College, Page 8!

I did it! About two weeks late, but I did it nonetheless! It's kind of funny, when I get close to a page finish, I start stitching like a demon. This was no exception. I was feeling really iffy about this page, not loving it while I was stitching because it just looked "off." It didn't seem to match the picture at all and I was getting worried. But, of course, it all worked out in the end.

Before:

After:

College of Magical Knowledge by James Christensen from Heaven and Earth Designs

Stitching on 25 count antique white evenweave

1 thread over 1 with DMC

I don't even want to get into how many different colors are in that little guy on the balcony, but it felt like a million. Either way I'm glad it's done and I'll be gridding up the next page tonight. *whew*

Handsome Boyfriend got sick this weekend, poor thing. Naturally I made him pick symbols for me to stitch while I made him tea and brought him snacks. He's perfectly fine now, though. Also, something happened with my ears Thursday and got worse Friday. It was like I'd been to a really loud concert and went swimming after and there was still water in my ears. Went to the doctor and have been taking disgusting little white pills which have slowly been making it better, but yuck. It should clear up in about a week.


End of the month check-in:
1. Get back down to 135 pounds. Started the month at 142.4. My lowest weigh-in a few days ago  was 140.4. Haven't been able to weigh myself lately since I'm at Boyfriend's and I believe in consistency with the scales I use. But I'm also considering stopping at 140. I'm much happier with myself right now and I think I'm going to focus on weight maintenance for a while. If I decide to lose some more then I'll get back to it, but for now - I'm going to settle for where I am. My friend John is a professional photographer. We got lunch a few days ago and he told me that some of the girls he photographs are 5'10" and 115 pounds. HOLY CRAP! Now in my "prime" I weighed 130 pounds, and I'm 5'6.5". People thought I was anorexic. 'Nuff said. I'm embracing my very, very curvy curves.

2. Move out of my parent's place. Sigh.

3. Get a job I actually like. Not yet, but at least I'm going to grad school.

4. Finish a few WIPs. Almost done with Tiny Rose Garden!

5. No more stash buying. Oops. Well, there's a good reason for this. A few days ago I got an email from European Cross Stitch that they were discontinuing their Alessandra Adelaide patterns after April 30. This gets me very worried because there was one pattern that I wanted to buy next year. The back story to this is kind of sickeningly cute. Boyfriend and I call each other birds. "Hi bird," etc. Recently a pattern called "Albero Innamorato" was released. Now, why is this significant? Well, here's the pattern:

Obviously, I had to buy it. But to keep me to my resolution, my mom actually decided to "buy it for me." Whatever. I'm a horrible cheater. I'm okay with that.

6. Walking. 12.53 miles last month. No idea how many miles this month. I stopped keeping track this month, even though I know I did a bunch of walking (several long hikes, one of which was 8.5 miles). I'm not too worried about it. Definitely feeling better about myself now than I have in a long time, despite being very, very imperfect.

Happy stitching, everyone!