End of Dead Week

I'm never happy with the way these shelves look. There's something about them that's been driving me insane. It could be the stress of the end of the semester (I've been partaking in Tumblr rants). But next week I have three finals and then the semester is O-V-E-R.

So today I got much-needed cleaning time and a little bit of crocheting in. In a few hours I'll head over to Casey's and spend the weekend with him. It's beautiful all of the sudden, so maybe I'll stick to my resolution of spending more time outside? Or we'll open all the windows in his apartment and watch movies...

I took an impromptu trip to Indianapolis with my mom and our family friend Becky yesterday. We shopped and ate at Chipotle (which to those of you who don't know me, is my favorite kind of day). I used one of my video game cases for my iPod and want to keep it. So I am.

I think I need to clear some space for the new things I'm going to be making in the coming weeks. My mom and I are planning to get some of our *pardon* shit out on the lawn when our neighborhood has garage sale days this summer. I have a TON of nail polish, clothes and Local Color stuff I need to get rid of.

I did steal some time outside to watch our goldfish in the pond and look at the buds on the pear tree. Maybe they'll be edible pears this year.

As is custom, here is Jezzebelle. The light of my life. Who is currently curled up on my bed next to me. Another resolution is to walk her more. I really need to keep up with my goals for 2011.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Another Phrase for "Creative Juices"

I finished two of my five courses for this semester and have three hefty finals next week that I have to study/cram for. So obviously I still have that as my excuse for not making much. I did finish a request and wrote down some more ideas for my summer restock (which I really hope I'm able to start working on soon).

I made out an application for my full-time summer job, which I really hope I get. I'm excited about moving out, but would need some serious financial backing to do so. Especially alone. My mom and I have been casually searching for apartments but I'm already getting my hopes up.

I feel pretty creatively stunted lately. I hope that changes. And that if I get that job (fingers crossed), I still have time to crochet and sew. My shop and blogs have been so boring because of school. I hope I stay a little more organized next semester.

Other than that I still haven't much to say. The whys and woes of starting a new blog are getting to me. My following on Tumblr makes me feel guilty about spending less time over there, but I envy blogs like those of Elsie from A Beautiful Mess and Kaylah from The Dainty Squid. They have such great discussions and topics.

I digress. As usual. I guess this is an exhausted I-should-be-sleeping rant.

I hope everyone else's finals/jobs/trials/tribulations are working out/going well. Slash slash slash. I find I love parenthesis and slashes and hyphens. I guess I just like convoluted writing.

And let me know if there are any requests for shop stock or blog posts! I'd love to get some of my creative juices flowing. I absolutely loathe that phrase. Why did I type that? Horrible images in my mind now.

Bon soir!

Gold Plated

My 150th sale got shipped away to California today. I wrapped it up in pretty gold paper and my favorite yarn. I've come a pretty long way in just under a year and a half. While things are kind of at a standstill right now, I hope I find time in the summer to expand and change and get better! So thank you to all of those who've supported and helped me along the way.

Ten Things (Vol. 2) : FW Zoo Animals!

Today some of my family and I went to the zoo. I took so many pictures and wanted to take home a lot of the animals, so my 10 Things are going to be my favorite animals that I saw today.

10. This bird whose name I forget: He had pretty orange eyes and wouldn't let me get a good picture of them.

9. The lioness:

8. Geese: There were SO MANY geese at the zoo today. There were nests all over the park so in a few weeks I'll bet there will be tons of babies.

7. These...birds: They were so close to the fence that we could have touched them. I think I'm hexed because all the animals hated me. These birds hissed at me. And birds don't hiss. I'm Damien from the Omen.

6. Hyena: So creepy looking.

5. This bird: If I get a picture of a bird with it's head like this, I'm in love. And obviously I got a picture of a bird with it's head like this. So I'm in love.

4. I know this isn't a badger but that's all I can think of....I can't remember what it's called...: They're so manly.

3. Lion: I got videos of him making loud noises, but I was across the African section of the zoo and couldn't really see him. Also I don't want to upload videos rights now.

2. Why do I even need to describe why this is the best thing I've ever seen?

1. Tortoise: (S)he came so close to my mom and I that we touched him (ignoring warnings and signs all around us).

But probably the best part was I got my little brother to pose in a picture with his galpal...SMILING.

I wish my zoo had a better aquarium section. My favorite animal is the blue whale, and while I'll never live to see the day blue whales are brought into aquariums... I'd like to see better marine life in our zoo. They should get a sloth, too. They're cool.

What are your favorite animals?

Easter and Plans

As is tradition in our family, there's always a pretty sizable gap between finding baskets and eating breakfast, so I thought I'd update this. I've been actually crocheting lately. I only have 1 finished product to show for it, but that's better than nothing. AND I got a little time this weekend to power clean/organize my room and get myself in better order.

I finished this requested Totoro and started a lot of new iPod cases and plush animals. But now I'm bogged down with more homework and studying, so probably won't get too much more in until after finals week. (For me, that means May 3rd)

Last night I got my ELF haul in the mail, though. I don't know why I'm suddenly obsessed with girl things, but I am.

And for Easter my mom got me two polishes I've been wanting for awhile. I got the extremely popular For Audrey by China Glaze and Panda-monium Pink by OPI.

Don't throw up. After I went to my mom's author fair yesterday she rewarded me by going to Walgreens and letting me get some Sinful Colors. I know it's disgusting how much nail polish I have, but I'm going to sell about half of it during garage sales this summer. I think I'm getting a full time job where my dad works and am planning on moving out and downsizing all my junk.

AND on Tuesday I'm getting my tattoo added to/finished. So I'm really excited about that. And I'll probably make an appointment for my next one. I'll include pictures once it's healed. Other than that I don't have any updates really.

Well happy Easter/April 24th to everyone. I'll probably do a 10 Things post later. Because I love lists.

Books and Finals

My mom and I decided to go check out Border's 40-60% off sales. I found two books I've been wanting for awhile. You Shall Know Our Velocity! and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I got both of these 50% off, too. I also saw a few butt cracks... Why don't people feel the air?

Here's a sneak peek at my new products. I'm trying to figure out the best way to sew a zipper on crochet. But I'm really excited about what I'm making. Reeeeally looking forward to some free time to focus solely on my shop (which might be short-lived considering I might be working full time over the summer).

What a dumb time to start a blog. Right before finals? Awesome, Kirsten.

I need things to look forward to. What are you guys looking forward to in the summer?

What I'm Watching Wednesday (Vol. 2)

Celebrity Apprentice. I'm obsessed. As a business student I feel it's justifiable. My idol used to be Donald Trump (sans his association with Miss America). PLUS Gary Busey is on this season. I don't think there's anything more entertaining than watching Gary Busey act like Gary Busey.

I had never heard of Nene before because I've never been a fan of the Real Housewives, though I'll admit to having seen every episode of Desperate Housewives. I like her though. She makes sassy faces comme ca. I'm so behind with this show though. Stupid ET ruined it for me. Casey and I were just eating Taco Bell and mindin' our businesses and stupid ET had to ruin my whole life by telling me Gary was fired. Great.

I'm going to miss moments like this. Lil Jon congratulating Gary. I almost love Gary like one would love a child. When he smiles, I smile. When Meatloaf yells at him, I get sad.

And his Buseyisms? Oh my god. F-O-R-G-I-V-E: Finding Ourselves Really Giving Individuals Valuable Energy. He literally spews these out so quickly. It just...is wonderful.

My favorite line from the episode I watched today.

I have two more episodes queued on my Hulu and really hope I can get through them before someone or something else ruins my life further.

I'm so glad I found this on YouTube.

Maybe I should start Kirsten Renzisms.

There are 360 ways to see an elephant. Gary Busey, you have made my day 100x better.

ETSY SHOP SALE!

To clear my shelves for the summer and get ready for new products I'm having the biggest sale I've ever done. 25% off everything in the shop!

Use the code 8675309 (it's not a hard number to remember if you know the song).

Shop here!!

Ring Haul, Fingernails and Updates

Let's be clear: I'm not the kind of person to actually wear all of these together. Since my risky decision to wear rings (when metal is notoriously unkind to my skin) I've been kind of obsessed with buying them. My friend Jessica and I lunched and malled today and found some awesome buy-some-get-some sales.

The two marble-y orange and purple rings are from H&M and the rest are from Charlotte Russe. We both got the snake ones as a sort of "friendship ring"...like 5 year olds.

As for my nails: They are China Glaze's Avalanche. It's a metallic-y purple I got from Sally's with my mom a week ago.

SO AS FOR UPDATES: During psych class today I came up with the best idea ever for things to make for Local Color. I'm really excited to try the pattern and show my Tumblr and Blogspot followers. PLUS there are only 15 days until I'm done with school for the semester. So I'll have tons of time to work on things.

Until then I have to study like crazy. And Jezzebelle is laying faithfully by my side. Or begging for the cereal I'm eating.

Ten Things (Vol. 1) : Nightmarish Moments

I've always been a fan of scary/horror movies but am notoriously bad at handling them when bedtime comes along. When I can't sleep my mind ALWAYS goes to one or more of the following ten scenes/monsters/characters. I've ranked them in order of how likely they are to terrify me at night.

10. The Flying Monkeys - The Wizard of Oz : This can't shock anyone. Whoever saw this movie as a kid was ruined by those monkeys. The witch had nothing on them. I don't even have more to say on that. They're scary.

9. Pennywise - It : Another one that scared most kids. I saw this movie once when I was home "sick" from school and my mom was in another room (she would have never let me watch it). He is the main reason I never step on sewer drains.

8. Judge Doom - Who Framed Roger Rabbit : ...especially when he melted into nothing but eyeballs. I know it's stupid that I was scared by Christopher Lloyd, but if you never saw this as a child then you have no idea.

7. Gmork - Neverending Story : My older brother and I used to get to sleep downstairs on the couches on the weekends. We'd always watch movies and had a rotation of maybe 15 movies and this was one of them. Needless to say being in a dark room with no parents and seeing this is a scary moment. I never slept too well after watching this.

6. Baby Eater - Pan's Labyrinth : I was in high school when I saw this movie. I'll admit that. But imagine being in bed, not being able to sleep and thinking that this thing is walking towards you. The saggy skin and giant nose holes...

5. Nimbly - Neverending Story 2 : This may make you laugh at me for two reasons. I am scared of TWO characters from really poorly-made kids movies and ...it's just a man dressed as a bird. I hated him. I never wanted to look at the screen when he was on it. Look at his beak! There's something about beaks. Beaks and goats' feet scare the hell out of me. I hate him.

4. Creepy Bear - The Shining : If you've seen the Shining you know how random and incredibly disturbing this scene is. Hotels aren't the same. So many times I've looked down hotel hallways and been scared I'd see a bear giving head (pardon the crassness) to an old man. Nothing is worse than this (also pardon the fact that there are obviously three things worse than this).

3. Regan - The Exorcist : Yup. Every Halloween this would be on TV and I'd catch 5 minute increments of it before my mom told me to turn it off. It has haunted my dreams for years and years and years. The first time I saw it all the way through was with Casey last year and I barely let him leave the room to pee. I don't like movies dealing with paranormal or demonic things. When I was a kid my family was Catholic and Catholic people teach little kids that the devil is real. So imagine me watching this and believing it could happen to me. Cool.

2. The demon - Paranormal Activity 2 : I saw this and legitimately wanted to leave at certain points. Like I said, paranormal stuff is hard for me to handle. The first PA movie was pretty scary to me but nothing I couldn't sleep after seeing. When she's dragged into the basement I KNEW I'd never go get water at night again. I still don't go downstairs after everyone's gone to bed. And I try not to get out of bed in the dark because I could be dragged all over the house. If we had a basement... ruined life. I said I wouldn't see this movie again but my form of self destruction is watching scary movies I know I'll regret seeing.

1. Donkeys - Pinocchio : If you know me at all you know I am PETRIFIED of donkeys. PETRIFIED. Last year I took a picture petting a donkey which was seriously a life-changing moment. ANYWAY. The story behind it is this idiot movie. Pinocchio done by Rabbit Ears is maybe the scariest thing I've ever seen. No. It's the scariest thing I've ever seen. The narrator, the drawings, the donkey sounds... I've been having nightmare about this movie since I was four years old. I remember those dreams more vividly than anything in real life. My brother and I are haunted by this movie. You want to know what will probably kill me? Guillermo del Toro is working on a version of Pinocchio. For those of you who don't know... he was the man behind Pan's Labyrinth. Life = over in 2014 (unless 2012 happens).

So there's that. Guess who's going to have some trouble sleeping in the same room as me tonight? Sorry Casey.

There you have it.

What movies scared/scare the bejesus out of you?

My New Nail Polish Rack!

When I got home from classes today my mom was just finishing making this nail polish rack! She went to Lowe's and bought the wood and just made it from scratch. Needless to say I was incredibly happy. We spray-painted it yellow (duh). All my polishes fit perfectly.

This week went so fast. I got a lot of my stressors out of the way. I've still got a ton of homework but gave my speech today (on banning child beauty pageants), so I don't have to worry about that. Maybe this weekend I'll find a little time to work on the new products I have planned.

To conclude, here's a blinking picture of Mowgli. These are definitely one of my new favorite things. :]