Wednesday, June 27, 2007

La Casa


Here it is! After an overly thorough application and screening process, Jonathan and I have been approved to live in Lawrence! Jonathan gets to move in tomorrow, and I'll slowly cart my stuff in until I can officially live there too. I'm so excited. We'll have the garage on the left, and the door on the right - so our half of the place is over the garage. The only sad part is that they don't allow cats, so Sydney has to live in Wichita until our next move. He's a pretty chill cat, though, so I think he'll be okay.

In other news, I have recently rediscovered my love for Pandora. And 100 days from today I'll be getting hitched.

Monday, June 25, 2007

On sewing.

I decided that I should make a dress for the small cousin who will be the flowergirl at our wedding. I thought to myself that really it couldn't be that difficult. First, I went to the fabric store and found a so-called easy pattern. They lure you in with a brand-name of "Simplicity."

Here's a play-by-play of my Monday night in Topeka, making a practice version of what may someday be the real dress. Warning: this is super-exciting stuff. Hold on to your hats.

I was encouraged at my mastery over the first two steps of this project:

Step 1 - Wash the fabric.









Step 2: Dry the fabric. (This was my favorite activity.)


But after that, things got tricky. I probably called Jonathan's mom at least five times with different questions - and that was only after re-reading the entire contents of my pattern envelope and consulting a "Sewing Basics" book that Jonathan's aunt got when she realized the sad state of my sewing skills. The next few steps proceeded slowly and painfully.

Step 3: Lay out the pattern and cut the fabric.


Step 4: Figure out the sewing machine.



Step 5: Put it all together. This step involved gathering fabric, which wasn't nearly as stressful as I had anticipated. I did manage to crush my gathers when I sewed the top and the bottom together, though. And the finished result looks way too big to me. I guess that's why this is the trial run.



But in the end, I took a bunch of fabric and made it into something (almost, but not quite yet) wearable. That's pretty cool. I can try anything once.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Read my mind.

It's a Monday of answered questions here in stormy Kansas.

Q: Will Ogden Publications hire Jonathan to be a web developer?
A: Yes.

Q: Where will Chelsea go for her internship this school year?
A: Wyandot Center for Community Behavioral Health Care, in Wyandotte County

... So really only two questions were answered, but they were big so I'm left with a good deal of satisfaction. We'll get to live in Lawrence, which is about halfway between my work and his. I can't wait.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Onward

I've come down with something
I'm frozen, tied up, cast in lead
It's simple, so says the captain
Face forward, move slow, forge ahead

Okay kids, I'm back. I survived comprehensive exams the first time around, which was a relief because I didn't have to finagle my way out of work to do retakes. On Monday I'll find out my internship site for the coming year and I'm pretty excited about that. And to cover the latest agenda in general terms, my life lately has consisted of: thesis planning, wedding planning, and future planning. All this planning makes me want to enjoy today a little bit more.

I decided to clean the inside of my car on Thursday night. Two hours into it, when I was spraying armor-all on q-tips and cleaning the little bars on the vents, I realized that this is my approach to cleaning all things. I am not a tidy things up daily person. Instead, I obsessively clean one specific area or thing on an irregular basis. This strategy has led to some interesting finds; Thursday night I realized for the first time that my car, which I've had for two years, does indeed have cup holders.

I'm earning a reputation
My conscience, mistrust and regret
Courageous, just like the captain
Marching forward with no doubt in his head

I'm currently in Wichita, which seems to be the hot weekend destination for me and my automobile lately. I'm biting my fingernails off waiting to hear about Jonathan's latest job interview. And we're getting ready to look at wedding bands, find a flower girl dress, do other wedding-y things... Sometimes it's surreal. But I'm going to enjoy today.

Onward, onward, onward, onward

-"The Captain" by Guster