Silk-Dyed Eggs! Awesome Easter/Ostara Activity!

I stumbled upon a blog called Our Best Bites and they had this awesome method for dyeing beautiful eggs! I personally don't celebrate Easter, but this would make a great post-Ostara craft. After five days of absolutely gorgeous spring-like weather, it actually snowed here on the official first day of spring (Texas weather is sooo strange), so I'll just celebrate a little late this weekend :D Can't wait!

Check the link! Our Best Bites: Silk-Dyed Eggs

What Do I Have to Show for My Spring Break?

A whole lotta nothin', at least nothing too fun lol. I told you in an earlier post I had been running my own one-woman sweat shop in my bedroom for Dallas Career Day. Well. That lasted a looong 8 days, each day averaging at least 12 hours hunched over pinning, pleating, ironing, hand stitching, and crying. But, I made the deadline! And, literally, with one minute to spare. They closed the doors at 4, and I made it in at 3:59 after crawling into downtown at a snail's pace due to traffic and then chasing my entry forms across the parking lot screaming profanity (v. v. blustery day). I swear I almost had a heart attack. Was it worth it? Umm...we'll see. I'm pretty happy with the finished product. Take a looksie (all my own design):


The fiber content of the jacket is 100% wool with 100% silk lining and trim. The lace, well, I don't know what it is. Found it in the bargain bin and it looked pretty :) 10 bound buttonholes (just about killed me) with Italian-made brass buttons. Wish I had had time to photograph the back. It's got tails :D


This is the ensemble to be worn beneath it. The top is the same silk material as the jacket's lining, and the skirt is 100% wool with 100% rayon lining. You like?

Directly from Dallas I drove to Baylor to spend the rest of spring break with the boyfriend :3 Good friends, good food, good booze, good lovin'. Just what I needed!

Kisses,
Kiki

Summer Tour of Europe!

My brother and I are going to Europe this summer, just the two of us! We spent the evening planning it out and are getting in contact with the travel agent again tomorrow. Stops along the tour? Paris! Rome! Florence! Venice! Amsterdam! I am so incredibly excited. I even have a ticket to see my idol, Lady Gaga, in Paris during our stay. Talk about epic :D We'll spend about 5 days there, a few in Rome, then couch surf in Florence and Venice before spending a week in the Netherlands where lives a large branch of our family tree. Overall, we'll be traveling for just over 3 weeks.



For those of you who have toured Europe on a college budget, what mode of transportation between countries did you use? E and I were originally assuming trains but it turned out to be quite expensive. Then a friend told me about EasyJet.com. The prices are almost unbelievable. Rome to Venice for 19 euros? Flying?! I think my bank account just smiled at me. Has anyone used EasyJet before? What's been you're experience?

Kisses,
Kiki

Tolstoy and Vodka

Yup yup. Brother bear bought us some Kahlua so we can finally make mixed drinks with the stash of liquor we have left over from a friend's going away party in January XD After moving in with me this week he's having a few friends come over for the first time and is eager to get the drinks flowing. But I told him not to touch my Crown or Patron! Shwaa these White Russians are strong...Never liked vodka honestly.

Dallas Career Day is coming up soon, and the deadline for submissions is end of next week O_O Me and my friend A have been slaving over our sewing machines for the past few days trying to get our entry ensembles finished. I'm for sure submitting a wool jacket with a matching wool skirt and silk blouse, but I would like to complete that ensemble in time to work harder on and possibly finish my more creative and technically challenging dress. We'll see >.> I'll post pictures as soon the garments are ready.

The good thing about all this sewing though is that I can finally catch up on my reading! How I love audio books Anna Karenina and I'll probably finish it by Monday at this rate. This week's Gossip Girl particularly cracked me up when Blair, lounging on a chais in a grey silk teddy, lace-up elbow-length gloves, fur-lined boots and tall fur Russian hat, calls up her boyfriend and whines, "Vronsky!...Anna Karenina called you an hour ago! Where are you?"

Ugh...Maybe vodka and sewing don't go as well together as I had thought, even with Tolstoy as a buffer.

Kisses,
Kiki

Happy New Year!...err..righto.

Summer has come and gone, fall semester has come and gone, and spring semester just started for me this Tuesday. I'm not sure if I should be worried yet. I have at least made a commitment to myself to actually go to every single class this go-round unless I'm bed-ridden with illness.

I just want to say...I'm a hopelessly unpredictable insomniac. Monday night I got no sleep (but then again I usually get nerves before the first day of class :P). Tuesday I got maybe 2 hours, 6 am - 8 am. Wednesday night I actually got a decent amount, a good 8 hours, but even that and 4 cups of coffee couldn't keep me awake in my CAD class >.> And now it's 6:08 am and I've been feel rather awake since yesterday's classroom nap time. What the hell is wrong with my body clock, huh? I found over the break that what I need to fully enjoy and make the most of my day is 10 hours of sleep and a good cup of coffee once I wake up. The one time that happened my mom called me at 9 am and was surprised to not only find me already awake but also bouncy and chipper. She then promptly asked if I was on speed. That was a perfect day. Honestly I couldn't stop smiling. It's too bad I can't seem to be able to get myself to duplicate that sleeping rhythm easily on my own, especially because I am not a fan of sleeping pills. In fact, I'm not a fan of any sort of unnatural, manufactured chemical to my body unless circumstances absolutely demand it. Er...anyway.

I'm throwing a party tonight for our good friend C--- who's going off to basic training here soon. We're going to miss him! It's going to be a night of mayhem with our ten favorite monsters. S---- and I are going in halfsies for a bottle of Patron. Fuck yeah. I partied but twice last semester (as opposed to every weekend the semester before) and I've missed it so! I can't say my grades or focus on school was any better or worse because of it.

One last point of interest before I try to make myself sleep for an hour and 15: I am totally making a disco bra. I'm decorating an old strapless I never really wore with 1/2" sq. mirrors. It's going to look like my boobs are two disco balls bobbing around the club. I'm thinking to wear it over an electric blue leotard with my shiny jet leggings and a really low cut and loose white tank dress. I think my bodacious bottom would get too many pinches if i wore it with just a leotard and leggings lol, and that can be very distracting when I'm rockin' out haha.

Kisses,
Kiki

Salut, mes amis!

Many of you know me by M----. Well, for web/blog purposes, I shall be going by Kiki...It's  one of my mother's many, many nicknames for me that I've grown up with. It also happens to be what I call Brother Bear's cat...but that makes no difference in this situation O.o

This blog is the result of many things - boredom, procrastination, and vanity. Yes, I readily admit. I'm a very vain person. But what 20-year-old chick isn't??? I am also horribly lazy, as made apparent by my willingness to jabber nonsensically to a currently nonexistent cyber-audience rather than study for my French quiz tomorrow morning >.> Such is life.

Life. My life has been... relatively laid back and comfortable this summer - a sharp contrast to the sleepless nights, 8 a.m. classes, and never-ending stress of this past spring semester. I will never take four art lab classes again. While I still got As and Bs in all my classes, I didn't feel satisfied or proud of my work, knowing that I couldn't give my 100% to each project and still remain psychologically intact.

So I've been taking it easy this summer. By the end of this week I will have finished French 1010 and 1020 and be ready for 2040 in the fall. I've been on a real fiber-craft kick the past few days, most likely because all my good friends are out of town ;_; Earlier this week I worked on a little lilac cardigan based off of the one Luna Lovegood wore in Order of the Phoenix (uber HP nerd, right here!). I followed the pattern, but found out too late that my hook was 2 sizes too small and my stitches were super tight...so it's turned out baby size O_O Ah well, it's so cute, I think I'll get some little pearl buttons for it and save it for when I have my own little girl. Then this weekend I came up with a pattern for and made a drawstring bag/purse thing...based off of Ginny Weasley's traveling bag in the Portkey scene from Goblet of Fire. I know, I know!!! I'm such a dork, but the Harry Potter movies are a chalk-full of fiber-crafts! Lots of hand-knitted sweaters, scarves, mittens, hats, etc, and they're all so cute and funky. Anyway...I finished the bag last night and I'm really proud of it ^_^ I wish I could put up pictures but I let Brother Bear borrow my camera for his road trip to California, so it will be a while. Next project is a crocheted bikini...not for me to wear!!! But just for practice, I guess. I'm interested to learn how to make one. I plan on finishing the bottom tonight and doing the top tomorrow. 

My room's a mess, the dishes and laundry need to be done, and that French quiz is looming. Toodles!

Kisses,

Kiki