I hurt. I don't hurt EVERYWHERE, but the pain in my hamstrings is enough to make it SEEM like I hurt everywhere.

Saturday I did a double workout - legs first, then arms, then 2X abs and finally cardio. I was a bit sore when I got up this morning. Then I put on my neoprene shorts and ran 3.1 miles. Now I can't walk. Well, no that isn't quite true. I can't walk with any kind of speed at all, and I have to tread carefully and not fully extend either leg or I let out a little whimper that's kind of pathetic and embarrassing.

Which means I'm not moving much. Tomorrow should be REALLY fun. They say the soreness sets in worst the day AFTER the workout......

I wish I had put the crystals on my suit this weekend, so I could remind myself what I'm doing all this for, but I haven't had a very productive weekend at all. 2 loads of laundry and a lot of re-watched episodes of Firefly. Lol!

On Saturday, we finally got around to making the dress form. (More about Friday later.)

It was interesting, for certain. I think it might even work. Lol!

( See what you think! )

It sort of looks like a bad robocop costume. Once it was on, we cut it off, straight up the back, then taped it back together and now I need to fill it full of packing material - right now I'm trying peanuts, but the instructions call for batting, so I might have to give in and get some.

Overall, I think it will work well. :) I need to get it stuffed, so I can start working on the suit. I'd really like to have at least one dragonfly done before we leave for Ireland.....

1. You can ONLY answer Yes or No! (If I can break the rules, you can.)
2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages or comments you and Asks! (I'd rather hear the explanations. Lol!)

Now, here's what you're supposed to do... Copy and paste this, delete my answers and type in your answers tag a few people. (I'm not tagging anyone. Anyone who finds it fun can answer.) Then see what happens.

( Q & A - The long version. )

So, I just got an inbox message indicating that I've been nominated as part of the contest going on over on sortofbeautiful, a community at which I've spent almost no time lately.

They have three catagories of stories, and they're voting on 'best of' in each: one-shots, lemons and characterization (of Jake, of course). So, I've been nominated for.....( go on guess )

Anyone want to change their poll response now that my trainer thinks he won't retire after all?

He's found a new specialist who deals with the sorts of problems he's been having. The man told him he doesn't have the disease they thought he had, but is instead suffering from the combined effects of agent orange from his tours in Vietnam and whatever chemical was used on the first Gulf War veterans (he's one of a small number of people who fought in both). The man thinks he can be helped dramatically by the installation of two pacemakers.....if it works, and the shaking and memory loss are helped by these procedures, he intends not to retire after all.

I'm so hopeful on his behalf - he has been struggling so much. :( It would truly be giving him back his life if this works.

Well, it's not looking good for the new figure suit. I e-mailed Amy to ask if she'd had a chance to design anything yet. We'd sent several e-mails back and forth during which I'd made it very, VERY clear on several occasions that I was able to spend $300.

Somehow, though, she has designed me a gorgeous suit for which she expects me to pay $450. This will not be happening. I don't know how I could have been any more clear. *sigh* I e-mailed her back to apologize for wasting her time. She didn't respond. I can taste the disappointment.

I'm wondering, now, if I couldn't just buy an undecorated suit and use her design to make the stonework myself. That feels .... sneaky? It wouldn't look as good as if it were professionally done, I'm sure. And heaven knows what I'd end up spending on the stones, but it might come out around $300......

I'm not sure how to proceed from here. I'm awfully disappointed about it.

( Sketch of Stonework )

EDIT: She says if she removes the scattered crystals and outside clusters, it can be a $300 suit.....but I told her it would look pretty bare without those outside clusters. I love what she did. I don't understand why she'd send me something to fall in love with that was outside the price range I indicated to her repeatedly. :(

EDIT 2: We may have found a compromise we can both live with. The dragonflies and center stonework stay. A connector piece is added between the triangles. The outside stonework goes. I called Lynn to tell him about it, and he said not to decide until Saturday, so I wrote her back to say we were in agreement on how it should turn out, but to hold off making it until I talked to my husband. An obvious ploy, of course, but one that I can't be talked out of. Lol! So, now I just have to wait the requisite amount of time, find out (Saturday morning) when my next show will be, and if the suit can be done in that amount of time, and then decide whether it's worth it to spend the money on a suit I may only wear once or twice more.....

Gosh, when I put it like that, it all seems kinda silly, doesn't it? *sigh* But I WANT it. Lol!

June, 2009, Volume 19
EXCLUSIVE ANNOUNCEMENT!

Celtic Woman will be filming their brand-new live show for PBS Television and DVD at Powerscourt House and Gardens, County Wicklow, Ireland on Wednesday July 29th and Thursday July 30th 2009. If you would like to attend the concerts please email your requests to tickets@celticwoman.com. We can not guarantee admittance due to the high demand expected, however we will endeavour to accommodate as many requests as possible. See you at the show! June 23rd Release - O, America!

We went to the bike fest over in Lakeland today. It got off to a slow start - the Faith Riders were the only booth set up for about the first hour. Next to them was a booth from (no joke!) WACO'S gun shop. Lol! Sadly, they didn't bring any of their merchandise with them to the show......

We got a soda at Mojo's because it was so hot, and let the crazy waitress talk us into icecream. It was mostly boring, until we were about halfway through our desserts. Then there was suddenly a big uproar outside. The whole place emptied out to see what all the fuss was. People were screaming, and when we got out there, we could see that six big motorcycle dudes had UPENDED SOMEONE'S TRUCK. The guy and his girlfriend were still inside, and she was shrieking, but they didn't try to climb out. Those six guys were ALL OVER the truck, like they were trying to get in. The people inside were definitely not trying to get out.

Lynn, of course, started forward to help, along with a few other guys from the restaurant, but after about a dozen steps, they all stopped, and Lynn immediately came running back to me, took me by the arm and pulled me off towards the bikes. He said something wasn't right about those guys, and we should just call the police from home.

But the six guys had noticed the throng coming toward them. They'd given up on the trapped people, and headed for the crowd from the restaurant. Most of the others who'd been eating ran back inside, but we were away from them now. I risked a glance back and saw one of the big-chested, short-shorted waitresses running towards the door. One of the guys caught her, though. She screamed, but Lynn was putting my helmet on my head before I could see what happened to her. I fished out my keys and we got out of there as fast as we could.

As we sped out of the parking lot, it finally clicked. Those six guys - there was something wrong with them alright! THEY WERE DEAD! I got a good look at two who tried to block us from leaving. I swerved hard left, and Lynn swerved right, kicking the larger one into the one that was reaching for me. They were DISGUSTING! One was missing an eyeball, and the other had cuts all up and down his arms that were oozing green puss! They both toppled over behind us, and we made it home without any more trouble - doing about ninety the whole way. The police were nowhere to be seen, though, and after we made sure all the windows and doors were locked down tight, we tried to report what we'd seen. But the recording said the lines were all busy, and to please try our call again later.

We weren't sure what to do - who knows whether 6 freak zombies at the bike show could be contained, right? So, we put up the hurricane shutters, figuring it would make it a lot harder to get into the house, if they came after us here.

Now we're stuck here in the house, and the sun is still shining, but it looks as black as night with the plywood over all the windows. I guess we just have to wait. Not much else we can do, now......

(bliteotw)

So, I have been wanting a new 2-piece figure suit for a few months now. I found one on e-bay that I've been considering bidding on. It's very pretty.



But the seller says she paid $700 for it and wore it only once, which means her reserve price is going to be around $400, and it'll likely go for close to 5, I'll bet. I'm just not prepared to shell out that kind of cash. Not even for a purple suit with really unique stone work.

So, I did what any American girl my age would do. I went to google and searched for figure suit designers. And I found Amy. Nice little website - compact, no frills. I'll bet she maintains it herself. She's located somewhere in Ohio, and her suit prices are ridiculously low, compared to industry standards. The suit I have now was not custom-designed. It was pre-fabricated triangles of crystals pressed onto the suit all in one swoop. The cut of the suit isn't that great either - but it IS typical of local suit-makers, so I didn't think anything of it.

Amy's suits are visually stunning, even the ones that don't have much stonework on them, and she sets the stones by hand. I contacted her and told her how much I wanted to spend, and she asked me to send her example pix of some stonework I liked. Nearly every design I found online that I liked was on a suit valued 3X what I'm willing to spend, but she didn't seem phased. She said she'd have a drawing for me by next Monday!

What I told her I'm looking for: Dark purple velvet halter top suit with a rio bottom. Crystal center setting to hold cups at a set distance (as opposed to the string that allows the cups to be shifted), and a unique, multi-colored stone pattern.

She was VERY quick to respond to all my e-mails, and very accommodating. I really hope this works out! So far she seems like a great person to do business with - and I'm well-established enough in this area that if everyone adores my suit, I think I'd be able to send her quite a bit of business.

What would be even better would be if I could sell the two one-piece suits I have on e-bay right now. Blue, never worn. Mint, well-loved. That would pretty much pay for the new one. If anyone knows anyone who might want to compete, maybe you could direct them towards one of these suits.

Sadly, they aren't for bathing, though they WOULD be adorable at the beach. Especially the dark one. ;)

This post is entirely moot. Chick up and quit. WTH?

What a fun time! :) For this show, there were seven of us, who all work out with the same trainer. Most of us hung out in Amy's hotel room for a few hours before hand. Here's a pic of all of us:


Taryn, Amy, (not sure of name), Brittany, Eryth, Me, Sharon

Before the show, we all stepped outside and took a few pictures out by the lake. Lynn purchased a new camera just for this, so we were trying it out. You know how it is when you first get a new camera, though. I think we trashed half the pictures due to strange color-temperatures. Lol! But there were a few good ones:

( picspam )

So, that's the first show of the year. In my class (30's, short) I took fourth place.....out of four girls. Lol! But it was still a lot of fun, and I'm already looking forward to the next one. :)

Just a quick little rant.

I listed a figure suit on Craig's List last night.
( http://lakeland.craigslist.org/clo/1193163947.html )

I got a quick response back from paul_smith_115@yahoo.com.

( Paul's 1st E-mail )

Innocuous enough. Polite. Maybe he wants it for a girlfriend? I have no idea.

( So, I write him back. )

( Clearly, tacking on a name was a mistake, because this is what I got back. )

... Some criminals might be getting smarter - hackers perhaps? But internet scam artists are getting stupider.

( I couldn't resist writing back. )

I'm thinking I won't be hearing from him again. Sadly, Craig's List doesn't have a way to report these people. They give you links to folks you can report actual fraud to - AFTER you've fallen for it and someone has your money. But nothing to just report the attempts.

So, if you get anything from paul_smith_115@yahoo.com or paulsmith118@gmail.com, please ignore it. Don't believe it if he says he wants to buy your item, because he's clearly full of crap.

Name your 10 absolutely favorite couples (het/slash/canon/fanon) and ask people to see what trends they notice about your couples. Try to pick different fandoms.

1. Snape/Hermione (HP)

2. Sawyer/Kate (LOST)

3. Mal/Inara (FIREFLY)

4. House/Cuddy (HOUSE)

5. Mike/Bella (TWILIGHT)

6. Ian/Wanderer (THE HOST)

7. Tony/Michelle (24)

8. Booth/Bones (BONES)

9. Hodgins/Angela (BONES)

10.Aragorn/Arwen (LOTR)

Sorry, I ran out of fandoms towards the end. I only actively wrote (ever) in HP and Twilight, and the rest are just favorite shows or books, and what I probably WOULD write, if I ever had the time to take up another fandom flag. Which I don't.

I can see a pattern already. Can you?

I've had enough of this sore throat, please. I'd like to get better now? :P

I added some carbs back into today's diet in the hopes that it would help me to recover faster. Also, I have to leave for a doctor's appointment in about an hour. With any luck, they'll be able to tell me what's wrong, whether it's related to the ear infection I already had, or if I need additional drugs to overcome it.

Honestly, being sick suxxors! I slept most of yesterday, and sat silently at my desk most of today. I'm more than ready to go home and nap.

But....I haven't had a proper workout in a week! I hate to ditch AGAIN. At this rate, there's no way I'll be ready for the June 5 show......

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I'm home! And I'm glad. Reno is not the place for me, it seems.

The hotels are antiquated, which was great. They shined the floors at 5AM every morning - which I know because I was on my way to the health club at that hour. :P But the casinos were full of cigarette smoke, to which I'm allergic, which made it difficult to spend any time in there. Also, I lost $40 gambling. I found that annoying.

We stayed at the Eldorado.

( more )

They arrived!



FABulous! Thank you! I love that they're so light. Some of my earrings I can only wear for an hour or two, but these are all-day earrings that still look fabulous! Thanks, 3valve!

PS. I hate taking pictures of myself. I look like a hungry ferret. ;)