Just can't stop...

Well, my latest 4 month stint on Wardrobe Refashion ends on Wednesday. I started back in August for 2 months...did another 2 months for October-November, then took the plunge for 4 months in December. Well, in order to clean up the blog's user list, nikkishell (the original refashionista) deleted everyone's account and started all of the active users over on 1 January. So my 4 months stretched to 5 months...which ends 30 April.
I have thought about this the last couple of days...did I really want to re-sign for another several months? I have been seriously slacking on my WR posts this past month due to working on Diva Soma costumes for the upcoming NBDS show. I have made a few items for myself, but didn't bother posting about them until today...maybe I'm burnt out?
Then I hopped on the WR blog and entered a quick post, and realized that no, I'm not really to quit just yet. I have tons of patterns and fabric and refashionable clothing...and I really don't want to go back to shopping for clothes! For one, I haven't missed it. I wouldn't mind some new shoes and I definitely need a new swimsuit for Mexico, but those things fall within the "acceptable purchasing" policy of the pledge.
So, I'm signed up again, this time for another 4 months. that'll take me up to September. Maybe in September I'll want to shop for my birthday. Maybe... :)

Good Art and Baked Goods

A night of culture had I this fine evening. I started off by jetting from work early to catch the 4:15 screening of Chicago 10 at Film Streams. Excellent documentary with an outstanding soundtrack. To veer off on a minor tangent, this was the second film I saw at FS this week; on Monday I caught Mysterious Skin, a story of two boys who were molested by their Little League coach. It was amazing! One of those films that just makes you feel...uncomfortable. The author of the book was on hand for a Q&A - I requested one of his other books at the library...
After the credits rolled on Abby Hoffman and his friends, I headed over to the firm of Kutak Rock for a Young Art Patrons event - a tour of the beautiful building and it's amazing art collection. Oh, and some wine. Yippie. :)
After all this fun, it was time to get some work done on the homefront. I had a big bag of plums that were about to hit the downhill side of ripe; a quick search found a yummy plum bread/muffin recipe. That took care of most of the fruit. While I was at it, I decided to whip up some chocolate chip-zucchini muffins to finish off the shredded garden zucchini in the freezer. Of course, being me, I ran out of sugar and muffins papers. Fortunately, I'm married to a great guy that owes me a favor (who bought your drum sticks dear?) ;) and picked up those items for me on his way home from a long day at work. One of the many reasons why I love him! :)
Well, there's my over timer - the last round of muffins are done...goodnight, all... :)

Gasping for breath...

Despire attending two concerts this weekend that didn't allow smoking (the Slowdown never does, and the Waiting Room did a special non-smoking show at the request of the artist), my lungs are achy this morning.  Could be the fact that, despite the lack of smoke at the WR, it is normally a smoke-friendly establishment and we reeked when we left, or it could have been the massive amounts of sage being burnt at the next booth over during yesterday's Earth Day festivities.  Either way, I'm in pain.  Don't you just love us cranky ex-smokers?
Despite the wheezing, it has been a great weekend so far - Friday night, the DH and I hung out at the Waiting Room to see Kimya Dawson.  She was great IMO, as was what I saw of the first act and the second band.  The 3rd opening act, however, played a little too long...and they were kinda boring.  This caused Kimya to be a tad less enjoyable that she could have been, 'cause by that point, we just wanted to go home and sleep.  Nevertheless, I'm glad I got to see her in person - she's funny and pretty darn humble for the amount of attention she's recently been blessed with due to the Juno soundtrack.  I would see her again for sure.  I know the DH hated every moment of the evening...which is precisely what I love about him the most (well, one of many things) - he'll go to these things just to be with me, and he'll only roll his eyes just a little bit...
As I mentioned, yesterday was the Earth Day festival in Elmwood Park.  What a fabulous day!  After playing with my nephew and visiting with my mom and sister (here at Hotel Owen, family always seems to be stopping by to use the guest room), I headed to the park to help man the Diva Soma and Nebraska Food Coop tables.  It was sunny and relatively warm.  The Divas entertained the crowds with our belly dance stylings and I enjoyed a local bbq brisket sandwich from the local culinary institute.  Mmm...brisket. 
After sitting in the sun all afternoon, I swung by a couple of gardening stored for compost and topsoil.  My home compost pile, let's see...how do I say it...sucks!  I'm going to have to start over... 
I didn't read the bags very well and wasn't aware that they were 40 lbs each (I was thinking more like 20), so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I can barely hold my arms up to type this morning - I managed to log 11 bags from my car to the garden last night.  Ouch!  And I still need to get out there this morning and dump their contents into the garden bed.  :(  But I digress....
Once I washed all the mud off, I headed downtown to the Slowdown to catch Man Man.  Holy crap - that's a show!  If you ever get a chance, check them out - I can't even describe it, except that it was exactly what I expected and I loved every minute!

On guard!

I got to wield my new sword for the first time last night.  Well, kind of.  I’m not sure “wielding” is the proper word for what I did!  Calliste taught a sword dancing class after our regular tribal fusion class.  It was fun, but a little scary and somewhat frustrating.  For one, I have very little arm strength and almost no wrist strength.  My sword is heavy!  (Although I’m fairly certain that it’s “light” by sword standards).  Another issue is that I’m not all that coordinated; I probably shouldn’t be allowed to (try to) walk around with a large pointy object on my head, much less spin or bounce.  Good thing it’s a dull blade!  I still had fun, though – well, until we got into floor work and my feet cramped up!  Ouch!  Sounds like some happy little goddess is severely dehydrated!  Hmmm…now to find the time to practice with my sword.  Between the Kimya Dawson and Man-Man concerts this weekend, the Earth Day festival (I’m helping at the NFC table as well as at Diva Soma’s), belly dance and hula rehearsals, and all the other fun stuff going on, it’s shaping up to be a typically busy weekend.

 

Ooh, did I mention that my dear sweet husband and his band are opening up for the Sick Puppies on April 29???  Whoo-hoo!  I’m really excited – this is one of several sold-out shows they are anticipating in the next few weeks.  

Not buying it

14 days into Buy Nothing April… let’s see how I’m doing:  Other than the predicted shopping spree at the belly dance workshop and birthday gifts and birthday party food, I’ve purchased nothing else for myself this month.  Oh, wait, I had a candy bar or two – pre-dance class snacks when I didn’t have time to get home.  But other than that, nothing. J  Can I make to the end of the month?  Probably not.  I’m already debating a pattern sale at Hancock this weekend.  No doubt that I’ll somehow justify the purchase of at least two Simplicity patterns I’ve had my eye on – I’ll tell myself that I won’t use them until May, so it doesn’t count, right? :P  Yeah, right.  I don’t need them this month, that is for sure – I certainly won’t use them in April with everything else going on – I haven’t made a dent in the last batch of patterns I bought.  Maybe I’ll just stay away from the 84^th Street exit this weekend… Maybe…

 

I don’t necessarily think that not-shopping-at-all is that much harder than just not-buying-clothing.  At least in theory it shouldn’t be…  It’s not like I’ve even been inside a clothing store in the last 5 or so months…  But it is a challenge – I feel that immediate surge of deprivation just saying to myself “you’re not buying ANYTHING”.  But am I really being deprived of anything other than instant (and instantly fleeting) gratification?  How often do I really need the stuff I buy…as necessary as the object seems at the moment of purchase, how often does it just end up in a pile of other stuff that I acquired in a similar fashion?

 

In the absence of shopping, I’ve been trying to do some stash-busting.  I woke up Saturday morning just itching to make something that wasn’t a velvet choli (I’m getting a little burnt out on that project – thank god it’s almost done!).  So I pulled out this awesome “Julia knit” fabric I bought a couple of months ago.  It’s a beautiful dark gray and so soft…  With a super easy palazzo pants pattern, I had new lounge pants in no time.  I love these pants – they’re as comfy as sweats, but dressy enough for a casual day at work, plus they make my butt look really good. J  Always a plus.  I made a second pair on Sunday, only cropped to the knee and in a dark brown jersey.  I love my serger – it makes sewing with knits SO much easier.  I’m 3 seams and 2 sleeves away from a dark brown jersey tunic to match.  Then I’ll move on to the longer dress version of the tunic pattern in some bluish lavender ribbed knit.  That’ll knock 3 large pieces of fabric from the pile…  Somewhere in there I suppose I’ll finish the velvet cholis as well…sigh…not looking forward to that anymore!

 

 

Surprise!

After what I assume was an agonizingly long weekend being separated from his wife, the DH arrived home Sunday evening to house full of people – surprise!  Happy 30^th Birthday!

Phew, the party went amazingly well.  I was a little nervous (OK, a LOT) about it all weekend.  First, let’s review the weekend, shall we?  I left work Friday morning to attend the Girls’ Inc. Girlfriend’s volunteer guild board meeting.  Then I headed home to clean and pack.  I thought I’d be able to do all my party prep (chopping, mixing, etc) at home, but alas…the DH had the day off and was hanging around the house…  So, when I left for my haircut at 3, I just packed the cutting board, bowls, knives, etc, and told him I had to run errands before leaving for the weekend.  Being the naturally suspicious bloke that he is, he called me while I was grocery shopping to ask if I was having an affair.  I said “yes”.  It was easier than explaining the truth. J  I hauled all my groceries to ML’s and spent a good hour cutting up fruit, veggies, sausage and cheese for the party.  

Friday evening was spent driving to Des Moines with some Divas for the annual Rainbows of the Desert workshop.  It was an…interesting…weekend – the Divas have consistently proven that we don’t need alcohol to have a good time.  We are goofy enough without it. J

The workshop on Saturday was fun – I was not wild about the instructor or her teaching style, but the shopping was good. J  Knowing that I couldn’t resist the lure of the vending tables, I build a belly dance caveat into my Buy Nothing April.  I purchase some jewelry, a sword (!), and a sari-fabric halter top for Angeli Tannenbrarum purposes. 

On Sunday, we woke up early and headed for home.  After a brief Salome rehearsal, I rushed around town (a stop at the library, gas station, bank, last minute trips to the grocery store, etc) and then went home to clean, cook, and decorate for the party.  The DH was supposedly in the studio all day recording his drum tracks for Aura sing’s debut cd, but had indicated that he would be done early.  Panic!  Fortunately, his session took a lot longer than he anticipated, so by the time he arrived home, the food was ready and guests were arriving. Surprise!  I am an excellent liar – he had figured out that I was throwing him a party, but I told him it was next weekend.  J  It was an excellent party – the whole band, several of his friends, a few Divas, and most of our family was in attendance, including his grandmother and aunt from Colorado.  

Unfortunately, after such a whirlwind weekend, I must have worn down my defenses and woke up ill on Monday.  I spend the entire day in bed, reading and napping.  Ugh.  Today I’m up and half-way in the world of the living, but still sneezing and coughing like crazy.  

 

I hope everyone else had a great weekend, too!  A big congratulations to Jon, who finished his first marathon!  Woo-hoo!

Because the Spice Girls reunion just wasn't enough

Yet another sign that the end is near…NKOTB is back.

 

Must be this tall to marry...

Apparently, until yesterday, toddlers in Arkansas could get married (with parental consent).  That’ll teach their legislators to proofread!

Buy Nothing in April? Hmmm...

Crunchy Chicken has issued her latest challenge – Buy Nothing in April.  Hmmm…this sounds great and theoretically shouldn’t be that hard, but April’s not shaping up to be a good month for not shopping.  For one, I need garden supplies.  For another, I have 3 birthday boys to find gifts for (husband, nephew, and father), as well as a baby shower.  Oh, then throw in the yearly Major Belly Dance Shopping Event at the annual Des Moines workshop this weekend and I think I’m toast as far as buying nothing goes…  I signed up for the challenge anyway.

I’m going to tailor this challenge a little differently to fit my special needs…  For me, April will be Buying Nothing Crafty, Unplanned, and Not Absolutely Essential.  So, new fabric is out.  I can use this month to try to use up some of my ever expanding stash; it’s not like I’m hurting for fabric!  The perfect hip scarf at the workshop is in – I know myself well enough to be certain that my willpower will be out the window once surrounded by All Things Sequined.  My rescheduled hair cut on April 4 is in (after all, it WAS supposed to be a March expense).  Splurging on hair color –out.  Supplies to get the garden up and running – in.  Not-so-necessary pretty gardening gloves – out.  I can wear an old pair.  

So, I guess I’m going with “Buy Nearly Nothing in April”.  Not achieving the full effect for sure, but I’ll do what I can.