*thud* Long day, but not too bad.
Rambly run-down of my day...
I have had the headache that won't quit for three days now. And it's one of those above-my-eye/behind-my-eye sinus ones, too, where even sleeping and copious amounts of Advil aren't helping. I've added some Bailey's and caffeine to the pharmacy buffet to see if that helps. It might - I'll try just about anything that sounds helpful at this point, because it's looking like I will be calling in sick tomorrow if I wake up with it.
(Muphry's Law: the instant I'm about to kvetch about the abundance of illegible typos on one of the forums, my whole first sentence took three tries to type properly...)
SDMA was fun - I wore stretchy non-traditional tabi that were pink and sparkly, and my feet fared a bit better. For whatever reason, the seams on the traditional tabi just make my feet HURT after the first hour or two, whereas stretchy ones like western socks don't bother me at all. (It is strangely entertaining to field questions about kimono, now that I'm used to wearing them. Mom keeps bringing up the kimono bra that fascinates her so much, which means I then have to go into an explanation of 'kimono boob' and it just gets surreal after that. I even flashed my undies to two nice Irish ladies who wanted to know what the white sleeve was inside my regular sleeve. :P )
The highlight of the day wasn't the Tea demo, but the kimono discussion beforehand at the Mingei, because everyone was asking me about my kimono and how I dressed and where I got it, etc. The speaker listed Mamechiyo as one of the sites to order things - I now feel justified in plotting to order an obi or accessories or something from her (through Crescent shop)! :D I think my outfit came out as rather iki - I wore my dusty blue iromuji (yay polyester!) that fits me properly - the seams line up and everything! and had a navy satin han-eri, and my obi was a cream color with a painted fisherman's boat and landscape on it, which I paired with a yellow obiage and coral obijime, plus my koi obikazari (new and improved with colored glass beads instead of a boring ol' cellphone strap). Pearl earrings and a basket purse gave it a sort of fishing/seaside retreat feeling, I think. (I could be way wrong. I usually am.) The obi took three tries today - it's a slippery bastard. In the future, I'm going to have to use a himo before I use the makura to get it to stay up properly. The taiko sank quite a bit before the day was through. On the other hand, after failing to get the date-eri to work and giving up on it (a brown, shimmery accent color... just wasn't going to happen!), my collars behaved all day long. Which was nice. Hell, even my hair came out nice today on the first try - the French twist stayed twisted with the help of only one bobby pin (and a thorough shellaq of hairspray).
(Selfishly, I found it gratifying that my kitsuke was better than some of the Tea demo ladies, only because I remember being at that point in my kimono adventures and hating how dumpy I always looked because nothing laid right... I've come a long way since then, though I still have miles to go - I have yet to conquer the ohashori 'poof' next to where the front layer overlaps. It's always a bit rumpled and puffy, no matter what I do. Ah well. )
I also forgot to take pictures of my ensemble, so... oh well. Use your imaginations. Imagine I was stylish and composed and didn't trip or stumble or stutter or cuss - I know it's a stretch, but I think I did pretty well as far as being 'proper' today went. I also spoke with one of the ladies after the demo, and wound up telling her about Sensei's house, so there may or may not be some variety of goodwill message from the San Diego chapter in the future. Who knows; she said she was going to tell her sensei about it. I just hope I don't wind up creating embarrassment for Sensei in trying to be supportive. I know not everyone wants to be reached out to by others when they have hard times; some people need to retreat instead - I know Sensei prefers to bury herself in routines when she's stressed, if this summer was any indication.
I found myself giving out my email address to a ton of strangers. It was interesting - I felt like I was doing some sort of odd, Japanophile networking. especially in regards to drumming up business for Kyoei Treasures. (I really should ask for a discount one of these days for shamelessly plugging them every chance I get...) ^_^ We'll see what my inbox has in store for me later! (I also may have San Diego kimono buddies, if I can get enough advance notice and afford the gas money to drive down there once in a while.... We'll see. :D )
I have had the headache that won't quit for three days now. And it's one of those above-my-eye/behind-my-eye sinus ones, too, where even sleeping and copious amounts of Advil aren't helping. I've added some Bailey's and caffeine to the pharmacy buffet to see if that helps. It might - I'll try just about anything that sounds helpful at this point, because it's looking like I will be calling in sick tomorrow if I wake up with it.
(Muphry's Law: the instant I'm about to kvetch about the abundance of illegible typos on one of the forums, my whole first sentence took three tries to type properly...)
SDMA was fun - I wore stretchy non-traditional tabi that were pink and sparkly, and my feet fared a bit better. For whatever reason, the seams on the traditional tabi just make my feet HURT after the first hour or two, whereas stretchy ones like western socks don't bother me at all. (It is strangely entertaining to field questions about kimono, now that I'm used to wearing them. Mom keeps bringing up the kimono bra that fascinates her so much, which means I then have to go into an explanation of 'kimono boob' and it just gets surreal after that. I even flashed my undies to two nice Irish ladies who wanted to know what the white sleeve was inside my regular sleeve. :P )
The highlight of the day wasn't the Tea demo, but the kimono discussion beforehand at the Mingei, because everyone was asking me about my kimono and how I dressed and where I got it, etc. The speaker listed Mamechiyo as one of the sites to order things - I now feel justified in plotting to order an obi or accessories or something from her (through Crescent shop)! :D I think my outfit came out as rather iki - I wore my dusty blue iromuji (yay polyester!) that fits me properly - the seams line up and everything! and had a navy satin han-eri, and my obi was a cream color with a painted fisherman's boat and landscape on it, which I paired with a yellow obiage and coral obijime, plus my koi obikazari (new and improved with colored glass beads instead of a boring ol' cellphone strap). Pearl earrings and a basket purse gave it a sort of fishing/seaside retreat feeling, I think. (I could be way wrong. I usually am.) The obi took three tries today - it's a slippery bastard. In the future, I'm going to have to use a himo before I use the makura to get it to stay up properly. The taiko sank quite a bit before the day was through. On the other hand, after failing to get the date-eri to work and giving up on it (a brown, shimmery accent color... just wasn't going to happen!), my collars behaved all day long. Which was nice. Hell, even my hair came out nice today on the first try - the French twist stayed twisted with the help of only one bobby pin (and a thorough shellaq of hairspray).
(Selfishly, I found it gratifying that my kitsuke was better than some of the Tea demo ladies, only because I remember being at that point in my kimono adventures and hating how dumpy I always looked because nothing laid right... I've come a long way since then, though I still have miles to go - I have yet to conquer the ohashori 'poof' next to where the front layer overlaps. It's always a bit rumpled and puffy, no matter what I do. Ah well. )
I also forgot to take pictures of my ensemble, so... oh well. Use your imaginations. Imagine I was stylish and composed and didn't trip or stumble or stutter or cuss - I know it's a stretch, but I think I did pretty well as far as being 'proper' today went. I also spoke with one of the ladies after the demo, and wound up telling her about Sensei's house, so there may or may not be some variety of goodwill message from the San Diego chapter in the future. Who knows; she said she was going to tell her sensei about it. I just hope I don't wind up creating embarrassment for Sensei in trying to be supportive. I know not everyone wants to be reached out to by others when they have hard times; some people need to retreat instead - I know Sensei prefers to bury herself in routines when she's stressed, if this summer was any indication.
I found myself giving out my email address to a ton of strangers. It was interesting - I felt like I was doing some sort of odd, Japanophile networking. especially in regards to drumming up business for Kyoei Treasures. (I really should ask for a discount one of these days for shamelessly plugging them every chance I get...) ^_^ We'll see what my inbox has in store for me later! (I also may have San Diego kimono buddies, if I can get enough advance notice and afford the gas money to drive down there once in a while.... We'll see. :D )