Global fest

So this weekend some friends from my department and I went to Global Fest. It is sponsored by the city and included booths with tons of food from all over the world (I tried a Mango shake from India and it was delicious!) and some live music as well. The highlight for me was the Latin Jazz band that came--a group of white guys called Los Blancos. They were pretty much great (except maybe for their Spanish). I've included a little clip of them though it totally doesn't do them justice. Little did I know that I like Latin Jazz! Thank you Global Fest for my new found love! I went home and bought their cd on itunes and danced like a fool in my living room listening to it (something that you will not be seeing pictures of). We also listened to a bit of a panoramic steel group called PanUSA. They were good, but not as fun as the BYU group (for those of you reading this who still attend BYU the Panoramic steel group is a must see before you leave BYU).


Pictured below are some of my fellow grad students enjoying Los Blancos (Sandy in the pink, Yen B (probably misspelled that!) in the black, and Maria in the white and sunglasses--she is the one who suggested we listen to this group--thank you Maria!!)



They also had cultural booths where you could go learn more about the country. At the Chinese booth you could get your name written in Chinese calligraphy (Amy is pictured below proudly displaying her calligraphy piece)


It was a lot of fun---I'm totally going next year!

Just give me my stuff, ok?

bookstore clerk: 'are you having a good friday?'

me: 'why, yes I am, thank you.'

bookstore clerk: 'well I bet it hasn't been as good as mine.'

me: {uhhhhhh} 'I guess not, though I try...' {please just hurry up and give me my stuff so I can
stop having this awkward conversation with you}

bookstore clerk: 'well you keep having a good friday.' {though it will clearly never measure up to his Friday goodness}

It is conversations like these that make me dread checking out at supermarkets, bookstores, and other such venues. Why can't I think of what to say in the moment? Like 'oh really, what has made this such a fantastic Friday for you?' Instead I bumble all over myself, grab my bags, and beeline it for the nearest exit. But to my defense he totally took my off guard with 'I bet it hasn't been as good as mine.' Who says that??

More bits and pieces

Here are a couple more pics of the apartment.
First the dining room:



Next the view through my sky light:


Can I just say that I love natural light!

In other news, I'm in the throws of orientation. So far it has been good, not too stressful, but lots of information. Mostly it has been lots of free food--haha! I still have a ton of reading to do before classes start and was notified by one of my fellow classmates that NONE of our books are available in the six bookstores on campus. (sigh) The joys of starting another semester. But on the upside of things I really like my department, adviser and fellow grad students--that's a big plus in my book. I guess we'll just have to see what grand adventures the semester holds.

Ode to the library

I spent four years working at the library at BYU and I wanted to commemorate that era of my life some how. Each year we got a library t-shirt and I decided to make a little blanket out of mine. Here is the (mostly) finished product:



While I am undeniably not a quilter or sewing guru it turned out better than I expected. Someday I'm going to print out a picture of the library and iron it onto the middle white square. More importantly however, I ended up using a nice quality polar fleece so it is extremely cozy and the perfect size for me to snuggle up with and watch a movie--yes!

I'll keep my day job though this would undeniably be much more fun

So while I am definitely not an artist I surely like to try my hand at it every now and again. So here are some pictures of some of my latest creations (all painted on fabric):





It looks kind of puny in the pictures, but in real life it is actually pretty big. Funky, I know and it doesn't really coordinate with the rest of my decor, but I had too much fun creating it not to put it up:)

Some smaller pieces I did that probably won't ever be displayed but were very fun to make:



Alas, I think I'll have to stick to the whole grad school thing:)

In bits and pieces

So I've been trying for the past week or so to get some pictures together of my new apartment, but it just isn't coming together. Mostly because I keep forgetting and when I remember my apartment is a wreck because of some project I'm working on and then I clean it up and promptly forget again. It's a vicious cycle! So I've decided to post it in bits and pieces.

First bit: My new couch

It came to my door in these two boxes:



and came out looking like this:



pretty cool right? Well I think it is! I got it from homereserve.com and it comes ready to assemble--which I totally did and it wasn't even hard at all (thanks for the drill Mom--it was a huge time saver!). I meant to buy the three cushion version, but had a 'moving-moment' and order the 2 cushion by mistake--whoops!

This is what the frame looks like without the cover and cushions:




It isn't the most comfortable couch in the world, but it's not the worst either. I think it falls somewhere in the midrange for comfort. Plus I love all the other benefits--I can take it apart and move it myself if need be, there is storage underneath the cushions and I can take all the covers off and wash them or buy a new set if I'm ready for a decor change without having to buy a whole new couch.

In other--but related news--I bought a sewing machine and made some little pillows for my new sofa.

Here is the finished product:



You can see my dining room and a bit of the kitchen in the background.

Second bit: The bathroom



I'm currently on the hunt for a shower curtain, but haven't been able to find anything I like yet.

Well those are all the pictures I have for the moment--stay tuned for pictures of painted chairs, fabric art, and ode-to-library throw. (I hope the suspense isn't too much for you---hahaha!)

Something new

It may be surprising, but one of the hardest things about becoming diabetic was wearing some sort of medical id. I'm not much of jewelry person nor did I like the idea of being labeled 'diabetic' for all the world to see. To make matters worse most medical id's are hideously ugly! I already have a medical condition do we have to add insult to injury by being forced to wear a seriously overpriced (costing as much as $300--seriously!) piece of chain link fence around my wrist! My mom and I found some sporty looking medical bracelets that weren't too expensive and that is what I've been wearing pretty much exclusively over the past 4+ years. They have served me well, but I've been looking for something a little different--not quite so sporty--that wasn't going to cost me an arm and a leg ($60 for some beaded bracelet in my mind is WAY too much!). I am pleased to report that I finally found something different that didn't cost too much. Hurray!

You buy the id tag and bands separately and the tag can go on any of the bands. And they are watch style bands so I can get them on and off by myself (a perk you don't think about until you try to put a bracelet with a clasp on by yourself).

Something I like about West Lafayette

Walmart is never crowded! I went last Saturday in the afternoon with some fear and trepidation that I would end up elbowing someone for a box of cheerios ('I call this box of Cheerios. Tap tap mine!') Ok so maybe the Walmart in Orem wasn't quite that bad, but somedays it felt like it. Which is why I would avoid going on Saturday if at all humanly possible. Awesomely, the Walmart here is never crowded and I love that!

Also a funny Walmart experience. They have a new advertising slogan 'do the math and save.' Well my younger brother found this particularly hilarious when it was teamed with a poster of a mother and one child. Walmart promoting small families--or maybe no kids at all? Do the math and save! Gotta love having someone around who sees the irony in things. {disclaimer: pictures of the new aparment will hopefully be coming soon. Just waiting for my couch to arrive.}

Farm Country

When I first came out to visit Purdue back in March I didn't really see much of the city. Some where however I got it into my head that I was heading to a more urban part of the country. You know two hours south of Chicago(the third most populous city in the U.S.), about an hour from Indianapolis. However, I find myself deeper in farm country than I have been since I lived in Idaho, outside a town that boasted a population of 15, 000. I live about 3.5 miles from campus and am always amazed at the diversity of the scenery as I drive to campus: small stores, a few sub divisions, and lots and lots of corn. Maybe the West just builds their cities differently (which is actually extremely likely) but it seems like there is a smattering of corn fields almost anywhere you drive. Of course there is still a down town-like area with nothing but pavement, but it just seems these fields pop up pretty much everywhere else. There is a Menards (Home Depot of the Midwest) right down the street from me along a highway. It is set fairly far back from the road and on the corner of the lot it is on there is a...cemetery. Just a small one, but this is not a phenomenon you would see in Provo/Orem. The boys in my ward were talking about the guns they own (weird right?). But please don't mistake this as complaining. So far I really like it. There is something about being able to drive to the home repair store and moments later be driving past corn fields as far as the eye can see. I got out and took a few pictures and the air is just perfumed with smell of corn! I'm definitely back in farm country and totally enjoying it.