CONVIVIAL CRAFTER

Sunday Funnies #24

2012-01-29T07:22:00.001-06:00

Wordless Wednesdays 43

2012-01-25T07:30:00.000-06:00

Easy Beading Evening

2012-01-24T07:17:00.000-06:00

its been an awfully long time since ie made something just to make it. just for the fun of it. not cause i needed it for something like a costume party or a gift. well i was making a gift for a friend (see the green earrings and bracelet below). and thought "ya know. i want to just slap some pretty beads on a string with out thinking and make myself a few little necklaces." and thats exactly what i did. some clasps, crimp beads, Flexwire, and a few bead mixes and i came up with these pretty little ditties.

didnt even have to do any thinkin. just slapped the beads on in whatever order they came out of the mix (for the length on 1 dollar. thats 6 inches and i almost always have one on hand. even when i cant find my measuring tape...which is like freakin ALWAYS!!), then alternated a fancy bead and something from the mix (for the length of 1/2 of a dollar) then finished up with bead mix for the length of a dollar). 15 inches is my favorite necklace length and i can measure that out with nothing but a dollar. slick huh?This is the gift i made for my friend sandy. she turned 50 last week. woot woot! pearls and swarovski crystals in a simple shape i thought fit the bill. plain enough to wear every day if you want but snazzy enough to make ya feel special. I forgot how much i liked playing with beads. im gonna have to do this MORE!

Sunday Funnies #23

2012-01-22T07:57:00.002-06:00

They mislabeled the Torture Kit

I wouldn’t recommend porking there Cannabalism is bad, mmkay?

Wordless Wednesdays 42

2012-01-18T07:24:00.002-06:00

The Beautiful Monstrosity

2012-01-17T07:22:00.003-06:00

oh god help me. i think i accidentally started a tradition of making my dress for NYE every year. Remember this dress from last year? well i wasnt going to make a dress this year cause i couldnt find any inspiration like i did with that one. Then...one day...i was walking through a walmart, that miraculously still has a fabric section, and i saw some fabric. and i said to myself "that is the GAUDIEST crap i have EVER laid eyes on....i have to have it!" thus was the inspiration for my new years dress born.

"ok" i said to myself "gold foil polk-a-dots on a sheer fine netting. well clearly i must line this with something but what?....well gold on black disco dots of course!! duh. now what pattern to use with this oh so subtle and refined combination of materials?...well heres a nice pattern, balooney in nature, with tucks, and gathers galore. yes please ill have that." the pic below is of the fabrics. i was going to make an awesome fascinator out of that glitter flower and some netting on a headband but i ran out of time. its ok though. i think it MIGHT have been too much even for me. hahaha

i used McCalls Pattern 6347 (view B on the right) which was for use with a stretch fabric. on the back of a pattern meant for stretchy fabrics there is a little guide that you use to see if the fabric is stretchy ENOUGH for the pattern. these met the requirements so i can only assume the few small issues i had with the fit of the pattern were due to the fact that i doubled up the fabric. maybe it made it less stretchy? i dont know. all i know is i hit a few snags and dealt with them but i DO think if i made this in a t shirt material it would have worked up even better. ill DEFINITELY be using this pattern again in the future. but ill be making the small. this time i made the extra small. and it fit but i think the drape would have been better on me in the small.

First issue was buying the fabric. it only had yardage requirements for 60" wide fabric. well anyone who sews knows that most fashion fabrics only come in 45" wide. so thats kinda rude of them. anyhow i guessed at the yardage and 3.5 yards (of each fabric cause i was layering them) was indeed barely enough. it called for 2.5. i had to lay it out differently for cutting too. i really wish id have taken a pic of that part of the process for my own future reference but i was under the gun. i of course waited till a few days before NYE to start sewing. The back (which was supposed to look like the blue dress below) was the second issue. the yoke fit fine but its like there wasnt enough fabric to gather into the yoke. which is why i made the assessment that maybe i needed the small after all. essentially it was pulling really strangely across the top back so in a heat of fury....i mean GENIUS...i decided to make it a halter top. i changed nothing save for lopping off the top back (at about the part it was pulling funny. a bit above that for seam allowance) and adding extensions to the front yolk shoulder area for ties. the back i folded over and added a piece of 1/4 inch elastic in to the casing so it wouldnt slump down.

You can also see how long this dress is supposed to be in the blue dress picture. yep i took about 6 inches off the bottom of this pattern cause thats how i like my new years dresses. short! the pic below is one i put on facebook i think while i was making it but you can see my knees so you can tell how really short it is, but with tights on it looks just short enough! The third problem was the side poufs (for lack of a better descriptor) the instructions in the pattern are written incorrectly i believe. it tells you to sew the pouf corners right sides together and then turn it. but this is physically impossible. and that portion is going into the seam anyhow so i sewed them wrong sides together plus it cut down on bulk. this isnt going to make any sense to anyone not currently working through this portion of the pattern but i figured it was worth mentioning just in case it helped anyone.

Tales of the dress. i started calling it The Beautiful Monstrosity because it was gaudy as hell and gorgeous all at the same time. i am in love with the way these fabrics looked together i have to tell you. i was running into snags in construction and my sewing friends were like "hows it coming?" and i i was like "its a freakin mess but im not going to loose hope. its going to be beautiful! at the very least it will be sparkly and that will be enough."

also for new years dresses i have coined a phrase (which solidly places making my NYE dress every year in the tradition category) "if you dont question whether its a shirt or a dress its not short enough for new years." id said it a time or two jokingly but when i went to the liquor store to pick up booze for the night The Beautiful Monstrosity was on a hanger in the back of my car and the nice guy at the store offered to help me to my car with my box o booze. when he was done loading the box in he pointed at TBM and said "pretty. is that your shirt for tonight." i just laughed and said "yes sir. it IS for tonight but THAT is a dress." at which point he said... 0.0 ... "oh. well you have fun tonight."

If you care to see all my silly photos from new years this year you sure can. they are over here on my flicker.

Music Monday #27

2012-01-16T07:59:00.006-06:00

Wordless Wednesdays 41

2012-01-11T07:13:00.000-06:00

Kinfolk banner

2012-01-10T07:35:00.001-06:00

So we all know The Chad is a HUGE yonder mountain string band fan and i made him a banner this year to put on his tent at festivals n such. "kinfolk" is the super fan group of people like dead heads or fanilows. heres a quick little rundown of how i did it.

i used muslin as the base and quilting fabrics for the letters. i drew the letters onto iron on interfacing....well more like fusible webbing i guess...and cut a square out around the letter. then i left the paper on the one side and ironed the other side down to the colored fabric. Then i cut out the letters and peeled off the paper, arranged them on the rectangle of muslin and ironed them on. I zig zagged around each edge of the letters.

then i folded all the edges of the muslin in twice so the raw edges were all covered and zig zagged those down. i folded the grommet edge over a few times so it would be a little sturdier. i used a knitting needle to push the fibers aside instead of using the grommet hole cutter because this makes it stronger and less likely for the grommet to pull out. then i whacked the grommets in. viola! super fancy banner thingy!

Sunday Funnies #22

2012-01-08T08:30:00.001-06:00

WATCH OUT LITTLE DRUNK GIRL!!

Wordless Wednesdays 40

2012-01-04T07:44:00.000-06:00

Heart shaped colesterol

2012-01-03T07:18:00.000-06:00

ironic huh? anyhow cute as all get out, so totally worth it as long as you dont eat 10 a day i guess. heart shaped things are ALWAYS cuter. its a rule of the universe :0) i found this tutorial on stumbleupon and tried it out. it TOTALLY works. heres my pix. i used 2 card boards from a package of bias tape covered in clear packing tape so the egg wouldnt stick.

Year in Review 2011

2011-12-31T12:30:00.013-06:00

Take the first sentence (or two) from the first post of each month of 2011. That's your year in review. i get more words than most cause i hardly EVER use punctuation :0) my sentences get to be really long. im also gonna link them in case you want to see more about it. NOW also featuring photos! fun! if you do this on your blog share a link in my comments section so we can all join in the fun.

January: this dress had a lot of external decorations that went with it, jewelry pouches (o h the pouch how i loved you. along with pockets i shall ALWAYS have a pouch. you schlep around a lot more stuff during the day at faire than you ever wo uld imagine!) , hood, parasol, etc. this is the post in which i share the ones i made for MY costume.

February: Tortellini soup (recipe)

March: so i found this great project on what is quickly becoming one of my favorite craft blogs. aunt peaches. i think i love you and your recycley goodness.

April: FREE!!! the best "F" wor d ever!

May: Sunday Funnies #13

June: Wordless Wedn esday #37

July: Sunday funnies #17

August: lookey lookey lookey!!!!!! Leopold and Freyderick two of the Fabulous Fops at the renaissance festival here in KC were on the news today!!

September: this is the awesomest thing ive seen on youtube in a very very long time. you go you tiny, asian, training wheeled, tokyo drifter you. (video)
October: thank the good god almighty in heaven i made it through another year!!!! bring on the best month of the year OCTOBER!!!!!!
November: hey long time no chat! this post is due to the fact that every time i tell someone i used to be a Polynesian dancer for a few years as my job they always say "WOW! you were a stripper!?" (video)
December: The Handy Hook (video)

Wordless Wednesdays 39

2011-12-28T07:30:00.000-06:00

Music Monday #26

2011-12-26T07:26:00.004-06:00

Merry Catsmas!!!

2011-12-25T07:31:00.002-06:00

Wordless Wednesdays 38

2011-12-21T07:24:00.000-06:00

Meet Herbert

2011-12-20T07:47:00.001-06:00

so my friend andy caught this little guy in his basement and i decided to keep him on the spot! meet herbert! i already kinda chronicled this on fb but some of you dont follow me there so heres some pix and the short and sweet of it. enjoy!

Music Monday #25

2011-12-19T07:03:00.003-06:00

there are swears and im pretty sure boobs in this video so if you cant deal with that kinda stuff then watch out but this is a great song. also the actual music starts at 1:20 i think.

Sunday Funnies #21

2011-12-18T11:02:00.003-06:00

ooohhh. a Sleep Talkin Man! havent heard from him in a while around here.from this post:

"You're exactly the type of person I'd throw a cake at. Swiftly followed by a brick. And then an elk." think thats funny to read you should hear it in sound

"Your head's so shiny. So freakishly shiny. It's too bright! Only go out at night with a head so shiny." again click here for the sound

Sunday Funnies #20

2011-12-11T08:17:00.000-06:00

Way Back Craft. A 2-fer!!!

2011-12-08T08:03:00.001-06:00

My friend Ofenjen of sewhooked fame calls this kinda thing a "way back craft". you know? something crafty you did BEFORE you had a blog. i know right?! i can hardly remember when that was either but there ya go. i found one in my stash of pix!....sidebar...i also made that art hanging behind my head by exacto-ing out squares of magazine advertizements and arranging them in a fashion that i liked and mounting them on poster board in a frame.

Once upon a time there was a contest at the Tulsa Aquarium which i loved to go to very much. it was for a year long pass if you won. it was a Christmas ornament contest. I was really into making these beaded ornaments at the time. you start with a Styrofoam ball and some silk pins. you put a tiny bead on the pin and then a sequin. you dab the pointy end of the pin in some white glue and jam it in to the ball until the whole thing is covered. So i made one with a fish theme complete with sand and seaweed. it weighed about a zillion pounds but it won! you cant tell but it was SUPER sparkly. its almost all swarovski bi-cone beads. There i am looking baked standing in front of the tree at the aquarium with my ornament on it. hahahaha

The Handy Hook

2011-12-07T22:32:00.003-06:00

yup thats my butt, boobs, and hand all struggling getting that dry cleaning into the car without the handy hook and then sticking it in there with ease after the handy hook!

I WASNT A STRIPPER!!!!!

2011-11-16T17:17:00.006-06:00

hey long time no chat! this post is due to the fact that every time i tell someone i used to be a Polynesian dancer for a few years as my job they always say "WOW! you were a stripper!?" and then, after the first rush of enthusiasm, they look skeptically at my tiny tatas. rude. it really pisses me off. hear me here. there is nothing wrong with being a stripper. that is not what im saying. i honest to god dont care what anyone does for a living as long as they are a nice person that treats me and the people i love kindly and as long as that job makes them happy and fulfilled. banker, stripper, candle stick maker, whatever. it really doesnt matter but it frustrates me that no one knows what the hell Polynesian dance is and i miss it soooooooo much. so here is my try at educating and sharing something i love.

enough with the yammerin! WE WANNA SEE THE DANCIN!!!! ok jeesh. calm down, here you go:

a beautiful hula and some lovely music to go with it. speeds up to the tempo i like at about 1 min in.

this is the most fun of all the routines to me and more my speed the music is great. i might have to learn this one just for fun

start it at 1:30ish- use of the uli uli (explanation video below). and the music is really fun in this one.

heres some tahitian dancing this shows quite a few of the different hip movements but i cant really find a video im happy with for tahitian i gotta say.

Great hips kinda lame video traditional short skirt

this one shows how the long skirt moves(although in totally wackado colors) and traditional formation but im seeing a LOT of shoulders waggling around and lazy arms so try to ignore that part. yuck and i also danced to this song before. aaahhhh. memories.

found those beautiful and interesting did you? heres some more educational junk:
basic steps

some hand movements. they all mean something. we arent just wavin' our arms around ya know :0)

my favorite implements ipu and the uli uli (i like these cause they are pretty AND noisy!)

sunday funnies #19

2011-10-30T05:02:00.004-05:00

sorry after this first one they are NOT pg rated. but they ARE very funny. consider yourself warned!!!

HA! rub one out for jesus

something sweet for your morning

2011-10-24T07:40:00.001-05:00

oh cripes this is cute. SO cute my head nearly shot off my neck and killed me. you know how my head pops off when i see cute stuff. i am afflicted. aaaanywho. this was made by a little ren faire friend of mine for his gal and its sooo cute and the music is great. whoda seen rusted root making an appearance?! not me. but yay! and i litterally went AWWWWWW at the end which was awkward cause i was brushing my teeth at the time but this vid made my WHOLE morning and i hope yours too.

FAVORITE MOMENTS 4th AND 5th FESTIVAL WEEKEND WERE:

2011-10-07T16:53:00.003-05:00

whoa missed one! dont worry im catchin up.

On legend quest weekend (a LARPING weekend at faire) a girl came up and started asking me questions regarding their quest. i answered and generally chatted with her and her group. they were all very nice and great larpers too. they really understood the game. as we were wrapping up she says "do you know where i might find the princess of denmark. i saw missive that she would be attending this harvest faire" i said i was she. this girl then presented ME with a gift! one that she brought all the way from home just for me!!! she told me she was a loyal citizen and here to serve in my defense and honor. it was a teeny leather pouch with coins from all over europe and one from denmark!!! a real coin from denmark! this got tied immediately to my chain of lucky items (my gambling good luck stuff) and i will treasure it forever.
getting a rose from a season pass holder that i thought i had accidentally hurt the feelings of on the 2nd weekend. i was chatting with him and asked if he was at the harvest faire alone (because all the princesses are looking for husbands) and he said he was. he said his wife had died 4 years past and the faire was something they always did together. he seemed very very sad. i didnt know what to say. i apologized for his loss and said that we were all very glad he still came out to visit us. i saw him the next day and the next weekend in passing and always made sure to wave or ask how he was doing and what fun things had he done on a particular day. anyhow as i was rushing to tea i passed him and he gifted me with a rose which was very sweet and made my day because i knew that i had not hurt his feelings by mistake on the weekend before.
i watched my friend get the honor of being knighted Dame Charity and even got to put the garter on myself!
diving and skinning my knee catching a baby that was falling out of a wagon the mom accidentally tipped over trying to turn it around too sharply. skinned my knee didnt rip my dress and the kid didnt even cry! woot woot! the whole situation was just absurd and still makes me laugh but im glad i was able to catch the kid anyhow.
rattling the dice in my palms around the queen and her catching me. it was actually an accidental catch in real life. she asked suspiciously what i thought i was doing (cause im not supposed to be gambling or dicing) and i said "praying your majesty." and pressed my palms together with the dice hidden in between "im feeling EXTRA pious today!" and as i scampered down the hill i heard her laugh for real. i like to make her laugh especially. i dont know why.
and lastly a funny from the french, floozy, court musician cossette. (who i like both in character and in real life but thats who her character is). after princess line up we are supposed to find a single man and try to get him to agree to a marriage contract. i saw a mom pointing at 2 ten year old boys and i ran over there. they backed away but when it because clear that that wasnt going to work on me and i was going to chase them down the ran down the hill. i gave chase shouting "COME BACK!!!! DONT YOU WANT TO MOVE TO DENMARK!!!!???" i finally gave up came back to he majesty and said "my apologies your majesty. they got away. i could not catch a husband wearing this farthingale (read: hoop skirt)." cossette piped up and said " i think this is why i am so successful in always catching the men....you see i ALWAYS take my dress off BEFORE i chase them." AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! i about died right there in the lane laughing.

Being silly at the morning meeting

THE PNEM IS BAAAAACK!!!!!

2011-10-04T16:19:00.005-05:00

thank the good god almighty in heaven i made it through another year!!!! bring on the best month of the year OCTOBER!!!!!! wanna know why i love october see here that post also explains the PNEM or Pumpkin Noms Extravaganza Month as i have dubbed it.

last year was a little lame for me and the PNEM. i was soooooo busy i didnt have anytime to eat. let alone go out for pumpkin flavored delights. trust me i am NOT making that same mistake again. id like to start THIS PNEM off with a little tale of joy....
Once upon a time (as all good stories begin) there was a princess, thats me...duh. No. literally it is. remember im Princess Sophia at the KC Renaissance Festival. She was held under a magical spell cast by an evil witch named Prendolyn the Weird (yup thats me too). This princess LOVED pumpkin treats and she noticed them appearing in he month of September but was powerless to acquire said treat until the month of October began so she bucked up and played a game called "painful and menacing self denial". long title for a game i know....and just a ..ahem...pleasant as it sounds. in fact the princess because so good at this game that the time snuck past her as if she were under another, more powerful, magical spell.

one day the princess attended the Harvest Faire while on progress with the English Queen. While she was there she sat to have lunch with the MOST fashionable set in Canterbury, The Fops. While dining she noticed some beautiful tiny cup cakes that delighted her eye, but did not grace her palate for she was watching her waist line. THEN.....

someone mentioned that one variety of cupcake was pumpkin spice, and the memory of the PNEM snapped back into her mind, and she realized that it was OCTOBER THE SECOND!!!!! a squeal of delight ripped through the air that i am sure could have been heard by the entire festival grounds. hopping and flailing of the greatest joy ensued and Freyderick handed her a teensy tiny bit of pumpkin ecstasy and began her PNEM "curse". it was soooooo delicious AND becuase it was a mini cup cake the princess got to pretend she was a GIANT while she ate it so it was TWICE as tasty.

i only wish i had a picture of it but alas i am not allowed to make portraits of things while i am in the guise of princess sophia. but can i just say i can think of no better way to start off the PNEM in 2011 than that.

FAVORITE MOMENTS 3rd FESTIVAL WEEKEND WERE:

2011-09-23T19:33:00.003-05:00

this is gonna be a short one. it wasnt very populated last weekend cause it rained the whole time. stupid weather but i do have a few, and weekend 4 is almost upon us so id better get to it!

creepy rat catcher barnaby was snarling on the edge of the road between the tea house and the mask stage and when we came marching up the road with little girls during our princess parade he was as creepy as ever but when i waved at him he slapped on a giant smile, tilted his head totally sideways, and waved like a princess too then went back to being creepy til the next person waved at him when he repeated the process. guess everyones gotta feel like a pretty princess sometimes :0)
getting the chance to polka with andy and jason they are both very good leaders and trust me when i say the cobble stones are an obstacle course of death and destruction during the polka. let me paint a picture for you: people going every which way, loads of children that you cant see coming till your tripping over them,music that is very fast (which is part of why its fun but also why people crash if they arent watching out), all on a very uneven surface while wearing a wet ballgown thats 4 inches longer than it should be cause its wet and heavy and squishing your hoop. neither of them let us crash into anybody and neither of them stepped on my skirt. it was awesome.....cept the part where i lost my faith in andys steering skills and slammed on the breaks and stepped on his foot. soooorry andy!!!! next time ill just close my eyes and let you lead no matter how precarious the situation is i promise!
meeting a young man who was extreemly chivalrous and sweet adn deciding that he would be an excellent match for our young princess margaret! he thought he would be too! kissed her hand and everything it was very sweet.
freyderick buying a ride on the dragon swing for princess margaret and when i took her up to put her on and pay for it the swing pushing fella let me ride too!!!! it was sooooo much more fun than i thought it would be. this was actually from weekend one when prince habib decided that the princess of denmark was going to go back to his god forsaken land with him at closing gate. "please save me! i dont want to have to bet on the camel races for the rest of my days!"

hooter skirt

2011-09-20T09:19:00.002-05:00

i got this owl fabric on a super sale a few months ago and wanted to make a skirt based on a skirt that i love and have had for years.

soooo there i was, i was laying the original skirt on top of the fabric and wondering why the heck the back on the original was cut in two pieces instead of one like the front when i realized it was to get the best use out of the LEAST amount of fabric....and simultaneously realizing that my back side owls were gonna be upside down. oh well. a skirt out of about a yard of fabric! im not complain'n too much. see it in that second pic? yup upside down hooters. :0)

now i know this technique only will work for non-directional fabrics...i know that has a name but i cant think off it just now. this skirt just has a piece of lengerie elastic sewn directly onto the waist area. you know thats the elastic that has a little frill along one edge? and i did the hem the way i do all my hems, with flexi-tape to keep in any frays in....well most frays aparently that ones makin a break for it. but i was in a hurry to wear it ok? :0)

sunday funnies #18

2011-09-18T08:12:00.000-05:00

FAVORITE MOMENTS 2nd FESTIVAL WEEKEND WERE:

2011-09-14T07:50:00.001-05:00

WHEW! this ones a doozy!:

Gambling with the king in the gaurds encampment
Deciding that that awful gypsy man (maestro) who i won these dice from must have cursed them cause they were failing me but when i switched to the gaurds dice i won the roll.
Teaching the men at queens tea some dice games before the queen arrives, hey i have to butch it up a little for those poor fellas. THEY ARE ABOUT TO HAVE TO WEAR A CROWN FOR 30 MINUTES FOR GODS SAKE!!!! gotta let them fell like men! HUAH!!!!!.....aaaaaand then realizing that their 5 year old daughters are usually better at the game then they are...soooo maybe not so much.
dicing for a brief moment with robin hood (for charities sake) and having a little boy come and gamble with us. i was going to give him some pearls to bet with till he pulled some quarters out of his pocket and tossed one in and picked up the dice :0) he didnt win but OF COURSE i gave him his money back (as a citizen of canterbury he couldnt afford to loose it with the evil duches stealing AAALLLLLL their money away) and a pearl to take home with him for learning the game.
getting to walk around with maid marian and katerina and katerinas statement: *looks back and forth between marian and i and sayd* "you two are the perfect pairing. you wave at a baby and it starts crying and she comes along and fixes them. then you wave at another baby and it starts crying and then she comes along and fixes them." hahaha good thing maid marian LOVES talking to crying children.
telling everyone that would listen about how i won the pantaloons right off of a pirate lady that was just sure she could beat me in a card game and THATS why she never wears a skirt any more. cause IM wearing her fancy pantaloons.
sitting next to another little princess sophia (maybe 4 years old) durring the ending scene, who figured out way early that little johns execution was a trap for robin hood and was so concerned that she was screaming "ROBIN HOOD DONT COME HERE ITS A TRAP!!!! ITS A TRAP!!!!! WHERE IS HE I HAVE TO TELL HIM THEY ARE GOING TO GET HIM!!!!" i almost had to sit on her to keep her from running out in to the square. no matter how many times i told her robin was too clever for this trick she wouldnt hear it. SHE was going to save him!! and then when marian started kicking butt she jumped up and down screaming and cheering and flailing.
getting to polka two tiny times with freyderick, which is almost like getting to do a whole polka.
teaching kids at the pachiva (the fire spinning gypsy party outside the gate at the end of the day) to cheer like a gypsy AND like a court person and getting our very own cheering section going....btw they NEVER want to cheer like a gypsy. GO COURT!
oh i almost forgot! winning a star from tabitha for being a screamy fliaily princess in parade. hahaha. thats not how she phrased it but im sure thats what she was getting at. it made me really proud that she noticed cause i have tried really hard this season to keep up my squaking for the whole parade route.
aaaaaaand last but certainly not least....my favorite moment of the entire weekend sneezing like a dainty little princess (no really this time i did. even got my hanky out in time.) and busting my girdle off during tea. (girdle is a looooooong beaded belt btw not really squeezy pants)

wagering on the turtle races is an exciting endeavor. gooooooo #4!!

MY FAVORITE PARTS OF 1ST FESTIVAL WEEKEND WERE:

2011-09-12T19:43:00.006-05:00

ive been sharing these on facebook but i feel like i should also share them here for your amusement.

getting told by a 10 year old boy "you dont have to worry my lady. Protecting all the beautiful princesses is my hearts DEEEEEEEPEST wish." as he pulled his wooden sword out of the back of his tshirt and then he grabbed my hand and kissed it really sweetly. my head nearly exploded from the cute.
watching my dear friend kick ass and take names in her fight scene as the maid marian.
trying to polka with austin tatious (who almost twisted an ankle in his high heels!) we really had it for a minute though!
Finding out that i learned the "yes and....." game better than i thought i had from the queen mum. (this is an improve game where you can NOT say no no matter how absurd the statement is that another actor says to you. you have to say "yes and..."and then continue the scenario. it came into play durring the tea when she announced that i would be narrating part of the tea that i dont normally do. i guess my face said "not me!! not me!!!!" but i was facing away from the audience so its ok. but my mouth said "yes. i will. aaaand...." and my good cousin said "and rosa will be describing it for you." whew. she saved me hahaha.
Winning a star from their majesties and getting to attend the Royal Joust with princess rosa. (a star is a prize for doing an especially good job at something durring a faire day. i also got a most beauteous crown pin)
getting to walk around for a short while with lord gilford (you remember him? last years husband? hes not on cast but he came out to play) who did NOT save me from a drunk guy who almost broke my crown (and would have gotten punched in the kidney by a princess) but DID save me from having to hold a teeny baby that got thrown into his chain of office by its mother. jeesh (i do NOT know what it is about me and him walking around together but people are like "HERE TAKE MY BABY!!!" that has never ever happened while walking around with anyone else but hes like some crazy baby magnet or something.)
and last (cause i could go on all day) the rogue gypsies breaking into our court dance at the end of the day 1/2 dressed as gentleman and wearing masks.

Tis a traditional greeting of the great land of Denmark. it doth mean "I am most humbled to be in your wonderous and glorious pressence." but that takes sooooooooooo long to say in danish we shortened it to this.

Park it Faster Tiny Driiiiifter

2011-09-02T17:56:00.000-05:00

this is the awesomest thing ive seen on youtube in a very very long time. you go you tiny, asian, training wheeled, tokyo drifter you.

My Fabulous Faire Friends are FAAAMOUS!!

2011-08-31T15:18:00.008-05:00

lookey lookey lookey!!!!!! Leopold and Freyderick two of the Fabulous Fops at the renaissance festival here in KC were on the news today!!!! omg this is just so exciting. i will say i have gotten to know these two quite a bit better as the fops have all been attending court rehearsals this season and they didnt last season. Well Lee did caue hes also the dance master for court. so i knew him pretty well already. i also got to dance one dance with him every day at festival last season but really thats all i ever saw him. Anywhoozle point arent they lovely!? check out those costumes and those arent even the full ones for this year. This is super fun and im so proud of you two. great job!

sunday funnies #17

2011-07-03T11:48:00.003-05:00

Braided Chain Bracelet

2011-06-14T08:26:00.003-05:00

i saw this tutorial and thought it looked easy enough and was worth a try. here are my results!

chain braid bracelet. i really like the combo of the heavy chain and the multicolor fiber. i could think of about a bazillion ways to do this craft but i wanted to just use what i had on hand.

i LOVE the way this came out. unfortunately, the beautiful... and what i thought to be ultra handy magnetic clasp really sucked serious ass and it fell off somewhere. well it fell off EVERYWHERE, EVERY time i even moved my arm for the three days i had it. i kept finding it in my lap, in my purse, in the car, on the ground, in my plate, UGH!!! and then we went out one day and i didnt find it anywhere :0( it fell off and is gone forever. so in memoriam...here are some photos of the bracelet i loved for three days then lost.you can also find a version of this bracelet that i made in gryffindor house colors over here on my harry potter blog.

paternosters and jewelry

2011-06-09T08:32:00.000-05:00

so last year for the kansas city renaissance festival i made a bunch of gifts for the folks that were in court and in my little scenarios. i wish i could have made gifts for everyone on cast but there are so many. for the flowers of the court i made paternotsters. most of what i know about making them was learned at an an sca event. but the rest was learned from this lady. god is she ever nice. i sent her an email and she sent me a great email back with tons of info and a book list and everything!

this little pretty was a commission i love the way the black silver and burgundy look together.

these were made for the gentlemen in my life last year. the lord gilford (my secret husband) gor the heart pin and sir justice sword of the court and my sword and companion for part of the day got the wolf pin. i made them both by snapping the shank off of a gold colored button and using a dremel to drill a hole through the button. then i used a large jump ring to attatch a charm. i tied and glued an orange bow on to the loop cause that wa my color last year at faire. also i had a tiny version of the same heart that i gave gily as a secret sign that we were matching in some way

last but most certainly not least for her majesty i made a necklace similar to the one i had. it came out really pretty but i didnt know at the time that she want a big fan of pearls or id have chosen some different accents. still i think its pretty and that she liked it :0)

what has two thumbs and a new percy jackson shirt?

2011-06-07T07:46:00.000-05:00

I DO! this stencil was cut on my friend shannons cricut. awesome thing that is. almost feels unfair to cut a stencil with a computerized contraption instead of an exacto knife but what a great result it gives.

Music Mondays #24

2011-06-06T07:20:00.003-05:00

Zombie Apocalypse Playlist, cause its good to be prepared:
1) Who Knew---pink
2) Damn Girl---Justin Timberlake
3) The Other Way---Weezer
4) Girlfriend---Avril Lavigne
5) Lithium---Nirvana
6) Im Yours---Jason Mraz
7) Im not OK---My Chemical romance
8) Alchohol---Barenaked Ladies
9) Hard Days Night---The beatles
10) Tragic Kingdom---no doubt

Sunday Funnies #17

2011-06-05T09:36:00.000-05:00

Did you see that UFO!?

2011-06-04T07:34:00.000-05:00

UFO being "unfinished object". this one just happens to be a crochet project. the every very first thing i ever tried to crochet. when i learned to knit i bought a BOX of that red white and green christmas yarn off of ebay for like 6 bucks including shipping! i think it had 5 skeins in it!......which were not enough for a blanket as it turns out. boo.i started this project before i even knew what i was doing. ran out of yarn, added the red and green.....and ran out of yarn.....DANG! ok well i learned a lot by just doing as much as i did which was this much. *points down* i looked and looked for more of the yarn to match and while seasonally they have some that is close to the same color it isnt quite. so i never finished it. i threw it in a box and forgot about it but i HAVE to get it out of my house. its haunting me. *glares at unfinished blanket*

its looking nice but at 2 feet wide that isnt gonna work. hahaha. so my NEW game plan is to unravel all the extra squares i has made. i have enough done to add a third row of blocks and then i have the green and red and multi that you see in the top pic. so im going to just go in rounds around the outside till i run out. id initially intended this as a gift for someone, so id like to have it done by this years christmas to gift it after all. good luck to me! im finishing this UFO this year!

Can you ever have enough monks?

2011-06-02T07:17:00.001-05:00

ive been making monks bags with shorter straps these days and finding them quite a bit more comfortable to wear for me and others as well. which is a little odd cause normally i really like a cross body bag. anywhoozle i made these two for friends who are using them as purse/diaper bags. :0) these are based on my friend jennifers pocket layout for her monks bag 2.0 with a few modifications on cutting and assembly that just work a bit better for me. her tutorial is brilliant though!

Wordless Wednesday 37

2011-06-01T06:40:00.000-05:00

sunday funnies #16

2011-05-29T07:35:00.000-05:00

from sleep talkin man. been awhile since ive posted any from there! click on them to be taken to the mp3 page:

"I wanted a shark with laser beams, and I got a manatee with a mag-lite. For fuck's sake, get back in your hole and get it right."

"I can't drive with the roof down, but where are we gonna put the dolphins? They love to feel the wind in their blowhole. Pfffffffffff, blowhoooole! Click click click squeak, click squeak squeeeeeak. Awwww, they said 'I love you'. I love you too, dolphins. Just sit down in the back."

useful, beautiful, and recycled!

2011-05-28T07:59:00.002-05:00

this was a genius idea posts by a friend of mine. one spaghetti jar turned brilliant needle keeper.

we all know that i love me some recycled gift wrappin like this and this. i cant wait to give this a try. looks pretty easy and what a cute result

moroccan lanterns how to. yeah recycled spaghetti jar amazingness!

sunday funnies #15

2011-05-22T08:10:00.000-05:00

Hard Boiled Denmark

2011-05-20T10:49:00.004-05:00

easter was right around the time i found out that i was going to be princess sophia of denmark and so in tribute i wanted to craft something. i spent LOOOOOAAAADSSSS of time looking for solid red easter egg dye only to discover that, aparently to get the really really solid red eggs you have to do some crazy onion peel natural dye thing....which was too involved for me since i didnt start looking around till the day before easter. as discussed here i did the vinegar and food coloring thing worked pretty well although my white crayon skillz seem to leave a bit to be desired...THAT however is not the point. LOOKEY! THEY ARE LITTLE DANISH FLAG EGGS!!!!!! aaaawwwww.

sunday funnies #14

2011-05-16T07:29:00.001-05:00

Tenleys Civil War Gown

2011-05-13T07:17:00.003-05:00

Made a civil war ball gown for a client who is a musician and now is a friend. i used simplicity 3727 and it went together beautifully! i have no complaints save for the regular i had to make it 3 sizes smaller than she measured out at cause there is waaaaay too much ease built into this and the collar attached a bit strangely. i think next time ill just make a dickey kind of thing.

i drafted the sleeves my self and im pretty proud of how this turned out. she brought the stiped silky stuff to me and said she really wanted to use it but it was only 4 or 5 yards. not even cloase to enough. luckily i found this moire kinda fake silk stuff and it matched really well so i pieced the skirt. i found an image of a ball dress from the period done like this. i only found one and i cant find it now but i thought it was original and no one else would have anything like it. heres some pix of her wearing the dress. doesnt she look lovely!?

Princess Sophia

2011-05-12T08:30:00.002-05:00

So audition for the 2011 season of the kansas city renaissance festival were a few weeks ago. im going to try to be better this year about keeping up on, but yeah right, who am i kidding ill probably post everything in one week 5 months late hahaha.

anyhow my first choice for parts was a scenario part which was maid marian but i didnt get it. i DO feel like it went to a better choice. my friend stacey. shes gonna be brilliant! my second choice was to be on court again and i got it! yay! im gonna be the princess of denmark and i cant even tell you how excited i am about it. her name is sofia but i changed the spelling cause i think it looks prettier as Princess Sophia. any little quibbly bits about my character, or costumes, or things about Princess Sophia can be found on the Facebook page i made for her...er....me. ill be writing that page from my characters perspective to the best of my ability so that *I* can try to learn about her too. feel free to follow by friending me either from the link here or the FB badge in my sidebar.

I have to tell you i know nothing about....me, yet. haha i've thought a little about who sophia is and im sure i will update you on that later when i post my character survey like i did last year. for now id like to share with you the Tiara Chronicals. all the princesses are going to have crowns and im gonna get one too. Her Royal Majesty Queen Isabella gifted ALL the ladies of the court with these little plastic tiaras at the cast dinner. I promised that i was gonna wear mine till it broke. ive been wearing it every day and sleeping in it since april 11th. i dont wear it to work becuase they really would not approve. really. but i wear it in the car to and from work and it just makes me really really really HAPPEEEEEEE. ive slept in it every night and taken 3 baths and a shower in it and its still holding up great. im photoing the adventures of my play tiara with my phone and the cool hipstamatic app. anywho thought id share them here too.

the first night i slept in it and proof! crazy hair and no makeup. and finding a complementary ensamble to wear with it for work.

im going as a gent to another acting thingy ill tell you about later. heres me trying on my costume and not leaving out the tiara from the fun!

also the tiara in the chads land cruiser. and happy hour with a tiara. soooooo much more fabulous!

way too early to be up but LOOK! it stayed on all night again and waking up in a tiara makes the morning so much better!! and look! princess sophia got REAL mail!!!! from the king and queen a real card with her name on it and everything as a welcome to court. soooo fun!

One Word Meme

2011-05-11T08:43:00.000-05:00

Here's another fun one-word game to play. Copy and paste my answers into your own blog. leave a msg in the comments here so i can check out your answers

Where is your cell phone? shelf

Your hair? ponytail

Your father? funny

Your favorite thing? creating

Your dream last night? unprepared

Your favorite drink? coffee

Your dream/goal? sewing

The room you are in? office

Your fear? bugs

Where do you want to be in 6 years? self-employed

Muffins? none

One of your wish list items? sleeve-board

Where you grew up? Arcadia

The last thing you did? iron

What are you wearing? shorts

Your TV? off

Your pets? kally

Your computer? open

Your life? busy

Your mood? relaxed

Missing someone? yup

Your car? dirty

Favorite store? target

Your spring? green

Your favorite color? orange

When is the last time you laughed? 9:45 am

Last time you cried? weeks

Three people who email me? mom, dad, sister

Three of my favorite foods? artichokes, pomegranates, pizza

Three places I would rather be right now? paris, harry potter world, pool

Ren Fest auditions and cast party!!

2011-05-10T08:16:00.002-05:00

my pictures from auditions and cast dinner can all be found starting here in my flicker alum but if youd like to see the hundreds that were taken you can find those here! i swipe my pix from rnee who is always so nice to come take pictures at these events for us. :0)

so the audition process was much more fun for me this year. maybe because i was doing it on purpose this time. my first two choices for character this year were maid marian (robin hood is the scenario) or a princess. there were 5 princess roles to be had for adults and i really liked being on court last year. so anyhow.....for the first try out you go in and draw a piece of paper that has a random character on it and a situation. they have nothing to do with which part you want in the end. they are just totally random. then you go into a room and improv this situation with "patrons". i drew "squire who is afraid of horses" lame.

turns out not so lame after all my pal stacey who was also trying out for marian was my mentor. we thought up a situation that i would play out and it worked great! i got a few laughs and that always makes me feel better. stacey said "im really proud of myself that i didnt sabotage you to knock you out of the marian running." shes been sizing me up and trying to get me to try out for something else and telling me there are bugs in the swill pond (which you have to fall in for one of the scenes) etc etc since she found out i was trying out for marian too. see! shes growing as a person. :0)

i got a few callbacks and thats awesome! i got callbacks for fae (the fairies at faire and they are beautiful and do a lot of dancing), and town dancers (they are going to have a dance show all day where you bring patrons into the mix so that would have been fun too), court (yay!) and maid marian.

on the call back day for auditions stacey wood and stacey mcdade (see pix above this) and i were all trying out for marian and we were like the most supportive competitors ever. truly. i joke about how miss mcdade was trying to mentally sabotage me but part of what made this process so great was their support even though we all wanted the same part. we practiced our sword fighting and hand to hand fighting (we learned these at a fight workshop a few weeks before that was WAAAAAAY too much fun and like nothing ive ever done before) we talked about costumes and kept each other calm. it was great.

stacey mcdade ended up getting it and she said that was good cause if she didnt she was gonna have to knife whoever DID get it. hahahaha. god shes funny. im sad i wont get to really see her do her thing at faire and i hope there is a day where other performers can go and watch the scenario skits and stuff. stacey wood is on court with me! shes the queens maid and im the princess of denmark!! you can follow my character stuff by going here and friending princess sophia. that me!

the pictures below were from the fae auditions. we learned a dance and pranced around like little fairies and it was just far FAR too much fun! my knees were all bruised up though from performing the dance on concrete. i think in another year i might really like to be a fae. i DO like to dance and it was fun being all squirley and spritely. totally different than being in court. "may i have this dance" which is the name of the dance troupe is going to be so great. their auditions were also a lot of fun. its kinda like what we do at closing gate at faire.

cast dinner was of course at the salty iguana where it was last year. it was a whole different experience for me this year. actually having friends there as opposed to being the new girl who didnt know anyone. it was much less overwhelming....well for me. im sure the servers were like WTF!? it was a little crazy. ren fest folks are LOUD! and FLAILY and have a hard time staying in one spot for too long. i cant imagine what it must be like to be THAT kind of person *shifty eyes* nope. im never loud or flaily or restless.

this was my favorite picture of the whole night. stacey is my friend that got maid marian! she is PERFECT for the part and im sooooo excited for her. check out this treatment though! sheesh! can you imagine how bad it woulda been for me if I'D have gotten maid marian!?

Music Mondays #23

2011-05-09T16:58:00.000-05:00

most like...lackluster video ever but i really like this song.

Wordless Wednesday 36

2011-05-04T07:29:00.000-05:00

Tired of looking for your headset?!

2011-05-02T18:17:00.002-05:00

and getting brain radiation and junk?! i bet you are! you need one of these things then!

sunday funnies #13

2011-05-01T07:00:00.001-05:00

Wordless Wednesday 35

2011-04-27T07:27:00.000-05:00

bad posture....NEVER!...

2011-04-25T07:21:00.000-05:00

not with the str8n up!

"can you act like a harassed office worker?" charles and cecil asked me. why yes sirs. yes i can indeedy. "ok now your life is sooooo much better because of this contraption." yep it really is. see how happy i am on the phone?! hahahaha.

EASTER EGGS

2011-04-24T07:05:00.000-05:00

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!! i look forward to dying eggs every year. in fact i usually go and grab up a few kits after easter when they are like 50 cents each, so that i can dye eggs in the middle of the year for no good reason.

we dont do anything fancy round these parts. just buy a kit and dye them but its so fun. we have done the tie dye, glitter, marbled and every other kit you can imagine but this year i wanted to try to make the dye out of food coloring. ya know with vinegar and stuff instead of the tablets.

i have mixed feelings about how it worked. it was free cause we already had all the stuff so thats good. and we got some pretty colors but they had to sit in there a long time and we got uneven coverage. The Chad lamented the lack of a dipping tool. although i told him i had wire and i could make him one he declined. below is my favorite egg. and like i said the egg had to be in the dye for a long time before the color would really take so i had to just try to hold it in there really evenly for each color but its pretty and i love rainbow stuffs :0)

below is n egg that got cracked while boiling. those are muy favorites cause they look all awesome and creepy on the inside when you peel them open.

NORMAL people clothes!

2011-04-23T07:45:00.000-05:00

i know! you cant believe it but i made something that i can wear in real life. thats right kiddies its not a costume. i used this pattern obviously its view B, which frankly i expected to be longer but, i like a short skirt and its still long enough to wear to work so... its fine.

next time i make it ill add the ruffle i think. i really like the way the yoke on the skirt fits. if you wanna see a closer view you should be able to click on any of the pix and they will enlarge. i found this awesome rainbow star fabric (you know how i love a rainbow) the only thing that would have made this fabric more perfect for me is if it had been hearts instead. the funny thing is that everyone who sees this skirt says that it doesnt look like me at all! odd. whatever.

on another note i think this is the best zipper i have ever put in. zippers are HARD! but they go a little smother every time i do one. i also decided to put a hook and eye at the top but i think it would have been ok with just the zipper.

John and Lily Gily...

2011-04-20T21:29:00.016-05:00

...well gilford really. i dont know if i ever said this but part of my character from last year was the fact that i was secretly wed in the early morning before the festival began to the lord gilford (my friend aaron) hes not participating in faire this year and that makes me really really sad. he took me under his wing right away and started texting me all the time as soon as we decided that our characters were going to intertwine and really really made me feel welcome and like i had a friend. hes still going to come out every weekend as the lord gilford but this year i will have a new character and a different interaction with him. its just sad is all im saying. is it stupid to kinda mourn the loss of a character? im new to this acting biz but its makin ma a lil sad.

*deep breath and a sigh* aaaaanywhoozle. the lord gilford and lady lily wrote some missives via facebook that i wanted to save for myself. you may find them entertaining you might not but here we go. the lord gilford is in bold and the lady lily is in italics, oh the queen even chimes in she in this font. different missives will be alternating in colors:

My dear wife as much as it pains me to say I will send you on progress to the harvest faire on your own this season as I have business at our estate I must take care of. Have no fear I shall come once all the business is taken care of. Much love - Your Husband (this was how he let me know he has a grown up job in real life and would only be coming out as a playtron- a patron who plays a part but is not employed by the renaissance festival)

Dearest Wife, While your in Canterbury please be sure to ignore all of the rumors you hear of Essex I assure you that they are all false. Sincerly your Husband Lord Gilford

My dear dear loving Husband,
...it is so good to hear from you.....finally. I am sure you are just extremely busy getting our affairs in order at the estate while I am on progress with the queen. I did recently receive a letter from my cousin.... Who you have put in the west wing for her stay...saying that she heard the strangest noises coming from our rooms of the home.
She said she thought she heard What sounded like multiple voices.Strange squawks, quails, an odd sort of cry out or scream and all amongst much rustling. I became very flustered and excited upon hearing this because I knew EXACTLY what she was hearing.
My flock of peacocks has finally arrived!!!!!! My dear it IS quite chilly in Essex this time of year and I'm so happy that you are keeping my exotic birds safe but is there something wrong with the menagerie? Have the monkeys gotten loose again and begun wreaking havock? Really. We MUST get a new servant to tend that area.
I have written the morn away and it is time for tea with her majesty I must away. I will write more anon.
Your loving wife, who just KNEW you'd get her those peacocks if she just kept "reminding" you,
Lily

PEACOCKS!!!!! I have set them back if I knew you had wanted them I would have sent them to you at White hall. I will try and get some here in essex for our lovely estate here as her Majesty would no pleased if I sent them to you. I have in fact gotten rid of Martin for he didnt seem to care much for our menagerie. I am currently looking for a new servant to tend to them. If you find one while away bring them back with you. I would like a new house hold of servants. The ones we have now are getting a little frail and just not what they used to be. I cant find good help anywhere these day

Husband *huff* of course I wanted them why would I have kept asking for them if I didn't want them!? It's alright. Yes please do reorder them dear. And if the commotion wasn't peacocks in our wing of the estate then what was it, exactly, that my cousin overheard? /:0|

Dear wife, I sent them back this morning. I also sent your cousin with the peacoks because she was startng to act like one. Your cousin has been in a mood ever since you left and I will not have her here while I am taking care of my land here. I cant deal with her having every gentlemen from Essex over all the time. Trying to figure out which one she wants t show her father. I sent missive to her father to look for her when the peacocks arrive at there

Well she is a silly goose a suppose traveling with peacocks does make some sort of sense. I can just imagine her father watching out the window for a parade of peacocks and saying "look there wife. Peacocks on parade. Our dear daughter must be just round the bend" well played husband. I am sure you are very busy so I will let you return to your affairs. Until the morrow. Adieu.

have a wonderful day I look forward to seeing you at the harvast fair. I hope I can get all of this figured out by then. Anon my love

Dearest husband, while your continued absence causes me great distress progress with her majesty is putting me in an extremely jovial mood. Jovial moods make me feel lucky. Apparently feeling is not fact. The dice were not kind to me last e'en. Please have 4 of the horses sent to the gaurds encampment. The winner of them will claim them on site. Not to fret though husband. I'm feeling even luckier today than I did yesterday!!! Your wife, lily

I will have them sent right away my dear. Dont worry I will make haste to be by your side once the business is taken care of, believe me I would rather be with my you dear wife

Dearest husband. I can hardly keep my eyes open as I stayed up into the wee hours of the morn adding some embroidery to a dress for her majesty. I fear that I am ACTUALLY too tired to go and win the horses back that I diced away yesterday or the 2 bags of coin that I lost playing cards the day before or the rings that I lost during the joust. This is a shame because today I really AM feeling luckier than ever before and am confident that I could have taken those gents by storm in castle king and guard today (**a dice game in period). *yawn* but for now I must sleep some. Signed your loving and sleepy wife. Lily

Get some rest my dear and then play your games. The horses are old and needed replaced I am not worried about the loss of them however don't gamble my castle

But husband why!? I'm sure on a lucky streak, which I must have coming any time now, I could win us an additional castle! I don't wanna put that on a bet its a family estate my father would be furious if we lost it.

Dearest Lord Gilford,

You are so welcome for the distraction that I gave your good wife last night. I expect you to sign the agreement with Edward by the end of the week in payment for my help with Lady Lily's nightly wagers. I will in future also keep her in check when possible. Return to us soon and in good health. God Speed. Queen Isabella

Your Majesty I will sign the agreement for Edward as he is my best friend and I love my wife dearly and would not like to displease you nor the King. I will return to court once business is taken care of in Essex there is a problem with the orphanage here and I must make the children of Essex safe as you know your Majesty the love that Lilly and I share for children.

God speed and peace be with you.

dear husband, how i miss seeing you. you always do make me laugh. my time on progress is much sadder for you not being with us. yesterday i danced and sang with her majesty and the rest of the large court we have now. i also met a truly evil duchess and a gaggle of very funny guards. a man named robin hood tried to make me fall in lo...ve with him, but do not worry my heart belongs to you, and i got to partake in some sword play. THEN i learned to fight with a staff. i do not think i was very threatening but i did not kill anyone or smash any fingers either so that was good. other large plans are afoot for this day and i will tell you all about them anon. for now know that none of them involve wagering. until the morrow good husband! as always, your loving wife, lily
Dear lovely wife, I will see that Robin is taken care of. My heart does weep everyday I am not with you I am trying my best to see that essex an the children of the orphanage are well taken care of I got rid of Margaret she was not treating... the kids as one would expect I am now holding the children in the west wing of our castle and the servants do enjoy the children. I am keeping them all here until I can find someone else worthy and skilled enough for them. Pass word to the court I shall be in Canterbury for the harvest faire as it is my favorite day of the year. With love and devotion, John

Dear husband, I fear I've fallen horribly ill in the last few days. the doctor has been and gone and while he showed a positive face to me I fear my prospects for continued existence are slim. Her majesty has been to my rooms and while she said in jest "this is what you get for gambling so late into the night. It's cold and damp and you have caught cold" I believe I saw her crying when she left. She is right John. Tis my own folly that has led me here I am sure. I should have given up the vice of gambling long ago. My love for you is vast as the oceans and I will greet you one day in heaven when we can be together again. Your always devoted wife, lily. Ps do you think the good Lord would let me bring the mother of pearl dice that I love so much through the pearly gates? Bad idea to ask St Peter? Maybe.
My love I am on my way to Whitehall I will be there in 2 days prithee wait for me. I am certain you can take your dice with you. The good lord is aware of your gamblings. My love watch over me and never leave me alone.

sunday funnies #12

2011-04-17T07:42:00.000-05:00

Tart and Spicy Salad

2011-04-12T07:46:00.000-05:00

remember the Vegi Taco Salad? yeah well we had some leftover stuff cause there are only 2 of us and that made enough for 4. well i made a salad for dinner a few nights later out of the lettuce mix, the tomato mix, the other 1/2 of the avocado, and a chopped up granny smith apple. i seasoned the whole thing with pepinade (my father in laws spice blend he created) but i imagine a liberal dose of coarse ground pepper and some salt would work pretty well too. yup. thats it. no dressing or anything. 190 calories for a large bowl and super super flavorful.

sunday funnies #11

2011-04-10T07:50:00.000-05:00

i actually think that giraffe mask is super awesome and i want one.

how do you get an avocado out of THERE!?

2011-04-09T09:07:00.001-05:00

ive been asked how to process an avocado. so im gonna tell you. its easy......REEEAAALLY easy. below is what you need. table spoon, large knife, and an avocado. the avocado needs to be pretty soft. if its hard as a rock (like they frequently come from the market) you are gonna want to let it sit on the counter for a few days. OR to really get it ripe lickity split put it in a paper bag with a banana. i dont know why that works but it does.

slice the avocado in half and then CHOP the knife directly into the seed. DO. NOT. SAW. just whack it in there. you gotta commit. now you just turn the knife counter clockwise. if the avocado is the clock face the knife is the hands. the seed will pop out still stuck to the knife.

now slice or grid the avoacdo with the knife. hold it in your hand while you do this. you should be able to feel the point of the knife dragging along the inside of the skin but not going through it. if you are nervous use a butter knife. you wont get as clean of slices but it wont be as stabby either if you go through the skin. then use the spoon to scoop out the slices or cubes. TADA!!!!

Vegetarian Taco Salad

2011-04-07T07:29:00.006-05:00

Ingredients:

2 garlic cloves minced

1/2 bag shredded lettuce (i used the spring mix cause its what we had and chopped it up small)

1 cup cilantro chopped

1 jalapeno diced

4 low carb tortillas (mine are 60 cal a piece)

1 can black beans

1 cup low fat shredded mexican cheese (i used kraft)

1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes (i can not get enough of these things)

1/2 yellow onion

1 avocado- peel removed and sliced

Directions:

--heat oven to 400 and lay the tortillas on the top rack. leave them in there till they start to puff up and them turn them over. once they are toasty on both sides take them out. this takes only a few minutes so keep an eye on them. after you take them out they will crisp up a bit more so its ok if they sit out for a few minutes. in fact you want them to.

--drain beans put in a small pan with the jalapenjo and the garlic on medium. i also had about 1/5 of a bell pepper left from something else so i diced that and threw it in too.

--mix lettuce and cilantro together in a bowl

--mix tomatoes and onions together in a bowl (or, if you hate dishes or want to do this part earlier in the week you can do it in a baggie)

--put tortilla on a plate and layer bean mixture, cheese (so it will melt), tomato mixture, and top with lettuce mixture. we had some mexican rice that cooked up, literally, in 60 seconds. wow. the future is here. granted this side dish has 250 calories a serving but with what you are saving on the main dish you can afford them!

this makes 4 servings. one serving =4oo calories. on another note we had leftovers cause there are only 2 of us so tune in later when i tell you what i made with those. on another...nother note. this would be vegan if you left off the cheese or used soy cheese!

Wordless Wednesday 34

2011-04-06T08:44:00.001-05:00

garlic wheely dealie

2011-04-05T08:00:00.001-05:00

i was asked about this contraption when a reader saw it in my post about tortellini soup and youve seen in in my previous forays into cooking. its a kitchen gadget that i got from my mum as a christmas gift. i constantly am impressed with this little thing (see picture 1) and, as simple of a task as mincing garlic is, this makes it REALLY easy. so i thought id tell you about what it is and how it works. ok so this thing is called the GarlicZoom . first you want to get the paper and the stump off the garlic clove. to do this you are going to:

--put a wide knife on top of the garlic clove. bang the heel of your hand straight down onto the flat of the knife blade (see picture 2). dont be spazzy about this part. i sliced myself pretty good a few days ago by going "whamwhamwham!" on a clove that wouldnt smash and catching my palm on the edge of the blade. one wham should do it. (alternatively i used to do it with the bottom of a pan - and just swung it down on top of the clove like a hammer (with force but not like you are ACTUALLY hammering in a nail...thats too hard)- before i actually acquired a reasonable knife for this task. yup i used to cut everything with a paring knife until about 2 years ago)
--now just chop off the little thing where it was attached to the garlic...clump? whatever. you know what i mean. before it was one single clove it was a buncha cloves all stuck together at the bottom. chop that thingy off.

--put your nude cloves into the wheely dealie by lifting up its little lid and then snap it shut. watch out for the blades of death. yeah.....SHARP. then just put the wheels on the counter and roll it back and forth a few times. super fun and check out that perfect mince!

all my recipies can be found here under the "food" tag. littlekeylimes version of my soup can be found here on her blog. hers has MEAT too! if you are into that kinda thing :0) thanks for asking about my gadget and for trying out my recipe michelle!

Quilt Retreat

2011-04-04T07:36:00.002-05:00

the first one ive ever been to. shannon did the planning and only the 3 of us came but it was soooooo fun. :0) maybe if we do another one we will have more quilters. but either way i could not imagine a more awesome time unless it had lasted about a million days longer. all my pix can be found here and there ARE loads more there.

we stayed at shannons aunts house which is an adorable little farm house in westboro , mo where shannon lives. god its gorgeous out there and totally removed from like....everything. the actual quilt shop where shannon works is in iowa and its an actual working farm. its called the quilt coop and good god its just enchanting. robin and jean are the owners and farmers and i think they thought nicci and i were a real handful. we got a lesson on eggs cause we had so many questions about how you could be SURE you werent gonna crack open an egg with a chick in it. and i tried really hard to get jean to start a breed of teacup sheep so i could have a teeny flock in my back yard. we got to watch jean bottle feed a lamb and it was super cute (he was feeding it out of an old smirnof ice bottle with a nipple on it and we thought that was really funny)

it was niccis first time sewing on a machine since jr high and shed never made a quilt before and she finished a wall hanging from start to finish in the 2 days we had! amazing. it came out great. shannon helped her learn and she was a very good teacher. i DID have to mom voice nicci once about her rotary cutter usage cause she was sawing it back and forth in frustration cause both mine and shannons were really dull. she told me she was kinda scared of me now. but she kept scaring me so i scared her. haha. sorry nicci it was for your own good :0)

for those that dont know a rotary cutter is like a pizza cutter for fabric, and literally, gods gift to quilting. the problem lies in the fact that usually they are extremely sharp and you want to do everything you can to prevent chopping off digits. sawing is not preventing that. ive sliced myself open with a dull rotary blade before and we ALL know im no good in an emergency situation so i wanted to prevent any damage that would not be fixed by frozen pizza placement (keep reading it will all become clear). heres a great tutorial on how you use a rotary cutter

thats the inside of the shop there and there was another classroom where we sewed. it snowed too! and we all know how much i love snow and it was perfect cause it was fluttering down in big puffy flakes but not sticking. so it was pretty AND not inconvenient. at one point we heard a strange noise outside, well nicci and i thought it was strange. and we both stopped sewing. so shannon stopped sewing and was looking at us like "what?" we listened to the weird noise for a second and i said "this is gonna sound strange but.....what are the odds that you are keeping dolphins out there?" *pointing at the window* we all started dying laughing turns out the noise was guinneafowl. weirdo birds that travel in a litte herd. they are like peacocks sort of. with out the big tails. heres a vid of the noise they make. when there were a distance away they sounded just like dolphin chirps and clicks...there wasnt one in the group honking like that one in this vid. hahaha. directly below you will find a picture of the crazy guinneafowl in their traveling herd. just kidding thats US! good thing i cleared that up huh?

so we ate at the shop and at home so it was economical. after the first store run nicci got in the back seat and shannon kinda swung the bag with the frozen pizza in it into the back seat and clocked her right in the head! and she was all concerned and apologetic and then she says "quick! put the pizza on your head to alleviate the swelling!" hahahah. i am happy to report that nicci is now a feverish harry potter fan because we spent the weekend brainwashing her and shes officially been sorted. shes a ravenclaw. i dont think ive laughed so hard and for so long in ages. nicci and shannon i just love you guys.

not only were we silly and getting farm educated we actually DID quilt. shannon was ultra productive. she worked on some commissions and made a bunch of blocks for the Project of Doom. i am also working on that project and finished 2 blocks but im not sharing them yet. i DID finish a few bags for friends and a wall hanging that i started when i lived in telluride out of scraps. i totally botched the binding but its ok i dont mind it now...ok thats a lie. i totally mind it cause the rest of it came out so great and i had these delusional hopes of perfection but i am living with it and it isnt driving me insane. thats the best i can hope for.

we have got to do this again and SOON. we should think up a name and have a quilting bee group and we should do what ofenjens bee does and have a gift for each time we meet up! ok thats it for now.

sunday funnies #10

2011-04-03T07:38:00.001-05:00

whazat?

2011-04-02T08:10:00.000-05:00

i might have mentioned this...tree?...shrub?....plant thing that pops up in our back yard each spring before now but i dont think so. sooooooo here are some pix. what is it? they turn green after a few weeks. and in the winter just turn to sticks. they are about as tall as i am now. thoughts?

F word Fridays #10

2011-04-01T08:17:00.001-05:00

FREE!!! the best "F" word ever! i saw this on the curb on our street and thought. "i can TOTALLY fit that in the corolla." turns out The Ping is not QUITE as spacious as i thought. so i called The Chad and said "you have to get over here asap after work! we need this stuff.

i love me some free furniture. The Chad isnt that crazy about the idea of free furniture but he said if it was still there 9 hours later when he got off work hed take that as a sign that it should be ours and go get it. i really wanted it. i monitored the status of it on the curb repeatedly through out the day and i had a plan to jump in front of it hissing like a rabid opossum if anyone else tried to come abscond with it. that furniture was MINE. i saw it first. :0P i almost grabbed a book and went and sat in one of the chairs all day just to make sure everyone knew it was mineminemine. but i didnt. and then i had to head off to work (this was last year when i was waitressing). commence the hand wringing and the texting "did you get off work and go get it yet?...how bout now? did you get it now?" i mean seriously. we needed some junk to sit on in our back yard and we haz no monies and these people needed....more space on their curb for their trash cans and other junk that was actual junk. so we were helping each other out. plus reduce, REUSE, recycle. yup. i will thanks.as you can see its got a few issues. looks like a dog really enjoyed the flavor of that one corner and its a little faded. the cushions could use a revamp too but im thinking its nothing a few coats of spray paint and some fabric cant fix. now to procure those things for next to nothing and complete my vision.

March 2011 MOHI

2011-03-31T07:53:00.000-05:00

cottages. i found this one on stumble upon. the sorry i cant figue out how to go to the actual post from stumble upon. the first 3 pix are of the same tiny sweet place. the last one is some other cottage but, beautiful. no?

i have never wanted anything for the out of doors as much as i want this thing. its called a nest rest.

book nook para prenny pooh?....hhmmmm. but where to cram that in?

movie by cats!!!

2011-03-30T07:54:00.000-05:00

omg i wanna do this with kally sooooooo bad. but her movie would be lame. it would be 24 hours of, alternately, the underside of her chin while she slept and the camera clanking against her food bowl.

sunday funnies #9

2011-03-27T06:26:00.000-05:00

F word Fridays #9

2011-03-25T07:44:00.002-05:00

FLEECE!!! yup these sheep haz it. my friend nicci (who is awesome and funny and wants to be a farmer/ bee keeper/ bed and breakfast owner/ amish) asked one day if i wanted to go shear some sheep. i was like "HECK YEAH!" so we drove out to lawrence and watched the process. we didnt get to actually sheer any sheep but it was fun to watch. they seem really really relaxed while they are getting the big shave even though they are getting turned this way and that and the shears are loud (oh! the shears on this day were running on solar power! pretty cool huh?) it took about 5 minutes per sheep to give them their haircuts. they felt really really soft and silky afterwords but they looked a little embarrassed.

Alice in Wonderland

2011-03-24T07:15:00.001-05:00

the bingham waggoner house was having a fund raiser and i got to help! it was an alice in wonderland tea and the set up was that each room in the historical house had a tea set up in it for about 10 people.

there were different groups of actors each portraying different characters and scenes from the book. each group pf actors had an alice. i was and alice and so were 10 of my friends. you had 8 minutes in each room to do your scene and interact with the people having tea etc. then the bell would ring and wonderland would go bananas. there were actors running in and out of every room and through alll the halls and every time and alice would run into another alice they would shreik. the poor mock turtle wandered morosely saying "no soup. no soup" or some such funny thing the whole thing was mayhem and very fun and very silly.

my partner was jeremiah. he plays the prince at ren faire, and was the knave of hearts in this production. our scene was that we were going to run a mock trial to prepare me for my trial. the queen of hearts thought i stole her tarts you see, but i didnt. so we had a card with different things that the judge would say, and a patron got to play that part. and a few people were jurors and they had to write down all the important things we said and none of the unimportant things. the hitch was that while the knave was preparing me and questioning different witnesses (other patrons) hed only have the jury write down things about himself! imagine him as Gilderoy Lockhart and that will take you in the right direction. for example hes be on a line of questioning that was leading them to say something that would prove me innocent when hed suddenly realize that he was hunched over and..."*GAAAAAASSSSP* A CREASE ON MY DOUBLET!!!! *furiously smooths it* getitoff. getitoff. getitoff."

id run across the room and look for it "theres nothing there. *smooth smooth* its perfectly smooth."

"*whimpers* perfectly smooth? no creases?"

"no. no creases at all."

cheers right up "oh well THAT is very important evidence indeed! write that down jurors."

so this kept happening and i just get more and more indignant and distressed. my head is going to be lopped right off at this rate. at the end i end up reciting a little bit of poetry that my tutor taught me. i thought once, that it was very dull work indeed, but it turns out that IT was the most important evidence of all. "the queen of hearts she baked some hearts all on a summers day. the knave of hearts he stole those tarts and quickly ran away!." then i made the jurrors write THAT down and hurry out of the room when the mayhem began again in the halls.

we had different reactions in every room from the people at tea. some loved it and wanted to get in on the play acting. some stared at us in total silence. some gave us evidence from previous scenes they had seen. i was the straight man in this shindig and jeremiah was so funny that i had to remind myself to not get too wrapped up in watching him because id laugh out loud and i was supposed to be distresse. the whole thing was insane but fun.

Wordless Wednesday 33

2011-03-23T07:19:00.000-05:00

St. Patricks Day 2011

2011-03-22T07:25:00.000-05:00

how did i celebrate this year? Saturday before last i marched in the Snake Saturday Parade and festival with the KC Renaissance Festival. god i LOVE being in a parade. its so fun! there were a lot of paople at this one too and everyone was all decked out in green and so festive. we won 1st place for the corporate division :0D my friends all looked so marvelous i thought you needed to see some pix of them.

st. patricks day is my friend nicole's birthday. we went out to the 75th street brewery here in town for some delicious food and live music. AND i got to wear my super springy clover antennas which i look forward to every year. they are just....sooooo....BOINGY. i passed of the green beer and instead had a delicious irish coffee. look at me. buckin the trend.

sunday funnies #8

2011-03-20T08:34:00.000-05:00

Viking Helmets!!!

2011-03-19T06:22:00.001-05:00

hey check it out. my nephew and his pals made their own viking helmets using my tutorial! didnt they come out great!!?? did you or anyone you know make some of these? share some pix with me id love to see how they came out. also if youve made anything from a tutorial of mine please stop by the flicker group for convivial crafter and share the pix! on another note. those are the pals. my sis sent these but no pix of jeshua in his viking helmet :0(

F word Fridays #8

2011-03-18T08:48:00.004-05:00

FAJITAS!!!! Skinny Vegi Fajita Quesadillas to be more specific but youd make the veggies the same even if you werent gonna put them in a quesadilla. you could also make these veggies and save them for a few days to make a REALLY quick din din.

Heres a meal that is not only vegetarian but also about 550 calories INCLUDING the "skinny girl margarita" (which i have to say was pretty much straight tequila but my limes werent very juicy. luckily i like tequila haha)Ingredients:
Low carb whole wheat tortillas-soft taco size (mine had 60 calories a piece)
kraft fat free sharp cheddar
1 green ball pepper
1 yellow onion
1 bag sliced baby portabello mushrooms
2 limes- zest and juice
6 garlic cloves - minced
olive oil (to make the stuff not stick to the pan)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup of minces fresh cilantro
steamfresh southwestern style corn (as a side if you like that sorta thing. cook as directed on the bag)

Directions:
1) put a dab of olive oil in a pan. toss in all the veggies and the garilc cloves in let them cook for about 10 min until the veggies are tender

2) make a margarita and dice your cilantro. roll the limes in between your palm and the counter really hard to get them nice and ready to juice (ignore that...garlic paper?....on my finger. just pretend it isnt there. its cooking! its messy ok!? sheesh) start heating up another pan that your tortillas will fit in (do not put oil in this pan).3) ok now you are going to grate the zests off of the limes. i just use a fine cheese grater and do it right over the pan but you can do it in step one if you are more comfortable with that. then slice them in half and use a juicer or a fork to juice all 4 halves into the pan. now put in all your spices and the cilantro. cook for another 5 minutes.

4) put one tortilla on the pan, then 1/4 cup of cheese on the tortilla, and them some veggies, and then another 1/4 cup of cheese and another tortilla.5) cook this on each side until the cheese is melted and both tortillas are toasty.
6) enjoy your Skinny Vegi Fajita Quesadillas with one serving of corn and some salsa (yup i even counted my 3 tbs of salsa in that 550 calories!) and if youve already polished off your first maragrita make another. trust me this is pretty spicy. youll need it to cool the taste buds off.

Giselle

2011-03-17T09:10:00.000-05:00

so i had the best surprise date sprung on me! a few months ago i remember squeeling "LOOK The Chad!!!! Giselle is coming to the Kansas City Ballet in a few months!" the chad could care less about the ballet but i looked into ticket prices and decided we couldnt afford it. the CHEAPEST seats were $45 a piece. GAK! too mucho. so i forgot about it. but The Chad didnt! we went this sunday. got all dressed up and went out to lunch at d'bronx too. what a great day!

giselle and the prince were really good and the costumes were pretty good too. i wish id could have taken some pictures but, alas, you arent allowed to. i really liked giselles' town girl costume and there were some flemish lords and ladies that even the chad commented on after the ballet. the rest of the troupe went in and out of sloppy arm syndrome but were still beautiful and the "friendship dance" or whatever you call it if you know the ballet was really nice too. sharp and spot on. theres always one poor ballerina gurlumphing around like a wounded wildebeast. and this troupe had one too. oh the poor ballerinas with boobs. front heavy? not sure. im just saying that if high school cheer leaders can bang their arms out all at the exact same level and time then some of the very blessed ballerina that get chosen from all over the country and get paid to do this should be able to too. so this is all i have. but its enough. i just had the best time!

Wordless Wednesday 32

2011-03-16T09:08:00.000-05:00

Music Mondays #22

2011-03-14T07:44:00.002-05:00

yep. ive talked about her before but, juila nunes, i just love her. shes funny and her songs are fun. this is just another example of why shes awesome. wait for the end. theres a blooper reel. best part? "oh hello foot. foot." AAAHAHAHAHA!

sunday funnies #7

2011-03-13T08:25:00.001-05:00

omg its soooooo sad. just one funny thing that really really made me laugh even though i looked at it multiple times. yup people. thats the only stuff that makes the sunday funnies cut around here. it has to make me lol more than once....oh interwebs, with your ridiculous lack of funnyness this week, how you disappoint me.

kally has special powers

2011-03-08T07:16:00.002-06:00

so i was on facebook adn im typing and reading and all of the sudden i got a little bout of vertigo. this happens to me sometimes. i feel a little tilty....or maybe like the room swung around me for a second and then everything goes back to normal. today however i kept feeling tilty.

i said "chad i feel weird. like tilty and ....short."

hes like "well of course you feel short you are sitting down"

"no no. like....i cant explain it." so i flop back on the couch and wait for it to pass. "im probably having a stroke right now."

"do you smell bacon?"

"OH MY GOD! IM HAVING A STROKE AND YOU DONT EVEN KNOW THE SYMPTOMS!!! its TOAST! burning toast not bacon! im doomed."

kally walks up and smells my face and i say "oh good. animals are good at this sort of thing. kally smell me and tell me if im having a stroke or something"

she sniffs

"ok now signal me if im dying"

she sits.

"OMG! CHAD! did you see that she just signaled me that im DYYYIIING! she sat. thats what drug dogs do when they find the drugs!"

The Chad looks up cursorily from his riveting game of angry birds and says. "that doesnt mean anything. all that cat does is sit. the only time she gets up is to eat."

so now, i regret to inform you that due to the chads lack of caring and belief in the fact that animals have special powers i am now writing this blog from "the beyond." I HOPE YOU ARE HAPPY NOW THE CHAD!

** ok that last part isnt true but the rest is and hed better be glad i wasnt ACTUALLY having a stroke.....or something.

sunday funnies #6

2011-03-06T09:26:00.001-06:00

a place to post a "Note to Self"

2011-03-05T07:34:00.003-06:00

so i found this great project on what is quickly becoming one of my favorite craft blogs. aunt peaches. i think i love you and your recycley goodness. please can we be friends and craft wonderful, free, upcycled items for the rest of our days? AAAAAnywhoozle. i pillaged my neighborhood and made this! TADA!!!!!! i used fabric instead and matte mod podge to stich the fabric on and then to coat the top. LURVE!!

here are the other ideas she had about how to use these signs and keep them out of landfills. i love them! MUST. GET. MORE. SIGNS.

organizer trays.... yeah ok i had extra signs so i made one of these too :0) to fit in our medicine cabinet which is SMALL. and i use a lot of potions so i have to store them vertically. heres the before and the after. much nicer!

i did make one small improvement to her tute besides the obvious which was spray painting and bejeweling the finished item. i cut out the segments of the "scored" sections and folded to the inside (which for me was the cut side) it was a lot more work than doing it her way and i had to do EVERY thing they tell you NOT to do with an exacto blade in school like cut towards mu fingers while folding the plastic back and stuff. i did have a few near misses but it means all my edges are rounded and smooth becuase of how its folded. basically the plastic is divided in tiny vertical segments and you are carving out one segment to make enough room for the fold. think about exacto-ing out one segment of an orange. just like that but small. like 1/4 of an inch. also i started cutting with an old rotary cutter. well an old blade :0) same old cutter i always use but the blade was too dull for fabric or had a nick or something but it worked GREAT for this purpose.

jewelry orginizer- i didnt make this one cause i have all mine in separate tiny baggies in a fancy box already.

New York I Love You

2011-03-04T07:44:00.000-06:00

just watched "new york i love you" because shia labeouf was in it. he was only in it for like 10 minutes and it was my favorite part. although i still dont get what was going on there. was that a memory? a delusion? someone else who has seen this movie please feel free to share your opinion with me. anywhoozle god he's good. how do actors do that? that like, "im not saying anything, or even moving, and hardly breathing but you can see every emotion im having right here in my eyes" thing? is it really the actor or is it the way its shot? the music they use in the background? would an entirely different emotion be revealed if there was, say, circus music plinking away in the background? does this question even make any sense? 2nd favorite part the old couple....uh...me and the chad in 40 years? yes.

other than that what was the POINT of that movie!? its basically 10 minute snap shots of peoples lives in new york. it occasionally pops back in on a set of characters weve already seen and does that whole "oh look this guy knows that guy." kinda thing. so you think the big picture is going to wrap up into something that reveals how all these people are related in their stories. but...it doesnt. it just ends. i will say even though each set of characters only has like 10 minutes to have a teeny portion of their stories told many of them were really moving, so they did something right, but there was just no point to the movie as a whole.

uuuhhhhh.....

2011-03-03T07:33:00.002-06:00

since we were on the subject of my weirdo hair the other day i thought id take you through a bit of a photo tour. hows-a-boot it?

pink, pink, and pinker is where it started and stuck for a few years.

blond but clearly not blond enough. can anyone say tabithas salon takeover? yeah. she DID get that from me!

a little stop on creamscicle lane....yeah this totally didnt work. the first time i washed it the orange ran into the white and it turned peach. the whole thing had to go orange after that.

and lastly blue. i really really liked the blue and miss it a lot.

heathen....um i mean.. heather

2011-03-02T07:34:00.001-06:00

ever had one of those friends....yeah i was gonna say something sweet about her here but really there arent even words. cause shes AWFULL!!! im just kidding. heather has been my bff since we were 8 i think, when i moved into HER apartment complex wearing tap shoes. she threatened to beat me up for touching her cat and then her wretched cousins threw my pogo ball into the dumpster (worst toy known to mankind btw, unless you LOVE getting blisters. then of course its a great toy. you should buy one). and then started a beautiful life long friendship knows as "if you two girls need to try to kill each other please take it out side" im just saying she was an adopted sister. sure she was my some what frequent pummeler but she was also my confidant and my defender. i dont talk to her nearly as frequently as i should these days (as is the case with all sisters i think) but i came across some pix i thought were funny and wanted to share them.

hair time

2011-03-01T14:54:00.006-06:00

its been about a year since i talked about my hair. i know you were ALL waiting with bated breath for me to start talking about my hair so feel free to exhale here we go.

lets start with the fact that i went to some random stylist in KC, after my big chop, for a trim up and ended up having to tell the girl to "just stop cutting. just stop." it looked like i got my hair cut with a salad shooter. now, ive done A LOT of weirdo things to my hair and have never really been one to be like "AAAHHHHH. MY HAIR IS RUINED!!!" cause its just hair it will grow back. but this time i was like "paige. help me. i cant leave the house. it looks like i stuck my head in a garbage disposal cause my flowbee was broken." i mean seriously i have full faith in the fact that if id have given a kinder gardener a pair of safety scissors they could have done a better job than this girl. it was BAD.

so paige called in a favor to a friend of hers who was an ANGEL and fixed the cut. she had to cut it really short. even shorter than it was after the big chop but that was fine by me. im no stranger to short hair. it was an amazing hair cut that has REALLY lasted. i mean seriously. its been probably 8 month since she fixed it and ive had no complaints. what ever the heck she did when she was razoring and layerying away really has looked great the whole time its been growing out...but alas....it needs to be trimmed. and she doesnt cut hair for just anyone. she only did mine as a favor for paige (bless you both *falls on knees and bows* for saving the salad shooter head).

heres the point. im going back to tulsa probably for this weekend and im going to get my hair cut by my normal girl there *praying she can squeeze me in* here are some of the cuts ive narrowed it down to. any opinions?

ok these two. pretty straight forward. i know i could manage this cause my hair is pretty much this length and its straight. this would just shape it up a little so i dont look like a damnable soccer mom like i do now (mines way too heavy on the bottom now). and some bangs would be nice i think. on another note...what the hell is going on with that first pic? eye!? hello? whats going on there?!!!

these would require more work but i know how to wield a round brush and product so i think it will be ok. in that second flippy one id have to cut off quite a bit to get it that length. not sure if i want to commit to that. since im trying to grow it out and all. but its still a cute cut....kinda....stiff looking though.

ok what do you guys think?

Music Mondays #21

2011-02-28T07:42:00.000-06:00

sunday funnies #6

2011-02-27T07:18:00.003-06:00

February 2011 MoHI

2011-02-26T07:05:00.002-06:00

Headboards!!! we are gonna be needing one for our guest room. here are some ideas ive found. this black and white one is made from some mdf, 2 fence posts, a bunch of print outs of a picture, and some mod podge. while im not nutters about that picture doing this in some cool scrapbook paper might be fun. the "wrought iron" white headboard is just painted onto the wall. alk about economical! and the last one is mdf painted and stenciled. it would look really cool in this stencil i showed last month.

Kitchen. ok i really think we have the most beautiful kitchen EVAR. and i did nothing to make it that way. the last owners did a great job. but if we ever move i like the idea behind this kitchen if not the exact colors. i DO like the painted island. and how the wall tiles are multi colored.

whoa. walls! more stuff about wall treatments i know. my friend shared this pic with me and i just thought it was really a cool idea. thats wall paper and then you just stick the photos in there but i dont see any reason you couldnt do this with paint. it sure would be easier to deal with when yo decided you didnt want it any more.

February 2011 MoFI

2011-02-25T07:01:00.002-06:00

ok these just made me laugh.... but really.... im getting them for jogging.

loved this cotton velvet military style jacket in the free people catalog, but check out the amazing sketch too! so cool how it translates into actual fashion. and a 7 for all mankind military style denim jacket.

some gorgeous crochet pieces from Free People. i love the duster vest.

LayerCake Dress

2011-02-24T07:09:00.000-06:00

so i talked a bit about wanting to make a firefly costume to express my love for the show. and i ive seen kaylees jumper so many times. i want something that everyone else isnt going to have. ive seen a few really good versions of the layer cake dress shown below and i think this might be really fun to make. so, not that im getting started onthis anytime soon but i thought that i should compile what ive found so far. at the very least maybe it will help some one else make this costume if they like. thanks to all my handy friends for finding most of this info for me! love you guys!

this girls version is amazing! heres a bunch of pix of the dress and here a girl talks about how she made her rendition of the dress including dying her own fabric!

because its easier than talking about my life meme

2011-02-23T14:57:00.003-06:00

ok this isnt the actual name of this meme but thats what jenn called it on her blog and i thought that was funny.

1. Make a list of 5 things that you can see without getting up:
my wand, my sewing machine, kally, about 475 unfinished craft projects, Gerta (my dress form)
2. How do you style your hair?
blowdry and then flat iron.
3. What are you wearing now?
jeans, chucks, grey long sleeve t-shirt, black hoodie and a tiarra
4. What's your occupation?
nothing. im a lady of leisure....until the temp agency gets on it and finds me a jobby job. actually im working on a custom civil war gown so i suppose im a seamstress for now.
5. What do you hear right now?
purring and typing
6. Who was the last person you hugged?
robin gedman
7. What is/was for dinner?
huh.....good question....no idea.
8. What did you do today?
fed the cat and gave her all her meds. went to the market and the pharmacy, went and got coffee on the way to meet with robin, made lunch for myself and the chad (whos currently dying of whooping cough or something else that makes you cough), set up the sewing for today (which i really AM about to get to i promise), answered some emails checked all my interwebs things and .....i think thats it
9. Dog person or cat person?
CAT!!!!
10. If you had to change your name, what would you change it to?
i already did. from sarah mackenzie prentice to sarah pren wilcox
11. What was the last thing that you bought?
toilet paper...oh wait... LIES!!!! i bought a coffee.
12. If you could afford to go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Paris....or Russia.....somewhere in russia not sure where.
13. Where do you see yourself in five years?
oh man. 5 years is so far away! ANYTHING could happen by then. its a world of limitless possibilities so i cant even begin to guess.
14. Where's your birthmark?
knee and elbow pit....or whatever you call that part of your arm...like the side of your elbow thats bendy but not pointy.
15. What are you doing this weekend?
acting the an alice in wonderland themed tea party dinner thing at the binghame waggoner estate. its a fund raiser for this historical house and if you can come id really LOVE to see you there it should be loads of fun and way to silly and awesome for words....except for maybe these words....Twas brillig, and the slithy toves, Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
16. If you could play any musical instrument, which one would you play?
fiddle
17. How tired are you?
not tired at all!
18. What is/was your favorite thing about today?
hhhmmmm there have been alot of good things about today but id have to say getting to show the chad how much i love him by taking care of his yucky sicky sickerson self (i dont know if he got that out of me taking care of him or not but i hope so) and also seeing the finished cuffs for MY civil war dress pinned to gerta this morning. i finished them late last night and im really happy with how they came out.