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It is so freakin’ cold out there! I just got back from a walk with Mocca and my cheeks are frozen stiff. This is not what winter in Belgium is! Hasn’t been for the past five years. And the one year I decide I don’t need to bring my thick winter coat with me? Yep, I need it. At least I can borrow my mom’s other coat. And I’ve just given Jaz the only scarf I have with me. So hopefully Oliver will be able to bring me my coat and a scarf when we meet up in London next week. Hmm, I wonder if he can fit my boots in as well… Anyway, during the past few mornings I’ve taken Mocca out for a walk when my mom hasn’t had the time to take her to the park. And since it’s so cold over here (and it’s going to stay at just a little below freezing for the next week) everything has this layer of frost on it. We have no snow, just a lot of frost. And this frost has crystallized onto the spiderwebs. I finally remembered to take my camera with me on the walk, so now I’ve got a few pictures which I’ll put up when I get my laptop back from Jade (she’s playing Sims2 on it).

The plan for the rest of today? Shopping. Yes, I know I said I am done with all of my presents. And I am. I’m not buying anything (except some 5mm dpns if we’ve got the time to stop by the yarn shop in the mall but those are for me so they don’t count). Everyone else still needs to go buy stuff though. And they want me with them. So yay, lots of crowds to annoy me! o/

Did some cleaning yesterday. I was delegated the task of doing all of the bathrooms, vacuuming the downstairs and washing the extractor fan thing in the kitchen. What I don’t quite understand is why people get so stressed out about Christmas, the whole cooking and cleaning and shopping shebang, and then come up with tasks like cleaning the extractor fan when there are other things like simply tidying up that should be done instead? I mean, seriously. Okay, the fan needs cleaning, but why not do that in November or January instead of a few days before Christmas? Or make it a bi-annual thing and do it every spring and autumn? All of these little things wouldn’t be so stressful if there was some planning involved.

I went through some of my old things yesterday and gave away stuff I didn’t want anymore. And some stuff that I was reluctant to part with but the takers really really really wanted them. Basically I gave away old nail polishes, make-up and jewelry. Today, I’m going through my hair things and giving the extras away as well. And after that? Well, I do have three boxes of stuff in my room that I need to go through before I can move on to the ones in the basement. This moving out business is actually kinda fun. I can get rid of junk I really don’t need anymore. Like papers that I’ve been hanging onto for several years because they might have helped Jaz with her school work while she was still in high school. But now that she’s moved on to uni, and therefore we don’t have the same the teachers anymore, I can throw it away! I like being clutter-free. And I’ve made myself stop buying stuff as well. Like two days ago I was at the store with my mom. We were in the beauty section because we needed to pick up another box of hair dye for Jaz (her hair btw looks awesome). I saw a moisturizer that I would’ve liked to have, but then I remembered that I’ve got loads of bottles of that stuff both back in Aber and in my room, so I need to use those up first before I buy anything new.

The water over here tastes kinda funny. Even though we cook with bottled water, and use that in the kettle as well, it still leaves this odd taste. And the bottle of the kettle is filled with white stuff (lime?) so that gets into the bottom of the mug as well. :(

I am so tired. I am being woken up by the dog earlier and earlier every single day. This morning, it was at 7:45. Interrupted a very nice dream too. Kinda weird, but nice. My conclusion from my dream? I’ve been watching Desperate Housewives too much. Mainly because in the dream, I was sorta dating Mike Delfino. Not the actor James Denton, but the character Mike Delfino. So yeah, too much DH. Although, he is kinda hot for a guy who’s twice my age… XD

I’m cold. My eyes water. I keep getting chills. My nose is kinda runny. Fun stuff. Especially since I’m supposed to travel for about nine hours tomorrow. Augh, my head in pounding. And earlier I was nauseous. Why did I have to get sick just before my vacation? I mean, seriously.

I’m all packed (with the exception of my laptop and lunch, since I won’t make that until tomorrow anyway). Cleaned up my room a bit too. My suitcase is ridiculously heavy. I blame the Christmas presents I’ve got stashed in there. And the DVDs I need to return to Jaz. Oh, I might get to meet Oliver tomorrow while I’m in London. He went to visit his sister tonight and if they don’t have any plans, he’ll come see me at the station for a few hours before I go through the Eurostar check-in. I need help with my bags. *sniffle* Why can’t I ever travel light?

I’ve started Tempting using Caron’s Simply Soft in Autumn Red. I had the yarn in my stash so I figured why not. It’s going pretty quickly actually. Started it last night, after I had finished my Bellatrixes, and I’ve already got like five inches done. If I can keep this up, I might even *gasp* have it done before Christmas! That’d be cool.

I want to be warm. Layering is not helping. I’m currently wearing my top and pyjama bottoms, a robe, wool socks (made by moi), sweats and a fleece zip-up thing. Still getting chills. Maybe I should go to bed, sleep it off hopefully.

As I was on my way to the grocery store this morning… And boy was it a beautiful morning! No clouds whatsoever, a nice pink hazy glow on the sea, little black dots of surfers waiting for good waves, no wind, just.. perfect. I need to wake up earlier to enjoy this more often. Anyway, I was going to the store and a little two year old blond boy with big blue eyes was coming towards me, holding his father’s hand as they slowly walked behind the mother pushing a stroller. The boy looked up at me, grinned and said: “Pwitty!” That just made my day. I guess all it takes is a smile and kids think you’re pretty. :D

I also got some prescriptions refilled and knit more of my sock while waiting to see the nurse. Even though my appointment was at 10:15, I knew they’d be running late as usual so I brought my knitting with me. It’s still the Bellatrix sock, but I should have that done by tonight, not much left of the foot before starting the toe. One of the women I sat next to in the waiting room just blurted out: “It’s so nice to see someone knitting again. You don’t see a lot of that anymore…” All of the others in the waiting room just kinda looked oddly at me. Not too sure if it was the sock or the skirt I’m wearing (it’s very colorful).

The portfolio is done. Did the final editing last night. I don’t know should I print it off today before dancing (which would mean more climbing up the hill to get to the right building) or wait until tomorrow when I’ll be picking up my reference letter from one of my tutors… Either way, it’ll be handed in before the 2pm deadline.

Okay, just a quickie since I really really really want to listen to the latest L&V podcast and knit.

Saturday was tiring, as was to be expected. Alan and I danced six dances: Beginner’s Waltz, Quickstep, Cha, Jive, Rumba and then the Open Rock’N’Roll. We were also the D team Quickstep. Amazingly enough, we got to the quarter finals of the Quickstep and Jive!! Who knows how, since our first round of Quickstep was just awful. Awful awful awful. And I’m not exagerrating. He tried to lock step when I thought we were doing just a basic, then vice versa and our “quick quick” timing wasn’t the same but somehow we managed to do the “slow, slow” parts together… Odd. And the Jive? Well, after about 20 seconds of dancing that, my legs got so tired that I couldn’t lift up my feet properly anymore. So maybe the judge saw us at the beginning of our “routine” (basically, we didn’t have one; just muttered what we were going to do next to each other)?

The time I spent in Sheffield was as usual. As in, I love being with Oliver and we have fun doing stuff together, but we don’t actually get to see each other that much since he’s at work all day. Although, during the day time I did have time to finish off my portfolio, finish Anji’s Fetchings, watch ANTM reruns (and do all the editing and setting them to transcode) and finally start socks again! Gotta say, I am in madmadmad love with socks. The ones on my needles right now are the Bellatrix socks (can’t remember exactly where online I got them from) in the variegated white/pink/purple/blue/gold/and more! Regia 4-ply. They are just so relaxing to knit. And fun! Especially after huge projects like a top and a shawl. No, the shawl isn’t done yet, and my Isabella still needs to have one seam sewn up, but at least I’m knitting socks again. I’ve already got one done and immediately cast on the next one. No SSS for me! (That’s Second Sock Syndrome, not the Spring Shawl Surprice which I will also refer to as SSS XD). Oh! And I got my lace yarn for the SSS. Lovely lovely lovely. I just held it and petted it and cuddled it for a bit before putting it away and finishing off the Fetchings. Yarn makes me happy. ^_^

Train ride back to Aber was uneventful. No seat (again) from Sheffield to Birmingham, but that’s okay since it’s only an hour. Then on the Aber train I knit some more while listening to Cast On. :) Can’t be bothered to go food shopping today, so I’ll just be creative with what I’ve got for tonight. I’ll probably start packing later today. I can’t decide which suitcase I’ll be using though: medium or large? Large, as the name suggests, has more space, but that would also make it heavier. I think I’ll try to go for the medium one…

I am done! o/ No, not with my second portfolio, you silly people. With my Isabella. Bound it off last night. Okay, so I still need to weave in the ends, block it and seam it together, but it’s done. Of course, since it’s a tank top, I can’t actually wear it until it gets a hell of a lot warmer (even in my room where I’ve got the radiator on full blast, I have to wear socks and a sweater when I usually just hang out in a T-shirt and sweats).

And I sort of am done with my portfolio. To get to the very minimum limit I need another 20 words. But I’m waiting for my tutor to send me the handout for next week’s seminar so I can include that into the portfolio as well. Oh, and I got my other portfolio back. A First!! I’ve never gotten a first from anything at Aber. Sure, in Montana it was pretty much straight As in Creative Writing because I’m brilliant that way, but over here, it’s always been a 2.1. A solid 2.1., never even attempting to stray over into the First category. It was this news that got me working on this portfolio again. I had kinda given up because I was so annoyed at it, but the Cute Teacher really really liked it, so that gave me the push to make this portfolio good too. Positive reinforcement works. ^_^

Still nervous about tomorrow. Not as nervous as I was earlier in the week, though. It’s kinda settled down into a low hum. Practiced for four hours yesterday and by the end of it, my feet were not happy. No clue how they’ll survive tomorrow when it’s a whole day of dancing in heels. Right now, we’re thinking of competing in six events: Beginners’ Waltz, Quickstep, Chacha, Jive and Rumba, and the open Rock’N’Roll. We haven’t actually practised the Rock’N’Roll together, so we might not do that one. Am still bringing a possible outfit for it though, just in case. The Rock’N’Roll is fun; I was dancing that with Luke (the guy who looks like Ron Weasley [not Rupert Grint, but the Ron I had in my head before the movies came out]). We also did some Rumba and Waltz. Gotta say, he’s gotten better since the first time we danced together. More confident and is able to sorta lead now. :)

What else… went to buy food stuff for tomorrow; the weather was just awful. Pouring down rain for a few minutes then stopping for a bit before continuing. Then coming back, as soon as I got to the Prom, it felt like there was a wall of wind pushing me backwards. Not fun, especially when the wind makes it hard to breathe. I don’t really mind rain in itself, I actually like it, but only when I’m indoors and can watch/listen to it. When I’m out in it and it’s not summer? Nuh uh. It makes my hair go all wonky too. Sorta curls up awkwardly and I can’t get it to stay down.

Finally did some handwashing. Kinda had to since I ran out of warm handknit socks to wear to bed. I had really strange dreams last night. I remember waking up twice; once around four and the other time around seven. Not too sure why or what I dreamed of, but I do remember being annoyed at being cold and thinking that that was an odd dream.

I kinda feel like watching Pearl Harbor or Titanic right now. No idea why. I guess I’m just in the mood for a really long love story movie. *shrugs*

I want to knit socks. But I also want to completely finish off Isabella. And finish the row I started on my shawl. And make some Twinkletoes for Jade… oh the choices. Hmm, I’ll probably wind up doing all of those at some point tonight.

I can tell that I’m about to get my period. During the last few hours I’ve been really happy (found some awesome Bailey’s ice cream!), very annoyed at Martin (I do not want to be cooked alive while showering, thankyouverymuch), kinda down and not in the mood to work on my second portfolio, had weird cravings for salt and then something sweet, feeling very bloated and then content again when I put on my Monkey socks that had been warmed up on the radiator. Gotta love hormones. o_O;;

Oh, and then there’s the teensy little panic about the competition on Saturday. I haven’t really been able to practice much with Alan; today’s session was cancelled and tomorrow we’ve only got about two hours out of four since he’s got lectures and stuff he can’t miss (I, on the other hand, have decided to skip that one rescheduled seminar). Then there’s another hour and a half on Friday evening, but that’s it. I have been trying to practice by myself, usually while cooking, but there isn’t a whole lot of space to do much, let alone Quickstep. And that’s one of the dances that I really need to work on with my timing. And I found out that we’re leaving at five a.m. on Saturday, not four like last time. Yay for an extra hour of sleep. ^_^

Kinda bored with the work they’re giving us at school. I’ve just kinda lost interest in it. I got one of my portfolios back today and I should be getting a solid 2.1 if all of my work is like that, but… I’m just not feeling the drive to strive for better writing right now. I want to do well, but what’s the point if I don’t really care about it? The same goes for my knitting. I’ve got two projects on the needles, one of them almost complete, but I kinda have to force myself to work on those. I want to knit a pair of socks, damnit. Not work on a top or shawl. But, gasp!, I don’t have enough yarn to complete a pair of socks and I’m not going to wear mismatched ones. I even tried going yarn shopping today to find more of the three different sock yarns that I have but the store over here either doesn’t carry the brand, the particular line or the colorway that I want. Grr. Did get some needles for the Spring Shawl Surprice (yes, it’s spelled like that, I did not make a typo) that I’m going to do next month. And on Sunday I finally get to fondle my lovely Lisa Souza Alpaca Lace yarn. And the new Knitty is up! Omg omg omg, I want to make practically everything in this issue. Like, seriously. In mad mad love with it. Especially the Jeanie shawl. Now I just need to finish up some projects before casting on something from this issue. Oooh, I might finally find a use for my Baby Alpaca DK yarn that I’ve got. See, this is why I knit. Even just thinking about it perks me up. *grin*

No no no! NO. That was my reaction when I heard that today’s class was cancelled. Why? Cancelled classes should be a good thing because it gives you free time, right? Well, it’s been rescheduled for Thursday afternoon. That’s when I’ve got dance practice! And with the competition on Saturday, I can’t afford to miss that practice especially since the stupid fencing people took the timeslot that we usually have on Wednesdays. So, I’m seriously thinking about skipping that class. I’ve only missed one so far, so it’s not like it’s the end of the world. And I’ll e-mail him the work because it is already done. Now I just need to convince Alan to skip his 3pm computer lecture thingy so we can practice for another hour…

I did get my first portfolio done yesterday. Now I could’ve left Friday morning to go to Sheffield. But there’s a practice session Friday night, which I am going to btw since we definitely need to practice, so now I’ve got to pay the £20 for the minibus fare instead of using up the other half of my train ticket. And travel winding country lanes at four in the morning. Bleh. I hope I don’t get nauseous like last time. We should be taking a different route though, so maybe there won’t be as many twists and turns…

Since I’ll be competing as well, I don’t know if I should bring my camcorder or not. I was going to tape Oliver dancing, but if I’m not with my equipment the whole time, I get paranoid that someone’ll steal it. I’m still bringing my camera though.

Eek, it’s so close! And I need to go buy food to eat on Saturday. Should I bring my pillow with me again?

I get to compete on Saturday!!!!

Okay, off to find clothes to dance in. *grin*

I have a bruise and a scratch the shape of a high heeled shoe’s heel on top of my right foot. Hurts. :( But those are the dangers of dancing. Need to get used to it. I bought some shoes on Friday to dance in. Pretty strappy black things with sparkly bits. Got them from Peacocks. They’re actually the exact same shoes as Sophie’s got. I wanted the gold heels they had, but those didn’t have a strap around the ankle and thus, they’d fly off my feet when I tried dancing. At today’s session, the first Sunday session I’ve ever been to, I practiced with Oliver. Apparently my timing is way way off. XD Can follow okay, but timing is just not something I can do. Only four of us showed up, none are competing next weekend. Well, Oliver is, but not with me. :P

I’m not too big of a fan of the whole buzzer/intercom thing we’ve got in our building. Let’s take last night/this morning for instance. It’s somewhere around 4:30-5:45 am and a really loud noise wakes us all up. It’s as if someone’s playing a very bad song with our buzzer. I did not appreciate waking up that way. Not at all.

It’s been ridiculously windy out here. Making my window whistle annoyingly. The sea has not stopped churning for the past three-four days. That’s being loud too. I mean, it’s nice watching it while drinking a nice cup of hot tea. It is not, however, nice to walk in it. Sort of felt like a wall of wind hitting me every so often as I was walking back from the train station after Oliver left.

I knit a few rows of my Isabella tonight. It’s going really really slowly. As is the Scrap Diamond Shawl I’m making. And I still need to make some Twinkletoes for Jade before I go home. I’d rather make socks, but she really wants some ballet slipper things. So that’s what she shall get.

I wish my room wouldn’t get so cold. I don’t like to have to be layered up all the time. Of course, it does give me a reason to wear the stuff I make, especially the socks, but it’s still not very pleasant.

It’s pretty likely that I won’t be competing at Manchester. I’m still going, but no competitive dancing for me. If I get my first portfolio done by Friday, which I’m pretty sure I will since I only need another 640 words to reach the minimum, I’ll be going up to Sheffield before Saturday and going there with Oliver. Not really into travelling on a cold minibus in the middle of the night for over four hours when I can take two comfy trains up north and then travel in a nice warm coach with Oliver for an hour on the day of the competition instead. Then there’s another portfolio due on the 14th. That’s almost half done. Unfortunately, the half that’s missing is the commentary. Always a pain to write. Plus I need to rework the creative piece a bit. Lengthen it, clear up confusing passages, slow down the action in part that went by too quickly.

Happy December to all! I finally get to wear my festive jewelry. ^_^ And with that, I’m off to bed. Hopefully knit a row or two before actually going to sleep.

Decided not to go to the earlier dance class. Felt really icky. But I am going to the next one this afternoon. Yay, more dancing! ^_^

And, since I felt bad about staying behind, I worked on my portfolio a bit more. Over 1200 words now! Just need to write two more pieces, about 300 words each, and their commentaries and then I am done. Then I get to knit to my heart’s content. No wait, I can’t. I have that other portfolio and an assignment to do. Will do the assignment now, since I won’t have the time to do it during the weekend. Oliver’s coming tomorrow! Squee!