look what i made!

last week, while my husband was out of town landing his dream job in san francisco, i was taking this:

(image source here)

and turning it into this:


all by myself, with just a power drill, a hand plane, and a staple gun.

well, almost all by myself. the helpful young man at the hardware store cut all my lumber to size for me, and the mister (when he came home) helped me sand between stain coats. but all the building, and the upholstering, even the design conversion, that was all me. =)

i used the modern farmhouse bench plans posted by ana at knock off wood as my starting point, and modified the sizes to suit my needs. i used two coats of miniwax red chestnut stain (the pictures are kind of dark; it's lighter in real life) to finish my stud-grade pine boards (i'd never have believed now that they were stud grade, and i built the thing!) and remnant-bin decor fabric (it's a little lighter than canvas in weight and texture) for the cushion.

more pictures, you say? well, i am happy to oblige.



(the bench part is removable.)

i am quite pleased. i foresee much more furniture building in my future. yay! =)

linked up with miss mustard seed's furniture feature friday.

bummer timing.

i'm graduating a month from today. i am glad to be done--i've only been a student in the technical sense this term, seeing as i finished my classes in december--and i'm ready to move on to the next thing in life.

however, i got an email today from the department of chicano and latino studies (my minor) at my university that really makes me wish i was still a student in the fall. they're offering a course that sounds like it was designed with me in mind (emphasis is my own):

Dear Certificate Students,

The Chican@ & Latin@ Studies Program is excited and pleased to offer Course # 330--Community-based Action Research on Health Justice and Social Justice Issues in Madison to our certificate students this fall.

Course objectives and description: This is a community-based action research course grounded in social justice education. In partnership with local grassroots organizations, students will explore and document the root causes of health disparities in Madison, including issues of racial and economic justice. Students will learn action research methods and work on group projects that support the community organizing work of partner organizations.

About the community partner(s):
Freedom, Inc. is a people of color-led organization that does anti-violence and youth organizing work within low-income communities of color in Madison. Freedom, Inc. is participating in a nationwide health and environmental justice organizing project: Communities Creating Healthy Environments, led by the Praxis Project (http://ccheonline.org).

Dignidad Sin Fronteras (Dignity Without Borders) is a community theater group based in Madison, led by Latin@ immigrants. DSF uses theater as a popular education tool to build community consciousness about and mobilization around immigrant rights and other social justice issues. (www.operationwelceomhome.info)

Operation Welcome Home is a collective of people affected by homelessness and allies, who are organizing around the root causes of homelessness—racism, economic injustice, and the criminalization of poverty.

The ideal participant is a student with a commitment to social justice, and a willingness to work in ally-ship to low-income communities of color that are affected by health justice issues.

this sounds awesome. a service-learning/academic-seminar version of what i want to do in my life. too bad the timing is off...

however, now that i'm graduating, i suppose i have the opportunity to get involved in these kinds of efforts for real, rather than just 9-11 on MWF in the social sciences conference room 12C. =) anyone know of any leads in the san francisco bay area?

we've been blogged!

our wedding photographers, chang2 studios, did a brief "best of 2009 weddings" to kick off the 2010 wedding season, and we were in it (last wedding in the post)! i love the picture they chose--my favorite parts are charlotte's [the girl standing behind me] fauxhawk and expression of glee. =)

st. louis recap

we took a nice little roadtrip to st. louis over easter weekend. this was the first time in a loooooong time that i have traveled just for the heck of it. most of my miles have been charted due to some dance-related event, or missions trips, or school events. i'm pretty sure that the last time i was on a trip for no other reason than to be on a trip was when my family went to disneyworld when i was ten.

here's the breakdown:

scariest part? feeling the car stop responding to me at 70mph on the freeway. (we ran out of gas...in the middle of nowhere, southern illinois.)

most awesome part? just about everything about city museum, and all the stuff we climbed on there. i literally got my pants stuck on the ceiling--while wearing them, of course. =)

sketchiest part? buying booze behind bullet-proof glass and a one-way pass-box.

trippiest part? watching "spirited away" while/after drinking copious amounts of said booze.

tastiest part? classic deep-dish pizza and apple pie at pi pizzeria.

most gratifying part? scoring an absurdly low price on a nice hotel downtown, within walking distance of almost everything we wanted to do.

nerdiest part? oh, that's a toss-up between specifically seeking out pi pizzeria (and taking photos of the bathroom?) and geeking out over everything at the science center.

thanks, st. louis. it was fun.

hello, lover

three months before moving cross-country on a college-students' budget is probably not the wisest time to buy furniture, especially not something you want to hold onto for a while.

but when a robin's-egg-blue leather armchair shows up on craigslist and steals your heart, what's a girl to do?

why, take it home, of course. =)



*edited to link to miss mustard seed's furniture feature friday*

fashion week sunday

big thanks to emery jo at moms are for everyone! for hosting spring fashion week 2010! it's been fun to see what everyone comes up with each day, and interact with other blog ladies (rather than my usual lurking tendencies).

my outfit for the last day of fashion week is simply what was left clean in my suitcase after a long weekend trip. the majority of the day was spent in the six hour drive back home, so i didn't care much for looks. since it was easter and all, i went fancy-schmancy and put on my pearls. (otherwise known as: i wore them on the drive down and so didn't bring the bag to keep them safe in baggage.) =)


here's the breakdown:
black top: thrifted, originally express
jeans: thrifted, old navy sweethearts and my current favorite jeans ever
bag: peru
necklace: gift from dad
shoes (not pictured): black converse low-tops
glasses: the exact same frames as my six-years-younger twin sister...i got mine first. =)

and on the husband (which is, as he said, pretty much the same every day):
t-shirt: free from somewhere (this case: georgia tech american nuclear society; it says "get a half-life" on the back.)
jeans: who knows, possibly from high school
chacos (not pictured): rei, going on five years ago
hat: levine hat co. in st. louis (a quasi-impulse buy on friday)
ring: custom-designed mobius twist, his idea

i married a nerd...i love him. =)

fashion week saturday

for our last spring break as students, the husband and i decided to take a long weekend trip to st. louis. actually, it was more that i decided i wanted to go to st. louis, asked him if we could take a mini-vacation, told him that i was going to plan it and not tell him where we were going, and then less than a week later told him the destination because i was just too excited not to. turns out, he'd already guessed it. he's a smart man...and i'm pretty transparent. =)

so, unlike the other days thus far in fashion week where i've been actually concerned with looking cute (which is atypical), today is more reflective of my usual clothing-decision-making process: is it clean? check. is it suited to my day's activities (which today means downtown sightseeing and science museum exploring)? check. does it have pockets so i can stash stuff? sadly, this skirt does not, but since i want to carry things that don't fit nicely into pockets (camera, umbrella that perfectly matches my yellow rain boots) i'll be carrying a bag anyway.


so here's today's breakdown:

shirt: target, several years ago
skirt: target, last summer (LOVE it)
shoes: crocs ballet flats
earrings: peru


and a bonus shot, since my husband took the pictures today. he said this wasn't a cleavage shot, it was "my best angle." clearly, i'm flattered. =)

fashion week friday

it didn't rain like expected, so my footwear is sadly not my lovely puddle-jumpers, but my crocs ballet flats (comfy yet still cute! i am a big fan). anyway, here's today's look for fashion week:


shirtdress: h&m (this season--woohoo! i rarely ever get new things)
boots: hunter wellingtons
earrings: gift from my brother

my favorite part about this picture? the jessica rabbit hair. i am definitely going as her some halloween--i want.that.dress. =)

april fool's and fashion week thursday

i haven't been much for april fool's day jokes--i'm usually on the receiving end, gullible me--but this year i was rather pleased with my prank wherein i convinced a friend and my mother that my husband had received a job offer from CERN (you know, the atom collision place that's been in the news a lot this past week) and we were moving to switzerland and i didn't get into medical school (true...thus far) and it's okay because i'm actually pregnant and due around halloween and did i mention we were moving to switzerland? =) thing is, the way my life has been recently, it's totally plausible. =)

anyway, here's my clothing for fashion week today, and it's kind of another april fool's joke. the weather forecast said today was going to be in the 70s, but i thought it was the weatherman playing a joke. you see, i live in wisconsin. we don't get into the 70s until june. =) so, my pants and sweater--though usually wholly april-appropriate--were overkill. c'est la vie. also, pardon the face. i was trying to figure out how to get the timer to go off. i succeeded, but a few seconds before i was expecting to. =)


sweater: kohl's, apt. 9
tee: thrifted, express
jeans: thrifted, old navy sweethearts and my new fav. jeans EVER
pearls: a gift from my dad
earrings: a gift from an aunt
bangles: claire's, peru and india
and oh look, i'm wearing my engagement ring today! (usually i don't, just the wedding ring.)