Hey, guess what?

I finally bought an SLR! It's currently in the mail but it should be here in a few days. I'm excited, and you all won't have to put up with blurry pictures anymore :)

However, it would have been nice to have it this morning, since the local snowpacalypse left things so pretty. But alas, shipping is not instant.

It's like the stain was never there!

Sounds like a commercial for detergent. But rather, its a way to deal with the stains you can't get rid of no matter how good the detergent.

The dastardly stain

I'm not sure how I managed to stain this lavender tee, but I'm not too surprised I did. I have the unfortunate inability to eat food without being messy. Me and my mom tried all the tricks (including the super-secret sweat-stained marching band collar trick), but to no avail. So I embellished a little.

Ta-Da! you can't see the stains anymore :). I bought a bunch of doilies at the local antique mall, picked one, and cut out the inside to make a trim. But whole doilies (especially the wholly lace ones) could also be arranged creatively a la the Anthropologie aesthetic to cover stains elsewhere.

Gold Star to all those whose eating habits come from Never-Never Land (in other words, never grew up).

Pics of pretty

from (here)

I love lace -- and just did a relevant project using some lovely pretties like this. I also just bought a book on how to do knitted lace, but I have to remember how to knit first...

Gold Star to the fiber-ambitious.

The favorites

I'm not sure how exacly this became a necessity for my work, but it has. It probably has its roots in listening to music while working combined with the constantly relevant, intricate system of film-viewing in my last apartment.

I find that having a movie on while working can be remarkably productive. But it must be of a very specific kind.

It must be one I have watched before, and one that contains nothing which drives me nuts (changed actors in the sequel, gaping plot wounds, high-pitched voices, excessively un-grammatical characters). It must also not be one that requires much thought to process -- no Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, no matter how good a movie it may be. Preferably, it is one I have seen many times before.

While living in my aparment, the list narrowed to approximately this:

--Sherlock Holmes (possibly the one exception to the thinking rule, but only because we had seen it so many times the plot and 89% of the lines are seared into our memories.)
--Tangled
--Enchanted
--Big Bang Theory
--Stardust
--Pride and Prejudice
--Iron Man
--Ever After
--Mulan

and since moving home I have added Dr. Who and Pushing Daisies to the list. And occasionally How I Met Your Mother.

Gold Star to those who can't work in silence.

UCP week 1

amazon

Okay, so it may be presumptuous to call this a classic, partly since the author is still alive, but you can't take a Native American lit class without encountering Sherman Alexie. Also, I had it mostly finished and at the top of my pile.

Next week: I shall finally finish The Picture of Dorian Grey. My not finishing has nothing to do with my enjoyment of the book, but more to do with the fact that I keep taking it on vacations on which I get too busy to finish it. The result is that I finish a few chapters and then it gets absent-mindedly unpacked.

Gold Star to all the neo-hippies taking Native American lit.

How to survive the internet

Well, honestly, I don't really know.

I love the internet and all the wonderful joys it can bring me (like the endless inspiration of style and sewing blogs listed in the "Creative Spirits" section). But at the same time, it is the bane of my productivity. You've all heard its siren call, the one that gets louder the more important the task at hand.

In college I used to be able to just close all my browsers when I really needed to work, but my current work requires extensive use of the internet. So I can't just get rid of this productivity suck with a closing of a browser or, in extreme circumstances, the turning off of my wi-fi. And even though, through the wonder of Apple, I can separate my computer's uses into spaces (with a browser solely for work tabs in one corner). However, My problem is not necessarily separating my internet functions, but finding the motivation to get off this wonderland and work.

Here's what I've been able to figure out

1. Close all but the browser you need. This seems self-explanatory, but for one who belongs to the Society of Exponentially Expanding Tabs, closing a browser is a slightly terrifying experience. After so much time of browsing the internet collecting these gems, you don't want to risk losing them. So why not bookmark them all? Because, in this Society, tabs aren't necessarily material you want to save forever -- they may be a recipe you plan to make tomorrow, something you need to share with a friend, a blog you're browsing or a message or artwork kept up for inspiration. It's hard to explain the subtlety of the tabs, but if you belong to the club, you know. So, that is why I like chrome -- in the "recently closed" window, you can pull up whole windows. I always tell myself I'm going to clean out my tabs before I work -- don't believe that inner voice. You'll just spend hours browsing again. Just cold turkey it.

2. Keep work tabs to a minimum. This means take care of the task you need to do with the tab and then close it. I know, especially with my work, there are always things you need to refer between, but the longer you keep a tab open, the greater chance you'll find something in that website to distract you. Also, you'll feel less overwhelmed by your work the simpler your browser.

3. Use a google calendar. I talk about this in schedules, but listing tasks you have to do by hour and setting up pop-up messages can be one way you can use the internet to keep you on track.

4. NO FACEBOOK ALLOWED! or tumblr, or stumbleupon, or twitter, or insert "internet-crack-of-choice here."Also beware of non-work related email accounts -- checking your email is a harmless enough activity until your favorite store sends a notice of a huge online sale that causes you to "just quickly check the site" (because you have to check the sale so you can get rid of the distracting email without losing out on incredible bargains -- that counts as the "checking email," activity, right?). And no, looking up tips on how to stop procrastinating is NOT a legit use of time. Don't even bother rationalizing it.

Once I was on stumbleupon, and it gave me a page that was the sentence "Get off the internet, you're procrastinating!" (or something like that). If I find it I will share -- it made my day, once upon a term paper.

If you've got you own tips, let me know! I need all the help I can get....

Gold Star to the members of the Society of Exponentially Expanding Tabs.

Sharing is caring

When I  found this post I knew I had to share it! However, that feeling is entirely based upon my love of cloche hats (collection currently at 4). But anyway, its a great tutorial to make your own lovelies (with a free pattern! always a plus).

http://wkdesigner.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/cloche-hat/

Gold Star to all the twenties wanna-bes.

Pics of pretty

To reflect my current state of wanderlust...

(from here)

So many places on the map I want to visit...sigh...

Gold Star to the dreamers of foreign lands.

The whack-a-doo

I remember signing up for a fiction-writing class my junior-or-so year. I walked into the class of twenty-five, to see a lanky man with a pile of books at the front of the class. He introduced himself, his work (he was primarily a writer, who taught classes as the whim took him,) and then took a look around the class.

"I don't usually like teaching classes this big, I like fifteen-person classes,"  he announced (where he got these elusive small class-sizes in the first place, I will never know). "So if you want to leave, feel free."

And then, to prove his point, he turned on the whack-a-doo, presumably to scare us off. He proceeded to go off on a series of readings from his own books that were exceptionally out there and deliver impassioned speeches about how words are a third dimension and a religion and, as a writer, you must find the words that enthrall you so thoroughly you see the face of the sweet baby Jesus in each printing.

Some didn't come back. Most did however, including me. I just don't drop classes. In fact, I took his sort of behavior as a challenge. I am not typically a stubborn person, but I am academically bullheaded. If any sort of challenge to my skills is issued, I always (whether it is intelligent or not) respond with a resounding "Well, I'll show you!" So my response to the whack-a-doo behavior was a resounding "You want me to go out there? Well I'll give you outer space, pal!"

We proceeded to, for the first few weeks do exercizes to "find our inspiration words." Thankfully, the professor calmed down considerably after the first few lessons -- and it was proven that he wasn't going to shake anyone who was left -- and I began to find the brainstoming amusing. I apparently wasn't quite subscribing to the religion, as I didn't see many of them to be relevant, but I did, slowly, understand a new appreciation for words. Some words are visually pretty, others sound cool, and some, for some reason, I just liked. These thoughts were cool, and I probably wouldn't have thought them if I were not in this crazy, crazy man's class.

And then, it was time to submit our first story. I came up with something I liked, and then proceeded to be absolutely terrified. Because, despite my resounding cry, I am not an out-there writer. I prefer to think of my creative efforts as subtle and relatable. I couldn't write in his word-obssesed style. I like characters too much to throw them under the train of poetic experimentation. So my efforts may not be high art or groundbreaking, that's just how I am. This story, though it was more experimental than most, was also fairly subtle. And I thought, what if he fails me for not being covered in the dirt of a million rabbit holes?

However, I discovered that the whack-a-doo was actually really great at giving feedback while respecting my style (and others', as several classmates shared my fears). He kept pushing, but he did so in balance. And now, when I read "out-there" stuff, I have a lot more respect for it.

And I think every creative needs a whack-a-doo to show them the other side. One doesn't need to drink the metaphorical Kool-Aid to find some enlightenment. I produced some really interesting things outside of my comfort box, and I'll never forget that.

Gold Star to anyone who can tell me what movie the Kool-Aid line comes from (though I'd like to claim it as my own...)

The library of used classics

It was around my sophomore year of college I realized that I had a sorely deficient knowledge of "the classics." For a lit minor, this seemed inexcusable. So, around then I started hoarding used classics. Wherever I could find them for a few dollars, I began collecting.

This is the result. 

And, after three years of college, I have not read any of them. Now, I am not ashamed of that. I was a very busy person in college, and what free time I had was spent decompressing (I didn't even read many books for pleasure, let alone to stimulate my brain cells and increase my literary knowledge). However, now that the pile is unpacked, it just looks me in the face with shame.

So, I am going to start the Used Classics Project! I am going to attempt to read one per week (in addition to any pleasure reading I do).  And I will post my successes here. We'll see where this goes :)

Gold Star to the used bookstore trolls.

Schedules . . .

. . . are wonderful things. Ask anyone I know, they'll tell you of my long and abiding love of Google calendars. I've been using them for years to remember dates, keep track of classes, and so on. As I transition to working at home, I use them to block out chunks of time to work on my intern duties. 

However, I have learned that it may work for some people to block out the same chunks of time every week and get into a set routine, this by no means works for me. I usually ignore the red chunks, and if a shift of the day job gets scheduled over intern time, i tend to just ignore the intern time and not reschedule. Then I get to the end of the week with a lot of work left and doing crazy college kid-type behaviors to cover for lost time. 

So I have come to the conclusion that I need to spend at least an hour every week scheduling times -- they're fresher in my mind, and even if one does succeed with a set schedule, I think this time could still be valuable. Here's why: because you need time to plan a road map for the week. 

Here's what my scheduling process looks like:

I have a set morning routine I do every (sort of) day. I'm getting meaner with myself on this, as I have been having a horrid time of waking up. It consists of: get up, go take my meds and start coffee, (and since I have to wait    after taking them before I can eat) "work out" -- about five minutes of stretches, crunches and leg excersizes, and one or two dance-y or kickbox-y routines, then eat breakfast, shower, and do the dishes and/or laundry if I forgot the night before.  I will skip the mini-work out if I have the morning shift, and have been really bad about skipping it in general, but it really helps me wake up and start the day productively.

Then for work, I have a master list of tasks and some tentative deadlines set out. I update these every week, and based on conversations with my boss, know what to focus on. I take the high-priority tasks for the week and break them into mini-tasks. I then schedule out my blocks of time on Google, with the tasks I need to complete within each block, including any maintenance-type things I have to do weekly. Knowing what all I can do in what time is becoming easier to me as I go on.  

I really like this system, especially since in my lapse from it I forgot just how much a little time each week can help me really focus myself and make it easier for me to know what to do efficiently. And I know everyone has their own ways for working at home, but I hope others will find this information useful. 

Gold start to the people with the guts to work from home (as you know, it's harder than you'd guess).

More fun with chiffon!

Finally...

Cut approximately a 2-in strip (to create a rose about 4 inches in diameter) about a yard long. Use a quilter's rule and rotary cutter for precision, and, frankly, ease. 

Finish the outside edge. (the cleanest edge you cut). I used a contrasting zig-zag stitch and a pinking shear. Set your machine 4 for length, and 5 for zig-zag width to match a set of standard pinking shears. Or, you could sew a straight stitch and pink or scallop. Or for simplicity you could either fray-check the edges or just leave it. I kind of like the frayed look (see my 1/4 yard of chiffon example below). 

Then, run a basting stitch along the other edge and gather for all its worth. A basting stitch is the biggest straight stitch your machine can do. It's meant to be loose and easy to pick out -- it's often used to hild things like pleats in place until the final seams of a garment are sewn. It is also used to gather ruffles. To gather, leave long tails of thread after you've run the stitch. Then pull one of them gently - being very careful not to break the thread, until ruffles form. Then gently push these ruffles down the seam until you reach the end, and continue until the whole strip is ruffled.

It'll start twisting, and end up looking like this fluffy little worm. Use the twist to form layered circles, and hot glue in place. Then use the hot glue to attach a barrette, or a flat pin back to the back. Or glue to a headband, stitch to a scarf or cardigan -- use your imagination. 

Voila!

For extra fun, create the center of the flower from a button or fancy bead (made with the infamous floral chiffon). 

For a more Rosette-type shape, taper one edge down to about a half an inch. I accomplished this with the blue one by tucking while I glued, but a more of a spiral would happen if you actually changed the shape of the initial strip.

Gold star to the flower children.

"Praying for someone --anyone-- to write a book about punctuation with a panda on the cover"

So, I'm arguably late to this bandwagon, published in 2003, but nonetheless must share.

I love this book. It's rare one can say they couldn't put down a grammar book -- even for a grammar nerd like myself. But Lynne Truss does such a great job of presenting the basics with interesting dashes of history and hilarious bits of humor, it is quite accomplished. Moreso than that, it is one of those occasions where I would really like to meet the writer, since from page one I was exclaiming "she is my kind of people!" (You know, the rare and elusive people that understand some obscure -- or not-so-obscure -- facet of personality and demonstrate it just as you would.)

The book begins, for example:

A printed banner has appeared on the concorse of a petrol station near to where I live. "Come inside," it says, "for CD's, VIDEO's, DVD's, and BOOK's."

[Insert literal cringe from me here]

If this satanic sprinkling of redundant apostrophes causes no little gasp of horror or quickening of the pulse, you should probably put down this book at once. By all means congratulate yourself that you are not a pedant or even a stickler; that you are happily equipped to live in a world of plummeting punctuation standards; but just don't bother to go any further

from Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss

She is so like me she predicted my reaction.

In addition, I really like her approach to grammar. There is a lot published about the "rules" and argument about the rules. But Truss does a spectacular job of examining grammar for what it truly is -- something to lead comprehension and clarify words into sense. This interpretation is one I personally agree with, and one many of my teachers espoused. For it doesn't matter if your work is grammatically perfect if it isn't understandable -- because you can get away with a lot of jargon and still be grammatically correct. Case and point: the beginning of A Tale Of Two Cities is a 3-page sentence, and it is grammatically correct. But just because you can doesn't mean its best for your reader. And more and more, we're realizing writing isn't this act done separate from the world for purely creative reasons, it's done for a reader. So the rules change. But Truss covers the basics with a wonderfully editorial eye on clarity and making them understandable.

Gold Star to all the sticklers.

THAT project

So, its a proven fact that every major social group has a "THAT guy." Since the library has very short lending times on TV series, forcing me to watch vast amounts of "How I Met Your Mother" in a few days, let's use Barney as an example of "THAT guy." He's rude, crude, and generally obnoxious, probably lovable, and the type of person that makes you go "really? those people really exist?" Well, yes they do, and you meet a ton of them in college. So, along with my lovely piece of paper that proclaims I'm a professional (literally, my degree is professional writing), I graduated with some experience with the "THAT guys."

And, unfortunately, that phenomena also occurs in the crafting world. Meet my "THAT project."

Yes, its lovely now, but throughout its creation it was incredibly rude, crude, and generally obnoxious. It started out lovely. I found this lovely embroidered linen lying on a table at a favorite quilting store's sidewalk sale. It was cheap, unique, and I knew it would be a lovely skirt. Then, a month later, I picked up a pattern (McCall's M5631)for a lovely, full skirt with cute contrast waistband and sash at a dollar pattern sale (never pay full price for a pattern, they go on sale at least monthly).

Then I discovered the project's true nature. First off, the fabric wasn't wide enough to cut the pieces on the fold (making a one piece front and back). No big deal, I'll cut four pieces slightly bigger and seam them -- its black fabric, no one will know the difference. So I cut everything out and started pinning the pleats. And then it got buried.

At least a year passed, and I rediscovered the skirt. I was in college at this point so I thought "oh, its already pinned, so it will be a quick project that won't take up so much time its an inefficient procrastination method."

Oh how wrong I was. For you see, I either lost the two back pieces, or never cut them. Well, I couldn't be sewing all night, I had a paper to do. So it went back into the pile, and proceded to weigh down my sewing to-do lists.

Finally, about a week ago, I girded my loins and pulled the skirt pieces, now several years old, out of the pile. I cut the missing pieces, pinned the missing pleats, and proceeded to make the skirt. Then I found out the lining for the waistband was gone, and the lovely contrast red linen was nowhere to be found. So I forced the remaining black fabric to make new facing pieces. No sooner had I done that then I discovered the missing facings, leaving me with two fairly useless pieces of black embroidered linen. However, I persevered, finished the skirt, hemmed what seemed to be miles of black linen, and put in the zipper ironically easily.

And I have a new skirt and a burden off my to-do lists.

 (obligatory spinning shot)

Gold Star to those who know the joy of finally tackling "THAT project."

My newest motivational tool

Giant maps!

Because, while I like writing and would probably do it in some form even if I wasn't getting paid, it also pays the bills. Or rather, my student loan, since I live with my parents and have no bills. And after a year of working from home I have discovered this factor can be lost, making motivation difficult. So as a reminder, I made giant maps to remind me of all the places I would like to go, given I have the money and have paid off my loan.

They now take up a large chunk of space next to my door, reminding me of what could happen if I work.

The huge one is of Europe, roughly color coded in a way that would make sense for say, an epic backpacking adventure. Follow the rainbow!

And the small one is of a more likely trip in my near future, seeing as my former roommate may very well be living in Korea this spring. And since Korea is so close to Japan, I may as well make use of that big cross-pacific flight....

As I go along, I plan to stick pictures on these maps and note prices of things with Post-Its. Procrastination as motivation is always the best kind. Also, the Canon camera I want so I can take magnificent photos of my travels. Which, I've discovered, was pretty much the only time I took pictures before I got this blog. 

Gold Star to all the people who know it is technically correct to start a sentence with a conjunction, as long as it is the appropriate clause type. No matter what your English teachers said in high school, not doing this is a convention, not a rule.

Pics of pretty

from here -- you should check it out, Doe has such a fabulous story and spirit (her "about me" page is all about her fariytale :)

never forget it!

Gold Star to all the lovelies

The listening ear

Perhaps the most useful tool to a writer. Even if they're not doing traditional editing, someone patient can be extremely valuable.  

Basically, this boils down to the value of having someone to listen to you rant, even if they're not entirely listening. Because ranting and telling stories is an underrated part of the writing process. The fact is, some of my most witty and insightful moments have come when I was ranting, or drifting on a tangent. Just talking and using your words out loud and expressing the way you see things can be really helpful. Its like a free write, but its talking at somebody. So, to do this successfully you need to have someone who is patient and will listen to your stories for the millionth time.  For each time you tell it it gets better -- just another link to the putting it on the page. 

It also helps I learn things by talking them through. That's how I studied for history tests, I'd read through my notes and figure out new connections reach cool new analyses, just by talking it out. You can really discover new things. Even if you're just telling a story, each time you tell a story you find new angles and learn new ways to express it and its going to work better. Use your brain's organic drafting process to your advantage. 

from here

This was too cute not to include. I gave into precious pressure...

Gold Stars (and so much love) to mine :)

So, you like how I did two week's worth of posting in two days?

Here's this week's tip -- when you make a google calendar to help you keep your blog rotation in check, make sure the notices actually show up.

Also, don't be an unmotivated lump who only watches Dr. Who.

Gold Star to all those tempted to be unmotivated lumps by Dr. Who (because, I swear, it has that effect).

Oh, Martha

how-to here

Did you know Martha Stewart's favorite holiday is Halloween? She is said to love making her Halloween edition every year, and for a lot of those years me and my mom have waited eagerly for it to come onto the magazine racks. She makes downright creepy look so glamourous. One year, we raided the produce section to create these "specimen jars." Only we forgot to take out the cabbage....a month later we dug up something that must have been pretty darn close to kimchee....

*sigh*

Happy Halloween everyone!

Gold star to all the closet (or not so closet) Martha Stewart fans.

The room part one -- accesories

One of the cool things about moving home is I've been able to redecorate my room. My mother mandated that I had to paint it something more relaxing than lime green. So I picked this light blue (since plum purple isn't relaxing enough) and plum and peachy-pink accents. And white, which is kind of a new thing for me -- I've never been a fan of white, but it does make the place seem so much bigger. It's happening very slowly, but its finally starting to resemble a relaxing space.

Part one: a wall of accessories? yes please!

Over the past couple of years I've been gifted with apartments with large closets, with wall space I could hang command hooks on to store my accessories. Especially last year, my closet was a blessing. At home, I am not nearly as blessed, so I had to use one of my main walls -- but I think I did it in a decorative enough way that it works. What do you think? (Ignore my ugly IKEA lamp, it's standing in until I get a good reading light.)

 Note: I keep my scarves on this looped ring thing from IKEA -- it's such a simple genius.

Perhaps my favorite part -- I've always loved how graceful pointe shoes look. Also, I'm really excited about the teapot hook (spray-painted, from Joann's. So is the bird holding up the scarves).

An IKEA basket woven through with a length of silk holds all my gloves and knitted hats and whatnot.

For the hat and earring holders, see my quick tips for tutorials :)

Gold star to all those that decorate in stages.

Top it off

So, on my newly designated accessory wall, I have run into the problem of hats. I have a growing collection felt cloches, which are really impossible to store -- well, no longer!

The best part? All it took was some clothespins, ribbon, and some nails (or command hooks would work splendidly -- however, they refuse to stick to my paint job).

Take your ribbon (I used a simple white one-inch satin) and tie it around the hooks (or around a clothespin -- enough so it won't slip). 

Then, adjust ribbon length until you get the length and drape you want (remember to calculate for the weight of your hats). Then apply the hooks, or put one BROAD-HEADED nail through the back tine of the clothespin (the pins will probably crack some, so the broad head secures it -- since this won't hold a lot of weight, just making sure the pin is held snug should do).

And voila!

For a more colorful version, you could paint the clothespins, or use binder clips to get a more utilitarian effect.

Gold star for all those times when its just too easy :)

Pics of pretty

 from here

Who doesn't love mail? It never fails to be exciting to discover a hand-handwritten address on an envelope or a package of any kind. One of my goals before my 22 birthday was to send out five letters. I didn't finish it, but that just gives me a goal for this week.

Gold Star to all the post lovers who look for any reason to use their massive stockpile of stationary.

The bible.

(for journalism majors, anyway). 

from amazon

This book is both every journalism student's best friend and nemesis. Who wants to check everyday words like email  every time you use them, to make sure they're the Associated Press approved version? However, it is crucial to remembering all the weird little journalistic rules about numbers and dates. Because, unfortunately, you can be a great writer, but you can't get hired unless you can write their way. There's just not enough time to train people when hundreds of journalism majors are out scrounging for jobs -- quite ferociously in the current climate.

So, while every student may get sick of having their AP style corrected, and every editor may despise having to look something up for a third time that day because they forget the politically correct term for Native American (which seems to change weekly, much to our chagrin -- the editors and the Native Americans), it really is a useful book. So useful, it seems, that copies often go missing from the newsroom...except our mentor's copy, because who could steal from that sweet old guy? (Who helps us for gratitude and the occasional pizza).

Its even useful to non-journalism majors, as many may not realize. Journalistic style is decided with the masses in mind  -- unlike other styles like Chicago, APA and MLA, which are almost exclusively academic. This means it is based upon achieving the most readable product. So there's some sense for other writers to check it out. Inside you can find the most current common usage of terms, ways to make your writing more concise, and just a lot of things to make you appreciate all the strange little things the people who write -- and edit -- your daily paper have to remember.

I'll admit, I like my AP style guide. Especially, as my former co-editors have shown, it makes kind of an awesome Halloween costume.

Gold Star to anyone who thinks the term Amerind is complete bollocks.

Things that inspire me...

Vietnam.

Originally the country was just a part of a package deal on my way to Thailand and China. This was what I said when people of my parents' generation asked me, "Why Vietnam?," as inevitably happened.

More specifically, it was a six-week package deal where I could earn credit for my history major in a way that would make school in the summer more than tolerable. We ended up spending 10 days in the country, and they were all amazing. It ended up having some of my favorite places, my best day ever, and a really astounding people.

Its hard to explain its allure, but its something beyond its natural beauty -- which is considerable. The country is at least half bordered by gorgeous beaches, and it features everything from romantically terraced mountains to jungles of exotic plants and delicious alien fruits :) Spectacular too, is the differences of people you can find, from those living in stilt houses to sleek women gliding down the street in silk ao dai.

But the best thing about the people is their acceptance. Most were really excited to meet an American -- granted, a huge percentage of the population is below 25 (therefore doesn't remember the war), but we are, unfortunately, part of the reason that is true. The Vietnamese were fighting for generations straight (first the French, then each other, then America), but they don't hold grudges against any of these groups. I'd read this in some of our required reading, but I was astounded to find it true.

So while the landscapes are absolutely beautiful, and the cities romantically haunting (I'll have to post about Hanoi at some point),  it's really that acceptance that I find most inspiring.

A Quick Switch

So, the other day I had an insane need for slippers, and remembered Target had quite a stock. After searching for the comfiest, fuzziest pair I settled on some cozy, durable mocs.


I didn't much like the leather strung through, so I cut some lace on an angle, threaded the thin end through the biggest needle I could find (just pulled until it stuck), and wove it in where the leather cording used to be.

 I have a bit of trouble getting the bows to lay straight, so I may have to glue them down, but overall its an improvement, I think. And I can change it as I feel like it.

Gold star to anyone who can't live without a good pair of slippers.