So while looking at some sites that custom make Lolita clothing, it hit me.  I should try to draft my own patterns.  Ok this isn't a new idea, but its one I've been intimidated by.  My husband has started doing that for his outfits & I'm thinking maybe I should do that as well.  He'll tell me, I told you so!  As he's been saying this for awhile to me.  I've just been afraid.  I already have a dress form & patterns I work from.  I could tweak & fit those & then redraw them (must ask hubby to bring home brown paper roll) for future use.  It's mainly the tops of the dresses/JSK I need to work on.  The bottoms I'll use what I already have.  They should be somewhat simple since they start w/a basic design w/lots of flourish (mostly anyway).  I think this will be good for me.  So far I have an Aristo outfit to make & I'm thinking of a red (possibly floral) dress for summer.  Blouses w/be next once I can get my sewing machine to do button holes properly.  Perhaps I just need a better button hole foot.  I'm just so tired of altering commercial patterns all of the time. 

So while I was in the ladies room, another lady walked into another stall.  After doing her business, I heard a "Whew!" come from her stall.  I guess she really needed to go. : )

I just found out today that approximately 30  people firmwide at my work just got laid off yesterday.  This doesn't do much for my morale.  Since my department is already short-staffed I can only hope the axe doesn't come swinging my way.  Ugh...

The music I'm currently listening to is putting me in quite a dreamlike mood.  Its making me want to have a Haunted Summer theme Lolita meet-up & everyone has be in some sort of black/romantic Lolita attire.  It would be on a cool, cloudy day (because I can control that!), despite the Haunted Summer theme in a very historical setting.  Perhaps have a picnic and read romantic poetry.  Byron would be my first choice of course.  I think the pictures would be beautiful. 

Ah, me & my crazy ideas.

On January 2 my hubby & I ventured north to Frankenmuth, MI.  We got up early & four hours later we arrived at our destination.  We stopped for lunch at our favorite coffee shop, "The Kaffee Haus".  I had a frequent abuser card for this place and was finally (we only go up once a year & I had to have 10 punches) able to get a free coffee.  We sat in a new little corner by the back door.  They put a little sitting area in the back.  It was nice & private.  After lunch we went across the street to "Those Nature People" for some cooking herbs & a vanilla bean.  After that we ventured to Bronner's.  This is a gigunderous Christmas store.  It was crowded.  I'm used to going in Feb. & in the morning.  There is hardly anyone there then.  Sigh.  We made our purchase & got our free gift, a bunny ornament (I loves bunnies!).  We left Bronner's & went to the River Place shopping area.  Unfortunately most of our favorite places have left this place.  There was one favorite left (there are other miscellaneous stores still there), Abbey Rose.  Its very girly friendly.  However, we had to wait for their employee to return & it seemed like forever.  After a short walk around, we left & went to The Harvest Coffee Shop (it was later & we had a grumbly & needed more caffeine).  We left after relaxing a bit & decided to tour Main Street.  We hit our favorite shops & made dinner reservations at Zehnder's for 7pm.  We finished our shopping around 6 and we were so hungry we got in line at Zehnder's & cancelled our later reservation.

Since the hubby doesn't eat meat on Fridays, we split my meal.  They give you TONS of food before your actual meal, splitting is very advisable.  I had chicken cordon bleu (night special) w/baked potato.  The chicken portion was quite large so I gave most of my potato to my man.  This was a very tricksy potato.  For every bite (yes, every bite) he tried to take, the bite would escape & land on his plate.  This of course made me laugh until it hurt.  After many attempts & laughs he was finally able to eat the potato.

After dinner it was time to go home, we took some pictures of Main Street (they still had their Christmas decorations up) and left.  Bye-bye for now Frankenmuth, we'll be back!

To all my friends, I hope you have a lot of fun tonight.  Please stay safe & have a great New Year!

Last night my cat Byron was lounging on my husband (because he had "The Blanket" on).  My husband yells up to me & says "Byron is drooling".  Mind you my hubby had a cup of hot chocolate & I thought this was the reason for the drool.  Ha-ha I thought.  Then I came downstairs only to find the "drool" was coming from his little nose.  I don't think I need to elaborate.  I quickly grabbed a tissue & wiped his nose.  All was better & everyone seemed happy.

This is a parlor game that was apparently quite a favorite of this time.

Snapdragon
Each person had to pick currants (known as plums) out of a shallow bowl of burning spirit using their mouth, thereby extinguishing the flame.

If you haven't seen this & need a good laugh, watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vNReqUGtsc

Enjoy!

If you called a number and that person said you had the wrong number, why would you call back three more times?  I can understand one more thinking you had it right the second time.  After that, take the hint & check the number. 

Even though Thanksgiving has not yet visited, I am very excited about the Christmas holidays.  While at the grocery store yesterday I found the most wonderful thing.  It was pumpkin spice egg nog.  Two of my most favorite holiday things put together.  Yum, yum, yum!  If you have a chance, you must try this.  I was in egg nog heaven!

Dear Friends,

We are planning a Christmas party for Saturday Dec. 20, 2008.  If you would like to come, please let me know & I'll send details.  Please note this date may change if it doesn't work out for everyone.  I'll post the new date as soon as it is decided.

Sarha

That everyone seems to know you're going on vacation so they throw a bunch of work at you?  How do they seem to know this when you've never told them?  There's got to be some little evil demon spreading the word.

Even though I'm feeling a bit grumpy today (stupid work computers!), I am really happy that I was able to do what I thought would be impossible.  I made a necklace to go w/my Halloween costume.  I had glued some plastic stones and the glue was really messy & dried on the stones.  I knew I could use nail polish remover for the glue, but it would also ruin the stones.  Out of ideas I tried it anyway.  To my happiness it worked.  The stones are sparkly & the glue is gone!  Whoo-hoo!  Also, I have one week until vacation.  I really, really can't.  I really need it!

the partners of my firm would pay for something that actually worked!

A co-worker of mine asked me about my wedding photos on my desk.  It got me thinking of how wonderful the past 11 years have been.  Never once have I ever felt that my marriage was faltering, its always been very strong.  It has always been good.  We've always been able to work out our differences.  So I will welcome another full year of marriage on the 31st.  I really can't wait.

To all of you who are married or are w/someone, I wish you the best and hope your relationship gets stronger.

Also, sorry to be so mushy.

So I decided to listen to the "1980's Dance Party" station on Yahoo Music.  Most of the songs so far are pretty good.  The songs really take me back.

EDIT:  It is taking all I have not to get up & start dancing!

So I've come across this band called "Bond".  It is made up of four females.  Imagine "mixing" classical music and you have Bond (that's how I think of it anyway).  It's a bit hokey but the music has so much high energy that it would be perfect for a long car trip.  It would keep you more alert that peppermints!  I'm tempted to get their CD since I have a road trip coming up.  We shall see.

This morning I was at the bus stop & I happened to notice some movement around the back tire of a car parked about 20 feet away across the street.  A moment later I noticed it was a skunk.  It decided to walk across the street.  At the same time a pickup truck was coming.  Oh God I thought, please don't let this skunk get hit.  I put my hand up in hopes the driver would see me, notice the skunk & slow down.  I'm not sure if he did, but he did slow down.  The skunk made it safely across and I didn't have to smell like a skunk all day.  I gave the driver a thumbs up as he passed.

Because I want to make another Loli dress before I go to Nola (10/29).  You may not think this is a big deal since I have most of the month to work on it.  However, I still have to finish my husband's costume.  I have to make pants, a jacket & hopefully a cloak.  I have the shirt & waistcoat done (sans buttons, those will be done later).  I already have the pattern & its cut.  It's very easy to make so I think I may be able to eek it out.  I want to make it to wear on Halloween day.  I know Lolita isn't a costume, but Halloween is my wedding anniversary and I want to wear it for my husband who loves Lolita.  It will be black (I need more black Loli outfits!) w/a white bustle skirt (already made! woohoo!).  It will be simple due to time & funds.  But there is elegance in simplicity.  I'm actually quite excited about this.  I'm completely insane but excited.  Maybe I'll also wear it to the meet-up in November (is this still happening?).

Wish me luck!

I can't believe I'm having this dilemma.  I have plans to go to a meet-up in Nola (yippee!) and I can't decide what to wear.  I finally have a Lolita wardrobe.  Granted its not brand, but its all stuff I've made.  I'm just happy I've been able to make this wardrobe to have this problem.  Yes I know it sounds silly, very silly.  But that's my mood at the moment.  I think I will just keep an eye on the weather down there & plan from there. 

Why do people so often replace common sense with arrogance?

I dearly love this holiday.  However, it completely exhausts me.  So far I have the following tasks to complete by Oct. 25.

1. Finish my costume (I still need to buy supplies for this)
- Put rest of dress together
- Finish headpiece
- Finish necklace

2. Start count_chuckula's costume (yes I'm doing this one by myself as he has more important obligations at the moment)
- Buy fabric for 4 piece costume
- Make said 4 piece costume from scratch
- Enough said

3. Decorate the house for our Halloween party.  Mind you this is quite a monumental task since we LOVE this holiday.

4. Make Halloween movie w/friends to show at party

5. Lastly prepare for our trip to Nola on Oct. 29.
- Too much to list

Whew, I'm dead (haha! how apropo!) tired just looking at this list.  Fear not, I will prevail!

So due to some really good saving this year, my hubby & I are able to do something we've never done before.  We're going on our annual pilgrimage to New Orleans this year for our anniversary & were able to book a private room for dinner at Muriel's (www.muriels.com/).  This means we will be in the wine room (drinking from Riedel, oohhh), just the two of us & have our own waiter.  I'm soooooo excited!  Since he's a wine person, he's loving this.  We will also be in costume.  This should be fun.  I made the reservations today & I can't stop smiling!  Also, this restaurant is right next to our hotel on Jackson Square (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Square,_New_Orleans,_Louisiana)!   Whoo-hooo!!!!!!!

I hate to come on here & gripe.  But unfortunately I have enough to gripe about things that have happened in the span of  three days.  On Monday I went to Caribou Coffee in Tower City.  I ordered my usual (SMALL skim mocha, no whipped cream) and I got the 10 cent off question right.  I only had $4.00 and I intended to give a tip.  She rings me up a medium and almost doesn't take off the 10 cents for the right answer.  Fine, instead of a $1.00 tip, you got a 45 cent one.  Today I went back and the usual person that works there who knows what I get.  So much so she usually is handing it to me right after I'm done paying.  So I thought good, she'll get my order right.  One should not assume.  She rang me up a medium and the girl making the coffee nearly put whipped cream on top.  I asked her if the small size was no longer offered and she said it still was.  I just walked away.  So the first girl on Monday just ignored me?  At least the other person should have known better.  I felt ripped off. Granted it was just a little bit, but why can't people pay attention to small things?  Its not like there was a crowd & they got confused.  It was 7 am!   I realize I'm probably in the wrong & should've said something, but I just didn't want the hassle of waiting for them to redo everything both times.

Last night the (kid) neighbors on the right side decided to have his friends over & play kung fu w/a dummy in our yard.  Yes you read correctly, OUR yard.  They didn't ask, they just came in.  Mind you we have had to keep the gate closed because the woman on the other side would let her 2 very young boys play and they would leave food (like half eaten strawberries, cheese, crackers, turkey meat, marshmallows) in our yard, their toys and a lovely blue rubber glove.  Also since we mow over the thorn bush branches that we trim, there is a good chance for thorns to be in the grass.  I told the mother this and she still thought it would be ok for her sons to run barefoot in my yard.  Uh-uh.  Since then we've keep the gate closed.  I don't need trouble.  So what kind of example is set when the other side comes in and we don't let hers in.  Hello, its my yard, I want all of you to stay away!  You don't pay rent there.  I'm sorry if your yard is small, but you knew that when you moved in.  My landlord has no discretion whatsoever when renting his spaces out.  This woman is very low.  I'm so tired of the food all over the yard, she parks her dented car on the lawn in front of her house repeatedly.  It looks so white trash.  It never used to be that way.  I'm waiting for the cinder blocks to come out.

So after the hubby kicked the kids out at about 10:30pm (he was up late doing homework), the next door heifer, I mean neighbor comes out and talks until 11:30pm (usually during the week she shuts up at about 10:30).  Her talking is more like broadcasting.  Doesn't matter what time she's out, she talks w/the same amount of volume.  And she's out there ALL OF THE TIME!  Either she's on her cell phone or her sister comes over.  Her sister sounds like a burnt out hag you'd see at some nasty bar.  They're probably only a few years older than me too.  I'm would love to shove her phone down her throat.. She's out there every single night several times and I'm not exaggerating.  She smokes while she talks so she's out there quite a lot.  I have to close my bedroom window & turn on my air conditioner to drown her out.  Closing the window does nothing.  Its so pathetic because that's her life.  She has 3 kids I swear she does hardly anything with.  She has a close to teen daughter that sits outside w/ther sometimes and the mother just yaps away on the phone.  Hello, happen to notice your daughter sitting there?  Would it kill you to put the phone down & spend some time w/her?  I'm just so at the end of my rope.  I hate her voice.  I'm so tired of hearing it.  She's one of those people that was taken out of a white trash situation, but you couldn't take it out of her.  I probably seem like a bad person calling these individuals white trash, but I call them that because unfortunately it is true.  The city I live in was really nice until a few years ago.  Now landlords don't care who they have move in as long as they're collecting rent.  I can't wait to move, but I have to wait a couple years.  I just hope I don't have a repeat tonight or any other night.

And lastly, I'm tired of watching my co-worker constantly fall asleep every afternoon.  He has plenty of work to and he just falls asleep. No, he's not narcoleptic, just annoying.  The job is boring, I'll give him that, but the rest of us aren't sleeping.  I think its just wrong.  I want to go over & slap him upside the head & tell him to wake up.

Well , that's the worst of it.  Hopefully the rest of the week will get better.  At least I think rain is in the forcast (its quiet then).

I'm so excited how well my costume is going.  Now that I have one of the major parts done, it feels like I will be able to get through it pretty well.  This really pleases me because I have a rather large sewing project for some other people that I have to get done (in a short amount of time).  So it seems as long as I prioritize my time really well, I can complete all of my sewing tasks.  I may post pics after 10/31, because I don't want to spoil the surprise.  I think this is going to outdo my Renaissance dress (that has been my reigning masterpiece).  However, I won't have any free time until I'm done.  Oh well, its just until after Halloween.  Then I get think about Christmas! : )  Making Christmas, making Christmas, la, la, la...

"Let them eat cake" was not said by Marie Antoinette.  It was said by Maria Theresa of Austria (daughter of Philip IV of Spain), wife of King Louis XIV.

(this is believed to be true anyway!)

 It's Friday the 13th and thunderstorms are on the way.  Could it get any better?  Sigh...

Woo-hoo!  I just bought a black pair of Rockinghorse shoes.  Why am I excited?  Because I didn't think I would be able to get them.  I looked on LingLam's site and didn't see my size.  I was really bummed.  I want them for a possible meet-up next month.  So I emailed them this morning (around 8 am) and they replied about 20 minutes ago!  That was fast!  They responded w/very good news.  They had my size.  I don't know why I missed them, I looked at that site over & over.  No matter, they had them and I bought them.  Hopefully the USPS won't screw me over & take forever to get them to me.

Ok, yes I stole that line.  Rasputina please don't sue me!

So this year I am giving myself the task to lose some weight.  Next week we start our aqua aerobics at the YMCA.  A few years ago I lost 40 lbs doing this.  And eating better of course.  This was a very successful combination.  I plan to repeat it because sadly I gained quite a few of those 40 lbs back.  Ah well.

This year will be different I think.  Over the course of my adult life I have obsessed over gaining & losing weight.  It really took a toll on my mind.  This time, I'm not going to get obsessed.  I'm going to take things as they come.  If I lose weight, great!  I'm not going to beat myself up over messing up or not losing.  As long as I don't gain.  If I do, I need to work a little harder, get back on the horse sort of speak.  Since I have this frame of mind in motion already, I think I will have some success.  At least my mind will rest easier.

 I hope all of you have safe and happy new year!