I’m gonna hijack Ichi’s space to post quite a few pictures of my latest Anthropologie trips. Anthropologie is pretty much where I go to feel better. As I have gotten older and farther removed from college, I’m getting mroe and more comfortable with spending money on clothes. It always makes me feel good to wear a new top to work, afterall.

Back in November, I took my first job at a software company that had a dresscode other than “jeans and a tshirt”. So Black Friday involved way more clothes than normal for me. But the bright side is that I have a thing for cashmere (oh so soft), so I didn’t really have to worry about tops.

But now it’s summer. Back in spring I bought several dresses, skirts and cardis from Old Navy. And I think that I began to really like dressing like a girl. OMG. Yes, I sometimes wear dresses. And I really started to get back into jewelry. Remember those days before I started playing basketball where every finger had a ring? Not quite there yet, but I’m more frequently wearing earrings, necklaces and bracelets.

But the point of all this: anthro. I have found a lot of excellent blogs that do dressing room reviews. It’s better than just reading a review because they take pictures. So you know what it actually looks like on a normal person with no style team backing them to get one nice picture. They also do OOTD (outfit of the day) to showcase styling and give you an idea of what it looks like in a regular situation.

So, Anthro is having a huge sale (and free shipping with an Anthro card) and I need summery work clothes. Match made in heaven I tell you. The above picture is the Rising Vapors dress in a dark grey which was cheap! (Even by regular standards. And yes, I’m starting to learn the names of things.)  Not sure how I’m gonna work it into work, but I’m gonna try.

More pretty after the cut!

Beth is my buddy who is also into Anthro. So much so that we now have 3 matching outfits (we aren’t protective of our clothes): the “Lobster dress” (also known as the Salty Seas dress), the Free Flowing tank (not available on the website, but it is available in the stores), and the corset who’s name I can’t remember. Woot. All of it is identical except she got the navy free flowing tank and I got cream (which I”m wearing today!). It matches the cheesecake I brought to work.

So I thought I would try my hand at some dressing room reviews last night as most of the reviews you can find are for small girls and I’m not a small girl. Also, I should mention, I’m very into ruffles and owls right now. NO idea why. Maybe it’s because I have that ruffler foot that is of the devil, so I appreciate them more.

First up: Breeze Along Cami

The biggest size they had it in was an 8, which fits, but not well. It’s also kind of see through, which I don’t really like. Still, it could be good with a skirt and cardi as the bottom isn’t as embellished. Doesn’t overly do much for me and kind of makes me think “puffy shirt”, but still. We shall see.

Next: Daring Dart Blouse

LOVED IT. Work appropriate FTW. That is the point afterall. On sale, so not a huge investment. Could go with a skirt or pants, not navy, but not pale either. I totally bought it.

Next: Chantico Tank

So, it’s on my wishlist, in green, but when I tried it on in white the other day I think it looked better. It kind of looks like I’m not trying to hard but I still look nice. Unfortunately, it also makes me look like I’m pregnant. Sad day because I love all the draping. And the straps are wide enough to hide a bra strap. Sad times.Still full price too, not helping it’s case.

Horseshoe Falls Top

Good little Auburn fan. The more I look at the picture, the more it grows on me. It’s a good color and I don’t hate it. I seem to recall it being full priced though, so i may put this on the wishlist and wait for another day. Seems more fall too.

Needle and Thread top

I look like a cross between my mother and a hippie. IN fact, I think my mom has a similar shirt from Ecuador. Plus, it’s see through. Pass.

Graces Tank

Again, with the see through! I would need this in a different color, which would be disappointing because I want it for skirts. It will stay on the wishlist, but not a high priority. I kept thinking of Sharon and her “I do not like extraneous fabric” when I tried it on. It feels like there’s just random fabric (because there sort of is). Plus, it’s not really doing anything for me.

Decanted Dress:

I liked this more than I do in the picture. The straps feel nice and heavy while the dress doesn’t, so they aren’t going anywhere. But they are kind of oddly spaced, as you can see one bra strap, but not the other. It needs a belt. And a cardigan. So it’s a maybe, a maybe that’s on sale.

Rising Vapor Dress (yep, I know the name)

This is pretty much what I came for. That and a price adjustment on another item. Dark grey was definitely better than taupe. This, oddly enough, didn’t feel like extraneous fabric. What it felt like was a really big tshirt. Who doesn’t want a dress that feels like a tshirt? Crazy people, that’s who. Again I state: CHEAP. So, it’s bought. I do have an extra image though:

This is the side of the dress. LOTS of reviews talked about the lack of ruffles on the side, but no one took pictures. I have rectified this problem. You can’t tell from the front or back that this is happening and it’s perhaps that way to make the dress seem a little less bulky. Imagine having ruffles all the way on your hips? Us hippy girls would not like. Besides, your arms reside on your sides most of the time, so I don’t think anyone is gonna care.

2 for the price of one: Ambling Twist tank and the Rock Slide skirt

What? I said I like ruffles. It reminds me of my Lili skirt. But in blue! The shirt is still $88 and it is way too similar to the one I got 2 years ago, so PASS. Looks good though. The skirt I am IN LOVE WITH. I was so tempted to go ahead and buy it at $88, but I was good and put it back. (Restraint? What’s that?) It’s cute and feminine and makes me want to do the chacha.

Also in the background (forgot to get a picture) is the cardigan I am also in love with (Falling Tiers). Yes, it has ruffles. BUT, Anthro cardis aren’t always shaped normal. It’s longer in the front than anywhere else, which makes the ruffles look cool. Plus, it’s fairly thin, so good for summer when it’s just slightly too cold in the mornings and evenings. I’m grabbing that as soon as I see it on sale. It and the skirt. The skirt actually looked really good with my bright orange Old Navy tank. Weird.

So those are the reviews. One last shot: Beth demonstrating how to acquire an item (lobster dress) no longer in the store or on the website. At Connors. During dinner. Well, before and after the food. Still, I found it hilarious. If you didn’t know, if you can’t find it in the store or on the website, you can call Customer Service and they will help you find it. Which is awesome.

In the past few days I’ve also bought the Farmhouse Skirt (linen!), the lobster dress, Force Field Corset, the Geometic Cluster Blouse,  the Climbing Cowl Neck Tank and a belt. More later when all of that arrives at my door or I finally pull the lobster dress picture off Beth’s camera.

And here’s my wishlist, if anyone feels like getting me something. You might have to look me up by name though.

I probably haven’t written too much lately. What can I say, I’ve been busy. I made a new cosplay site, got stuck in Nashville’s flood and bought an embroidery machine. The embroidery machine has really taken me away from the general sewing because I keep wanting to use it and there’s just not enough hours in the day.

So since I’ve done a few things now, I figured I would show off my progress!

My first attempt was a set of dragon wings. The first one worked with no problems. But the bobbin thread ran out and I didn’t catch it like I should have on the second. So instead, I just act like I only made one! (Shh..don’t tell.) Lesson #1: pay really close attention.

Next up was a simpler design with some lettering for Sharon’s shower. Ran out of bobbin thread on the “us” portion of the word. I caught it, but I didn’t know how to fix it. Last time it ran out at the start of a color and I figured out how to go back to that. So off to hancock’s I went for more learning.

Tuesday I fixed the towel for Sharon and caught up with tv (well, some of it). But Wednesday was the big project.

I decided to put a pair of steampunk wings on a hoodie to make myself perk up a bit. I confess to thinking “this will take me an hour” because all the others have taken about 30 minutes, hooping and all. So 2*30 = 60, right? Yeah, not so much. The silver on this took me over an hour and 4 bobbins. I finally psuedo solved my bobbin problem, but I still don’t like it (it winds all wobbly).

The thread caught (silver) at least twice through the plate and that had to be cut off. Ugh, I HATE when that happens. But, while you can tell exactly where that happened, it’s not all that big of a problem (yet). Everything when relatively smoothly for the next HOUR, getting all the other little details in. I’m not too thrilled with my gold thread as it looks like the bobbin thread is coming through or it’s just losing some of the gold color. Then I moved on to the “rust” colored gear. That spool of thread kept getting tangled around the bobbin. I’ve used it before and it was fine, so I have no idea what the problem was. Regardless, when I finally decided to finish (finally got to watch Lost despite being spoiled) I switched the thread with a slightly different color. From there, it all went fairly smooth.

This was my first time using the sticky kind of stabilizer and doing something that sat on top of the hoop, and constantly having to remove it from the machine was ANNOYING! But at least it turned out okay.

I’ll do the other wing tonight and then this design is not getting made again by me for less than $100. Maybe more.

Those are not meant to sound linked, although they could be.

In Ichi news, she would NOT go in her kennel this morning. So she stayed in my room. I checked on her at lunch (and put her in her kennel) and she was sound asleep in my bed. No damage (that I’ve yet to find). That bumps her up to 4 hours by herself in the house that she can stay. I frequently leave her in the house while I go grocery shopping these days. It’s just getting too hot. If she’s not going to destroy things, I have no problem with her being inside.

And while the vet doesn’t like her being on my bed at all, she seems to recognize that it’s mine. Every night she gets off it so I can get in, get settled and then she MIGHT hop back on. Increasingly, she’s sleeping in her own bed. Most days she starts sleeping in her own bed and I wake up with extra weight on my legs (she likes to rest her head there).

Click for more information on MY NEW SEWING MACHINE.

So, last Friday, i decided it was time to STOP “dealing” with the skipped stitches, the jams, and the squeaking of my now 3 year old $89 singer. (Funny story, it wasn’t supposed to be $89, it was supposed to be 129. Yay for Target screwing that up.) I got a lot of use out of her and will probably keep her around, as I have a lot of random feet for her. Like a ruffler foot that is about 50/50. I need to go back and watch the youtube videos on that again, I snapped a needle trying to make a pleated skirt this weekend. 4 pieces. Remember: always switch back to a straight stitch for that, NOT ZIGZAGGED. This si what I get for sewing multiple projects at once.

ANYWAY, my new sewing machine is a Bernina 440QE. I’m very excited. I got the embroidery module as a part of the special. So, I’ve been trying to think of all the embroidery things I can do. So far I have:

• patches
• fleece blankets
• baby bags
• baby bibs (my sister is pregnant, can you tell?)
• onesies.
• totebags
• shirt cuffs

I have found good deals on patches, blankets, baby bibs and totebags thus far. I’m thinking of putting geeky sayings on blankets and totebags and selling them at conventions. I’m gonna be there anyway, and aimlessly wandering sort of loses it’s charm after you’ve been to that hotel 5 times. Thoughts (and yeah, I’m only doing that until I pay for the machine and only once I’m more confident in my skillz)?

I’m just so excited for automatic needle threading, separate bobbin winder, embroidery, quilting feet, and it comes with the stitch regulator foot! Not sure how the bobbin loads (please be easy!)

So, I have kind of slacked on this. But for relatively good reasons. Be they taxes, new sites coming up, helping friends with their sites and projects, redoing an armoir and convention season kicking off.

So after the jump I’ll go through some of it.

Little snippets (in case you aren’t following me on twitter)

• Made a bailey’s irish coffee cheesecake. It was so well liked that people apparently stole the ones I made for my family the next day. (grr).
• Started working on 2 new costumes. One is almost finished with the dress while I wait for the fabric to ship for the other one. Both are for MTAC. One was originally for AWA and it just kept getting pushed back.
• Went to Momocon, pimped Seishuncon. Worried about Ichi being boarded (since she didn’t do so well the last time). They know her though. Someone at the vet called her HER FAVORITE. I was amazed.
• I did wear a costume at Momocon, I didn’t get any pictures. But that will change in less than a month.
• Went to watch Mom’s lasik surgery. I don’t advise watching it before you get it. I think even Dad was a little grossed out.
• Been working on a new site that will be all about the costumes. I don’t really care about having a site that’s all about the costumes, I just wanted to make a new site without destroying this one. Plus, I got to play in photoshop a lot. I’m getting much better at it.
• Played viral marketer a bit making various social networks for Seishuncon (facebook, twitter, thinking about foursquare).

As far as Ichi goes (since this is supposed to be a blog about her): She’s doing well in my opinion.  Last week some friends came over with treats for her. We each took turns giving them to her with them starting. After I gave her the same treat that she had watched me give them some, she would then take it and eat it immediately from them. It was a big moment. She was then well behaved (but still kennelled) around them. No barking. She was acting with a level of eagerness, like she didn’t want them to leave (as their presence now means treats and everyone in the house took time to be with her specifically).

Next up, I bought her a new leash to use as a house lead. We’ll see if she can be in their presence, on it, but unkennelled. I hope so. It would be a huge step in her recovery from last year. Either way, the process of visitors greeting her with treats will continue until she realizes that visitors = treats and petting.

My parents are planning to visit in April, so I think it’s finally time to get the outdoor kennel for her. That way visitors that are afraid of her can be in the house and others can have more ease of access to her to comfort her. Eventually, I would LOVE for her to get to the point that we have a cookout and she’s out and about in the backyard enjoying it too. I can dream.

I’ve been sick a fair amount in the last month. The picture is of Nurse Ichi. When I’m sick she will plop on top of me making it difficult for me to get up. She will also huff if I do get up. She developed all of that this time last year when I had surgery. For some reason, she thinks putting her whole body across my stomach will make my stomach ache go away (it didn’t). At least she’s a cute nurse.

Huntsville is on it’s 3rd straight day of snow on the ground. It melts, then it snows a little again. I think most is actually melted this time but the sunny skies have turned all snow-cloud again. Most of us are really unhappy about it as it’s just 1/2 an inch to an inch every time. Just enough to be dangerous, not enough to play in. Even the weatherman sounded sad last night.

But I thought I would share some pictures of the latest bout and Ichi finding out why the Shiba 500 is not a good idea in snow and ice. You can’t tell from the pictures, but the patio was like a big sheet of ice as was the side walks. Even Ichi is getting tired of the snow, I think. She wanted to come inside and sleep in the nice warm house.

No video yet (although it’s loaded, just not in a very convienent form). But here is Ichi around the time she started SHIVERING. That’s what happens when you decide to lick all the snow off the ground (pictures offered as proof of my weirdo dog).

She did indeed have fun and despite the record low temperatures, demanded to go outside with siginificantly irregular frequency. And then I would have to bribe her to come back in. She particularly enjoyed running back and forth across the patio because it kicked up snow as she turned. No snowball fight this time. It was too cold for me to stay outside much.

I do have more frozen pipes (laundry room) and I figured out why (they are exposed!). Ichi has thoroughly enjoyed being an exclusively inside dog this week due to the freezing temperatures. We are supposed to go up to 47 degrees today! Yesterday we got barely above freezing for the first time all year.

There is still snow in my driveway and the pool is still frozen over (or at least it was this morning). When I drove to work there were still patches of snow on the edges of the road. So, it’s been an adventure. Didn’t get as much snow as we though but did get plenty of icy roads.

Since we are supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow tomorrow, flurrying through Saturday, I was reminded that I never posted the pictures from the LAST time it snowed. It was the weekend before my birthday and I awoke to snow, so Ichi and I went out and played.

For all your northern folk, though I was able to get out on the roads by noon to go grocery shopping, this was enough to close the interstate and other major roads (like Memorial Parkway). Needless to say, they are already prepping those two to be closed for the rest of the week.

And if you are wondering how Ichi did on her first instance of snow sans leash, she had a great time. First there was the attacking, then the investigating. All day she tried to figure out what the wet stuff was. ANd I threw snowballs at her which she quickly learned to duck (and then eat). So I look forward to my pup getting to really enjoy the snow this time. I’ll remember to video tape it.

In other wintery news: I dealt with my first instance of pipes freezing on Sunday. Luckily they never burst and I got them working about 3 hours after I discovered it. It’s been below freezing for the entire week so far, so my pipes since then have been dripping. Ichi’s been very much so an inside dog all week.

In true Alabama Snow style, I already have bread and disliking milk, I opted for Coca-Cola. I can snuggle up to Ichi for warmth.

Lastly, HOOK ‘EM HORNS!

In case you were wondering what I might like, I made you some lists. These work for Christmas too (afterall, there’s all of a 2 week delay on that).

Christmas/Birthday list

Buy My Love (I’ll explain the name momentarily)

Blu-rays

And if you just want to get Ichi something, I made her a list too. Be forewarned, I’m probably getting the bubble machine for her this year along with a set of bubbles. And she actually already has the sushi set, but I left it there because it’s awesome and people should see how awesome it is. (And she’s so cute playing with it.

So…the buy my love wishlist. It’s a bit different than the other two you’ll note. It’s mostly toys. See, I figure, who ever in my life screws up bad enough to warrant flowers, well, buy me flowers and a toy. WHY? Because I’m just a wee bit ADD at times, so I’m likely to be all “what did you do…OOOOOO…YOU GOT ME AN OOD!” I might come back to your mistake eventually, but I might be too busy playing with my new Ood toy and taking pictures to make a comic where the Ood and my Cylon discuss being slaves. But I figured, it’s not a bad thing to get toys at Christmas, right? I swear I’m turning 28, not 10. I promise, even though I totally wanted a bouncy house birthday party (I decided to start celebrating my birthday as if it was the birthday that the digits add up to next year). This year: VEGAS BABY. And Huntsvegas and Hotlanta. Yes, I’m having 3 parties and it shall be amazing.

Finally, I took a bunch of Christmas pics of Ichi when I went to take pictures of the new house all gussied up. She did a great job of lying down and sitting on command, but I had a bit of trouble (as we always do) with “stay”. And then I figured out the secret to taking pictures of her and getting her to look in the correct direction: put a treat in the hand with the camera. She’ll look the camera all day long.

So, for years I’ve been proclaiming “Baby It’s Cold Outside” to be the creepiest Christmas song. When you take away the lovely voice of Dean Martin or the cuteness of Elf, you get a song about a girl on a date who wants to leave. She’s making every excuse she can to leave. “My mother will start to worry.” Meanwhile, the man in the song is continuously trying to get her to just have another drink. All the while he’s telling her how pretty she is. The lyrics include “the answer is no”. (Anyone else get a “no means no” feeling from that line.)

Take the lyrics and attach them to a pretty girl and a creepy guy who keeps edging closer and closer (“mind if I move in closer”), making awkward comments about her hair. Then she says the line “hey what’s in this drink?”. I can absolutely imagine a stalker saying “how could you do this thing to me”.

With that in mind, do you still think it’s a romantic song? Yeah, me neither. Under the cut I’ll discuss the song I realize this year is not being used appropriately: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Everyone knows Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. And everyone knows the call outs “like a lightbulb”, etc. But let’s analyze it a bit closer (and more cynically).

In the story, Rudolph is frequently picked on or completely ignored by the other reindeer because he’s different. Thus we are supposed to walk away with the message of “there’s nothing wrong with being different” because in the end everything works out for dear/deer Rudolph. BUT DOES IT?

What actually happens is that Santa realizes after presumably years of allowing this behavior to exist, that he can no longer do his job without the help of Rudolph. So he goes and he asks Rudolph to “guide his sleigh tonight”.  Here’s actual lesson number 1: humility. Rudolph does not go “heck no, you’ve been ignoring me all these years”. Nope, he agrees to help. Rudolph could have made Santa and all the other reindeer pay for mistreating him. He could have become the king of the north poll, demanding that they bow to him because he can do something they can’t, but he doesn’t. He humbly agrees. This accompanies lesson #2: people will attempt to use you for your unique talents.

Then in the story, “all the other reindeer loved him”. Yes, that’s right, once the very thing that they made fun of Rudolph for turns out to be their saving grace, they are suddenly his best friend. Lesson #3: lesser people will attach to the coattails (or white tails in this instance) of more successful people. Side lesson: people you once mistreated may be the very person you need later in your life.

So it’s not QUITE the feel good song that people treat it as (just as Baby It’s Cold Outside isn’t QUITE the romantic song it’s supposed to be). Rudolph teaches some good real world truths. People are different, which often makes them better equipped than their peers. There are less mature people in this world who seek to elevate themselves by shady means.

I wish the song had some extra verse where the other reindeer start to explore their own unique abilities and how that could help out the team. Or how their mistreatment of Rudolph inspired them to become more of a team. Something other than “you’re our new best friend because you saved us all!”

Sort of a followup, apparently people are actually getting off their couches (or at least grabbing their laptops) and emailing their congressmen in such huge numbers that they crashed the server! I’m so proud!

Constantly having to call IT to add more hardware makes us hard to ignore! Tell those load balanced servers to shove it! Keep emailing. And if that fails, call. And if that fails, it’s a recess, go track them down in your hometown. Tell them how you feel! They represent you afterall!