuff, zoo! And a great time with friends which included not only dinosaurs, but also actual living animals, blue icees (and blue stained mouths, oops), and all sorts of walking in the beautiful Ohio sun.

Gotta watch television now lol!

a shirt for $0.75 (provided I can follow directions)

After a glorious birthday weekend involving relaxation and booze and turning into a grown-up-21-year-old, I'm back to doing things that are slightly more productive and sometimes less fun.

I started today with some good old-fashioned seam-ripping to take apart the floral dress recently procured at the local thrift store for $0.75. I took apart the sides, took out the 8 ridiculous pleats on the upper portion, took out the zipper, took off the non-functional buttons, and ironed the crap out of that fabric. (Sometime in the middle of SEAM-RIPPING FOREVER was a trip to Target where unfortunately there remain zero one-piece swimsuits, which is a bummer because I need one for not looking whoreish working at camp this summer.)

After seam-ripping the poop out of everything, I cut out a pattern for a SHIRT because I am going to try making a shirt. It's Simplicity somethingorother, I don't remember the number, and I am far too lazy to go upstairs to look at the pattern. I'll include it next time, once (if) the shirt is finished. Although I love skirts and dresses very much, I'm attempting a tank top mostly just because I've never made a shirt at all and it's a SUPER COOL CHALLENGE for myself. Which actually seems like it's going to be a lot easier than all the other patterns I've attempted in the past, soooo fail on the challenge part, maybe. (Fun fact: I have sewn three things with patterns. One was a tote, one was a dress, and one was a failure of a dress.)

Somethin' coo': I noticed unfortunately that I need bias tape for this pattern, also. I've never used bias tape before but I'm excited for it, not only because it's a new thing to learn, but also because I made my own. Usually you buy stuff that matches your fabric, but I made some from some leftover fabric. I used this tutorial, but I don't have a fancy bias tape tool, so I just used my iron (it takes longer).

Here's a picture of the dress before, some homemade bias tape in the upper right corner, and the cut out pattern pieces waiting for me to sew them.

The little green square on the neck of the dress is the price-tag. $1.50, but green tags were half-off the day I went, so I got it for $0.75, and soon that'll mean a shirt for $0.75 and also a good long zipper and some buttons. This is what we call a good deal.

Going to the zoo with friends tomorrow! And maybe even doing some sewing. We shall see. It's supposed to be summer for real tomorrow (hot) and maybe the zoo will kill me (probably not).

birthday weekend

Dear world, today's blog post comes a little early to let y'all know that this weekend there will probably not be updates. Or at least not tomorrow. BECAUSE TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY and I will do things if I want to, but blogging about it right away is one of those things that probably I won't do.

Never fear, I did do some things today. I had a two-hour work meeting ($16!) that was all about what I'll be doing all summer. The answer is hanging out with 5 and 6 year olds, mostly. Plus some other kids here and there. And "flying by the seat of my pants," also, apparently. Anyway, it should be good.

Other things: I GOT MY LICENSE that says I can buy booze. 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 tomorrow (that's "21" 21 times, if you were curious). 

And then I finished putting things in my room after painting and then I vacuumed some places and now I am done doing stuff for today. Except maybe I will buy a dress pattern online.

NO PICTUREZ SRY.

painting 4eva part two

Today painted the trim and the window bits and mom painted the door and frames (takes longer than you'd think). Touched up where needed, moved the furniture mostly back, washed my sheets, and soon will put them on the bed.

Not as busy as I could have been, perhaps, but still did things.

Alllllll my body parts hurt. Accidental exercise via painting?

painting 4eva

MY ROOM IS PAINTED. I am tired.

Thanks to mom for the assist on the second coat.

OH ALSO went to coffee with darling Stephanie. She had better be reading this.

skirts skirts everybody loves skirts

Guess who finished her music-men skirt today? Me. I did. I did it. I did things. I am the best. I also had the pleasure of taking out some of the seams in my sister's prom dress because someone has grown since she bought the dress. (That someone is not me this time, guys.)

Anyway, onto this skirt, right? Here's the before picture in case anybody missed it and the way it is terrifying.

Beautiful! So here's what I did:

• Separated the top half from the bottom with my trusty seam-ripper
• Ironed over the top edge to put in elastic and began sewing the tube-bit for the elastic when I realized...
• OH NO GOTTA TAKE OUT THOSE POCKETS (which is sad, because I do love pockets... but they were very much in the way of where the elastic would be)
• Sewed up the sides where the pockets used to be (seriously...saddest that there are no pockets now)
• Put in the elastic for the waist band! Can we talk about how much of a pain pushing a couple feet of elastic through a SEVEN FOOT FABRIC TUBE is? My fingertips are angry at me for the death-grip I had on the safety pin I used to assist. 
• Sewed up the areas around the entry-point for the elastic.
• Sewed some of the skirt to the elastic to avoid it folding and twisting in the laundry/wear/etc.
• PUT THAT SKIRT ON:

(Excuse the part where you can see my bra through my t-shirt. Oops.) Also, after picture is complete with close-up of the fabric so you can see the glory that is the print on this skirt.

Anyway, now it is late and I have to get ready to do things tomorrow. What am I doing? you might wonder. PAINTING MY ROOM YES I AM. And I am very excited about it. Also doors. And trim, if trim is not to be replaced. Dearest room, you are going from ten-year-old's-room to capable-of-being-a-guest-room-when-I-move-out-without-making-guests-feel-awkward-and-ten-years-old tomorrow. Be excited. I am pumped to live in a grown up room. And put my white sheets on my bed soon after that.

Yessssss.

P.S. Happy birthday, Dad. I microwaved dinner-in-a-steam-bag because I am a super cook and daughter.

where have i been?

I didn't cheat. Visiting the bf for a couple of days counts as doing something.

DOING THINGS again tomorrow.

did some things!

Started off the day by getting some laundry going and then going for a nice bike ride in the lovely sunshine. Then I seam-ripped the musical-instrument-playing-dress to take the skirt section off. I want to do an elastic waist but unfortunately the POCKETS ARE IN THE WAY. A skirt with pockets already and I'm going to have to take them out. OR WILL I? We'll see.

Here's a sneak peek BEFORE PIC. Missing buttons, wide waistline and everything! In fact, once the skirt was removed, it got even wider, because of little tiny pleat-things.

Anyway then I did more laundry (laundry all day!) and then went to the gym and "ran" for half an hour in my new shoes and I have to say that they are far more comfortable than my $8 Wal*Mart shoes. NOW MY LEGS ARE SO DEAD ALSO.

But I think the really big thing today was the laundry. I have not done laundry since... probably for over a month. (I have a lot of underwear...) As of now I've done and folded four loads, with two more that'll be laundered before the night is over. I am a laundry machine.

shopping = something, right?

Things I hate to admit: today was a very sore day for me in the leg muscle and ab areas. I know I went "running" or whatever ("running"=jogging / walking fast), but only for 30 minutes and not far enough to hurt this much. I am very out of shape.

I learned about this soreness by being on my feet most of today, however. Mom and I brought an SUV's-worth of clothes, books, and creepy dolls to Goodwill. Then we hit up a nearby thrift store, Village Discount Outlet, also known as the VDO. Where I found six pieces at a total price of $8.00. Win for me!

SNEAKPEEKOMG.

The upper few pieces are hard to see, but here's what I got going clockwise from the red shirt.

THE RED SHIRT. Marked "vintage," it's a nice soft questionable fabric long-sleeved blouse. I think I might actually wear it as is, except laundered so it doesn't smell all old lady.

SOME WEIRD ASIAN-INSPIRED DRESS. ...which you can't really see, but is on the top in the middle. It's white with a pretty little pattern and looks like it belongs on a purse. So I'm going to make a purse from it.

TRUMPET PLAYING MEN DRESS. Just realized you can barely see this one at all, but it's up in the right-hand corner. It's a kind of mottled blue with tiny men playing instruments. It's going to be a skirt.

BLACK FLORAL MONSTROSITY. This is a giant black dress with a pink and white floral print on it. It's so huge I think I might be able to take it apart and make a WHOLE DIFFERENT DRESS WITH IT. We'll see.

RIDICULOUS PARROTFLORAL DRESS. Oh yes. Parrots and tropical flowers. I don't know if it's going to be a dress still or what, but it's way long and not flattering and made of ridiculously beautiful fabric. It is going to be awesome, whatever it ends up.

FLORAL COUCH DRESS. Looks like it should be an old lady's couch. Still will when I refashion it, but it will look like a floral couch trying to be a skirt or a dress, probably.

CLOTHES ARE SO GREAT, THANKS THRIFT STORE.

Anyway, after the thrift store, went to Macy's with some paint swatches and picked some new bedding. I got some white sheets, which I am super excited about, because I have a thing for white sheets.

Then Mom got some Reebok easy tone shoes and they were so ridiculously awesome that I got some, too. Too expensive, but hopefully they make "running" feel better than when I do it with $8 Wal*Mart shoes.

Tomorrow I am going to do things besides walking in stores for four hours, but I still think that counts because I was not on my butt in front of the television all day. Refashiontimetomorrow. And also I'll be back at the gym, probz. WITH MY NEW SHOES.

so far so good

One day into blogging, and so far it's actually working for my productivity. I got up a bit late, but started the day with a trip to get some necessities like contact solution. Then, upon returning home, I started work on a thrift store dress I'd gotten a while back and wanted to improve. I went to the gym, also, and learned that I am ridiculously out of shape. More so than I've been before, so it's pretty ridic. Gonna work on that.

BUT ANYWAY the really exciting part is that I finished working on that dress. I had picked it up because I liked the print so much, but the fit at the top was really off and not modern at all, and the skirt was way too long. At some point, probably over winter or spring break, I took off the sleeves, and then today I finished the rest.

What should have been a fairly quick process of taking off the top portion and then shortening the skirt was probably a good hour or two longer than it should have been, because I had to sew the bottom hem four times, since I didn't pay enough attention to where the fabric was folded under and then kept thinking I could just sew over to fix it but that looked really dumb. Duuuuuh. But, lesson learned. Pay attention. Srsly.

The top of the skirt ended up really sack-like because the back of the dress is ruched (right word?) with elastic, but I like it a lot. I'm actually really happy with how this turned out. I've been wanting a skirt-of-a-decent-length for a while. Forever21 is lame in that way where they really target younger skankier people than I am / it is windy sometimes and I don't want to expose my butt (sometimes).

So here are some really great before and after shots! (Note that the before shot is not entirely legit; I never had a picture of the dress with the sleeves on it, but whatevs. Just imagine short sleeves and probably there were shoulder pads, too.)

Stuff you can't see in the photos: the dress is a wrap dress, so there are buttons and snaps and ties and things, and I left all of these, including the ties because they aren't offensive at all. I took somewhere between nine and ten inches off the length. It falls just a few inches above my knees and has pockets--good length AND pockets are rare in skirts I've come across / own lately, and I am really excited about this one.

So really, today was pretty darn productive. Skirts, exercise, and stores.

I did things!

P.S. I am really bad at self-timers on cameras.

i'm not good at summer.

I'm not really good at blogging or keeping a diary or anything where I have to update it all the time. I'm also not really good at keeping up with goals I set for myself. Aaaaand I'm not good at finishing projects, either, but I am good at starting them. I'm also ridiculously good at sitting on my butt in front of the television. And facebooking. And eating a lot. And just being a bum in general.

So this blog is an attempt to defeat my laziness, a reminder to DO SOMETHING. (In other words, get off your lazy butt and be productive.) I don't want to go multiple days in front of the TV watching crappy crime shows OR WORSE watching those terribly addicting shows like 19 (20? 21?) Kids and Counting because I know that I can be doing something better with my life.

So here are some examples of somethings better. (No really. I'm going to do them. Productivity, here I come.)

• Sewing! I'm learning to do that. 
• Exercising! Yoga, bike riding, anything that is not sitting, etc.
• Writing! I know this involves sitting on my lazy butt, but it will exercise the creativity in my brain, so it counts.
• Reading! My goodreads account isn't going to know what hit it. Also, this counts as brain exercise.
• Cooking!/Baking! Probably I will bake. I really like baked goods. 
• Exploring the wild! There are tons of parks around here; might as well use them to my advantage.
• Thrifting! Better than shopping, because it's cheaper.
• Working! Forgot to mention, I'll have a job starting in June. $$$!

Since I'm home from school for my last summer before graduating with a BA in English and Philosophy (employment? naaaaah.), I want to make the most of it. In fact, I've already gotten started. The past four days have been spent tearing apart my room. Multiple bags of clothes and shoes are making their way to Goodwill pretty soon, along with boxes of books and trinkets and other things that other people will use more than I will. And although my room is still fit to bursting, it is being clean about it and is ready and open for projects to occur inside of it. Next steps: painting and redecorating (or at the very least I'm hoping for new bedding). 

So here is my challenge to myself, made public in the hope that I might keep it:

DO SOMETHING. Everyday.