Friday, September 26, 2008

almost october!

i am spending this friday in, by myself, in my PJs. i am soooo happy! i haven't had a night without homework, custom orders, or plans in a long, long time! i wanted to go craft crazy, but i got a little distracted with the debates. it is still early, so i might try to do a little embroidery on some napkins that i dyed brown before ryan heads back over.

did anyone watch the office premier last night? it was so funny. i didn't realize how hilarious i thought it was until i kept thinking of quotes today. my favorite in particular was the reference to the girl in the art school dorms crying to the RA because "her roommate drank her soy milk". i am actually really excited about all of the art school references that may come this season. one of the writers MUST have gone, because it was dead on.

a few of us got together to watch it, and between homework/cleaning yesterday i FINALLY finally took the time to make up some cute autumn treats! i made three batches (eep! dishes-a-rama!) of rice krispie treats: plain, peanutbutter, and chocolate. i guessed on the recipe as far as adding additional ingredients, and i think they came out all right... they got eaten! i only had a few spots in my new halloween mold/silicone pan (candy corn and ghosts!), so the rest i flattened out, cut into squares and tossed with whole marshmallows, chocolate chips, and halloween sprinkles. not very healthy, but reallyyyy tasty!




don't forget about my giveaway! just comment on the previous post and you could win goodies! have a great weekend, everyone. :)

Monday, September 22, 2008

i miss crafting! giveaway

i miss blogging, i miss making new stuff, and i miss my old routine! i'm busybusy with school and trying to keep friendly ties together (considering my best friend here is moving away, it is becoming very very important to make socializing a priority!)-- any creative time i have had has been working on lots of custom orders. all of a sudden! it's been really fun, and to see what color combination/more "masculine" variations people come up with is super exciting. i took a few pictures but they didn't come out so great, so this will be another wordy post.

so my health! i had to get steroids injected (yes! via needle!) into my scalp about thirty times. i am also putting a steroid solution on my head, and taking an excessive amount of oral steroids (that makes me clench my jaw and totally nutty!!) two times a day to help the problem. so what IS the problem?? my body thinks my hair is a virus, and is rejecting it and pushing it out!! eep! so i am missing lots of hair, still losing some (think like 70-80 per AM shower/brushing) and have big bald patches... but knowing what the issue was has made it SO much better for me to move on. just a random case of alopecia areata? i don't know why/how/how much longer/what will/when it grow back... pooh! the doctor's don't know a whole lot about it in general, so i don't either!

okay SO because i have been terribly dull & MIA lately, i want to offer a little giveaway as a thank you for keeping up with me! leave a funny story, or something interesting, and i'll pick a random comment # (probably will have it generated by some RNG online) and announce the winner next Wednesday, the 1st of October!
the winner will get to choose between this great pendant, printed on plastic and sealed for protection. it's from a picture i took a few years ago, and the yummy colors just make the best accessory! OR an original of my chatty mountain gocco print! (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13648605)
so:

OR


yay! hope we have a very happy winner. i PROMISE i will make a real update soon... i am just aching to find time to create!

Monday, September 15, 2008

brief mid-sept update

sooo. i am very busy with school, repetitive homework, seven hour jury duty this AM, trying to remember the few names of classmates that i've learned, doing some philapets work and making art/craft stuff WHENEVER i can! which hasn't been very much lately, except for a big boutique napkin order and a few little sales here and there. nothing new, which is making my skin crawl. i need a little time off to breathe and make make make!

soo! my health: the hair loss wasn't a chemical burn, after all. it has been almost two weeks, and i have lost about 1/3 of my hair count by now. saturday, it got so bad (huge huge chunks) that i had my handsome boyfriend take me to the ER (i felt like such a jerk there) to try to handle the situation. they took me seriously, thank goodness, and ran a few blood tests to figure out what is going on. i got the results back this afternoon with no answers, so i made an urgent dermatologist appt for tomorrow (i'll have to miss a class for it, which means i have to go in early to make up stuff for three different classes between health/jury duty). we know it's alopecia, but not what type, how permanent, why it's happening, etc. everyone's best guess is that it might be stress related from my big adult decision-making back in may, that left me crying for weeks.
at the first hospital trip, i was prescribed steroids and told to not brush/wash my hair as much as possible. i did wash it today, of course, and sooo much hair came out in the brush (a thick handful!) that i am following orders and keeping my hair in a loooose ponytail now. i think all i can stand is to wash it every other day, though... i'm hoping the steroids will start working soon, because i can move on past this hair loss... as long as it stops before it gets impossible to hide! i have very little left, including yucky bald patches on the underside of my hair line. and tonight i found one on the back top of my head, that is so very visible. my aunt (who has been amazing through this, as well as the other females in my family that have come rooting for old baldy here) ordered me some treatment that has only had insanely amazing reviews-- i am excited to start using it ASAP, though the turnaround time may be a little slow.

okay, well, i just wanted to let everyone know that's why i haven't been art/crafting/blogging very much. i had to buy goggles for my chem lab, and i think i may bejewel them tonight haha. i feel so ridiculous lately that it may be just the extra sparkle i need in my life for that 8:30AM lab class.

hope everyone is doing well!! my RSS feed is constantly overflowing, it's soo hard to catch up but i am reading everyone's blogs and am so happy with the great stuff everyone is making! love love.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

sorry, more words!

well, my first week of school is finished. it's going to be hard to go back next week-- not that it was terrible, it just kept feeling like some fleeting phase. like a summer camp. it will be really hard to get into the routine.

i talked a lot about how it was going to be lonely and awkward, as a transfer with few legitimate core credits toward my major (outside of english and humanities, the other 50-something are just electives)-- but i don't think i totally believed it. most of my classes are lots of freshman who just graduated from the same schools, or are dorm'ing together and becoming very close. there are the few transfers like myself, a little lost (not to mention resentful of the huge age gap) and glum. i am so friendly and try to talk to a lot of people, but so far it has just been very quiet!
my classes themselves are OK. they are actually easy, which i am hoping is just because it was the first week. i really missed real academic classes.

sooo i'm not exactly pulling my hair out over everything-- or am i!

it seems that, even though i have been bleaching and dying my hair for about eight years now, my scalp is finally giving up on me. i have had many reactions to cheap, expensive, and even a $200 "100% organic salon" visit last summer-- i have sensitive skin so it's not strange at all, and i usually bounce back pretty quick. well, this week in class i was absent-mindedly toying with my hair and experienced 5-7 hairs coming out at a time! i was really panicked and after some investigation, it seems that my last dye resulted in a chemical burn at the back hair line (my neck) that has... made my hair fall out. there is a sad little bald patch! and to add insult to injury, i had just gone to the closest shade to my natural color so i'd never have to die again. sigh!

i took a shower tonight, and more hair fell out. like a lot more. i can't figure out from where, so i think it was just the surrounding area of the last bit. i am so sad and worried that it won't stop, or that hair won't grow back.


i posted about it in the etsy forums, hoping a bath & body shop would offer some advice... and after a couple general replies, i got the best convo ever. her name is tamara and her shop is tamarasherbes.etsy.com-- she talked me through all the appropriate measures and didn't pressure me to buy anything at all! she told me many, many times that she is NOT a doctor but she is so informed and sweet! she carries a serum(?) that she suggested to help repair my hair and scalp, and i bought it right away. (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14363323) i cannot wait for it! even after, she spent the evening sending long replies of advice, even giving me a recipe for a herb & apple cider vinegar rinse that will help shade my hair if my roots do grow in darker than the rest of my hair. i cannot express my gratitude and excitement of finding her shop! she has lots of other natural goodies that i am oogling & will remember to pick up when i have a better flow of cash (thank you $500 in text books)

basically, i guess, it was a bad first week of school and my hair is falling out which is just so worrisome... but i am not unhappy and i am trying to stay very positive. i had a good day/weekend so far, and my darling ry got his very, very good job (i knew he would) so! ack- i'll get back to crafting and things soon, and will stop writing so dang much and post pictures. until then, hope everyone is doing just great!

Monday, September 1, 2008

NO WAY IT'S SEPTEMBER

there's no way!! i cannot believe it is september 1st. where the heck is 2008 going?? what a crazy year already, and it's still got 1/4th to go!

i start my new school tomorrow... i am SO nervous. i think that it is even scarier than moving to a place you've never even seen PICTURES of (let alone stepped foot in) the day after you turn 18... at least it is for me! in that situation i was going to a very small school as a freshman with a bunch of other freshmen to keep me company. this time around, with like 35 thou students and coming in as a transfer- i really feel like the odd girl out. i had nightmare after nightmare last night about being lost and late to all of my classes!!

i am kind of excited to see how i toggle my two "jobs" and school. i use quotes because making crafts and playing with animals just, i can't believe they are my work! i am also excited for making new friends and even a little excited for homework... but still very scared. i think that if the weather were cooler and i had great new sweaters to start the year right, that i might be a little more gung ho. but it's going to be 91 on my first day, and i'll have just ridden the stinky subway from one nice neighborhood in the ghetto to another nice neighborhood in the ghetto. ha!

okay so! i don't have any new crafts, arty stuff, or photos to share but i DON'T want to leave you with just words. so here are some links to crazy wonderful sellers on etsy that i've gotten stuff from.


http://earcmra.etsy.com
I got this three flavor sampler for a birthday treat to myself... me and Ryan really tore through them! I would order more but I was literally addicted to their buttery sweet goodness and I think I would binge if I had them this soon again ha!


leafty.etsy
My sister got me this great ring from leafty on etsy!! I love love love it... it's too cute! Her shop is really amazing and it leaves me wondering why she doesn't have 180000000 sales. :)


humade.etsy.com
My sister ALSO got me this on etsy from my favorite's. I LOVE it. It makes me feel so classy whenever I pull it out to get to my... Septa tokens. haha! I also wish more people saw her shop, because the quality is INSANELY beautiful!

So! Hope everyone had a good first of the month! I'm off to make a few more napkins to mail out tomorrow!