Let them Eat Cake!
(yummy yummy icing...)(perhaps that is why the tubs of icing remain in the fridge...)

Bob's party was yet again a costumed spectacle. And I was only an hour late getting into my costume. Keilyn was the only one to show sans-costume, but lucky for her I hadn't gotten around to making Ewok hoods. I might need to make one for Freddy for skipping the party this year. Almost 30 friends; two fighting Padme's, a few other Padme's and Leia's and even two Ventresses, not to mention a couple of Storm Troopers and Solos, Count Dooku, a minature Darth Vader, and the best Obi-Wan and cutest Ewok on the planet!

'Twas awesome, and I am intensely sorry to those who missed it. I'm also grateful to TJ, CG, and Bob for helping with my hat so I didn't have to go around bare-headed...

The feather boa was a big hit (feather boa at a Star Wars party? tough to explain...) and this is one of my favorite pics of the party, of our lovely hostess:

Snow Day!

One of my 3rd favorite things about working in academia. I've spent the day sleeping in, playing on the intarwebs, playing with the pup in the snow, embroidering, and watching Sweeny Todd. I need to make a batch of snowcream before too much longer.

This weekend was a great one. Spent Saturday cleaning the house, organizing and putting away a bunch of piles. The house looks so much better, aside from the random innards of doggie toys. It is nice to have a clean house, though I hate getting and keeping it that way.

The party was fabulous. Had a great time and the warm company of many friends. We even had a wonderful Gina sighting which was awesome. The purple decorations were a hit, the food was faboo, and the birthday girl(s) were sparkeling. The Ladybug was even relatively well behaved, though I did leash her to me or Alan most of the time.

We said our goodbyes to Kirsten on Sunday morning, and spent most of the day lazing about, expect a brief visit to the Wheaton Dog Park where she was a bit of a snarly monster at some of the other doggies. I was hoping to tire her out enough that she wouldn't be too uppity for the final Basic Training test tonight. Due to the snow we have a delay in the test until next week which gives us a another week to practice. Which we can probably use.

But she is cute!

Must get this out before the Rabbit Hole day...

In non-pup related activities for this weekend I:

• made pretty tasty gingerbread cookies, most round, but a few in fleur shapes
• did a bit more gold-work on the embroidered panel, both during the ride down on Saturday morning, and while chilling on Sunday morning
• got to see many fine friends, and even spend a bit of quality time with them
• admired the truly cunning hats stringmonkey  was delivering
• had an excellent period evening where I; congratulated Anthony on his promotion up to the house from the Gamble's kennels, ate some really tasty desserts (including the macaroons!), played a few hands of Put and a couple of rounds on the Goose board, sang along with the group, and just had a fun time.
• oogled Grace's book on Beetle Stumpwork Embroidery that I must chase down
• chatted with friends about embroidery, the fun special threads, techniques, etc.
• chatted with Caleb about embroidery, but also the cool metal threads and the spangle and oes creation techniques
• barely used the camera since I was too focused on keeping the world on the proper axis
• napped on the couch

It was exciting and busy for more than just the pup, and I think I'm still wore out. I could use a snow day or delayed opening tomorrow...

Pictures from the "Future Ain't What It Used To Be" party at Two Dog Hill:

It seemed most folks were either members of the establishment or the New World Order or members of the revolution. There was a foreclosure notice, a cab driver, something completely indescribable, and a pissed off go-go-girl, among other guests. Regardless, The Man had us under surveillance all night.

Me? I was a political prisoner:


And a fun time was had by all, although at least one person had too much fun.

Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful, and reminded me of things to truly be thankful for.

We drove down to Mike and Kirsten's for their Lost Lambs Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday morning. We skipped traffic, and were greeted by many friends and soon-to-be friends. It was great to see a whole host of folks, especially the ones rarely seen like Evja and her Tom, as well as the Caitlin and Naro. The food was plentiful and delicious, and the company was beyond compare. I was able to sit and chat a bit, embroider some, examine a simple antique loom and research information on how it may be warped for the new owner, showed off pictures of T-bone's eldest daughter with her pink rifle at the range, as well as help with some of the set-up, and redirect a child who was trying to open a nut with the pointy tines of a gardening tool that a rock might be easier and safer. There was no football, no Macy's Parade, and yet the day was full.
For friends, old and new, present and absent, I am blessed with a richness of company I am proud and humble to have around me.

We spent the night at Two Dog Hill, and after a leisurely morning of leftovers for breakfast, as well as Caitlin's fabulous blueberry bread, we kidnapped Kit and stole her away to Jamestown. We only worked a half day at Jamestown Settlement on Friday, but were kept busy by the wealth of visitors with interesting questions and a thirst for knowledge. I spent most of the four hours with Sandy at the Devon Oven, not baking, but being the mouthpiece to her activities to engage those interested in the methods of cooking of the past, and some of the daily life experiences those first folks to Virginia may have endured.
For the opportunity to participate in such a fun volunteer activity and have some faith restored in the creativity and search for information on history by the visitors, I am thankful.

Afterward, we retreated to Carla's rental condo for showers, easy pannini sandwiches for dinner and yet more interesting company. While a tired lot, we had Jimmy to entertain us, fun time with Cindy from JYF and excellent tales of the visitors experienced that day.
I am grateful for the gift of laughter.

Saturday we decided against a return to Jamestown since someone's back was unhappy from spending a day in armor, and someone else was a bit peopled-out. We helped pack up the condo and make cookies for breakfast using tin-foil and got back on the road home to Two Dog Hill, in a car full of fine conversation. Once returned we were greeted by a treed Corby, and very happy pups, and settled down for a bit more of a visit, and a nap, and some more embroidery before whisking off to downtown Charlottesville to join Rich and Genie in a post charity hockey game meal. The food was yummy, and again the company and conversation was fine. We were again captivated by stories of minor, if anticipated, family drama, and I only had a little of someone's Liquid Love (cocktail drink) spilled down my back, with good natured ribbing on the wet stickiness. :) Alan and I made it home safe and sound that night and crashed into our own bed with a happy belly of food and fun music in our heads.
For the freedom to do as we please and alter plans, I am lucky.

Sunday was spent sleeping in to the sound of the rain, taking care of some of the minor projects around the house, like hanging the hall bath mirror, hanging shower curtains, putting away parts of the kitchen into the upper cabinets, and given the opportunity to really consider placement and usage, and enjoy the new space. (Kirsten, the tea has been moved to be mostly over the electric kettle instead of crammed in a cabinet beside the stove.) I looked at the leftover paint chips from the bathroom consideration, and used it for a first level weeding out of colors and tones for paint, but I think we really need the countertops in before a final decision is reached. I meant to do some shopping, but the rain and inertia kept me home snuggled on the couch.
I am thankful for a comfortable home, and my Alan to share it with.

Last night was the delayed shopping for my Salvation Army Christmas Angels. I shopped for 3 hours trying to carefully choose items needed and hopefully desired by the disadvantaged children chosen. Normally I try to get two angels about my nieces ages so I can shop for twice the folks in the time given. This year I took on three siblings of different years, primarily due to the eldest daughter being a larger girl at only age 11. I hope most of all for her I was able to find clothes to make her feel pretty and boost her confidence. I also used some coupons at DSW to get her and her brother shoes that might last them a while, but still appeal to their youth. Naturally gift receipts are included so that color preferences or incorrect sizes can be exchanged. I bargain shop, but also try to get a good haul for the children I host, knowing that they are lucky to be loved, but not lucky enough to have extra for even some necessities. I spend more on these children than I do for my own nieces likely, but my nieces rarely need clothes and shoes, and mostly do not want for goods, activities, nor affection. And while I love to give to the Red Cross (good), Doctors Without Borders (great), and Heifer International (amazing!), I know that these gifts go directly to the children who may not expect much of a celebration despite the time of the year.
For the ability and inclination to be charitable, I am thankful for my job and my upbringing.

The pussy-willow paper is down! hooray!

We are scheduled to have our guest bathroom remodel start in a week or less. As I was pulling the towels from the guest bath yesterday to do laundry I realized that then was the time to finally remove the striking wallpaper. So, after starting the laundry, and futzing a bit, I got to work taking off the towel bar, switch plates, shower curtain rod, medicine cabinet, and Alan helped with the mirror and TP holder removal. Then I got to indulge in one of my favorite activities and the wallpaper came down very easy. There is still a bit behind the light that needs to come down, but the majority is removed to allow the workers to do their thing. I still need to wash the walls to remove the glue, but I tried a small patch last night and it shouldn't take too long. (Update: Metro Bath and Tile starts tomorrow morning! Awesome!)

It is a bit of a love-hate relationship. I love to remove wallpaper and I hate wallpaper in general, but I admit to a bit of fascination with the strange paper they put in the hall bath. It is unique, and ugly, but also a bit compelling with the tones of silver and gray, shiny, with streaks of deep red. I did save some large pieces that I hope to comb through to find a good section to clean up and frame for posterity. Alas, I don't think the framed section of wallpaper will fit with the color scheme of the new bathroom, so I'll probably display it in my sewing room or something like that. I also did remember to take some before pictures for comparison after the remodel is complete.

Other than some destruction, we had a lovely Saturday night and Sunday morning celebrating Robear's 50th Birthday with good food and excellent company down at Two Dog Hill. I got a bit of puppy time, and Robear and I indulged in some pumpkin fluff on pancakes for breakfast. Yum! Happy Birthday Bear and Moe!

Save the pink fabric I bought at war, the last load of laundry is done, and needs putting away. Some progress is better than none.



This was an excellent war, even if low-key for me. My first few days were relaxed, and spent mostly in camp trying to shake off the rest of the sickness. I spent a lot of time in camp fingerloop braiding pink strings to hand out to those fighters in the Free Scholar Charity tournament who donated above the minimum. I made 41 cords, and gave the extras to kids in camp, and such. I was glad to see folks wearing them the rest of the war. At last count $645 was raised for the Susan G Komen Foundation, which was very gratifying.

I spent more than a little time on the field MOLing. The Charity Tourney hosted 28 fighters and raised quite a sum. Giacomo was the runner up, and Wistric was the winner overall. The Youth Rapier Tournament had 7 participants, 4 over the age of 15, and 3 below. 31 teams, a total of 154 fighters, participated in the Atlantian 5 Man Melee Tournament on Wednesday morning, with Team Caer Mear victorious upon the field. And finally I assisted with the Atlantia-Aethelmearc Youth Rattan Tourney, running the Division 3 field. There were 9 teams of 5 fighters, so 45 fighters total between the ages of 14-17. Alas I screwed up the pairings at some point, didn't get the memo about the time constraint, and well, it wasn't my best day. The kids seemed to have a good time for the most part, which is ultimately the most important, and Scatamoosh was the undefeated winner overall.

Some of my time was spent working on the embroidery for Catherine Grace's laurel shawl, and planning for her vigil and elevation. I think I could have done better on the embroidery, except that much of it was done by pumpkin-light, and the wool, while gorgeous, was very unlike the evenweave linen I had previously done those stitches on. We were very glad to be part of making her vigil and elevation special and memorable for a very deserving lady.

I finally got to do shopping on the last day and picked up a new hairstick, a book on the collections in the Isabella Stewart Gardner musuem, some silk embroidery floss, lots of pink linen in three different shades, and some coral and glass beads to make a little paternoster.

It a was fun, hectic, inspiring, and entertaining week.

For nq3x and all those patiently waiting...

From the attack_laurel party:

Wow, what a weekend. Some have already mentioned portions of our weekend, but it was food and friends heavy, and both were enjoyed.



And here I sit, finishing the laundry, watching the Discovery channel, and playing on the computer. Good, but tiring weekend, that's for sure.

I think the joke is on me. I could have sworn that I slept fine last night. I even overslept this morning by more than a fair bit. But alas, my body still thinks it needs 8 more hours of sleep given the uncontrollable yawning I've been participating in this morning.
mnyah mnyah... yaaaawwn.

So I completely forgot to mention the wittle mousie party crasher we had on Saturday. And I completely regret that I didn't take a picture of her clutched in attack_laurel's claws before she was set free in the park. Stupid stupid Gen.

Bob's Super-Party Pictures


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.

Friday night, after battling traffic to get home, Alan was disinclined to want to leave the house. So I picked up dinner from Harry's, and we snuggled in at home and went to bed a little early.

Saturday, I slept in late, Alan made brunch, and then we went out to the Men's Wearhouse to look into replacing some of his dress shirts and his charcoal gray suit. Sadly, there was badness at work, and he took a few calls at the store, and then we headed home so he could head into work. So poor Alan was at work from around 3 until 10ish. I thought about going out for some shopping errands on my own, but decided to conserve gas and money and stay home to read, watch tv and nap. Belatedly I headed over to Roland and Theo's for an indescribable evening of muppetry and alcohol. I confess I liked the Mhanamana alcoholic purple kool-aid, but eventually deferred to my signature Janice, a Mike's Hard Lemonade. Peep art was created (I claim the Marie Antoin-peep before and after, Buffy the Vampeep slayer, and Zompeeps), sugary snacks were imbibed, as well as savory tasty nibbles, Muppets were watched, music was sung along to, Hobbes the Fuzzy Loofa was played with while Ninja-Kitty hid, inner Muppets were more or less assigned, and a good time was had by all. Alan confessed his father's affinity for the Muppets, which helped explain Alan's otherwise inexplicable advanced Muppet knowledge. You learn something new everyday. It was a great evening spent with friends.

Sunday was more sleeping in, relaxing, watching DIY tv, reading and in general spending time snuggled deep in my comfy chair. I finally finished reading Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley, which was great once I got beyond the first 50 pages. In general I think she does better with young female voices, but she made it work for a teenage male voice this time. Quite an enjoyable read in my opinion.

Oh, and not surprisingly my inner muppet is Janice...

Had a wonderful weekend. We started off with a lazy Friday night of delivery pizza (bad, I know, but so tasty) and a viewing of Live Free or Die Hard in the Space-bar.

Saturday morning we got up, got showered, got dressed and got on the road to alisandramel's wedding to her Dr. Steve. We managed to be early, not a normal feature for me, which was great for chatting with friends. The ceremony was brief but lovely, with a beautiful bride radiant in red, and teary-eyed/sniffle inducing vows. It was wonderful to witness. Then we were shunted off to the reception site as the main party members stayed behind for photos. We departed to brunch at Maggiano's in Tyson's Galleria for a really fun party with tasty food, entertaining music and the best of company. The best man had a touching toast for the happy couple, the first dance was smooth, and the cake (made by the bride and groom themselves) was truly yummy. We hung out for hours visiting with friends, meeting family, and in general having a excellent time. Of course, I forgot my camera, so I have no photos to share of the happy occasion. We departed late and got home to nap, snack and watch Die Hard 2: Die Harder in the basement before crashing.

Sunday we had brunch with Matt, Susan and the boys at Ram's Head in Savage Mill, which was fun and the boys were pretty well-behaved. Speedwagon has celebrated his first birthday, and big brother is a big 4 years old. We enjoyed our Harbor Brunches of crab cakes and eggs, while Matt dove into some Eggs Bennie.The food, as always, was yummy, and we had a lovely time just hanging out and chatting, about sailing in Florida among other topics. We've got our flights booked, Camp Grandma arranged for their boys, and a day-sail planned with my folks and Captain Walter aboard his sailboat for the first weekend in April. It is a trip we are very much looking forward to, and a sailing excursion is well overdue.
We finished off the day with a little antiques window shopping and a showing of Bull Durham in the basement.

It was an excellent, if not productive, weekend.

 Ymir was fun. I am sick again. I tried very hard not to be Plague Monkey X and keep my distance. I got to meet Molly the Papi-poo, who was too cute and I hope she finds a loving home. I didn't do any service, beyond sweeping out the cabin some and perhaps some consultation. In general I just visited with folks and had a nice, slightly drug enhanced, day.

I did take some pictures of Lisette's heavy rapier authorization, Theron's knighting, and our silly partying back at the cabin later. Enjoy!

*cough- hack* Time for bed.

 I had a good weekend. (Too good of a weekend if you ask the bathroom scale...) 

Friday night we were lazy and ordered a pizza while we watched the Tomb Raider Double Feature on HD TNT. It was cool, with limited commercial interruptions, and I got to contemplate outfits for Bob's next party. Alan had also started a fire in the fireplace, so I watched much of the movies from the floor near the fire with my knitting in hand. I got a start this weekend on a pair of stockings for Plimoth Plantation, and so far things appear to be going well. 

Saturday was alisandramel's Bridal Shower of amazing pinkness. The pink was apparently to annoy her, but there were pink balloons, pink napkins and cutlery, and folks mostly came in pink-ish PJ's. Though Mel in her custom pink union-suit was the best part. We had a great afternoon of sitting around and chatting, and reading from a 1950's book of articles on a Successful Marriage (yes, I found the article on petting amusing), and playing the TP dress game, and eating way too much tasty food, including the biggest, densest, and tastiest cake I'd had in a long time. We all had such a ball that we even overstayed the time allotted, and finally removed the burden of playing hostess from Christy and left. 

I had carpooled to the event with Theo, and got a ride home from Vic who was staying with us overnight. I had offered to those who wanted to continue the Slumber Party theme into the night that our home (with bartender) was available. I also called the attack_laurel  and her Bob to come on over since I had a feeling she'd like some Vic time too. We hung out and partied well into the evening with delivery chinese food and sushi, as well as purple drinks from the bar, pool and girlie movies in the basement, and lots of fun chatting in the living room. I ended the evening knitting in the basement, after folks had gone home, and watching Firefly. I then went upstairs to clean up from the party, re-load the dishwasher since Mel's sis had put in items that aren't dishwasher friendly, re-stacked to include other found items of glassware, and dug through the trash to find the missing spoon, japanese soy sauce dish, and pair of permanent chopsticks, before setting the dishwasher to run overnight.

Sunday morning was waffles and chicken mango sausages with Vic before she got on the road to visit with a friend before heading back home. (Vic was kind and helped me unload and reload the dishwasher before she got on the road.) Hooray for fun guests. Then we settled down to the work at hand. Alan had plans to take down and rebuild the 90 gallon fish tank in the living room to do a fish rotation before the delivery of the new 90 gallon fish tank and stand for the den. While Alan was playing with fish and fish poo water, I set to working on the closet re-org in the blue guest room. Phase One was planning and buying materials from the Container Store Elfa shelving sale a few weeks ago. Phase Two was demolition of the old cheap closet system trying not to tear up the walls too much. Phase Three was completed last night before the bulk of the Superbowl, which was spackling, sanding, painting and cutting in on the edges of the closet. Now that those are done, we can get on with Stage Four which is installation of the Elfa closet system and putting back away more organized of the pile of stuff currently taking up residence on the guest bed and floor of the guest room. We pack a goodly amount of stuff in that 7'x5'x2' space. :)

Sadly the weekend ended with the Patriots losing, me screwing up a row in the knitting and having to take it out and re-doing it poorly (twisted stitches), and us losing our two pink-striped torpedo barbs and the jawless rainbow fish in the trauma of moving them to a holding tank while the living room tank is redone. sigh.

 Quick Winter break re-cap.

We went to visit the Toscanos on Saturday, and also delivered some old furniture and clothes to the Salvation Army. eleanors_closet and Alan ended up doing the final clearing out of the storage unit, while I entertained Jimmy with a distracting cookie-hunt and chatter. We stayed to visit and tour the new abode, and enjoy a yummy dinner with them and Carla. Got home a bit late, but had an excellent time. The new house is uber cool and I had way too much fun playing with the beagles.

Sunday we had thought of shopping, but bummed about the house instead. I honestly don't know what we did.

Monday we finally broke down and did Christmas shopping for each other together. We braved the Rockville Best Buy and picked up DVDs and a shredder that we placed in our stockings and under the tree. Then we got cleaned up and had a wonderful dinner out at Timpano's in Rockville. The skillet-roasted prawns and lobster ravioli was yummy, as was the Rosa Regale to drink and the mini-tartufo dessert. Though we had reservations, we did have to wait a bit to get seated, but we enjoyed the floor show of the various other patrons, the un-equal division of labor for the hostesses, and the creeping fake palm dragged out of its niche by staff passing by that I nudged back in place a time or two. We enjoyed ourselves immensely just the two of us, and then tried out the local Episcopal church around the corner. The music was lovely, and the service was nice, but I confess it clashed with the comforting ceremonies and hymns of my Lutheran upbringing (the final lines in What Child is This is not a chorus but a changing line for each verse! sigh), and even Alan balked a bit at the change in language of the Common Book of Prayer from the 1940 version he was accustomed to. It was very interesting, and we were singled out immediately during the sharing of peace and end of service as new and possible recruits. Not terribly likely given our schedules. commitments, and my propensity to sleep in, but neat to try just the same. 

Christmas Day I slept in late and we opened our "presents" and after testing the new shredder, making breakfast and watching Shrek 3, we bustled off to cathgrace's for Christmas dinner with the Griffith's. The company was wonderful, even if we did have a bit of trouble getting on base leaving our new car insurance cards at home. The food was awesome and very tasty, and we stayed much longer than we had initially thought we would. It is just so easy to get wrapped up in conversation that we didn't depart until close to midnight. Despite neglecting to do the cat-check (luckily Alan and I survived only a little sniffly and short of breath), we had an excellent time, and I thank them very much for sharing their Christmas dinner and day with us. It was fabulous getting to know them all a little better. (Thanks to chargirlgenius  for the other orphan offer, and maybe some other time.)

The rest of the week was spent hanging out, blissfully sleeping in, getting a hair-cut and massage and doing a bit of shopping with the post-Christmas sales and using up for coupons and gift cards. I got Alan a new sweater jacket for wearing around the house since we are trying to cut back a bit on the heating bill, moi some new clothes at Gap and Loft sales, some new underthings, as well as new skillets and a conair hairstyling brush and hair dryer in one. So far everything is working out well. Well, except the new casual pants I bought and wore on Saturday only realizing at the end of the day that the tag says wash before wearing, thus leaving me with blue legs. 

The finale to our break was hosting the Black Tie Brash Billionaire Bash New Years Eve party at our place. I had a lovely new (sale) evening gown to wear, and Corby brought me a cheap fleur-de-lys tiara. Alan wore a bow-tie as the bartender down in the space bar, and lots of folks came dressed up. It was so great to spend the evening with friends, even those who had to leave early for various reasons. Bob and I played pool in the basement with the Great Short Horde, since Issac, Emmie and Brandon were in attendance and seemed to have a great time hanging out together all night. The kids even stayed up for the midnight toast (they drank sparkling cider) and then crashed out for a bit as the adults stayed up and chatted for well into the wee hours of the morning. theodoraddid an amazing job providing the food for the party and making it tasty and upscale to the theme. Friends brought other food contributions that were tasty as well. Heck I had alisandramel's chocolate cake for lunch today since our rotten work cafeteria doesn't open up until tomorrow and we all forgot.  

The clean-up was smooth thanks to our glorious friends. We set sircorbyto making waffles for breakfast for those that stayed overnight, and I spent the meager rest of my winter break watching the Dirty Jobs marathon on the Discovery Channel last night until crash time.

 

Okay, it only took me 5+ years to get around to organizing a little album for Alan's Mom, and putting some of our wedding photos online. We've got at least 200 more, but here are a few from our photographer that I choose to get a feel of the day. I particularly enjoy the ones where the subjects are making a connection instead of just posing for the camera.

 Woke up this morning with a pain in my neck. No, not Alan. (He's cute and snuggly and warm.) An actual pain in my neck on the left-hand side. The Thermacare neck wrap has helped some, but after a while the heat makes me itch, so I had to take it off. Have to see the chiro tonight, and I scheduled a massage for tomorrow afternoon. I've been feeling the tension building in my neck and jaw for a while now, so a visit with the craniosacral massage therapist is definitely in order. 

Sadly, Alan and I aren't headed down to VA for the farmhouse final demolition. I'd like to, but tales of the mold from last time make me hesitant. Besides I've got projects I need to work on at home and bang out before too much time escapes from me. Hawaii is coming quickly. Must have the pain in the neck gone by then, among other prep things.

So, Wednesday night we went with the intrepid Morgensterns to see the Taming of the Shrew with the Shakespeare Theater downtown. It was wonderful; excellent cast, the lighting and sound cues were brilliant, I loved the costumes, and the stage, and it totally made up for the terrible Hamlet we walked out on. The entire theater was rolling in the aisles we were laughing so hard. The pink argyle dress and the revolving door torture about did me in. It was not traditional, but very very well done, and apparently the dates have been extended another week to 11/25. I highly recommend this play to those who love wit, camp and the theater. Trust me on this one.

The photographer has posted pictures from Mike and Cosette's wedding. While they missed the best shot ever, they caught quite a few choice ones. This is one of my favorite shots they took at the ceremony. Visit the link and say it with me folks, awww.... 

But before we got to the reception of great cake, we drove down to Richmond early to meet up with the Nia, who it seems like I haven't seen in a coon's age, but in reality I think it has only been a year. It was fabulous to get quality Nia time, fun Nia stories of libraries, and evil librarians, and scorpions, and wikipedia, and stupid questions. We had an great time with a late lunch at a local Ruby Tuesday that lasted for hours in the full of fun conversation kind of way. The we retired back to her place for more chatting before we had to be whisked away to the hotel to check in and change. 

We made it to the party just in time, saw the bride walking in and she told us where to park. She looked stunning. He looked dashing and handsome and almost worthy of her. Together they were cute and pie, er.. cake, and both had the wonderful look of love like they're sharing the same inside joke. We partook of the yummy nibbles, chatted with many old and new friends, and then Vic had to mention that photographing weddings was so boring since all folks do is sit around and talk. So I got up and did an interpretive dance (very poorly), and staged other fun scenes like the attack on poor puck_eater , and in general tried to liven things up. We (Aedan suggested it and I did the work) also convinced ccunning  that as the principal of the White Scarves it was his job to herd them all for the classic Provost wedding shot. Not to be out done, halowenslut  called for the Provost spouses for a picture, which I'm sure was also amusing to the audience. We ate the yummy cakes after the groom made a toast to his bride, and then they didn't smear cake on each other's face. It's nice to be occasionally dignified. We also got the chance to look at some of the cool miniature pieces of art on display. Some were truly impressive, and some were less than so. All were entertaining in one fashion or another, from Member #2 to the Love Bugs. As the party wound down, we all said our farewells and made our separate ways to various lodgings. We went back to our hotel, bemoaning the fact that we didn't pack swimsuits for the pool, and then crashed in bed.

Sunday we made our way to visit the Moore's after a breakfast stop by Waffle House first. I got to indulge in a waffle, country ham, and some grits, which are by no means healthy, but they were darn tasty. theodorad  indulged in the jukebox, thankfully asking me to pick a few, so we ranged from Alan Jackson's cover of 5 O'clock Somewhere and Walmart Parking Lot to Sunday Morning and Get This Party Started. Finally we got to meet sweet Grace Moore, in all her cute cuddly freshly bathed pink wonderfulness. I still say she liked me best, but I was wearing pink to test the like attracts like theory. But in addition to cute baby snuggling, we had the awesome chance to catch up with bdeb  and laruse  and just sit and chat for another few hours. It was a weekend full of stress-free socializing with friends, and that is always time well spent.

And that, folks, catches you up on the last week in my world.

Do I get to clock in as the latest update from this weekend? 
University was. Well, it just was. The weekend as a whole was wonderful, and that's what really counts.

We started Saturday morning much earlier than I prefer, getting on-site with the Registrar and attack_laurel by 8am to locked doors. When the doors got unlocked, they scurried in to set-up the reg table, as I stayed outside and help set up a classroom tent with the hungover Aradd, the broken William the Younger, and various cast and crew of folks. First, a 5lb sledge is much better than a 3lb, and the normal claw hammer just gave me a headache. Second, in my world, oval tents are from the devil. I know, they are are period and pretty and meet with the proper aesthetic, but getting the oval right for an OCD like me is hell. I had to content myself with standing and stable and just walk away. I spent the rest of the day working at the Uof A registration tables, when not running errands or messages back and forth, or just socializing. I missed the Pearl Meeting since it was at 10am, and the reg tables don't really calm down until 10:30am.  

Oh yeah, it was hot, but I think others have mentioned that. ;)

Court was lovely with two deserving ladies receiving their Pearls. Hooray! I envy the amazing hat powers of lady_guenievreand was so happy for her. (BTW G, I meant to weave you a new cord for the medallion, but forgot/didn't get around to it. If you want a fingerloop braided cord, just let me know color preferences and I'll see what I can do. I'd guess blue.) After court, I took orders for lunch from UofA staff members for Marathon Deli, best local gyros ever! Mmm.. yummy gyros. Hadn't had one in what seems like forever. Then I whittled away the afternoon working at the reg table, chatting with friends, sewing a very little bit, searching my brain for etched glass examples for one lady, and chatting with laruseabout Roman garb and Pennsic in a small effort to both enjoy her company and distract her from the nerves of teaching a new class. :) Finally UofA drew to a close, we picked up the trash in the registration area, collected the last of the rosters, and eventually headed home to a party. 

I had had the wonderful idea of having a post-UofA cookout at our place afterward, but in the ultimate in laziness, I only got around to sending out an invite late on Thursday night to the V'Ermine list only. Sorry if anyone wanted to come and didn't feel invited. It was not intentional, just an attack of the stupid. My bad. But we had wonderful friends show up, an Evja sighting, Corby on the grill, lots of food, and a good time was had by all. We even had a lisettelarouxsighting wherein she regaled us with tales of Furry-bowling, since she got to tag along with Kynny on his photo session. All in all, it was renewing to be surrounded by friends, and we didn't crash until around 2am. We even had an impromptu guest of gabrellon the couch.

Sunday dawned very early, as I just missed the early departure of the Brigit, and turned into a bit of a brunch scramble as Corby's ride was incoming, and I had so much food I figured we should feed him, them and ourselves. So we had broiled steaks and pancakes with blackberry sauce on them for breakfast before sending the Charlottesville bound crew on their way. We also indulged in wonderful conversations all day from customer service at the herald's consult tables, to alternate names, model railroad enthusiasts, service to the crown and in general at events, and courtesy, and all sorts of stuff. It was wonderful, clean-up was minimal and accomplished and the we hung out chatting more until around 2 in the afternoon, when theblueleaderhad to run some errands and Gabe got on the road. I succumbed to a nap after watching too much bad tv.

We finished our weekend with a Sunday dinner at theodorad's and rolanddem's with yummy roast, mountains of mashed potatoes, salad, and the best mango-peach crisp ever. Okay, I've only tried the one mango-peach crisp (think apple crisp, but more exotic) but I'm pretty sure it was the best. We also got to meet the precious new kitten, Hobbes, who I could not resist playing with. He's so soft and playful and cute, and I just wanna snuggle him. But then the minor sneezing and sniffling started and I washed my hands and Alan was asleep in a comfy chair, so it was time to go home. But I do have pictures of the new kitten on the fridge with all the other baby pictures I neglect to purge. 

And so ends another fun and friend filled weekend. It naturally gets extended with Kirsten as a house guest until tonight as she works on projects up here. Hooray!