What's new, Scooby Doo?

What have I been up to, you may ask?

1) Studying

Lots of reading and lots of tests in the world of Stefanie at the moment. Such is the life of Stefanie The Student. (But only for another semester! I GRADUATE IN MAY.)

(...I hope this is as earthshaking to you as it is to me. Because, like my mother always tells me, I was born just yesterday.)

2) Working

These days, I'm babysitting at a church, for Emma, and for another family, AND teaching piano... it's a lot of driving, and a lot of children, but it's super fun! Here! Have a gratuitous picture of Emma!

(This one's my phone background at the moment. What. a. sweetie.)

3) Knitting

I have a variety of projects that I've knitted recently. Some of them are for Real People and/or Real Purposes, and some of them just for me. Here, have a look at a few of them!

This blanket is ALMOST finished. Emma is going to have a little sister soon, and so I'm knitting her a baby blanket. :)

This is a sweet little bird called a Chubby Chirp. I did a speech on knitting in my speech class and so I spent some time knitting little toys and things to bring into class with me.

A little bunny lovie I knit for the purposes of my speech. I'll probably give this one to Emma's little sister, too, as it's knit from the same yarn as the borders of the blanket.

This is an earring from a pair that I knit, also for the purposes of my speech! It's lovely, and I can't wait to experiment with other designs! It's wire and beads. :)

4) Working

Did I mention I work all the time? Ask my roommate - I'm never home during the week. To make up for the mention of the sad thing, have some more gratuitous pictures of Emma!

Pretty much the sweetest thing I've ever seen!

5) Reading (which is more or less a subcategory of studying... sometimes.)

I'm writing a paper on Tolkien's languages, so I'm reading a lot of Tolkien right now. Luckily, I got to choose such an awesome topic, I get to mix some work with pleasure! This has led to an outbreak of writing in Elvish on my whiteboard...

And I've just started reading The Yarn Harlot's latest, All Wound Up, because I went to see her speak at Book People yesterday. She signed it and everything!

I also got to meet Maureen Johnson, who was at the Austin Teen Book Festival a few weeks ago, and I had her "revenge sign" my copy of Paper Towns (written by John Green, an author friend of hers, and who also signed that book). I posted the photo on Tumblr (a blog website), which prompted a spat of popularity when John Green reblogged my post (adding "Stop signing my books, Maureen!") and suddenly I was immensely popular. (Okay, okay, it was my photo that was popular!) I don't know that that kind of thing will ever happen again, so I reveled in the temporary internet popularity.

There's Maureen on the panel! If you don't already, you should follow her on Twitter. (Should you have a twitter. (She's @maureenjohnson)

Some other things I've been enjoying recently are my new toys! I recently got a new computer (a MacBook Pro) and a shiny new phone (the iPhone 4S). They are both absolutely DELIGHTFUL.

And since it's fall now, that means TONS of apple butter in my apartment! DELICIOUS. Cottage cheese and apple butter is the most delicious breakfast of all! And my roommate Leslie likes to put it on her scrambled eggs.


Also, fall is FOOTBALL SEASON. Here's me wit Hookem on the field before the most recent game!

I know that I should update le blog more often. Perhaps I will? Sometimes it's hard to remember to when I have so many other things to do!