Tag: about me

(I liked Liesl’s post title, so I’m borrowing it for my own.)

I was recently nominated for this sweet Kreativ Blogger Award by Liesl, from Liesl Made. I love reading Liesl’s blog, so I’m delighted that she sent this award my way. Her blog has struck (for me) a good balance between the creative and the personal, and she’s a very talented person. I recently bought one of her bag holders, and it’s really been a stylish way to get my bag collection under control. (Seriously, I should have taken a “before” photo. You have no idea how out of control this collection was.) Liesl Made is definitely one of my favorite blogs to visit. Thank you, Liesl!

The rules of this award are as follows:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might not know.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

Seven Things You Might Not Know About Me

1. I have a master’s degree in a field unrelated to being crafty. And I’m working on a Ph.D. Craftiness is a lot more fun.
2. My hazel eyes seem to change color to match my attire. If I can’t have green eyes, this is a good second.
3. I have played cards on a nuclear submarine.
4. I recently discovered I have a special love for daschund-golden retriever mixes (they exist!).
5. I had a blog before it was cool. Like, in 1996.
6. I have a stuffed monkey named Mswaki, or “Toothbrush” in Swahili.
7. I feel guilty when I eat meat, and I’m slowly moving towards a more vegetarian diet.

I never like to play by the rules, so I will list seven creative bloggers I like, but they are free to decide if they want to play by these rules or not.

Seven Kreativ Bloggers

1. Michelle of Cicada Daydream
2. Sarah of My Spare Time
3. Chia of Chia’s House of Stir Fry
4. Manda of Tree Fall Design
5. Lindsey of Leaf and Letter Handmade
6. Laural of Thimble
7. Wendy of Flying Shoes

All of these women and their blogs are wonderful. Check them out!

I am not a fan of internet memes, and I generally don’t participate. But what can I do when I’m tagged by family? My aunt thinks I’ve been away from blogging for too long–and she’s right, my inadvertant break has been too long–so she’s decided to force my hand with a meme. Essentially, she posted a picture of herself on her blog, Flying Shoes, and then tagged me to do the same. So here I am in the moment, participating in a meme. But as usual, I’m not tagging anyone else. Call me a party pooper and consider yourself tagged if you want to be.

You may notice the beginnings of a quilt in the background. I’ll be blogging about that project soon.

A couple days ago, SciFi Man and I cleaned out our dressers and closet. We came up with bags and bags of stuff to give to Goodwill, much of which was easy (and satisfying) to part with. I have been thinking lately about the things in my home that I would call “treasures,” the things that mean the most to me, that would be the hardest to part with. With this brewing away in the back of my mind, I’ve found myself looking at my belongings through different eyes, and I have noticed that many of my treasures are handmade, or have a story behind them, or both. I’ve been thinking I would like to share a few of them with you, and today I’ll start with a framed picture I keep by my desk and look at often.

Admittedly, this one isn’t handmade, although I did have to track down the particular image (it wasn’t that easy!), and I did have to find the perfect frame for it (it reminds me of the black lines between pieces of stained glass). It’s a postcard of a Tiffany stained glass window. A peacock, with so many beautiful feathers. It reminds me of my favorite quote, from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” It’s a quote that helps me think about who I am and want to be, and the people with whom I would like surround myself.

What are the things you do or use everytime you go online? Do you have a regular site you have to visit or a web-based email you have to check?

I’m a creature of habit, and I’ve been thinking about my Internet habits lately. I’ve noticed that there are a few things I do everyday. Since I’m also a list-making creature, I thought it would be a good idea to make a list of the things I always do online.

Everyday I:

• Check Gmail – “Check” may not be the most accurate word. More accurately, I run Gmail notifier in my system tray, so my computer is automatically checking my email for me every minute I’m in front of the computer.
• Check Google Reader – I love being able to consolidate all my favorite blog feeds in one place, and knowing when there’s a new post to read!
• Visit Etsy – I check my shop for new hearts and see what’s going on in the forums. If it’s a weekday, I look for the daily blog love post to announce to the world that there’s a new post on Anodyne Design.
• Check the news – I read CNN.com and AZCentral.
• Check MySpace.
• Check any waiting stumbles on StumbleUpon (and if I don’t have any waiting, I stumble a few random pages.)
• Chastize myself for “checking” so many things when I could be doing something productive.
• Repeat.

So that’s what I do online everyday. What are you doing?

I feel so popular. I’ve been tagged to share random information about myself for the 3rd time. This time, it was Earth Charms who did the tagging. I’m going to have to look back at what I’ve already shared to make sure I don’t re-share it… So, here we go again:

Here’s the deal: I get to tell you 6 random things about myself, and then in turn, tag 6 others to do the same. This vicious cycle continues forever.

1. I can’t listen to music and work at the same time. I used to be able to, but now I can’t seem to focus unless there’s total silence.
2. I love the smell of fresh-cut grass. Do they make grass-scented candles? That would be awesome.
3. I think International Talk Like a Pirate Day is a holiday worth celebrating.
4. I rain on e-mail forward parades… send me a forward, and I’ll send a Snopes link back to you about why that forward is bogus.
5. The only foreign country I’ve been to is Canada, and barely that. I’d like to travel more. And if I could, I’d go to France, Ireland, and Italy. And any tropical island. Ok, I’d probably go anywhere with plumbing.
6. I love aquariums, terrariums, and paludariums. I currently have 29 gallon aquarium with angelfish, an assortment of algae eaters, and live aquatic plants. My fantasy is to have an entire wall in my dream house that’s a fish tank… It may take awhile to live that dream.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts where I’ve been tagged, I’m not so good about continuing the chain. I’m a vicious cycle killer. If you want to be tagged, consider yourself tagged. Otherwise, no pressure.

First, a reminder. If you’d like to enter my contest, you have until August 23, 2007 to do so. The prize is a mystery, but most likely going to be some sort of bag, since that’s pretty much all I make. Now, on to the regularly scheduled post…

Yesterday was my first day back to school for the year, even though I never really left for the summer. One of the “joys” of being a grad student is that you get to be in school all the time, instead of just 8 months out of the year. Even so, fall is the start of the school year, and yesterday got me to thinking about my first days in college. I find it hard to believe, but I started college 9 years ago. Next year, my old roommate (with whom I’ve managed to stay good friends) and I are going to have to find a way to celebrate our decade since starting college and living together (she decorated our room with a life size cutout of Yoda, from Star Wars, while I built a fort out of my bed and brought in the fish (Batman, Big Earl, Studer, and Fillet.))

I remember that first day at college was hot and humid, and started early, because all the first years had to move in. The first person I met was my neighbor across the hall, and in a twist of chance, she was the last classmate I spent time with before officially leaving the college. The day ended with a big picnic on the lawn for all the students and their families, at which I accidentally discovered veggie burgers and decided I didn’t much like them. My roommate recounted some of the details of that day (like the fact that I got there before her and took all the good furniture) in her toast at my wedding.

I can’t get over the fact that it was nine years ago, and that none of the students there now were there while I was. I wonder if I’ll be having these thoughts about my first days at my university in another nine years.