Not far away from it yet, but working on it. These are my first attempts at whitework... you can see the progression down the page as I adjusted the paint and found styles that would not accentuate my ineptitude.

Whitework1
Whitework2

I spent today getting cultured instead of trying to work. The morning was in the Fine Arts section of the Boston ( Read more... )

1. What bill do you hate paying the most?
The personal loan I took out for a down payment. So little progress, so much variability in the interest %.

2. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?
I refuse to admit to ever having a romantic dinner.

3. Do you regret losing your virginity to who you lost it to?
Not answering this ( Read more... )

So much for getting stuff done after dinner tonight. I was again too cold to move out of the nest of blankets on the couch -- is it really physical, or am I fabricating a convenient excuse to be lazy? But I was also too sore from raking the entire lawn with the guys on Saturday, and that's an honest it-hurts-to-stand-up excuse ( Read more... )

I have decided October is over already. These last few days? No longer part of October. Maybe they can all be part of Halloween, and I'll dress up every day like a kid in so many layers she looks like a starfish to stay warm.  October is over because October was just as frantic and stressful as September, and November is not supposed to be so bad, ( Read more... )

Has your family ever gone away for a winter week in New England? Where did you go? I wanted to know if anyone had suggestions for where my family could go for Christmas this year.  It needs to be within a ~4hour drive and accommodate 5 people, one of whom is a grandmother (so no ice-hotels or parachuting camps, please).  We're just looking for a ( Read more... )

Veteran archers tell me that there is a cycle to skill -- it improves for awhile, plateaus for awhile, then jumps up suddenly and opens up for more improvement. Boy, were they right.

Sometime during Pennsic, my left arm (the one holding the bow) seemed to get the picture. I knew that I had to pay attention to that shoulder, or it would get lazy ( Read more... )

I knew I should not have splurged on a cafe drink and a scone tonight -- I should have just bought cheap dinner from the grocery store next door and been done with it. But there was a sign for scones in the window, and I discovered I desperately wanted one, with chai, and couldn't be dissuaded by any logic or lack of cash ( Read more... )

I cut out a little early from the conference in Boston last Thursday to go to the Boston Public Library, one of my favorite places ever... and discovered the McKim building. Granted, I haven't been to the main library too often so it wasn't entirely surprising that I hadn't seen everything, but I felt as if I'd opened the back of the wardrobe and ( Read more... )

For a weekend that was not scheduled very much, it turned out pretty busy but very good. Too bad sleep was not part of the equation, but that's what the lectures at the ACS conference are for this week :)

I am trying to learn to use the ljcut feature while sleep deprived, so if this post looks screwy, that's why.  By the way, any LJ advice is ( Read more... )

On the minus side, my little sister's flight from Paris has been delayed 2 hours.

On the plus side, that's 2 more hours to sew for Pennsic before I have to go pick her up.

On the minus side, I'll be checking the flight info obsessively until she touches down, so it won't be very productive.

On the plus side, sewing!

Make sure to ask Matthias to show ( Read more... )