Curtains and hearts

This has been a pretty normal week. After the GRE I think my brain just wanted to stop working forever. But I'm going up to Virginia today to go to military ball with my boyfriend, so that should be fun! 

One thing I have accomplished this week is more room decorating 

(though I'm only going to be here one more month). 

I put up the curtains I got at Ikea last weekend; they didn't come with screws, 

so I had to stop by Lowes to get some. 

Before:

After: 

At night:

It's so much nicer; those blinds were pretty depressing. 

I also made heart bunting. It's so easy to do!

I just cut some hearts out of some scrapbook paper I had lying around (the blue heart below is the one I folded to make sure it was symmetrical). Then I took some thread and sewed them together, leaving enough extra thread so they'd be a little bit apart on the chain. 

So quick! I made it during an episode of House and it looks adorable. 

GRE

Took the GRE yesterday. My brain was fried but I think I did good :) 

Here's to grad school!

Ikea

I went to visit my lovely sister in Charlotte this weekend; we went shopping with mama on Saturday. And I went to Ikea for the first time! It's a pretty cool place, I even got curtains for my room. The bad news is that the curtain rods don't actually come with screws . . . I'll have to get some tomorrow.

Andrea Gibson

Andrea Gibson performed here last night. She was INCREDIBLE!

She had a poetry workshop today, and although I totally don't write poetry, Katy and Andrew and I went. I got a CD too :) 

Dinosaur Park

Andrew and I went to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham on Saturday. It is SUCH an awesome museum - even for two twenty-one years looking to embrace their inner child. I would go there all the time, especially in lovely weather (since half of the museum is outside). 

They even have dinosaurs!

Asher's Quilt

Finally I can put this online!

I made this blanket for my cousin's baby over winter break, but for obvious reasons could not brag about it until now. My cousins are wonderful people and so much fun to be around! I wanted to herald the arrival of their first child with something special, and I love to quilt, so what could be more perfect?

There's some turtles, lions, giraffes and dinosaurs on the front:

It's a pretty simple quilt, just a basic checker-block squares pattern.  

Elephants on the back! I was able to use a lot of scrap fabric for the front, which is always nice. 

Welcome to the world, Asher!

The most wonderful, adorable baby ever was born this morning. 

My cousins Julie and Michael welcomed their first child into the world, and he is absolutely unbelievable. I'm so excited, especially because he's the first baby on my dad's side of the family in nineteen years, six months and one day (that was my sister, if you're wondering). 

I'm enamored with this child. Look at how cute his expressions are!

Safe in his mom's arms:

My parents are adorable:

Annie B. Mission and Star Mountain

In late December, 2010, I was blessed enough to have the opportunity to go to Israel with young adult convo of the Moravian Church here in North America. For the non-Moravians out there, there's high school convo, with which I was able to go to Minnesota in 2009, and then young adult convo which alternates every four years between Germany (the birthplace of the Moravians) and Israel (the birthplace of Christianity).

Israel was beautiful, and I have so many awesome memories of our trip there.

My sister and me:

Masada:

On this trip we traveled to Star Mountain, a school for the intellectually disabled from childhood to adulthood. It's sponsored by and affiliated with the Moravian Church. 

It's a beautiful place, and it's obvious that the people there love their work. 

 On a different track, my aunt passed away in September, 2010. 

My darling uncle was looking for a way to honor her memory and heard about our stories when we returned, especially our admiration of Star Mountain. 

From those events, the Annie B. Mission was born. 

My sister, myself, Elizabeth (my cousin's fiancee) and my cousin Matt (Steve's son) - it's obviously a family venture:

This month, we've made the cover of the Moravian magazine! Click here to go read about us; it's several articles that are all really awesome!

Matching friends

Yes! Beautiful weather! I'm so happy!

Andrew came over yesterday and we played settlers, which was quite fun (mostly cause Andrew is hilarious . . . . ) and he and Katy were matching! Soul mates! ;)

Spring Break

I'm so sad that I have to go back to school today. 

It's been such a good week, but real life is back again tomorrow. That's okay, I'd get too lazy if spring break were any longer. I do love the time to be crafty though. And I love the time with my family!

Puppy love

I guess she's not a puppy anymore, though I was talking to mom today about the days when she would bite the corners of books and blankets. She's completely crazy (won't eat out of a bowl) and really neurotic (won't drink out of a bowl). She's totally in love with my dad. She's adorable. 

I want a dog! Too bad my apartment is pet-free and I can't have one at my job this summer. 

P.S. Isn't the weather wonderful?

Blue triangles quilt

Well I finally finished this quilt. I made the top of it two or three years ago and really wanted to finish it with circles. But I'm simply not patient enough to quilt it by hand, so it has sat in the closet for a while. Yesterday I just decided that it needs to be finished, regardless, so straight lines on the sewing machine it is! 

I still like it, though it's both too blue and too geometric to really fit my tastes. 

I started another one yesterday! Here's what I'm working with:

Exploring Virginia

I survived the week! Well, of course I did, but it felt unending at the time. I spent the weekend up in Virginia visiting Andrew, which was awesome. 

On Saturday we wandered around Farmville and found this awesome old thrift/antique/junk store. 

I got a lot of fabric for not a lot of money, which I love!

We also went to Richmond, to the Virginia Holocaust Museum. 

I went to the one in Washington D.C. about eight years ago, so I don't remember it that well, but this one is definitely different. It's really nice, but instead of being an overall look at the Holocaust, a lot of it follows the story of one family. 

They also used a lot of dummies, which definitely gave a feel for reality, but was also kind of creepy. But there were some parts where it was really useful to understand how crowded people were. 

Here's a part of the Nuremburg Trials mock-up:

We wandered around Richmond too, using Andrew's GPS to guide us to random locations.

He teases me for using full manual mode in my camera, but I've gotta practice!