Babbles of a Procrastinating Grad Student

It's been cold as fuck lately, which is actually a good thing since this weather is more normal than the -5C we've been having.  For those who say that we shouldn't count the windchill when describing temps have never been here.  While the base temperature was only -16C (~3F)* on Friday, it felt like -40C (-40F)* with the windchill.  It's the joy of living on the prairies, where there is literally nothing to block or slow down the wind when it comes tearing through the province.

But today?  Today is quite lovely.  Clear blue skies, sunny as all get-out, and crisp -10C (14F)*.  Lovely day for a walk.  Went off to the local coffee shop for a latte and a chapter of Pride and Prejudice, then an hour long stroll through the residential streets.  My neighbourhood is one of the older ones in the city, with big trees lining the streets and gorgeous, large houses constructed in the 40's and 50's.  I've been itching to wander about for a while now, and today was a great opportunity.

And now I'm off to watch a Torchwood marathon while forcing myself to work on my winter coat, because I'm really tired of wearing my ever increasingly ratty work jacket when out in public.  I hope you all enjoy your day as much as I have been!


* I'm trying to force myself to finally get a grasp of Fahrenheit temperatures, because they always baffle me and I come across it often enough.  All conversions done using this site.

Good weekend is good. 

Spent all of yesterday sewing a Christmas dress - a green satin thing - and finished JUST in time to get to my work Christmas party.  Got lots of compliments on it, and then people were surprised when I mentioned that I'd sewn it...that day.  :D  The dinner was nice, we were at a fondu place that I've always wanted to go to.  Plus drinks were free!  

Then one of my co-workers, her fiance, and I took off to go to my best friend's brother's Christmas/Birthday party.  Turns out my coworker is friends with the crew.  It was a good party, even if I was a little overdressed.  lol!  I got called 'Silky' all night because my dress was apparently silky feeling.  I got groped often as people wanted to touch my dress, but it was all in fun.  :)  The round of 'spin the bottle' was hilarious and felt like we were back in junior high!  

Today, I cleaned my apartment in anticipation of my Grandma and Uncle coming over to visit.  Then tonight, I'm off to a show at the local theatre down the street.  Figured it was about time I went to something there, and bought a ticket to whatever was on this weekend.  I have no idea what I'm going to see.  Actually, hold on, let me look it up on the theatre website.

The Bert Johnson Quartet, featuring free-word poet T'ai Pu

Oh god.

Well, yesterday was probably one of the best day's I've had in a long time.  Met up with a couple sewists here in Manitoba, and it was great chatting about sewing with them.  We took full sets of measurements in the morning (which is fantastic because now I know how much I need to alter garments, especially for pants and across the shoulders - difficult measurements to take yourself), then went to lunch at Mondo's, this really fantastic stir fry place where you pick all your sauce and ingredients (from about 10 bajillion options) and they fry it all up for you.  Delicious!  Then we went shopping in the afternoon, hitting up three fabric stores I didn't even know what in Winnipeg!

The other PR ladies were really awesome and filthy filthy enablers.  I'm never going to Fabricland again, except for the odd Simplicity pattern (they're the only ones who stock it in the city).  Also, I may be going to a sewing retreat with them in March, somewhere down in Minnesota.  It's over my birthday, so I think that'd be a great b-day present to myself, eh?

Walked away with a winter coat.  Some assembly required, of course!  I bought 4 m of a burgundy wool and 2 m of flannel-backed satin for the lining.  Oh, and some good quality sew-in interfacing for the collar and front panels.  I'm super excited to get started on this, although now I'm starting to doubt the pattern I have.  Maybe I'll go poke around to see what other options are out there before I start cutting.

Anyways, awesome day.  Today I'm just going to putter around the apartment, maybe tidy up a bit (it's sort of a disaster right now), and maybe go over to the Park Theatre Cafe for a cuppa and a book.  Been wanting to go there for a while now.  :)

Am about to make some Cornflake Crunchie goodness (which is basically cornflakes and peanuts stuck together with brown sugar, corn syrup, peanut butter and vanilla and then chilled), and then I'm off to work.  No, I'm not mixing up the days.  I told my coworker I'd come in this weekend if she needed me and help her with a huge report she has to have done by Tuesday.  Because I'm nice like that. 

Dammit.

At least we'll have some tasty treats to munch on!

Oh! Look what I finished up last night!  Nighties!  It was cozy to sleep in, too, so I call that  a success.

Am going to bed right away, but I thought I'd point out my stupidity for the entertainment of the masses.

I think I've mentioned a couple time on here about a sewing contest I joined, where we have to sew up something pink in honour of October being breast cancer awareness month.  The deadline to submit was today, and I was determined to finish the blouse I was working on.  

So determined that I stayed up all night last night, finishing it up.  Then I spent an hour or so this morning writing up my entry for the contest and a blog post over on Sewing on Pins, before running out the door to catch my bus to work.  Of course, today would happen to be one of the few days I need to be at work by 7 am. 

Luckily, we were in the field all day, and we were busy enough and cold enough that I was able to maintain relative coherency.  But boy was that dumb.  I'm going to bed now, because I can barely move.

Mmm...comfy chair is comfy.  Don't wanna move...

So happy it's the weekend!  I have so much planned, it's a little ridiculous.  :D  

I've been putting off unpacking my books and stuff until I painted my shelves.  I'm really good at making plans to do things, and then never following through with it.  However, today I picked up some paint from Walmart, and got one shelf painted tonight, plus one coat on my sewing desk. 

I picked a shade of light beige called Autumnal Equinox (what this has to do with light beige I have no idea, but paint names are stupid in general), but it's looking more white to me.  Oh well, it's scads better than the fake wood of the shelves and the chipped-black-paint-over-fake-wood of the desk.  I wanted something light and neutral, that would sort of blend into the wall colour.  The desk is looking really good, now that I have a second coat on the top.  I just hope it holds up to my sewing adventures.

I also have to finish a sewing project this weekend, a pink blouse for a Think Pink sewing contest that ends on Oct 31.  Of course, tearing apart my sewing nook to paint my desk isn't helping all that much, but I'll probably set up my machine on my kitchen table.

Also plan to unpack some more.  And maybe do something for Halloween.  Maybe. 

Anywho, it's bed time for me!  Night all.

Why do I always feel the desire to sew when I should be going to bed?

Ack, I've been staying at my Grandma and Uncle's place since I got back to Manitoba, and haven't really been online all that much.  A few quick hours a day, mostly dealing with email stuff and job hunting (and cover letter writing research - my goodness are they ever hard to write).  I keep thinking of things I want to babble about, but then don't get it down before it's sort of too late.  I'm so behind on all of my internet stuff, honestly. 

*le sigh*  Woes of an internet addict.  lol!

Anywho, I have managed to get a bit of sewing in since coming back.  Wrote up a post on a summer dress I recreated from a RTW (ready-to-wear aka store bought) dress that I adored, but was too short for me.  Really proud of myself on that one, since I made up the pattern based on some sketches and a few quick measurements of the original dress!

I also made up a tutorial on how to tea-dye material (such as the lace I used on my summer dress).  There's a giveaway on that post for the lace I dyed in the tutorial, so if you're interested in winning a length of antique-looking lace (it's very pretty), head on over there and leave a comment!  I'll be making the draw this Friday.  (If you have problems posting a comment, let me know).

Right now, I'm just chilling at Starbucks, working on a cover letter and looking up jobs.  Man, I hope I can find something quick.  I really don't want to mooch off of my family any longer than I have to (although I am trying to help with the cleaning as much as possible as a pseudo-payment.  I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have my family to help me out right now).

Anywho, back to writing!  This is disturbingly like writing my thesis, only worse because I have to say Positive Things about myself.  Yay teeth pulling!

+ 4 degrees C in February in Manitoba.  WTF is this shit??!  It should be -40 C NOT EFFIN' +4 ARGH.

Back in the boonies, so very little internet access from now one.  *le sigh*  Just when I was getting used to having it again.  :(

Depressing post is depressing, whoa man.  Here's a bit of joy to end it off.  I've got a sewing project to work on, and I even got the FBA (full bust adjustment) finished on it last night!  I don't know why I stopped sewing, other than thinking that I'd work on my thesis more.  It actually motivates me to work on the thesis more often (since I can tell myself I can only sew if I do a certain amount of work), and it give me the creative outlet I've been craving lately.

Alright, I'm done babbling.  Wish me luck in no-internet land!  Don't feel bad for me, though.  I have a project!  :D

After days of fighting with it, I think I've worked out how to work one of the computer programs I have to use for data analysis for the Thesis.  Maybe.  I hope.  Stupid PHREEQC.  And it's the easier one of the bunch, too.  *facepalm*

BUT at least I've done what I can.  :D

In other news, I'm a week and a half away from the deadline for the wardrobe contest I joined.  EEP!  I have 2 bottoms (a pair of pants and a tight tight tight denim pencil skirt) started, 1 complete top, and a new topper to finish.  I had a cardigan topper finished, but it's a disaster.  So I need to come up with something else.  I'm thinking of a jacket, possibly the one below (without the ties), but I'm nor sure yet.


Not the dress, though, because that would be an absolute disaster for my body type.  :)

Tonight, I'm going to chill out, watch tv or maybe some more Merlin or White Collar, and work on the top, a simple knit t-shirt.  And then spend the entire weekend sewing because OMG A WEEK AND A HALF!