Interview Went Well!

Yay Ken!

His interview went well! It was a group interview, meaning that he and a group of five other prospective students were all interviewed at the same time. The format of the meeting was that the applicants were given a prompter question and had to discuss within the group. Those of you who know Ken know that he can be shy, and I was concerned that he wouldn't get enough in to demonstrate his great ideas. Luckily, he says that he was able to make several good comments, and feels confident about how he came across. The program will mail him a letter in the next 3-4 weeks notifying him of his acceptance/denial. We have our fingers crossed!

In other news, I qualified for (and ordered) a new cell phone today. I'm excited about it, but Ken is in comparison, much more excited, as he has been using my hot pink razor phone off an on (aka between other cell phone murders) for over a year. He left his last phone outside during a rainstorm in the parking lot at work, and the phone before that he managed to somehow fling off the balcony at our 4th street apartment, resulting in its untimely death. Needless say, he will be much more happy (and manly) with my hand-me-down LG chocolate phone that is a nice reddish brown. We'll see how long he's able to keep this one alive. ;)

Yay Ken!

Yay!
After weeks of waiting. Ken got an interview for the UofO secondary education program. Apparently he had kind of given up hope because he knew that those selected for interview were called/emailed last week, and he hadn't received an invite. Today when I was at work the person in charge of scheduling the interviews called my phone. She was quite frustrated as she had emailed him several times (to his now defunct UofO address, and not the address on his application - no idea why) and had yet to hear back from him. Somehow she obtained my number (Emergency contact maybe? Again, we have no idea) to get ahold of him. I called him, he called her, and the interview was set for Friday.

Yay! Go Ken!

Valentines at the beach

Ken and I celebrated Valentine's Day today (Saturday) instead of Sunday because he has to work tomorrow. He gave me a beautiful orchid (hopefully I wont kill it) and chocolates, and he got sleeping pads for camping (I swear this is what he wanted). We went to lunch at Cornucopia, and then drove to the beach. I love tide pools far more than actual sandy beach, so off to Yachats we went. We spent the afternoon, and had a blast. Ken brought his camera only to realize upon arrival that his batteries were dead. Sad day. But I had mine, so we still have pictures.

New book!

Despite the horrible headache and actively-draining nasal discharge (gotta love sinus infections!) I dashed to Borders after work to pick up the glorious new book I've been obsessing over for weeks. My review? It's AWESOME! It's exactly the kind of sewing book I've been waiting for. It's all about dresses (which I wear about 85% of the time), it's all about how to take a basic pattern and adapt it to the awesome idea in your head. There are 25 projects in the book, and only two of them I dislike. Actually, dislike isn't the correct word, they just aren't my style. They would be totally cute on someone else. There's a military inspired dress with cargo pockets (not me at all), and this layered-illusion dress that really isn't me either. I like to layer for real not fake (seriously, I honestly don't remember the last time I wasn't wearing a cardigan or jacket). The other 23 patterns ROCK! I honestly can't decide what I want to do first. All in all, totally excited. The book recommends fitting a muslin before hacking into nice fabric, which is a good idea no matter what you're doing. I've cut out the pattern and pieces for the "Sheath" dress in muslin, and plan to sew it up tonight. Hopefully it wont have to be altered too much so I can get started on a project later this week!
Three cheers for great new project books.

New Dress

Well, I will probably wear it a lot more often like a jumper as in the pictures, but it's technically a dress. This is McCall's pattern 5388. I lengthened it for a dress, as it is originally a top pattern. I read reviews of the pattern online, and a lot of people recommend making the yoke less wide, but as this is the first time sewing this pattern, I didn't. Much to my disappointment, the reviewers were correct, and I should have made the yoke narrower, but it is still quite cute. I plan to make the dress again. I cut it out on Friday, and whipped it up today while my parents were watching the super-bowl. In total, it took about 4 hours to do including cutting. I'm not a fast sewer by any means, so this is a very quick dress. I bought the fabric nearly a year ago. It's a denim-look linen/cotton blend that was on sale for $6 a yard. It took about two yards to do, so I'm quite satisfied with my $12 dress. It's lightweight and will be a good spring piece. If I do it again (as I plan to) I will make the yoke narrower, and add pockets to the side seams. I made the bottom hem really wide, which I like and would definitely repeat. I hope to whip up a few more spring dresses to add to my wardrobe.
P.S. I'm still really excited for the new Sew U: Dresses book to come out! Tuesday baby!