DIY Soy Candles

 

 

I've wanted to try candle-making for what feels like ages! I love candles and making my own sounded so fun! But for some reason, it felt daunting. I didn't know what type of wick to buy or what kind of wax to get. But this last week, I was determined to figure it out. And as it so happens, it wasn't even that complicated! You really only need three or four supplies.

A Catch-Up

 

It's officially summer break! I feel like I was the last student on Earth to get out of school (that's the quarter system for you), but now I'm ready to enjoy a long, relaxing summer.

It has been a crazy last few days for me, so I decided to write a quick catch-up post. My last catch-up post was in December, so its time for another one! Besides, I love writing these because they are so unstructured and I can talk about whatever I want, whether it all relates or not!

Last Thursday, I moved out of the dorms!! I never really thought past the first year of college, and now I have moved out of the dorms and have been promoted to the status of sophomore. Wow! The moving-out process was pretty intense. It was so insanely crowded and there was virtually no parking. We had to carry all of my stuff from my dorm down to the parking lot in 100° heat. (To be honest, I actually only took one load down to the car. My dad did most of the hard work! That one load was enough to make my arms sore the next day though, so I don't know how he did it!)

My 2017 Vegetable Garden

Is June really almost halfway over??? That's crazy. I am nearly done with my first year of college -- just two more finals to take, and then I'll be free until the end of September! This summer is going to be such great fun!

This year I decided to plant a little vegetable garden! I used to garden every summer, but I took a break from it because it was starting to feel more like a chore to me. But I recently read two books that got me inspired to get back into gardening again. The first one was The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball. This one is an autobiography written by a woman who moved from a New York apartment to a farm with her husband. Actually, it wasn't even really a farm when they moved there. They basically built it from the ground-up. I thought her story was fascinating and, though I would never do something that crazy, she did inspire me to start a modest backyard garden.

Ceramics Update!

A few weeks ago, I shared a 100 Day Project update. Today I thought I'd talk about my other current creative project -- ceramics! In this post, I mentioned that I was going to take a ceramics class this quarter. Now, the quarter is just about over and I have had so so so much fun with ceramics! It has been such an exciting new experience! I loved it so much that I'm planning to continue with ceramics, either over the summer or during fall quarter. I haven't decided yet. What I have decided is that I haven't had enough of it! I feel like I have officially gotten the hang of it now -- the wedging, the wheel-throwing, the carving, the glazing. I actually can't decide which step of the process is my favorite. I love it all! It is such a meditative, relaxing, rewarding hobby.