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

#8: Introduce a friend to the wonder that is Sherman’s ice cream and #61: Take a friend to the beach were both completed when I brought a friend home with me for the weekend and gave them a lovely touristy overview of my town. Meaning we went to the beach, and walked along the shore, even though it was spring and it was cold.

Then we went to Sherman’s Ice Cream and partook of some of the interesting flavors they offer. I had my favorite, Chocomania, which is dark chocolate ice cream with fudge and truffles and anything chocolate inside. It is sooooo rich, but I love it. My friend tried Birthday Cake, which I never had before but it tasted just like a birthday cake! We discussed how you could skip the cake and ice cream deal with this stuff and just get Birthday Cake ice cream for a kid’s party. I might even do that for my own birthday party someday! Haha! Why not?!

So, what’s your favorite brand and flavor of ice cream? Have you ever had Sherman’s?

I am now a college junior. Finished year two of college. In a few days I will be starting spring term. My concern is getting burnt out this year.

I’ve already been in a frazzled mess over finals from this past semester. I usually need my 3 month summer break to relax and recoup, but this year I have almost no down time for that at all.

I’ve had this week off, then I’m moving right back to school for spring term, where I am taking two full Writing classes and Logic (math credit, can you believe it?!) for the next six weeks. After that, I have a few days to prepare, then I’m on a plane to England and Europe for the next month and a half or so. Then I have two weeks to get over jet lag, and then get ready to jump into the fall semester with another fun, full load of classes!

Let’s hope I can keep up with it and maintain my sanity as well! Wish me luck!