i just want perfection, damnit!

ok, i realize i'm not so good at this re-touching photos thing. i fiddle and fiddle and can't get them to look *just* the way i want. my film scanner makes my b&w photos look... a little wonky. and i can't figure it out!!

maybe i'll ask my photo guy how he gets the prints to look so good.... *sigh*

or maybe i just need to use a simple program instead of photoshop cs. hmmm...

on with the show!

photos from waay back yonder when we went to albuquerque:

anthony, looking pensive (oops, no cropping).


damn, he's so adorable! chomp!


aquarium... somewhere...?


flowers near one of the museums. in fact, this is the same tree.


the old hooker motel near ramon & alexis' house.


inside the museum of natural history


ramon, in his true form.

reflections on birmingham

2 hours and 18 photos later...........

i still desire a digital camera. there has GOT to be a better way than uploading and removing dust specks like a freak. as anthony would say, a "'wizard' moment."

i am renewed in an interest in taking photographs, but i really abhor the process at present.

here are some of the best:




stryder


sophie


sophie's rather easily scared


from the children's room at michie's church


me & mich (my hair was so short!)

michie & her boy, scott

the attack


the apology


the adorable couple

girlfriend sweatshop weekend wonders

sewing, relaxation, spumanti, tomatoes, pasta, chocolate, quilting, rotary cutters, fabric heaven.... that's how i'd describe my past weekend.

gainesville is always the best location for girlfriend sweatshop city-wide. mainly because meaghan has her own house and it's pretty big. she's got a crapload of cutting mats, a second sewing machine, a huge quilting table on wheels, extraneous craft supplies, craft knowledge and craft know-how.

unfortunately, rachel couldn't make it, so it was me, erika, virginia and meaghan. oh, and craig for about a half-day. that boy will go into his job at night and work until 12 am! "wtf?!" as erika would declare, in her internet-acronym-loving way.

erika and i drove in on thursday night (i called out of work on friday - mwahahahaha) and the relaxation and eating commenced. friday was shopping day in which each of us spent anywhere from $50 to $130 on incredible fabric. i learned what "fat quarters" were (as opposed to "long quarters") and quickly became obsessed. little bits of fabric! perfect for little bags! it was only afterwards that meaghan explained that by only buying fat quarters, you often pay as much as $10/yd for fabric. oops!

seriously, i am so in love w/ my fabric. hopefully i'll have pictures soon, i dropped off 3 rolls at max color and will drop off more when i pick them up. let me go count how many i have... only 5. that's reassuring.

i could go on and on about this lovely lovely fantastico weekend, but i shan't bore you with all the details. here's a truncated list:

• meaghan learned me on how to correctly use my rotary mat & cutter
• erika and virginia made some beautiful quilts in but a single weekend
• we played three games of celebrity
• we gave ourselves team names at first - bras vs. skins
• you can only guess at what that means
• 4 girls? no boys? OH yeah
• virginia and i won the last game, even after i had a few shots of amaretto goodness to console the fact that i kind of (really) suck at guessing (but i totally rock at giving clues)
• i got to eat delicious food and peach daquiris
  
• insanely good homemade ice cream at sweet dreams (spicy mayan chocolate?! yum!)
• i am in love w/ erika's email she sent pre-gfss-citywide:
• Holy Fuck. I don't check my email for a week and am flooded with a melange (I don't really know if this is the right word, but it sounds good) of sewing-jargon.
  I am so excited about learning to quilt! My life-long dream for nigh three years! Although I must say Meaghan, I'm a little puzzled why you bothered to send that last email to me, too. I mean for the love of god, do you really think I am capable of picking out fabric on my own? You should have sent me a seperate email saying: "Dearest Erika (my favorite), I will walk you through every part of the quilting process baby-step style. I will have with me several elixers to calm your addled brain. Fear not, my love. Sincerely, Your Biggest Fan, Meaghan". Furthermore, I was a little worried by the words you used to describe quilting, i.e.: "time" and "work". I hope you were just kidding about that.
  Also, here's a heads up: if there's time, I'm going to trick you into "helping" me make a skirt and showing me how to hem some pants. Just so you know. You really can't refuse me, I'm just too cute.
  Love,
  e
  P.S. - Steak, veal, and ground beef sound great to me. In fact, why stop with just one type of meat? I find it's ofttimes better to mix 2 or more meats together per meal. The more dead animals the better, I always say! Meaghan: if you need some more meat, I have a few hours today I could go round us up some wild pig-a-lets with my bb gun down by the crick.
  P.P.S. - I'll be there Thursday around 7 or 8!
  P.P.P.S - I will steal my mother's sewing machine.
• and i daresay she's been a vegetarian since the tender age of 3

i can't even explain how heavenly the weekend was.

a great end. since this will be one of the last gfss weekends with virginia, who is soon to be moving to england. and erika will be living in italy for a few weeks, as well.

at least i was awash in girly estrogen happiness. until i got my period on the 21st.

let's just say i am highly considering continuous contraception.

anyways. shower now. then perhaps cleaning and sleep. alcohol soothes all stresses about classwork and assignments. why are motivation and passion so hard to come by? regarding work and your job, of course. *sigh*

que sera, sera.

tit's boyfriend rocks

this one is for tits and her boyfriend:

chaff

overheard today at work:

"so, you know. it's separatin' the wheat from the.. the. th. the not-wheat."

in the words of madge: "Whaaaa"

i just sliced my finger w/ my really sharp knife. i am typing w/ one hand.

i almost put up a photo, but thought better of grossing anyone out.

it won't stop bleeding! argh.

strange burning aromas coming from the vicinity of my brain...

i found the neatest site while doing my assignment for my library class today (yes, it is due on monday).

check it out - internet resources arranged by topic! i love when finding information gets easier.


while writing my paper, i've realized how rusty i've become in trying to get my thoughts written down in a coherent manner. i took 2 courses 2 semesters ago, but those were science courses requiring memorization and not actual thought and idea cohesion. i can't wait until i'm back up to speed and don't have to stop and knit my brow in confusion when trying to find the right word to type.

also, thanks to sleep goblin, my internet girlfriend, for being my firstest etsy customer!

weekends truly pass by all too quickly. saturday was spent researching and hanging out w/ jen at borders. in the evening i went to red room cinema's show at the oliva cigar factory. i believe it is the last, if not one of the oldest, wooden cigar factories in ybor. we found it funny that a cigar factory would be made of wood.

and holy hell, was it hot. and humid. i would equate it with the appleseed cast/aloha/candybars show in temperature. what's up with venues in florida not having air conditioning? are they asking for me to pass out and sue them?

sarah, her brother and g/f, rosie and jesse braved the heat and came out to the show. ... who am i kidding? they had no idea it would be that hot. thanks so much for sticking it out! and truly, we were sticky. more ya ya sweat. (i actually dislike that word, i need to find a better cute nickname.) thankfully we were able to hang out near the non-existant air conditioner's intake for a while. it was the only place you could actually feel air move unless you were right in front of a fan. it was a heaven of swirling air. our crowded bodies must have caused it to short out, because it stopped completely by the time rrc went on. at one point at the end of the show i had to leave and go outside from dizziness.

and afterwards, new world brewery and then gyros! delicious, lamb-y, yogurt-y, onion-y, tomato & lettuce-y goodness. and garlic. oh lord, the garlic.

::tummy rumble::

and for real - some of the ladies walking the street in ybor are *skanks.*

my job, in one picture

some things

i have an etsy store!

tits was my very first craft customer, ever (though not thru etsy). she fucking rocks the house.

the hotel surplus outlet! who would want a used hotel bed?? ::shudder::
although, you, too, can own fine works of art, such as this:

the monkey chow diaries. that's nasty.

DIY impeachment. for real, folks.

"i just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."
- bush, june 18, 2002

"war is peace"
- big brother, george orwell, 1984

if i can't finish cleaning....

...i'll spend 2 hours and reformat my blog instead!
what library assignment??
::rubs her eyes::

and if i read one more word about css or html... i'm going to chug this here bottle of wine. mmmm...

maybe i'll just chug it anyways.

things i am envious of (because i'm sinful like that):

madge's (ex-) job.
madge's rummy doll.
rachel's beautiful apt.
jen's super clean house.
star's job.
star's super big house.


.... that's all i can think of at present. can you tell i'm all about jobs and cleaning? hopefully soon i shall have a new job (somehow) and my house will be clean (someday).

at least, the bottom half, since i'm hosting gfss friday night.

craft + coffee = fun

much fun was had by gfss girls at the first crafting out loud fair. : ) coffee at the sacred grounds was delicious, the only negative was that it was outside. they have coffee ice cubes!

i think many of us believed that it would be inside the shop. we got there at 6.30 and it was hot-hot-hot and sticky. it cooled off once the sun went down, but then the mosquitos came out. !! i hate when sweat drips down between your ya yas.




jen , star, rachel & me.
products (from left to right):
star - record bowls, toothbrush bracelets (inside the bowls) and toaster covers
me - little pouches for makeup, contact stuff, sundry feminine products
rachel - wood & watercolor paintings, embroidered tank tops
jen - handbound sketchbooks & photo albums


once night fell, we moved to a spot on the sidewalk and hung out w/ yen and (soon to be updated - i can't find her site!).

i want to write more, but it's 1 am. even though i napped like crazy today, i need my sleep.

zzzzz....zz

crafting out loud

sacred grounds

busy bee

so this is what i've been feverishly working on this past week:



little bags! they're about 7 inches by 4 inches. looking at them now, i realize there really aren't that many of them... oh well! i have until saturday, 7 pm.

.... i think that this is all that i'll have to sell at the show. um, and i still haven't finished the 2 big messenger robot bags.

also, i am missing skin from my thumb where the needle tightener knob bashed my sensitive digit. my fault, i'm really bad about where i put my fingers. and i've only stabbed my finger once!

these little babies are for the very first craft show Girlfriend Sweatshop will be participating in on june 3rd!

ok, i have to stop here, because my mind is all over the place and i can't write any sort of coherent paragraph or sentence. i keep rewriting them and rereading them and it's just not meshing in my mind.

night!