I've been up since about 8:30 am, which probably explains why I'm running about half an hour behind, but oh well!  So far I've made four sheets of cookies, sugar and gingerbread.  The brisket is in the oven - beer battered no less, hopefully I got the recepie right; it just said 1/2 a cup of chili p.  Now whether that's good old chili powder or like, chili powder you make chili sauce with is the big question... I used chili powder.  Me buying the beer, however, was just plain funny. I texted several people to get an idea what kind of beer I should get and the only person to really give me an opinion was Isaac who said Bud Light - so standing in front of the case staring at all of them, I was a little helpless until these two black men helped me. I'm sure they got a big laugh out of it later. I'm okay with that.

Now, I'm sure there are many wondering how the wedding went, right?  Well I'm going to pretend like you're anxiously waiting for my side of how it all went down so I'll appease the masses!  Friday we got up and were leaving the house at like 11 - which was when the rehearsal was supposed to be starting - oopse!  Dani gave me her camera and I proceeded to probably snap around 200-300 pictures over the course of two days.  The rehersal was quick; I lucked out and got to be escorted by the birthday-boy, Devon.  We giggled about the fact that all of this was happening on our birthdays.  His was Friday, mine Saturday.  We did some pictures, more decorating, ran to get some stuff we forgot about and generally got it all set up; despite the gazebo/archway thinggie getting there super late - like ten minutes before we absolutly had to leave to make it to the reception dinner appointment.

The reception dinner was at The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant chain thinggie - and oh my goodness it was fantastic! We all ate until it was painful to eat and then ate more.  My favs were the cheddar starter one, the Burgundy wine fondue for meats, and the ying-yang mix of dark and white chocolate for dessert.We all had a blast.  By this time we were all rather well aquainted that it was just so much fun and we were all enjoying ourselves so much.  Our Hawaiin friend, lovingly called 5-O (yes, like "Hey Five-O! How's it going?")  It was really great seeing him and having him there; I haven't seen him since his graduation dinner I think so many years ago!!

Us girls took charge of the crashing 5-O, took him to his hotel because by this point because of flight delays and cancelations he'd been traveling for two days straight.  He was not fit to drive so after seeing him to his hotel we then went to get our nails done. I did not get fakies, I just got a polish job - for $20.  Probably the silliest $20 I've ever spent but oh well, they dang looked pretty for the needed 24 hours.  They're scuffed and icky looking now, but oh well.

I believe at this point we went back to Dani's house and  changed, then made a WalMart run for bridal make-up, and then to this amazing dollar jewelry store where we all sort of went nuts. I bought four rings, a few necklaces for presents and a purse for myself.  We had a blast in there!  Then it was back home for showers, food, final dress fittings, and stuff I will refrain from blogging about.  ~__^

The day of the wedding - got the bride up and out of the door for her hair appointment and then did my own hair - which took for freaking ever, but by the end it was a mass of curls and looked nice.  JD and I stopped, smartly, for food before the wedding.  We got to the church, did all of the pictures beforehand, and then seperated until the actual event.  I believe I cried about six times total, and when I say cry I mean a tear or two came out - except before when we prayed over Danielle in the bridal suite/hospitality room thing, I really did cry then.  The wedding was very pretty, very simple, very nice.  They did not use traditional music, which I liked, but it was still lovely and people who loved the couple were there and besides the minister dropping the unity candle - it all went off without a hitch!

For the rehearsal JD and I wound up serving most of it, so I'm not sure about what else happened as I was too busy cutting and serving cake and stuff to do much else.  Around 5ish I believe JD and I left from the church and leap-frogged eachother to Ft Worth where she went on home and I....sat in wreck traffic for an hour. It was lovely.

And now I leave to go do more cleaning.  I'll upload pictures later once I get bridal permission and such.

I think I've mentioned my obsession with blogs, haven't I?  I believe it's been mentioned before. So this is my post devoted to recaping blogs!

BookEnds gives a nice, encouraging blog about how - Hey! We all do it differently - on writing.  Yes, we are all different, and I'm a plotter, planner, and replanner when it comes to writing!  Well, Plot to Punctuation is a new blog on my list and in the few blogs I've read it's been worth while.  One of their latest gives a nod to the recent marathon writers and gives tips on revising characters, etc.  The very newest, coupled with the next link, gives some good tips on dialogue.  Gail Carson Levine's blogs are enlightening; her latest deals with dialogue and is called Talking Talk.  I know a lot of people during NaNoWriMo discussed having issues with dialogue and I always want to make mine matter more, so I'm for sure putting this one on my to-come-back-to-laters!

EA does another follow-up blog to some others she's done about a writer-agent relationship; again, very enlightening and what not.  I want to go back when I have time and read through that one and the writer-editor and dream client blogs for my own pleasure.

I'm putting this one at the end.  It's from Writer Beware and it's on the differences of Vanity Publishing and Self Publishing.  I think I need to reread it to make it make sense at this point, LoL.

So this will most likely be short, quick, simple, etc.

Tuesday was a very rough day for me; a lot of stuff happened I was not ready for, I was sort of running around trying to get everything finished or accomplished and left work with my sanity running for the hills!  I was super happy that my lovely Linda came over for a bit and hung out with me; we laughed and told funny stories.  I think we also decided that a craft-in night was necessary!

Having Wednesday off to sleep in a little and do more Christmas prep stuff was perfecto.  I probably - as usual around this time of year - spent too much, but it's always worth it!  I did actually get my darling tree topper, a lovely sparkly thing from Target and a few corresponding ornaments and a nifty garland to really tie the whole ensamble together. I must say, my tree looks hot!  Did a lot of cleaning, decorating and general prep for Sunday - because my party is still on! I think we're at 9 guests...and in my apartment, that's a full house!

We sort of jumped the gun and went Christmas light looking Wednesday night - because it was a fun way to hang out and chill and whatnot.  I think I went to bed around 1am - way later than I wanted to, but oh well!

Today was a comedy of errors.  My car was blocked in, thus preventing the origional plan for an early escape.  Instead I did some laundry, did stuff - and then the exterminator walked into my apartment... I was not really appropriately dressed for that sort of thing, but with a hoody I was great! He then proceeds to tell me my Chinchillas need to be out of the apartment for an hour because of the stuff he's spraying. Great. This delayed me yet even more! Finally, after all of the mess, I leave - only to get stuck in an hours worth of traffic seven miles from my apartment. Ug!

Finally got here; we've decorated for the reception, and are now doing other odds and ends and it's 8pm, and I'm already ready for bed!  Like seriously, I could crawl in right now and crash hard!!  I think we'll sleep soon - maybe after a movie or a snack run - or something.

Tomorrow we'll do our nails *sigh* I might be getting a fakie set because I have no nails to polish and paint.  Hopefully something plain and super short that will come off easy later!  Reception is like at 11am, then lunch then the nails I believe....then who knows? I'm sure there's a billion things for us to do!!!!!

I have yet to write anything else, really. I've thought about it, opened up my documents and my brain flat-lines.  I really want to finish Premonition, but it's just not in me right now.  I'm hoping after this weekend, probably sometime late next week when I've recuperated from the wedding and my own party that I will jump back in with excitement about it all and write, write, write!  I really want to, I really do - I just feel like someone who has strained their muscles too much and they need to rest.

And on that note, I will lay on this couch and stare into nothingness, and eat some Junior Mints.

I do intend to take something of a break AS SOON AS I FINISH PREMONITION!!!  Really.  I have some great ideas inside my head, but I need to let my gray matter turn solid again.  I want to knit!  I want to read this book that was suggested to me several times over that I FINALLY bought today on Amazon - Stephen King's On Writing.  Familiar with it? I've heard both good and bad things, but as I was listening to Writing Excuses and they suggested it, I just bout it.

Well yesterday was our last Monday-Nighters write-in at LM and I'm very sad to see it go.  I really liked meeting up with Linda and Lynne' each week and writing and all of the...odd things we'd talk about.  We all three hit our goals last night, me eeking it out shortly before the restaurant closed and celebrated by buying us chocolate tourt cake something or other. I was ready to go to bed early...and then couldn't sleep. I wound up picking up some knitting - only to realize I must have been on crack when I started this scarf.  It started out probably between 15 & 20 stitches, and widened to 26 - so I had to do the painful thing of completely ripping the whole thing to pieces, rerolling the yarn and starting over.  It's super soft, angel hair green stuff that fits our company's green super well and will - eventually - be a scarf for my co-worker.

So today starts the mad dash for Danielle's wedding.  I have GOT to put the hem in my dress, drop it at a dry cleaner, and start organizing stuff.  I'm supposed to go to the critique group tonight but I'm wondering if I shouldn't skip it in favor of cleaning and finishing the dress and the billion other things I really need to do.  I got ----

I need to pay bills!

Okay - now where was I?  Other things I need to do! I got roped into hosting a Christmas/TGIO/Birthday party, and I'm warming up to the idea - but it also means in depth cleaning and preparation for a party the day after Danielle's wedding.  I will survive, I swear!  And I've completely lost my train of thought.

Okay, I'm going to move my other blog or article references to the end of a my blogs.  With that said......

So poor choices are not just limited to Wall Street; Jane from Dystel & Goderich Literary Management discusses some of the frivolous things book agencies do.  I really, really, really like reading Nathan Bransford's blog; he usually has some really awesome thoughts and ideas and sees things from both sides.  He just posted a blog about taking critique letters and how best to respond to them; as I'm thinking about revising Suspicion it's really good to take these ideas to heart because I'll be facing critique group - eventually.  For now, as of Tuesday night, I'll just be observing and probably sitting on the sidelines plugging away still until I finish Premonition. 

There are a lot of blogs I'm hearing about that have nuggets of interesting stuff to say about revision, I should put those all together at some point, and print them out.  I'm still going to go back to Gail Carson Levine's blog Do Over when I start revising; it was a great blog, very inspirational and upbeat.  Today Inky Girl twittered Brian Yansky's blog on Seeing Your Mistakes; not anything super long or how-to, but a nice, brief read and encouraging.  Inky Girl really dishes out good resources and in the theme of revision, here's a back-blog from Paperback Writer blogger, Sheila Kelly on revision.  

I continue to love The Inkwell Bookstore blog for all of the random, fun, interesting stuff they post.  Their blog, Tuesdays' Tips for Flailing Writers is rich with links and stuff!  (One of them, Why Writing Rubbish is Productive, references NaNoWriMo.)  I'm still looking through it so it's really interesting and whatnot.  Check it out!

Back to work I go!!!!

For some reason, since last night I have really had the urge to burp - but I like, can't. At all. It's very annoying.

In other news..... Here's some interesting links that yeah, you might like!  The Inkwell Bookstore Blog posted a link to this website that showcases art used on multiple book covers; this proves that when I know I've seen a picture somewhere, but a title may not be ringing a bell - I'm not as crazy as I think I am!  I really liked this comic about eReaders.  I've sort of started wanting one, but I have decided that until they come out with a color one, I don't need one.  Yup - that's my opinion!

So I think I'm going to dye my hair next week; torn between a reddish color, a really dark brown or a medium brown.  Forcing myself to ignore the urge to go back to black.....What do you think?  It needs to happen before the wedding.

So the newsletter for Waking the Bear - a "colony" of missionaries in Russia - came out Nov 20th.  If you know me very well, you will probably know how dearly I want to go back and live in Russia; I've had this plan and desire set in stone since I was 16.  Reading their newsletter makes me really hate my life, the economy and everything that keeps me rooted where I am now.  If things were not so tight and if I could pay off these bills I would go in a heartbeat, however I am still here - working and amusing myself as I can, still nursing my dream to go do like two years over seas.  I don't think I am the life time missionary sort; that I would ever feel the that I would be involved in organized religion still sort of surprises me.  I made my choice to be a Christian not based on other Christians - they were the worst thing about my early choice actually - but because it was the right choice, it was what made sense to me and still does.  It was a logical and emotional choice and I have never regretted it or doubted it though I do frequently question motives or reasoning behind things.

My NaNo novel is roughly half done now.  I got about 6K written today, which I really needed because close to nothing got done yesterday. Last night I went to a write-in in Arlington; didn't get a whole lot of actual writing done - but dear lord we had a good time!  From talking about our novels, the grand total of TWO word wars we did, the pizza, watching crazy youtube videos mocking Twilight and generally mocking it, we had a lot of fun, but a little writing. Honestly, it was pretty much worth it to just enjoy the crazy company of a bunch of people as crazy about stuff as I/we were.  Today was much better; I wrote 1K at home then packed my happy butt off to Borders where I wrote up to about 6K.

And then.

We went to see the brand friggen new Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day movie.  Dear lord that was amazing!  Okay so while it's still in the same vein of kick booty awesome as the first, it is more comical and plays to the cult audience a lot.  I am going to force myself to say nothing more because I am so excited about this movie, I know I will give stuff away.  All I have to say is that I'm super excited about this quote...

Sequel

In an October 27 article, director Troy Duffy and actor Billy Connolly mention details regarding a possible sequel. They maintain that it is slowly in the works and is still just an idea. Duffy insists that he wants to get a few more of his films done before returning to the Boondock Saints. The article also mentions a possible comic detailing events preceding the first film, such as a more in depth exploration of Il Duce and his rise to prominence. The proposed third installment would be titled "The Boondock Saints III: In Nomine Patris".

I saw it tonight, and will possibly watch it again tomorrow (Sunday) as well as once or twice more.

Okay, well, I know I had more witty things to say but they have all left my little brain as I continue to dream about the amazingness that is Boondock Saints.

So I realize I did not post yesterday, but that does not mean I did not blog yesterday.  You see - I have this habit of keeping a few posts in edit and collecting stuff in each one; yes, there really is some sort of strange method to all of the crazy stuff I push out there!  Anyways, so pretend you understand what day it is I'm talking about and I'm going to do my revision thing so it doesn't sound like I'm more crazy than NaNoWriMo has already made me.

Yesterday morning I was struck with the realization that I think there should be a law about people not being allowed scissors in their own homes; they should be checked out or something and only used in front of a trained scissor professional. This would effectively prevent people from cutting their own hair and making the mistake I did this morning with my bangs.  Not that I did a particularly bad job, but I know I'm going to get laughed at when I finally do go and get them fixed.  They're a bit shorter than I'd intended and I somehow achieved a layered effect, but opposite of the way the layers - for bangs - should have gone, I think.... I am no hairdresser extraordinaire..... So yes, this morning I did the stupid thing and trimmed my own bangs; thankfully there is still almost two weeks from now until Danielle's wedding when I will go get them shaped up by a true professional and laugh at my own folly.  I should also see about dying my hair as well.  I have about three colors currently and I really only want one.  After washing my hair last night and playing with them with the slightly curved straitghtener I have (yes, it's an oxymoron but I'm not the genius who made it, I just use it!) they don't look too bad. I still intend to get them cleaned up before the wedding business.

So I think I struck the creative gold mine on my way into work yesterday morning; unfortunately it has nothing to do with my current NaNoWriMo novel, The Barking Dog, but everything to do with my graphic novel idea.  It's sort of like an onion at the moment.  I pulled it out of the depths of my mind and as I try to puzzle out what I should do with it I start stripping away layers and getting acquainted with it - except I don't like onions so I don't think this analogy makes much sense....it did when I started it in my head.  Suffice it to say, the idea is getting really interesting to me and I'm planning on doing some research - but later!  I even have a list of graphic novels that I should go read, though the ones that interest me are not in the genre or style I'd find appropriate for my idea. Oh well!

Okay, so growing up, Dr Who was not part of my childhood.  I think it is beyond mentioning by now that I had a less than normal childhood so anything and everything it seems that was part and piece of your childhood - was an unknown in mine.  However, it is interesting that a new Dr Who book is currently underway to being signed into production.  Nifty 'eh?  I hope it's good, for the fans most of all.  Like, I really like the Hitchhikers Guide movies and everything, I just have yet to sit down and read the book; I know I will fall madly in love with it when I do - I just haven't yet.  Yeah...lame excuse I know.  Well, a certain someone wrote a sequel that is getting rather negative reviews (caution some strong language); it makes me sad.

Now - onward about my NaNoWriMo progress.  Wednesday I stayed up horendously late to get in my 5K and realized that wtih nothing planned for Thursday I was so going to blow 100K out of the water and get to bed early, as well as do very important things like tend to the Chin-children, shower, take out the trash, etc.  As I gauge out the book currently.I think the story will come full circle around 200K, but I cannot manage that by the end of November I fear unless all I do is write like a crazy lady over Thanksgiving and just kill the rest of the book.  Wednesday I wrote some really intense scenes between the FMC and MMC and introduced the ambiguous other presence in the book.

Last night would see me move on to where things just start snowballing and suddenly it turns into a roller coaster.  Well - that was the plan - roller coaster IN the book - not IN my life.  I believe many people are acquainted with my incident previously which I have dubbed, When Roaches Attack, well I fear we have hit the sequel: When Roaches Attack: The Dive Bombing Kamikaze. Last night, while attempting to watch The Office and cut up some chicken to bake for dinner, I heard a sound - now I have some new neighbors who I think probably launder money and the upstairs ones have various children inhabiting the apartment at different times so I don't bother myself to pay much attention to strange sounds unless they sound, well, serious and this was not a serious sound.

Except then something hit me - or landed on me....Now keep in mind please I am currently armed with a steak knife, cutting chicken over the sink in a pyrex dish.  I step back, look down and OMG THERE'S A ROACH CRAWLING ACROSS MY SHIRT!!!! Dear lord I think I screamed, somehow got it off of me and well - what does one do when armed with a knife? You use it....yes, I knifed a roach in my kitchen and was able to stun it so I could get the ever useful in capturing strange insects dish to put over it...except then it tried to escape and I sort of cut off part of it's thorax...Unfortunately being knifed and having part of it's lower body removed was not enough to do this sucker in so I dug out my neatly put away can of Raid and did the honors, then proceeding to spray baseboards, around the fridge and doors and found out that it takes 5 minutes for Raid to kill a roach; the commercials lie!

My apartment complex will be getting another lovely package of the six legged variety this afternoon.  I really, really like my apartment and where I live - but if this issue with the bugs persists it's going to force me out and I'll be foaming at the mouth by the time my lease is up.  I am probably going to take some more proactive measures on insect prevention though.

That said, it took me nearly an hour, hour and a half to stop twitching at every strange sound expecting another dive bombing attack any moment!  I couldn't find music to write to that didn't make me want to do something else or just flat out did not fit the scene; Pandora really failed me last night for a while.  However, around 11:15 (keep in mind I had really hoped to be in bed by 10pm) I hit the rhythm and just flowed with it.  Got almost 6K written and at 11:45 I had to make the very hard decision that I really had to sleep and sleep was not, in fact, optional.  There was so much good stuff going on too!  Ug - I didn't even sleep much - staying up might have been the better choice, but I did not.  Really itching to start writing this stuff though.

This will be a haphazard, messy blog. My apologies. I don't remember when I wrote my last blog or what it was about. Right now I don't remember a lot of things. I'm very tired, just slept about 12 hours after returning from Oklahoma and I'm allowing myself to piddle around until noon, by which time I really need to have taken a shower, cleaned my Chinchilla cage and eaten *something* (it doesn't really matter at this point what it is).  By noon I want to settle in on my couch and start cranking out todays goal of 10K.  I'm going to give myself from about noon until 11, and from 11 to midnight I need to get ready for the work week and figure out what to do with the mound of clean clothes.  Washing them isn't hard...it's the putting away that's killing me.

I'm at 34,395 words, writing the last section in chapter four.  I realized my novel will have three "books" in it, with each book having four sections and each section having as many chapters as is needed. This will help my 10K chapters turn into far more easily manageable reading bits for my poor friends who have blindly offered to read it. I pity them. Amanda is working on the first draft of chapters 1-3 right now with a red pen. I lay awake in bed afraid of what she's doing to it.  She sat next to me trying to read it while I was writing before The Office came on Thursday, I got maybe 30 words written because she was making me so nervous, moving that red pen around! I finally made her stop - I couldn't take it.

Oklahoma was a good trip. We went shopping way too much - but we're girls - that happens - oh well. It was probably also the last big shopping for me to be done before 2010.  The party was fun.  We played games and established that I carry the most crap around in my purse.  I also "won" this greatly awesome pomegranate lotion; how I <3 pomegranate.  I also <3 late night runs for snacks; I don't do those anymore. It was fun

Um, ah - I don't know what else to say - so I'm going to go see about that Chinchilla cage and a shower. And food. Can't forget food.

I think I've lost out on my regular blog reading, my email hasn't been checked and I'm sort of avoiding starting on today's writing.  I think I realized Tuesday that 50K was not a difficult goal anymore.  Heck, I'll be halfway there today quite easily, 1,048 more words and I've hit it to be exact.  Anyways!  I've uped my goal.  At first I was all, well 100K would be a good goal! But I think that I can say with confidence that I could, in fact, reach that.  So I uped it again to 150K and now I feel swamped and behind and a tad bit panicked.  That's what I need! So that's my goal. I'm challenging myself to write 5K every single day without fail and so far I've reached it or surpassed it though the last two days doing it was difficult.  Today will be difficult as well.

Today I need to: get some groceries, plus some padding presents for Danielle's wedding shower, and wrapping paper to wrap the presents, cook dinner for guests, probably clean chinchilla cage, wash clothes, pack for the weekend, but concert tickets for Amanda's birthday, get eyebrows waxed, see about a haircut and maybe coloring my hair again, cleaning wouldn't be a bad idea and then write, write, write, write, write.  It's also The Office night AND the 5th of November (I always watch V for Vendetta on this day) so...I have a lot todo.

I'm considering that tomorrow after I get off work at noon I can run out to get my eyebrows done and a quick trim at like GreatClips or something; it's not like my hair is incredibly difficult anymore, it's long and has some layers.  I know that would put me into OKC a little later than I'd hoped but I was going to be getting there pretty early, an hourish wouldn't be too bad to save my sanity tonight, right?

Yesterday was a big day for writing.  I had my meet-cute, someone died, and the dogs made their grand entrance.  Big day yesterday!  Today will be pretty big as well, if I can get psyched up enough to start.  I think I need to break down and have some coffee....

Also hate my bookcover I did, it's silly and reflects nothing of the book. Considered posting something in the artists forum but I don't want to bother anyone with doing it.  Just because I think it's a cool idea doesn't mean anyone else will.

Rambling, will stop, going for coffee now.

I have to keep reminding myself today is just Tuesday.  I feel very unconnected and confused about dates and times.  I took yesterday off just because.  I could have come in, but I was just physically so exhausted and icky that it was a better to just take the day off and stay at home.  I watched two movies: Valkyrie and My Bestfriends Girl.  I was dreading watching Valkyrie because it had Tom Cruise in it and I sort of lothe him and find his performances lacking - but there was something about his character that really worked and I liked the movie.  My Bestfriends Girl, however, I hated.  Really - I could have stomached the humor, but it was the rediculous ending I couldn't accept or be happy with.  Really, a guy is going to fall in love with a girl, get his bestfriend to date her and when they really do click everything will be okay, some way, somehow - because they are in love? Yeah, with all the issues the characters had - it was stupid and rediculous and should have ended as badly as it was written.  Yeah, that's what I think.

I also picked out all the stitching I did the other night on the Bridesmaid dress and got it almost completely done - which makes me so very excited.  I just need to have someone help me pin the hem and finish that bit up and we're set!  I have learned a very important lesson: beaded fabrics and sheer fabrics in general are a big no-no.  I'm going to have to wear something under it so it doesn't scratch me raw.  My own fault, not blaming anyone else! It does look very pretty, though.


And I kept knitting on my new scarf project for Sam - my knitting in the round scarf.  I realize I need a row counter.  I'm keeping tallies on a sheet of paper and I'm pretty sure I have yet to do exactly 20 rows of one color before switching to the other.

Played around with the yWriter software more and it's really helped me think through some of my story. I added a lot into the middle where I'd sort of lost sight of what was going on and I think I have the ending part down, though that bit is completely up in the air and I can do a lot with it.  That's where I'm incorporating a lot of my more absurd ideas.  I really need to make some of my dislikeable characters - which is really hard for me, but I need some.

Yes, I changed my layout - again! The Halloween one was getting on my nerves and just looked silly.  No, this one isn't tons better but I like it more and yes, the banner is silly and I did make it myself.  For Facebook readers just imagine fun pictures around these words, kay?  :)

I'm going to point to InkyGirl again today, she clued in on a 60-second-writing tool that I'm very interested in trying out later.  Right now I don't have the concentration to stay dedicated to one thought for that long.  (It's taken me several attempts to write this much today).  Also, my pastor's wife, Lisa Young was on the the Today Show, yesterday and he blogs about it here.  The interview is very short, if you fast forward through where they talk about other prominant women in the Christian community, but it's good and reminds me why I like them even though I've never met either.

They bring up an interesting point - how working women are much less likely to attend church while women who do attend church are more likely to not be in the workplace.  I'm not sure what that says as far as a social dynamic, but I find it interesting.

In completely unrelated news! I picked out yarn for a friend's scarf - now he doesn't know what colors so there won't be pictures of it until the scarf is finished and ready for delivery/pick-up.  I'm going to try something a bit different with this one and that is knitting it in a circle.  I've read over on The Well-Dressed Hedgehog about her experiences knitting in the round and I've looked at some other things so we'll see how I manage.  I think it'll be okay, but I'm also thinking I need two more skiens of yarn... I didn't think I'd get to it until Saturday but after a frusterating night last night I started it and did about six rows, so it's at least started.  It won't get a lot of attention though until after I finish The Dress.  I'm also just going to give in and pay for knitting lessons, though it'll be more like December or January before I make the effort because there's just too much going on during November and I have enough scarves I can knit to keep my knitting itch satisfied.

Tonight, after the block party for finishing the updates at my apartment complex - I started the charge to finish the bridesmaid dress I've been stalling over.  It's time I finish it and get my apartment back to looking nice - and not like a hobo lives there! I also need to do t-shirt surgery on my NaNoWriMo shirt since it's far too large to be much fun wearing and our kick-off is on Sunday.  I will be baking cookies and maybe a cake if I feel like going and looking at fun pans and getting all the necessary items for that - which probably means no cake!  I have a lot of stuff going as it is for the next month!

Anyways, the dress... I decided that I didn't want to run the thread through the fabric where you would see it in order to hem the dress, so I cut another piece of the plum poplin and made a facing out of it.  I am at a loss for words how to describe it easily to someone who doesn't know anything about sewing so I'm going to pretend everyone knows what I'm talking about...  So the facign was a TERRIBLE idea to add; for some reason it makes everything lay funny, it won't sit right, and it makes the straps and zipper difficult to deal with.  I absolutly hate the straps that come with the pattern; they are designed to have a slight curve to them, the idea is that the curve will help them stay up and on the shoulders easier.  On me, while the inner edge of the strap is flush with my skin, the outside part of the strap is an inch to an inch and a half above my shoulder.  It looks silly.  I did - however - manage an amazing zipper job so I'm bummed about loosing that sucess to the fact that I'll have to rip out the facing and straps.  (The zipper must come out because the facing connects to it.  I *can* only rip out the top part and resew only that little bit - we'll see)

For a while I was agonizing over making the bodice fit snugly, but then stepped back and realized that the dress has a billowy figure anyways, so having the bodice fit like a glove and the rest loose and flowy was silly.  There's enough shape to the bodice that me having difficulty breathing is silly.  Plus, without the facing, if I really feel the need, I can always tack in the side seams a hair. 

As tonight is the Halloween party and my magnificant costume, it's going to be Saturday until I can finish the dress, and I'm going to push myself to do just that.  Finish the dress and clean the place.  If I can't finish my latest novelette like I'd planned before NaNo, I'm going to finish this stinking dress!  It also needs to be dry-cleaned I believe, there's some strange spots on the poplin that I have no idea where they came from and now I'm too nervous about it to just wash it outright in my own washer.

All I knew Tuesday was that my camera had been shipped, I didn't have a shipping number or anything.  I wish I did because then I wouldn't be calculating the probability of when it would get here.  Well, if I did have a tracking number I'd probably be like this.  Yeah, I'm easily amused.  I got it yesterday but only had time go to buy film before I had to head out, already late to where I was going.  Crazy days!
My dad had surgery Tuesday and all accounts say he's doing fine.  My mom was there with him. Apparently after he came out of the surgery he was very surprised that he was in such a state that he would not be able to care for himself; this was very surprising - at least to him.  We knew he would be out of commission for at least a day, my mother and I politely snickered out of sight.  I love my dad.

My sister is in a custody hearing today as well as yesterday over her daughter.  That's all I'm going to say on that sensitive subject other than prayers would be appreciated.

So I ran to Kroger for something Monday I believe and now I really feel like the holidays have arrived; Promised Land milk co has released their Cinnomon Vanilla milk - which is a seasonal item only.  I love their dark chocolate milk - who else has DARK chocolate milk? No one I know of! It's amazing!  Anyways, their CV milk is great too and I couldn't help myself.  They come in small 2 serving containers only and I'm okay with that.  I can't drink a whole lot of milk - even of the flavored variety, but occasionally it's a great treat!

I keep trying to remind myself to blog about these funny things that keep happening to me, but when I sit down to actually do just that I just sort of forget everything.  It's frusterating.

So I'm fairly obsessed with all things NaNo right now.  I've just about slacked off all my other writing responsibilities, which I warned people about nearly a month ago.  Instead now I'm piddling out one of my ideas I had for NaNo but thought it would loose juice after 15,000 words - I think I might have been wrong, but it's not really something I would have like to have dedicated a whole month to developing.  I'm slightly concerned I might have a too serious idea and I might dig myself a hole with it, but I do believe in this 'world' I've created for the story to take place in and that it's a good idea.  I've started following my fellow DFW NaNo Rhinos (apparently the Rhino is our mascot) on Twitter.  I've sold out fairly quickly - thank you very much.  I've streamlined so my Twitter updates my Facebook and Myspace status; granted I don't check Myspace but like once a month, at least it's getting some action now. 

I recognize that I'm very addicted to Inkygirl.  I keep getting dragged into her links to blogs and articles about writing and all sorts of crazy things.  It sparked a conversation with a friend and the idea was produced that I might be a good book editor - but I'm not sure that I would like to loose my desire to read because that's what I do for a living.  I duno - it's an interesting idea and I won't lie - it's tempting - but it's something that needs to marinate.

Volunteered at church last night! At the youth group.  Got there late apparently - wasn't sure when I needed to be there so I just showed up.  Wound up helping a guy named David and he showed me how to run the check-in kiosk.  It was cool.  Met a few people, probably won't recall any names next week - but I have established that I'll be there.  For now I'm a Greeter - hurray! Basically I walk around and talk to people and whatnot and I can stay for the service or leave.  I've also talked about helping out in the coffee shop.  I'm supposed to talk to the media coordinator for when I'll work with them too.  Looks like I'm going to be getting busy!

Oh gosh - how is it Thursday already?  I'm starting a body-detox thing; one of those Acai berry thinggies.  NOT DIET PILLS - a body detox.  Dear lord, I said I was doing that last night and got the full brunt of someones wrath about how I was screwing up my body.  By trying to get toxins OUT of it?  Okay.  Yes, you do loose weight when you loose the toxins, but I'm doing this because even exercising and cutting back on portion sizes isn't doing anything.  The idea is that I'll get rid of the toxins so my system can only be handling my intake.  It makes sense in my head.  I'm sort of anticipating it'll make me a little cranky - but it's only two weeks.  Hopefully now that the weather has cleared I can go for another power-walk in the park.  Hoping to take the new camera along today and snap some test pictures.  It's a cute little park, so it will probably be a lot of nature shots and pictures of the ducks, but I need practice on this type of camera again.  The focus is very different.

The Office is tonight, my place is still a mess - and all because I've sort of been ignoring The Dress.  I need to put the straps on, hem the top of the dress, put the zipper in and zigzag the edges on the skirt seams and then hem it and I believe at that point I'm done.  I think it's going to go for a professional dry clean after that and then sit in a protective baggie until the wedding.  However, it needs to be finished and I need to start working on that. Blah.  I'll work on it tonight, and probably knit some. 

Haven't really made any plans for the weekend other than church activities.  Toying with the idea of driving up to the yarn shop in Dallas and poking around there.  A certain someone requested a scarf so since my brother's is almost finished I figured I have time on my hands to do something per request. I have the idea of doing some scarves as Christmas presents too, so I guess I need to start working on that project... Oh - and I should be getting Twilight in on Netflix sometime before the weekend; I can finally figure out what some of the craze is about it.  I very much doubt I will read the books - I've heard too much how flat the characters are and how little real development goes on.  I feel like if I really had to read it I would roll my eyes and suffer through it - so I'll just watch the movie.  ^__^

I am looking forward to The Vampire's Assistant and I'm really looking forward to Monty Phython's Terry Gillman's film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which is also Heath Ledger's last movie.  Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell all supposedly stepped in to help finish the film after Ledger's untimely death.  We still have yet to see Couple's Retreat so I'm going to give a little push to the girls about going and seeing it this weekend or else giving up on it in favor of the one's I'm more interested in seeing.

Anyways - off to work I go!  Full day ahead of me since today is Webinar day.

First off, my co-worker emailed this to me - and it made me giggle a lot.  If you're in the need for a laugh - there ya go!  It's religious in nature so there, you're warned.

Second, I worked on the bridesmaid dress a long time last night - actually for several hours.  I hate pre-beaded fabric.  What was I thinking? I was distracted by the pretty, shiny and didn't realize - oh hey, pre-beaded fabric will be sort of difficult to sew! I have this terrible luck with needles, by the way, I seem to break twice as many as anyone I know.  So I went sort of slow and sewed the pre-beaded fabric to the other layer; I did a zigzag stitch since I don't have a serger, surger, um - whatever!  I was wanting to French-seam everything, but after feeling the fabric I decided that it wouldn't work too well and I would end up with a fitting problem.  So I now have all my shiny, beaded fabrics sewn to the under-pieces.  I actually got one shoulder-strap completely sewn up; I added another piece of fabric to the pattern for it so it winds up as a toube of fabric with no exposed edges.  None of the straps on the mock-ups stayed in place very well so I'm anticipating the need for double-stick tape to keep them where they need to be while moving around a lot.

I spent the greater portion of my time after work tonight actually sewing the whole bodice and skirt into their respective pieces.  The beaded fabric wasn't so bad when you just sew in a straight line; I was still awefully careful, but I was able to go a lot faster - which isn't saying much because I still went slower than I did on the skirt.  Sewing the bodice together probably took...three or four hours between sewing it together, shaping the bodice and breaking for dinner... Okay - I didn't spend three hours on it, that's lying.  I stopped every now and then and did something else.


The skirt went much quicker.  I think I should have lengthened it just a tad more, but I'm really liking it, and the pockets really disappear into the skirt, especially with the gores I added in to give the skirt more volume.  It really does weigh down and help the skirt lay nicely.  I didn't actually sew the skirt to the bodice because, well, it's 11pm and I want to sleep.  I'm very happy with the results thus far; I was worried about the darts in the bodice, there are two sets of them, but they turned out alright.  I get some small puckers, but with that fabric you won't notice all that much and pulling the stitches out would only mar the top layer of fabric so I am choosing to be okay with a small pucker. 

I doubt I'll get any done yesterday other than trimming off excess thread as tomorrow night is The Office Wedding.  My apartment is a wreck and I'm not going to get the dishes washed sooooooo, that means that tomorrow when I get home I'll take care of the big things: clean the Chin cage, take out the trash, load the dishwasher and clear off space on the couch for peoples.  The only thing on the dress I would like to get done is sewing the skirt to the bodice as having people at my place who can critique it and help me pin straps and the hemline doesn't happen everyday.  I pinned the bodice and skirt together for picture taking purposes only so I can show off and give the Bride a preview.

Now, with all that said - I will insert pictures and go promptly to bed!

lright, so my hand doesn't hurt! I'm rather excited about that.  I figured it was just over-stress from knitting and I needed to leave it alone for a few days.  Hopefully it won't happen too much anymore.  I can hope, right?  I still want to try to finish this teal scarf in the next couple of days because I need to make my brother's scarf.  He'll be here in like two weeks and I had the grand idea I needed to make him one.  Brillient - huh?  I know I can do it, but I have to really push myself to knit in all my spare time - and I'm already pushing myself to get the bridesmaid dress done... Conflicting interests I believe...

So I was turned onto this Daily Drop Cap project this girl Jessica Hische is doing; it's pretty neat.  She has these large drop caps you can use in blogs on her site.  Katie from Oh My Stars blogged it and now I'm continuing the blogging.  It's pretty cool - I'll probably use a few though it won't look as nifty when my blog syncs to Facebook.  Sorry Facebookies!

Last night I went over to my new friend's place and we watched TV.  The headliner of the night was of course the Tool Academy; I love that I have friends now who are as into it as I am!  I know it's trash TV, but I don't really care.  I was sort of bummed about who got kicked off; I really thought the other person up for elimination deserved it more because those two aren't even sure they want to be together - the guy who got eliminated is very much talkig about marrying his girl.  Ug!  Oh well, the couple I'm really pulling for is still there.

We also watched the Nightline Debate that was held at our church.  I was totally out of the state when this happened apparently!  Basically Nightline contacted our church and wanted to have a live debate about the fidelity of people in general.  The major question was whether or not people are genetically engineered to cheat on their spouces.  They had a woman on the panel who is married to her husband and has a ten year old daughter and a girlfriend that I assume plays a very public and open role in their family.  She claims the ten year old doesn't understand - I don't buy that.  They also had a gentleman that runs a website designed to help married people find someone to have an affair with.  He himself is married and has children and while he condones affairs, he also says that it's a booming business and he's following the money.  His morals I think are very skewed; on one hand he provides this business but says that he would be upset if his own wife used it.  Both of these people claimed that having an affair could and would strengthen your marriage and make you happier.  Now on the other side you had a gentleman recovering from a sexual addiction who has lived the dangerous road and is now coming back and attempting to reconcile himself to his wife and everyone else.  Then there is our pastor - Ed Young - and I really have to say I respected him for his answers and his preparedness.  He wasn't affraid to say the hard things, point-blank, and while he was able to word some responces delicately, he was always very firm.  Granted for the audience and subject I'm sure he looks like a very narrow minded Christian, but he was true to the core beliefs of Christianity unlike others I've seen who won't give a firm answer on things.  It was refreshing.

So that was really a good time.

I finally decided on a name for my NaNo novel: The Barking Dog.  It's not very interesting, but I'm going to now attempt to weave some stuff around the words, incorporate local myths and a legend or two so it's nice and complicated for the characters.  Also doing a pre-planning session this coming weekend with some other people in Denton.  Hopefully I can finish this dress between tonight, Friday and Saturday.  It shouldn't take too much time now that I sort of have it all figured out. Right? I hope so...  Going to put some work into it tonight; hoping to get all the little edges zigzaged once over and hopefully the bodice put together and adjusted just a bit.  It shouldn't take a lot of time and effort, but I'm going to be excessively careful on all of it.  I'm even breaking out the ironing board to iron all the pieces perfect before sewing them all. 

Well lunch is almost over.  I'm super sleepy - yet again - so this afternoon is going to be misery.

Oh my gosh.  I want to crawl into a hole and sleep for days.  Yesterday started off not so bad.  Slept in - apparently never set my alarm.  Figured out the sizing and darts on the bodice finally!  I fiddled with the skirt some and added three gores to give the skirt some more flowyness; I liked the affect in the mock-up so we'll see if it translates well into the actual dress.  I would imagine that it would, and the weight of the fabric will hopefully make it all hang nicely.  I'll probably sew some of it tonight; mainly the sheer fabric to the backing and zigzag the edges since I don't own a serger.

I got to go to my small group Sunday for the first time.  It was nice, sort of small and a bit awkward at times, but I met some nice people.  One of whom is an avid fan of the Tool Academy!  We're getting together tonight to watch the latest episode. 

Also went and caught the Whip It! movie with two of my friends; one of whom is a derby ref still.  It was a cute movie - not really accurate on the rules, definatly more theatrics.  Not a whole lot of hitting or speed for the actual bouts they showed but it was fun and I think it'll be good for the sport.  Afterwards they both came back to my place and I proceeded to introduce both of them to the Tool Academy.  They didn't leave until well after 1am.  Tons of fun - but man o man am I tired!

I'm making plans to maybe meet up with some other NaNo peoples before November for some pre-November prep.  We'll see if it really happens!

Lunch is over - need to do some more work.  Hoping for a nap after work, a bit of sewing and then Tool Academy!

 I think I intended to wake up earlier than I did today.  Regardless, I was off to the pet store and Wal-Mart a little before noon - which is surprising because I usually roll out of bed around 1pm on the weekends.  That out of the way it was time to get down to business, that being getting the mock-up for my dress done.  Now it's worth saying that just about all of my sewing stuff in the process of moving twice - has just about disappeared.  Pins, thread, scissors, measuring tapes - I sort of had to replace all of it.  Thus - why I now sport a black wristie-pincushion with Project Runway emblazoned across it.  It's a super convenient thing to use, but I chuckle every time I look at it.

I cut out all the pieces to only realize there are some I don't need because I'm altering some of the pattern.  There's this band of contrasting fabric on the hem and I'm not going to incorporate that into my dress. I think it would just look weird; the fabrics I've chosen.  I think instead I would prefer to lengthen the skirt, add some more volume to it and if I have enough of the beaded fabric, do a layer of tool on the edge instead.  I think it would look a lot better than the way the pattern calls for it.


I was a bit excited when I realized the pattern calls for pockets.  I can't tell some of my stories, but in previous weddings I've been involved in I've been running around and needing to hold my camera or a phone or lip gloss or whatever.  Having pockets in the dress is going to be super de-duper awesome.  I'm glad I did the mock-up first because I sort of screwed the pockets up the first time.  I sewed the skirt, held it up and laughed at my mistake.

The first mock-up was incredibly too large.  Three mock-up's later I've decided I'll probably need to add darts and maybe do a fourth mock-up.  The last one I did I was on two sizes smaller than what the pattern dictated I should be. I think I could be one size smaller yet, but it's now after midnight and I'm sort of tired of crouching over fabric spread out on my livingroom floor cutting stuff.  I need a more functional table; the pub table is awesomely stylish but I think a normal one would be far more beneficial.  Oh well!

I'm not knitting right now; my left hand's hurting a bit.  I don't know if it's all to blame on knitting - it's the same hand and knuckle even that I broke a year ago almost.  I figure it's just the scar tissue and unworked muscles.


Okay - so I tried a Rachael Ray recipe from her website.  It's her Maple-Bacon Monte Cristo's and it's pretty good.  For just a sandwich it's a bit of preperation but I wanted to make them at least once; I'll probably fix up one for lunch and dinner tomorrow because it's just convienient now that I sort of have the stuff started.  This does create a bit of clean-up the way RR says to do it, so I would suggest making the bacon in the microwave.  I also substituted normal bacon for turkey bacon.  If you can tell from the picture, following the instructions and baking it for ten minutes burned the edges and created a mess on the pan.  I think less time if you choose to do it in the oven, or just do it in the microwave!

You prep the bread just like you would for french toast.  Again, letting the sammitch sit on the skillet for FOUR minutes - you get blackened bread.  Just melt the cheese and you're good.  I added some powdered sugar to my eggs for the bread; if you've had them in a restaurant the sandwich usually comes with a dusting of powdered sugar.


Right! So I'm out.  I should probably be sleeping....

I have a pattern!

And I have fabric!

Okay, these were not my first choices after browsing the Joann's website but I'm getting more excited about this whole project as I look at it.  I'm using the blue version in the middle of the picture.  I'm going to lengthen it and maybe add some gores into the skirt to give it some more fullness and body.

The fabric I chose is more plum than purple, but I think it will work out okay.  I'm going to overlay the bodice with this sheer, pre-beaded fabric that's a tad sparkly.  Depending on the length of the shirt I'll add the leftover sheer as tooling on the hem of the skirt.  All in all I think it's going to be quite nice.

I'm going to stay up a bit longer and see about cutting out the pattern, maybe the muslin and sew the mock-up tomorrow night.  I need to find dark plum piping if possible...

I got a silver yarn - yes silver - and if I have time I might knit a silver wrap to go with it - but I don't want to get too industrious about this!

Okay, so I have to say that yesterday when I went to do my daily poke at the NaNo site, when it came up with the Site is Down page - I think I squealed for joy.  Yes, I squealed.  There wasn't a whole lot to be happy about yesterday, so if that simple thing made me happy - don't judge me!  You see, every year they pull the site down, do general maintenance, clean out the forums and get ready for NaNo whatever the next year is.  I'm really excited because this is the first year I'll get to do it; I've had my eye on it for a while but it just never happened - but this will be the year!

On a positive note - some of the deluge of unfortunate events of Wednesday, most of them have turned around to something either positive, or a bit more manageable.  My car is fixed! New battery solved it and I just had to go back for them to reset the Jeepies computer and all was well.  My dad's surgery is still going to happen, but now I at least understand what it's for.  He went for a sleep apnea test earlier this year and this is one of those preventative measures they're taking for him; they're basically going into his throat and mouth with a blowtorch and will remove stuff.  Fun, huh?  He's going to be out of commission for like a week.  My sister, as it turns out, doesn't really need us there though I would like to support her in court.  I just simply can't afford to go down there.  I hate that, but that's how it is.  My mom's talked about driving down just to be there for it and coming straight back. 

And my AC is fixed.  That's actually a funny story.  I worked from home yesterday and had all the window open and my "ghetto" box fans on so it was cool enough - thank goodness for this "cold-front"!  I finally started going over to the office to check in with the people there and at like 5pm she looks at me and says, 'But he was just inside your apartment - he said he fixed it!'  As it turns out the poor guy went to the wrong apartment and had already left for the day.  He actually turned around, came back and fixed my AC - and I proceeded to play freeze-out with myself and watch the latest episode of The Office and knitting more.  I bought this pretty teal yarn - yes, I have an obsession with teal - and if I like how the scarf turns out I think I'll go back and buy a bunch of it so I can use it later to make a blanket or something.  You see, my bedroom is teal and I don't exactly have faith in the Urban Outfitters comforter/quilt I bought two years ago holding up for many more.  I'm thinking I can keep the teal thing going on a bit longer if I can solve that problem myself.

I also learned that I have no idea what to do with circular knitting needles.  I sort of gave up until later when I can hopefully either find a better on line tutorial or else find someone who won't charge me an arm and a leg to teach me knitting.

Tonight Courtney, Amanda and I are going to go see Couple's Retreat; it's a hard pick to choose what to go see! Whip It comes out tonight as well as the movie about lying that I think I'll love and Zombieland!  Doubt I'll get to see them all in theaters but it's still exciting!  Since we're going to a late showing I'll have time to swing by Joann's and look at the fabrics and patterns I need to for the bridesmaid dress.  I have a goal of actually working out tonight and getting up at a semi-early hour tomorrow to start the construction process - well, at least cut the freaking pattern pieces out.  That always takes far longer than it should it seems.

I finally got a callback from the volunteer department at the church; I am set up to go do my volunteer observations/orientations for the Youth Ministry department and the Media department Saturday night and Wednesday night respectively.  All in all this is shaping up to be a slightly busy weekend!  I normally go to Saturday night church anyways, so sitting in the control room is no biggie; I'll probably get bored, honestly.  I've seen cameras and operating rooms before so 'eh. Sunday morning is the single's service I'm looking forward to and Sunday afternoon is out bi-monthly church small group that I'll be going to for the first time.  I'm excited about all of it!  Of course I'll need to get sewing done in between all of this and whatnot.  I'm sure I'll post pictures of stuff from my phone and whatnot.

Okay - so I got bored and did this. The first one on the left I like but... I don't know. I'm struggling with how to embellish it. I need fabric to speak to me.

The second one is growing on me, though I feel that it might look strange covering up my shoulder tattoos only partially. The design of the dress is really growing on me.

The third one, on the top with the sash I like - but strapless? I don't know.

The fourth, on the bottom is what I'm slowly leaning towards. It has a halter-top tie, and a toolish looking bit on the bottom. There's some pre-beaded fabric on the Joann's website I want to go look at.

My plans for tonight got canceled so I'm toying around with the idea of going to look tonight instead of this weekend. If I can just cut the muslin and work the fabric this weekend that would be great instead of stressing over going and getting everything and FINALLY getting to it - that idea's getting more and more appealing....

I need the brides oppinions! She's going to hate me texting her and bugging her - I just know it!

And I also saw some silver lame yarn on the web - and yes, the idea of knitting a silver shawl HAS entered my brain... Not sure if I will or won't on that point. Need to make the dress first and foremost...

Went to a friend's place last night and I got the worst heart burn I might have ever had.  I have a weak stomach so it's not surprising that I woke up ill to my tummy this morning.  So I took off the morning from work and am currently still in PJ's, on my couch, wearing my new NaNo hoodie, kick'en it with my Chinchillas.  :)

I studied JGibson's Simplest Cap of All pattern and I think with the help of knittinghelp.com I might just be able to muddle through it on my own.  I also found a knitting shop that's between me and my best friend, which makes it all that much easier to get to - plus they're open late a few nights a week which is so much better for me as the other shops I could only get over for a Saturday morning.  I'm going to muddle through it tonight hopefully and see if I can't figure it out.  I still have some of the Vannah White yarn in pea green and some in navy I can use on a tester to see if I know what I'm doing.

Okay, so I got the fabric swatch for my friend Danielle's wedding.  This wedding is a lot of DIY, which I love and hate.  Love because it's my best friend's wedding, hate because I'm going to obsess about making the dress simple and perfect and comfortable.  I only have until the last day of October for finishing it because I'm doing NaNo and I don't need the weirdness of trying to finish a dress and write all those words at the same time.  I still need to figure out where I'm getting the fabric from, and the parameters; she wants us to all dress differently.  Here's the problem - I don't like following patterns.  I spent a bit of time looking through a few websites and dresses and I've picked out some that I feel I could do in purple and layer with some sheer material and perhaps spruce up with some beading or something.  At the bottom are some pictures I'm leaning towards.



(on the left) I don't really know that I like how I think this black dress would fit; it looks interesting on the dummy, but I question all that sheer layering and whatnot.  I think it would end up looking like a bag if I made it.

I like the very simple design of this dress (on the right) ; I picture it in a deep purple, the skirt lengthened and perhaps a simple border on the hem.  Not even anything special, just a satin, ribbon border.



(on the left) This one - for sure would need a longer hem.  I think I'm more drawn to the idea of embellishing the collar - though I have to think about my tattoos and that a lacy neck frill like this would just overpower my top half.

And this next one (on the right), I think just really drew me in on the neckline and the interesting shoulder-wing looking things.  The cinched waist has me a bit leery just because I gained weight and I really don't know that this would look good on someone who's not a twig.  Just being honest!  While I really like the overall design of it, I do question if it would be a good idea considering a huge factor to me is comfort.

Next up (on the left) is a simple, V-neck dress with a hemline I feel would be more comfortable for me.  I might have to tighten up the V, the wedding's very conservative and I anticipate being very busy and I want to wear something I feel comfortable working and wearing and what not.

I looked around at patterns and found some that could work.  Some of them, like the Butterick 4443, I feel like I own this pattern already.  It wouldn't surprise me; the dresses are all fairly nice, you could make several from these patterns by using solids or prints and whatnot.  However, it's not exactly what I want - but I like it well enough I might see about getting it to have for later.  I need a better organizational system for the few patterns I still have and will probably buy.  The McCalls M5001 is one I'd use in a heartbeat - if we were using a shimmery fabric.  I think that in the matte one that's been selected it would just look like a big grape.  I need to talk to Dani and see what her feelings are on embellishing the dresses.  The McCalls M5879 might just be the pattern I use!  I like the one in pink - picture that in purple, with maybe some satiny purple ribbing on the neck, arm holes, and hem.  Maybe some tool on the bottom, and I could see me doing some light embroidery in a similar shade of purple just because I think it could turn a very simple dress - absolutely fabulous - but again, I need the brides okay!  The McCalls M5833 is sort of similar, but has an added, strange thing in front I might like - I need to see a pattern to really figure it out, but it might be a backup if the M5879 doesn't pan out.

All in all, I'm ready to tackle this project so be ready for more to come!

Well, it's 10:00 am, I should probably think about doing something with my morning; like shower or knit or clean the Chin cage or something ya know?  More to come later on my sewing and knitting craziness!