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pinkleader
31 March 2008 @ 11:01 am
Hooray, Bob survives another year!  
Bob's Super-Party Pictures
308superparty 035

We've survived yet another one of Bob's birthdays. Happy Birthday Mr. Quatermain, and may your study of anal-ogy and anal-bum-covers go well. Heroes, Villains and those unclassified others all came together for one heroic night. Dr. Jekyll tended the bar, Mina Harker lay out an impressive buffet of tasty foods, Ursula was the best villain costume in attendance, and Rainbow Brite was determined the best "hero", although my money was on Black Canary. Sadly the karaoke machine didn't get used, but the trash and recycling bins are full so folks seemed to have a good time just the same. I think the total head count was 49; 45 heroes and villains, 2 lame folks not in costume (Matt? Freddy? Do I need to costume you next time myself?), and 2 super dogs.

Sunday morning, the secret hideout hosted yummy brunch to 16 secret identities. We had coffee, OJ, waffles, scrambled eggs, and 4 kinds of sausage; chicken and apple sausage, and 3 different types from Gunther's farm thanks to Drea's trip to the Raleigh Farmer's Market. Then we worked together to set the house back in order so little clues were left to the party the night before. Thanks for your help folks!

Alan and I spent the rest of Sunday napping, curled up by the roaring fireplace, and doing other little cleaning tasks. I love hosting this party every year, as we get a wonderful gathering of friends at our house, and we are also guaranteed to have a clean house at least once a year. :) We ended the night by catching Superman Returns on TV, which seemed very fitting given the weekend.
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Mood: giddy
 
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pinkleader
08 March 2008 @ 07:03 pm
bad movie, no popcorn!  
Dear SciFi Channel,

I admit I was interested when I saw the menu listing for a movie called Grendel showing. I wish I had read your IMDB entry before changing the channel. While I can forgive clown make-up on one of the women, and puffy sleeved princess dresses on the others, and I can forgive truly bad acting (because honestly SciFi, experience has taught me it's not your strong point), and I can forgive the invention of the crossbow by Beowolf... But what I can't forgive, what I could not get beyond that raised my blood pressure and made my eyes pop, was the use of cow-horns on helmets to distinguish Beowolf and his troops. There are many things we don't know about the past, but we are fairly certain that with all that is known that they didn't put freaking cow horns on their freaking helmets. argh!

Thank you for encouraging me to turn off the TV and pick up a book. I'm only glad I subjected myself no longer than 10 minutes.

No love,
me
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Mood: aggravated
 
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pinkleader
16 January 2008 @ 03:40 pm
MFA Visit  
Catherine, Tammy and I flew up to Providence on Wednesday night, picked up our rental car and drove to the hotel to hang out and chat a bit before snuggling into bed.

Thursday morning dawned nice and early and we got up, moving, and had yummy waffles for breakfast before getting on the road to be there close to the 10am opening of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Sadly I neglected to have a good Boston map on me and the GoogleMaps directions were confusing so trying to Zen drive my way back to the hotel was a hopeless failure. First I headed one way on Massachusetts Ave only to say it feels wrong and to turn around for a very very long way back to the hotel. Sigh. Yes, I was headed the right way to begin with. But we did get to drive through some cute neighborhoods, past Harvard, Cambridge, and finally gave up to ask for directions from folks who were equally lost, to then ask a very nice homeless lady who gave me great directions (so I gave her a $5) and we got to drive past Tufts University before finally making it back to I-93 and eventually to our hotel. At least we were sitting down for the drive. And then, I had to choose what I hoped would be the quieter of two restaurants only to choose the one with good food and really really bad karaoke. 
I.... did it MYyyyy waaaaayyyyy......  and we really wish he hadn't.

The ultimate lesson is; wear comfy shoes to museums, take a good map when driving in unfamiliar territory, if you do venture forth without a map-happily enjoy the view, don't let Gen pick the restaurant, and contact the museum well in advance to see the hidden collections items because it is truly worth it.
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Mood: amused
 
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pinkleader
01 November 2007 @ 11:44 am
Trick or Treat  
Hooray!

The neighborhood redeemed itself last night. While we didn't have the flood like in years previous, we certainly had a good crew of folks come by, and I am not forced to eat a ton of left-over candy by myself this year. We had a cute little witch with wig, hat and pink and black dress, an Incredible, a Jane Austen character, a pink leopard, Batman, and all other wonderful children out celebrating Halloween. Only a few were super greedy, like the Unicorn, and took more than two pieces, but most were charming and well behaved, like the lady pirate. We did get a few teenagers who didn't bother to dress up, and I gave them a piece each after harassing them, and making those few who had masks put them on, but all in good fun. I do still have some candy leftover, even after Isobel took a few pieces home to her Bob and we sampled the variety last night.

After the din died down, [info]theodorad(who had come over to hang out), [info]theblueleader(who was our wonderful house-guest for the week as she worked on a project), [info]attack_laurel(my partner in sugar distribution and costume adornment), Alan and I all turned off the lights and headed down to downtown Silver Spring for a late dinner at Ceviche. It was yummy, and great company, and we had an excellent time. Eventually friends made their ways home and we made our way to bed to end another fine Halloween.

And since I know you were dying to see, here is what I wore, and what Isobel wore:


Hope everyone else enjoyed their Halloween in the way they wanted to.
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Mood: amused
 
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pinkleader
31 October 2007 @ 02:48 pm
Pink-o-ween!  
So, I knew roughly what elements would go into my costume for today, but I was having trouble coming up with a solid answer for the "What are you dressed as?" question. It finally hit me this morning as all the elements came together:
My inner 5 year old.

I'll try to get someone to take a picture of me tonight to share tomorrow. 

I'm still a big fan of Halloween. Heck one of the main draws for me to the SCA is the variety of cultures and time periods to pull costume ideas from. I love to dress up. While no one else on my hallway has dressed up in the past 5 years, I always try to dress up as something. (I just have to make it a bit more professional something- no Smut-o-ween at work.) Last year I was a pirate, and I've also done Lara Croft, Cinderella from Ever After (complete with only one wing), a member of a harem, obscure Venus, a black widow, and I'm sure something else.  I got no less than 3 queries yesterday to see if I was dressing up today, so I had to not disappoint. So tonight, despite the dreadful turnout from last year, Isobel is still coming over to hang out and hand out what little candy we can, and then we'll do dinner and such. Nothing smashing, no bar, no dancing, but I guess we could turn on some music and dance in the living room, and I know Alan would make us drinks if we asked. If this year is as dead as last year, perhaps we'll have to think of formally closing up shop and checking out the haunted parts of MD instead. But I like seeing the cute little kids in costume and even don't mind harassing the lame teenagers before handing out candy.

Y'hear that neighborhood. This is your last chance to return to taking Trick or Treating seriously. Skip the mall.
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Mood: nostalgic
 
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pinkleader
24 April 2007 @ 03:52 pm
 
Normally I'm a fairly happy person. Lately though I've had people, from a gentleman at NOTT to a grocery store clerk, reminding me to smile. Normally I do, so that just reminded me that lately it hurts to smile, so I've apparently been looking grumpy. The TMJ is back to bugging me, and has been ramping up for the past three weeks. So I went to the doctor to get a stronger relaxant for nighttime on a temporary basis. I also called the specialist cranial sacral massage therapist, and have an appointment on Friday morning. In the meantime, soft foods and stress reduction, or something.

On a happy note though, the navy linen petticoat is completely hand sewn and is finished. First I sewed up the waistband with top stitching, then I finished the edges of the skirt rectangle with a running stitch. Next was the gathering, pinning and sewing down of the cartridge pleats. Then the front seam of the skirt was whip stitched up. Lastly the eyelets were added to the front of the waistband with blue linen thread, a lacing cord was fingerloop braided of the same blue linen, and then the hem was whipstitched in place. whoohoo. Progress went the fastest on Saturday during the Bandes workshop.

Saturday was the Bandes workshop at our place where targets got worked on, sewing, braiding and knitting got played with, and Gareth seemed to have a grand time playing with the pups and keeping an eye on them. It was fun to see folks, and while nothing grand got accomplished, many little things were done. Then we tidied up a bit for the Kynny and Freddy birthday party. There were wings, dips, and a groaning board of sushi, and a good time was had by all. Kirsten and I were up chatting until 4am, and Alan was up with the cadets much later. So Sunday was full of sleeping in, brunch of french toast, strawberries, sausage and bacon, and then naps later in the afternoon. I did manage a quick run by Michael's to utilize the 50% off coupon for framing of my recent scrolls.

Monday, UMUC did a small memorial service and moment of silence for the fallen from a week ago at Virginia Tech. I got asked to participate as a VT alumni. After the moment of silence, each victim's name was read aloud, a bell was rang and those of us in line took an orange rose from the podium to the pedestal of the sculpture in the center of the courtyard. I got to lay a rose down for Reema, the youngest victim. I couldn't help but think that the folks in line were too many, but it is amazing how much space 32 people take up. That in itself was a wake-up, trying to imagine our community without the other 31 folks in line was daunting. It certainly sent home the message that the impact will radiate out.

But on a final happy note, I bought some 14's from Old Navy yesterday. Whoohoo! Guess this means I really need to purge the 18s from the closet, a happy task indeed. I just need to find the time.
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Mood: blah
 
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pinkleader
18 April 2007 @ 01:19 pm
oh dear  

In the vein of life goes on, I just realized we are 23 days from the 400th Anniversary of Jamestown Landing Days. Holy crap. After the big push to get wool for Foods and Feasts, Training and MTA, I now need to hop on and get some linen ready for May. crappity crap crap.

On my list, in order:
  • new smock (or two)
  • new coif and forehead cloth
  • navy petticoat
  • pink petticoat
  • red jacket
  • linen payre of bodies
  • blue linen doublet
  • cassock?


I also need to do an A&S entry for Crown, which might end up being a smock. Two birds, one stone, all that.
crap. 
Nothing like turning to work to distract from reality. Hey, at least I got the lawn mowed yesterday afternoon. Took an hour with the push reel mower, so good exercise too.

you are lightskyblue
#87CEFA

Your dominant hues are cyan and blue. You like people and enjoy making friends. You're conservative and like to make sure things make sense before you step into them, especially in relationships. You are curious but respected for your opinions by people who you sometimes wouldn't even suspect.

Your saturation level is lower than average - You don't stress out over things and don't understand people who do. Finishing projects may sometimes be a challenge, but you schedule time as you see fit and the important things all happen in the end, even if not everyone sees your grand master plan.

Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.
the spacefem.com html color quiz
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Mood: cranky
 
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pinkleader
05 April 2007 @ 03:56 pm
the weather is here, I wish you were beautiful...  
Talked to my Mom this morning on the way into work. She was telling me about the fun of sailing for a week so far. They are currently down near Key West, and the weather is sunny and warm. She was lamenting the lack of wind this morning, but I hope that picks up for them. Their ultimate destination is the Bahamas, but their schedule isn't fixed. They used the radio and got in touch with a friend of the captain's and he tossed them some fresh stone crabs for dinner, which they then cooked and ate on the boat. My mom has been happily unoccupied as the ship's doctor, so has instead been enjoying the weather and fixing the mainsail cover's zipper with needle and dental floss, and knitting stuff, and crocheting bags for holding things below decks, and in general being a boat string monkey. 
Oh how I envy her. 
She tempted me to fly down and meet them somewhere and sail back with them, and if I had a valid passport, I'd be seriously considering it now. To quote Jimmy again, I wanna go where it's warm. 

All the while I was chatting with Mom on the phone, it is 38 degrees out, I'm driving to work, and there are snow flurries blowing about. Talk about your contrasts. I wished her wind, and she wished me warmth. I can only hope it works. 

I'm gonna feel a bit silly in Roman with merrels and wool socks (no, I don't have time to nalbind a pair of socks for my Roman persona just now), but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to keep warm. As far as projects, I still need to add the clavi to Alan and Bob's tunicas, and sew up the sides. I've also got a little hand sewing to do on Alyce's tunica, but other than that, she is ready to go. Also, have to run by the storage unit tonight to put the Prince and Princess stuff in storage and see if anything else needs to come to Coronation. 

I need a nap.
Somewhere it is warm preferred.
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Mood: envious
 
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pinkleader
16 January 2007 @ 10:42 pm
Twelfth Night wrap-up  

One of these days I will learn that if I'm gone for a four day weekend, I just can't catch up on everyone of my friends' blogs. sigh. 

Twelfth Night was quite a bit of fun. Fun friends, excellent outfits, lovely surprises in court, and tasty foods. Hard to argue with.
Along the tradition of Bests and Worsts...

Worsts:

-traffic, rain and getting on the road late
-bringing the tinker toy tent and it not being necessary
-roof rack installment madness (parts dept at dealer not winning me over, although I guess I shouldn't have waited until last minute to try it...)
-with the warm temperatures, the heat was a bit much occasionally
-not enough fruits and veggies to snack on during the day
-not being able to hear everything during the courts
-not inspiring shopping- but I might not have been in the mood

Bests:

-The awards! Roland's surprise, Kisaiya's vigil, Christian's double whammy and the prize fighting at Twelfth Night was apparently appreciated by the fencers, Val's Laurel, and Gracie's Pearl were awesome and fitting post feast announcements.

-The Food! The feast was beyond delicious, every single course was tasty and went away at our table. Seriously, if you got up and left the table when another course came out, you might as well as resigned your claim to that course, especially the desserts. Lots of other yummy snacks during the day rocked it too. I don't think I overdid it on the consumption either.

-The garb! So many folks looked very nice and really did it up for the day. Isobel always looks smashing, and so did many others, from Drea's 14th cent sideless with wimple and braids, to Gaston and Kisaiya's Turkish, to Thjora in the faboo squirrels, to Katerina in the German and Catherine in her gold Italian. Yummy. Really too many to mention.

-Not looking too shabby myself. The frustration of Thursday turned into inspiration on Friday morning. I cobbled together my Nobelese Oblige velvet bodies, my new doublet, my new wool skirt (which needs addition of more eyelets to lace it smaller) and a few pins to try pinning back the rolled edges of the doublet, and I think it turned out fairly cool. I'll have to get the pics off my camera.

-Excellent friends! Got to hang some with my Bera, and those crazy Sacred Stone ladies, fun folks around Isobel's booth, seeing the smashing Melisent, hanging out with folks at the fencing outside, fun with Moe and Kitty and the two gentlemen from Verona, as well as Corby, Thjora, Alan, Robert and Isobel at our fun feast table.

-New black pearl bracelet purchased from Isobel, which actually fits my big boned wrist. New fundraiser cast goodness from Kyna. Lovely thoughtful Twelfth Night presents from friends that made my basket overflow with joy.

-Making on Theo's embroidery machine and having Alan present a new white scarf for Christian to add to his loot from the day. I'm very glad he likes it and saw it displayed on his armor stand on Sunday. :)

-Fun with a 11pm donut run on Saturday night back at our hotel, and general fun relaxed hanging out with friends.

-Wonderful Sunday breakfast at the IHOP, and then way too much fun hanging out and seeing Chris and Tracie's new place. We stayed at the Walter's Dojo until after 6pm, when we finally dodged out to dinner at Outback before getting on the road. Got to spend time with lots of fun folks on Sunday from hanging with the Bera and pups, to chatting with Fiona, teaching Anneke fingerloop braiding basics, and just chilling with Oddny and Kisaiya, and friends while I worked on taking in the seams on my petticoat bodies. Alan and Thjora and all those who showed up seemed to have a good time fighting all day, if a bit sore on the drive home.

-Excellent friends in Corby and Thjora who let us crash at their place on the way home so we didn't have to hotel or push on through to be home at 3am. Nice comfy bed, adoring pups and blueberry scones for breakfast. What's not to like?

-Resting up on MLK Day, from sleeping late and napping in the truck on the way home, to a nap once home and going to bed early. My body obviously needed the rest as I thought I was coming down with something else and a scratchy throat, but I'm doing much better today.

-Best of all, I'm 2 pounds down this week even after lobster bisque, a country ham biscuit, IHOP and Krispy Kreme indulgences. 

Hooray! I think I need a nap...

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Mood: content
Sounds: Miami Ink on TLC
 
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pinkleader
31 October 2006 @ 11:29 am
Happy Halloween!  
Today Normal Wacky Gen is replaced by Pirate Gen! Arrggghh!  Alas I had to leave the wheel lock, cutlass and parrot at home. Gonnes and swords not being allowed on a college campus, and the parrot would greatly hinder work productivity, as well as create a mess on my shoulder. I do have both the Pyrates Royale playing as ambiance in the office, as well as the Backyardigan's A Pirate Says Arrr! in my head.  Whoo hoo!  You can hear the Backyardigan's here on YouTube, but ignore the video (which is funny but NOT the Backyardigans) as I couldn't find it free elsewhere.

Arrgh.

So a bit of a cop out as the pirate costume is left over from Lost Cause's Xmas performance, but it is still applicable and works for today.  Interestingly enough I've gotten both smiles and giggles and not an eyelash batted at my outfit today in the office.  I wonder what would happen if I dressed up as a pirate every day? 

Last night, on a whim on my way home from the storage unit, I swung by a Giant to grab more rubber bands for braiding my hair, essential to any pirate outfit. While I was there I grabbed a couple of cute small pie pumpkins. So instead of carving one giant jack-o-lantern, I carved two itsy cutie jack-o-lanterns, while watching Corpse Bride. Let me tell you, they are really really precious. Alas, I mailed my digital camera back to the manufacture for repair this weekend since the lens was malfunctioning, so I have no way to share pictures of it.  Perhaps I'll ask AoD to bring over her camera tonight to capture their cuteness.

I think I am prepared for the onslaught of urchins this evening, and happily the Angel of Death is coming over to help me hand out candy. Afterward the plan is to join folks out for dinner post fighter practice.

Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!
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Mood: mischievous
Sounds: Pyrates Royale
 
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pinkleader
30 October 2006 @ 11:41 am
Dressing up?  
So, question time? How many folks plan on dressing up at work for Halloween?

Back in my days in IT, it was common to at least get dressed up for the IT Halloween party as there were prizes and lots of great (office) fun on Halloween. I've been everything from a harem girl, to a black widow spider, to Cinderella from Ever After, to Venus and Lara Croft. But my current position is much more professional, and I haven't dressed up much in recent years. This year though I'm thinking of going pirate, since it will be easy. Put a little spider web table cloth on your door and a magnetic bat on the lintel and all of a sudden, I've raised my co-workers' anticipation of Halloween. It will mean I won't have to re-dress up that night to hand out candy.

So, could you dress up for the occasion tomorrow, and will you? Just curious.

This weekend was yet another one of being trapped by the snuggly fire roaring in the fireplace. It trapped us for random TV on Friday, and for my picture organization on Saturday morning/afternoon, as well as for random TV and conversation with Theo and Roland on Sat night. The Hun-e-B will be happy to know that the evil acidic photo eating pages she saw last month are now gone, and my old photos from high school will be better preserved. I also found some more old photos, especially one of the cat that I grew up with, as well as the ponies my grandfather bought and took care of for us. Need to scan those and load them into Flickr. Sat, Theo made fresh homemade marshmallows, the alien, and they were super tasty roasted over the fire post sushi dinner. Alas, we neglected to get graham crackers though.

Sunday was spent sucked in by a Hex marathon on BBC America. Alan always laughed when he walked by and saw the confused/intrigued look on my face. It is an odd show, and yet oddly compelling. And really difficult to describe with fallen angels, witches, lesbian ghost best friends, and whatnot. At least I got a lot of knitting and sewing done this weekend in front of the tube, as well as many hours radiating in the glorious heat of the fireplace.

Next weekend is Crown, and I have to run by the storage unit tonight to sign a new lease, now that we have to pay to store the regalia and properties, as well as fish out goods for the Heirs. le sigh.

So, does anyone know why my beloved Netscape 8.1 crashes when I try to create a new LJ post? I hate turning to IE just to post, and Netscape has all my bookmarks and the familiarity of a well worn blankie.
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Mood: weird
Sounds: screams of the gifted Halloween booby-doormat
 
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