Making New Friends...

...at the Farmer's Market.

A Visit to Kennewick

Number 100!

While spending my spring break with my parents and old friends, I discovered that I had smileys on 93 geocaches. So close!!

So my folks humored my request to get to a round 100. We drove down to Old Highway 95 to search for the Caitlyn's Cache "Putnams Challenge" series.

There were 10 geocaches in the series, plus a couple extras nearby, which means...

WOO HOO! 

Here's to another 100 adventures!

A Blingy Wall

All my jewelry lived in a box. All tangled together. It was sad. I decided to do something about it, and I had a cork board hanging out unused. So...

I traced a design, using a tissue box to help me with the right angles.

Filled it in with my favorite color of acrylic paint.

Laa laa laa...

Gave it a second coat for extra boldness.

Ooh la la!

It took an hour of tracing and painting, then I gave it about three hours to dry before I pinned up my things. I'm glad to have easy access and fewer tangled chains.

Some Valentine's Love

I'm a celebrater. I celebrate anything. But I really, really like to celebrate Valentine's Day. I think it's nice to do nice things for the people you love! So here's what I did:

I got cardstock from Michaels (keep an eye out for 40% off coupons on the website!) and the rest I had on hand.

I took a finished-off toilet paper roll, folded it into a heart shape, and used the shape as a stamp in acrylic red paint.

I let that dry overnight, then used Crafty glue to add on ribbon trim. I used three sweet flavors of ribbon:

But most important, I think, are the nice written inside. :)

Gettin' Some Dirt Under My Nails

Sometimes I get frustrated that my course requirements do not permit me to spend all my time learning about media.

Then there are days like today which make me grateful that I am given the opportunity to explore different perspectives.

I'm in a sustainability course that synthesizes geology with social sciences. We're required to do some kind of service project during the term.

I went out to the Organic Growers Club farm, a 2-acre lot just outside of the Corvallis city limits.

There were about 15 of us helping out today.

We spent 4 hours turning up soil and digging up roots.

That's about 60 man hours.

There was a little friendly competition for who could dig up the longest quackgrass root.

My new friend Jess found a lot of REALLY long ones.

There were also TONS of earthworms. As I came across them, I named them after presidents.

Meet Taft.

We also came across a bunch of these little grubs. The manager of the grounds said that they're safe to eat, so a few of us tried some.

Challenge accepted.

I was promised that they would taste a little nutty, like almonds, but really it just tasted like bug.

What a great day to get my hands dirty!

Bonus: Dobie the Doberman.

Salty Stone and The Greatest Henge In All The Land

Hey, friends. I made a video of today's BIG ADVENTURE!

Sorry for laptop potato. My DSLR is still in the shop getting repaired. I'll try to narrate videos from my phone camera, since that seems to be better. Learning!   :)

Another huge thanks to Christelle for making my day!

Pretty Cool

I've seen some great things while in London... but to me, they all seem like little nibbles out of one big cake. So I present to you: the cake.

Apologies for the potato. I hope to get my camera repaired soon. Until then: cell phone to the rescue.

Camden

I visited Camden and made a song about it.

A Guide

Yesterday, I joined several friends in celebrating Independence Day from overseas -- and in doing so, made this handy dandy guide.

Being an American...

... in a foreign country gets me a lot of attention.

At a club, walking through a crowd to get fresh air:
Me: Excuse me.
Guy: Oh, you're an American!
Me: How could you tell?
Guy: You have an accent.
Me, with sass: No, you have an accent.

In Primark:
Me: Where can I go to try on these pants?
Clerk: You mean trousers?

At a Pret:
Me: I'd like some of those chips please.
Cashier: We don't have any chips.
Me, picking up a bag of potato chips: No, these chips.
Cashier: Oh, right, crisps.

How does this make me feel?

Machiavelli Kitchen

A few of the ladies and I were kind of peckish, so we set off on the town in search of drinks and dessert.

We landed at Machiavelli Kitchen & Dining Room, a sleek restaurant that was starting to close. They served us anyway. We giggled with a Swiss man who shared the table with us. Then, floating on the evening, took the tube home.

The City that Enjoys a Good Rest

One big difference I've noticed between London and New York City is that London takes a good long time to rest.

Case in point: I've been trying to locate a Vodafone that will help me enable my cell phone to operate overseas, but for the last couple days, they've opened when I head to class and close when I leave class.

Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. The area outside my dorm is quiet. I can take a walk undisturbed in the early mornings. I feel safe in the evenings. I'll find time for my phone another day. :B

Exploring

Museums, old pubs, underground, oh my!

Here's Episode 3 of my vlog: Exploring.

Do you have anything in particular you'd like me to do a London adventure video about? Please let me know. :)

The Longest Day Ever

Boy oh boy. It feels like I've been awake for ages. In reality it has been a short amount of time, but the experiences I've had are prolonging the hours.

Here's Episode 2 of my vlog: The Longest Day Ever.

Here are the photos I showed in the video:

Waiting for the Plane

Peeking

Flood

Sun Chaser

Now, wish me a good rest. More adventures to follow!

Pilot (Passenger)

I'm off to adventure!

I am taking the opportunity I have as a student to study abroad -- in London. Part of this learning experience will come from a long multimedia project where I'll blog videos and photos about my trip.

Busy Beaver is about to see a LOT more action.

Here's my first vlog. Episode 1: Pilot (Passenger).

There Is No Cow Level

Ken and I celebrated our 6th anniversary [of dating] this month, so to celebrate, I gave him several gifts that reflect video games that we've played together over the years.

One thing that brought the two of us together in the first place was our shared enjoyment of Diablo 2. I didn't know that other people had played it. And he didn't know what a BA sorceress I could be.

So when it came time to think of a Diablo 2-related gift, I considered coming up with some rendition of the Lord of Terror himself. Then I remembered this chilling scene:

 Moo. Moo moo. MoooOOOooo.

So I painted this:

He liked it. :)

Pinterest Experiment 1: DIY liquid hand soap

My mom and I are always being inspired by all of the neat "life hacks" that we see on Pinterest, so we are making an effort to give one an honest try every two weeks!

[Insert your standard college-student-on-a-budget spiel here.]

So when I saw this idea on Pinterest to make a ton of hand soap for a lot less than one can buy it, I was stoked! Furthermore, I am unbearably finicky when it comes to choosing soap. I can never find a scent I like in liquid soap, but there are tons of bar soaps that I enjoy.

Because I haven't done this before, I wanted to try to make 1/4 the volume that the original pinner had made so that I wouldn't waste too much if the experiment went horribly awry.

I started by gathering my ingredients and supplies.

Start by grating the chee- uh, soap. This step was very enjoyable, as my hands smelled delightfully pepperminty afterward.

Combine the water, soap shavings, and glycerin in your pot.

Stir on low/medium for a few minutes until everything dissolves together. Then wait for it to cool.

During this time, I cleaned up my kitchen and made a label for my container.

Pour the cooled soap into a holding container. 

Bonus points if you reuse a container that you would have otherwise tossed out or recycled.

Done!

I found that this soap is pretty runny - like, I have to exercise caution when pumping it out of my dispenser or else it'll shoot all over the counter. However, I also noticed that it had thickened a little after several hours, so perhaps it will continue to thicken as time goes on.

This soap leaves my hands feeling clean and smelling minty! I give this project a B for the runniness; if you can think of a way to thicken it more easily, leave me a comment.

J & L Adventure 8: Breaking out the sewing machine!

I've had a lovely new sewing machine for several months, but up until just a few days ago, I had barely touched it!

But I know that sometimes, all it takes is a buddy to get you through a block. So when Lindsey wanted to do a shirt refashion, I knew I could gain the confidence to use my machine!

We found a tutorial that described how to turn old t-shirts into little aprons.

from Ruffles And Stuff

Here's how ours turned out!

Before...

After!

Feels great to know how to use my machine now!

J&L Adventure 3-2: Jackson-Frazier Wetland, Fall Edition

Last August, Lindsey and I went to visit the Jackson-Frazier Wetland. While were there, we decided that we should visit every season to see how it changes throughout the year.

So we went back for another jaunt on the boardwalk on a rainy November day. Here's what we found:

My favorite part was how old decay and new growth visibly coexisted happily!