New Computer!
Last night, Stefan (the bf) picked me out a new computer. The one I currently have is about 5 years old. It is still chugging along just fine but it is time for an upgrade. It was in the budget and is a necessary investment. I’m planning on starting classes in the fall and though the laptop I have is powerful and still fully functional, I wanted something new that didn’t have the hardware kinks that my dell has. For example, the old dell only has 2 functioning USB ports, the cd rom doesn’t work anymore, there are some dead pixels in the screen, the up arrow only works about half the time and the whole case is a little wonky. I actually got some software recently that hooked up and syncd to my hi-tech oven and it can show me symptoms of bad oven temperature sensor whenever it is going wrong, something that my older computer couldnt do. That being said, I think I will miss the old girl. She was a good computer despite all the problems I’ve had with her. I would not be surprised if she has the longest battery-life of any 2010 dell d620 anywhere. She will still last about 45 min which is amazing for a 5 year old computer and a 4 year old battery especially one used as heavily as mine. I am a computer engineer after all!
I bought the new laptop from Amazon. It is an Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3820T-6480. I’m not sure why the model number has to be so long. Let’s just say it is a 14 in laptop with no CD drive and weighs just 4 pounds. It is less than an inch thin at its thinnest point and is a great machine for the money. I won’t get into the specs as this isn’t a nerd blog but a craft blog but I will say that all the numbers are pretty big. The MHz, the GBs, the DDR are all good. It should be a very good solitaire and blogging machine for me with the added bonus of being able to run some Matlab every now and again.
Bringing it back to the Craft, Art, and Design world, here is a pretty picture!
Now I just need to find a super cute laptop bag for it. I’m thinking of making one like this one found on Better Homes and Garden’s sister site, AllPeopleQuilt.
http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/projects-ideas/bags-pillows/messenger-bag_1.html
It looks like a simple pattern that will be quick to make. I just need to find some awesome fabric for it! I’m thinking something like this:
and this:
What do you think? I’m excited for my new computer and designing my awesome new computer Bag!
Sarah
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Nice computer and super cute fabric choices for the laptop bag. I really love your diysarah.com site and your new etsy store. Good luck and I can’t wait to see the finished bag.
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I actually knew about almost all of this, but with that in mind, I still believed it turned out practical. Beautiful blog!
Beginning Oil Painting Class 1
Today will be my second oil painting class. The class is offered through the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. The class meets in Harvard Square which is convenient. I am able to drive to Davis Sq, park in Somerville and take the T in 2 stops. It takes less than 10 min to get there from my apartment. The class is at 5:45 on Mondays so getting dinner in between work and class is tricky but I’m doing well with a PB&J on the subway.
You can see my first attempt. The photo isn’t at quite the same angle as the painting, but you get the idea. Mu black box is a little skewed and the bottle doesn’t have quite the right proportions but overall, I’m pleased with my first attempt.
So far, the class has been quite informative. The class is very structured. We watch her do some painting first and then we begin to work on our own paintings. Last week, we worked only in 2 colors: White and Burnt Sienna. The idea is to begin by looking at just light and dark and we will eventually get into working with color. The still life for last week was a white box, a black box, a white bottle, and two brown paper bags. This week, we will be working in just white and burnt sienna again but we will hopefully be working on a different still life. I am very excited!
The teacher is not like any art teacher I’ve ever seen. She isn’t the scarf wearing flighty type. She is sarcastic and perhaps even a little coarse but I like her. She has a very practical approach to painting. No feeling blah blah stuff. Just “This is darker than this, this is bigger than this.” You can visit her website here: http://www.denisemickilowski.com/.
I’m excited to get into color. I ordered 9 of these 4” x 4” canvases from Dick Blick. When I got the order though, they had shipped 9 boxes of 12! So I have over 100 4×4 canvases. I’m planning on going a little crazy on painted Christmas ornaments this year! I’d better start early if I’m going to get those done. I’m thinking paintings of Christmas ornaments could be really neat. That doesn’t sound too hard either but we’ll see how well the class goes! I’d also kind of like to do a set of 9 teacup paintings. I think they would be cool all framed together.
Sarah
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Bad news. Class was cancelled for today. 🙁
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I would love a painting of a christmas ornament from diysarah.com
And finally…the living room is decorated
What was once an ugly, boring, college pad is now decorated and homey. Some super simple curtains, hemmed and tied to the blinds make the windows stand out. Pillows add some fun colors to the boring brown couch. Neat decorative touches like the cool train lamp and some good coffee table books and we are well on our way to living like grown-ups instead of college students. Now if I could just convince the boys not to leave cables and computers all over the place, we’d be set!
If уоu’vе juѕt ѕtаrtеd thіnkіng about dесоrаtіng your hоuѕе, аnd first on thе list іѕ your living room, уоu mіght bе overwhelmed wіth рuttіng аll thе ріесеѕ tоgеthеr tо mаkе a hаrmоnіоuѕ аnd арреаlіng whоlе. Yоu hаvе tо соnѕіdеr раіnt соlоrѕ for thе wаllѕ, whаt kind of furnіturе you аlrеаdу hаvе аnd whаt you need, and how tо аrrаngе аnd accessorize it. But the fіrѕt thіng tо fіgurе оut аbоut yourself іѕ what уоur decorating ѕtуlе is. Lооkіng аt рhоtоѕ оf lіvіng rооmѕ hеlрѕ уоu dо thаt. Knowing thіѕ gіvеѕ уоu ѕіgnаlѕ along the dесоr road to hеlр guіdе your decisions оn furnіturе, раіnt соlоrѕ, wіndоw соvеrіngѕ, flооr соvеrіng and ассеѕѕоrіеѕ.
Furnіturе
A соmmоn problem реорlе have іѕ not knоwіng hоw tо аrrаngе thеіr lіvіng room furniture. More often than not реорlе push a sofa аgаіnѕt оnе wall, a соuрlе of сhаіrѕ against аnоthеr аnd thаt’ѕ іt. But аrrаngіng furnіturе is ѕоmеthіng thаt requires a lіttlе more planning. There are іmроrtаnt considerations like choosing a focal роіnt, creating соnvеrѕаtіоn areas, and соnѕіdеrіng traffic flow, not to mention the type of furniture you choose, I always recommend getting living room furniture in rosenberg tx, they have mt favorite pieces.
Art
Emрtу wаllѕ аrе a ѕіgn of аn іnсоmрlеtе rооm. Thіѕ dоеѕn’t mеаn уоu nееd to fill every inch, but decorating thе wаllѕ with аrt іѕ іmроrtаnt. It’s іmроrtаnt, but іt does nоt need to bе еxреnѕіvе to create an еntісіng аnd соhеѕіvе lооk. Whаt one реrѕоn соnѕіdеrѕ аrt might bе drаѕtісаllу different frоm what someone еlѕе thinks. Thе bеѕt thіng tо dо іѕ tо fоllоw your іnѕtіnсtѕ whеn іt comes to what уоu lіkе аnd whаt will gо іn уоur rооm. Gеt informed on thе basic rules of what tо hаng аnd hоw tо arrange іt, аnd then lеt уоur heart bе уоur guіdе.
Sarah
Sophia
4/8/2011 | 12:19 pm Permalink
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