An American in Leeds

Remember that man I mentioned  over a year ago?  Well, reader, I married him. Then embarked on the emotional roller coaster that is a spousal visa application. Luckily, I got my visa, and was able to join him. Also luckily, he did not have a crazy wife in his attic that set the house on fire. I have returned to Leeds after being away for over a year. I've been back for just over a week, and it's been interesting getting back into my UK groove. There's the usual things, like re-programming myself to look right then left when crossing the street, and re-learning the money denominations. But, like when I first moved here in 2008, it's the little things that trip me up. How to use the washing machine. Recipes being in weights instead of volumes. Coriander instead of cilantro. One of the more illuminating things that has come to my attention to me is the importance of an address. It proves you belong to a place. The question of "Do you have a piece of official m...

Okay, so off the bat: I suck. I admit it. It's been over a year since I updated. I completely missed blogging anything from my last year in Leeds. I have two excuses. 1. I acquired a boyfriend and 2. I had to finish up my projects at work, and then find a new job. First, I started dating a wonderful man almost exactly a year from the end of tenure in Leeds. I won't bore you with my gushing about him (that's what my paper journal is for, 16-year-old-me!), but it did put some pressure on trying to squeeze as much as possible into that year. We manged to get a trip to  Rome , several trips to  London  and a trip to the  Green Man Festival  in before I had to come back to the US. I also went to  Paris , but didn't bring him with me. Second, I had to finish up my projects at work, and then find a new job. Again, I won't bore you with the details of finishing up, because seriously zzzzzz for anyone outside of the field. I did present at two more confere...

I may as well get this out of the way: this has become a crafting blog. You probably have already figured that out, but I like to be honest and up front about these things. Now that that is done, let me show you what I've been working on! I started a pair of gloves in September 2009. I finished all but three fingers of the right hand one, then lost interest. After finishing Brian Slade , I dug out the glove, and finished it. Pattern: Knotty, by Julia Mueller, from Ravelry. I cast on for the left hand glove, and got it started. Hopefully, it won't take me over a year to finish it. I am also embarking on a quilt. I have never made a quilt before. It's nothing fancy- just a random patchwork quilt. I am using a pattern, since I have never done this before. Ollalieberry Ice Cream Quilt , from Alicia Paulson. I bought the fabric about a year ago, and shoved it in a bag. Not sure what made me decide to drag it out and make the silly quilt right now. I probably should have titled t...

Don't forget to give the servants the day off! Originally, I was going to go away for Christmas like I did last year. But then the weather started acting wacky. And then I kept getting sick with one cold after another. In the end, I decided to stay put. I roasted a chicken, using Julia Child's recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking . It turned out amazing, probably because, like all of Julia Child's recipes, it requires a ton of butter. She should have titled her book Screw It: Use the Damn Butter, You'll Thank Me Later. I also worked on sewing up a skirt. I got all but the finishing details done yesterday. I did the belt loops and buttons today to finish it up: Sorry for the bad picture- I finished it after the sun went down, so no natural sunlight. The pattern is Beignet from Colette Patterns. Grey gabardine with cotton/ synthetic floral lining and purple plastic buttons. I've made this skirt before , although I don't remember the belt loops being as t...

I finally finished my Lady Grey coat! Only nearly two months late for the Sew-A-Long. Better late than never. Or better late than pregnant, as Blanche from The Golden Girls would say. Eventually I'll get a picture of me wearing it, but right now I am vain and my skin is a mess. This sucker is a lot warmer than I originally thought it was going to be, so perhaps it's for the best that I didn't finish it for the fall. I would have roasted. As it is, with temps in the 20s (Fahrenheit) right now, it's nice and cozy. I'm still working on the rest of my Fall 2010 collection . I finished a dress and two blouses (no pictures of those yet, argh). I have a skirt and another dress to finish. I was going to do two slips as well, but my sewing machine HATES slippy fabric, and the stitches are awful on the one I attempted. I added a giant scarf to the collection. It is my current obsession to get done: It's grown by a couple repeats since I took that picture. It will be 7....

The big news around these parts: the snow: We got quite a bit of it. What happened to the month of November? Oh, right, I was busy writing a novel. I did NaNoWriMo this year, after a three year hiatus. I didn't think I was going to make the 50k word goal, but I did: 50,012. I found it tougher this year than in the past. My inner editor has gotten a lot stronger over the years, and I think she makes it difficult to just sit down and write. The good thing about NaNoWriMo is that it has given me the urge to keep a journal again. I kept one faithfully from the age of 14 until I was 20. I remember being so proud of myself when I filled the first one- a spiral bound number with a crushed blue velvet cover (shut up, it was the 90's, crushed velvet was HOT). I filled about half of the second one before I stopped for some reason. Now I want to keep a journal again, just to learn to turn off that inner editor. I bought a cheap bright blue one yesterday, and forced myself to write a coupl...

There is this ad on the television right now: To summarize: hapless dude burns his dinner before his date. Goes to attractive female next door neighbor for help. She shows him how to make this easy pasta. She asks when his date will be arriving, and SURPRISE! She's the date! Okay, to me there is SO MUCH WRONG with this ad. Shall I break it down? Yes, I shall! 1. Plays on the stereotype that men can't cook. 2. She unknowingly cooks dinner for her own date. How kind of him to let her do that! 3. Assumes that she should be falling over herself because this guy is paying attention to her. 4. She's on a date she wasn't even asked on, like she has no agency in who she dates. In fact, it looks like for a split second she is NOT AMUSED by this turn of events. Which leads to 5. She quickly covers up that she's not happy, because women must always be pleasant. I know, I know. It's just an advert. But it's stuff like this that perpetuates sexism/ gender discriminatio...