Kimball & Clyde

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http://kimballandclyde.com/ 

The Final Day of Adventures

I've been gone.  It's been A LONG TIME.  Sorry about that.  It's just that school started in August and I took on more responsibility in my department, and then I seemed to forget that I had anything else of interest to do.  

The good thing is that I haven't only been doing school stuff.  I was able to design costumes for a futuristic Romeo & Juliet play.  That was pretty cool.  I wish I had some photos to show, but I don't. I should look into that. Hmmmm...It was the first time I tried dying clothes and it was an experience!  A good one.  I learned a lot.

I currently have a few different sewing projects that I started and then never finished from November. The good news is that I just began my winter break today!  Hooray!  I've got plenty of plans and those projects are on my to-do list for the winter break. It should be pretty great once I can finish them.  

The most fun sewing and crafting I did came last week when I was asked to make four ugly holiday sweaters.  I ended up making seven!  It was a blast, though, and there were some pretty cool sweaters in my opinion.

Pretty sassy, huh?!?!   I think I'm most  proud of the one on the furthest left.  It's a deer head mount for the hunter of our department.  The two on the far right (top and bottom) were the gal's own finds, and two others aren't present for the photo.  We're hoping it becomes a holiday tradition for our history department.  The kids seemed to really enjoy it, and we got word that one student even said, 'Man, if I was Mr. Franta's wife, I would be so embarassed right now!'  SUCCESS! 

So, another big plan this winter break is the get back on the bloggin train. Every Day A New Adventure was really for the summer time; a way for me to get out and see Chicago since J and I had just moved. I have some ideas for a new name and focus. I'm not sure if I'll actually make the change for sure, but it's on the table.  You'll have to wait and see!  Either way it will still be full of Chicago adventures, sewing, crafting, and whatever other nerdiness I produce or experience.

Looking forward to 2012!

 

Day 51: DIY Hair Clips & Brooch

I've been meaning to start an etsy store for sewing and crafting (like everyone else in the world, I know), but I have procrastinated just like everything else requiring a good chunk of my time.  There's a ton of time in summer for sewing and crafting, but come the school year most of my time gets spent on grading and planning.  Not so great when I'm craving some consistency.

At the start of summer I set up the shop, but had nothing to put in it.  About mid-summer I was under a time crunch (a friend wanted to do a crafty style rummage) and so I got to crafting finally producing a few hairclips and brooches.  So, I guess, I am officially open for business.  Kind of weird.  I haven't sold anything yet, but if fate works the way it tends to for me, I am sure there will be some crazy demand in November when I'm knee deep in grading, teaching, and sewing costumes for the fall play. Bring it fate.

Here're the blue hairclip & brooch:

Day 50: DIY Lightbox

I've been a bit of a slacker...we snuck away for a mini-vacation to Wisconsin before school began.  It was a great time with some great friends.  Just what we needed.

Prior to leaving, however, I put the finishing touches on the DIY Lightbox.  See, I took this screenprinting class a few months back.  It was a really interesting class, and a great refresher of all the steps to screen printing I had learned back in middle school.  Since then, I've been dying to do some more prints at home.  

Without the lightbox, there's not much to be done though.  So I did some research and found a guy that made a vintage suitcase into a lightbox.  I decided that this would be perfect for us!  We really do not have the space for a huge light box; a vintage suitcase though?  Yes!!!!  

We bought the suitcases, the plexiglass, and the light.  Then began the sweat producing ripping out of the suitcase inside.  This was harder than I thought, not due to the extensive sewed and glued in lining, but because I was sad to be destroying such a beautiful vintage piece.  I got over it and sweated my bum off ripping and sanding and then finally painting.  And I wish that I could say that was the end of it.

It took a week for us to muster up the strenght to cut the plexi glass. J, on a wine induced night, measured and traced the pattern.  Then the glass sat...and sat...and sat.  I wanted to ask if he was going to cut it, but I never did and it sat some more...until we came back from somewhere and I was under the influence of some crazed feeling.  I scraped until my digits went numb, but in the end I was dancing around the room.  I had finally broke through all the plexi glass and more than that, it fit perfectly! A tribute to J's amazing skills of measuring and cutting, of course.

Unfortunately, when we went to Joanne fabrics they didn't have all the supplies I needed to test out the light box. I'm headed to school on Tuesday and hope to check out the Michaels crafts then.

For now, check out this freak of awesome!

I cannot wait until we burn our first screen!  Will update that within the week. In the meatime, I am going to make up for all the posts I did not do when gone.

 

Day 49: Mad Me? Yes, For Mad Men!

I have a habit of coming to all 'popular' award winning television shows a bit late. I started watching LOST in its fifth season, on the second to last episode.  J was patient enough with me at first to pause every ten minutes or so to give me the four seasons of backstory, but when it became clear that this 60-minute episode was evolving into a 120-minute (not)made-for-TV-movie I could tell that disaster was looming.  Luckily we were able to stream all the previous episodes through ABC's website so the beginning of my summer break was full of all the amazing drama and excitement LOST could bring. When the sixth and final season started, we used it as an excuse to see some close friends once a week for 'LOST night'; it was definitely a show that became even better with friends since everyone had different theories about what was going on.  

I also came late to Dr. Who, Torchwood, the Venture Bros., Arrested Development, and probably a few others that I've since forgotten...

The newest, though, is Mad Men.  Now, I have seen a few episodes from each season so this is not as extreme of a case as LOST was. Still, the backstory and plot points that I have missed did make watching the latest season (5, I think?) tricky at times.

We are about half way through the first season and it has just been amazing.  I, like many before me, am becoming more and more obsessed with the costume design. The dresses! The accessories! The hair!  Oh man, it is all so amazing.  

Makes me wish that there was a dress code at sorts at my school. There are so many 'professionals' who show up to teach in jeans every single day.  It's so sad to see.

Ohhhhhh the dresses, swooooon!  Now, most people go gaga over Joan and Betty, but I think Peggy's style is underrated.  Peggy, from the first season to the last, I think has some of the greatest development as a character.  Her development is also seen in her outfit choices as she becomes more confident with herself.  

Don't get me wrong, though, Betty and Joan are pretty damn sexy.

Can we go on a picnic like this?  I'll bring the lemonade and you can bring Mr. Draper.  And then you can promptly leave him alone with me!  Hehe :)

Any favorites?  Tell me why!

 

Day 48: Getting Ready To Rumble???

I might have made the craziest decision of my post-25 life...I'm going to fight in my martial art school's tournament in October.  

I have been attending the school for about 14 months taking their blend classes, which combine all different styles of martial arts.  In addition, I have been learning Savate for about 9 months now. Savate is a style of fighting developed by the French around the 17th century. They used it on boats for fun, and on the street for fun...err, I mean defense.  It involves a lot of kicking.  The kind of kicking that requires me to bring my knee to my chest for extended periods of time before striking. The kind of kicking that is still strengthening my hips after 9 months. It is intense. Did I mention that Savateurs wear shoes? Yah, they do. 

Anywhoooo, it is probably one of the more beautiful styles of fighting to watch.  There is less focus on knocking out your opponent (although it is welcomed) and more emphasis on scoring points.  If you kick or punch too hard, you get penalized! It's all about skilled striking and finesse.

How about a video?!?!

It's a kind of silly look from the 1940s 

Here's one that showcases some great combos

So, come October I'll be fighting.  I'm kind of scared, but more excited since I am getting fight training with the Savate instructor an additional day per week.

Wish me luck!

Day 47: Yum!

I have found a new love in fish, specifically salmon.  Delicious!

J made this beauty on the grill using a wood plank.  Salted & peppered prior to grilling and some lemon juice after, that's it.  

I could eat this everyday.  

What could you eat every day?

Day 46: Bon Iver at the Chicago Theater

What a glorious Sunday...well, it didn't start that way since we had a pretty long day and night on Saturday (read: hangover), but the upcoming Bon Iver concert was enough to get us through the day.

We hopped on the train to meet some friends for dinner at an Elephant & Castle down by the Chicago Theater.  Seeing as that it was an 'English Pub' (I would welcome a debate over this title to anyone willing to be humiliated) I had the fish & chips, and it was good.  J's made fish & chips just as good as home, so I didn't make a scene like I did when I had the same dish at Owen & Engine (If O&E was a garbage dump with that same fish & chips, and I had the choice of living  in a Fiji mansion without said fish & chips forever, I would have the O&E fish & chips FOREVER). I love food and, above all, I love fish & chips. It's a friggin shame that I never tried the damn dish when I actually lived in England.

ANYWAYS, back to Bon Iver.  The band, which is really just Justin Vernon and whichever musicians he brings is, is from Eau Claire Wisconsin (Yay, Wisco!).  He spent a lonely winter recording his first album that brought on his fame, which was soon followed by an EP and side project (Volcano Choir), in addition to a collaboration with Kane West. Nearly two years after that first album, a second full LP was released,  Bon Iver, and it did not disappoint.  Now, I am no music reviewer so I will not even begin to summarize or analyze here.  Suffice to say that Bon Iver is something akin to angels singing in heaven; he is a sturdy Wisconsin boy in looks, bearded, yet with a voice that is soft with a full on falsetto.  It is something that brings tears, nay, full on sobs to anyone with a heart.  It happened to me.

Maybe six months after moving from Wisconsin to Illinois I was listening to this 'Bon Iver' guy on my way home from work. It was lightly snowing and I was driving into my apartment complex and I had reached the end of the album...or so I thought.  See there was this 'secret song' (something I hadn't experienced since buying a CD at least 3-5 years prior, haha!) and it was called, Wisconsin.  It was a beautiful song that had me in full on sobs; in the parking lot; and I had it on repeat so this was going on over and over and over...I just couldn't bring myself to get out of the car and inside.  It was the very first legitimate time in 26 years that I had ever felt homesick.  I am not one to feel homesick...hell, I can hardly muster up a hug for my closest relatives.  That is how amazing this song was. That is how amazing Bon Iver was on his first album, and he did not disappoint on his second.

If you have not heard him do yourself a favor and look him up.  If you are a fan, hooray, keep spreading the good word.  If you are not a fan, that's cool too, but be sure you are the type of non-fan who doesn't ruin things for others by being total dicks in comment sections and such.

Back to the actual concert night:  Bon Iver (Justin Vernon) was playing at the Chicago Theater a very old and iconic spot.  Case in point:

 

 The outside is just the beginning, look at the beauty inside:

I recorded many videos, but I feel bad posting them for the world to see.  I'm sure their are others out there, but I truly believe that if you want to be part of supporting this amazing music that you should shell out the $10 to buy it. Seriously, we want the guy to continue making music.  Don't be an asshole and steal it. 

And  as a final word, go to a concert.  I had every expectation blown away, and I can say that has never happened to me in all my years of seeing shows.  Very cool.

Day 45: MTL Romper Is Complete!

The MTL Romper is done!  The best part?  I really do LOVE it!  The last few dresses I've made I haven't been completely satisfied with because of one thing or another.  I rushed through them and that's what I get.

This romper though...this romper!  I took my time.  Look what happens when you take your time.  I need to continue to remind myself that in the future.

I am still getting my measurements with Burda straight so the top is a little bit loose, but with the romper that is pretty common, so I am going to leave it for now. I've been loosing weight pretty consistently as well, so I figure I'll wait to see where I level out before making major adjustments.  

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the shorts! It makes me want to make shorts on their own!  I am going to resist until next summer when I have more experience though.  Plus, I just ordered all the fabric I need to make my skirts & blouses for my fall 2011 school wardrobe.  Sounds fantsy, huh?!?!  Yah, it is!

Oh, back to the romper.  It was made with some light cotton I purchased from Joannes back on the 4th of July holiday.  Kind of an African safari style print in a beige-greenish sort of color.  I like it, especially with the belt and hat.

Next on the sewing schedule is going to be the MTL: Bow dress in yellow that I mentioned a few days back.  Wish me luck!

Day 44: Summer Is Almost Over...

On Monday I had to go into school to meet with a few colleagues and discuss our plans for the 2011-2012 school year.  I've done this twice already in June, but it didn't really affect me much since I knew I still had months of summer vacation left (meaning plenty of time to procrastinate!).  We were able to get a ton of stuff done, and that left me feeling like a rock star on a summer Monday morning!  

After the drive home, though,  I realized that I really just wanted a nap. I also realized that I did have many more days left to just come home and take a nap.  It made me kind of sad.  At the same time, though, I realized that I am pretty lucky to feel sad about taking naps.  Not many people have the ability to get used to taking a nap each day to the point where they feel sad that they'll lose the opportunity soon.

So even though my summer vacation* is almost over, I am going to make sure that I appreciate each day that I have left.

My appreciation for this day is for J and all the time he has during summer to plan fun dinners! :)   His theme this night was, 'Vampires'.  He made a steak with garlic mashed potatoes, which was accompanied by some red wine.  We also watched the movie, From Dusk to Dawn, one of the sexay George Clooney's first movies.  It was pretty funny, albeit graphic (Quentin Tarantino was apart of it so, duh!) at times.  I hate scary movies of any kind, so I was apprehensive about this one.  What I soon found out was that the vampires didn't bother to show up until the last 20 minutes of the film, so it wasn't scary at all.  Thumbs up in my mind!   Oh, the steak and potatoes was also quite delicious!

Actually, everything J makes is delicious.  Really.  He's a master chef and could probably win one of Gordon Ramsey's reality shows.

He took this picture...Stuck my martial arts practice knife in there too, sneaker!