A Fresh Start

I moved into my apartment at school last Saturday, almost a week ago now. So much has happened since then.

Sunday night was the start of choir camp for University Choir and Orchestra (UCO), which I am singing in this year. That was a bit overwhelming. All of the returners greeted us with loud noises and applause as we walked into room 111, where rehearsals are held. It felt a bit like freshman year. Orientation for the freshman starts today, and when they arrive on campus they are met immediately by jumping, screaming, excited student leaders. Then when they get to their dorm, they are met by more of that from their RAs. That's more extreme than what I experienced on Sunday night, but it definitely reminded me of freshman year.

We started learning music that night. Rehearsal was three hours that night, and then on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we had twelve hour rehearsals. Each day was filled with singing, laughing, and getting to know each other. On Tuesday UCO joined Male Choral (all men) and Bel Canto (all women) to work on pieces we will be singing together for Dinner Rally, which is a huge fundraiser that takes place at the end of September this year.

Wednesday rehearsal was cut a little short, and the choir met in the evening at our director's house for fellowship and gelato. Real Italian gelato. It was delicious. The man who makes it is Italian and studied gelato-making in Italy. Need I say more? It was a very lovely evening. We sang a couple of songs from memory near the end of the evening, and then continued hanging out for a while more.

This is where it gets fun. Dr. Sutton, our director, lives in Altadena at pretty much the top of the hill. My car didn't like the hill very much. When I got in my car to leave, it wouldn't start. I thought it was the battery, so I went to find someone to jumpstart my car so I could be on my way. The two guys that came to help me said it didn't sound like my battery, but instead more like the alternator. I tried turning on the car again and it started, but it was definitely not making the same sounds it usually does. I checked the oil, and the dipstick was reading that there was no oil in the oil pan, which of course means NO DRIVING THE CAR. We had to go find oil and then go back and put it in the car. After I put three quarts of oil in the car, we left, and the guys followed me back to school to make sure I got there alright.

The next morning (yesterday) UCO sang at a faculty-staff kickoff bright and early, so I couldn't check the car until I got back. Ok, so, you know on a dipstick there are two dots, to gauge how full the oil pan is? I pulled out my dipstick and checked it, and the oil was one and-a-half inches above the top dot! I couldn't believe it. I checked it again just to be sure. Nope. I was reading it correctly. I didn't understand. Here's what my dad and I now think happened. When I checked the oil in the car on Wednesday night, the car was sitting on a hill, so that the driver's side of the car was higher than the passenger's side. The dipstick in my car (I don't know if this is true for every car) is on the driver's side. So, the oil must have sloshed to one side so that it wasn't touching the dipstick at all. Now I can't drive the car until I get some of that oil out, which I am not equipped to do. Plus, we need figure out what is going on with the alternator before I drive it very far away from school and risk getting stranded somewhere.

So this is a fun adventure. I spent the rest of the day getting things out of storage and then putting kitchen things away and decorating the apartment. There is still more in storage: a couch, our TV, my shower curtain. That's right, I still don't have my shower curtain. Let's just say it's been an adventure. And my bathtub is too small for my tall self. We are supposed to be getting the rest of everything out of storage tomorrow. And since today is orientation, I have the opportunity to get free food for dinner. Yay!

Grace and Peace,
Suzannah

Summer Projects: Finished

Tomorrow I leave for school. Today I wrapped up my summer projects. Finally.

Let's start with the chair. This $5 thrift store find became a time-consuming semi-nightmare. It's true. I couldn't have picked a worse fabric. Anyways, I learned my lesson: I will never make a slipcover out of geometric fabric again. There are too many places to match that don't end up matching. The fabric has to be cut just the right way. The chair back isn't a perfect rectangle; the width tapers down to the bottom, so that the top is wider than the bottom. Because of that, we couldn't just sew down both sides, because then the slipcover wouldn't go on. So, we put in a zipper. Easy fix. Sort of.

So there you go! Finished! I'm quite happy with it, even though it gave us a bit of trouble.

Now the painting. I mentioned the other day that I wasn't completely happy with the way the canvas turned out, so I repainted it, and then added the dandelion detail to it. That part was pretty easy compared to the text. The last time I painted a canvas like this, which was for a friend, I made a stencil for the lettering, and then traced it onto the canvas, and then painted it. I didn't have time for that this time around. I had to do it all free-hand. All of it. As I've already mentioned in the past, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so doing all of the lettering free-hand was so nerve-wracking. Now it's finished, and I'm quite happy with the results.

This canvas was also a thrift store find. It was a blank canvas when I bought it, and it was still shrink-wrapped. I sat with it for about two months trying to get inspired. Then when I got my new phone, I was looking at phone cases and I came across a wooden one with dandelions carved into. Then I thought about the background behind it, and deciding on a sunburst was pretty easy. I had decided on the first line of the doxology before that, so my inspiration was complete. I love the doxology, so that was an easy pick.

There you go! Summer projects are complete. This painting will hang above the couch in my apartment this year, unless there is already something hanging there when I move in tomorrow. If there is, I'll just find another place for it!

Grace and Peace,
Suzannah

Summer Projects

I currently have two running projects, one finished project, and still one more project to go. Well, that's the plan anyways. It is Wednesday, and I am going back to school on Friday or Saturday. I'm not sure which yet...

I made a phone case for my phone... I couldn't find one I like well enough for a price I was willing to pay. I did find one that I really liked with a quote from The Hobbit, but it was misquoted, so I took it as inspiration and made my own:

I made a template with a sticker for the words, but I drew the compass free-hand (with a ruler of course). I'm a perfectionist, so that project was pretty nerve-wracking.

My last blog post was about my art-project, and I made more progress on it tonight:

Like I said, I'm a perfectionist, and I wasn't completely happy with what I did on the canvas two weeks ago or whatever it was. The more I looked at it, the less I liked it. Unfortunately I live in a small town where none of the stores believe in selling acrylic craft paint, so I had to order paint online and it finally arrived yesterday. After watching a couple of videos on Youtube, I tackled it again, this time with much better blending. 

I added the first details tonight: dandelions. I hope to add the text tomorrow, and have it finished. Then I will take actual good photos with my camera when I finish :)

Finally, the chair! It is almost finished! Mom and I made considerable progress last night. Don't let the photo fool you, it isn't quite finished; the only thing left to do is sew the front panel to the cushion piece, and then put a zipper in the back corner so that it will actually fit over the chair. Hopefully Mom and I can finish it tomorrow as well!

The only thing left is aprons for my roommates and I that one of my roommates asked me to make for us. I sincerely hope I can get them at least started, but based on everything I still have to do before I move back in, I don't know if I will get to them.

Grace and Peace,

Suz :)

My Current Art Project

As I mentioned last night, I dabble in various other arts besides music: painting, photography, any crafting really, and cooking (which, yes, I do believe to be an art. Just look at the title of Julia Child's cookbook).

A couple of months ago I found a 24" by 36" canvas, new, still wrapped, at the thrift store. I painted a canvas a little over a year ago for my best friend's wedding gift, and I loved the process. It was a bit tedious because I am a bit of a perfectionist, and I ended making stencils for it, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. When I saw this canvas at the thrift store, I knew I had to get it, and then just wait for inspiration. Inspiration finally came a couple of weeks ago, which was perfect timing, because that gave a little bit of time to marinate while I finished my class. Now I've finished my class, so let the paint fly!

I started tonight! It's a little rough right now because I'm not a painter, so I need to work on blending the colors a little better. But I'm happy so far with the start, and I can't wait to see it finished!

Here is what I have done so far!

It's not the best photo because I was too lazy to get my camera out, but once everything is said and done, I will take better photos with my camera.

Grace and Peace!

Suzannah

Summer School

This summer, I have been taking a philosophy class through my local community college. It was sixteen weeks of philosophy condensed into eight. To be completely honest, I have hated it. I don't completely know why. Maybe it's because I don't really see the point in questioning the whole universe around me, or maybe it had to do with the workload. I don't know. The workload was pretty ridiculous: we had to read a lecture, read from the text book, watch anywhere from one to three videos, watch a film, answer 12-15 questions for homework, and post to a discussion forum a minimum of 5-6 times a week spread over at least three days, which had to be a mix of original posts and posts on other people's threads, per week. In a word: ridiculous. And we couldn't work ahead, because my professor only allowed us access to one week at a time. Also, most of my classmates really liked to wait until Saturday or Sunday to start posting, so even if I did post on Wednesday, I wouldn't be able to finish until the end of the week. 

Well, for all that, it's done now. In my last three weeks of summer I get to move on to the things I really want to do. As a musician, I enjoy dabbling in other arts, so I have several projects lined up. Right now I am in the middle of two: painting a two foot by three foot canvas and making a slipcover for a chair I got at a thrift store last summer. These are the things I really like to do, to get my creative juices flowing. I have other things lined up, like customizing a case for my phone and making aprons for my roommates and I. I'm so glad I get to move on to these things now!

Grace and Peace!

Suzannah