Just being human is so lame

OK, first off off let me say I just discovered a strange, lumpy, itchy bite on the inside of my thigh, surrounded by what appears to be bruising. What the fuck? It's itching like crazy. But that's neither here nor there. Unless, of course, I die from it.

Second, it's been a hell of a long time since I've written. I've spent plenty of time doing useless things on the computer lately, but I guess I didn't feel up to putting any actual sentences together.

My 44th birthday has come and gone. Good times were had at Tucker's that evening. Mostly fruitless shopping was done that day. I still haven't really picked out a gift from Steve, though I'm in search of a particular silver ring, as seen on TV (I'll get to that in a minute). I did get some fab black sheep fleece-lined boots (Ugg style) and some similar clogs with bday money from my mom. Love love love the boots. Will probably wear them for some part of every day until May when it gets too hot for them.

The biggest birthday suprise was from Dana. At the tail end of a really great dinner out at Vito's (plenty o' delish wine and pizza) she presented me with a large gift wrapped box. To my absolute surprise and and GIGANTIC delight, inside was a Print Gocco, a Japanese screen print kit designed to make small designs on paper. I have been coveting one of these for quite some time and Dana had tried to wrangle a couple for us last year. When she cancelled her business trip to Japan this fall, I figured I would just wait till the next time she went. Well, she managed to get her co-workers to acquire the kits and so completely generously gave me mine for my birthday. I was stunned and so completely pleased. Now I just hope I can create some good things with it. I have a Christmas card design envisioned...

In the past few weeks I have become OBSESSED with the TV show Moonlight and its star, Alex O'Loughlin. OB-SESSED. I've searched zillions of Internet pages to find a ring like his character wears, not to mention trolling the fan pages for tidbits of useless information. Seriously, Alex is one of the hottest (if not the hottest) actors I've ever seen. He pushes my buttons, you could say. Check him out for yourself.



The show isn't great, but it has a few things going for it. One is, well DUH, do you have eyes? Secondly, the character played by Alex, Mick St. John, is a vampire PI. I've read a good amount of vampire fiction, seen the movies and have eroticized vampires for a very looooooong time now. (Oh, in how many fantasies have I uttered "turn me, please turn me!" to my vampire paramour?) Third, the female lead, Sophia Myles, certainly isn't terrible to look at. And fourth, a supporting character, a 400 year old vampire pal of Mick's, is played by Jason Dohring, also known as bad boy Logan from Veronica Mars. Jason's pretty much playing the same character, albeit with better clothes. Love him, though he sort of looks like a boyish boy next to the uber manly manliness of Alex.

Anyway, I suppose one of the reasons I have so totally immersed myself in this show and that gorgeous man is that it's a stress deflector. My stupid job continues to stress me out on too many occasions though I am trying to let other people's stupid shit slide off of me. That's never been my forte, but I know I can't do it any other way any more or I'll just be a big pile of upset nerves. Wish me luck, huh?

And your bird can sing

I got an early birthday present from my old and dear friend Jeff last week. This gift is on the all-time great gifts list. Even though Jeff and I haven't spent much time together in many years, he managed to give me something perfect. How cool is that? I've always wanted a Kit Cat Clock, but I've never found a vintage model nor did I want to buy a new one. Jeff presented me with the best Kit Cat Clock model I've ever imagined.


Forgive my lousy photograph of this avocado green, bejeweled and bow-tied clock. Isn't it fabulous?

I'll be your knight in shining arrrrrr-mor

Tomorrow morning marks the very last installment of my radio show, Emotional Rescue, on KDHX. I really, really need the hiatus from my show, but I am kind of sad that I had to resign completely. I had hoped to get a long leave of absence, but the program committee thought it was too long of a time to keep that slot open. They assure me that I should be able to get back on the air when I get my radio mojo back. Maybe six months or so from now? So, it's a bittersweet thing. I will, of course, miss it, but on the other hand, I'm happy to get rid of the obligation for the time being.

Work is leveling out, sort of. Nothing will change the fact that I love love love the location and that the store is fabulous looking, but the getting to know each other phase is rather tedious. Fitting into a tight knit group is a challenge, that's for sure.

Odds and sods

As part of the stock of needle felted wool pins I took to the Sheldon, I included two of the birds I recently started making. I got an email from the director yesterday saying they had both been purchased internally and could I make some more. It's always nice to have actual demand for your stuff! When I dropped off six more birds this morning I saw that several of my items were already displayed -- and I must say they looked fabulous! Seriously, I almost didn't recognize my things. Not that I don't think my stuff is fabulous, but still! Keep your fingers crossed for lots o' sales.

On a completely different topic, I am often fascinated by the Hollywood casting process and the competition that must ensue between actors (see my post about Colin, Joel and Mark). So here's the female equivalent to those three guys. I'm talking about Lindsay Frost, Kate Vernon and Andrea Roth. They range from 40-46 and all have a similar look. I think Lindsay has had the most exposure in mainstream Hollywood, but Andrea manages to be good despite the extreme misogny of Rescue Me and Kate was perfect as Ellen Tigh in Battlestar Galactica. See what you think.

Mystery Dance

OK, here's a confession that won't be too much of a surprise to anyone who knows me well - I get way too emotionally involved in things that I shouldn't. Despite the fact that I may appear detached and even removed, inside I'm often roiling. It's stupid and causes me a lot of unnecessary agita. I know that, but what can I do about it? The ups, the downs; it's like little mini cases of bipolar disorder. "Don't take it personally" is one of the most absurd things I can hear. I take EVERYTHING personally. It's a curse.

So I expected twirling bluebirds and angels singing on my first day at the new store. OF COURSE I should have known better. And it wasn't terrible, or even bad. It just wasn't great. I am not at my best around lots of people for extended periods of time so by the time I left work yesterday I felt kind of like a failure. It's clear that lots of bonding has gone on and I'm way outside the circle and that makes me feel weird and kind of bad. Oh well, it can only get better, right?

Per my last entry, I found myself immobile when it came to making new paper products for Subterranean. I did manage to make some cute tags and packaging for my Sheldon galleries stuff. Check out their opening this Friday from 5-7p. The boutique will be making its debut that night. Free drinks and food to boot!

Vapour Trail

I'm in a bit of a panic. In the space of about 10 minutes this afternoon I committed to having new blank cards and books for the consignment space at Subterranean Books by next Monday and having all the stuff I want to put in the Sheldon Galleries boutique ready to deliver by Tuesday. I have to really think about the the way my jewelry will be presented to make the most of it. I also think my little needle-felted bird pins will work there too. And I also want to make a new batch of the multi-strand scarves. Yikes. Luckily I have a three day weekend ahead of me to work on everything. I'm gonna need it.

Countdown to the CWE: two more days of work in UCity and then new store on Monday for opening on Wednesday!

Bye bye Pippin

Yesterday Steve came home from work to find that our 9+ year old parakeet, Pippin, had died sometime during the evening. Pippin was a sweet, shy little bird who loved to sing along with the birds outside. A few weeks ago we realized he wasn't singing anymore. A few days ago he let loose with a very short outburst of song and then nothing. I guess we should have figured that something was up, though I'm not sure what we could have done. Her certainly lived a fairly long parakeet life and survived a homicidal mate who tried her best to simultaneously mate and murder. Parakeet sex is not a tender thing, take it from me.

We will miss you and your songs very much Pippin. Who will bite Steve's nose now?

Nothing clings like ivy

Except for perhaps morning glory vines. Morning glory has taken over our front yard, as you can see from these photos. I'm happy to report that I figured out how to download my camera directly to my iBook and even managed to manipulate the photos via iPhoto. I'm still not quite down with how Macs save files, etc. I don't know how to put them in particular places but I think that's part of how Macs work. A primer from Roy is in order. Anyway, this first picture is of our front steps. The morning glory vines have enveloped the rose bush, the garlic chives, the sage, the hearty hibiscus and the railings. Believe it or not, I've torn down the vines a few times this year. They just come back stronger. Unfortunately, the lovely purple blossoms don't show up very well, but it's what keeps them around.



The vines have even entwined themselves around and up a 12 foot red bud tree, not to mention a large rose of sharon bush and my hydrangea. I'm still not sure whether it was the late freeze this spring or the morning glory that prevented even one hydrangea flower from blooming.



This morning Steve and I went to a flea market at St. Mark's in St. Louis Hills. Strangely enough there wasn't a lick of clothing, although there were shoes. Best buy of the day was this four-panel set of barkcloth curtain for $4. The color scheme is perfect for the living room, besides being just beautiful - turquoise, brown, black and (subtle) metallic gold.



In the close up you can sort of see that the repeated pattern is a scenic view out the terrace of an English or Italian villa. I mean, you've seen this terrace in any number of Jane Austen and E. M. Forster movie adaptations.



For $1 I bought a zipper bag full of 'broken' jewelry. Included were these three vintage bracelets, all wearable, if missing a stone here and there.



These earrings were also in the bag -- daisy cages!



And to add to my ever-growing collection, a gorgeous hand embroidered pillow case with fillet crochet trim. For 50 cents!