I always start my blogs with the best intentions! I intend to write every day, and for a while I do. I intend to craft everyday, and for a while I do. I intend to improve on the appearance of the blog, win the hearts of my readers, gain sponsorship and live happily ever after, and well I’m not sure if those things have ever happened. But I try…
However, I am also a student. I really try to keep the two lives separate – the crafter/blogger life and the academic life. But, c’est la vie, the two seem to battle each other for my attention and typically the academic life wins!
So here I am a student, a researcher, and some semesters I am even an instructor. I love it, honest, I do. But darn if I don’t start to miss my crafty-bloggy days. This August, I began my PhD studies in Apparel Design and Product Development at Iowa State University – and it’s excellent. I love the department, the faculty, the facilities and equipment, the research, the classes, the general passion for knowledge.
But I am also, still in the final pages of my Master’s thesis. My thesis has been a true trial in patience and endurance. I started working on this research January 2012, and here I am, fall 2013 still working on it. The thesis definitely adds a lot of stress and anxiety to my days as it really, really needs to get finished, ASAP! And it’s another thing I try to fit in around being a new PhD student, taking a full load of credits and working a 20 hour assistantship each week.
Don’t even get me started on my successful summertime diet… The best I can say on that front is that if it isn’t raining, I ride my bike to campus everyday.
I am so lucky for my supportive family, without them I am pretty sure I wouldn’t make it some days!
And the things in life that happen, that are unplanned. The things that aren’t the PhD, the Master’s thesis, the diet and exercise, the crafty/bloggy time, those things really matter too. The unexpected trip that brought the family back to the middle of America from all across the world (literally).
And the friends who stood by in support through the worst of it. Life throws all kinds of lemons at you, and the extra hands to help juggle them are what really makes it possible to make the lemonade.
Collect Create Circulate 
