This Week in Thrifting

I don't think I've shared this here yet - I finished my thesis draft! Yes, last Wednesday evening!

I awoke Bruce to celebrate around 11pm - headed to Freddie's Flowers for ice cream and came home to enjoy a beer. Worst tummy ache ever (which I incidentally repeated this past Wednesday with wing night at Christie's followed by ice cream and 5 Minute Chocolate Cake - huh? not so smart us MA students?). We celebrated the next morning with a breakfast at The Shine. It was yummy (though not as good as usual, didn't there used to be fruit on the side? this makes a plate look SO much nicer!) and really being across the street, and in sight of our bedroom window, it was a perfect place for a celebratory breakfast.

I haven't been so ecstatic about this milestone since I know there is still lots of work to do - I have submitted my draft. My supervisor is reviewing it (every day longer he has it, I get more nervous and I wonder "Just how bad is it that he has needed a week and a half to read 180 pages?"). I'll do revisions on that draft and produce draft 2 and then once he approves the next draft it goes to my other committee member. Then once my committee member approves it I need to wait 20 business days to defend it. While I wait I prepare a 20 minute presentation and prepare to defend my work. Then after the approx. 2 hour defense is over I may still have to do several revisions and fill out reams of paper work and print several 1,000 pages (!?!) to submit the thesis and graduation papers. There is still much to be done so I haven't breathed my BIG sigh of relief yet. In any case, I am closer. I have something to work with - this is what everyone keeps telling me.

In the meantime I'm enjoying a bit more freedom in my daily routine and a little less guilt too.

And with that, I had a bit of unadulterated fun at the thrift shops this week - I didn't go too crazy, though I found a few fun things.

You can see all the details on Flickr of course. Some favourites include the items I picked up at yesterday's MS Garage Sale which our team, Daphne's Dashers, participated in.

* Joan Osborne, Righteous Love (she's performing at Vancouver Island Music Fest this summer!)
* Carol Shields - Stone Diaries (hands down one of my favourite books ever!)

The rest of the goodies were from Friday's quick trip to the Oak Bay United Church Thrift shop - fun indeed!

And these goodies were from earlier in the week - I went a bit crazy at WIN (clothing), St Aidan's (stuff) & Sally Ann (more stuff??).

In other fun stuff Bruce has not found his bike : ( however he has found one through a guy he is taking his Permaculture Design Course with a very happy new acquisition. Now I just need to get myself a nice road bike/commuter and we'll be bike set again!

I had fun at yesterday's MS Garage Sale - I had the most fun making & packaging the items for our bake sale.

Here are my favourites:

Homemade pizza (rebar focaccia bread recipe crust) for $1.50 each - they sold within an hour or so. Flavours included: sun dried tomato & mozzarella, blue cheese, pear & pecan and kale & olive.

Choco-coconut Nests - $0.25 each. Made with Martha Stewart's Coconut-Chocolate Patties pressed into mini-mini tart tins, placed in an egg carton and a lil' egg ; ).

Our team made twice as much as we did last year at the sale and raised $250 - I am very proud of us! Next year I think a giant bake sale table with pizza and samosas would be an awesome hit - the sugar gets to you after a few hours so something savory is so nice to enjoy - way better than hot dogs!

Well back to Sunday relaxing - enjoy yours!

a little dreaming

I'm plugging along.

Some days it feels like this masters thesis will indeed win and kill me! Other days the end feels so close I can taste its tinny blood!

So that's that. It is a struggle and there will be a celebration, eventually.

- - - -

In the meantime when I need a break I am still going through all of my magazines and pulling out inspiration pages. It seems like an endless job and everywhere I turn in the apartment I have a half reviewed magazine sitting, waiting for me to finish with it, or a basket full of more to be gone through. Like I said, it seems like an endless job which I am hoping I will finish before the end of the month so I can sell the whack of magazines at our annual MS Garage Sale. It will feel so good to have some space back and it has been nice to re-arrange the book shelves to put other things where these piles of magazines used to be.

My file folders of inspiration for each room are near bursting out of my file rack and so I have been trying to find some of the images online as a way to preserve the magazines for others to enjoy and as a way to save some space in my file folders.

Really it would be simpler to just rip and tear and not worry, however that philosophy would not have taken me to the sites of several photographers to find some other inspiring interiors like these from Michael Graydon:

According to doorsixteen this was for Wish Magazine.

I just love the shards of colour played off against the white backdrop in both of these interiors! And those little boy beds, very reminiscent of this I'd say.

And why with all the tearing and ripping and inspiring? It is a far off, maybe, in the future kind of idea but we may move to a home that is wonderful in its own right and would need some splashes of our taste and some modifications to suit our lifestyle. I think it is even more fun to dream big with a specific project in mind and so while this may be a far off dream it is nice to be constantly inspired by it!

A little peek into my dream plans.