Box Making, New Glasses, and Work, Work, Work!

The class last weekend at Hollander's was fantastic.  I made three boxes: clamshell, hinged, and flanged.  I'm hoping to take pictures today and post them.  I also got the instructions of how to make a flat-backed bound book to put in the clamshell box that I've been working on the past few weeks.  It's not perfect, but I'd say it's a pretty good attempt for a first try!  Next weekend I'll be at an advanced book repair class and then nothing again until February.  I would take more classes, but they are a bit pricey.  I'll just have to make a bunch of books and boxes in the mean time!


I also got new glasses.  They aren't that different in either look or prescription, but they're different enough for it to be fun!  No one noticed they were new, though, so that was a bit sad.


Other than that, nothing's really new.  I've been working, working, working.  Between classes and my two jobs, I'm fairly busy!  I got to help out with an outreach event regarding stroke in women at the Ann Arbor District Library this past week.  It was fun to do that kind of library work - I rarely get to interact with patrons anymore.  As a bonus, I picked up two books to read.  I'm usually rather picky about the books I choose, but this time I kind of randomly grabbed a couple off of the new book shelf:  Broken: A Novel by Daniel Clay and La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith.

On the class side of things, my team met with our contact at the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum this past week, which was great.  If you've never been to the museum, you should go.  It's too much fun.  They have this set of stairs that plays a major scale as you walk up and down.  Like I said, too fun!

I've been working on a case study for my management class involving strategic and operational planning and I've kept chugging along on my grant.  Oh, the life of a student!

If you're not busy on Feb. 19th, you should come to East Hall Auditorium at 7pm for the SI Revue!  I'm singing, accompanied by the wonderful Richard Newman, a friend of mine from Hope College, and I'm accompanying Colleen Theisen and Elizabeth Everson.  Dr. Chuck is going to be the emcee.  Should be a fantastic night!

A New Semester!

I was absent from blog world over break, enjoying my vacation and seeing family.  I also learned a lot and read a few books.  All in all, a good break, but, as always, too short.

Books I read:
I'm kind of on a Madeline L'Engle kick.  Reread all of the Wrinkle in Time series last semester with the exception of An Acceptable Time, which I reread over break.  I also read L'Engle's first novel, The Small Rain.  This was the first time I had read anything other than the Chronos/Kairos/Austen series and it was quite enjoyable.  A bit slow-moving, but You really get involved in the main character's life.  Evidently A Live Coal in the Sea features the same character, but much older.  It's definitely on my list.

I also read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller.  A very good read, if you ask me.  Inspiring.  I need to read it again, but slower this time (it only took me three sittings, most of which were only an hour or two long).

Things I learned:
I had great ambitions of learning php over break, but that didn't happen.  It's still on the list, but I got a stomach bug while with family, so I spent most of my time just laying down and watching tv/movies or sleeping.

Instead, I learned how to make books!  Wendy of Windy Weather Bindery in Grand Rapids came and taught a class at my mom's condo for my mother and I and a few other ladies my mom knows.  We did the coptic binding.  I enjoyed it so much that I've been a bookmaking fiend since returning to Ann Arbor.  I went to Hollander's to pick up binder's board, PVA, methyl cellulose, beeswax... I already had some supplies from the class.  Since then, I've attempted two other bindings -- the "secret" belgian binding and the buttonhole binding (completely glueless!!).  I'm also signed up to take a few bookbinding and book repair classes at Hollander's.  I'm hoping to take photos of all of my books soon.

Speaking of photos, I got a flash for my camera!  A Nikon Speedlight sb-900 to be exact.  I'm still learning how to use it and how to bounce flash properly.  Hopefully my husband, Steve, will have some time to show me how to use it properly sometime -- he's a fantastic photographer (check out his Flickr!).

And of course, I'll be learning lots this semester in my classes.  I'm taking a grantwriting and fundraising class through the School of Social Work here at UM, management, and a research course entitled "Outcome-based Evaluation of Programs and Services."  And then it's graduation!

Should be a good semester!  I'll try to keep updates going!