touch me up

Stop it right now and get that dirty thought out of your mind!

I'm talking about my tattoo here.

So, what have I been doing besides writing med school application essays? And secret knitting? Why, I went and got my tribal moth tattoo touched up.
This time it went much better than the original fill in. Andrew was excited to see me; apparently I looked so bad after the fill in he was afraid I'd never come back for the touch up. I felt like having an Alicia Silverstone moment: As If! He also asked around to see how he could make it easier on me (isnt that sweet?) and said that this time he'd have me laying down instead of sitting up. I have selective memory (otherwise I would never go back and get more pain) and so I couldn't say right away whether it was easier but he could tell it was better for me. And in the end I could tell too. He decided to do a complete second coat rather than spot touch-ups since then it would look more even (like I said - perfectionist) and I was fine with that since I'd already paid for the tattoo, all the touch-ups are free (bonus of going to an awesome studio is that the artists guarantee their work - it may cost more up front, but in the end you save). When we were done he took some pictures - I'm going to be semi-famous! Well, ok, I'll be in his book. And maybe if I'm lucky on the studio's website.

So here I am laying down and looking not so bad.

Then he made me sit up to do the finishing touches on my shoulders. And all sorts of funny faces came out.


Both Andreas and Andrew had a good laugh at my faces.

















I'm glad its over, but of course I'm already planning my next one! Too bad I'm super poor from application fees..... Ah well. It can wait. I have this one to tide me over for a while (:{

Mr. Coronavirus

So while back I won a contest on Catherine's blog and my prize was a sock monkey and a crochet fan bookmark. She let me pick out the socks for my monkey by taking a picture of all her socks and then i picked one. I ended up picking one that looked like it was blue socks with polka dots on it, but when I actually saw the monkey in person there was a pleasant surprise. The "polka dots" look like coronaviruses!! Wheee! I was super excited about that so that's what I named him.





Observe here the circle with the little peg-like things on the outside.




















There are two more.
















Here is a textbook illustration of a coronavirus and a scanning electron microscope picture of actual coronavirus particles. See the similarity!??
Pretty sweet huh









And here are the pictures of the full size Mr. Coronavirus and the little crochet fan bookmark. The book mark is very pretty! I would also like to point out that this is the first stuffed animal I have received since I was roughly 10 years old. So when I got home I excitedly showed him to my roommates. Yay fun! Thanks Catherine!!

FO: Luna Moth Shawl

ok folks, here it finally is the finished shawl!
It was a wonderful pattern and it only took me a month. Super easy too. The pattern is very intuitive after awhile so its not too difficult for first-timers. The yarn is great as well, wearing it is super nice (though it is a little slippery on bare skin).
I tried for probably 30 minutes to get a good picture of the whole thing, but its just too big! So you'll have to make do with some detail pictures instead.

Here is a picture of me at the wedding from the back.



This is the front, me and my brother's girlfriend Olivia.

















Look, its so big it spans my full size bed!




Pretty details!


I must say, for my first giant lace project it came out very nice. Though the blocking was a beast. I hate blocking. Let us just not go into that......
The rest of the yarny and patterny details are up on Ravelry (username Grateblue2 just in case). (and if you are a knitter and havent heard, join Ravelry!) (details not repeated here b/c I'm a lazy bastard)

this day

I promise to post pictures of the finished shawl soon, but for today I wanted to post this instead.


I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone that today is the 6th anniversary of the attacks on the WTC in NYC and the Pentagon. Lets forget the politics of today and remember that many people perished. And pause, and be thankful that we are still alive and have the luxury to forget this horrible tragedy the other 364 days of the year.



On another sad note, Alex, the famous African grey parrot of Irene Pepperberg died last week (but it was just announced in the news today). This one parrot changed the perspective of the science of the mind over the last 30 years. Incredible. Cheers to you mate.

Also, Ebola has resurfaced again in DR Congo, so if you can, try to not travel there for awhile.

Weds Blog Challenge: Remembering

Well hello again! I've been on vacation in Illinois and Indiana, but I'm back now. I have lots of catching up to do, I know. The Luna Moth Shawl is done, and 2 other wip's are almost done. I'll post picts soon, I promise. Since I was on vaca I missed last week's blog challenge, but I thought it was a good one so I'm going to use it for this week.

The question is: What do you want to be remembered for?
Here's Amanda's answer for reference (:{

I think this is a toughie, and I agree w/ Amanda, a little morbid. But a good challenge, nonetheless.
My fear here is that I'll be remembered the way my family chooses to see me and not how I am as an adult here in Boston. Every time I go home I am painfully reminded of how they refuse to accept me as I am now, a happy, balanced, grounded adult ( I'm not just saying this b/c I think its true, I've been told this by many co-workers and my pre-med adviser who's known me for 7 yrs); instead my family chooses to see me as the way I was as a teenager, moody, quick tempered, book-smart but common sense dumb, a bad driver, in my own little dream world, etc. This is also why they refuse to call me by my birth name, Cassandra, and insist on calling me by their nick-name, Cassie. And also why it pains me so to hear people calling me Cassie, it reminds me of that person that I left behind in Orland Park 7 years ago. So my hope is that if I die, all of my Boston friends and colleagues will make sure that they remember me as the person they know me as, not as the person my family will insist I am. Please? (Also, while we are on the subject, I want to be cremated and my ashes thrown in the ocean. Or some other environmentally sustainable disposal)

Anyhow, on to the question.
Well, I would like to be remembered for being goofy, quirky, quick to laugh, a book/science nerd but also social and fun to have around. A person who sticks to her guns on the important stuff (like values), opinionated and not afraid to argue but also not afraid to grow and change positions with new information. A loyal friend. A lover of all good food, good wine, and good beer. A staunch environmentalist who deeply cares for our planet and its creatures. An artist and a knitter. A little bit of a dirty and demented mind, but not in a scary way. Willing to try just about anything once and game for adventure.
Fell free to completely quote that paragraph in my obituary (:{
I think that is about it??