Adventures in frugality: the hair edition

Let me preface this by saying that being a grad student requires finding creative solutions for almost everything in life that is fun and costs money so that one can save up enough to actually pay rent every month. Sometimes I pretend that I have the dad from Calvin and Hobbes in the back of my head chanting his refrain about "building character," and it makes me feel better about getting by on an amount that isn't really enough.  I haven't been to the hair salon in about 9 months, and the lovely haircut I got last summer is growing out very nicely, but sometimes I really wish I could afford to go get a fancy haircut again. Since that's not in the budget right now, last night I resorted to another solution.

First, I saw this picture of Emma Stone's hair style on Pinterest:

Then, I thought, "Man! I miss having bangs!"
So I grabbed the scissors at 11pm, and this morning I look like this:

You know, not really like Emma Stone, but since I cut those bangs myself in 3 minutes, I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out, especially since I did not accidentally make myself look like Alfalfa or something!

That's the end of my Saturday adventure story. The brown and orange striped socks have been revived for want of another portable project, so you should see the complete pair shortly...

On my bookshelf lately

Aside from Gus perched up on top, there have also been some really enjoyable books stacked on my bookshelves. Now that my semester-long course is nearly over (just a final exam to administer and grade), there will be so much more free time in my life for reading, a sure sign that spring is here and summer is just around the corner. One of my favorite parts of these two seasons is a weekly walk to the local public library to pick up stacks and stacks of fiction to devour. I thought I'd share some of my recent reads here and ask for your suggestions! Please leave a note in the comments about something you've loved - I'm always on the lookout for something to add to my ever-growing reading list.

Mary Russell, The Beekeeper's Apprentice
A little Sherlock Holmes mysterious thriller, a little academic girl-power story
Alexander McCall Smith, the Professor Dr von Igelfeld series
Poking gentle fun at the ridiculous (mis)adventures of a snooty linguistics professor
Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches & Shadow of Night
The first one was better than the second, but overall an entertaining series... in which the main character is a mystery-solving academic and witch (clearly I am on some kind of kick here)
Nancy Atherton, Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch
More mystery and a hint of the supernatural, this time in an English village full of endearing busybody types
Madeleine L'Engle, Camilla
Flashback to my 15 year old self, totally obsessed with this book

I'm looking forward to your comments!

Spring Goals

It's officially spring, you guys! It is about 30 degrees out and SNOWING (WHAT?!), but it is spring nevertheless, and I am in the mood to set some new goals and enjoy this season.

So I've got three goals for the next couple of months. I think they're challenging but reasonable:

1. Train for my first triathlon! 
At the end of March, as soon as registration opens, I'll be signing up for my very first triathlon. It's a sprint-distance tri, so nothing to extreme, but I'm really excited about mixing more swimming and finally some biking into my workout circuit every week. As soon as I'm done with my current running training plan (a 5k to 8k plan that is really awesome, let me tell you) and I run my next 8k (April 7th!), it's time for triathlon training. Yessssss.

2. Significantly cut back on processed foods! 
With the exception of certain dairy products (because I am not giving up cheese, you must be CRAZY), I am going to make a concerted effort to eat whole foods instead of processed foods. I've got a CSA membership that, lucky for me, has continued to run through the colder months, so I'm already on track with fresh veggies. The main thing that leads me to eat processed foods and pre-made snacks is absolutely the convenience factor, but feeling healthy is definitely worth a bit of extra effort for meal planning and making sure I have healthy snacks in the house at all times. We'll see how this goes for a few months and what it does to my budget.

3. Up the craftiness around this joint!
More specifically, spin up my fiber stash and work on the colorwork design that I've been tossing around in my head lately. And by lately, I mean "for the past year at least." I've just finished up the world's most boring project/greatest labor of knitting love, so I'll have pictures of that as soon as there's enough sun for a decent photo shoot, but I still have nothing really exciting on the needles, and that needs to change. 

Any goals you're working on right now? Anything you're looking forward to accomplishing this season? I'd love to hear what's up in the comments.

Spring in my step

Photos from my walk around the neighborhood today: it was so lovely out, even with a bit of a chill in the wind.

Are there signs of spring where you live?

RETREAT!

No, this isn't a war, even though I was so tired out last night I slept for... 11 hours, and my abs feel like I've been crawling around in a trench for a few days (dang stupid yoga plank! I will get that six pack if it kills me, and it probably will!).

Anyway, I'm headed off on a mini retreat in Wisconsin with some Church people tonight, and so far I know I'm packing this whole pile of things:

The perfect balance of work and relaxation, no? Especially since the socks are stockinette, so I can work on them while reading. Hooray! Probably I will also need some clothes and a toothbrush and stuff. Minor details.

Speaking of clothes (check out that smooth transition), I have a new favorite outfit that I wore yesterday to go meet a professor at the University where I taught this past fall and where I'll be teaching a couple of courses again next semester. They gave me a very sweet belated Christmas gift of a travel mug emblazoned with the University logo, and a whole pack of similarly inclined pencils. I am excited to use them all.

Shirt: Old Navy // Cardigan: Target // Jeans: Gap // Haircut: needed, ASAP!

The earrings (cheapies from H&M) might be my favorite part.

What are your weekend plans?

More Fizz!

Fizzy water (made by my new SodaStream machine) has made my life so happy, and I pretty much drink an entire liter of it every evening.

Tea in the evenings is a lovely new ritual that helps me calm down before sleep. Last night's choice was white grapefruit.

And spinning is a quick and satisfying way to get in a bit of fiber crafting when my mind is tired at the end of the day. I spun the second half of this great fiber from Kathy B. last night while listening to music.

Because there is also musical accompaniment for all this gloriousness:


Here's to more fizz!

[recipe] Mediterranean Shrimp and Couscous

This is such a fresh and spring-like dish, and I've now made a giant bowl of it twice in the last week. I could eat this for every single meal and not get sick of it at all!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups uncooked Israeli couscous, prepared according to package directions (yields about 2 1/2 cups cooked)
medium or large shrimp, peeled and de-veined (cooked and uncooked are both okay)
2 zucchini squash
2 red, orange, or yellow bell peppers
3/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted
3/4 cup feta cheese crumbles
1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
olive oil
plenty o' garlic (I used 4 cloves)
1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Give the olives a rough chop and put them in a large bowl.

Prepare your veggies: chop into bite-sized pieces and saute over medium heat with 1/2 tbsp olive oil and two cloves of minced garlic until the zucchini is fork-tender. Add veggies to the bowl.

Prepare your shrimp: I don't add any extra oil to the veggie pan, just put in 2 more cloves minced garlic and my shrimp. Saute over medium heat. If the shrimp are already cooked, just heat them and maybe get some browning. If you're working from raw shrimp, make sure they are thoroughly cooked and pink! Turn off the heat and squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the top. Add shrimp to the bowl.

Prepare your couscous according to package directions, and add it to the bowl.

Add chopped cilantro, feta cheese crumbles, and the juice of your other lemon. Stir everything together and enjoy warm with salt and pepper!

This will keep in the fridge for at least 5 days, unless you eat it immediately, which you very well might. Do let me know if you try it out :)
Happy Saturday

Stuff and Junk

Well, finals week happened! Phew, I'm glad that's over and that I can finally settle into Spring Break. This year, N is coming to visit (she gets into town tonight!), plus I've got some babysitting jobs lined up and plenty of plans for cooking, drinking fancy lemon and lime ice water, reading in the park, and knitting socks outside in our gorgeous 75 degree weather. I will be sure to take a million pictures to share. 

Here's what I've been up to lately:

Flowers

Bread of the week (Rosemary peasant bread, recipe here)

Yarn

New(ish) bedspread - can you tell my bedroom curtains are hot pink? I am planning to replace them with white ones soon

What's coming up for you this week?

Spun to finished: spring greens (and a giveaway!)

This is the yarn that knit up insanely quickly into a headband during the yarn crawl.

It is handspun made out of lovely Cosymakes falkland fiber in the Limone Crickets colorway. Aren't these shades of green and yellow just screaming, "SPRING! Get here fast, Spring!" ? 

Falkland is great to spin and glorious to knit with (very squooshy).

This is said headband: a bit of ribbing, a bit of stockinette, and a few rows of purling.

Boom.
You know what is also "Boom"-worthy? My new teal jeggings. That's right, crazy bright colored denim from Target that looks surprisingly stylish. Also the white pair is amazing. I can't wait to put together an outfit and show you. Anyway, headband closeup.

I had two skeins, so the second one is also going to become an awesome headband. One headband is going into the shop, but the other can be yours! I've put together a little prize package including the headband and a few other small treats.

Giveaway details:
All you need to do to enter the giveaway is leave a comment on this post telling me what you're most looking forward to about Spring.  Please also leave a way for me to contact you if you're the winner (e-mail, blog link, Rav name).

Leave your comments before noon CST on Friday 2/24, and I'll draw a winner later that afternoon. Good luck everyone!

Renewal

That's a pretty perfect word for Spring, right? Now that the weather in Chicago has finally made its turn for the better and my quarter (and the school year!) is on its downward slope, I'm definitely feeling the need for a bit of renewal.

This fiber (4oz of Falkland in the Limone Crickets colorway by Cosymakes) is also perfect for Spring, so I don't have too many regrets about sticking it in the closet back in mid-January and not pulling it out again until Sunday. It worked a little bit of magic during my weekend.

Getting back into spinning on the same day that I also happened to make my first loaf of bread in a couple months, when I also just sat down on the couch and watched a movie while knitting an entire baby hat (more on that one tomorrow), was such a refreshing experience.  It was quite a renewal of my creative energies!

As satisfying as it was, I wish that spark of creative renewal could translate into a renewal of academic energy and then the ability to be cheerful around other people! I had been working so hard on studying for my exam, a process that really did fill up most of the hours of my day every weekday, that now, a few days out, I sort of don't know what to do with myself and all that time, and this bout of seeming directionless-ness is making me grumpy. I kind of just want to hang out with people, but instead I feel like I should be doing some giant amount of work... on... I don't know what.
Any of you have this experience when a major project comes to an end? There are always other assignments and research projects waiting in the wings, but it's a bit like my forward momentum has been totally cut off, and I'm not sure how to get started again on the next big thing. Maybe I should just accept that I've been feeling disgruntled the last few days and not worry about it too much. Any thoughts?

The haps

 sweater in progress, almost time for seams!

 in the knitting bag. sort of. mostly spilling over.

 at the park! it finally feels like spring

first loaf of bread in weeks. yum!

Hope you're having a great weekend :) Happy crafting.

Tuesday afternoon treat

Easter Eggs!

Etsy Monday: Gray for Spring

Today is Dedicate Your Blog Day (Thanks so much to Kathy for letting me know about this!). 

I'm going to dedicate my post today to my fabulous sisters, who are experiencing a rainy California spring but who always know how to make the best out of everything.  When we're together, we never fail to have a great time, so this little positive spin on the gray, rainy day makes me think of their optimism :)

This week has been full of gray days, from the cold and windy to the rainy and drippy! But gray definitely isn't all bad (and I don't just say that because it's my last name...).
Here are a few recent Etsy finds that show off some of the best things about gray.

From Eight Baby Legs:

So many of my friends are pregnant right now, and I might be experiencing a little bit of baby envy. But this little onesie is just too cute!  The gray really softens that dark storm cloud.

From Bye Bye Birdy:

Gorgeous, luminous moonstone that captures all the dimensions of a gray Spring sky

From Shihar:

This wrap top looks so incredibly comfortable and perfect for keeping warm on a blustery day.

From Priss Designs:

Gray as the ideal backdrop for a collection of brighter shades

What do you like about gray?