Playing catch-up, part 1.
okay, so I know none of you are surprised at all that I didn't post like I said I would(n't). :D
I TOTALLY forgot to last night, after being here briefly to reply to comments on my re-intro post. :) Suddenly it was 3 am and I was NOT logging back on since I had to work today.
I've decided that I'm going to post the most recent happenings first, and work my way back thru to September.
Likewise, I'll be going thru my friend's journals, one at a time, and probably only go back a month, depending on how many days were posted. I know some of you post multiple times a day, and some of you once a month. I also noticed that some people haven't posted in about as long as I haven't....so obviously there is nothing to read there. :(
So, on with the show.
We're two weeks and some odd days into January already.
M and I joined the local gym right after New Year's. I'm proud of him, he's been very diligent and has signed up for the once a month deal with a trainer (the owner of this gym is a 6 time Mr. New Jersey winner and certified Nutritionist). He has a weight training plan to follow, and the guy gave him a nutrition plan to go with it. He's been positively singleminded with following it. :D I'm a gym member, but can't really afford the trainer just yet. I'm going to go it alone for a while, treadmill, eliptical, pilates, yoga, and see what happens. If I don't like my progress, perhaps I'll sign up with the trainer in the spring.
Last weekend I went off to Philly with my sister to met up with patsytheloomer, a common-ish occurance these days, and go to the Dracula's Ball (goth night) they have there once every few months. Since Halloween was a costuming nightmare of sorts, I opted for simple with a pair of jeans, a black button down shirt and some new jewelry. Made some new friends, was given an open invite to bunk at someone's house if I ever make it back to the Lancaster goth night (2.5 hour drive for me without traffic, or a $50 train ride), and had a REALLY excellent time. Mark Jackson from VNV Nation was a guest DJ, I think I caught some of that. Black Tape for a Blue Girl was there, but I missed it entirely. Got so wrapped up in chatting with the new acquaintances that I forgot completely (there's that forgetfulness again).
One of the guys I know from the renfaire was there again with his girlfriend, not vending this time. I had a good time chatting with them as well. Good people all around, I really enjoyed myself talking to everyone.
Patsy wore the Victorian suit I made him for halloween (still slightly unfinished, *sigh*) and received MANY compliments. He had a top hat, cane, gloves, everything but spats! :) I have some pics from halloween that I will try to post. BUT, I was amazed at all the compliments, because to my eyes its not right, tho obviously no one seemed to notice. Patsy brought me over to let everyone meet the person who made the suit, and I was sucked into several costuming conversations. One girl asked me if I made them to sell...another asked me a corseting question (still no clue how she got from a suit to a corset lol). One of the guys asked me if I could repair the satin collar of a vest or coat that he had. Everyone seemed genuinely impressed with it and were especially taken with the glove pockets.
(For those of you not familiar with men's period suits, Victorian in this case, a frock coat would have two hidden back pockets, open to the outside of the suit, on the seams to the left and right of the center back seam. One glove to each pocket keeps them handy and clean without ruining the line of the suit (as a chest pocket or hidden side pocket might.)
I was mostly stunned by all the praise. I still am. But it's certainly made me want to try again, since several things went wrong with that suit, and I was short on time due to work. We actually started the planning 6 months in advance, but when all the materials arrived, I was working 6 day weeks with my boss gone to Boston. Not much time for sewing. I did hand sew some things, like the buttonholes (and I used silk twist....it came out beautifully on the pants) and the hems. My blind hems were surprisingly...well, blind. :)
It looks fantastic on him, but I am still unhappy with it as it is not perfect. I'm just glad he seems happy with it.
Speaking of costumes, I've been watching seasons 1 & 2 of The Tudors.....and all I have to say is: Costume-gasm. Draw your own conclusions. :P
New Year's was spent in NYC, about 6 blocks from the million people in Times Square. My friend Beth invited me to a Masque Ball thrown by a favorite band of ours ($25 tickets) and I didn't hesitate to say Yes. (Only later I realized I would be in NEW YORK CITY, on NEW YEAR'S EVE, wtf was I thinking?)
A friend of ours joined us from CT and we all met in the city. It did rain/snow a little, but for the most part the weather thankfully held off. It was wet, slushy and cold. I took a VERY early bus, not sleeping the night before, as usual. Good thing I went early, as I was largely correct in my fears about traffic. Getting over the bridge into the city was bumper to bumper, sitting. Some poor guy next to me had to pee like mad....and we had a bus with no lavatory. 0_0 I did make it in, but I was about 30 - 45 minutes later than planned. No big deal tho. We went to Beth's apartment and chilled, ate dinner, got dressed, etc. Since it was a masque ball, I elected to buy a small, mock-Italian style mask for $30 online. Black with black glitter detailing, it was nice, small, and unassuming. (after wearing my huge Italian feathered mask for Halloween, I wasn't looking to go that route for a ball in a pub on a crowded New Year's eve. :P
I wore a black button down shirt, a short black skirt with a slit that I made...and my high platform heels. :D I also wore a lovely new onyx choker that M bought me for xmas, made by a Navajo artist. I did my makeup more than usual and I think it turned out very well. I also did mock "Victory Rolls" in my hair, a la 1940s. I did get a few requests of, how did you get your hair to do that?? I have a couple of meh pics on my phone...I'll see about posting one soon. ;)
We had good company this time as well. It was so nice to see people having a good time. No one seemed overly drunk...which was a nice change. We walked several times between Beth's apartment, the subway, and the pub, with our masks on...and received varying comments. One of which was from an Hispanic man making kissy faces at us from the platform as we sat in the subway train. *eyeroll*
The only thing that annoyed me was a couple references about me looking like Catwoman....something I hadn't considered when buying the smaller black mask. (It would have been an awesome black and white one, but they were out of stock and I didn't have time to paint a blank one, damnit.)
The band was awesome, the company was awesome, and a good time was had by all. LOL Worth the traffic and the money.
Xmas was quick and painless. hehe M got a brand new 40" LCD TV from me and my parents, but we installed it around Thanksgiving, since it was a combined birthday/xmas gift for him. My sister got DJ Hero and she LOVES it. She's good at it too. :) I got a LOT of Native American Jewelry from my store...which is good. I also got books: Men's Tailoring, 18th Century costumes in detail, a grammar book for studying Japanese, a coffee table book of photographs of Geisha, and a Colonial costume book from Williamsburg, VA. Mom said she went a little overboard, and she did, so I got a lot of what I asked for, except artwork. :D No big deal there, can't afford the framing anyway :P I got a couple of CDs from Patsy, one of them is a Bella Morte CD that I have been OBSESSING over since it arrived. LOVE it. :P
Thanksgiving was quiet and content at home with the family. The day before, I packed up the car and headed to Lancaster (detouring all around Philly with the GPS due to horrible weather and worse drivers, to avoid the main highway and it's closing due to an accident). Despite the travel, I had a great time. Another club trip, Patsy and I met up with some of his friends (I've met them before) and we all went together. The crowd was small, so we went upstairs and danced for a nice long while. The DJ was OUTSTANDING...playing NIN and TOOL and Rob Zombie and so many things I would play if I was a DJ. :) I saw him again last weekend and told him he needed to come out with a CD so I could buy it. If Paul Oakenfold can do it, why not him? :P He thanked me for saying so...very nice guy. The trip to the diner afterwards was HILARIOUS...I'll leave out the details, but OMG one of the younger guys in the group just slayed me. He's such a cutie...and was falling asleep in his chocolate chip pancakes, among other things, LOL. Half my age and I had so much more energy at 3 am than he did. 0_0
My feet did hurt like a biotch tho. I wore new boots, heels...and my poor feets! It was horrible!
I also had one of the best compliments ever while there. hehehe Patsy's friend wears fangs when we go clubbing, and he came over to me to ask me a favor. I said it depended what it was. He told me he almost never sees a woman with fangs (I have a pair now....not the ones I want, but good in a pinch), and he wanted to know if I would bite him. :P I told him I couldn't cause the fangs were the crappy halloween ones, and likely to just fall out or break. :( So, he nodded, then said, "So what's your (blood) type?" I laughed pretty hard at that one (he gets props for Most Original Pickup Line, from me) and said I didn't know. He perked up, literally, and said, "Taste test?" LOL I told him I was sorry, but if I went home with marks on me, my hubby would kill me and then hunt him down. :P He seemed disappointed, but understood. Hell, it made my night, that's for sure! :D
Okay...and I'm going to stop here to save space on the friends lists, LOL. There's some trivial things missing in here, but I'll pick them up in current events, hehehe, cause they're ongoing.
So next time, I have to get into The Great Halloween Costume Caper, and maybe touch on DragonCon, tho I may commit that to it's own post, cause a lot happens at a Con that big. :D
I'll try and get my pics situated so I can post them, hopefully tomorrow, with the next post.
Now....gonna pick someone on the list and check out the goings on. 0_0
I TOTALLY forgot to last night, after being here briefly to reply to comments on my re-intro post. :) Suddenly it was 3 am and I was NOT logging back on since I had to work today.
I've decided that I'm going to post the most recent happenings first, and work my way back thru to September.
Likewise, I'll be going thru my friend's journals, one at a time, and probably only go back a month, depending on how many days were posted. I know some of you post multiple times a day, and some of you once a month. I also noticed that some people haven't posted in about as long as I haven't....so obviously there is nothing to read there. :(
So, on with the show.
We're two weeks and some odd days into January already.
M and I joined the local gym right after New Year's. I'm proud of him, he's been very diligent and has signed up for the once a month deal with a trainer (the owner of this gym is a 6 time Mr. New Jersey winner and certified Nutritionist). He has a weight training plan to follow, and the guy gave him a nutrition plan to go with it. He's been positively singleminded with following it. :D I'm a gym member, but can't really afford the trainer just yet. I'm going to go it alone for a while, treadmill, eliptical, pilates, yoga, and see what happens. If I don't like my progress, perhaps I'll sign up with the trainer in the spring.
Last weekend I went off to Philly with my sister to met up with patsytheloomer, a common-ish occurance these days, and go to the Dracula's Ball (goth night) they have there once every few months. Since Halloween was a costuming nightmare of sorts, I opted for simple with a pair of jeans, a black button down shirt and some new jewelry. Made some new friends, was given an open invite to bunk at someone's house if I ever make it back to the Lancaster goth night (2.5 hour drive for me without traffic, or a $50 train ride), and had a REALLY excellent time. Mark Jackson from VNV Nation was a guest DJ, I think I caught some of that. Black Tape for a Blue Girl was there, but I missed it entirely. Got so wrapped up in chatting with the new acquaintances that I forgot completely (there's that forgetfulness again).
One of the guys I know from the renfaire was there again with his girlfriend, not vending this time. I had a good time chatting with them as well. Good people all around, I really enjoyed myself talking to everyone.
Patsy wore the Victorian suit I made him for halloween (still slightly unfinished, *sigh*) and received MANY compliments. He had a top hat, cane, gloves, everything but spats! :) I have some pics from halloween that I will try to post. BUT, I was amazed at all the compliments, because to my eyes its not right, tho obviously no one seemed to notice. Patsy brought me over to let everyone meet the person who made the suit, and I was sucked into several costuming conversations. One girl asked me if I made them to sell...another asked me a corseting question (still no clue how she got from a suit to a corset lol). One of the guys asked me if I could repair the satin collar of a vest or coat that he had. Everyone seemed genuinely impressed with it and were especially taken with the glove pockets.
(For those of you not familiar with men's period suits, Victorian in this case, a frock coat would have two hidden back pockets, open to the outside of the suit, on the seams to the left and right of the center back seam. One glove to each pocket keeps them handy and clean without ruining the line of the suit (as a chest pocket or hidden side pocket might.)
I was mostly stunned by all the praise. I still am. But it's certainly made me want to try again, since several things went wrong with that suit, and I was short on time due to work. We actually started the planning 6 months in advance, but when all the materials arrived, I was working 6 day weeks with my boss gone to Boston. Not much time for sewing. I did hand sew some things, like the buttonholes (and I used silk twist....it came out beautifully on the pants) and the hems. My blind hems were surprisingly...well, blind. :)
It looks fantastic on him, but I am still unhappy with it as it is not perfect. I'm just glad he seems happy with it.
Speaking of costumes, I've been watching seasons 1 & 2 of The Tudors.....and all I have to say is: Costume-gasm. Draw your own conclusions. :P
New Year's was spent in NYC, about 6 blocks from the million people in Times Square. My friend Beth invited me to a Masque Ball thrown by a favorite band of ours ($25 tickets) and I didn't hesitate to say Yes. (Only later I realized I would be in NEW YORK CITY, on NEW YEAR'S EVE, wtf was I thinking?)
A friend of ours joined us from CT and we all met in the city. It did rain/snow a little, but for the most part the weather thankfully held off. It was wet, slushy and cold. I took a VERY early bus, not sleeping the night before, as usual. Good thing I went early, as I was largely correct in my fears about traffic. Getting over the bridge into the city was bumper to bumper, sitting. Some poor guy next to me had to pee like mad....and we had a bus with no lavatory. 0_0 I did make it in, but I was about 30 - 45 minutes later than planned. No big deal tho. We went to Beth's apartment and chilled, ate dinner, got dressed, etc. Since it was a masque ball, I elected to buy a small, mock-Italian style mask for $30 online. Black with black glitter detailing, it was nice, small, and unassuming. (after wearing my huge Italian feathered mask for Halloween, I wasn't looking to go that route for a ball in a pub on a crowded New Year's eve. :P
I wore a black button down shirt, a short black skirt with a slit that I made...and my high platform heels. :D I also wore a lovely new onyx choker that M bought me for xmas, made by a Navajo artist. I did my makeup more than usual and I think it turned out very well. I also did mock "Victory Rolls" in my hair, a la 1940s. I did get a few requests of, how did you get your hair to do that?? I have a couple of meh pics on my phone...I'll see about posting one soon. ;)
We had good company this time as well. It was so nice to see people having a good time. No one seemed overly drunk...which was a nice change. We walked several times between Beth's apartment, the subway, and the pub, with our masks on...and received varying comments. One of which was from an Hispanic man making kissy faces at us from the platform as we sat in the subway train. *eyeroll*
The only thing that annoyed me was a couple references about me looking like Catwoman....something I hadn't considered when buying the smaller black mask. (It would have been an awesome black and white one, but they were out of stock and I didn't have time to paint a blank one, damnit.)
The band was awesome, the company was awesome, and a good time was had by all. LOL Worth the traffic and the money.
Xmas was quick and painless. hehe M got a brand new 40" LCD TV from me and my parents, but we installed it around Thanksgiving, since it was a combined birthday/xmas gift for him. My sister got DJ Hero and she LOVES it. She's good at it too. :) I got a LOT of Native American Jewelry from my store...which is good. I also got books: Men's Tailoring, 18th Century costumes in detail, a grammar book for studying Japanese, a coffee table book of photographs of Geisha, and a Colonial costume book from Williamsburg, VA. Mom said she went a little overboard, and she did, so I got a lot of what I asked for, except artwork. :D No big deal there, can't afford the framing anyway :P I got a couple of CDs from Patsy, one of them is a Bella Morte CD that I have been OBSESSING over since it arrived. LOVE it. :P
Thanksgiving was quiet and content at home with the family. The day before, I packed up the car and headed to Lancaster (detouring all around Philly with the GPS due to horrible weather and worse drivers, to avoid the main highway and it's closing due to an accident). Despite the travel, I had a great time. Another club trip, Patsy and I met up with some of his friends (I've met them before) and we all went together. The crowd was small, so we went upstairs and danced for a nice long while. The DJ was OUTSTANDING...playing NIN and TOOL and Rob Zombie and so many things I would play if I was a DJ. :) I saw him again last weekend and told him he needed to come out with a CD so I could buy it. If Paul Oakenfold can do it, why not him? :P He thanked me for saying so...very nice guy. The trip to the diner afterwards was HILARIOUS...I'll leave out the details, but OMG one of the younger guys in the group just slayed me. He's such a cutie...and was falling asleep in his chocolate chip pancakes, among other things, LOL. Half my age and I had so much more energy at 3 am than he did. 0_0
My feet did hurt like a biotch tho. I wore new boots, heels...and my poor feets! It was horrible!
I also had one of the best compliments ever while there. hehehe Patsy's friend wears fangs when we go clubbing, and he came over to me to ask me a favor. I said it depended what it was. He told me he almost never sees a woman with fangs (I have a pair now....not the ones I want, but good in a pinch), and he wanted to know if I would bite him. :P I told him I couldn't cause the fangs were the crappy halloween ones, and likely to just fall out or break. :( So, he nodded, then said, "So what's your (blood) type?" I laughed pretty hard at that one (he gets props for Most Original Pickup Line, from me) and said I didn't know. He perked up, literally, and said, "Taste test?" LOL I told him I was sorry, but if I went home with marks on me, my hubby would kill me and then hunt him down. :P He seemed disappointed, but understood. Hell, it made my night, that's for sure! :D
Okay...and I'm going to stop here to save space on the friends lists, LOL. There's some trivial things missing in here, but I'll pick them up in current events, hehehe, cause they're ongoing.
So next time, I have to get into The Great Halloween Costume Caper, and maybe touch on DragonCon, tho I may commit that to it's own post, cause a lot happens at a Con that big. :D
I'll try and get my pics situated so I can post them, hopefully tomorrow, with the next post.
Now....gonna pick someone on the list and check out the goings on. 0_0