Procrastinating

In a concerted effort to at post at least once this month as well as to postpone the inevitable (typing grad school papers), I bring you this...

I typically don't like completing all those memes floating around the Internet. I never feel that my answers are creative enough to match the ones I read. Well, I saw one over at Pixiegenne that looked fun and spontaneous enough to actually complete. It's my life as a movie soundtrack ... using my own music collection. For this to work, I placed my iPod on suffle and answered the following questions using whatever song came up next. To tell the truth, I wanted to cheat a couple times, but resisted and just let the iPod genius dictate my life's soundtrack. I also was hoping that my more eclectic music would make more of a presence, but - again - you can't fight the iPod. So, here is my past and future, set to music.

opening credits:
“Caberet Hoover” by Ben Charest (The Triplets of Belleville soundtrack)

waking up:
“Sentimental Journey” by Doris Day

first day at school:
“That don’t impress me much” by Shania Twain

falling in love:
“Sleigh Ride” *Isn’t Christmas such a romantic time?

Breaking up:
“All I Need (I Did Not Catch Her Name)” by Caedmon’s Call

prom:
“Mah Na Mah Na” by The Muppets

life’s okay:
“He’s Funny That Way” by Etta James

mental breakdown:
“In the Jailhouse Now” by The Soggy Bottom Boys

driving:
“Who’ll Stop the Rain” by Creedence Clearwater Revival *What’s up with this? I live in SUNNY California!

flashback:
“Psalm 32” by Steve Bell

getting back together:
“Three to Get Ready” by the Dave Brubeck Quartet

wedding:
“On the Street Where You Live” by Bobby Darin *Seeing as how I'm not married, I don't know what to make of this selection.

birth of child:
“The Half of It, Dearie Blues” by Ella Fitzgerald *It’s strange, but this song kinda fits

final battle:
“Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” by The Kingston Trio

death scene:
“One” by Three Dog Night *Oh My Gosh! This would be sooooo sad!

funeral song:
“What is This Thing Called Love?” by Cole Porter

end credits:
“Remaking” by Justin Christian

Anyone else interested in playing?

Sew-a-long: Purse in a Weekend

I've been wanting to make this type of purse for a while and got the right amount of encouragement when Celine over at Vol d’oies suggested a sew-a-long to make that purse! And, to even make it in one weekend! Well, a girl doesn't need much more encouragement than that.

I invited my good pal Nancy to hang out at the house Saturday night for some girly conversations while we both worked on projects: her on sorting paperwork, me on the following purse. I still have to sew a button onto the front and finish the bottom of the lining, but I couldn't wait to take a picture.



A bit closer...



This purse was so fun and easy to make. It took only about 4 hours to make and was made entirely from my stash. The hardest part was picking and cutting the fabric. Not that cutting fabric is challenging, but I just liked my fabric sooo much I almost couldn't cut it. That white fabric with the red squigles is actually from a vintage pillowcase. The red is hand stiched embroidery. Parts of the pillowcase are badly stained so I salvaged the good parts for this bag. Almost all the rest of the patches are leftovers from previous projects or fabric given to me by good friends.



On a slightly related note, if you remember, the purse mentioned in my previous post (the one with the embroidered pig), I gave to a good friend a couple of weeks ago. Since that friend has actually been using the purse, others have seen it. Well, today after church, a gal came up to me and said that she'd like to commission a purse! I've never been so flattered as a sewer before. Sure, I've gotten compliments on my sewn items before, but this was so unexpected. First, I didn't have to fish for the compliment. And second, it was by someone who doesn't even know me that well, and thus, doesn't "have" to compliment my creations. I wish I had more time to make items for everyone just so I can get more compliments like this!

WIPs Done!

Hey Sis! (Does anyone else read this blog? I'd love to meet'cha in the comment section).

A couple WIPs are finished and I wanted to share the pics with ya.



Don't ya just love that pig? I was making the bag and knew it needed that something extra. It was then that I saw my banana-leaf bag from Rwanda hanging from a wooden pig-shaped hook. Next thing I knew, I was hand embroidering a pig on that modern bag. It's almost too cute to give away. Almost.



Categories: crafts_sewing

Family Pics

It's been too long since I've posted, but I still don't have time this morning for a *real* post, so I'll try to placate my many many visitors with one of my fav family snapshots. That's me, my brother and twin sister from probably 1980 or so. Enjoy!



Categories: my_family

Work in Progress (WIP)

Of all the many projects I have going on right now, I thought I'd share the prettiest.



It's a purse I just started working one. However, it's going to sit on the ironing board for a while until I can finish the more urgent and important projects looming: dissertation group meeting tomorrow with chapter one due; need to organize lessons for three classes I'm teaching tomorrow; need to organize what I'm presenting at an important meeting with all the Deans tomorow. So, no more fun sewing projects for the next few days at least.

Categories: crafts_sewing

Labor Day Weekend

We didn't do that much over this very relaxing weekend, but I did manage it capture most of it on my camera. So, enjoy this short slideshow of Dad realizing his lifelong dream. View slideshow

Categories: my_family

Movie night

Olive: Grandpa, am I pretty?
Grandpa: You are the most beautiful girl in the world.
Olive: You're just saying that.
Grandpa: No! I'm madly in love with you and it's not because of your brains or your personality.

Just saw Little Miss Sunshine last night and for someone who always likes quirky independent films, this one was fantabulous! Of course, the language could have been cleaned up, but all the characters were unique, dysfunctional and yet funny. Special message to my sis... If you haven't seen this, you'll love it!

Also, sis, remind me to tell you about the rest of the night. Off-blog conversation piece.

Categories: my_family

Pillow and the Orient Express

I needed a little pillow for my office chair and had so much cute fabric upstairs, so as a part of my resolve to Use-What-You-Have, I made this little pillow after getting home late last night.

Speaking of last night, every year the president of my university hosts a Faculty Dinner. The past couple of years have had themes and we all are encouraged to dress according to the theme. Well, this year's theme was the 1930's and 1940's Orient Express. Everyone was so gorgeous! Some people dressed like gangsters (even with fake tommy guns), others wore vintage stoles and pill box hats. But, my favorites were the two Kinesiology profs who both dressed up as boxers. They had white dress shirts, suspenders, newsboy caps, and vintage boxing gloves. They were sooo cute! And, on top of the cuteness of the outfits, the dining room was decked out with old luggage and other decorations straight out of the Orient Express. I even sat on pillows at a short table with a few others that mimicked a table from Turkey. I tell ya, we had a blast!

Categories: crafts_sewing

I did it!!!

I finally committed. I bit the bullet. I took the plunge. [enter your saying here].

I have a real - live and kicking - website!

http://www.bookwormadventures.com

Thanks to my Dad for giving me space on the official McLaughlin website, but I wanted to experiment with databases and other potentially website-crippling technologies that I really needed my own space. So, (for those non-family members reading this. Are there any? Hello, anyone?), if you want the family details, go to http://www.mclaughlin.web.st/mclaughlins/Welcome.html.

Otherwise, check out my new site for online photo albums and the occassional video. The blog is staying put for the time being.

You notice how late it is?!? I'm going to bed!

Categories: new_house

Corners of my home - Bathroom

It's a few hours early, but I doubt I'll be awake enough in the morning tomorrow to post this. For this week's "Corners of my home" I thought I'd highlight an area of the house people rarely highlight: the bathroom. Specifically, how the sweet yellow walls contrast with the bathrobe and old needlework that my sis gave me.




BTW, I'm pretty sure a cricket or two have gotten in through that cute old fashioned window. Just to add a bit of reality to the shots.

Categories: new_house

Monday Memories

I've been threatening my new sisters-in-law that their husbands once wore a dress. Well, here's the proof. I think my favorite aspect are the thumbs-up by Marshall. Hope ya'll enjoy. Now, go tease the boys.

Categories: my_family

Look, girls! Is it not a fine prospect?

Since I now live at Netherfield Hall, I thought I'd start a regular series showing corners of my new house. For now, be prepared to see lots of boxes but his first shot is for my mom. This room is called the Great Room and is the first room you enter from the front entrance. There's a fireplace on the right and two (of the four) bedrooms are through that door on the left. My master bedroom is down the hall on the right. Sometime later, I'll post pictures of the upstairs and kitchen.

Categories: new_house

Wedding Gift

I decided recently that I like to sew quick projects that I can finish in a couple or few days. But, since I have no need for so many purses and bags, that I ought to give them away. And, since many of my friends are gettin' hitched this summer, what better way to have fun sewing and give a unique gift. So, the following for a friend's wedding. She was in my group of 7 who went to Paris this past January so, I figured that her purse should be somewhat chic and dressy, just in case she and her new hubby jet across the pond to the City of Lights. Enjoy Melinda!

New Home!

For those who haven't visited or seen pictures yet, here's my new home! Most of my stuff are still in boxes and my furniture (expect the bed) is still in the entryroom waiting for strong houseguests to help me move it. The house is a 1920 English Tudor on a quiet residential street close to my campus. It has two fireplaces, 4 bedrooms, hardwood floors, pool, new landscaping, and even a big screen HD TV!

My favorite things so far about the house is being able to walk barefoot on wooden floors and not hearing noisy neighbors stomping or blaring loud music.

 

School life

I keep thinking whenever I sit down to write a posting, that I'll share how my dissertation is going. But, then I get to the computer and my dissertation sounds so absolutely boring compared to all my sewing projects. So, before I get sidetracked, here's how the dissertation is progressing.

My study is going to look at the steps that a library director takes to transform their small liberal arts college library into a doctoral research library. I plan on interviewing and surveying a dozen (hopefully I'll find that many) library directors that took their small library and transformed it into a large library that would be able to support doctoral research. I'll then ask them what steps they followed and what were the major obstacles or challenges they faced during that time. When I finish, I hope to be able to present a list of best practices for other library directors to follow.

So, that's what I intend to do. My process to writting this thing is this: My dissertation will have 5 chapters and they are not written sequentially. Chapters 1 and 3 I expect to have finished by the middle to end of August. Chapter 1 is the introduction to the entire study. It basically expands the paragraph above into 10-20 pages. Chapter 3 is my methodology: exactly how I intend to conduct my research - interviews, size of the population, etc. After I have those two chapters nearly complete, I meet with my dissertation chair and two other dissertation committee members that he picks. We all then discuss my study. During this time I get to start writting chapter 2, the Literature Review. Due to the nature of the Lit Review, it will not be finished until right up til I turn in the dissertation. I'm supposed to continuously gather and analyze all of the literature that discusses my topic to make sure that I am THE expert on that subject. Chapters 4 and 5 are written after I gather and analyze my data (those surveys and interviews). Chapter 4 is the Data Analysis chapter. It contains no fancy words, only repeating what the data revealed. The final chapter is the Conclusion. In that, I talk about "what it all means." I get to make suppositions, list the best practices, and use fancy conclusion-sounding language. And then, of course, is the bibliography. Knowing me, it'll be pretty long.

For anyone still reading, that's the entire dissertation process. I'll save the description of the Oral Defense for a later day, when you've forgotten the pain of reading the previous paragraph. Now, back to posting about fun sewing or photography projects.

New Banner

So I finally finished the final banner for this little blog (see above). When I started this wee adventure, I had envisioned a banner showing a girl reading with her imagination just going in the background. Through the manipulation of a bunch of clip art drawings and some of my own doodles, I finally got it. I promise not to change this for a looong while.

Sewing project

I was in Ikea the other day and found this cute red fabric that I figured would make a great bag. Good thing that the friend I plan to give this to doesn't read this site.

The Best Man

When I first shot this, I almost deleted it 'cause I meant to capture his face, but now I really like it. What's he looking at?
Uploaded on 9th July, 2006 by bookwormadventures

The Money Shot

My youngest brother just got married on July 2nd and I don't think I've ever seen him as happy as in this photo (right after their first kiss). I'm so excited to have Em has my newest sister-in-law and I know these two will make each other so very happy.

Diversion

Pen doodles scaned and the then colored in photoshop using an airbrush.
Uploaded on 6th July, 2006 by bookwormadventures

Updated website mockup

Original Mockup

New Mockup

Changed the background color slightly to a more grey-blue color. Also, added as a "stamp" the group's motto and heightened the focus of the brown menu text.

Cross Processing

I've been wanting to experiment with cross processing my photos for some time now. Back when I was shooting film, my camera used APS film and I couldn't find a lab that would process it as slide film. So, I'm finally using digital and I get to "cross-process" and here's my first attempt.

Another photographic technique

I've been trying to learn new photograph or photoshop techniques to improve my own shots. So, this is a shot of a country road near home that I then used photoshop to make look like it was shot with a Russian Lomo LC-A camera. Kinda neat, huh? The original is over on my Flickr site.

Stormy Monday

So, people keep asking me what the weather was like in Rwanda. Yes, we were just 10 degrees south of the Equador, but we were also between 4,000 - 5,000 feet in elevation. That combination meant perfect weather. It did rain every few days (sometimes a quick downpour; sometimes day-long drizzle), but I still categorize that as perfect weather. The daily highs were probably no higher than the upper 70 degrees and we didn't even need jackets at night.

Rwanda's perfect weather also means that almost anything grows there. When driving from Kigali to Butare (about 2 hours on paved roads), we saw tons of banana trees and fields of what looked like tea or rice. People even planted corn (maize to Rwandans) in the dirt on the side of a road.

Dreaming up a new Interior Website

So, I'm planning an update to my church's website (http://www.theinterior.org) and have finished the first draft, still-in-beta mockups of a new look. What'cha think? When looking at these prototype sites, you can ignore the text of the menus. They are purely placeholders. Feedback I'd like is whether you prefer the text version of the title (in sample #1)or the image version samples #2 & 3. Also, in samples #2 & 3, notice the slight changes in the white background. Do you prefer one over the other?

Into the Sunset

Photo taken on Lerdo Highway approximately 60 miles east of Paso Robles.

What I miss most

What I miss the most about Rwanda is this. Wouldn't you miss students
with faces like this too? By the way, notice the clouds in the
background. Everyday the sky was full of puffy clouds like this. And
that's Kigali behind us too.
Uploaded on 14th June, 2006 by bookwormadventures

Where were we again?

We were in the town of Butare, 2 hours south of the capital of Kigali.

1st day in Rwanda

This picture explains how everyone felt after traveling for two straight
days. Hours after arriving in Rwanda, we went to the Genocide Museum in
Kigali. Though it was very interesting and thought-provoking, sleep
overtook us afterwards.

Uploaded on 12th June, 2006 by bookwormadventures

Rwandan chair

Photo of a small wooden stool in Butare, Rwanda
Uploaded on 9th June, 2006 by bookwormadventures

Ultimate Frisbee in Butare

Coming Home

I think the hardest thing so far about coming home is how easy it is to get back into the flow of SoCal life. Every day I keep reminding me of how I spent all of May and how meaningfully I lived each day just so I don't get caught up again in the life I lived here. Even playing solitare igisoro is a good reminder for me of my friends back in Rwanda.

Bonjour Boy

We called this little kid the "Bonjour Boy." He lived in across the dirt road from our students' hotel and every day when they were all leaving or returning to the hotel, this little boy would run out of his house to the fork in the road and start yelling "Bonjour!" He didn't know any other French or English and would usually run away from us when we started walking toward him. But, once his figured out that his face showed up on the back of our cameras, he was hooked and was a quick friend.

Butare

Here's a shot of Butare, Rwanda, where my team lived and worked for two weeks.

Greetings from rwanda

Hey Everyone!
Greetings from Debbie and Jennifer. We have now switched teams and those who were at the English center are now at the University. Saturday we were all together for a native drum and dance show. Some of us even got to participate. Jen and Kelly really have some moves! Jason was also able to practice some of his drumming skills. We have tried many of the local cuisines including "Chinese food" which was actually BBQ. The first day of teaching for the new team at the university will be tomorrow. Today we showed a film and later today we will have time for open discussion with all of our new friends. God has blessed us with good health but no hot water! haha. We have to head off to the university now. We miss you all! God Bless!
Jen and Debbie

Team Rwanda Update

Muraho Kristen (and others),

I can hardly believe that I'm writing to you from Rwanda, Africa! In some ways, this does feel like the opposite side of the world, but in others, it is so similar to America. But first – for you parents – all the students are healthy and doing well. The two days of traveling to Kigali, Rwanda were the longest of our lives and we slept wherever possible, even on the floor of London's Heathrow Airport. However, once we landed in Kigali all of the wonderful training we had in the States completely left my mind as I realized I had no idea how to get from the airport to our hotels. So, I was so thankful that people were there waiting for us. I wish I could remember more of the National Genocide Museum in Kigali that we saw that first day, but as you'll see in a later photo, we were all too tired from traveling.

I do have to brag about my team. When we boarded the planes in the States, I gave them a half-sheet Kinyarwandan-English dictionary (it had words like Muraho=hello and Amakuro=How Are You). But, with every Rwandan they met, they learned more words and they then taught these words to the rest of the CBU teams.

Now, we are in Butare and I have barely seen any mosquitoes. The food that our hosts are preparing is wonderful. We even had apple pie the first day. The water rationing over the past couple days and the spotty electricity do remind us that we are in Africa. But, I have never been prouder of anyone than I am of my teammates. They are considerate, are eager to share their testimonies, have boundless energy to meet new people, and have rarely if ever complained about anything. I am so blessed to serve with these students.

Well, I should send this off before we lose electricity. All of us on Team Black Sheep send our love.

Imana ibahe umugisha (God Bless You),

Erica and the rest of Team Black Sheep

Africa Countdown

Two days to go and I wanted to post a picture and some links to where we'll be going.

• American Consultancy Group
• National University of Rwanda

Going to Africa!

Thought I'd start my first blog with my most exciting news.

I'm headed to Africa this Sunday with bunches of college students. We're going to teach English in Rwanda to pre-university students who need to be fluent in English, French and Kinyarwandan just to get accepted into university. And you thought US college admissions were tough. So, be prepared to read all about our travels and see whatever photos I can post.

Stay tuned...