Thrifted Dress --> Infinity Scarves

Sunday afternoon and it was blizzarding out. What to do, what to do. 

After pacing around for an hour or so I finally sat down with a project I've been meaning to do for a long time. It's the sitting-down-to-start part of projects that always gets me. Once I'm working it's fun, I just have to get through a lot of resistance first. :P 

Creativity probs. 

Anyway, this is a dress that I thrifted agggessssss ago. I originally wanted to restyle it into a skirt that fit properly, but quickly decided that was too much work. (I'm kinda really super lazy. Don't tell.) 

Sooooo ... I decided for an easier use of this cute fabric. Infinity scarves!

First I cut off the band on top.

Then I separated the lining from the outside with a seam ripper.

And here they are, two pre-looped infinity scarves!

Super easy.

I could have just left it there, but the raggedy edges were kinda bothering me. (Laziness and perfectionism is an unfortunate combination, let me tell you.)

And besides, I had already gone through all the work to set up my sewing machine. Couldn't let that go to waste. ;)

I just did a super easy hemmety-hem-hem. Didn't even bother putting in pins. Cuz I'm such a good seamstress. (Read: Too much work. Am I sensing a theme here?)

After the hemming, I went back over it and snipped the raw edges as close to the seam as I could. Gotta make it look neat, wot. 

And ta-da! A cute candy-striped infinity scarf. 

Worn doubled: 

Even the lining made a cute summer-weight white scarf! 

[Aannnd this is where I started having too much fun with weird lighting, focus, framing, and photo combinations. Oops.]

And project bonus! The drawstring makes a cute headband. :)

Overall, this was a super simple and fun afternoon project. Plus, using a thrift-store item is one of the cheapest ways to get cute fabric!
Have you ever remade a thrifted item?

Snow Dragon!

After -50 degrees windchill last week, 40 degrees felt positively balmy. I mean, seriously. That's 90 degrees warmer within a week. Crazy Minnesota. -_-

To celebrate the warmth, we went to a park with a bunch of friends. It turned into a t-shirt & mittens, snowball fight, and snow-dragon-building kinda Sunday afternoon. A bunch of pals making something together just for the heck of it. Seriously can't get much better than that, guys.

*Photos from various iPods & phones among the group. Some days simply do not require fancy cameras or fancy words to make them appear lovely. They just are. :)

Evening shadows at 3:30.

We left cold and wet and rosy happy, congratulating ourselves on the completion of one dang epic dragon. If we do say so ourselves. 

;)

Have you ever built anything crazy out of snow (or sand, for that matter)? 

Dear Person: of helicopters, pixie cuts, and ironic sweaters

Spent the afternoon reviving my Dear Person project instead of writing that paper which is due tonight.

Is it bad that I feel like I got my priorities straight?

Drawing again felt SO good. These three letters are from things I saw on our recent trip to Minneapolis! 

That last one is definitely my fave. :) Which is yours?

P.S. Check out more Dear Person letters here! 

Little things

Life’s to-do list is a marathon long and an abyss deep this day. The weight of all I must do holds me down so I cannot do it. And then my friend texts me about how the wind is so delighted about the fact that it can just rush somewhere - anywhere, and the prairies are shivering and giggling, and we are mostly shivering, but the sun is happy and that makes the day glorious. And suddenly the abyss loses its hold on me. The sun dances through the window, warming my empty face with light. The fridge hums peacefully. There is fresh coffee. Mom and Dad came home from Florida yesterday, and sand that hitchhiked from that distant roaring deep living ocean decorates our dining room table with grit.

These little things will save me today.

My God is a God who has been saving his kiddos from abysses since the dawn of time. Using light or sound or coffee or grit: doesn't matter. He will save us whatever it takes.

      It is days like today when writing half a page of simple words and posting it without pictures is enough. It is days like today when picking up that extra fork and putting it into the dishwasher instead of letting it lay apathetically dirty on the counter is a victory. 

     It is days like today when little is big and little is enough and little will triumph. 

Adventuring where you are

So here's the thing.

My posts are gonna be sporadic. Because school. Because SO much school. 

However. I still adore blogging and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. So hang in there peeps! :)

A few weeks ago (this shows how busy I am ... haven't had time to blog it until now!) my sister hijacked me away from school and took me on a bike ride. Halfway through she gets this mischievous grin and says, "I have an idea." 

...

I love it when she does that. :D

Before I knew it, we had ended up at moxie java for coffee. Unstyled hair, tired school eyes and brain, and very ready for a vacation. 

An urban sister's date. 

The best. :)

We sipped our coffee and took pictures of everything and admired architecture and people-watched ... and you know? It felt like a real live vacation. I don't know about you, but we never just go out for coffee in our own town. I don't know why; we have a beautiful downtown area that feels almost as exciting as visiting a new city. 

Taking the time to sit in the sun and breathe in the urban atmosphere ... it was needed.

Street art! 

This is my blissful face:

And this is my that-face-looked-dumb-I-crack-me-up face. ;)

Taking time to notice reflections and details:

It's emptyyyyyy. :(

And then we biked slowly home, leaves skittering across the road on that Indian-summer day.

On a side note, we passed this abandoned factory.
I've been wanting to go into it for like, years now.
Maybe one day ...
(Ok, probably not. But in my dreams? Definitely.)

I highly suggest taking time to be a tourist in your own town sometime. Just doing something that you normally save for vacations only (going out for coffee, sitting on a restaurant patio, taking pictures of everything) really makes those short minutes/hours seem like a true restful adventure.

I don't know why we all forget to enjoy where we are ...

Dragonfruit: Color Explosion

After our adventures with Rambutan, my Mom decided to give another tropical fruit a try. This time she got one she'd never had before either: dragonfruit! 

Talk about a color explosion! 

Opening a new kind of fruit for the first time is one of those happy little thrills. You never know what could be inside! 

Don't those spines look ... dragony?? 

You can eat the inside seeds and all, like a kiwi. It definitely has that kiwi texture, but hardly any flavor at all. It was very very subtly sweet and fresh, but only if you concentrated really hard on your taste buds. :)

But just look at those colors and textures! Totally worth getting at least once, if only to enjoy the visual work of art. 

The black and white pattern with those shocking bright colors? 

Man.

Have you tried any exciting food lately?