What's In My Bag? // Vol. 4

I've been 'spring cleaning' my bag yesterday and thought it was a good a good idea to share another What's In My Bag post before it's completely cluttered again. I got the backpack I'm using pretty much every day from Urban Outfitters in California for a ridiculously low price.



I never leave my room without an umbrella and/or a rain jacket... I learned to adapt myself pretty quickly to the unpredictable weather in Vancouver. My wallet, my agenda, some healthy snacks, my phone and my knitting bag are always in my bag, as well as a cosmetic bag that holds smaller clutter and lately my iPad - I use it to store all my knitting patterns on it and I recently discovered that you can download free ebooks, e.g. all books by Jane Austen! So I often spend my break reading (currently: Emma <3)



Inside my cosmetic bag, there are usually more snacks, gum, pen, pencil and a highlighter, tissues and my keys. Except for lip balm I usually don't have any cosmetics with me. I might have become a lazy college student who rather knits in the morning than applying a bunch of make up. You gotta prioritize, right?



Although I keep swearing that I'll never ever knit socks again, I always start a new pair once I finish a pair. The good thing about knitting socks is that the project bag doesn't take up much space in your bag. And it's always good to have a spare pair of socks, in case you need a last minute gift :)

Looking for more What's In My Bag posts?
Volume 1
Volume 2 // Knitting Bag Edition
Volume 3

Lately...

...I've gotten into the habit of going running at least twice a week. The treadmill in our tiny gym was finally repaired so I don't have an excuse for not running on a rainy day anymore. Though I prefer to run outside, e.g. at the beach. I ran with friends a couple of times but I prefer to go alone, on my own pace.

... I wore  lipstick more often. Inspired by Meredith's Blogging for Confidence series, I made it a goal for March to wear lipstick everyday for a week. Since I only own three lipsticks and they are all pretty similar in color, I felt pretty much the same every day. Only two people noticed that something was different... I guess the colors weren't extreme enough?

Well, I've had fun doing it, the only awkward part was trying to take self-portraits with my phone in the public bathroom during break. Some girls might have stared at me but if you're the person who is known to knit in public/class you are used to it.

...I miss knitting! I'm not saying that I didn't knit at all but with several midterms, assignments and tons of readings for school, my time devoted to knitting has been very limited. Even the 2-3 hours at knitting club have no been very productive for me because people wanna learn new techniques, such as knitting cables, fair isle, in the round etc. which is great and a lot of fun to teach but I need some quiet evenings to catch up on my 52 Knits project.




... I drank a lot of tea. With a lot I mean like 6-8 cups a day. It's certainly a healthier addiction that eating ice cream but I'm ready for spring; I can't wait for the days to be longer again, fresh fruit smoothies and tea time in the garden.

the good kind of stress

Life has been stressful lately - the good kind of stress. The one that makes you prioritize and manage your time more wisely. The one that makes you decide what's most important to you and let go of what you're not passionate about. The one that makes you mentally go over your to do list for the day while you're in the shower. The one that shows you how full and beautiful life is.

I have lots of stuff to share but it'll have to wait until the weekend.
Have a great day and good luck coping with stress if you're in the same boat.

a day in the life: march 2012

Today I attempted to document an ordinary Saturday. As studying isn't a very exciting activity, my day was rather boring but it doesn't hurt to share anyway, right?




8am: wake up, make tea and read blogs and check mails in bed. My favorite morning routine :)



9am: decided that my room was too messy and cleaned it. It took me almost an hour - sharing a before picture would've been too embarrassing.

10am: finally take a shower and get dressed. This is a typical study day outfit: comfy yoga pants, t-shirt and comfy cotton blazer or a hoodie.



Also, I decided on a day without make up and an awkward self portrait.



11am: study study study



12pm: skype with my mom



1pm: get food at the caf.



2pm: procrastinate



3pm: studying with a cup of fresh tea. I go through about 6 cups on a regular day. Tea addict?!



4pm: still studying more or less concentrated.

7pm: worked on the prompt for 30 Days of Lists. I'll share the pages next week :)



7:30pm: decided to go for a run



8:30pm: removed the old nail polish after I took my shower and decided to go with red - again.



10pm: watched the latest The Office episode and knitted. And now I'm typing this post and looking forward to a cozy evening in bed, watching an episode of Grey's Anatomy and knit :)

52 Knits // Bordeaux Mitts

Pattern: Cozy Thermal Knits

Yarn Used: Diamond Yarn Luxury Collection Alpaca Peru (100% Alpaca)

Needles: 4mm DPNs

Modifications: none

Note: love the yarn - sooo soft and a great color! The pattern was super fast and easy - a great beginner's knit or for a cozy TV evening ;)

The mitts aren't particularly flattering (they make your hands look really big) but they are sooo warm and comfy.  

This is project #7 of 52.

As part of my 2012 goals, I want to finish 52 knitted items this year. You can see all the items I knitted so far on my blog or on ravelry.

See knits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6

30 Days of Lists: March 2012!

Guess what? Only one more day until another round of 30 Days of Lists starts!
I went to Michael's today and spontaneously decided to buy a post-bound 8.5 x 11 scrapbook instead of using a notebook. Why? You don't have to worry about messing up a page because you can simply make a new one. And it was actually cheaper than getting a notebook (yay for 40% off sales and cheap store brands) and I don't have to get/make another book if I decide to do another round of 30 lists.

I 'decorated' the cover of the vinyl album with washi tape and wite-out and attempted to clean my desk and look for the craft supplies that have been hidden in my drawers for months. It feels so good to get back into paper crafting - I wish paper and all the other scrapbook goodies were lighter so I wouldn't be stuck with a minimum of tools here!



Luckily, 8.5 x 11" is the regular paper format here so I got some additional page protectors at staples for about half the price you'd have to pay if you wanted to have the name of a fancy scrapbook brand printed on it.



And here's the cover page I made for March - I love the quote! I found it online a couple of weeks ago and decided that I had to incorporate it into the book and now it's on the front page haha.

If you're curious about my 30 Lists minibook from last September, you can click here.

California

We've spent an awesome week in Southern California - sunshine every day, hardly any fog and it was warm enough to wear a t-shirt most of the days. We stayed with Katja's godmother and her family for a week and explored the area...







Citrus trees and a fluffy cat in the garden and a 5 minute walk to the beach is like the best vacation possible :)

We went to the Santa Barbara Zoo and found lots of living wool (kidding), some of our favorite animals and cute animals whose names are impossible to remember. Although I'm not a big fan of zoos I gotta admit that it was an awesome day. We also got a private tour of the campus of the University of California in Santa Barbara (UCSB) - which was huuuge and so green! - and we were surprised to find huge differences between UBC and UCSB. Although our campus is much smaller and has about 1/5th of the amount of plants and bike routes as the UCSB campus, I'm so thankful for having a large single room (compared to tiny, old dorm where three guys are stuck in a room and it's almost impossible to move)! Though I wouldn't mind trading the grey, rainy winter weather in Vancouver for a couple of weeks of sunshine :)



Of course there was also some knitting, lots of time to read and enjoy lunch outside :)

After some successful shopping trips (California = paradise for bargain hunters! Two pairs of Timberland boots for $40? An Abercrombie moose wool sweater for $25 instead of $200? Yesss!) we took some outfit pictures. Isn't Katja's new modcloth dress stunning? I'm jealous!

I admit that I was too lazy to drag my big camera with me most of the time so there were quite some phone pictures. We made use of having access to a kitchen by making vanilla raspberry muffins, apple pie, ratatouille and couscous, pizza, pasta and fresh salads. There's nothing better than a kitchen and affordable grocery stores with huge fruit aisles :) 

Unfortunately, we couldn't avoid all the readings and homework for school so we decided to make the best of it and went to the beach to study while wiggling our toes in the warm sand and trying to tan a little bit, without success.

All in all we've had a great time and I feel re-energized for the second half of the term - only two more months until summer break! I'm already looking forward to warm weather, ice cream for lunch and bike tours :)