4 posts from April 2008

Okay...so I have to have some kind of new activity to get involved in - so I decided to join a sewing class! I am taking lessons from Glitzkrieg - here in Austin. This has been a blast! Our teacher, Leslie, has made sewing so accessible and fun! I am thrilled to be doing this. I am in the Sewing 1 class. We have made a few projects so far:

On our first class we made these:

The first one is a small drawstring bag - with a little square bottom so it will sit up!

The second project that day was this pillow - just your basic small square pillow. Skulls on the front and the back is a solid teal color.

Yesterday, we made a more complex pillow. It is a 16" round pillow, contrasting fabric on the front and back, with a zipper (so you can insert the round pillow form).

Here is how it turned out:

Here is the front of the pillow - kind of an exotic floral.

The back is a contrasting green fabric, textured with tiny diamond squares.

And here is the zipper I installed! Proud of that, cause, I had no idea how that would turn out.

I am in the process of picking out fabric for next week's class: a reversible skirt! Looking forward to that one - I am thinking some kind of funky floral on one side and skulls on the other. I will have to see what I end up with in terms of fabric choices.

Well, I wish I was more upbeat today...but I guess the spring allergies have got the best of me - I have been alternating between sneezing and coughing all day. My throat hurts too - and I haven't felt like talking. Ugghhh....Hopefully I will feel better with some Claritin and some hot tea.

Things are going pretty well - have some clear deadlines for my dissertation work - yay! and yikes! all at the same time. I will be graduating in Spring 2009 - which sounds like a long time from now, but in terms of the deadlines I have...well, it will be here before I know it.

No need to panic, just meet the deadlines as they come. I will be completely focusing on my data analysis and interpretation this summer. Good timing too - I have some fellowship money to help with our home and school expenses and I won't have to work! What will that be like??? Hmmm,  I am hoping for a very productive summer :)

I had been out of town for a conference (a gerontology meeting) and it went great! Lots of fun people, good information and networking. Great conference center, I will post a pic or 2 when I get home. It was located just outside of Washington, DC. Chantilly, VA to be exact.

You conferencing friends out there will understand this one - TPTB wanted it to be a 'working' conference...no sightseeing and shopping instead of going to meetings. So...the solution to this issue was to locate us far enough away from EVERYTHING that we never left the hotel. Just a trip to the local Target (because, I will never pay 2.00 for a diet coke or snack crackers) was 16.00 cab ride! So, we all stayed there - and made the best of it. It was a harsh conference schedule: Friday night 5pm-10pm, Sat and Sun 7:30am-9:30pm. There were breaks of course, and the evening included dinner and cocktails - but yikes!! I am conferenced out at this point.

You will see more about the place here. It is a lovely place and super comfy rooms, tasty affordable restaurant and coffee bar, fun spa and rec center and excellent service - so if you need to head to that area, I can highly recommend it. If I was going there for fun, I would certainly stay again.

So, I left this a.m. out of Dulles Airport - no probs there at all. Flew into Dallas and that is where the fun began today! We waited on the taxi-way for 30 or so minutes because there was a plane in our gate with mechanical problems. We finally were allowed to deplane - and got sent to the wrong gate. Ran to the right gate for the connecting flight to Austin and there was a very large crowd.

The flight attendant staff said there was a "weight issue" on the plane. Now, I don't know what that means, but it scared me. Was there too many passengers (it looked like it) - was there too much stuff on the plane? too much fuel? I didn't want to be in something too heavy to stay in the air - so....She asked for volunteers with flexible travel plans and said if we waited for the 6pm flight, she would give us a 300.00 travel voucher. Yay! Free travel, you would have done that too right...?

I got out of line, got my voucher, got some lunch and took the Sky Tram to the other side of the airport to do some work and wait for my flight. Internet is not free - so I decided to do the one day pass in the American Airlines Admiral's Club. Ordinarily, I am booked pretty tight between flights - so no time for chill. But I thought I might like it today. Boy was I right :) 

For my 50 bucks I got free internet, free drinks, free food and nice comfy chairs :) It was worth it to me - especially when I just found out that my 6pm flight is now cancelled and I *might* get to leave Dallas at 7pm! Ha! So much for giving up my seat.

Well, no time like the present to get back to the blog! Lots to catch up on - all good - just quite busy :) Tomorrow is my bday and I am working out of town, so I thought I might get started back on Vox.

We absolutely love Austin - the move has been great! I have lots of pics to post. We feel settled and have a great little home. Work and school are really good too. Our pets are really happy (shout out to WestLake Animal Hospital for their excellent care!) too. Our daughter even got to come out to visit over her Spring Break.

I will try to ease back into writing a little at a time, but hey - it's a start :)

Battye in Austin