Alterations - A Thought About Wardrobe That Fits (What a concept!)

Late in April I dropped four skirts off at a local tailor's to be taken in. I needed four or more inches pulled in on every one of them - they just were falling off me. I had done the "Great Skirt Try-On" a few weeks earlier where I pulled every skirt out of my closet and tried it on before the day ended. I ended up donating 9 to Goodwill, decided on four for the tailor, hung 15 back into the closet as "OK to wear as is", and have one bag of "maybes" that I'm still keeping but probably will end up donating. The four I took over were my absolute favorite skirts, or just ones that were unique and hand-done. 

My jeans skirt is quite similar to this - long 
and cylindrical, with a knee-high back 
slit for ease in walking. I've missed being 
able to wear this one - it's a long-time 
favorite. 

I've been wearing the altered skirts now for a few days and I'm very happy. I had missed these skirts. Yesterday I indulged by wearing my favorite jeans skirt - long with a back slit up to my knees, it quite literally had been falling off me. She pulled in at least four inches and probably could have done a bit more, and it's quite comfy now. Years ago I had sewn decorative ribbon around the back knee split, and I'm still happy with that look. I was quite pleased to be able to wear it again. 

Although my reversible skirt isn't this 
particular pattern, you'll get an idea of 
what I mean by the photo. It's actually 
two completely different skirts, joined 
at the waistband. Either side can be 
facing out, and it's a totally different look 
depending on which side is chosen. 

Today I'm wearing an In/Out reversible skirt that again, I had been falling out of. This skirt is totally reversible, with different fabrics on each side. I love the versatility of it. I haven't made up my mind which side I'll want out today, but that's a decision I can make on the fly when I'm dressing at the gym after my swim. 

Do you have favorite clothes you enjoy wearing? Have you ever had things professionally altered to fit you properly? I'm quite sure that many of you did have your wedding dresses altered to fit, but maybe that was the only gown/dress/outfit or suit you've ever had to shift. I only know that for a little over $25 for each skirt, it was well worth hiring Kim's Tailoring to alter four pieces I loved. They are now hanging back in my closet, taking their positions as clothes of possibility for the next day. Have an excellent day, be kind, and please spare prayers and kind thoughts for the people of Ukraine who are suffering so very much. Slava Ukraini. I'll be back tomorrow. 

It's A Wild Day and Clothes That Fit - What a Concept!

I actually got a lot done yesterday, but didn't get a chance for any of the photography I needed/wanted to do. Still, I did get the new 3x3 grids set up and labelled for both the 8mm and the 6mm cubes and did a lot of errands to and fro and fro and to. As always, it was a busy, busy day. But I can say, it was also a very good one. As a final touch for the day, the Minnesota Wild won their final game of the season and carry home ice advantage into the playoffs for the Stanley Cup. So happy! 

I would dearly love the Stanley Cup to come 
to Minnesota, and we've got a team this year 
which is a strong contender. One step at a 
time. St Louis has been a problem all year, 
so hopefully the Wild will prevail. Obviously, 
given the dates on the puck, we've danced 
this dance before (but without the final 
success). 

Earlier in the week I had received an Amazon package with two new turtleneck and two new button-up shirts. I did an unscheduled laundry load yesterday to get them washed so that I can have some clothes that actually fit me instead of looking like I'm wearing my older, heavier sister's hand-me-downs. I'm slowly replacing or fixing my wardrobe (something that hasn't been done in more than a decade) and it's a lot of fun to actually fit comfortably into a size small. I'm at my High School weight and couldn't be much happier. 

I love this new shirt - the material, the 
cut and the color. I have one in a light 
grey also, and ordered a golden yellow 
and a deep red one yesterday. It fits 
really well and it's so nice to be wearing 
something that's the right size. It's not 
me in the picture, but the shirt fits me 
as well as it fits the model. 

The voting for LJ Idol stories is again open, and if you feel so inclined, I'd certainly appreciate your vote. If it doesn't count, I'm sure it will be thrown out by the moderator. Here's the link on Dreamwidth if you feel that my story about the theme "Pursuit" deserves your vote. As always, I am floored by my fellow writer, Hwango. So extremely talented! It wouldn't surprise me if s/he won the whole thing. If you get a chance to read any of her stories, you won't regret it. 

https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1114047.html

Today's Tarot lesson was one of two that concentrates on the Major Arcana - those 22 cards that stand alone in the deck. The deck I'm using has one additional card that intrigues me, although I'm unsure how to use it. It's called the "Tree of Life" and it isn't part of the Major Arcana or the four suits. It's not numbered and the format is different. I'll have to study it as an aside because I've never found this card in any other Tarot deck. But right now I'm supposed to concentrate on the one or two Major Arcana cards that call out to me. In my case, that's Strength and The Hermit, an interesting combination. (After a bit of research, the Tree of Life is the Kabballah, it also works with the Chakras. This will be fun to spend some time researching.) 

This isn't the deck I use, but Strength usually depicts a person 
and a large cat - lion or tiger. Sometimes it is only the cat, but 
that's less common. Mine is a beautiful, aloof woman with 
a fierce tiger. 

So I'm off to study some cards, wrap up some words, read some posts and generally start my day. It's starting out very well for me and I hope your day will be totally fabulous. Happy Saturday, have an excellent day and I'll return on Monday. Also, safe travels to my friend Cairistona who will be leaving to visit her daughter in Florida for a week. Have a great time! 

Dresses and Gowns and Dreams of Days Past - Sharing Fashion

Among the things I did yesterday was bring my dress form upstairs into my living room and photograph the six dresses I had from my mother's collection. She was a bit smaller than I am - 5 feet, 2 inches to my current 5'4". I set the dials to my current measurements to see if the dresses would be wearable (although I think I'll actually sell them as "Vintage Handmade Clothing" on Etsy instead of keeping them). I promised I would share, so here's a heavy photo blog for you on this very cold day. 

Starting with a plain, black sheath cocktail dress. 
I rather like this one - not very ornamental, but 
very functional and looking quite comfortable. 

A detail look at the bodice allows you to see the 
lace panels and the plain satin or silk (I think it's 
satin). It would be a lovely dress when worn. 

The green lace cocktail dress with sequins and 
beadwork at the bodice and on the attached 
scarf is a bit more elaborate. That's not a sleeve 
on the left, that's the bottom of the very long 
attached scarf that I wrapped around the neck and 
finally allowed to drape down. 

When this was first made, it must have sparkled 
brilliantly. The dull white sparkles are actually 
a clear, silver-lined bead. Like all S/L beads, it 
tarnishes over time and becomes more dull. 
It's a lovely dress, though and also has a separate 
shawl of the green lace. Prepared for any 
occasion with this gown. 

This cocktail dress is my favorite gown. 
It's a light colored satin completely 
covered by lace and the top then has 
velvet embellishments all around it. It's 
a stunning dress. 

Looking closer, you can see the leaf structure she 
designed for the bodice. Four leaves in the front, and 
another four leaves in the back. I'm looking forward 
to seeing how well this dress cleans up. 

The blue split front dress has a lightweight 
underskirt which is WAY too small for me. The 
dress itself, however, would fit fine. Since the 
underskirt joins in the back and would be 
totally invisible at that point, the waistband 
could be extended with bias tape to make the 
ensemble wearable by my size. Again, this 
is a cocktail length dress. 

The bodice on this gown has a small top split 
to mirror the larger bottom split. It's really well 
designed and well made. I think it will be 
stunning on the right person - someone who 
adores vintage clothing. 

This is the only dress in the collection that 
I've actually worn. This one doesn't have a 
zipper, instead it buttons completely up the 
front with fabric-covered buttons. I'm missing 
one button, which might be a problem, but 
there might be enough of a seam allowance 
in the interior to spare fabric for a replacement. 

Looking at the detail, you can see how it fastens. 
There is actually a zig/zag row of formed fabric 
extending from the bodice at the right, and 
attaching to each individual button on the left. 
This is a style of button and fastening that my 
Mom used on a lot of different outfits. It's a 
classy way to have a "button hole" since it's 
not a hole, but another design effect. 

This dress is a true gown, extending to ankle 
length. Perfect for the opera or theatre. It 
features a dropped shoulder and gentle 
V-neck on a three-tiered skirt. Lots of lace 
on this. I could easily see Mom in the 
audience watching La Boheme wearing 
this dress and holding on to her opera 
glasses. 

A closer look at the bodice and you can see it is 
all tulle and lacework. The top dropped sleep 
portion needs a bit of repair, but it's actually 
in pretty good shape. 

Taking a closer look at the bottom, you can see 
where there is some mildew at the lowest tier, 
and obviously there are a LOT of wrinkles, but 
this might be absolutely stunning after a proper 
press and clean. 

Apparently there is one more dress that DH set aside that has a lot of pearls and beads. I'll make him chase that up and add it to the collection when he does. I'll have to do a bit of research on vintage gowns. I suspect these are all from the 1950's - I'm pretty darned sure Mom didn't run away from Hitler to shelter in Britain with a suitcase of clothes of this vintage. When Mom moved to Denver, she and my aunt Vera set up a dress-makers business and were quite successful. Eventually they closed their doors and went into separate careers - Mom to teach piano and do custom sewing, Tante Vera to teach dance. 

So, it's darned cold outside and I have to get to the pool. I hope you enjoyed this small fashion show of dresses my Mom left for me. I'll get these cleaned up, research the pricing for vintage clothing, and get them up on Etsy. The gowns, although they fit me, won't really do me any good these days. I'm more of a jeans and a t-shirt kind of gal - LOL. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow (provided I don't freeze into a block of ice!). 

Celebrating the Little Things

Sometimes it's the little things that make life better. Yesterday I indulged. While shopping at the grand emporium named "Target", I added a few things to my cart. Underwear. "Underwear?" you might be asking. "What's so darned enabling about underwear?" 

The first set I ended up with were cotton hipsters
by Hanes. I like the brand - they fit well, they
launder well, and they seem to be able to
take hard wearing through the gym and my
daily life. 

I had a customer in my store within the past week who told me that she went through her closet every six months and if there were items she didn't wear or didn't want any more, she bundled them together and gave them to a few friends who then passed them on farther if the gift wasn't appreciated. She said all of this while pulling her charge card from her Michael Kors handbag. 

I resisted telling her that my closet held items decades old and that I was pretty happy I hadn't gotten rid of old clothing after I lost my weight because I had a ready-made "new" wardrobe available to me without having to spend a ridiculous amount on new clothes. (I guess it's pretty obvious that while I adore fashion, I'm not a clothes-horse and I like to be thrifty.) 

I got five pairs of assorted Auden-brand undies. This is one
of the styles I ended up with. It's rather cute, but still a
bit modest because I am over 60 - reality dictates a bit
of modesty at my age. 

My underwear, however, was looking rather sad, so I determined to find a few new pairs so that I could toss out some of the old. (Used underwear is NEVER passed on, except to the trash. Generosity has its' limits.) After cruising the aisles (and asking for directions to the correct area in the newly remodeled store) I discovered the correct department. I found a sensible, reasonable and comfortable set of six everyday undies, and then found a display of fancy-dancy undies for a great price - $20 for 5 pairs. SCORE! I chose five pairs, bringing my total new undies quantity to eleven. 

After laundry, they now reside in my drawer, happily rolled up for decision-making ease. It seems silly to be so excited about underwear, but having a few new panties made me happy all day yesterday. I guess sometimes it's those little things that are the icing on the cake of life. Have a glorious Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow, just in time for Solstice. Summer is coming! 

Ren and Football - Fall is Here

It was a bit cooler on Sunday this past weekend, so we dressed a bit warmer for Renaissance Festival. Instead of a light cotton skirt, I pulled out one of my velvet choices, and I grabbed my cloak because football season started today. What does football season have to do with the Renaissance Festival? That's actually a great question because football is a very modern game, and the Renaissance was a very long time ago. The only intersection of the two is at Fest on Sundays when the Minnesota Vikings are playing a day game. On Sundays during football season, the Viking bar is allowed to show Vikings games ONLY on a flat screen TV (most certainly NOT Renaissance period decor), and that's where we will be found. 

Although I really liked the corset, the bodice was slightly
too large and the hips were a bit too small. *sigh* I just
can't win. I'm certainly NOT spending this much money
on something that doesn't fit really well, and I need
a corset that I can get into on my own because DH is
totally hopeless at handling lacing. 

It was Irish weekend, but since it was cooler, DH left his kilt behind and dressed in his more standard kit instead. Of course we had to walk the grounds for a few hours before the football game began, so we spent the time doing what I hadn't wanted to spend time with last week - going into a lot of the shops and trying on various things - corsets and hats to be specific. I didn't find any cloth corsets of interest, but did try on a leather and ostrich leather fronted corset from Artemis Leather. It was gorgeous, and it actually fit pretty well, but I think it could have fit better and at the cost that's what I want. I might try one of their shorter versions during one of the next three weeks, but I may not upgrade to a new, better fitting corset this year at all. 

We're not too bad for a old couple of codgers. The
hats were cute, and DH looked pretty good in his. I'm
sure his would have fit him almost perfectly if he had
pulled off his bandana first. My hat simply looks
ridiculous. Bad style on me. 

We also wandered into a variety of hat stores because I still want a hat with a different profile. I love hats and have several, but DH doesn't like most hats on me, so his input is important. Here, I tried on the one hat and the salesclerk insisted on having DH wear one made from a matching leather. It actually wasn't a bad look on my personal pirate, but we thanked them and left them there. We can always check again. 

Usually somewhere on the Fest grounds, often near Mac's Pub, there
will be an homage to Fest and the Season in flowers and plants
placed on the ground in a decorative pattern. This Sunday's
pattern celebrated the midpoint of Fest season and the
autumn season that we were entering into. 

We also checked out swords and knives, looked at the gnarly and somewhat frightening limbs of oak trees that have already lost their leaves, and generally enjoyed a sunny, calm, early fall day on the Festival grounds. Shortly before noon we arrived at the pub to take our seats for the game and we happily watched the TV for the next few hours, cheering our team as they emerged with the victory. It was a lovely Sunday all around, and I'm hoping this coming Sunday, featuring Chocolate & Romance (and co-incidentally our wedding anniversary) will be equally nice, both in weather and in football team results. Only time will tell. 

Back to the indoor pool, now. It was wonderful to have the 50 meter pool to swim in all summer, but it's fall now, and much colder, so running in and out of the water was a challenge. Now we're back to the 25-yard pool until the end of May 2019! As they say ... "Winter Is Coming". Enjoy your Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Washing Down Coats

We're totally into summer weather and temperatures here now, so my afghans are put away for the season and my fan is set up so that I can cool down at night and actually get some sleep. It was time to wash the winter coats and then hang them away until needed again. That necessitated some tennis balls, several hours, and the ability to ignore galoomping noises from my laundry room.

The key to washing down is to not destroy the qualities of
the down stuffing while cleaning the exterior of the coat or
comforter. I decided to trust the washing instructions of the
manufacturer. 

The directions on DH's and my down coats were clear - wash in cold water with a mild detergent in a delicate cycle, then dry on low setting with three tennis balls. I don't play tennis, and didn't have any balls lying around, so during yesterday's shopping trip to Target, I picked up a tube of balls along with the paper towels and groceries. Late in the afternoon after I finally got the weekly laundry finished, I was able to begin washing and drying the coats.

DH's coat is similar to this - a bright brick red
color to allow visibility in our snowbanks.
The first thing was to clean out and zip up all
pockets, then zip the front zipper. All openings
needed to be closed before washing.
(No, this is NOT DH.) 

Washing was no problem - they needed a good clean. The two coats already seemed much happier as I transferred them into the dryer. Adding the tennis balls to the load of two coats, I set the temp to low and the timer to one hour, turned the dryer on, and walked away. Those balls were loud! I could hear them in the background from other parts of the house and other floors. I had to listen to that galoomping noise for more than four hours before I declared the coats to be dry. As I hung the clean coats back into the coat closet in the front entryway, I was pleased. One more part of winter is now behind me. Time to embrace summer.

Adding tennis balls to the dryer seems ridiculous (and is loud), but it really
works to strike and shift the clumped stuffing in coats and comforters. The other
key is making sure things are completely dried before ending the load.
My two coats took more than four hours to dry completely in low temps with
the tennis balls playing along. The coats turned out wonderfully clean
and fluffy, though. 

I hope all of you have a really wonderful Thursday. Stay safe as you do your errands and travel to and from your home today. It's a crazy world we live in and people's tempers are far too volatile right now. It's so tempting to enter my cave and just pull the rock over the entryway, sealing the outside world away. So tempting....

Post-Turkey Thoughts

I hope all of my US friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. We ate turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, cranberries and rolls, and had pumpkin pie for dessert. Tonight we get to do much of it over again with leftovers. After today I'll be done with turkey for a while, but it's sure good for that once-a-year large bird in the oven thing.

I knew I would put on some weight after yesterday's
turkey over-do, but I wasn't happy about it. *sigh*
November has not been a good month for me and
I have to watch carefully. I can't let weight get away from me. 

The other after-effect, however, is not so good. Two pounds!!! I'll be at the pool today swimming to get those pounds back off again, but November has not been a good month weight-wise. I need to get back to reasonable eating, and fight my body tendency to put weight on for the cold winter months.

I love my new coat. I felt like a kid wearing a favorite
outfit - I almost wanted to wear it to bed. It's really
long, with a back zipper that can be raised to allow
for longer strides. It's cozy, it has three good-sized
pockets, and the hood is wonderful too. I'm very happy. 

I'll be standing at the gym doors this morning, nice and warm in my new coat! Yes, it arrived at the shop on Wednesday and I had it in my hands Wednesday night. It's awesome! It's really long, it fits like a dream, and it's warm and cozy. I've transferred my pockets over to the new coat and my old, broken coat, is bound for this coming week's trash load.

My mailing list is almost complete and my envelopes
almost ready to finalize. Things are progressing nicely. 

While watching football games and cooking my bird yesterday, I managed to get some more work done on my holiday cards. Things are progressing very well and my mailing list is almost complete. If I have a productive Sunday and a good Wednesday, I'll be ready to sign, address and send them well before my firm deadline of Solstice. DH is making noises about maybe doing a movie Sunday morning, so the weekend might be a lot of fun.

Enjoy your Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales, if you are a shopper. I'm hoping for lots of customers and good sales for the two-day event at my store. I'd love to be tired in a really good way on Saturday night. Happy Friday to all!

Packing and Phones - My Wednesday

My suitcase is going to weigh a ton, it's a good thing I'm driving, not flying. I packed clothing, exercise clothing, projects to work on and sundry things like bottled water and protein bars yesterday. It was rather fun to pull some things out of my closet that I hadn't worn forever and have them fit and look good, while others will have to go to the Goodwill after my return because they're WAY too big now. What fun!

I have three different Goodwill Store locations that I pass by
on a daily basis. It's really easy for me to drop things off, and
I get a donation deduction for my taxes at the end of the year. 

The day started out rather rocky, though. Even though I rely on my cellphone for almost everything, we have a land line as a backup. I was phoning DH yesterday for his morning wake-up call when the phone died. I heard non-stop ringing on my end, he had a click and then nothing on his end. A call into CenturyLink (grrrrrrrr) caused a repair ticket to be issued. The tech was supposed to arrive anytime between 10:30 am and 7:30 pm. Oy!!! One more good reason why I was home all day - packing notwithstanding.

I've checked all of our phones, and they are all
affected - wired and wireless. Everything on our end
seems to be functioning correctly, so it's the line. 

A call in to CenturyLink for an update late in the afternoon resulted in a new time frame - between 5:33 pm and 6:37 pm. Then a phone call (to my cellphone) from the tech assigned, pulled the entire mess over once more and now he will arrive between 8:30 am and 9:00 am TODAY. *sigh*

I want this dog and pony show to get going,
already. CenturyLink is abysmal in terms of
a swift repair. We're seriously thinking about
switching to a digital phone instead of a wired one. 

I'll be packing my tools up today while I'm at the shop, so getting the line fixed will be DH's dog and pony show, not mine. What a wasted day in some respects, but an excellent one in others. We do need our phone line fixed, though. Hopefully it can be resolved quickly and with minimal (read NO) extra expense.

The suitcase will be very full, but I think I got everything packed
except the little bit of laundry I'll do on Saturday night before
I leave. I'm starting to really look forward to the trip! 

Here's hoping you have a tremendous Thursday. I'm starting to get psyched about my vacation next week, and DH is already in a funk because I won't be here - he hates it when I'm not around to keep him company. He'll live.

I'm Still Poor - Thank Goodness!

I didn't win the PowerBall last night and DH didn't either. In fact, I only had two of twelve matching numbers spread between my two chances. So, basically, I'm still not a member of the mega-rich. Which actually is a good thing. Why? Well, for one thing, it will save a lot of arguments and pressure.

DH and I have always supported educational charities and are believers
in higher education, even though neither of us actually use our college
degrees. I believe that exercising the mind is always worthwhile. 

When someone actually has money - big money - the world beats a path to their door and they are expected to suddenly become everyone's best friend. I don't mind being a good friend and relative, but for something like big money, people seem to crawl out of the odd places and push their way into your lives.

Is there even a safe place to put that kind of money? Step
number one would be consulting a lawyer. And how would
you decide which lawyer to consult? What a mess. I'm
quite happy I wasn't the winner of PowerBall. 

But it's always nice to dream, and I'm sure many of us had fleeting thoughts about how we would spend that insane amount of money. My choices would mainly be charitable donations for Alzheimer's research, cancer research, and LGBTQ causes such as safe houses and educational scholarships. DH would probably increase the coffers of the already-wealthy Catholic Church and would donate to several colleges, but he'd end up investing most of the money. Large sums, like what will be available for the winners, are beyond my comprehension. I only see disaster in dollar amounts of this size.

I now have two pairs of exercise pants that
actually FIT me! What a trip! I feel so happy! 

I have little goals and small triumphs. For instance, I'm happy because I saved in my own little way. I had $25 of gift cards that I had accumulated at Target, and since I needed a new set of clothing for the gym, I treated myself to two new pairs of pants for my machine days. Now my pants won't threaten to fall to my ankles. And, because what I purchased were also on sale, I ended up spending less than $10 of my own money on almost $60 worth of gym clothes. SCORE!

Each day is special and unique. Enjoy your Thursday, January 14, 2016, it's
the only Thursday, January 14, 2016 you'll ever have. Treasure it. 

It's the little things in life that can make me happy - LOL. Here's hoping you have a wonderful and fulfilled Thursday. BTW, are you working on your Slashy Valentine stories (if you're signed up)? Better get moving on those - the clock is ticking. Happy Thursday.

A Tribute to Fashion - The Clothing of Edith Head

Costumery. For this week of Halloween, when so many people push costumes to new levels (both high and low), Google is celebrating the 116th birthday of one of the greats in costume design - Edith Head. I remember watching Academy Award shows when I was younger and seeing this stern woman with black glasses mount the stage again and again for her wonderful designs in fabric. I want to share some of these with you today, because creating something in fabric is an art form as surely as painting or metalwork.

It's hard to argue with success. During Hollywood's golden years, Edith
Head designed for some of the best A-list stars.

Elizabeth Taylor in "A Place in the Sun" - dress by Edith Head. Ms Taylor wore
dresses designed by Ms Head both on and off-screen.

The stunning Audrey Hepburn wore Edith Head designs
for "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Such a gorgeous woman.

An outfit design for the incredible Bette Davis in one of
her most iconic roles - "All About Eve".

Betty Hutton wore Edith Head designs like this
shiny two-piece evening gown.

She designed for Audrey Hepburn again in "Roman
Holiday", a movie that I still remember as my first
introduction to Rome. I still want a Vespa and I learned
to love them from that movie. 

Ms Head herself has moved into modern times through
her character in "The Incredibles". I adored this feisty
designer who stood for no nonsense but was totally
brilliant with pins, needles and scissors. 

Finally, don't lose sight of her fashion sense. Although
she was always dressed in sensible clothing, they
were the best cut, perfect material, and always
flattering. Keep her words in mind as you choose
your Halloween garb this year. 

And just not to forget others - Happy Birthday to Bill Gates who turns 58 today. Have a wonderful Monday, everyone!

Waking Up From Two Days Off

I was lazy. I will fully admit that I barely checked emails, didn't do much with LJ and watched auto racing for the entire day on Sunday. Monday I slept in, bought two pairs of jeans for my upcoming trip and watched "The Avengers" after a wonderful dinner of chicken sausages stuffed with apples. YUM! All in all, I was a slug. And it was WONDERFUL! (And the house still smells AMAZING!)

Levis 515 in a size I haven't been able to wear for
more than eight years. SCORE! I bought two pairs.

But now life is here knocking at my door again and I leave for Milwaukee on Sunday, so the clock is ticking and I'm scrambling to make sure that I have everything I need for my trip. I will lug my suitcases up from the closet tonight, arrange my paperwork so that I can make sure I have everything needed for my classes during the day today, and try to get my laptop cooperative enough that I can try and check on things a bit while I'm gone next week, but no promises. I've done this route before and I know I'll be so busy that just keeping the spam deleted will take hours.

We watched the Indianapolis 500, then the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600
and then wanted to watch the rebroadcast of the Grand Prix Monte Carlo
(pictured above). I fell asleep, but DH managed to stay awake until the
early hours of the morning to watch the entire race. It's an amazing course.
Wish I'd been able to stay awake...but no go for me.

I know I won't get any writing done, I'll be spending my free time with my friend Shruti who arrives from New Dehli in a few days. She's already in-country and making her way to the Midwest a little at a time. I can't wait to share creative space with her again - she's an amazing artist in her own right and SO much fun.

This is one of Shruti's marvelous mandalas. She works with
colored pencils and pens, also with glass enamels and she
makes beads from molten glass. So talented and fun!

I will, however, still be reading. Books, mostly, on my phone or my Nook. Right now I'm about ten books behind, so I'm not too worried about having things to read while I'm there playing "social butterfly" for a few days. In some ways the show is completely exhausting - I'm taking four classes, I have numerous events that I'm scheduled for and pretty soon the days fill up. But it's also energizing because I see so many friends only this one time a year and being surrounded by that high level of creative people is fabulous. So I'm really looking forward to it, even though it will be exhausting.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's off to work I go....

Running late today because I'm trying to catch up with the Memorial Day weekend posts, so I'll sign off here. Have a wonderful Tuesday. I'll be more caught up by tomorrow...I hope :-)