Wow....it's only 10 days to the wedding now.....omg omg omg omg lol Today was kinda big, we went and applied for the license at the courthouse. What was so neat though was about 30 minutes before Van picked me up at my office, the rings were delivered via FedEx :) :) :) I was looking for them later this week by USPS priority lol. The company sent the rings each in their own inventory envelope but then included matching red and white boxes to keep them in if you so chose and even sent 2 lollipops with the order....how "sweet"

Of course...one does have to wonder what the company might be saying by sending DumDum Pops with wedding band shipments?!?!?

...mmmm....watermelon.,..
(yes, I have saved every piece of packaging materials for the scrapbook!)

an overly-ecstatic Jenn :)

I think I'm gonna be sick...

I just told my mom that Van and I are eloping in November. She likes Van and all, but...well....she's really not that fond of marriage in general. Sigh....But there, I told her, Van can stopped reminding me to (Like I'd forget!!!)

cluck cluck said the chicken...

I need a new umbrella.

Tell me, who is it that wears 3" heels and nylons to work when Isador is sending waves of rain this way. If you said me, you'd be right. Who is it, in said attire and weather, that decides she MUST have that zipper on the off chance she gets an opportunity to finish her theatre-going dress tonight between Friends and ER season premiers? Yup, me again. And who is it, on this errand, that agrees to pick up cheesesteaks for herself and her mother. Rightie-roo! 3 strikes and I'm soaked.

Yes, I took my unbrella with me. Yes, I used it. Yes, I got my @#$@^ zipper....But trying to carry 2 cheesesteaks and their accompaning large beverages, my purse AND the umbrella, well, lets just say the idea could have used more planning. Getting to car with said parcels was no biggie, but getting OUT of the car was another story. Getting INTO my office was yet another:

The wind was rather fierce and couldn't quite make up it's mind which way to go. I managed to get myself and the food out of the car and carefully balance the 2nd drink on top of the 1st (which was sitting in the bag with the sandwiches) and brace it against my body while steadying the umbrella. My purse slips halfway down my arm....no matter, I'll deal with soggy compartments. Keep moving forward. The shade on the big glass window was open and just as I came into view from the inside the wind whipped my umbrella back and forth, effectively killing its usefulness, I manage to get to the door....no one inside offers to help....I get stuck trying to go through by the still-open umbrella and the lid comes off of one of the sodas. Finally, a salesman comes to my rescue attempting to disentangle me from the doorway while those behind the counter laugh their heads off and offer advice.

Total damage: one wet bookkeeper (including purse and squishy shoes). 2 slightly mangled yet entirely edible (and very yummy) cheesesteaks and 2 intact drinks (granted, my shirtfront did wear a portion of my Wild Cherry Cola...sigh...). Oh, and an office full of hilarity: enabled by the fact that the rain paused for a while AFTER I entered the building.

Towel please...

Lady Emma paid us a visit at work yesterday when her mommy dropped off a job. My goodness but she is getting big!!! She's just 8 months, crawling up a storm and about to stand up on her own. She's pretty tall and otherwise "healthy" lol and the cutest laugh in the world. Big brother Eli was at school so we got to play with her alone for a bit. Sigh....maybe Van's right, that deep down inside I still do want a baby, but wow it's gotta be pretty deep. If I think about it too long I get panicy about loss of freedoms, et al....I'm just not in the right place right now. But let's not put the cart before the horse!

Last night on IM a friend asked if I was getting excited yet (only 45 days to go you know!) and i had to honestly say that I was too busy to be excited. I haven't even picked out what I'm going to wear, etc. although I know I want to make it but heavens, I just can't concentrate on it long enough at a stint.

First things first though, a new dress to wear Saturday night when we go so Barefoot in the Park at TLT. I cut out the pattern and the fabric last night (had just enough! whew!) and will get started sewing on it and the throw rug for J&L tonight after dinner with Van & Jeffrey. I'm hoping the dress will be extremely flattering as it is cut on the bias, and my nightgown that is cut the same way is soooo complimentary compared to my regular clothes, I'm thinking this may be the ticket. One thing I didn't like though was cutting on the bias with filmy rayon fabric....slips and slides everywhere and since I was a good girl and pre-washed the fabric it had NOOOO sizing left in it at all! We shall see what the machine makes of it. Maybe next project I'll actually make a muslin first! wouldn't that be a stretch for me lol

Deadlines and Hemlines:
The two skirts were finished Thursday night after the next-to-last revival meeting and handed off Friday. I'm not quite sure how the teen liked them as they were not there the following Sunday. Oh well, verdict is still out lol But I'm very please that I got everything done on time and with a minimum of fuss. I still have a 3rd fabric I'd like to make up for her, just need to pre-wash it and stitch it up :)

Later 'gator!
(like from the lubriderm commercials???)

Upon the advice of a fellow web-logger I picked up some Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque last night at the Rx and tried it out. The tube, sporting it's oh so hip as of 20 years ago design work, claims that it will dry up acne, eradicate blackhead and shrink pores....worth a shot! It's green, which reminds me of me favored Mary Kay clay masque which costs 5x as much, and minty....a pleasant scent to be stuck with for a while.

Okay, trial one: it stings going on! You have to wash your face first and maybe I scrubbed the makeup off too hard but sheesh! We were BEYOND tingling here, but I stuck with it....it means its working right??? According to the bottle you let it dry and then leave it on at least 15 minutes....but it says you can leave it overnight in problem areas. I do not see myself doing that.

I refrained from looking in the mirror until it was time to rinse off, and all I could think about was the aforementioned lubriderm commercial: the entire facial coverage was crackled, like the finish I put on picture frames! If I were to sleep with this on I'd be afraid of having little green flakes everywhere....maybe even ingesting some...ew!

Time to rinse! I went ahead and took it off while in the shower, since removal of this stuff is messy anyway, usually getting arms and torso VERY wet in the process I figured I might as well do it on purpose! Here's where things got a little iffy though: one of the lesser ingredients is sulfur....and you'll know it when you go to remove it! P-U! It's not very very strong in the smelly department, but keep in mind it's all around your nose so it's like up close and personal for what odor there is! I used a very floral body wash to rinse the last of the mask particles and smell away.

Now, did it work you might wonder: yup! While, thankfully, my blemish count is low to nil right now, my skin did feel clean and smooth....extroidinarily so, and the pores were in much better shape that before. So for 2.99 + tax I'm happy :-) I think I'll only use it once a week though, it doesn't say how often is safe, but then again its also not for sensitive skin which mine can be sometimes, so I'll play it safe!

Thank heavens for clouds!
(Okay, that's a bad pun, but seriously...)

My morning commute lately has involved circling the FSU stadium and when one rounds the final curve one is blasted by pure, unadulterated sunlight from which there is no hiding: there is also no visibility--It's absolutely BLINDING...to the point where I can barely see the other cars much less the traffic signal! The past few mornings have been an exercise in faith! This morning was wonderfully different as there was a bit of cloud cover. Whew! Did make me wonder, though, what it was like in pre-flood earth when the planet was sheilded by a heavy layer of water vapor in the atmosphere....Was it really nice or did they miss something they didn't even know about yet?

in other news...
The skirts are started and the Modem is fried!
(extra crispy if you would, please)

Last night, after power was restored due to an internal City error specific to our accout....sigh....I got home from the 4th revival service to find power back on and proceded to try out the new-found internet information. Woops! Hold up there! Modem is no longer recognized??? What the? I'm still not COMPLETELY sure what happened but here's my theory:
See, night before last, even though I didn't have the id/pw combo I needed to log on, I still tried (hoping to get lucky? lol) basically to make sure I had the modem set up correctly, in the right port, etc. It worked, aside from letting me sign on with a bogus id :) SO, last night I go to try again WITH the correct info and the box wouldn't even dial! In fact, it said it didn't exist, even when I turned it off and on a few dozen times....so I reinstall the "Standard 56K modem" driver thing (since I can't obviously log on and find the specific one!), and for good measure put it on both COM ports just in case lol, and it recognized it finally, even when it was turned off, but it wouldn't dial....
Several frustrating attempts later and I have concluded that the power surge that turned the computer BACK on after the outtage must have bumped just enough juice into this poor, abused modem that broke its last transistor.
The good news is, Van has a spare (wohoo!) that'll get me through and, with the abscense of the internet I got the first 2 skirts cut, all edges serged, and seam joined. Now, tonight, all I have to do it press the seams and straight stitch the elastic casing and the hem....and reinforce the back seam where the serging is...I prolly should have futzed with the tension a bit but I was too lazy :) What do you want??? I prewashed the stuff!!! haven't I taken enough precautions for one project? Cause really the serging of the top and bottom hems just means I can get away with only folding it over once....and it looks better, so it's not so much that I was doing it because it was the RIGHT thing to do lol....

I splurged this week. Yup, I allowed myself to spend an additional .29 per cup of yogurt this week getting the Yoplait Whips (oh my! they are so yummy....especially the cherry chiffon....mmmmm) rather than the superbrand fat-free sugar-free (but with aspartame! joy!) .40 each with Customer Reward Card that I had been getting and getting tired of. My tastebuds have thanked me profusely AND I'm still getting my calcium, etc.

I think part of the whole real-food project is going to be cutting out the multi-syllabic ingredients as much as possible. I mean, really, can plain old sugar be worse than high-fructose-corn syrup??? Without pulling out my library of food references, I'm sticking with the almost-natural sugar ;) Although not much of it of course, but the sweet tooth must be appeased....which explains last night...

Met Van for yummy Chinese trough, complete with a bunch of sushi (mmmmmmm....rice, veggies, imitation crab meat, nori, soy sauce and wasabi!--Van calls it my "raw stuff"), then wandered through the neighboring pet store (insert obvious cat-free neighborhood joke here) looking at fishies and bunnies....and the horny hamsters!!! My word....I'm not old enough to see that sort of thing!!! So we part ways, he to his home to do whatever he does when I'm not there, and me to mine to study, scrapbook, and pre-shrink fabric. Detour by way of Krispy Kreme for a chocolate fix. One cruller for the ride home, one glazed devil's food for the composition and printing of some 50s retro toppers for a swap, and one cream filled with choc.glaze for reading of emails.... yes, I can stop at any time!!! (I just don't want to yet.)

Van's going to cyborg my computer this weekend: putting the old 2.5gig harddrive into the new mega-machine so I don't have to loose files AND I get more storage space....mmm....spaaace.

And now that the fabrics are pre-shrunk I can, maybe, get some quick skirts put together for church. I am having fabric-envy right about now...sigh....one of the prints I purchased Monday is a purple with floral and paisley border and it is very sweet....It'll make a lovely skirt for one of the teens--one they might actually WANT to wear (a big hurdle that it may be....fashion and reverence combined)....but even Van said "wow, that looks like you" rats! I wouldn't have even thought that....wahhh....maybe I can find more in a week when I have some more money....sigh. My world for another 2 yards of printed rayon lol