I have been back in the States for a week now, sleeping and recovering from my time away from home. I have to say, it was all utterly amazing and I hope to go back again someday. For the next couple days to weeks, this will be transformed into my temporary travel blog that will detail each week of adventure for your enjoyment and my own archiving. I hope you enjoy living vicariously through me for a little while.

(Photo taken while flying over Lake Michigan. Water is lower half, sky is upper half. Just amazing.)

Early tomorrow morning, I’ll be boarding a plane to head across the Atlantic and over to good ol’ London, England.

I’m spending one month in Kingston-upon-Thames, (a suburb of London) at Kingston University studying British Culture at the university, and Art in London in the city with faculty coming with me and the other ~15 art students. That basically means I’ll be gallery and museum hopping, and sightseeing for a whole month. Yay!

After that, I’m saying goodbye to the group, and heading on to the European mainland on my own to backpack through 5 countries in two weeks. The plan is Paris, France; Arles, France; Milan, Italy; Zurich, Switzerland; and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I don’t have a whole lot planned other than that. Just lots of train rides and city experience. My hope is to come back with notebooks brimming with inspiration, that I will post much of to my blog here. So look out for my return, granted that no more volcanoes or oil rigs explode. Though an extended stay in Europe wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to me.

So be on the lookout for tons of pics and journals when I get back! Adios for now!

My past two weeks have been stuffed to the gills with spring term finals, moving back home, and unpacking everything only to have to pack again for my big trip, plus visiting friends, and tons of craft projects! So I wrote about my sudden Etsy addiction earlier. Well, it hasn’t gone away. In fact, if anything it’s grown and given me so much inspiration to tackle some projects on my own.

So perhaps my proudest achievement is tackling my mom’s sewing machine. The last couple times I tried to use this thing, I felt like I had to fight it and I just ended up frustrated and swearing at an inanimate object. It’s been a few years, so I thought I’d try a relationship with the sewing machine again. And whaddya know?! We get along!! Mostly…. There are still a few rough patches, but with a little practice, the help of the instruction manual, and occasionally calling in my mother for an emergency rescue, I’ve completed several projects! What do you think?

Camera Case

SD Card Case

You may see my new little image in the sidebar below the Archives. That’s right, I’m carbon neutral. Take that! Check out this great initiative at this nifty German site… don’t worry, this page is in English: Make Your Blog/Website Carbon Neutral.

I believe in the importance of protecting out natural resources. I’ve always been a tree-hugger of sorts. I even gave $30 of my own money once in 4th grade to save an acre of the Amazon Rainforest. I was so proud, I was even allowed to do a special class report on it. Whether that acre of rainforest was actually saved, it’s hard  to tell. But I’m inspired by this initiative, I just might go out and plant a second tree on my own.

I have been addicted to Etsy for the past week. It keeps me up late at night whether I’m online or not. Either I’m endlessly browsing through pages of cute handmade crafts, or I’m dreaming up my own ideas and sighing about creating my own shop someday.

I only have two issues that keep me from starting now. One is that I don’t have the time or space to do any major projects. I have classes and homework to keep up on if I’m going to graduate in three years. (Yes, I’m going to be in college for five years total… stupid requirements.) The other issue is, I don’t have a steady address near a post office, and that is basically essential when running an online business where you need to send customers a product. If I lived at my parent’s house, that would be possible, since we live quite literally, two blocks from the post office. But I’m at college, where I change apartments once or twice each year, and tiny college apartments are not easy to work out of, trust me. Especially when you have to share that tiny apartment with a roommate.

Still, I love Etsy. I’ve found so many great things, made my first purchase, and met some great people as well. I love the seller’s attitudes on Etsy. They have a passion for what they do, and all things handmade, and love to support their community of artists and crafters. Hopefully I’ll be able to be a part of that someday as well. I mean, it’s making me contemplate dropping out of college. If that’s any indicator of my passion, I will have a shop someday! Haha!