Bag and Capture

I really really love when people turn things-that-are-not-bags into bags. I've seen people do AMAZING stuff with nontraditional materials - juice pouches, chip bags, you name it. My project was a little simpler (win for making a bag from a rice bag that already had a zipper), but I'm still pleased with how it came out.

I made a lining with orang and colored-pencil print fabric, plus a pocket out of the colored pencil fabric. Bags like this *need* and inner pocket for me, unless I'm using it as a grocery tote or something. The lining is a little baggier than it needed to be, but it doesn't bunch up quite like this picture when there's stuff in it.

This is the D-ring where the strap attaches - it can be unhooked and tucked into the bag if one wants to hold it by the short handles the bag comes with, like this:

This is the corner of the bag - the original bag was sewn together completely flat, so I turned in the bottom corners and sewed them to give the bag a flatter bottom and a bit more structure. It's a few inches wide on the bottom. Height and width-wise, it's big enough for my 13" Macbook with a little extra room, although it won't fit my Macbook case, as mine is a little bulky. :P

I've used it a couple of times since making it, and I'm pretty pleased. It's really great for a notebook or two and some pens on the days when I have a light class load and don't want to haul a backpack around. I think that's pretty much everything there is to know about this bag! So I'll leave you, but not without one final picture of the finished product:

Forgotten Bookmarks = Awesome

I am quite the lover of books - I have always had books around me and don't think I could ever be without at least a small library nearby. New books can be nice (I'm reading one right now and it's fantastic!), but there's something really special about old books too.

A little worn and plenty loved, they hold a history in their yellowing pages. I love going to used bookstores and browsing until I find something that looks interesting - some of my best finds were books older than me that I've never heard of before! There's one store in particular I like to peruse when I visit my mom, and I almost always head back to the sci-fi/fantasy section, which is almost always a good bet to find something I'll like. (The only gift certificate I got this past Christmas was to a used bookstore. My mother knows me well!) Libraries have a similar something about them. The shelves upon shelves of books have a magical calming sort of quality to them. And as an added bonus, used books run one the chance of finding something interesting tucked inside.

I love finding little things left in old books! Inscriptions, bookmarks, receipts - even mundane items are fun to find, just to spend the time wondering about the person who left the item there. So it would figure that I adore the blog Forgotten Bookmarks. It has way-cool found-in-books stuff. Old postcards, pressed flowers, bookmarks, photographs, and recipes, just to name a few.

If you haven't seen the Forgotten Bookmarks blog already, I highly recommend that you check it out. I could stare at it for hours. The more I do, though, the more I am tempted to tuck little notes and things into my books when I put together a pile for donation or return a library book.. I think it would be fun, even to just tuck in a scrap of paper that said "I hope you enjoy!" or something like that. Who knows, even the smallest things can brighten a day sometimes.

San Francisco Signing Adventure

On Tuesday, the long-awaited second book in Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles, The Wise Man's Fear, was released to the world. On Thursday, I met up with my friend to hear him read from it and then sign my copy!

I met up with my friend and we took BART into San Francisco for the reading/signing. It was sponsored by SF in SF and drew quite an interest! We had RSVP'd for the event only hours after hearing that we needed to and only managed to get seats in the lobby, and not the theater proper. We were there early, but the friend I went with bought themselves a copy of The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle, Pat Rothfuss' picture-book-that-isn't-for-children, and we read it together during the wait, as neither one of us had before. It was good, if rather unexpected!

That little screen was my view of the event - not as bad as it looks!

The event began with a reading, followed by a Q&A session (I won't ramble on about those - if you're interested I believe it's being podcasted on The Agony Column Podcast), and then book signing. While my friend and I were there for Patrick Rothfuss, the event was actually for two authors, the other being the lovely Gail Carriger. I hadn't heard of her before the reading, but I enjoyed the excerpts she read from her latest book, and she had some very interesting and entertaining things to say during the Q&A. Her books sounded like the sort of thing I'd like, so while waiting to be called in to get my books signed by Pat, I decided to get the first of Gail's books, Soulless. She complemented my jacket, signed it in pink pen (it matched the cover! How could I not love that?), and let me take a picture with her! All around she was quite lovely, and well-dressed to boot.

After a long wait, it was finally time to get signed by Patrick Rothfuss. I had my copy of The Name of the Wind as well as The Wise Man's Fear for me and a friend who couldn't make the signing themselves. Stack of books in hand, I waited, my nervousness abated by the easygoing manner in which Pat interacted with the fans ahead of me in line. In a lot of ways, he seems very much in real life like he does on his blog, which isn't always the case with some people. After getting my books signed I wanted a picture. He asked what sort of picture I wanted, offering up a few options.. friendly, serious, pensive.. "I don't know if I can do pensive," he said, so of course I insisted on pensive! Luckily he's a good sport.

Then we took a friendly picture as well:

Patrick was fantastic - friendly, entertaining (there may have been a wee bit of singing at the beginning..) - it was a lot of fun, and the experience was definitely worth all the driving and waiting I had to do!

After that, there was not much to do but go home, sleep, and get started on the book! I'm a little more than 300 pages into right now and I am absolutely loving it. Rothfuss has a skill with words that I can only dream and be envious of. I'm torn between the part of me that can't put the book down and the part of me that will be terribly sad to finish and know how long I'll have to wait for the next one!

Monday Love

Monday Love - starting off the week with the awesome that makes it a little easier to get out of bed in the morning.

Via Cute Overload

These are the links that are making me smile/laugh this week - guaranteed to brighten your day. They're pretty popular sites, but I figure sharing the love can't hurt. And even if you've heard of them, you can still hop on over, see what's new, and have some laughs, right?

• Cute Overload. Seriously irresistible! Nothing like adorable baby animal pictures to make you smile, no matter what else is going on.
• Hyperbole and a Half. A fantastic written and illustrated webcomic-slash-blog, full of real-life stories often expressed in - you guessed it - hyperbole. Yet every word of them rings true, and the MS Paint drawings do nothing but to enhance the hilarity. It's rare for me to read any post on that blog without physically laughing out loud. Trust me, the funny must be experienced to be believed. This is one of my favorite posts, if you want somewhere to start out. Also this one.
• Hark! A Vagrant. History webcomics have never been funnier. Kate Beaton has a fabulous sense of humor that shows in both her writing and her art. Most of the comics are based on historical figures (and even the ones about people I've never heard of are consistently entertaining), but Beaton also tackles characters in popular culture (Wonder Woman and Nancy Drew have made multiple appearances) as well as fictionalized tales of her own life. It's hard to pick some favorites, but this, this, and this would be good places to start.
• Not Always Right. Because the customer is not always right.

Any fun links that you can always count on to brighten your day? I'd love to hear about them!

Tea Box Wallets

I love tea. I love everything about tea. The taste, the ritual, the feel of a warm cup in your hands.. And of course, the tea boxes. There are some really amazingly cute tea boxes out there! Hello, Celestial Seasonings! Trader Joe's has some cute stuff, too - I may or may not have bought this tea based on the fact that there was a lemur playing with Christmas lights on the box. But it's silly to just leave the boxes lying around, right? (At least my roommate finds it strange.) So inspired by some creative wallets I've seen on the internet, I decided to tackle turning a tea box into one.

And I'm in love! I've made four now, three of which I've used and have photos of here. (The fourth didn't turn out as well as I'd have liked, but hey, learning experiences, right?)

I made one largish one:

Money pocket + 4 pockets for cards.

Clear ID pouch on the right.

When it started to wear out, I made a new one, but decided that I wanted it to be smaller so that it could fit in my pants pocket. I don't carry a purse often, unless I have a *lot* of stuff (or am toting a book around), and often all I have with me is phone/keys/chapstick/wallet, which I don't feel is really worth a bag. So this wallet was born:

Unfortunately the glossiness makes them very prone to glare from the flash. But what an adorable cottage, right?

First time playing with velcro on these - not perfect, but kinda cool.

I really, really liked this one. It's small and compact - enough pockets to hold what I need, but not enough space to tempt me into carrying a bunch of useless stuff in my wallet.

So when that wallet wore out, it was replaced with one constructed exactly the same way, just from a different type of tea box.

Outside of the wallet. Both sides look like this. Epic castle wallet FTW.

Inside - two pockets for cards and such, and of course a money pocket.

One of the outer flaps flips up to reveal another card pocket and a clear pouch for IDs.

I save most of my tea boxes now so I can make wallets with them. There are, in fact, 7 empty tea boxes sitting on my bookshelf at this very moment! Some boxes don't work as well as others because of the dimensions, but if nothing else, that's incentive to play with new designs. Eventually I feel I'll end up with more of these than I can use, but I haven't come up with a cool idea for something else to make with them yet, though I'm sure there's something out there.

Colby Jack Mac - CTC Week 1

Week 1 in my Chow-Time Challenge! I decided to start with baked macaroni and cheese - something that seemed like it'd be pretty simple but still tasty. After all, there are few things better than ooey-gooey melted cheese!

I started off with this recipe from Allrecipes.com, but I changed it up a bit based on what I had on hand - I didn't have regular elbow macaroni noodles, so I used rigatoni instead, and I only had a bit of cheddar cheese left, so I used that and made up the difference with colby jack.

It was an okay recipe, but not perfect. There was definitely too much milk for how much pasta I had - it was really runny even though I let it bake for the full forty minutes and the noodles were cooked through and the top brown. I did add a bit more cheese than the recipe called for, which was good, but it lost a lot of the gooey cheese factor I was looking for because of the milk. I did grate a bit of my colby jack over the top of my mac & cheese when I ate it and that helped somewhat.

(Before I post the pictures, I should apologize for my less-than-stellar photos. But who can argue with an excuse to work on their photography?)

The top of it looked pretty good - gooey with just enough crust.

Now you can see the runnyness - the white stuff is the bits of cooked egg mixed in with the milk. Also yay for extra cheese!

Overall, I think it was a decent start to the challenge. It wasn't a terrible recipe, and I think with some amount adjustments it could be pretty good. The leftovers have been pretty tasty with a nice helping of cheese shredded over the top.

I am excited for this challenge, though - I'm already planning my next dish! What about you? Any interesting recipes you've tried lately?

Things I Love Thursday

Because all the cool kids are doing it! Because sure, I posted a love list on Monday, but what's wrong with a little more love?

What I love this Thursday:

- My morning tea. (Yeah, tea is always on here. But it deserves the spot!)
- Organic milk in glass bottles.
- Baking cookies! (Thus needing the above milk.)
- Rain in the forecast!
- Planning to see my first opera on Sunday! (Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle.)
- Mac and cheese
- Riding my bike to class for the first time in weeks!

Today has been a stressful week, but stopping to remember some of the things within it that do rock makes everything a little better.

My 2011 Chow-Time Challenge!

I baked pumpkin seeds for the first time this past fall!

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I've really been wanting to issue some sort of food/cooking related challenge to myself to force me to try to make new dishes and break out of the box of eating the same thing over and over again. And here it is!

I, Emily, hereby challenge myself to create one new dish/food that I have never made before every week for the rest of the year.

It's fairly broad, but a girl has to start somewhere! They could be cooked dishes, but they might not be. They can be entrees or desserts, whatever, as long as it meets the criteria of something I have never made before, and is not too similar to something that I've made previously. ("I made a sandwich but used swiss cheese instead of cheddar" does not count, for example!) I already have a few dishes planned, but I am always open to interesting suggestions if you have any!

And now if you'll excuse me, I'm rather hungry and think it might be time to start on the first dish of the challenge...

Vintage Nerd

Apparently angry/stoic is my outfit picture face? *sigh*

This jacket is actually an old marching band blazer I acquired in my high school days, and easily one of my favorite things in my closet. According to a bit of research, it's probably around 30 years old, but it's in pretty good condition, sans the button that keeps falling off. I also decided to take out the shoulder pads as that's a little too retro for me, but other than those I adore every inch of it.

Aaaahhh I LOVE the inner pocket!

Even though I've had this blazer for a few years, I've only recently started wearing it on a more regular basis. Part of it is the confidence to wear something like a marching band jacket as an everyday item in public (!!!), but it's also the issue of how to style something like that. I don't know that I've got the styling science entirely down yet, but it's something I'll keep working on. I like this jacket too much not to!

Monday Love

It's time again to start off the week with a little positivity.

What do I love this week?

❣ The Name of the Wind.
❣ Having Monday off from school for President's Day.
❣ Saturday, which was long and kind of stressful, but an overall success. Handling that just boosted my confidence.
❣ Bagels with tuna salad at the student union - best snack/mini-meal/pick-me-up when I've had a long day or forget to eat breakfast.
❣ Earl Grey tea.
❣ Peggle. I played it a bunch, forgot it existed, and then discovered it again. So simple, but so addicting!
❣ "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail."
❣ Headhoods, found via Woo! Seriously, a hoodie that looks like Little Red Riding Hood? Or a Sock Monkey? Do want.

Seriously. ADORABLE.

Excitement for The Wise Man's Fear

I am really excited, because in less than two weeks I will be headed to San Francisco for an evening to go to the reading and signing with Patrick Rothfuss for the release of The Wise Man's Fear! It's the second book in The Kingkiller Chronicles, which begins with one of my favorite books EVER, The Name of the Wind. It's a fresh, original fantasy novel that has a lot of 'classic' fantasy elements, but a lot of unique stuff too. And it's all done in a way that none of it reads as cliché or overdone. Just superb. Rothfuss spent a long time writing this book, and as such, it's very well developed and well written. Be it a word or a plot element, everything reads as if it's there because it must be.

I've been fervently re-reading The Name of the Wind lately in anticipation for The Wise Man's Fear release in March. I'd forgotten how easily it draws the reader in - I'll pick it up with the intent to read a few pages and go through two chapters without thinking anything of it. It's so hard to put down once I get going!

I'm counting down the days in my head right now until the reading in SF. I'll be meeting a friend there, which adds an extra level of awesome, even though the reading is so popular that the seats are RSVP only and they filled up in a day! (The actual signing part is open to everyone, however.) I sent mine in the day they announced the RSVP email and only got into the lobby seating, where I get to watch the reading on-screen instead of live! (Well, it's live in that I'll be watching it in real-time, just on a screen instead of the real deal.) I'm not complaining, though - I know I should be grateful I managed to get in at all.

Just wanted to share my excitement and a little book love with you - if you're a fantasy fan at all and haven't read NoTW, I highly recommend it. Also, no photos today, but I hope to get some cool ones at the reading/signing themselves to share with you!

Nom Time - Waffles and Brownies!

I'm not the best cook in the world. Honestly, for someone who considers herself a fairly creative, artsy person, I have next to zero creativity in the kitchen. (Oh, what's that one thing I made with someone that one time? I will make that now forever all the time.) But I'm a decent baker and can follow a recipe, things I'm trying to use to my advantage in my desire to break out of my kitchen comfort zone.

My latest foodstuffs:

Waffles from scratch! I got a waffle maker for Christmas (awesome present, BTW), and have been eating my fair share of waffles ever since. But until now they were all from box mixes. I never realized how sad and flat the waffles from a mix were until I made these and they were so fluffy they threatened to overflow from the waffle iron entirely. Soooo good.

Pre-wrapped little chocolate squares are so cute! I love them, but I love them even more for what I made with them..

Brownies! This is the most amazing ooey-gooey goodness ever. If it wasn't for the fact that it would mean no brownies, I would be tempted to eat all of this straight from the bowl.

I hope you can appreciate the delicious even with the low-quality phone photos!

As it was, I didn't, but I made sure not to let the batter stuck to the sides of the bowl go to waste. ;) A spoon and a glass of milk took care of that in no time.

And of course the finished product! I guess they turned out pretty well, as they were nearly gone by the time I got around to taking a picture!

I'm considering issuing some sort of food/cooking challenge to myself to help me break out of my culinary box a little more, but I haven't quite worked it out yet. If I do, I'll keep you posted, of course! And if you have any ideas you'd like to share, I'm all for hearing them. :)

Lovely, Rainy Weather

I know, I'm talking about the weather. But the reason I'm telling you about how much it's been raining the past few days (and looks to continue for the next few) is not because it was warm enough to wear a skirt the other day (a skirt with thick tall socks, but a skirt nonetheless, you tricksome weather!), but because I love the rain. I hate biking in it, but I don't mind walking, and though I'm not entirely sure why, I enjoy driving in the rain a lot. Plus, I actually really like dressing for cold weather. In addition to plenty of scarves and fluffy sweaters, this is what's been keeping me warm and cozy recently:

Om nom.

I'm a sucker for this style of jacket. And in red! It is my dearest love. And the hat may be completely ridiculous, but it is oh so warm.

Glove mittens are awesome. And I can hardly leave the house without a trusty mug of steaming tea. I am something of a tea addict, I'm afraid!

Oh yeah, sexy winterwear.

These may not be cute, but they keep my feet dry, which is more than I can say for any other shoes I own! Plus they're sturdier and more comfortable than the rubber rainboots I had that had cracked all over after a pathetically short time.

Hat: (borrowed) Hot Topic

Jacket: Forever 21

Gloves: No idea

Boots: Rocky (Haha, I just looked them up and they're totally kid's western boots. Awesome.)

Monday Love

Valentine's Day or not, Mondays can be stressful. Going from a leisurely weekend (during which you may or may not have gotten everything done which you needed to..) back into the fast-paced weekday world can hit a bit hard, and even the little things can start to pile up and get you down. I know my Monday was long and tiring, at least! But Monday doesn't have to be bad, so start your week off by reminding yourself of all the things that make your day/week/life awesome, and make the bad stuff worth it. Positive thoughts from the get-go can make the whole week better.

Even kitties can get a case of the Mondays.

My Monday Love:

• My sweet boyfriend who brings me food and a caffeinated beverage when I'm hungry and tired.
• Playing music. Such a fabulous stress release.
• Making waffles from scratch for breakfast! Yum!
• The fact that rainy weather means getting to wear pretty coats/hats/gloves/scarves.
• Adorable cats. (See above.)
• Tea. I love tea. Tea cures all ails, seriously.

What's making your Monday?

Pie Hole Box

I am a pretty big Pushing Daisies fan. I own the series, of which I have seen every episode multiple times, I often wish I could pull off Chuck's wardrobe in my day-to-day life, and I think I would quote it on a regular basis if I thought anyone I knew would get the reference.

So of course the little wooden box that I use to hold my pins/buttons has been telling me for ages that it is just waiting to become a miniature Pie Hole box. (The box came to me as a teacup box from Tea Forte.) At first I thought that I would just get a picture of it to print out and glue it on, but my printer has been out of ink for months and doesn't look to be refilled anytime soon. And then in the middle of a crafty mood the other day, it suddenly occurred to me that I should just paint the thing. So I did, and here it is! (You should be able to click on any of the pictures to enlarge them a bit.)

Starting out - note my high-tech tape roll circle stencil.

Season 1 DVD = very handy reference picture. 

The finished product! (If the background looks funny, this was taken outside after the coats of acrylic sealant I sprayed on.)

It's primarily acrylic paint, except for the outline, which was done with a black drawing pen. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out (even with the not-quite even circle..) - yay for things that are both cute and functional!

Hello, hello!

This is the first post of the reborn Susurrous Notions!

I started this blog originally for a design class I was taking. After taking a break from blogging for a while, I kind of missed it and started thinking about returning to it. I was drawn back to this blog instead of starting a new one - after all the time I spent picking out the name, I loved it and didn't want to give it up for something else.

On the other hand, I didn't want to keep my old school-assignment posts. A lot of them were awkwardly written, and not really in line with the type of posts I plan to be writing for this blog, so I saved them and cleared them, ready to start over.

So what should you expect to see on this blog?

Arts and crafts,

Cute cat photos,

book love, fun links, linguistic nerdery, daily life adventures, and whatever else floats my boat.

I hold the hope that future posts are a bit more eloquent, but blank pages are hard. Now that I've got this little introduction out of the way, it can only get easier, right?