Whoa thereee!

I have been SO busy. I have been living and breathing Wentworth, ah! I have been working 12 hour days for orientation, then classes started, then my financial aid went crazy. I just have been settling one thing after another and have been so overwhelmed.

I'm starting to get a grasp of my new schedule. I've been getting into a good routine too!

This weekend I get to craft. YES! I can't decide what I want to do. Scrapbook, sew, play with mod podge... I could barely make up my mind. I'm just so happy to have time to myself to make things and just unwind and do me.

So for an update.....

• My Co-Op ended, now I'm back in classes! I'm taking 6 classes which is 23 credits. I'm a crazy woman
• This month is me and Benjamin's ONE YEAR!!! yay!!
• I saw my sister and Dan since they've come back from Hawaii
• She showed me how to make wire wrap jewelry
• I've done a lot of thrifting
• Ben and I bought a vacuum cleaner (seriously it sounds lame but I feel like we're officially married now. we bought a vacuum cleaner together!)
• Jack, our old roommate, is officially moved out and Alex, our new roommate, is all moved in!
• I came up with lots and lots of ideas.........

I'm so glad to get back into the blog game. I feel like its my year! I feel like I'm gonna do great in classes, plan a great Alternative Spring Break trip, and make lots of things and even make a few garments I can wear. I get to start Project Life!!!!!!!!!!!! (I was going to start it a couple weeks ago, actually, but all the kits are backed up in stocking and plus, I love the new Heather Bailey designed Olive Edition and will be getting this core kit when it's finally out :)

Ben thinks that the PL thing is silly. He understands the idea but is just like "why.." Honestly.. I love the idea of scrapbooking. I love decorating photos and having them as a keepsake but the typical layout with one or two pictures with inspiring words around them just isn't me. My scrapbook pages are so much more boxy and geometric I guess. I like having a lot of photos on one page with stickers to accent and emphasize.. Not the whole thing to revolve around the stickers and just stuff on and around the pictures. I feel that PL keeps the main idea of scrapbooking there and keeps the simplicity of just a life in photos. I want to just take pictures, print them out, and slide them in their place. For me, I almost see it as a journal with lots and lots of pictures. I'm excited to think of things to fill it week to week. I'm excited for the weeks that just fill themselves. I'm excited to pick one or two things to revisit every week to see its change and progression (like a picture of Ben and I week, or our favorite munchies of the week) I want to capture this journey of Ben and I in our college life with no real obligations and just the beginning of our relationship. This month is a year we've been together and when I look back on the year... we have no freaking pictures or anything! There are a couple.. from Thanksgiving... and then a handful of just pictures of us. Literally like 5. A year together and all I can show for it is 5 pictures?! Not this year! This summer we did a couple awesome things and got great pictures (trips to the farm, our fishing trip on the Cape) but those big trips don't make our relationship fun. The every day does. I'm excited for this and I hope that Ben starts to love it when he sees the pages come together.

Taking advantage of this fresh start :)

Monday again!

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great 4th of July! I also hope you had a long break like I did! I was lucky enough to get Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off and paid! But now it's back to the full work week and being productive (after I finish this blog post...) Which I can't lie, I missed the routine. Doing tons of nothing gets to me. But I'm glad to get back into the swing of things.

So I haven't updated since last Monday, ahh!! I've just been too busy.

Tuesday - My last day of work for the week. I was able to leave at lunch time. So I went home and ate with Benjamin. Then I just cleaned, hung around the house, and started on a pair of shorts from some fabric and a pattern I had! Benjamin and I were having a sort of rough patch the past weekend so it was nice to spend the extra time with him. He knew we were both being difficult and I was a little homesick, so my baby surprised me with some much needed delicious desserts. I'm so lucky :)

I got TWO!! of these little fruit tarts. Soooosososo good!

I also got two chocolate truffle mousse cake things. Which I think were more for Benjamin. We shared this but it was still so good! The fruit was my favorite, but I'll take either any day :)

Wednesday - 4th of July!!! Though, Ben and I will be doing our celebrating at his house the following Saturday. His sister flew in from Chicago the night before (Tuesday) and her boyfriend was flying in on Friday for the family party. So Ben and I kept cool in the house all day and then went to the movies to see Prometheus. It kept us entertained, to say the least. We don't feel it explained anything... just left you with more questions...

Thursday - Ben's parents drove his sister, Lauren, to our apartment in Boston to spend the night by us. We went out to eat at Victoria's Diner (my favorite! and not just because we share the same name) and then Ben's Mom, Laurie, Lauren, and I went thrifting at a giant Goodwill which Ben and his dad, Bruno, went to a card shop. I got a skirt (which I'm wearing currently at work!), a dress from H&M, and some vintage plates, saucers, and teacups! I decided I'm going to collect a mismatch dish set with teacups. I absolutely love old plates and all the floral and how it's decorated. I also love mismatch. Now I just need some girlfriends to have a tea party, yay! Then Laurie and Bruno headed back to their house while Lauren, Ben, and I hung out. Lauren had a few of her friends over from high school who live in the city now. I told them about sewing and fruit dehydrating and just chatted and we had dinner at Tasty Burger. Seriously, best burgers EVER. I got the Kahuna burger. Mmmmm :) Should of taken pictures. Oh well, it was dark. Then we headed back to our place and chatted some more before we called it a night.

Friday - Lauren and I woke up early to go on a coffee date. A local coffee shop I have never been to that Lauren and I were planning to try was closed, so we just walked to Starbucks. It was so hot! I couldn't wait to have my iced coffee and petite vanilla scone. We were there from 9:30 AM -12:30 PM!  We just hung out and talked. I don't have a lot of girlfriends, and the ones I do don't know Benjamin very well so it was nice to be able to talk about my relationship to another female who actually knows Benjamin. That might be the most difficult part of being away. Having almost two different lives filled with completely different people. The people from home just don't know the people in Boston or even think similarly, and vise versa. Slowly my Boston life has taken over my New Jersey one, but that's life.  I'm so grateful for my new life and am so glad I followed the path I did that got me where I am today. After we got back, we hung around the house until Ben's Mom picked us up and brought us back to their house. Ben and I hung out with friends while Lauren and Bruno got her boyfriend, Josh, from the airport.

Saturday - Ben's family party! It was so nice to see all his family, and spent time with his sister. She went to school in Savannah and now lives in Chicago so no one gets to see that much of her. His family is truly my my family as well so I felt comfortable and welcomed. Lauren and I felt we needed sun hats for the party and being out on the boat, so we got some at T.J. Maxx's the day before. Best decision ever. I only have a few photos, but here they are :)

My colorful and huge hat and my Benjmain

Captain Ben on the boat!

Lauren and I and our hats :)

and I was lucky enough to go on a romantic canoe ride with my love, and I didn't have to paddle

Sunday - We woke up early and went to a giant flea market a couple towns over from Ben. All I got was some natural raw wildflower honey from Maine. My life goal is to have my own beehive on my property when I have a house. I want to be a beekeeper! And make my own honey, chapstick, beeswax, and whatever else. After we got back, we just slowly headed back to Boston. Ben and I watched Machete and I went to bed early.

It was such a perfect weekend!

Progress

I sewed for a couple hours last night!
I also get out of work early today, so I could sew right when I get home! Yay!

I was working on the first lesson on the D.I.Y. Dress Up E-Course by Red Velvet via A Beautiful Mess blog (if you would like to purchase this, hurry! it's only available for sale until July 31st!) which was making bows. My sister LOVES hair bows and I'll be making plenty of those out off all the scrap fabric I have that Laurie gave me. I'll be filling all the empty spaces in her gift box with them :) I want to make them until the stitches look perfect and they look like they came from the store. I'll post pictures of the finished products, but can't post a how-to, sorry! You'll have to purchase the course :)

After I perfect the bow, I'm going to make another wrap skirt for my sister's package. I'll be posting a how-to for that, though! It's a perfect little skirt for the summer or for a beach cover up. Can't wait for that!

As for my goals from the beginning of the week.. they're coming along. It's hard to accomplish these goals day to day because of my work schedule. I feel that once I'm back in classes in the fall I'll be way more on top of things. I also want to start a Project Life scrap book come Fall. I figured I'll make a scrap book or two for the summer and then start a Project Life book when the seasons change. That way I can document my entire Junior year and hopefully continue to my Senior year. Besides sewing, something major I want to do is take more pictures and document more of my life.

..well, me and Benjamin's life. I want to look at something when we're older. See us back when we were young, before we make any big crazy decisions, when things were simple. I also want to have something for our kids to see. With losing my father at a young age, and my mom barely keeping any photos past when my sister and I were 2 and 3, I wish I had more to look at and remember him by. I wish I could see more photos of me growing up. So I want to start the habit now. So I could remember how Benjamin and I grew up together as adults, our firsts, our love.

weekend means....

Friday. Yes.

I'm mostly excited because a) I get out of work early today, b) good friends are supposed to visit today, and c) I could finally start tackling some sewing projects! Weekend means my time.Well my time I get to spend with Benjamin. No schedule, no obligations, just time with my man filling in time as the weekend passes. But thankfully it's midterms for Ben in summer classes so that means he'll be studying this weekend which leaves me some quality time with my new sewing machine.

Some goals for the weekend are...

• Order pictures from PostalPix App
• Go to fabric store and get some nice fabrics
• Do at least three lessons from the D.I.Y. Dress Up E-Course TWICE! (the first couple lessons are really simple just to feel out the sewing machine and get the basics down. I want to do the projects twice so I could keep the first product for myself, then make a second one, hopefully better crafted,  for my sister. I'm sending her a birthday/care package to Hawaii soon!)
• Sketch some dress/skirt/tank designs in a sketch book
• Think of 5 DIY Projects (I have three down so far!)

 I think these are pretty fair and doable by Sunday.

For today, I want to put together an inspiration post to get my creative thoughts flowing. I want to think about what I want to make, find similar things on the internet, and put together a little board of inspiration. I also want to put together a post of the things I ordered my sister/plan on making her. It'll mark my progress on my gift box and give me motivation to start putting together the handmade stuff. And if there is time... I want to put together another inspiration post to start re-doing my bedroom. Ben and I live together, but I have my own room. It's more like my giant closet. I have my vanity, dresser, a table and chair set, jewelry armoire and all my shoes, books, and everything else girls have. I sleep in his room and use half of his GIANT closet for all my dresses and nice clothes to be hung up. So this is completely my space to do as I wish. I love living this way. I think it's why we get along so well. We both have our own space and we're not on top of each other and we have little escapes. We're a perfect team together.

Time to get on with these inspiration posts!

xx
V