July 10, 2009
I don’t know if this will be a regular thing, but I though it’d be cool if I did this as a periodical feature. Pretty self-explanatory– discussing the movies, music and books I’ve been enjoying.
MOVIE
On the Canada day weekend, I happened to watch the very Canadian movie One Week (no, it wasn’t planned purposely to be patriotic). When I first heard the summary of One Week, I was like, “Aw, it’s going to be a cheesy sapfest”. It did have its cheesy moments, but it was also a really cute movie. Not to mention a wholeheartedly Canadian production that actually instilled a bit of patriotism in me (which isn’t always easy– we’re not the most characteristically interesting country, no offense).
MUSIC
Right now, a sampling of my current roster of songs this summer:
- Beach Boys – Wouldn’t it Be Nice
- The Killers – This River is Wild, For Reasons Unknown
- Bon Jovi – Living on a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name
- ABBA – S.O.S.
- Passion Pit – Make Light
- Chad VanGaalen – City of Electric Light
- Metric – Wet Blanket
It’s a strange mix, I know. Quite a bit of old stuff in there. My Killers phase is still going– I’m slightly addicted to the Sam’s Town album– the whole thing– right now for some reason.
Another strange thing is that I’m listening to the radio right now, something I’ve NEVER done at home. Even stranger, this station has played songs I know and enjoy for approx. the last five songs– which is insanely rare.
BOOKS
I don’t know where I first heard of John Green, but I picked up two of his books in the last little while: Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns.
They’re both actually really similar, but I liked Paper Towns more. Green actually does have a nice style– it’s pretty hard to find an author working in the YA category, writing about teenagers, that doesn’t make me want to strangle myself. Or feel dumb. Though not always likeable, his characters are well-developed and interesting, and I enjoyed the informal sense of mystery/adventure in the plots (as in they’re not like, “I’M A DETECTIVE NOVEL! LOOK AT ME, I’M SO CLEVER AND FULL OF PLANTED TWISTS!”). Nice relaxing summer fare that’s slightly dark at the same time.
July 10, 2009
Summer laziness has set in, but loafing around the house does also lead to cleaning and sorting through old stuff. While tidying my room, I rediscovered a few of the dresses I’d sewn over the past year and I’d thought I maybe share three of them for fun.
note: they’re all in need of an ironing– they’d been scrunched up inside a bag for a while… 
They were all pretty easy projects– unfortunately, I do not possess the skills or patience (yet!) to attempt really complicated, structured pieces. The good thing about these kinds of patterns, though, is that they’re super comfy. (As you probably can see, I’m a fan of belts.) Hopefully, when I head off to art school next year, I’ll be able to learn more advanced techniques.
1. I recycled an old long prairie skirt that I really liked when I was twelve… I constructed the top part from scratch and joined the two. This is a really easy project– try it!
2. Used a Built by Wendy pattern, added a pocket, buttons. Kind of folky.
3. The colour’s a little off in this photo– it’s actually a really bright hot pink. It has a bubble elastic hem, side insets for extra poof, and I made the braided belt to go with it.
June 30, 2009
It’s been eons! While I’d like to say I’ve been super busy with stuff, the truth is I’ve been slacking off for the past few weeks. I had an exam and some grad events, but really, I’ve just been a lazy kid relishing the joyousness that is summer.
So… what have I been up to as of late?
Watching lots of How I Met Your Mother.
It’s been a while now, but I saw the movie Up and it was so sweet! I’ve always loved the idea of balloons carrying people away, as evidenced by some art pieces I’ve done in the past.
I painted my ukulele! It is now quite badass, for a folky little instrument. I love it to pieces.
And speaking of painting, here’s a peek at something random I’ve been working on recently… I don’t do enough with acrylics.
I’ve also been making more historical earrings for people and starting to think up a bunch of new sewing projects for the summer. I haven’t shared many of the clothes I’ve made over the year, mostly because I’m lazy/it can be hard to photograph. Happily, I am getting a new computer soon, which hopefully means that my Photoshop will run faster and I thus will be less afraid to upload and edit photos.
One of the larger distractions– I succumbed to MSN. After not having it forever, I gave in! It’s kind of sad how much I can account to chatting away… eh…
May 19, 2009
To fellow Canadians, hope you had a nice long weekend!
For me, it was one of the most enjoyable weekends in a while. This might have had to do with…
-The end of AP exams!
-A mini camping trip with plenty of s’mores and ridiculous music
-The new Star Trek movie – WOOT
- A Nutella crêpe lunch
Okay, I’m going to stop before I post ten thousand pictures of food. But yeah, with the weather getting just that smidgen sunnier and my homework getting shoved aside, I can practically smell summer now. Only three more weeks until I graduate from high school– pretty crazy!
