Thursday, July 30, 2009

Good Things for Now

It feels great to be caught up at work and at school. Summer session and my time at Houston Community College will come to an end in a couple weeks and I will have a week vacation before starting at St. Thomas. In the meantime, I've been doing a lot of thrifting, and still have more to do. I plan to try a strategy where I try to thrift a whole outfit - it will be easier to search for plain, quality items this way, I think, rather than just grab things that look fancy and loud.

I'd like to throw this website out there that I found through Springwise, my favorite 'idea' blog. It is called the Jolkona Foundation, and it helps you locate and contribute monetarily to projects in impoverished areas around the world. I hope to be able to help, as it allows a very tangible experience. For example, one project for Indian mothers has a price tag of $235 and gives you updates for three and a half years about the mother and child. But not all are so expensive - there are plenty under $50, and lots of them are just $5 to plant a tree in various places. My personal favorite that I am going to make room for in my budget next month is this one: Providing Education to the Females of Afghanistan. It is only $40, and for six months to a year you get photos and report cards from the young lady's education as proof! There is only a 14% literacy rate for Afghani women, which is unacceptable. I can't wait to donate!



On a sad note, yesterday I resigned from the Crossroads volunteer program. I hated to do it, but I cannot seem to get my schedule straight and it isn't fair to the kids. I hope to resume volunteering with the kids when I graduate.

A question to you three readers out there: does anyone plan to participate in National Novel Writing Month this year? I hope to be the Houston Inner-loop Liaison again and am wondering if I can drum up some support, whether local or online! I'm really stoked about plans for my novel this fall, as it'll be a companion piece to my post-global-pandemic novel from last year. Hooray for writing!

Getting out of here as fast as possible after that dorky paragraph,
Sarah

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Summertime!

It's been so hot lately! But it's nice and cool in my apartment, and kind of spooky... weird stuff been going on lately.

In any case, I've started Art History I and World Geography. Today I was assigned to do a paragraph on Germany to present at the end of the week. I'm sort of excited about this, because I just had the opportunity to hear a great speech on the Berlin Wall (Before & After) a couple weeks ago. Also, I'll have to visit at least six museums for my art class.

Timothy and I are really looking forward to revisiting the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, which currently has an exhibit by this fabulous Torsten Slama. Tim is very enchanted by his works, and I'd like to get him a print of one of them, but have yet to find much about him online. Here are some of his paintings, for your enjoyment.











Due to some dental expenses coming up, my quest to purchase a bike this summer has yet again been delayed. However, I am beginning to shop for my pop-up shop in August. Timothy had never been to the resale shops in the Heights... don't know if I can make that magic happen again. (Four shops in two days. WOW!)

Also, thanks to a visit to my neighbors' apartment, I now desire only one thing: A CARD CATALOG.



And she has all the drawers labeled with her crafting supplies! Immensely covetous was I. One day perhaps I'll come across my own! (And the time to sort it out and make it so nice and NEAT.) In the meantime, I still have my records to alphabetically sort and my stock for the pop-up shop to catalogue and price. Bah.

Very truly yours,
Sarah

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The Zombies

I was driving to work today, listening to the Zombies, and I realized how awesome that band is.

They're out of control already, right here in this picture.

I have a CD of their singles, and I was noticing a formula they seem to have for their B-sides.

1. Start out sort of mellow
2. Get a little out of control
3. Begin shrieking, usually "Whoa, whoa WHOA!"
4. Uncontrollable organ solo
5. Organ solo gets a little awkward
6. Go back to mellow, pretend solo didn't happen
7. Repeat as needed until song stops happening

Let's face it.

Awesome.

These guys are geniuses.

I would highly recommend you pick up an album at your earliest convenience.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Summer Times!

Back from a long weekend, and boy is it apparent. Three days is good for a weekend, and I got enough done to feel like it was worth it. Sorta. Ha.

I found this great picture of a fashion show, and was thinking 'Man... red is such a spiffy color on guys.' It's true you know. Timothy said he'd try some red, but not some sweaters. Boo!



Here is the new Chubby's Cruisers bike that I am about to order! Isn't it MAGNIFICENT? It's a little steep for my budget, but since I'm like 4 blocks or less from everything (except work) now, I think I'll save big by biking around the Montrose instead of driving (or making Tim pick me up, har har).



It was Zazie's birthday on July 4th! She is one year old. The girl she is staying with, Kaitlynn, snapped this shot of her next to a lovely birthday cake. Adorable.



The summer is flying by! Very hectic! And only a month and a half away from my Pop-up Vintage Shop at Sew Crafty, by the grace of the wonderful Sarah Gabbart. More on that later.

Good-by, darlings!
Sarah