If there was a name....

... for my food orgasm, it would be called, "Antonio's Spicy Chicken Quesadilla" *Grinn*

I mean, come on now -Take. A. Look. At. This. Babyyy ~

Yummm.. only makes my mouth water and my stomach go, "Yes! Yes! YES!!!" Tee hee!

Let me break it down to you.. it's appearance says it all: crunchy, huge and delicious! It's cheese, chicken, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, topped with tortilla chips, drizzled with ranch sauce.. because, everyone knows that a college student lives for ranch :D (Or is that just a Texas A&M thing??)

Sigh.. too bad it is 1.5 hours away from where I live, sadly.

So last weekend I went down to C.S after a much hectic drive.. I decided that I needed to be on campus and running errands and getting things done all before lunch, so I made a little Itinerary the night before, woke up at 6:45am, and left the house around 7:30am only to find myself in the throes of Thursday morning rush hour. Hrmmppphh.. Although, things went smoothly after I got out of the congested city, and smooth sailing from that point on, followed by much boy-band singing :) LOUDLY.

My Itinerary of the day:

-Wake up 6:45am, leave 7:30am

-Get Blinn transcripts

-Get A&M transcripts

-Meet with Vanessa 10:30am

-Sneak into dorm to deliver Tiramisu

-Lunch with Corinne

-Meet with Dr. B

-Meet with Veronica

-Meet with Julie, Zaria, Lisa

-Murphy's Law with friends!

As you can see, it all got accomplished, all within record time too! :) I managed to have enough time to talk to all of my recommenders and even got to talk to my old graduate student who I worked with for a semester.. it's encouraging knowing that they're in Grad school doing the things they love, just like how I'm hoping to do the same..

I got to spend time with some friends, chilling at Murphy's Law which is this awesome Irish pub in Downtown Bryan :) I love being old enough to be able to go out on a Thursday night and not have to run into young college students *Grinn*

Friday was pretty relaxing seeing how I'd already accomplish most of what I wanted to do, just visiting friends and such.. and went to a friend's shindig that kept us up till 6am! It was fun, but getting up early the next morning to drive down to Austin was a little painful .. :P

Anyways, I had lugged around my sewing machine, which unfortunately came with a transformer because of the voltage differences here in the US and the ones in Malaysia. I had promised to make my friends skirts, and so that's what I made the whole Saturday! It was sewing, pressing, ironing, sewing, pressing, ironing.. but I did it! *Takes a Bow* I felt very much like a sweatshop worker, toiling away at my sewing machine, but I did receive payments in the form of food.. haha!

So that was my weekend, and despite the horrible rain and storms that I seem to be cursed with every time I take a road trip out of town, I brought it back to Houston.. where it shall probably be for the rest of the week SIGH!

I'm in Love!!

.. With Skirt #2! Tee hee! *grinn*
So, I had plans to use twill as my fabric for a second skirt, but due to money issues (yeah, I didn't want to pay $7 per yard right now), I settled for Black Broadcloth at $2.50 per yard! Yayyness!

I eyeballed it to 1 yard and 7/8 inches (Don't ask why I decided that) .. and used elastic again.. but the kicker is that I made a wide sash as a waitband from the same leftover fabric to cover up the elastic! So it looks like a high waisted skirt but it's also so comfortable due to the elastic :) Wheeeee..

I had just enough leftover fabric to make the sash, but it wasn't long enough to tie into a ribbon, sadly... just a basic knot... which still looks amazingly classy!
I think the best part of my skirt is that I actually made a side pocket for it! If you want to know how to make pockets, this is the best video to watch, hands down! I sat there for 20 mins, watching the clip step by step, and it's so clear that now it's pretty much second nature to be able to make in-seam pockets! (Credits to Candi Cane Canncel and Village Expert for this tutorial!)

So here's my finished product:

What do you think? I love the poofiness of it, but I hope that the fabric isn't as sheer! haha!
Pictures of the back of the dress, front and side views.. I think the pocket is definitely the attention stealer :) LoVe LoVe it!

Ps: I finally figured out which setting to use to fix the blurriness and darkness of the pictures! Yay!

SKIRRTTTT!!

Okay, first of all, let me apologize for this horrible picture.. my camera has been really unpredictable lately, and ever since I dropped it and broke the battery door while on vacation in Egypt, it's been like this ever since. I need to seriously get a new one..

Sigh. Just try not to stare at the picture for too long - Trust me *grinn*

Back to my project - Hooray! A skirt that's wearable! It's fabric from the stash that my mom got me, and I decided, hey this one seems the closest to skirt-ish!

I was looking through blogs and forums trying to find a pattern I could understand on how to make skirts, but I just decided to wing it in the end...

Skirts-Made "Over-Easy"
(Made at your own risk *Grinn*)

Step 1: Measure out fabric by wrapping it around your waist. Make sure there's enough room for gathers and when the elastic goes on that there's enough space to bunch up. I'd add 11 or 12 inches if I were you. No harm done if there's more fabric! Let it fall to the desired length + 2 inches for seams.

Step 2: Cut out fabric, and fold it lengthwise. Sew the edges together, open and press the seams down with an iron.

Step 3: Fold top of fabric 1/2 inch and then 1 inch more or whatever the width of your elastic band is. Press and pin. Sew around the top, leaving a small gap at the end for where your elastic goes.

Step 4: Measure your elastic. Pull the elastic rather tight on your waist, but making sure that there's enough room for you to step out of the skirt!

Step 5: Pin a safety pin through one end of the elastic, and thread it through your skirt. Once you get to the other end, sew both the elastic ends together. Make sure that it's tight enough before you sew the seams shut.

Step 6: Hem your skirt by folding 1/2 inch and by another 1/2 inch. Sew around skirt.

Voila! Say hello to a new, cute poofy skirt! :)

Because it is elastic, I made my skirt into a high waisted skirt, with a black belt to hide the band. Topped with a black top to not overpower things, black heels, and I'm out of the door!
(Let me know how it looks! )

Good luck!

Sewing Craze!

I don't think I've had a sewing post for a while now.. So here it is!Sometime in July, my dad's friend came into town, and inside the suitcase, was a nicely packed sewing machine! *leaps for joy* Oh and here's the kicker: My mom also packed some awesome fabric that she got from Angola, along with random crazy knick-knacks.. :D :D

Wheeee! I love it, look at the piles and piles of cloth to choose from! And they're super cute too, and Oh-So-Unique!

So then I got down to sewing purses, and when I decided to make a skirt, spent 1 hour learning on the internet how to make pockets (..because you just can't have a cute skirt without pockets!) - I'd say, not bad for a first circle skirt.. although it could always use a bit more flare and length at the back *grinn*

That was basically the whole of July - sewing, sewing and sewing :)

But now I'm in the process of Grad school applications, and essays galore - Wish me luck!

I was joking with a close friend yesterday, about me being a future graduate student/researcher with an knack for sewing.. Tee hee!

Oooh.. can you say test tube koozie?