Twist and Shout

Much baking, much applying, much HP audiobooks read by Stephen Fry, much organising of strands.

I finished up my circle scarf the other night, got all my wrapping done tonight, and then tried out the Orchid Grey heidi braids. I'm not too too sure about these on myself, but I love love love them on her. I'm a devoted follower of quite a few style blogs (mostly from the Delightful Dozen), and Julie at Orchid Grey has never been knocked off the plinth of favourite. Her hair is kinda like mine, and since she always wears it so well, I thought I might give one or two of her styles a try. Not to sure if I have the gumption to wear these out of the house yet (yet all over the internet is ok? Be reasonable.), but they're fun to try nonetheless.


A little too Alpen? A little too frauline? Or good to go for a season of big scarves and thus long hair up?

I've got lots of Christmas parties this week, and I can't wait for them to begin! Don't you just love the season? Definitely my favourite time of year.

Happy Holidays,

Your friend Lina

Christmas Projects

Also known as: I'm scared of grad school applications

Home for the holidays and knitting up a storm. And by that I mean I want a knitted circle scarf, but as we don't ask for presents in this household (always more fun than getting what you've demanded of your relations beforehand) and I have no monies, knitting at a mild pace while watching old Amstell Never Mind the Buzzcocks. I'm a bum and just chilling at home catching up on some much needed sleeping-in, doing some Christmas baking, and seeing old neighbourhood friends, so this adds to the cozyness of the season and the month off from McGill.

Speaking of which, I'm also in the process of grad school applications and I'm terrified of everything. This is SUCH a big decision, and even though I'm sure I know what I want to do, it's scary to envision grad school as the next step in what will ostensibly be known as my life. I'm going for a more practical, less academic sort of degree, so it's odd to think of it as job training. I never thought of university in that way; my Dad was sure to teach us while we were young that college is for job training, university is for exploring. I've held that true to myself during my degree, but the prospect of being a wage-earner rather than tuition-spender is creeping up on me.

Then comes the decision where to go. There are about four schools in Canada and the same number in England that I am considering. The two that I'm most interested in are in Ottawa and my other home town of Bristol. If I could go to either of those (all the scholarships please!) WHAT a freaking decision that will be. Do I start to properly build my life in Canada or England? I honestly could go either way, if money weren't a factor. I'm going to apply for lots of CAD and GBP, so hopefully that won't have to figure into my decision because I would love to be blessed enough to never have to ask What If? or have any regrets fueled by budget.

All this being if I get in at all.

That's even scarier.

Nonetheless Happy Holidays à tous! I'm off to make date pinwheels at my mother's request!

Love,

Your friend Lina

PS: I got a MacBook for my birthday (and Christmas, and Easter, and Graduation, and Wedding. . . ) so not only do you get to see my soon-to-be scarf, but you get to see it glowing as well!