Lullaby - piano by Brahms

This has been the hardest song to date strangely enough! 

Cafe Vienna

Well.  I finished medical school (yay!), went on my first European vacation, bought my first car, rented my first house, and have graduated.  I am officially Dr. ... M.D.  And yes, I still feel like an imposter.  Orientation for work starts on Monday and while I am very excited and looking forward to actually DOING what I have wanted/trained to do for decades at this point (and kind of super excited about having my first check since my pennies working for Motherhood Maternity and my odd-jobs in telemarketing and flee-markets) I have this awful irrational thought that someone will look at me and say, "Hey, how did you get here?  Sorry there must have been some mix-up in the paperwork.  We did not want you.  You are clearly not qualified."  I can't say I am excited to be working 80+ weeks but there are so many other good things happening in life right now that I can't complain.  I have so much to be thankful and happy for right now.  Life is good.  

Blow The Man Down - Piano

Strangely enough, I love this song.  Especially since I watched a documentary on the whaling industry in the 1800's.  It reminds me of Moby Dick epic stories and the vast ocean.  :-)




Do What Brings You Joy


~G

Crocodile Stitch Scarf

This is a stitch that I had not known about until a couple of weeks ago when a nurse on my ENT (ear, nose, throat) rotation pulled a big beautiful yellow scarf project out of her purse.  She tells me this is none other than the crocodile stitch!  

Grocery Bag

Okay guys, I have to admit I am pretty excited about this one.  I think it looks pretty fantastic if I do say so myself. ^_^

Lavender's Blue - Piano, and Plans Plans Plans!

I'm not a fan of this song to be honest, but it is what came up and the pieces are definitely getting much more difficult now.  I can't fly through them like I could in the beginning.  I have been neglecting the violin now for quite a while since I felt like I was on a roll with the piano, but I think it is time to go back to my strings. ^_^




Oh, and did I tell you I'm done with medical school??? Why yes.... YES I AM!!!  :-D  Joy and rapture my friends. 

Piano - Alpine Melody and 1000 Views!

I'm getting better!



Also, it has recently come to my attention that I have passed 1000 views on this silly blog of mine.  Thanks to whoever it is that is reading this! :-)  I heart you!
Now lets make this a little more interactive.  Comment please!  ^_^

~G

~Do What Brings You Joy

Piano 3/14/11

First time playing the violin in almost 20 yrs. Ahh!

Violin 3/10/13

Little mini Beethoven piece. :-)

Violin 3/3/13

You may or may not know that I have taken up the violin again.  After about 9 or 10 years of not really taking it out of the case I suddenly came across the will and the time to love it.  :-)  

Of course that process involved me rehairing my bow since all the hairs had decided to explode in those 10 years (I can't blame them).  I debated whether or not I should hop right back to where I was when I left it but decided to essentially start straight back at square zero so that I would be wouldn't be accidentally picking up bad habits.  And really I am glad for the easy songs right now.  Also, my Suzuki books which are phenomenal really are only meant for those who have tutors helping them out and letting them know how things are supposed to sound etc... so that was not going to work.  I still don't have the money or time to shell out to one of those. 

 

Lavender Pyramid Pouches

I absolutely love details.  I actually get quite caught up in them sometimes.  It is an issue. :-P  But those details can also add a little extra layer of happiness in my day; and this is a great example of how I can go about doing that!  I open up my drawers every morning, but now when I open them up I get a whiff of lavender!  Ahhhhhh.  How lovely.   ^_^

Infinity Scarf

Lookey lookey lookey what I made! 

I have to say I'm pretty excited by this one, and it was so simple! Perfect for spring (even though today was Chicago's first big blizzard of the winter. :-P  )

Bath Towels

Hey peeps!



So let me tell you something.  For our wedding we received beautiful white face/hand towels.  About two months in I made a realization that white towels and men do not mix.  :-P  I love 'em you know but you just can't keep stuff clean. Love ya boo!  Now keep in mind that it has been almost 3 years now and we have yet to buy different towels.....Cause we are just cheap like that.

Newborn Bear Beanie and Diaper Cover

 

An old boss of mind recently got in touch with me.  As it turns out she is having a baby boy soon and was wondering if I could make her a little picture session outfit for her upcoming bundle of joy.  

Fabric Magnets

It is the little things that make me happy...like pretty magnets on the refrigerator. :-)  

We had accumulated a few over the last couple of years and thought it was time to make things a little more aesthetically pleasing to the ole eyeballs.  I happened to come by a tutorial for Fabric Magnets from Make it and Love it which had such a simple, easy, and fast solution.   

White Diamond Crocheted Blanket

 

Joy and rapture!  I FINALLY finished it!  It only took...a whole year.  This really was not a difficult pattern at all but it just took so much longer than I had originally expected (every row took approximately 1 hr and I put in a little over 80 rows).  I would have actually liked to make it bigger but I just wanted it to be over.  :-P  So now it is more the size of a small throw blanket (~ 30" by 52").  Most blankets I've noticed tend to have a more simple pattern and now I know why!   Anywho, I made this lovely from Our Best Baby Afghans .  I have made one other blanket from there and so far and have been super happy with the results.  The yarn I used was Bernat Baby Coordinates - White.  It is a thin #3 yarn which also explains why this took so long.  

Sewing Machine Basics

I know there are a lot of really excellent tutorials on youtube and the like regarding sewing machine mechanics.  However, a couple of friends asked me to make one so here it is.  :-)  Quite technically challenged since I was doing everything with one hand but rather fun anyway. 

Yellow Party Skirt and Violin Endeavors

Hey 'yall!

I've tried to make clothing in the past and it always turned up less than ideal.  AKA far too heinous to consider wearing outside where other eyes could see the monstrosity of a piece of cloth that I conjured up together.  I found this tutorial though from Creative spaces.

It looked easy enough and it didn't make you cut those awful circle skirt weird shapes which I have not yet managed to make work out.  A while back I had gone to Jo-Ann's Fabric on one of their 50% off the clearance section days and found this lovely linen type fabric that I thought might work for this.  I ended up being just a little short of what they asked for which is why I think that my skirt looks more "tubular" and less "wavy" but I'm still happy with the result.  I'm learning!  Yay!  Being short, I don't think I can pull off the high waisted shirts very well but we shall see.