Honeymoon in Cambodia..& Thailand

Does anyone get the Dead Kennedy's reference? We stopped singing it halfway through the 20 hour travel from Denver to Bangkok.Our first day in Bangkok was recovering from jet lag. The next day we walked through the flower market watching the shop keepers fold flowers to make them look like lotus for temple offerings. Then we went to our first temple to walk the Wat Pho and the reclining buddha.The only buddha in a temple you are allowed to take a picture of. Around temples they have sun umbrellas that say Buddha is not tattoo. Buddha is not furniture. Buddha is respect.

That evening we went to the Asiatique Riverfront to go for a dinner dance show.

Dancers depicting a scene from the Ramayan

Its not desirable to wake early on your honeymoon but there's two things that you need to beat in Thailand: 1) the heat, 2) the Chinese. No kidding, the next day we went to the Grand Palace to see the Emerald Buddha & it was packed.  That night we walked the red light district near the hotel, ate street food, bought gifts then took a stroll. What was supposed to be just a stroll around the park was a five hour walk around a royal park that we couldn't enter. We did get to see street bands, one were a couple of elementary schoolers playing The Cranberries. The saddest part of Bangkok is the 200,000 stray dogs.

We then started north, first stopping at Summer Palace then towards Ayutthaya. One of the ancient cities, Chai Wattanaram Temple that was lost in a battle against the Burmese.

Further north the higher we get in the hills. A more complete set of ruins were in Sukhothai.You can notice the difference in stupas. The pointed stupas are Thai, bulbous stupa or chebi are copies of the Cambodians.

Our hotel in Sukhothai was beautiful. Cooking outside & were blessed by monks in the morning we gave them offers prepared in the kitchen.  The evening was hot hot hot so we jumped on a tuk-tuk with a friend & drove to new city for a drink at Bar 3300 right in the middle of an intersection. Its a buddhist conspiracy to make weak drinks. Spent the trip asking for one more shot. It took four waitresses & one bartender for me to explain that sour mix is not a cocktail, that you have to add alcohol to it.

On the road north we would stop in towns that everyone specialized in one trade.We bought some beautiful woven scarves in one town.  In another we walked down a side road where a granny had an indigo workshop. She showed us how indigo is made & then put us to work over a burner with wax. We took little metal stamps, dipped them in the wax then pressed them on the cloth. Then she soaked them three times in the dye. Below is a picture of the cloth after the first dip. She gave us little pieces of scraps that Nic & I practiced on.

Further down the road we made a side trip to yet another temple on a suggestion from another traveler. Most american boys go to summer camp, most Thai boys go to a buddhist temple. One of those boys grew up became a famous artist, went to his home town & created this marvel. My best description would be a temple designed in anime. You progressed down from hell with characters like the Predator & Hellboy in the details up to heaven where Neo from the Matrix was near Buddha. Amazing.

Near the Myanmar board, we decided to not to go over to ride around on rickshaws but decided to hike up 306 steps of the Naga staircase to over look the Golden Triangle.

Lunch was a restaurant in the hills at an artists house. To get up the mountain we took what we fondly called the farm taxi. Basic sustainablity- the engine comes out to go in the tractor, the irrigation pump, etc.

After lunch we took a river boat over to Laos for cocktails. The picture below are of tiger testicle spirits & cobra spirits. Not bad. Much smoother than the rice spirits.

After a couple of drinks we were told that the villagers had captured a bear walking through. So I had to see it. Such a little girl napping in the shade & eatting watermelon.

The next day we wanted to know who Long Neck Karen was. So we took another farm taxi to a hill tribe that we refugees from Myanmar. Nicolas started calling me Doctor Doolittle because dogs were getting off their ropes & following me around the village.

Only grannies & babies in town while the men worked in the rice fields (lana). Yes, this grannies teeth are black from years of eatting betel nut, a narcodic.

Walking back to the hotel I took tons of pictures of the homes. Its amazing how 70% of the countries overseas still incorporate weaving into their structures. This is a bridge we walked over woven with bamboo.

That evening we made it to Chang Mai where, besides the heavy smog, was much more fun than Bangkok. Our new friend took us on the back of a tuk-tuk to get moo-kata. A bbq joint the size of an aircraft hanger filled with raw seafood, meat & vegetables that you put in a tray than cook over a burner with coals & lard. Sorry the picture is shaky, lots of Chang beer that night.

Our tuk-tuk driver that night was named Mr. Insuane (Mr. Insane). He had me sit on his armrest & hang out to make horn sounds with my mouth. I never mastered the Thai police sirens. He dropped us off at one of the famous night markets. Our tired feet deserved a treatment but I didn't want a Thai massage by the ladies yelling MASSAGE in my ears. We went for a fish spa instead that had fish eat the dead flesh off your legs & feet. Nicolas made the mistake of sharing a tank with me.  He got a dozen fish while I was swarmed by THOUSANDS! Incredibly ticklish when the go between your toes. Twenty minutes later though my legs were as soft as a baby's bum.

I could barely sleep that night because the next day we went to ride ELEPHANTS! Here's a picture of Nicolas tranversing the jungle on his asian elephant. I wanted my own. Afterwards an elephant took the hat off my head then gave me a sloppy, banana smelling kiss. Ironically it then went down to the river to take a bath & spray water on us.

I could write pages about how nice the Thais were but they have a saying that sums it up- Land of Many Smiles. Our last night in a thai honeymoon suite with a bride & groom swan arrangement.

Next post: Siem Reap into Angkor Wat.

Laying the Foundation

My building buddy Nicolas & I are done for the season. We consider a dry Spring-Summer-dry Fall a season because in the world of architecture there are only two seasons- WINTER & CONSTRUCTION.  I officially name this building season The Season of the Bent Nails. Since I didn't write about last building season I should let you know we called that season The Season of the Valley of the Stones. The season of the Valley of the Stones was the transportation of the foundation down a shallow incline, up a steep slope then across a mountain ridge.  If I was to do this again- llamas and sherpas.  It was the two of us.  Its hard to convince anyone to do that kind of manual labor when it evolves 30 lbs of lifting our a half mile 30 times.  My historically minded friend mentioned that the entry to Stalingrad was a rock.  The city was built on a plain without a quarry & if you wanted to come into the city you needed to help build the city.  Stalingrad offered protection & commerce, I just offer beer.  

The Season of the Bent Nails was my attempt to repurpose building materials.  Some amount of 65% of landfills are filled with building materials.  My grand idea was to help the environment & my wallet but using salvaged materials.  If I have one lesson to teach, salvaged wood is good, salvaged fasteners are not.  I purchased a bucket of donated 16d nails from Habitat for Humanity.  If it wasn't for the idea of carrying them back down I would of spread them in the parking lot of the ReStore.  They either crumbled on the first stroke or the head snapped off.  ONE OUT OF TWENTY NAILS WENT IN THE WOOD. At one point I started using my most vulgar German, chucking my favorite hammer into the woods & spent the next half hour looking for it, cooling down, while Nicolas continued on with the work...laughing the entire time.

Before the explosive day hammering, my Mum helped level the foundation with me.  At one moment she told me that working on this made her want to live forever.  I like that thought & will hold onto it throughout the entire construction.  Do I know what the next building season will be called?  I'm hoping Finished but since our community in Aurora is pulling down the existing balconies to build new ones I've been eye-balling the roll-off dumpster. Chemically altered, composite decking come to mama, its the return of the Toxic-Avenger:)

Our Mini-Moon to Santa Fe

Rainy day after our wedding so we headed south to New Mexico- to more rain.  We paused at the Pueblo in Taos.  I had heard that it was lively but on a rainy day it was quite vacant.  We bought some fried bread from a women in a dwelling lined in tarps to catch the water coming through the holes in the ceiling.  The travel journal said that they live a subsistence existence similar to their ways of old.  I didn't see how that was possible with no visible crops or livestock.

We ended up in Santa Fe with our Honeymoon suite given to someone else by a computer error.  The un-named hotel did make-up for up but Nicolas will forever be steaming about it.  The next day we went to the open market at the old train station then off to Canyon Road. 

Wonderful artwork, architecture and weather.  Yes the main square is great but too touristy for us.  A more enjoyable market was in Taos where we did buy art.  We much preferred Canyon Road. We had a great stroll around asking questions, soaking up the culture.  I became obsessed with the woodwork and when I get obsessed with something, my husband gets to work trying to help me out.

It was bizarre that in a town filled with architecture so unique and localized to this one town that the people living there had no clue who provides or maintains it.  It was only by chance on a drive that we came across Sereti & Sons. 70,000 square feet filled with doors, columns, shutters, statues and fortress gates from around the world.  I would of taken a picture of every inch but I respected their request to not take any pictures.

The most non-descript building in the town was this one, the oldest house in the United States.

Alas this was just the mini-moon because Nicolas's management wouldn't allow him to take more than a week off of work.  Gracious we took a detour to the whole sanctuary in Chimayo & had a beautiful drive back to Aurora.

And so we got married...

I am a very blessed woman.  It took me a very long time to find someone like Nicolas that I would want to marry.  In fact, until I met him, love was too abstract of an idea for me to think it could be real.  It was in songs & stories but not my life.  Then he filled that word with meaning.  He has made me stronger and more fulfilled as a person.  He has made me so happy & my heart rejoices in the anticipation of spending the rest of my life with him.  I am so thankful that he took me as I am, loving me & welcoming me into his heart.  I don't deserve such love but I am eternally grateful. 

This August I stood on a mountain top feeling fat & exposed for finally having a handfasting instead of a wedding.  I took this man as my husband, promising to return his love fully as we grow together.  I promised always to love, cherish & respect him in all circumstances that may come to us. 

My sister graciously agreed to wear my favorite colour ORANGE & my new niece made her debut as my wand maid.  It has been four years now since my father passed away so it was my Mum & I trying not to trip down the aisle. 

It was a DIY wedding to an extend.  The only goth-ness was my cake topper that had us & "the kids" a La Muerte. 

Peaceful Valley Guest Ranch was laid back & provided the catering.  We took a big chance with them when in February we went to visit the site in snow shoes.  They thought I was great because I was 'stress-free'.  Little did they know that I was stressed to the tilt trying to figure out so much since most of my friends were married decades before & kept telling me none of it matters except the dress & the dancing.  There was a point that I knew rain or shine or not losing the weight or finding the perfect what-not:  I was marrying Nicolas. 

I met a great lot of Nicolas's family, he alas will be traveling to meet mine.  His folks mobilized like a platoon & were immense help decorating.

We did ride of into the sunset...except it was a sunrise towards Santa Fe for the 'Mini-moon'.

Tis the season

Taking on cookie swap like a commando tonight. All or nothing, do or die.  I agreed to go to a holiday cookie swap hosted by one of Nicolas's friends. I pulled out about sixteen cookie cookbooks from my cookbook nook & in the end decided to go with a few oldies but goodies.
I know that I should only make one batch of cookies but then I have an ulterior motive for even agreeing to go to the swap.  Last year I decided that I could only afford to make cookies as gifts. The best reaction that I got was from my bachelor friends. The universal reaction was 'what's this?'. The realization that I gave them holiday sweets was precious. It even saved one of my friendships.  So I'm doing it for the single men in my life.
I got suckered into a holiday charity last week. I got a coupon from Anthropologie for my birthday & then an email that said if I donated a used sweater I would get a $10 gift certificate. Finally the stimulus to get my nautical tea ware!  What a crock?! The $10 was a discount on a sweater in store that had to be bought on that trip....the Anthro sweaters start at $198.  So I just used my coupon for my storm in a tea cup.

 

When you drink your tea down, it gets to the ship inside that is storming around on Earl Grey. All while your holding onto a tentacle.

I'm totally into their fusion tea set they have right now. Its tea for two literally! Two siamesed teapots & teacups.

 While I'm on the subject of tea. British, rock-a-billy tea parties. The illustrations are too DIE for. Bunnies in '40s dresses having tea...brillant.

2012 Wish List

If it was up to Nicolas, my wish list would be that every form of plastic kitchen utensil I owe would be replaced by metal. Alas my wish list is long & lengthy, so here's a few things to make the season bright:

• Granberg Chain Saw Mill  A chainsaw mill so that I can cut planks of wood out in the woods with my chainsaw instead of having to bring a the generator & band saw.
• Nordic Ware Yule Log Bundt Pan  I have been jealous for years of Martha Stewart's Buche de Noel because I'm terrible at swedish rolls.
• West Elm's Ceramic Branch vase  I love everything West Elm & I love woodland themes around the house.
• My Double Body Form  Any true sewer dreams of owning a body double to make those perfect fitting clothes.
• Kitchenaid Mixer  My Mum says that they only buy mixers in my family when a woman gets married.  I don't think I can wait that long.
• A CD/Radio alarm clock is old fashion but I don't have an IPod & I don't have a cd player so I would like some way of playing music with out the loss of space.
• A sweeping cardigan
• A Pedi-egg, they just don't do pedicures as good as they used to now that razors aren't allowed in salons.

Keep on walking

Setting goals is good. Achieving those goals are better.  Sometimes you go way over your head, but then those goals can be the ones that you can't continue on with your life without doing them.  I set one of those goals a few years back.  I wanted to be able to run a marathon by the age of forty.  Lets break this goal down; I didn't say that I wanted to run a marathon by the age of forty, but that I wanted to be ABLE to run one.  I know that a lot of people make this goal but a few years ago I was coming up to a sad deadline.

When I was 19 I crushed my lower spine so badly that it took 4 years in rehab to be able to walk correctly again PLUS I developed adult asthma.  I was the kid that you could walk anywhere but why when running was much more fun. Total lifestyle changer, then the doctors told me that probably around the age of 36 I might be concerned with some issue moving in the direction of a wheelchair.  Then I met my bestie Juliet that got me involved in bellydance as a way of physical therapy.  It did great leaps....and a lot of body glitter.

If you've read some of my older posts there was the break dancing incident that when I went to the doctor he brought to my attention that I was walking around on broken bones & didn't even notice.  So when I went back for my third epidural session that's when I made the marathon goal.  I will be able to feel my legs to end of my life & be able to run on them.  And up until this past year I was heading the right direction with  my little health check-list:  Complete four years of dental work to have a great set of choppers - DONE.  Get the weight back down- DONE. Get the asthma under control- DONE.  Correct my hearing lost & correct the genetic disorder of circulatory problems in the legs.

I couldn't wait any longer. This year it hurt to walk, stand or sit. So I went to the same clinic my sister went to see if it was time to get Endovenous Laser Abation of the Great Saphenous veins in both legs (to get technical).  During the ultra-sounds they condition was 3 times past when I needed it done & that both of the valves were broken.  Right there in the ultra sounds there they were just dangling around like snapped twigs & the veins were perforated bleeding into my calves.  So I scheduled the left leg for the beginning of November & the right for the end.

The most hilarious part of the whole thing is that Honey Boo Boo is my drug dealer.  The pharmacy mailed the pain cream & Valium to my apartment two weeks before the procedure.  My land lady got the package for me. Wonderful woman, single mom...but her & her daughter remind me of Toddlers & Tiaras.  One night I got a knock on the door & there was her 6 year daughter in blonde curls & pink tutu handing me a box of valium.  God bless America I presume.

The scariest part was the day after the operation when I took off the triple wrapped bandages & the maxi-pads for drainage. One of the incisions didn't close & I lost about  pint of blood in my bath tub that afternoon.  Here's the most naked shot of me on the internet:

 

My leg seven days after the operation with out the compression socks on.  I now own quite a few maxi skirts. You have to wear those hose all the time except bed & I cannot wear them under pants.  It reminds me of the women in the 70s that wore pantyhose under polyester pants. Yuck.

I have a whole week without the hose on right now, but next Tuesday. Under the knife for the right leg.

Other than that I got a sexy new tire on the truck. Went into the frame shop to work one night & they told me that corporate thinks I'm making too much so they were reducing my pay. When I went home to write my resignation letter my power adaptor died & I couldn't work on my computer until I tracked down an adaptor for an older laptop.  Good times.

Well its Thanksgiving tomorrow so all I'm going to say is that I miss you more than not having to work on Thanksgiving. - V

Day in Pompeii

Some know & some don't know the issues that I've been having with my legs the past few years.  To narrow down the story, my legs HURT & its nothing I did, its genetic.  Now that I have my home settled, I decided to get my temple taken care off too.  Anyway isn't that what health insurance is for anyway?   So I have ELAS surgery coming up next week to close down the veins in my legs & rework the circulation. One leg a month with six procedures.  Its simple to understand that I won't be doing a lot of walking until the new year.  Like a last hurrah, I've decided to see the exhibits in our local museums before I start my bedrest.  The first was a the Denver Museum of History & Science- A Day in Pompeii.

I have weird days off, Tuesday & Wednesday.  Great for running errands, not great for hanging out with friends- except my Mum though.  She's been the best companion of late (besides my boyfriend Nicolas) & spending time with her on a regular basis also means that I can help around her house.  If you ever want to choose a great person to go to a museum with, go with my British mother.  They really have dumbed down exhibits lately so that there isn't much information relayed when you go to see the special exhibits.  Shocking since they run around $26 & everyone has the History channel to help them be more informed.   The last time that we went to a museum together was for the Pirates exhibit. She was a British Sea Scout back in the '50s, so while Edgar & I were going around the exhibit she was adding in historical maritime info. After I while I think the other visitors thought that my Mum was a docent because they were following us around & listening in.

The Day in Pompeii exhibit was in two segments. A lifestyle exhibit for the first segment & tragedy in the second.  In the first segment it went over two houses & their belongings, lifestyles & culture.  My mother had been to Pompeii back in the '60s. They had current images of the ruins of Pompeii & she said that the ruins had changed quite a bit since she was there.  Back then she said it was just a bunch of stone ruins & currently they've done more reconstruction.  Is this because of an increase in historical tourism?  Anyway, the Roman sculpture was beautifully preserved.  What I thought was a good conversation piece was the Roman laundromats of the time.  I never thought about bleach before or where it came from. The ancient Romans didn't have it though they wore those white togas.  What is a naturally occurring source of bleach? Urine. First the slaves would work out the stains with a silt bath, then a rinsing bath, then soak the clothes in a urine bath to make them white.  Apparently you could find the local launder by the clay pots left outside the shops for the passerby to pee into.  Then the pots would be brought inside to the pool of pee.  I wonder about the smell & can only think of two answers. A LOT of perfume & incense or its like when you go camping, you just don't notice the campfire smoke.

The second part of the exhibit started with a time elapsed computer animation of the day that Mt Vesuvius erupted.  It was AWESOME (speaking as one that enjoys apocalypse movies)!  I always thought that it BOOM volcano erupts & crazy lava flow kills everyone. Nope, it took a good 24 hrs & most of those killed were so because they thought it would pass like a bad rain storm.  The falling ash & rocks went on until they were driven to the second floor of their houses & when they made a break for it the heat & poisonous gases killed them. Most of the bodies were found on stairwells. 

After the video you entered out to the room of body casts.  When discovered, all of the bodies has since decayed away millenia ago, but there were voids where they once had been.  Anthropologists of the time pour plaster into the voids to get the casts in the exhibit.
 
This is when the children in the exhibit started crying.  One next to me actual told his grandmother, "I don't want to be here anymore. Take me out of here."  That's the power of history for you.

Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween everyone!  I'm spending my halloween this year completely different- I'm staying in. My boyfriend has to work; I'm going to start a medical procedure in six days so I need to conserve on cash; I didn't complete my brilliantly planned costume; my sister & brother-in-law are at a wedding in the Dominician Republic so I'm puppy sitting for them.  All the equation to stay in & hand out treats to the kiddies in costume.
I did do the annual haunted house tour.  This year Juliet suggested that we do sister houses. The 13th Floor is connected to the Undead then for a discounted price you can also go down the street to get into the Asylum & Zombieland.  Haunted houses are not your neighborhood firemen productions that we grew up with anymore.  They are big business & with them big price tags. $42 for the combo but when you show up the wait in the line is over 2 hrs so ofcourse you purchase the upgrade to the VIP line. It was partially worth it; Undead was first & had a lot of actors, more then I've seen before. Zombieland & Asylum were a disappointment, just a tradition haunt.  13th Floor though was a treat. First an elevator to an attic walk with yetis & other huge anamitronics but the best were seeing two phanamechnics that I've always wanted to see.

First was the swamp walk, the concept is to have the guest to think that they are walking waist deep in a swamp with alligators & a swamp thing around you.  All done with 3 foot air tubes (think like the bouncy castles)in a path. The illusion is assisted by fog & lasers to make a glowing green ooze.
The next was a vortex tube. A cylinder that you walk through with random lights spinning while you go up a ramp.  By the end of the ramp your balance is off & you spend another 15 mins walking outside through the haunt feeling off balance.  I got my instructions from one of my favorite haunt websites.  http://www.instructables.com/id/Vortex-Tunnel-Halloween-attraction/

Denver County Fair 2012

The Denver County Fair is a new event for Denver, this being its second year.  I'm embarassed to say that though my two friends Andrew Novick & Dana Cain put on the Fair, I didn't make it to the First fair:(  But this year the events looked too intriguing to miss.

On the art & crafts side my ATC group had a booth set up, the Denver Handmade Alliance had a booth.  Then there was the Geek section w/ the Steampunks and since it was the Zombie beauty pagent you had patrols of guards from the Umbrella Corp there.  Charlie Phoenix was frying up some cereal. But what got me there on a Saturday evening was the Gothic & Lolita Tea Party.

Subculture aside, I believe that two aspects of the Denver County Fair make it unique from any other fair.  The fact that this is in a metropolis, the booths dedicated to urban homesteading & GOATS were very interesting.  There was Kate Armstrong to teach about urban foraging; the GrowHaus to learn how to grow plants and fish together in a recirculating soil-less system; DUG an urban garden right down the street from Nicolas's in Aurora; Plant a Row for the hungry got me motivated. Then there was the DenverBee...I believe that tending an apiary leads to higher conciousness. Don't you? Hand outs, handouts, handouts! I now have the knowledge on the laws for the Cottage Food industry....very important for next month with my plans for Park(in) Day (more on that to follow).

Its great how my friend's annual Pancake BBQ can become an entire fair event.  Fantastic!

Miss you more than the henna cracking on my arm. 

Hello world! Here comes my hats

Few of us are blessed with the hat head. Hat HEAD, not hat hair. Yes, when you have a hat head, practically any hat looks great on your head. At an early age I fell in love with hats. The Easter bonnet that we would by every year. The sun bonnets that became so popular with Little House on the Prairie and Holly Hobby. Shopping at Harold's for wedding hats, an entire floor of hats! I would choose a hat & pick an outfit to go with it.

I love watching vintage movies just for the hat design. I love walking through markets & having stall owners go into their special stash for hats that work only on me. It was only nature that I would be drawn to make my own. I exhausted myself in trying to find instruction or workshops or even a textbook. Bless old ladies that pass on information. Eventually I got the knack of it started wearing them out and the weirdest thing happened- people liked them. My most memorable experience was at the Cherry Creek Art Festival. I went into a milliner's stall to look at her hats, put mine down on the table to try one on, a lady came up next to me, tried on my hat & asked the milliner's price! I was overjoyed and embarrassed at the same time.

My year of 'why not' all came with direction this summer. A thirty requests for my hats plus a friend lending me free studio space plus the Holiday Handmade equals action. I started with a few proto-types that I thought the general public would like. This way I would have something to muddle around in my mind while I worked on the Pret-a-Porter outfit. Once that was done I would do final designs for the Holiday Handmade submission...it was in the end of October like the last year.

Pret show was September 16th; September 17th I downloaded the prospectus for the show & I was in shock- the submission date was moved up to September 26th!! I spent every night in the studio working, not on final hats but mustering the proto-types to be presentable for photos. Good photos were a must, the prospectus laid out that the submission would be better if I had an Etsy site. So I hired a photographer & started searching for models. Oh models....I could only get one scheduled by the deadline...so we got creative and I too had to do some modeling:) These are some of the proto-types that are on my Etsy shop. My sister joined me & created some knitted baby hats that are adorable!

Pret-a-Porter 2011

Third year on the Women In Design team for the IIDA (International Interior Designers Association) Pret-a-Porter competition. Each year has been a different experience. The first year I was part of the team through a proxy. We discussed the design over phone & visit. I came up with sketches for the headdress & the team chose which one I would make. Then I worked in my cabin in Estes Park. Didn't see the final couture outfit until it was coming down the runway to win Best in Show.
2010 year was a devistating year. I was one foot in the team and one foot out. The outfit was in constant flux. I made some paper flowers but that was all for that year. The show was two weeks after my father's death. We didn't place that year.
2011 is my year to be involved. Its my 'what worse can happen' year. I'm glad that I did because this year the IIDA upped the anti. The competition still only allowed 25 teams but the attendance to the show has increased so it had to be moved from the Exdo Center in the warehouse district to the Denver Center of Performing Arts (DCPA) Ellie Caukins Opera House. We were expected to create outfits that would fit the bill of an opera house. On top of that, the IIDA wanted 70% of the outfit to be in the Pantone colour of the year- Honeysuckle. I love designing in warm colours...but the Pantone colour Honeysuckle is not honely-like at all- its hot pink!
Our distributor was Kimball Office Furniture. Hot pink office furniture! Tough but the WiD team figured it out. We did our digging and not many operas have good female role models, not something that WiD wanted to put our name on. So we did some reinvisioning in our design Steel Awakening as Madame Butterfly with empowerment. A form exposing dress with stylistic kimono sleeves. The base of the dress was representative of female sexuallity in Japan. Only female ghosts got to have a libido (as a demon) ancient Japanese could only tell these women were ghosts by the lack of feet; they moved around on a cloud. The obi belt made from braided macrame was to be holding a torso encompassing lotus that was formed from wood veneer. My headdress was formed out of task chair seat cushions.
Six weeks before the show the materials we chose for the outfit were still coming in. The main piece was the lotus cage that needed two 4ft x 8th sheets of veneer. What showed up us a stack of 8in x 10in sheets of veneer. A phone call was made to the IIDA & they allowed us to come up with an adjusted design & sketch. A couple days later we had a new design and we won the bronze.

Day Three A Day at Home

I now understand all the complaints about teenagers. They really do only think about themselves. I had plans for Friday, but on no, they went by the wayside when they informed me that there was no school today. (Yes I did check with the school. I'm no substitute teacher!)

Thank goddess for the track coach. He still had practice at 7:30am. Which meant after picking up the girl from practice I raised the dead (the boy) and we went out to brunch at IHOP. Then to the DMV to get the driver's examination manual then back to the house.....for the boyfriend's arrival. Yup, the 15 yr old girl is dating...a senior. My first thoughts as he came through the door- I can take him down.

So while the big brother chaperoned them watching the LOTR. I got to spend my afternoon going from my perch in the kitchen to checking on them to make sure no hanky panky was taking place. It was miserable!

Atleast by 6pm their father came to pick them up and take them for the weekend. A whole weekend free to wander the state!

Day Two Downtown

After the kids went to school I hung around the house for a little bit. To my discovery, its good to do this because the sun comes out around 10 and it puts you in a cheerful mind to start the day.

For some reason I remembered something being in Bellevue. So with my trusty Prius and GPS, off I went. There is the Museum of Doll Art in Bellevue but I had already been. Then there's the high end mall- not my bag. The only place that I would go into would be the Din Tai Fung restaurant, pricey though. I was hungry & this excursion was seeming meaningless when I saw the smoke billowing out of a nearby Airstream.

The Skillet Street Food is yummy. It travels around to different parking lots daily. Edgar & I argue weither or not these are just gentrified roach-coaches but I liked Skillet. They serve Duck Burgers!....but I just wanted the Poutine. Poutine for those have never had it is Cheese Fries Canadian style. This was the first place that I had seen it in the lower 48. What you get is hand cut fries; herbs; a gravy that has chedder & parmasean tossed over it. You have to wait a bit for the fries to cool down so the cheese can melt into the gravy. YUM! I also bought a gift for my brother-in-law from them, Bacon Jam. You can see where they are at daily at their website: www.skilletstreetfood.com

Next on to SAM! I had never been to the Seattle Art Museum. Mainly because my visits were short or business related or with friends and those situations don't coexist with long, quiet strolls through museums. The SAM though is not really a big museum so what takes the longest is trying to find parking. Its really near the Pikes Place Market so there's plenty of lots. The old GPS lost my confidence when it told me to go right onto a one way street!

The exhibit to go see is the Nick Cave: Meet me at the Center of the Earth. Its not THAT Nick Cave of the Bad Seeds legend. Its the sculptor/performance artist that made costumes that represent the sounds that they made when dancers moved in them.

I loved the fur suits. They were the coolest ones in motion.

But I have to agree with the remainder of the visitors. The sweater bear was awesome! I got this picture shot done right as the guard told me, "No photos in the special exhibition."

This exhibit had an adult colouring book that I wanted to get for a friend who was just diagnosed with cancer, but $36 is too much for a COLOURING BOOK. So I went across the street to a little paper store call de Medici Ming. A awesome fine paper store where I got her (and myself ofcourse) some brillant metallic watercolours. On the walk back to my car, I popped into another new store called Paper Hammer which is an independant printing press shop.

Wish Trip to Seattle came True

I've been desperately missing the Pacific Northwest with my only way of quenching would be a walk outside with wet hair followed by a viewing of Twilight or Northern Exposure. Simply LAME. I have no options to go on a vacation in this economy unless by a miracle......and one happened.

My friend Jessica's husband works as an audio engineer for a radio station. The station decided to broadcast from Ireland for St. Patrick's day. They paid for the two of them to go & needed someone to watch their teenagers to make sure they didn't go feral. Someone with no ties, that could up and come at a moments notice, that LIKE their children.....me.

I've never lived the mommy lifestyle but aparently from 7am til 3pm I have all the time on my hands to do whatever I want. With a Prius and a GPS I have the chance to see the sights that I wanted to see that never had the chance to in previous visits & to visit old favorites.

I'm in part blogging & also listing some things plus places for my friends that will be coming to Seattle in the weeks following. This is recon baby!

Day ONE:

I would fly into Seattle just to go to their International Market. A Nipponophile like me goes gaga over Uwajimaya. A supermarket focused on Japanese products. Most 'asian' markets are Korean so this is special. Based downtown, near the King Train Station, it is centrally located and near to Pioneer Square. If you are going over to the Underground Tour. Walk a couple blocks for lunch in their market. You know when you are in the neighborhood when you see the dragons climbing the telephone polls.

http://www.uwajimaya.com/

You don’t have to eat there or buy any of their cool bento goodies (like I did). You could go just to spend hours in the attached bookstore- KINOKUNIYA!!!! I wanted to buy so many books. But I bought the Christmas issure of Gothic & Lolita Bible…was tempted by a wall of fashion & music magazines…then theres the tons of craft books! Sigh, the temptation is great there.

www.kinokuniya.com

Pioneer Park is not as interesting as it used to be. Most of the stores have closed due to the economy. There are two together that I worth popping into. On the corner is Diva Dollz. You can’t miss the great windows. www.thedivadollz.com

The inside is a scrumpsious as the windows.

Inside they sell vintage inspired shoes & dresses with fabulous corsets to put over them. I didn't have over $128 to spend on a pair or a dress but I did have the amount for a fantastic Burlesque inspired cocktail hat. Its a heart with an arrow through it. Ofcourse my battery died when I went to take a picture:( Another time I presume when I have the entire outfit done.

Next door to them is Utilikilts. Kilts for the construction work. Or like their motto goes, "We sell Freedom."

www.utilikilts.com

What caught my attention is the New Rocks. Every goth man this day owns a pair but I had never seen them in brown & tan. Apparently you'll never see them either unless you shop at their store. The owner knows the owner of New Rock & only makes them for Utilikilts. Their like the usual New Rocks but with a suede like on construction boots.

That was my couple of hours. Until tomorrow!