R, S, T, and U are for...

R and S are for...ring and Sean! Finally, the long-awaited picture! Although this isn't a clear shot of the ring (next time) you can see it on my finger, and of course the FHF (Effing-hot Fiance) Sean. I look a bit rough in the picture, but that's because it was awfully cold here today (OK Marcia, not as cold as you! :D) and I had put on and take off my hat a bunch of times. Sean looks tired because he's in the midst of a term paper. But anyway, here's my alphabet.

R is for ring.

This is the ring Sean gave to me when he proposed in August, 2006. It's white gold, set with a .25 ct Type IIa brilliant cut diamond (can you tell I'm taking gemology?). It's absolutely beautiful and very simple. For a wedding band to go with it I think I'd like another white gold band, with a small amethyst and maybe a chip diamond on either side.

S is for Sean.

The wonderful, marvelous, hot, caring, loving, nerdy, techie Sean. My fiance. We met in Geophysics class in January 2005, and were introduced (to be friends!) by our friend Keith. Although Sean says his first memories are of watching me stretch in class - the chairs were uncomfortable, so I would arch my back over the back of the chair, not realising that this was drawing the attention of every boy in the class - the other thing we really remember is the day that one of the replacement professors started writing random multi-variable calculus questions on the board. While our much-younger classmates started going glassy-eyed, Sean leaned over to me and muttered "I don't know if that's Geophysics or he's giving us instructions to build a Warp Engine.". When I burst out laughing, he decided that I was definitely a girl of interest! :) We started hanging out and eventually dating nearer the end of the school year, and have been together ever since. We've been hiking at Cascades Park, visited the Mall of America, and lived in 3 different apartments together. A sure sign of our relationship is the way his cat Kyp has bonded to me - he spends every moment either lying beside me or sitting in my lap or on my chest. I love him with all my heart!

S is also for Sushi...



Another thing Sean introduced me to. The first time I tried it was in Mall of America, at Tiger Sushi. I only ate the vegetarian California Roll, which had pickled carrots, cucumber, and avocado. I wasn't thrilled, and particularly hated the taste of the nori. Later on, he convinced me to go to The Sushi Bowl in Thunder Bay, where I was suprised to learn I was liking Sushi! Since then I have become more and more obsessed, and no longer limit myself to the veggie stuff. My favourites are California Roll - with Crab!, Tekka Maki (tuna), and Firefly (a local special, it's tuna, salmon, chili and wasabi, and tempura flakes).


T is for...



Tea! I LOVE tea. When I worked at the Fort, we usually drank it at least once a day, if not twice. Mornings were Orange Pekoe, Earl Grey, or Lady Grey (for me), and afternoons were Moroccan Mint by President's Choice. The best mint/green tea I've ever had. Anyway, I love tea in all of it's forms. I am a big fan of the roasted tea you get at Japanese restaurants, which contains roasted, puffed rice and tastes toasty and a little nutty. I drink it for the flavour, not for the caffeine kick. Favourite flavours are Lady Grey, Prince of Wales, and Monk's Blend. The last two can be harder to get ahold of, and you might need a specialty tea store to get them. Monk's Blend in particular is amazing, because it contains vanilla and grendaine flavours.

U is for...

Umbrellas! I am obsessed with the Gryffindor umbrellas we see in Prisoner of Azkaban, during the Quidditch match. I would like a picture, but couldn't find any! They are pretty pig, burgundy with 2 or 3 gold stripes around the bottom edge. I lurve them though, and make it my quest to find one someday.

And some more present pictures: only click if you are NOT the person mentioned in the link!

NOT JENNY
NOT DAD

PATRICK! So glad to see you posting :D I'd like to know how to do silk-screening, I've never tried. It looks kind of hard to set up :P I need your e-mail address and your picture site because they somehow got lost in the shuffle and no one seems to have them!

White tree I painted on a long-sleeved t-shirt last weekend. I have a t-shirt with this on the front, but it's crooked and the paint cracked badly, plus the stencil leaked a bit. On this one I used freezer paper (so wonderful for stencils!), and instead of a brush I used a little sponge roller to put the paint on. Plus I mixed the paint and fabric medium in a more balanced ratio. This means that although it cracked (since it's a knit fabric) it doesn't stay split and looks all pretty.


Woot! I took a break from term paper 1/term paper 2/presentation/studying and made this recon (reconstruction). It's my Shinerama (for Cystic Fibrosis) t-shirt from University of Alberta. However, it was an XL, as all free t-shirts seem to be. I drew around the body and armscye of a t-shirt that fit well, then cut it and resewed it up the sides and across the bottom (salvaging the collar and part of the shoulder seams). Then I copied the shape of the cap sleeves of the well-fitting shirt, and cut new sleeves (again, salvaging most of the "cuff" seam) and sewed those in too. Woohoo! So much fun. Now I wish I had more free t-shirts to mess with - Value Village here I come!


Another t-shirt I reconned last summer. It was a little too big, since this was bought before Sean's Mom met me and she insisted to Sean I couldn't be so small I'd need a Youth M instead of a Youth L. This didn't require as much reconstruction since it was much smaller, but now it fits me perfect.

In terms of presents, I got a wonderful package from Angela containing presents from Europe, pictures very promptly. And speaking of Angela, as long as you're not her :) you can click here: NOT ANGELA to see one of the things I've done for Christmas for her so far.

Buried in school work...

I have 2 term papers to write (one is almost done, the other not started, they're both due the first Wed in Dec), an assignment to finish for tomorrow, an in-class final next Friday, and 4 other finals in two weeks. Oh and a powerpoint presentation next week.

I won't be posting for a little while yet, but here's a sneak peak for this weekend...

R is for...
S is for...
T is for...
U is for...

and further Christmas updates as soon as I find my quilting ruler...

Hi, my name is Karlie, and I'm an addict...

Yes. Sad but true. I am addicted to LUSH Cosmetics. They are all handmade, mostly natural and organic (with a few minor, safe, chemical ingredients), most (if not all) of their raw materials are sourced fair- and free-trade, and a great many are vegan. They all smell AMAZING, and do wonderful things for your body. Here's a list of my favourite products...because I'm avoiding writing my term paper.

SOAP:

Angel's Delight

Mmmm. This soap smells like something between Jolly Ranchers candy and fruit punch. My only complaint is that in the weird humid-hot-no-ventilation atmosphere of our bathroom in Thunder Bay the soap changed smells over time to be kind of icky, like Rock Star did (see below). I think I'll just cut the soap into bitty chunks from now on. Then we can have more variety too!


Bob Soap

*Homer drooling sound* This soap is a Christmas special, which means I'm buying a MASSIVE chunk of it so I can use it all next year. It smells like slightly spicy orange creamsicles (in a very, very good way). Some people have complained about the lather being highlighter green, but for me that's just an added bonus :D


Demon in the Dark

Phew! This soap is very minty-tingly, and probably best for use in summer or on sore muscles. It smells a bit like apples, since there's pieces of them inside it, and mostly like mint. I sometimes just sneak into my LUSH stash box and sniff it.


Ice Blue

Another minty soap, although this one isn't as complex a smell - it's mostly straight peppermint. I like this one too, but then again I have a "thing" for minty stuff.


Rock Star

This smells like lovely sweet candies. Lots of people don't like it because it's too sweet, but I like candy-sweet smells and vanilla as much as mint. Like I said though, big chunks can change colour strangely and warp in smell. Again with the cutting in bitty chunks, since the soaps last a looonng time if they're left wrapped and not used.


Sexy Peel

Lemon-orange-grapefruit goodness. It almost makes me want to like the taste of marmalade. It's very, very citrussy, and slightly soft which makes it a nice texture to wash with.


Snowcake

Oh. My. Goodness. If you like almonds or marzipan, you need to buy this soap. You HAVE to buy this soap. It has such a creamy lather, and smells so good you just want to EAT it. The sweetness is complemented wonderfully by a slight hint of rose, the only time in my life I've ever like a rose smell (and that's because it doesn't actually SMELL of rose, it just works delightfully with the almonds).

BATH BOMBS:


Avobath

This bath bomb smells like green fruit loops, and makes the bath water bright lime green. It's a great sweet-citrus smell, made even better by the fact it has a faint shimmer from fine glitter particles and is moisturizing from the avocado oil. The only bathbomb I've bought more than 2 of (yet).


Christmas Party

Another of the Christmas specials. It's sweet, spicy orange, and so pretty! Beware the star-shrapnel though, I've heard it's poked more than one bare bottom. I haven't had that experience yet!


Dream On

I don't really like the herbally smell of this bomb that much, although I think it would be easily covered by cocktailing with another bomb. The key thing about this bomb is the jojoba oil. It's very similar to your skin's natural sebum, so it's INCREDIBLY moisturizing, although you sometimes have to chase down the green blobs of oil (a little weird floating on top of the peachy-orange water) and rub them into your skin. Top marks for anyone with dryness.


Puddy Holly

ANOTHER Christmas product! This bath bomb smells exactly like it looks - a spicy christmas cake with marzipan icing. It's singular downside is that the water turns brown. Other than that, delish!


Think Pink

A Breast Cancer bomb (they donate a potion of the profits) that smells like...pink. Sweetness, candy, and everything girl. Yum :D

OK, that's enough for now, I'm bored of this too :) I guess I could go write my term paper...anyone got any tips on amethyst?

Wow another Karlie spelled my way, that's amazing! My parents always say how it never occured to them to use a C or Y (and I prefer my spelling anyway) but there are very few people with the name! Anyway, here's some updates:

1) I don't have celiac disease, which is very exciting. I can eat wheat again! It also means that I have some (expensive) cookbooks to sell, since they were sooooo certain I had celiac and it's pretty much impossible to go gluten-free without cookbooks. Anyone know anyone who could use some gluten-free cookbooks?

2) This means that we have don't have a good idea why I'm exhausted, losing weight, and have a persistant cough. I think my Plagues and People class is getting to me, because I'd laugh if it turned out to be TB.
NOTE: I'm not being paranoid I have TB :) The website is just for interest's sake because I thought the topic was really fascinating

3) I made this:



The shirt, that is. It was a little miserable to sew, partially because it's brocade so I had to stitch around every edge to stop it fraying as I was sewing, and because the collar didn't fit, so I had to do a whole bunch of fiddling around. However, not only did I make the shirt, I made the buttons myself out of soutache braid, using a knot-button pattern.

4) I made a new blog: A Long Yarn (Christmas) where I'm going to post all my Christmas gifts as I make them. I'm hoping that this way I can use links to the posts, so that people who don't want to peek at the progress can choose not to.

5) That said, here are some peeks:
NOT Heather or Chad
NOT Dad
NOT Mary
NOT Becky


Other gifts will be forthcoming, once I've started them.

Thanks for the tip Misty, although the knitting class isn't going to run - Boo-urns. They didn't have anyone else sign up, I'm guessing because of the price. Campus Rec has lots of neat stuff but it's VERY expensive.

I finished my cabled handwarmers (no pictures, maybe tomorrow) and made a black fleece headband since I can't find my earbags. However, I did complete one VERY pretty piece of sewing, although the picture I have is somewhat mediocre:



I kind of look like I'm smirking in the picture, not exactly sure why! I also STILL need to post a picture of the ring, I know. You can kinda see it in the above picture, on my left hand...but I'll post a better one. This weekend is going to be spent visitng Mom and Becky tomorrow, since they're coming up, doing my structure homework (and some research for my Gemology term paper), and sewing at least 3 things: a corduroy skirt, a chinese brocade shirt, and a fleece for Sean. If I have time, I'm also making up a nice futon cover, but it's Sean's turn to clean up the living room and until that's done I can't cut out the Futon cover ;)