Flowers for Algernon…no wait…those are mine.

Hallo!

After sleeping in until about 11 (whoops…), I rode to Arlington for the second day in a row.  In the past week, I have spent about 33 hours in the car.  Euck!  Anyway, today I was in Arlington watching the boy secure his new GMC truck.  AND I secured tickets for the Christmas Eve showing of LES MISERABLES!!!  AKA MY FAVORITE MUSICAL OH MY GOD I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE HUGH JACKMAN AS JEAN VALJEAN!!!  We were going to go see Kyle Park at Billy Bob's but instead we just got a nice small dinner, saw some Christmas lights, and hunkered down to watch the BU vs. BYU game on ESPN.

Time to continue on with

SEMESTER IN REVIEW:

8/13 - 19

The week before school brought Welcome Week activities for the incoming freshmen and a few theatre traditions for me.  Such as our wonderful Baylor Theatre Meet-n-greet where you're thrown into a room of people (3/4 of whom you actually know, thankfully) and you walk around trying to make sure you say hi to everyone.

Jason and Kyle were creepily smiling for my candid shot...

8/20 - 26

Classes started up again on the 20th.  Junior Year - waddup?  I was mostly excited to be back with these crazy, gorgeous girls.

Also, the boy sent me these:

I got me a keeper…he knows purple is my favorite.

And finally, after years of waiting, I became a GRANDBIG.  Look at our little family!

2 GrandBigs + 1 Big + 1 Little = 1 Happy BUT Family

But all good things must come to an end, and that end was my car dying on me…

Eponine finally bit the dust...

Two weeks after they had helped me move in, my mom and brother were back, helping me to find a cheap 2-year replacement.

This is the cleanest she's ever been...

Look at all the stickers…so many adventures.

And boy did we find it!  We found our deal!

Hello, gorgeous!

A red 2006 elantra with like 60,000 miles for like 9,000 (and that was before my trade in which knocked at least 1,500 more off).  

It was by no means my dream car, but it was fine for now.

The signing process was hard...

I'm gonna miss Ep-y.

But after, my brother and I had celebratory drinks.

Cheers to new cars and 10 bold flavors!

With my car ordeal good and done, my mother and brother left for home, leaving me to tackle...

8/27 - 9/2

The second week of school.  My friend Ryan's 21st birthday was Thursday! Which meant that Wednesday night a group of us went to Cricket's Bar and Grill and Ryan proceeded to get sch-wasted the night before our design presentation for the musical.  But that's another story.  Point is he was very happy that night.

Friday night was Ryan's rave birthday party.  Black lights, neon paint, white shirts, dubstep:  all of it was there.  It was AWESOME.  Until all of the randos showed up and the cops came.  By the end of the night I was covered in paint and sweat.

The next day I hosted a Harry Potter viewing party!  Just in time for the first day of school at Hogwarts.  Yes, I planned it for that day specifically…I don't care, I'm a dork.  The only problem is it was a day after a full-fledged night of paint, dancing, and drinking as aforementioned, and also half of the department was helping to build a set for a musical.  Still a few good friends showed up and we drank butterbeer and it was good fun.

Hannah and I with some addictive Butterbeer (courtesy of the Pinterest)

Okay, now...

CRAFT TIME

So back to those beautiful flowers that my boy sent me on August 20th.  I could not bring myself to throw them away.  Actually, I still haven't.  So first, I did what I always do to procrastinate.  I hung the bouquet up to dry.  Well after a couple of weeks, that wasn't an option anymore.  Then it hit me: potpourri!  Dried flowers can be stored with herbs on display or in mesh bags as a little thing called potpourri.  Well I had a spare glass bowl so i pulled the petals off of the stems, put them in the bowl and VOILA!  I think this is an awesome way to add shelf-life to floral arrangements you have a fond attachment to.  I've done it three times since.

Thanks for reading, whoever is out there doing so.  I hope I'm not too boring.

Until tomorrow!
The FeltWoman

My GIFt to You: Actual Posts tainted by pop culture references...

HELLO READER!  Oh my goodness has it been awhile or WHAT???

I am so sorry that I am awful at updating my blog.   I'm so ashamed...

Oh well.  Life gets in the way sometimes...

Speaking of life.

We gotta go BACK IN TIME for this blog post.

By the way, it's my desire that any time I say BACK IN TIME in this post, you automatically think of this. 

If you know what I mean, I applaud you.

If you don't know what this is.

Not really.  Sorry guys I'm a little gif happy today.

8/6 - 12

Sunday, August 5, was MOVE-OUT/MOVE-IN day.  I had to be out of my apartment by noon Monday, but I wasn't supposed to move in to my new apartment until August 10…  #awkward.  BUT luckily, with some nice help from the office on move-in days, we managed to get it all taken care of in one day.  And by we I mean my mom (who had a cast on her leg), brother (who was ten), and myself.  I mean, everything was still in boxes, but it was still very impressive.  We hired some guys to help move heavier items later in the day, and I have some great neighbors who were REALLY helpful.  They rock.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.  I had to bask in this wonderful moment for a while.  Here we go.  Phase by phase.

Ohmygod!  My first steps!

Such a big living room for one girl!

I have appliances!

And a place to do necessary things.

I'm gonna sleep in this room…just not now.

Acting as though I have a good view… I don't.  The only con.

So Monday, instead of being move-out day, was unpack crap/get Mom's cast off day!  We went back home and then to Katy to have the nice medical people cut the plaster off of her leg.  The next step was her nifty boot.  Which she said reminds her of Star Wars gear…

What my mom was wearing…

 

What she thinks she was wearing...

Tuesday was a big day for me in Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo land.  Some of you may know that I am a provisional-ish member of the Speakers Committee.  We travel to schools and give speeches on Texas Western Heritage and the Rodeo.  But as rookies we have to get our speeches approved.  So on Tuesday I went to Reliant Center to present my twenty-minute speech on Country/Western Music so that I could be approved.  Technically I can't give the speech until January due to my being under the age limit, but I was able to begin observing speeches.  It's a process.

I swear, this is my last one.

So anyway.  MY APARTMENT.  Let's jump back to that whole process.

I did not have a bed.  My new apartment came unfurnished so I was a little behind schedule on that part…  Also, it's a one bedroom/one bathroom and there were (again) three of us.  Sleeping arrangements were…interesting.  And the apartment was not looking too hot.

But with a little time and effort, I got this little sweet number.

        

My mantle looks gorgeous in candlelight…                    I HAVE THE EXPLODING TARDIS ON MY WALL!!!

And eventually, I even got a bed!

I have an apartment, and it's all mine!  Mine alone!  Except when the boy is here, then it's kinda his, but since that's a rareity, it's MINE!

Not only is it an apartment, but it has wifi AND BBCAMERICA! (I mean it has other channels too, but this was the huge selling point.)  It's 2+ minutes form campus by car and it is my much needed sanctuary.  I LOVE IT.

CRAFT TIME

And here is my little bit of craft for this post.  I needed some shelves.  But I wasn't about to go and buy more stuff after getting all the necessities for an apartment.

I did have one of these hanging around though:

It's a spinning top game.  Well mine was a lot older than this one.  And it didn't have the little pegs.  I also don't have spinning tops.  #sorry

It seems this was a bit of a dated piece of play.  That's alright though.  It was about to get a new life as a cubby shelf.  I called up the boy and he helped to consult me on to the best course of action. 

He suggested I get some of these:

 

Ook Hooks                                                   Mounted D-Rings

I mean, it's pretty simple.  I attached the D-Rings onto the back of the maze, nailed the ook hooks into the wall...

And VOILA!

Such a wonderful place to show off my bottle collection!

I'd say that's a bit of a success.  And it looks so nifty on my wall!

Well, that about covers move in.  

Today I spent all of my day time with the boy searching for a new truck for him…so I'm pooped.  I'll cover 8/13-19, 8/20-26, and 8/27-9/2 in the next post.  

Much love,

The FeltWoman

The Return of the FeltWoman

I'm baaaaaaaack!

Oh my goodness, I have not been here in forever!  And the year is almost at a close.  I've made good use of it - so much so that I have neglected to keep up with my adventures online here.  Seriously, so much has happened in my life, and there is no way that I can wrap it all up in its entirety in one post.

In order to make sure that I do not waste another day of this blog, I will be (attempting to) post each day about the awesome events of the past five months, two weeks each day.  As well as the present day's activities.

Along the way I'll be posting my crafty and artsy doings.  Mostly I just want to get on good ground for the coming year.  I doubt I'll remember everything, but two weeks per day should keep it interesting.  And at this rate we'll wrap up everything by New Years Eve.

So without further ado...

The FeltWoman has RETURNED.

I Am The WoMAN From Nantucket, Part II

So I’m on my three (-ish) hour connection flight from Washington, D.C. to Houston, where I will then pick up my car and drive about two hours home.  It will be so worth it though.  And right now?  Right now I’m watching the Olympics on directv.  Watched my volleyball ladies beat Serbia (YEAHHHHHHHHHH).  Gosh, I love volleyball…  Anywho, I love these personal directv screens.  Especially during Olympics.  It’s made the first hour fly by.  I watched the NBC piece on the Magnificent Seven at the 1996 Olympics, which I was totally at.  I mean I can’t remember half of it because I was four but still...

Anywho did anyone else notice that when they were talking about the last vault and how Kerri ended her career with that they were playing the theme to Dead Island (the zombie video game).  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here.  The best part is actually watching the literal version.  And then chronological.  IT’S SO BAD IT’S GOOD.  Love the theme music though, seriously.

So I guess it’s time to wrap up my Nantucket trip.

I AM THE WOMAN FROM NANTUCKET

CONTINUED

Nantucket was once one of the biggest city’s in America.  It was the whaling capitol of the world--until that became illegal.  In the 1920's cranberry harvesting replaced whaling as the major industry on the island.  36% of the island is protected from building development and there's over 82 miles of beach, making it a beautiful place to visit in the summer months.  Cars weren't even allowed on the island until 1918.  They're super restricted on most things:  houses have to have cedar shingles on the sides unless you can prove that historically your house originally had wood planking and fast food chains aren't allowed on the island.  My Dad, Karen, and I have vacationed there for years, but I personally have not been on the island for the past two summers.  I was super anxious to get back.  My dad had warned me that a lot had changed, but still Nantucket is Nantucket and Nantucket is a world of it’s own.

I flew out of IAH Sunday at 7:30 AM…Yeah that means I left for the airport at 5:00 AM.  And I was not smart the night before.  I went out with ERad and Skyy and saw a movie.  Ended up okay though because my first flight (Houston to DC) was VERY empty and I had my row all to myself.  My parent’s are always really good about getting me aisle seats.  But when I’m alone?  I can sit anywhere and not get claustrophobic!  So I buckled loosely into the middle seat, leaned over and slept for the three (-ish) hour flight.  AWESOME RIGHT?  And of course I get window seat.  I say this because my besties and I are OBSESSED with Bridesmaids.  I like to say that our daily conversations are about 10% Easy A, 15% Mean Girls, and 75% Bridesmaids (quotes-wise).  So can you say “colonial women churning butter THERE’S SOMETHING THEY’RE NOT TELLING US!”?

So all this time, I’m expecting to have to pave my own way once I hit the island.  The ‘rents and my sisters were driving and although they drove through the nights from Minneapolis, they rented a car ferry for like 5:00 PM meaning they wouldn’t be on the island until 7:00 ish.  I was due at 2:30.  But when I arrived at Ronald Reagan (after exiting security, reentering and navigating the awfully confusing system of gate 5A…) I called my dad and they were already there.  They left the car in Hyannis to be brought over at 5:00 and just rode a different ferry themselves.  Awesome.

So I get on my next flight.  EMPTY AISLE.  I curl up next to the window and work on my speech for the Speaker’s Committee of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo…for a little while.  I fall back asleep.  Boo on me.  I got in, called my family, called my guy, was picked up by my dad, found out that Nantucket has ZERO SERVICE ON AT&T.  Boo, this makes long distance relationships a little frustrating.  We’re good to go though, me and my guy.  After I had a little meltdown (I’m emotional, y’all).  Anyway, after hanging out for a while, Dad and I went to pick up the car, picked up STUBBY’S! and then went home.  Watched some Olympics, caught up, and I went to sleep.

Here’s the thing about this trip.  I couldn’t help but sleep in EVERY MORNING.  This morning was the earliest I woke up, because I needed to shower and do my hair for family photos.  Even then, it was like 9:30 AM.  Every other morning?  Like 10:30 AM, 11:00 AM… which translated to Central?  Y’all, I’m lazy…BUT IT’S VACATION TIME SO THAT’S FINE.   So anyway…

First day, I was lazy.  Super lazy.  Kinda sad considering it was such a pretty day.  Laid around all day, occasionally going through boxes and tubs to see if there were any hidden treasures that I wanted to keep when we sold the house.  I got Anthropologie bedding, trinkets and three books:  Nooks and Crannys of Old New England (from 1901), Gaultier’s Book of Ballads (from the 1800’s) and a book of Voltaire’s dramatic works.  These are the most gorgeous antique books.  I am one lucky girl.  So I claimed those, ran around the yard with the girls, then went to Met on Main which replaced the Even Keel (one of my favorite restaurants that closed…read my rant?)  It was fine, just not family friendly…  We then went to Aunt Leah’s Fudge.  Okay so get this, the place used to be open til like 11:00 PM.  We walked up at 9:34 PM and they were locking the door.  Wouldn’t let us in.  I was devastated.  Aunt Leah’s Peanut Butter fudge is what I live for.  Alas, I went home longing and depressed…

Second day was SHOPPING day.  It was also rain day.  I was hell bent on getting a sweater.  I have never had a Nantucket sweater and I have been coming here for years… I’ve evolved a lot since the last time I was on the island though…  I never really wanted one before.  But I knew exactly what I wanted this time.  So we went to the Salty Dog (again, read the blog) and it disappointed.  Then I GOT SOME FUDGE AJFDJAGKDHGKAJFLD;GYEAH!!!  As well as some décor for the bathroom of my new apartment.  BUT MOSTLY FUDGE!  Dad and I went to the library to use wifi on the rainy rainy day, then saw The Amazing Spider-Man (second time if you recall) at the Dreamland. 

Third Day was beach day.  It was supposed to be sun and shine all day long so we loaded the pups, the girls and our beach gear and we were off.  It was a beautiful day on Cisco Beach.  I had Nantucket Nectars Apple Juice and a yummy Lobster Roll.  Perfection.  And I definitely will be tanner after this…just after the sunburn goes away.  I typically don’t burn.  But when you fall asleep in the sun, all bets are off.  And I did that twice, so both sides are toasty.  After our  lovely day on Cisco beach we went to Cisco brewery for some R&R, but we forgot leashes for the pups so that was short-lived.  Like “pull up, park, get out, get in, drive away” short-lived.  That was fine though.  The girls were wet and tired and needing a nap, so much in fact that they fell asleep as soon as we left the brewery.  We went to Sayles, picked up some lobsters, mussels, and shrimp cocktail and headed home, giving the munchkins time to nap.  The night was pretty dull after that.  I watched women’s Beach Volleyball.  Misty Mae and Kerri!!!  Can’t wait for tomorrow.

So Fourth Day, Last Day.  Karen’s Birthday!  Originally weather reports said it was supposed to rain all day, but the thing is you can’t really predict how weather will hit Nantucket.  It’s in a weird place and it’s an ISLAND.  Well needless to say, weather was WRONG.  Sun and shine, ladies and gents.  We started with a girl’s day lunch at the Summerhouse in Sciasconset.  Super pretty, super atmosphere, super pricey.  From there we went to the Sconset Market, a cute little grocery store that sells Nantucket bike baskets.  And I got the CUTEST BIKE BASKET.  We went into town to get me a backpack because there was no way that all of my stuff was going to fit coming back.  Once we got home, Karen and I got ready and Dad drove us three to the Galley.  What a fine place to eat.  I’d only been there once before, but since then they’ve added a beach bar and beach seating.  Like TOES IN THE SAND Beach Seating.  It was a wonderful evening.  And beautiful, not rainy as originally predicted.  But I was beat by the time we got home so I hit the hay.  Which was good because…

TODAY I woke up early(er than usual) to get pretty.  We were taking our annual white beach photos.  We typically do a different beach each year, but since I wasn’t here last year we used the same beach twice.  And might I say it was BEAUTIFUL.  My favorite beach yet.  I want to go there all the time.  The water was clear, the sand was cool, the seaweed was soft.  And it wasn’t busy.  AKA:  A++.  But wrangling two two-year olds and a couple of headstrong dogs (one of whom kept swimming away…) takes a lot of time and soon we had to run home, change clothes and take me to ACK (Nantucket Airport). 

The trip was short and sweet, but I would have loved to stay longer.  I love Nantucket so much.  It’s so beautiful and relaxing and I can’t wait for next summer.  For now?  Well tomorrow I film my last scenes for ‘My Father Is A Tyrannosaurus Rex’ and the next day Mom, Nevada (my brother) and I head to Waco to move me in to my FIRST APARTMENT (well, first to have my name on the lease).

Until next time…

Staying Organized...In Style!

Cisco Beach

Ugh, what a day!  Spent it mostly at Cisco beach with the family and the pups.

 The sun has taken it's toll...but it's a great day.

Just had a delicious lobster dinner with a dessert of Aunt Leah's peanut butter fudge, took a shower, and am now lazily blogging and watching WOMEN'S SAND VOLLEYBALL!!!

VOLLEYBALL!!!  It's my favorite sport, y'all.

I'm way too into this whole Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh business to properly blog, so we're jumping back a few days to something neat I saw on pinterest:

Simple enough.  Cut some burlap, frame it like a picture, scribble in dry erase markers.

Sorry that this was such a cop out post...Enjoy this hilarious picture of gymnastic judge's face at McKaley Maroney's awesome job at the olympics.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/us-gymnast-mckayla-maroney-landed-the-vault-of-her

LIKE A BOSS.

Until next time...

Lucky, Hot, Doctor

Hello, dearest reader!

For this post, we're gonna take a jump back a few months...and by a few I mean like nine or ten.  Maybe that's lame, but I really feel like chronicling all of my fun adventures, even if they already happened.

This one takes us back to Halloween '11.  My friends and I have this goal to create extremely unique, fun, matching group costumes for our unofficial departmental Halloween bash every year.  We like the attention it gives us...ha.

Freshman year was pretty hard with four girls...  We wanted to be clever while attempting not to be too skank-a-licious.  Therefore we went in the polar opposite direction:

Overalls, dyed green with heart-face-cutouts to be...

A FOUR-LEAF CLOVER

Very modest, and after all...Modest is hottest.  LoL...

Anyways, the costume went over great.

Alice and her talking...clover?

So like I said, that took some cleverness on our part, and I am happy to claim responsibility for the spark.  As I am with this one.

This year we added a FIFTH person to our numbers, making the task of a group costume even harder.  Luckily, I love Taco Bell, and had recently become acquainted with the new flavors of Verde and Fire-Roasted.  Therefore, voila!  Taco Sauce Girls.  I sewed the dresses and my friend, L'AmberLee printed out the text, logo, and catchphrase bubble.  We each got to choose our favorite catchphrase.  In my single-girl stupor I chose "Single Hot Sauce Seeking Friendship, Maybe More"... yeah....

Are we HOT or WHAT???

A little less modest, but still covering all the important things.  What was really fun was eating at Taco Bell before-hand, picking up handfulls of our respective sauces and hiding them all over the party house.  One host (my now boyfriend) is still a little sore over how long it took to recover all of them...  It's a fun topic to bring up.  :P

Stupid fake-sorority pose

Pre-gaming at Taco Bell

It's like looking in a mirror!

Once again, it was a bit of a hit with the department fransss.  And by that I mean that we took a lot of pictures.

L'AmberLee, my Little and Me!

Me and The Doctor

AKA:  A DREAM COME TRUE

Along with for the most part, sewing all of our taco sauce dresses, I also took some time to head to the local Goodwill with my good pal Stephen to pull together an outfit the Doctor would think was BRILLIANT.  Sonic Screwdriver included. :)

Can't wait for next year...It'll be hard to top this last one, but I've got a pretty good card up my sleeve... ;)

Until next time...