College #78

So I guess I haven't posted since July. I'm a bad blogger! To be fair, work has been incredibly exhausting, I ran a half marathon, and I recently started weight lifting again, which requires a 5am wake up. So things have been busy. I haven't had a huge amount of time to stitch, but I did manage to get just over 2,000 stitches in on the next page of College. The end is near!

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I am just itching to finish this. So much so that I have pretty much abandoned all other projects in favor of getting as much done as I possibly can.

My post tonight is going to be super boring. Between work and the gym I don't have much time for anything else. There's something potentially happening right now, but I'm keeping it really close to the chest until I hear more and/or some definite things happen. All good things, though, I hope!

Until next time (which I hope will be sooner than this post was), happy stitching!

College page 20 finished!!

My eagerness to finish this page showed when between Friday and Saturday I put in 1,044 stitches. I'm not quite sure how I did it, to be honest, but I did, and page 20 is done!

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This puts me at 85% done with College of Magical Knowledge! It's exciting knowing that I'm in the last legs of the journey. There are four pages left and I hope I can still finish this project in time to have it framed for Christmas. I guess we'll find out, but I'm gridding up the next page today and diving right in.

In other news, I got my car back and it looks like nothing ever happened to it. I guess I should have expected that but since I've never had to get extensive body work done, I found it surprising.

Next Saturday I'm running my half marathon. It has been really hot out here lately, but it is a moonlight run so I hope that will make it better. I've been trying to run at dusk to get used to it, and so far so good. I actually prefer running at dusk.

On a more personal note, I feel like I'm in a constant state of flux. Usually, that would be a bad thing. But I'm taking the time to get to know myself and improve myself every step of the way and I think it's working. Or, at least, I feel a lot better than I have in years. About myself, about my situation, about the future. I'm choosing to be positive and despite some people's best efforts, it's my choice to focus on the good and not worry about things I can't change.

This is my 200th post. Here's to at least another 200.

Happy stitching, everyone!

"Steve Jobs" trailer

As promised, here's the "Steve Jobs" trailer. I'm actually in this. I didn't bother looking for myself when it first came out because I didn't care, but my mom made me look while she was watching it and I am in it. However, if you don't know where I am, it's basically impossible to find me. Some of you may take that as a challenge to try to do so. Good luck!!! (And if you want to know if you're right, feel free to e-mail me).

College #76

Oh my gosh has it really been almost a month since my last post? Time flies when you're ridiculously busy with stuff you don't want to be busy with!

Before I go into the craziness of the last month (I feel like 2015 has been a really weird year so far...) here's my stitching progress.

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Getting closer and closer to that elusive page finish! Which means closer and closer to finishing the whole thing!!

On to life stuff. I started the temp job June 1 and had the worst week in the history of first weeks at work (for me, anyway). In fact, it has been kind of a crappy three weeks of work. Allow me to elaborate.

Day 1, I got food poisoning. Day 2, I had a full-on wardrobe malfunction that nobody saw fit to tell me about until I got home. I'm hoping nobody told me because nobody noticed. It was pretty awful. Day 3, I had another bad health-related day that was different than day 1 but I don't want to talk about in detail. Suffice it to say I wasn't having fun, but was better off than day 1. Day 5 H³ got sick at work. And day 11 I had my first accident ever on the way to work. I don't want to talk about the details of the accident because the insurance agencies are taking care of it right now but I'm okay, the other driver is okay, and my car is in the shop getting some body work done.

The highlight has been that for some unknown reason that I will not argue with, the insurance agency set me up with a crazy sports car rental while my car is getting fixed. Check this ridiculous thing out!

Since I've been hyper stressed out and haven't had much alone time AND I have a ridiculous car I would never actually buy I've decided to take some me time today and go to Carmel and enjoy myself. Then I'll probably stop by a stitching store on my way home. BECAUSE WHY NOT. H³ is very supportive of this idea and is practically pushing me out the door. We'll ignore the part where if I leave he gets garage space to work on his bike for a while (that's bicycle, not motorcycle. H³ is also quite talented and builds bicycles from scratch).

So that's my last couple of weeks in a nutshell. I hope it gets better from here.

Either way, happy stitching!

A Knitting Finish!

A finish is a finish and I'm excited to get one project off my "in progress" list. One of my friends is having a baby in July so I decided to make her a little baby blanket. I'm still a relatively new knitter, so it's not perfect, but I'm glad I finished something I started.

It's just a simple checkerboard pattern but it's soft and a good baby blanket size. So now that I've photographed it I'll pack it up and send it off to her.

In other crafting news, I'm learning to sew! I've been wanting to learn for a very, very long time, mostly because I have an intense desire to make costumes. Recently, I came upon Angela Clayton's blog, where she makes historically accurate costumes, and she's only 18! Seriously, her work is absolutely amazing, and she's self-taught in sewing, so I guess that was the push I needed to try my hand at it. I went to the craft store, I bought a pattern, and I dove right in. I'm taking it slow, bit by bit, so I don't get overwhelmed, but so far so good! If it's not a complete disaster I'll post the finish product and add another craft to my ever-growing list.

Finally, I had promised to post trailers and news about the Steve Jobs movie I got to be in as it comes up. I forgot to post it last time, but the teaser trailer came out last week! It's just a short little bit (and no, I'm not in it) but it does make me even more excited to see the movie.

That's it from me! Happy stitching, everyone!

College #75 and News on the Job Front

First things first, of course - the stitching!

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I'm about 2,000 stitches into page 20 right now and I feel like I'm tantalizingly close to finishing this project. As it stands, I'm just over 82% done, but that still feels really close! I also feel like I'm stitching faster (when I get the chance to stitch these days).  Either way, I'm getting there! And I'm excited about getting there! It will feel really great to get a BAP out of the way, even if I do have a million more to go.

On the job front some interesting things have happened. A few weeks ago I signed on with a temp agency thinking that it would be good to get some income while I was still looking for full time work. I've been placed on yet another eligibility list with a public library, but truth be told I'm not super excited about public library work. Yeah, it's a library, but it's not something I truly enjoy. I'd much rather go into records management. The temp agency tried to get me to do paralegal work, and I just wasn't having any of it. So they set me up with a temp receptionist position for a few days and kept scoping around for work.

In the meantime, I accepted a PA job with the BattleBots TV show, thinking it would be a fun way to pass the time.

While at the temp job, the agency set me up with an interview with a top tier law firm that needs help with their records management department. I ended up getting the job! So, basically, I have a job now, although it's temporary. However, if they like me enough, if their budget allows, if I'm awesome, there is potential for a permanent hire. So I guess that isn't too bad.

The only thing is that I was still signed on for BattleBots. I went to work the set Monday and quickly realized that this was not a feasible thing for me to do. I felt like I could do more good being at home, I had pre-employment paperwork and testing I needed to take care of, the drive was 4 hours roundtrip, and I was getting home at 1:15am only to have to get up early and do it all over again. It just wasn't going to work out. So I let production know, and they were really understanding about it. I hate flaking out on work like that, but sometimes you have to do what's right by you.There was some miscommunication, too, and the call lists weren't being sent out until 10:30pm the night before, which is really, really late. That being said, if you're in the states you should watch BattleBots on ABC June 21st.

In other news, I've taken up the nearly impossible task of taking care of my parent's yards. The backyard is half vegetable garden and half dead wilderness. I have a complete understanding of the fact that we're in a drought, but that doesn't mean the yard has to be full of weeds and dead grass. There are plenty of drought resistant native plants that can go in that would definitely be an upgrade to the hot mess out there right now. The front yard needs some work too. So I'm taking on that challenge full force.

With that, happy stitching, everyone!

"Flapping Parrot" #8

I haven't been stitching as much as I'd like. Life has been a bit busy, more on that after the stitching update. I managed some progress on the flapping parrot, and I'm still working on College, which I will update next time.

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I've mentioned this before but I'll say it again. Golden Kite pages are only about 3,000 stitches each, so they feel like they go a lot faster than HAED pages. The end result is that there's way more of them per pattern, but that's okay. I really like the way it's stitching up so far, even though you can't tell at all that it's going to be a parrot. In time, the picture will come out more and more, as is the way of cross stitch.

First of all, I wanted to thank everyone for your support about my previous post. It was upsetting when it happened not just because my feelings were hurt but because this is such a prevalent problem, not just for women, but for everyone. We are constantly being judged and placed against impossible standards that, thanks to photoshop, don't even exist in reality! I know it's weird to say but it took me being in the physical presence of celebrities for me to realize that they are real people! Silly, right? That's not to say they weren't beautiful people. I mean really, they were. But they were still people. Their kids were running around on set. They were laughing and joking between takes. Whistling and singing to themselves. Doing the robot. They ate food. They drank coffee. They had their earbuds in and were listening to music/podcasts/radio/etc. It was very eye-opening and extremely comforting in the most positive way. So thanks, everyone. Your kind words and thoughts are so very much appreciated.

H³ got a job! He's now a field geologist! He also got into grad school! Things are moving forward for him, which is really great. I'm still looking for a job. I've had some interviews here and there but haven't found anything full time or permanent yet. I'm on a couple of eligibility lists with libraries, I'm working through an agency for the possibility of some records management work with law firms, and I've received some referrals for movie and TV work as crew. In fact, at the end of April I had the opportunity to work as a PA on the set of a pilot called Rellik, directed by Tim Russ (of Star Trek: Voyager fame). It was so much fun! Not only did I get to do PA work but also dress sets for the art department, and be a stand-in. Rellik is going to premiere at Sacramento Comicon in June so if you're around I think I'm going to try to go. We'll see. Here's a cast/crew photo.

I am in that photo, but pretty tiny so not sure if anyone will be able to find me.

That's all that's new in my neck of the woods. One of my friends is having a baby in July and I'm almost done with her baby blanket. Maybe another 2-3 days of working on it and it'll be ready!

Happy stitching, everyone!