30 x 30 Wrap-Up

Work Things
1. Find a Time Management System that Works
This is a constant struggle but the Pomodoro Technique, paired with a weekly priorities list, and a dry erase board listing the current status (urgent, backburner, waiting on a collaborator) and next step for each project are currently working for me pretty well.  I still constantly underestimate how much time everything will take me, but I'm getting better.

2. Five Publications 
I have only had two papers actually come out, one on paraoxonase in the Journal of Lipids  my dissertation work in Human Genetics but I have three more in press which will be out sometime in the next few months (hopefully) depending on the publishers' timelines.

3. Three Grant Applications
I've applied for more three applications and most importantly had one funded by Wenner-Gren.  I'll be ramping that research project up soon and I can't wait!  

4. Keep up with New Statistical Applications
This is a sisyphean task as there are always new methods coming out.  I did attend a great course taught at Cold Spring Harbor Lab in August which gave me all sorts of new references to work from.

5. Improve my R and Linux Programming

A friend of mine started an R programming group in San Antonio which has been great for learning new applications and meeting other nerds.

Fun Things
6. Go on a picnic
Not yet.  This whole fun things sectionis going to be ugly.  Evidently, I need to have more fun.

7. Go camping
Nope.

8. Go to a local festival
Turns out I don't like crowds.

9. Go to the beach
Yes!  In Malibu and Venice.

10. Go to a professional sporting event
Uh-uh. But I'm hoping for a San Antonio Silver Stars game this summer.

11. Participate in alumni association events
I cheered on the Jayhawks at a March Madness watch party.  Turns out the motivation I needed to finally get out of the house was getting rid of cable.

12. Use the library
I haven't actually checked out any books yet, but I've started looking forward to my commute thanks to their audiobooks.

13. Visit the zoo and botanical garden
Neither.

14. Watch classic movies

This one I've done a lot and, in agreement with every list ever, Casablanca was my favorite.

Crafty Things
15. Crochet a throw
Decided to be a bit less ambitious and crochet a pillow instead.  I'm really starting to get why people enjoy crocheting, though and may try a throw eventually.

16. Sew 6 garments for myself 
I did make two new items from scratch - my Easter dress and a mod pink pencil skirt I haven't posted yet - but I am even more excited to be upcycling new outfits from old clothes - teal pants and black cardigan with crepe ruffle, navy skirt and grey striped button down, and summer t-shirt dress (I'll be posting soon).  It's better for the environment AND my wallet.

17. Knit a sweater (Vignette Cardigan)
I knit one and I've cast on three others, because starting is the most fun part of a project!  

18. Knit a pair of socks
This was my first pair of socks with sock yarn and they are so decadent.  There is something really luxurious about hand knit socks.

19. Own no yarn that moved from PA
I'm counting those three cast-ons as using the yarn, so this is pretty much true.  All of my yarn now fits in the four wire baskets I have allocated for it, and I'm determined to keep it that way!

20. Put all photos in scrapbooks
Done, done, done!   

21. Learn to take better photographs
I really regret that I didn't put more time into this and I think I'll carry it over into the new year.  I do wish I took better photos, but I know it will take work.

22. Learn to draw
I started working on this and then realized that it really isn't that important to me right now.  

Yummy Things

23. Bake through Bread Baker’s Apprentice
I've learned to vary hydration levels (stiff dough for bagels and wet, sticky dough for focaccia), make lean pain de campagne and extremely rich casatiello, and leavened bread with direct fermentation (cranberry-walnut bread), instant yeast (stollen), and sourdough (pumpernickel).  My favorite development, though, is the sourdough pizza dough that has replaced my normal Friday dough.

24. Make brunch once a month
I love breakfast food.  This year we had apple-sour cream pancakes, Dutch baby, Southwestern omelet with extra crispy hash browns, waffles, spicy chicken biscuit sandwiches, peach and sausage kolaches, Moroccan merguez ragout with poached eggs, and migas.  

25. Try out six new canning recipes
Before summer rolls around, I'm using up my last stores of ginger pear butter, tomato jam, serrano jelly, ice-brined garlic dill pickles, peach butter, and - my favorite and already gone - chocolate balsamic strawberry jam.

26. Cook with a new ingredient each month
I tried out kala jeera, forbidden rice, pork belly, cocoa nibs, crab, caperberries, chia, and harissa, but I spotted three new fruits I'd never seen at the store today.

Strong Things
27. Run a half-marathon
I did it! I'm I ready to train for next year.

28. Compete in a 1 mile swim race
I missed the actual race (I was at my statistics course), but I've been swimming a mile most Sunday mornings.  

29. Complete two triathlons 
This year I completed the Spa Girl triathlon and Wurst Tri Ever.  Both had particularly fun swimming elements.  The Spa Girl was held at a resort and we swam the quarter-mile in the lazy river and the Wurst Tri Ever we road a water slide that dropped us into a spring-fed pond.

Last Thing
30. Purge things we don’t need from each room of the house
This has been so satisfying!  It is an ongoing project, and I think I may double back and purge more.

Sock it to Me!

I call these my sea monster socks.  The pattern, Scylla by Fiona Lucas, is based on offset slipped stitches and wraps to create a sort of box pattern with a lot of dimension.  The pattern fit well pretty much straight-away, although with my long feet, there wasn't much left for the leg portion.  You can s

I bought this yarn in Portland, Oregon during the AAPA meetings in April of 2011. The colors are gorgeous and the yarn was pretty springy, but I think for my second pair of socks, I'll use something with some synthetic stretch built in.  I may start wearing socks with sandals just to show them off.

February in Instagram

Koi in the pond at the Japanese Tea Garden

Two of my favorite women in the whole world!

After two failed attempts to get a sourdough starter going in the summer (it got moldy), I spent a week getting it going and making pumpernickel.  It was good.  Not worth six months of effort. 

Magnets made from clear Christmas ornaments and sea glass from Rhode Island and Long Island.

Gave a talk on skin color and health at AAAS meeting - I love Boston!

A few extra days with friends and their adorable kids in Boston.

I finally got my library card so that I can spend my commutes listening to audiobooks instead of just hating my fellow drivers.  

Knitting and watching Jayhawk basketball are two of my favorite pastimes.

Hooray for friends visiting!!!

I own way too many spices and I don't even know how to use the more exotic ones.  I put some kala jeera and star anise in this Lagman Uzbek with chickpeas in place of lamb.

It's Ladies' Night!

Actually, it was ladies' weekend this past weekend thanks to a last minute cheap flight and the gorgeous and a need for South Texas margaritas. The weather has been in the upper 70s so we spent most of our weekend outside - farmer's market, Riverwalk, and of course Mexican food!

I've been wanting to try one of these BYOB painting classes and so I was really excited when Veronica suggested one.  Our class did "Starry Night over the Alamo" which was a bit of a challenge but lots of fun.

I'm really happy with how mine came out and now I have a bug to paint some more.  Now with my confidence up, maybe I can go it alone.

Sunday was particularly relaxing with brunch, a trip to the Japanese gardens, and DIY manicures before the Super Bowl!  I love these girls!

Sweet and Simple Felt Mobile

Since my days of gluing paper doilies to construction paper hearts, Valentine's Day has always struck me as the most handmade of the holidays.  There is just something so sweet about a lopsided heart made of simple supplies.  Last year I made a knit Valentine's Day wreath, and this year I wanted to bring the love indoors.  Using some cheap craft felt, I cut out hearts in two sizes.  Some I layered and some I left plain to create a total of 32 hearts which I strung up on transparent thread.  The base of the mobile is actually a macrame hoop (although I didn't know that when I stumbled across it at the craft store).  I actually bought this for another project, but it makes a great base for a mobile.  An embroidery hoop would also work well. The biggest challenge was figuring out how to hang it.  That was solved by using loops of yarn to attach the hoop to the screws that hold the light cover in place.  This would be a fun project with kids and you could go upscale with gorgeous wool felt or really old school with paper, doilies, and glitter.  Definitely use glitter.

Weening off of Christmas

Once the presents are unwrapped and dinner is eaten, someone in my family always comments, "Nothing is over like Christmas."  And it's true.  Soon, we must put away the Christmas tree, the lights, and all the other decorations for 11 months, but there is no reason you have to deprive yourself entirely.  Once my sparkly ornament wreath came down, my door looked a bit sad.  A quick trip to the craft store for a cheap grapevine wreath and clearance white poinsettias, plus a quick spray with some silver spray paint I had sitting around, and I had the perfect winter wreath for bringing some shine to gray skies.

O, Christmas Tree!

The tree is up (even though the air conditioning was on while decorating it) and that means the Christmas season is really here!  I changed a few things from last year.  The yarn pompom garland was cute, but sort of overwhelmed the small tree, so it is now a part of our birthday decorations.

I do love the look of garland so I made this simple star and sequin garland from the Creature Comforts blog.  For the clay, I used Crayola Model Magic which costs $3 and is extremely light weight.  Add 97 cents of sequins and you are all set.

I've been wanting a new tree-topper for a few years.  The felt angel tied to the top of the tree looked more like she was being held captive than a festive decoration.  I'm not usually one for sparkle, but this time of year?  The more the better!

This is a craft project with a huge payoff.  I love the way that it looks, but it is made with just some poster board and the template from Martha Stewart.  Rather than attach it to dowel rod, I cut away part of the back star and inserted a tube of rolled paper.  A coat of gold paint and a thick layer of chunky gold glitter and I've got a new topper that I love!  Are you crafting any new holiday decor this year?

Easy-Peasy Halloweeny

Did you're October zip by so fast you haven't even bought a single piece of fun-sized candy, yet?  Thankfully, this project is so quick and easy that you could finish it before the trick-or-treaters arrive (or buy the supplies the weekend after Halloween and save them for next year)!  If you have little ones, this is a great way to get them involved in the crafting process.  The ornaments on the wreath are made of balsa wood and run about 50 cents at Joann fabrics where you can also pick up an inexpensive black wreath and a roll of orange ribbon.  I used acrylic paint (and googly eyes!) for my ornaments but they would be great to let kids color in with markers.  Once the paint was dry, I just hot-glued them to the wreath and added tied a bow based on the tutorial I found here.  I love how it came out - sweet, not scary - continuing my Halloween decorating theme.

Happy Halloween!

Christmas in July: Gifts for Him

I'm calling this my "Gifts for Him" post, but just like my "Gifts for Her" and "Knit Gifts" posts, these can be adapted to just about any recipient.  I hate to generalize, but I frequently find men harder to craft for.  One option that I frequently rely on is taking something utilitarian and customizing it for the recipient.  I love monograms and the bespoke air they lend to just about any object.  There are a few ways that you can add a monogram.  For larger monograms, I like to do applique.  This is chef's apron I made for my dad last year using this pattern - I think the checks do a nice job of hiding stains.  Then I added a fabric "Q" and stitched tightly around the edges to keep it from fraying.  Personal and useful!.  

Embroidery is a classic.  Last Christmas, I sewed my very fashionable brother a handmade tie out of Kona cotton with a monochromatic Q on it.  This can also be done quite easily on a purchased tie, handkerchiefs, or any number of other things.  As favors for a bridal breakfast I threw for my friend Sarah, I stitched these handkerchiefs for each woman in attendance.  It's so much classier than a wad of Kleenex for dabbing your eyes.

A somewhat more unusual method is glass etching.  Etching paste can be found at any craft store and used to customize inexpensive tumblers. I used contact paper to create a stencil of Geoff's monogram and just applied the paste according to the directions on the bottle. The monograms for this or any project are easy to design using any word processing program or by searching for free fonts online.  I hope these ideas inspire you and stay tuned next week for Gifts for Kids.

Christmas in July: Knit Gifts

Alternate Post Title: Shameful Gift Admissions.  Winter accessories are a popular Christmas gift, but hand knits are a bit more luxurious and a lot more full of love.  However, knitting generally does not fall into  the last minute gift category - a fact I repeatedly forget.  Take, for example, these gloves that I wanted to give to my Grandma the Christmas before last, but I didn't finish until nearly Halloween.  

Luckily, my Grandma is a very patient women.  This Ringwood pattern from Knitty is perfect for gifting because the stitch pattern is extremely stretchy.  I knit the smallest size for my grandma because she has small hands, but long fingers.  The stitch stretched so much that they fit my big ol' hands, too!  These were knit in some gorgeous alpaca yarn that I picked up from a farm in upstate New York the morning of the wedding of some dear friends.  I'd been waiting for a special project to use it and this was it!

You think 10 months is a long wait?  I finally gave this scarf to my brother 3 years after I started it (and made the mistake of telling him about it!).  This Binary scarf spells out his initials in case he looses it around other nerds.  The scarf is knit in the round, which means that there is no "wrong" side.  However, it also means that you are basically knitting two scarves - so start now!

Okay, have I scared you yet?  Don't worry, there are plenty of knit gifts you can knock out in just a few nights.  This R2D2 hat is a great gift for any Star Wars lover in your life.  I finished this in a few nights while watching TV.  Hat patterns are abundant and can be customized to any recipient., so they make great gifts.  The mushroom hat up above was my first-ever knit hat and Kevin still wears it (at least when I'm around).

And finally, a pattern for those times when you need a gift right now.  Just knit a rectangle of garter stitch and wrap around a sachet of lavender and cedar.  Add a felt head and legs to make a sheep to keep your wool safe from moths!  Happy knitting!

Previous editions of Christmas in July can be found here and here.

p.s. If you want more details about my knitting habits, let's be friends on Ravelry!

Christmas in July: Gifts for Her

Wow.  Week Two of my series (Week One is Here) and I"m already running behind.  Don't be like me, get your Christmas crafting done early!  Today I have two quick projects, perfect for the women in your life.  I loved both of them so much that I made extras for myself as well!  The first is this bird's nest necklace that I made following these instructions from Sarah Ortega (who also sells them in Etsy shop if you don't want to make your own).  The trickiest part of making these is finding the right beads.  I had my heart set on robin's egg blue, and I think these come pretty close, but I'd love to find some beads that look like natural eggs.  Once you have the beads, wire, and chain, it's just a matter of bending the wire until it looks right to you.  I made two necklaces and a pin in under an hour last Christmas and I get compliments on my necklace all the time.


The second gift this week was driven by my own needs.  I'm pretty good about taking reusable bags with me to the grocery store but I frequently find myself out running errands without them.  This tote from Sew, Mama, Sew measures about 12"x12" but zips up into a handy package about 3 1/2" square and about 1 inch thick.  It's plenty small to stay in my purse until I need it.  The cashiers at the sewing store are always particularly impressed.  I used quilting cotton which is great option since it comes in any possible pattern and you can customize it for each recipient - favorite sports team, cartoon characters, anything.  I couldn't find it in my local stores, but if you are looking for an even thinner and lighter-weight version, you could try and find rip-stop nylon.  Who says practical gifts have to be ugly? 

Christmas in July: State String Art

I love giving handmade gifts around the Holidays, but too often I don't start making them until December and gifts end up getting put off until a year (or two) later.  If you find yourself falling into this pattern as well, I'd like to help.  Every Sunday in July, I'll be sharing some homemade gifts that you could make now and stockpile for December.  This project was entirely inspired by the string art done by Curiously Wrought on Etsy who isn’t currently taking orders.  I decided to make my own as a wedding gift for a couple getting married in Texas and used the colors of the state flag.  This could be customized with any state and colors, perhaps someone’s school colors or just something to match their décor. 

To make this string art, you need a shadow box (mine is 8" square), a piece of foam core cut to fit the shadow box, cardstock in two or three colors, metallic silver embroidery thread, and a box of sequin pins (in the sewing department).  First, cut out an outline of the state (just use google to find a picture) and a heart at least 3/4" in height.  Glue the outline and heart onto the foam core positioning the heart on the person’s home city, college town, or the state capitol.  The next part is going to hurt your fingers, so put on a thimble if you have one.  Outline the heart in pins, placing them as close together as you can, without the heads touching (you need to be able to fit the embroidery thread between them).  Then outline the state with more widely-spaced pins.  Tie a knot around one of the outer pins and then begin wrapping the thread around the pins, alternating between the inner and outer pins.  You’ll have to use the inner pins multiple times since there are many more outer pins.  The closer spacing of the heart pins and the wider spacing of the state pins will create the starburst pattern.  A personalized gift appropriate for almost anyone on your list and it is done in less than an hour.  What could be better?

Looking for a different project for the geography-lover in your life, I'd recommend a fabric-scrap map like I made for Geoff last Valentine's Day.

Everything's Ellipses

When I decided to add learning to draw to my 30x30 list, I should have anticipated that I would have to show you all my works in progress.  And those works are rough, so please be kind.  I'm using the Line by Line series from the New York Times blog a few years ago, and the first lesson was learning to draw ellipses using a quick and fluid movement.  I filled a page with uneven ellipses and thought about giving up.

But I wasn't about to let a flattened circle beat me.  I pressed on to lesson two, drawing cylindrical objects - glasses, markers, nail polish, and tubes of paint. They aren't all perfectly to scale, but the directions helped me to understand the influence of perspective on objects and I managed to draw a few, fairly recognizable things.

The third lesson is where things started to get more complicated where shadows started to come into play.  After a few attempts, I was able to mimic the shading that I saw in the example drawing.  The final challenge, however, was drawing a pitcher (at the top of the post) without an example sketch to copy.  I know I still have some room to grow, but I'm pretty pleased with my shading!  The drawings will only get more complicated from here, but I can only get better.