Break from studying.

For my Knitter's Treat Pal, this is what my Bakelite necklace looks like! I think it's pretty neat, and people have noticed it (and those are people who I've always thought were unobservant).















I consider these a "stress-related" purchse, but a CUTE one. I don't know if you can tell, but the bows are actually "measuring tapes" (not real ones). These are incredibly comfortable. Alas, I scuffed up the heel on the left one already. Oh well. It's okay. I can live. Then when I wear these out, I can buy myself another pair of adorable shoes.













This is a GREAT motivation to get done with finals (and still be alive). Temptation! This is all from my secret pal, who not only bought me a skein of Noro yarn (sigh) and included a pattern for some pretty cute slippers (how'd you know that I love slippers?), but also some yummy Peruvian wool (the thick red stuff), a cute little notebook and matching pen (the sheep! How cute is that???) And do you see those Scharfen Berger chocolate bars? I am totally eating those during finals week (as I weep in a corner, wondering how come I can't remember things like, say...ANOVAs. Oh, and the books? That's totally motivation for "after finals." I will be reading those as soon as I am done taking tests (and grading my own exams...all 50 of them).













This is also something that people probably don't know I can do. Since we own a florist, I also have learned how to make corsages and boutonnieres for prom. So that's what I did on Friday. Very exciting. But I am pleased with some of the ones I made, although I probably wouldnt' have chosen the colors the girl did for the above pictured corsage. But hey, the customer's always right, I guess. At least the matching boutonniere is pretty nice, I think.












As far as the high school musical...can I just say...I am completely blown away! I've never seen Les Miserables, but I have to say--that's got to be a tough one for high schoolers to do, and they did it! I couldn't believe it. I didn't realize that the ENTIRE play is sung. Some of these kids are absolutely amazing. (The girl who played the grown-up cosette is going to major in voice in college) And even the one kid who was so-so at singing was a great actor, so he was able to pull off the so-so singing. Wow. I am so completely blown away by the whole production. It was hard for me to believe that these kids are only maybe 13-19 years old...and doing a very professional production, orchestra, stage crew, set design, etc., included. I can't wait to see what they do next year. I would totally love it if they do Wicked in the future.

And for a clip from the play (not the best sound quality, but here are the kids)

(The girl with the blue skirt is Cosette; first guy is Jean Valjean, the guy Cosette sings with is Marius..the guy in the red shirt is Enjolras)


(and yes, he leaped off the scaffolding on the stage).



All right. Now I do have to study.