it only took me five hours!

with the new iPod touch, i discovered a need for a new iPod touch case/sleeve/protector. we looked about the Apple store, but i wasn't pleased with the selection... so i decided to make a monkey pouch!

i'm kidding about the five hours -- it only took a couple. i happened to have some brown fleece (i was intending on making monkey hats at one point) around, so with a little snipping and sewing in front of the tele i had my little monkey sleeve made (if a little rough around the edges).

holy crap, i'm posting this from my iPod

so the amazing Pants got me an iPod touch for xmas! it's like an iPhone, but without the $120/mo plan and phone capability. it does have wifi, though, so i'm posting from bed even though my laptop is in the living room. damn i love gadgets. i seriously would have loved an iPhone, but the extra monthly cost over my usual cell bill was just too much. maybe after i start at the new job, making the real monies...

geek alert: while i call it "my new boyfriend," the name i assigned it is "Cheradenine."

le gowns!

over the weekend, Pants was kind enough to humour me and take me gown shopping. i was looking at gowns because my band aubriot will be playing the George Washington University Student Inaugural Ball, which is Black Tie Invited... and though i feel terribly uncomfortable dressing up, i still enjoy it — so i jump at any opportunity for me to get a dress i’m probably only going to wear once, because i never get invited to dress-up things.

anyway, we only went to a couple stores, and there were very very very few full-length gowns to be had (Lord & Taylor had one that i liked, Calvin Klein, and it was so essssspensive i didn’t even bother to try it on). Macy’s had the best selection + prices. i was pretty disappointed that most of the dresses were knee-length or grandma-style. no offense to grandmas, but grandma style pretty much ONLY looks good on grandmas. on lassies around my age, it looks like either our mom dressed us or we’re from some ultra-conservative religious group.

so here are the few gowns i tried on:

this one was the winner of the in-person judging, though it seems that the fabric is faulty.


this one was too big, but a pretty colour.
this one was the right size, same style as the coppery one above. still not quite right, but nice.


this one had sparkles! sparkles! but it didn’t look so great in person.

this one was really pretty. they had an even more awesome shade of green, but not in my size :(

pants said this looked to much like a prom dress. which it probably was. but it’s red! i kinda wanted red... you know... to be a rock star ’n’ all.

this is the white dress i already have... which is a prom dress... but i prolly won’t wear cos it’s white.

and these are the Hello Kitty fleecy jammies pants wouldn’t buy for me. PSH!

i thought everyone did this.

every year, i write Christmas cards to my family; aunts & uncles, cousins, siblings, nephews, and of course, mom. and this year, someone pointed out to me that i am apparently the ONLY person i know who does this. which made me wonder -- am i? i'm pretty sure my friends don't, now that i'm thinking about it... but does anyone else maintain the holiday card list like i do?

it's not like i type up a yearly report, either. i just break out the address book, get some pretty cards, and say "Happy Holidays, hope to see you soon" kinda stuff. sign with love, and that's that. and most years i get a card from most of these folks with a brief "Everyone's fine, hope to see you soon" note.

and apparently, this is not common.

class, who knew i haz it?

there’s just so much going on...

in the past few years i’ve been learning to relax. this is a challenge for me, and i realize some who know me will find that... well, shocking. cos i’m so laid back, ya know? but the truth is, i’m uptight about being laid back. yeah. go figure.

so it’s been a struggle to have some free time and NOT do something productive. and one might ask, why is this necessary? being productive is great! it’s necessary because it was breaking me. i’m just not energetic enough to be constantly moving, going, doing. so the pattern is like this: things are good, calm, and i finally feel my stress levels are manageable. buuut then i’m not really doing anything, this is a little boring, i want to try something new, and anyway shouldn’t i be doing something productive and useful? of course i should. alas, the house is clean and the errands are run... so maybe i should . soon i’ve over-committed and thus become over-stressed because everything needs my time and energy and i just cannot, i say CANNOT deal with any of it and i’m going to cry -- and then, i reduce my commitments to manageable levels, and all is well. i can breathe again, things get calm, good, steady...

and so on.

once i finally realized my folly, i made a concerted effort to stop setting myself up. and mostly it has worked. i still end up with “when it rains, it pours” weeks, but i’ve learned to appreciate and utilize (oh, yes i did just use “utilize”) the time in between. and so i don’t get as much craft or music stuff done... they were supposed to be hobbies, and fun, and they’re not fun if i feel pressure (even only from myself).

so last night i bought a kitting machine from a nice man in Olney. because, you know, i needed something new... :)

Christmas List, Solved.

Mustache Cups for Everyone!